Changed the rating! Thanks to the anon who told me to, it totally slipped my mind.

Thanks for the comments, too! It's really nice to read about the story from another perspective.

Enjoy!

Link walked in a straight line, trying to ignore the pain in his eyes and the rage that still bubbled in his chest. Mikau grabbed him midway, repeating that Link had to hurry and to follow him.

Link ended up following Mikau despite never having meeting him in person, he reasoned that even if he ended up somewhere else he could fight it out.

Link was half-wishing he could fight it out.

"Am I in trouble?" Link asked. He was sitting in a stool, somewhere. He still saw blurry, and though he still felt restless his uneasiness had resurfaced.

Mikau was cleaning Link's eyes with a wet cloth, he clicked his tongue, "Hard to say, but I'm going to go with a definite maybe."

Link felt Mikau's hands on his face, Mikau was gentle and he paused every often to check he was getting the little stones away from Link's eyes, "Should I have not done what I, you know, ended up doing?"

Mikau didn't miss a beat, "Hylia, no. You did what I would have advised you to do."

"Me, too," Lady Tela assured, "maybe you should have left when you were going to," Link winced, felt the sting of shame, "but still. The whole arena saw Sir Keen trying to harm you before you responded. That was good."

Link shrugged, "He was taunting me."

"I don't doubt it," Mikau said.

"He was disrespecting Her Majesty."

Mikau gave a big sigh, "Yeah, that's what they do."

Lady Tela moved around the room, "Can you see anything now?"

Link blinked slowly, he recoiled, "No."

Mikau tutted, "Oh, boy, no need to cry. Her Majesty won't throw you out."

"It hurts," Link croaked.

Mikau laughed softly.

Link shifted in the stool, he could feel the tears falling and he hoped those would take out the dirt, "Okay, so I'm probably out of trouble. What about the Princess?"

Mikau and Lady Tela remained silent, but before Link could ask again Lady Tela answered, "She is out of trouble, of course. This is not- It was never something to put her in trouble."

Mikau blew air into Link's eyes, "Keep on blinking, Hero."

Link felt his eyes hurting less, he started to see Mikau's outline. "Can I see Her Majesty?"

Mikau gave a quick glance to Lady Tela, "No," Link felt the cloth against his skin the moment after.

And Mikau's quick answer made Link's hairs stand on end, "Why not?"

Mikau felt Link's muscles tense under his hands, "Hey, easy."

Link moved Mikau's hand out his face, he stood and fixed his red-rimmed right eye at Mikau, "Then answer me."

Mikau whimpered a little and looked at Link as if he was being betrayed, "Oh, come on. Tela, please? A little bit of help? He's gonna break mi wrist."

Lady Tela moved near them, "What are you going to do when you find her? Keep on fighting people?"

Link frowned, "I'm not gonna-"

"Because you seem eager enough," Link followed her eyes and he let go of Mikau with haste.

"I'm not gonna-"

"And then what? Sure, you want to help her, but the nobles won't want to see your face, and you being near her will only be a punch in the gut."

Link looked at Mikau, he was caressing his hand and looking apologetically at Link, "Well, at least I'm glad to know that you worry a lot about her."

Link looked at Lady Tela and let himself fall on the stool, "Yeah."

"And you want to help her," continued Mikau.

"Yeah."

"You being here, nice and calm, is helping her, you know?"

Lady Tela paced in the room, "She has a good head on her shoulders, she'll get out of this."

"Can't say the same about Sir Keen, am I right?" Mikau laughed at his own joke while Lady Tela chastised him for his crudeness.

Link looked straight to the floor, Mikau felt bad for the young man, "It's good to see Her Majesty being something other than the cold-hearted woman everyone thinks she is, you know?" Link shrugged. "It will also, hopefully, help her stand her feet more. And it will also, hopefully, let the nobles know that they just can't go and do as they please."

"I shouldn't have accepted the rewards," Link mumbled.

"Oh, no," Mikau shook his head, "No, buddy, that's what's giving you a chance now."

"I should've come as a friend, help her from outside. This is bringing her too much trouble."

Lady Tela shared a look with Mikau, "No, Hero, Mikau is right. By honorig you and giving you rewards she has cemented the fact that you are a guest of honor in Hyrule." Lady Tela clasped her hands in her lap, "And not any guest of honor, but hers. She can fight with that. She can fight for you with that."

Link rubbed his face with his hands. Mikau warned him to be careful with the eyes. "Too much trouble. I should've just bought those land and titles," Link groaned.

Lady Tela felt her thoughts stop, "Excuse me?"

Link kept on mumbling.

"Excuse me, Hero? You have money?"

Link moved his hands through his hair to his neck, "Yeah."

"Enough to buy lands?"

Link cocked his head, "Yeah." Lady Tela frowned and got lost in her thoughts.

Link turned his head back to Mikau, "Should I feel offended at her obvious disbelief?"

Mikau snorted, tried to gauge Link's reaction, but the blonde just gave Mikau a smile and Mikau let himself howl.

"Doesn't matter know, though, that's already done. But anyways, use your status as Her Majesty's guest, without that you would be done for," said Lady Tela.

Mikau looked forlorn for a second, but started to talk the next. Lady Tela moved to the window in the room and remained silent.

Link answered Mikau's questions about his life and about his adventures, and it finally dawned on him.

It wasn't him. It was never him.

Nobody wanted to test Link, nobody had a reason to do so.

It was Zelda.

They were testing Princess Zelda.

And Link had given them the chance.