She felt a headache incoming. He had left almost an hour ago, and the steady pressure on her skull had increased from then; as if she needed another reason to beg him to stay.

The minutes had ticked away, and she felt her uneasiness grow, she had given up sleep after what had seemed like an eternity. It had been 43 minutes.

Sleep had been evading her since her father's dead, and when the invasion had come, it had become even harder to find.

She tried to forget Link's arms around her waist.

She sighed and sat up. She felt tired, but knew that sleep wasn't going to come. Life was an endless loop of being tired and not being able to rest. Especially for her.

She remembered Link's face before he left, and knew that if she did nothing to fix that, her work was going to be sloppy.

She scratched her letter time after time. Too snobby, too friendly, too regal, too stuffy. She shredded the paper between her fingers, relaxing her tense body. She was being too... too... she was not used to being worried so much about one singular person.

But then again, she reminded herself, he had been nothing but helping, nothing but nice, nothing but friendly towards her. He had saved her kingdom and had asked for nothing in exchange - yet -, he was a young boy who had suffered too much for her foolish mistakes. The least she could do was offer her friendship.

If he accepted a Lord title and a plot of land, then the nagging feeling of treason could - hopefully - leave her alone.

She closed her eyes and tried to remember what she had felt talking with him next to the fire. She had a letter written in a couple of minutes, she held to it as if it were a crown secret.

It felt like one.

As she exited her room, an errand boy - who probably thought he was totally surreptitious - moved hastily through the hallways and away from her. Her face betrayed no emotion as she nodded to the guards.

She walked towards her workroom and was disrupted by a noble.

"Your Highness," he greeted, as if he had found her by chance.

Zelda kept on walking, this was an old waltz to her. She was sure they had been dying to call for her. Link must have looked menacing enough.

"It is with great joy that I come to greet you, your Highness," he walked a number of steps behind her, enough to her right to be seen. Without a guard it would have been a slight to walk in a blind spot.

Zelda kept her mouth shut.

"Where has the young man who brought you here gone?" she couldn't understand how her not engaging in the conversation didn't deter any of them.

She nodded to the people who passed them. They eyed the man following her. He was a merchant, meddlesome, and with a knack to get on her nerves; but so far, harmless.

"Does her Highness wish for me to send that letter?"

She couldn't help the reflex of bringing the letter to her lap and look at him with harsh eyes. Meddlesome man.

He looked perplexed for a second, "I'll take that as a no, your Worship."

She stopped hearing his footsteps when she resumed walking. She puckered her lips, it was just a letter.

She sat on her chair, looked at the room. It had been kept fairly well. That, or her people had fixed it first thing. Either was possible; Zant hadn't been much within the castle, and her people had a respectful amount of fear of her.

The letter was left in front of her, and she glanced at it periodically.

She couldn't go out.

She wouldn't let just anybody touch it.

And she had to let go of it soon, before she thought too much about it - him - and she destroyed the letter altogether just to regret it a second after.

She was thinking about Link when a boy appeared at her door.

"Where you really gone?"

The boy entered the room without waiting for her approval, a smile on his face.

"What does the hearsay say?"

"A bunch of different things. You died, you never left, you left because you gave up, you left to fight, you left for love, you left because everyone was insufferable, - I could believe that one - you killed yourself, you became mad," the boy cocked his head, thinking, "you are actually pregnant and don't want anyone to know, you were in league with the madman," he closed his eyes with force, squeezing out the information, "you faked everything and there was no invasion, and, oh," he opened his eyes, had a gleam in his eyes, "my favorite one, you died when your father died and you are now a whatcha-call-it?"

He looked at her for help.

"If you could give me more informa-"

"When you're a copy made with magic!"

"Oh," she frowned, "a shell, then."

"That one," he pointed his fingers at her.

She stared back.

"So, what was it?"

"Fought it and won. The invasion."

The boy smiled, his face scrunched up as he moved closer.

"Knew it."

Zelda eyed the boy.

"Are you alright?"

He gave her a loop-sided smile, "The future queen of Hyrule wants to know if a junior is fine?"

"Are you mad at me?"

"Worried, I would say. I was worried," he sucked a breath, "getting really scared for a minute. You should've seen Gaebora when they were saying you were dead."

"Is he alright?"

He clicked his tongue, "I wouldn't put it past him to cry when he sees you."

Zelda looked to her bookshelves, poor man. She realized they were in her workroom and looked at the boy with concern.

"How come you came here?" she eyed the door, "If they find you here..."

"You have," he checked his wristwatch, "almost an hour and a half more to yourself. That man that brought you," he gave an approving look, "really feral. The guards were either too scared or too awed to confront him about you. Did he help you? He had a warrior's stance, I must admit, though when he saw me he gave me a really nice smile, do you have him under your spell already? Or-"

"Cade," she warned, "he was the one who defeated the invader. He saved me, the kingdom, and consequently all of the citizens. Be grateful. And polite."

Cade brought his lips together, lowered his eyebrows.

"Okay." He shook his head slightly, "I'll be around, then."

"Cade," she called.

He raised his head.

"Can I ask you to send a letter for me?"

She grabbed something from her table and made as if to give it to him.

She held onto it and Cade gave her a look.

"Make sure to bribe whoever will send it for it to be on time," she had said. Cade was wandering the streets with a pocket full of money. It was a letter for him, he was sure. Zelda hadn't said much, and he couldn't be sure that the man's name was Link, but he had a hunch, and hunches worked really well for him.

Maybe he could give it to him in person? It hadn't been that long since he left. Zelda hadn't given him much to work with. And though usually that served him right, now it was unnerving. Zelda was worried about this Link, and Cade had a half-thougth of giving the letter to Gaebora. If only he didn't love her so.

He hadn't been looking for him, - he could swear on it - but there he was, it wasn't his hair or his clothing that drew his eyes to him; it was the way he walked: deadly. He was walking hurriedly through the streets towards the business district. Cade narrowed his eyes, he was going to the bohemian district, especifically. He went straight to the post office and paid for the normal delivery.

Yeah, fuck that Link.