Dotour felt restless. Not because Princess Zelda had taken a stance nobody could change her from. Not because Princess Zelda had shown such will that everything he could do was shake his head in frustration. Not because his own son and his troupe had been silently smiling all the while.
No. Princess Zelda was plenty stubborn when necessary, was plenty willful when she abided by something. Dotour would never shame her for that.
Dotour felt restless because he knew why she had earned that bout of energy and resolution she had been lacking, and he worried what this meant for... everything.
Her new found courage was that boy's fault and Dotour... Dotour was worried.
Zelda sat on her studio and fiddled with a pencil. Before, she had always put down her feet on the winning side, analizing and knowing what to do, what to say, when to snarl. Never a wavering step, never a doubtful statement. Zelda was to be queen and queens could not talk lightly. And she had taken that to heart.
She understood Dotour's doubt. He had been the one to drill into her the need for planning and scheming and never to talk without making sure that things would play out as one would like it.
And now Zelda was fiddling with her pen because she couldn't find it in her to care about that. So sure was she that Link would come back victorious, so sure was she that even faced with obstacles he would make it work. So sure was she... that she worried.
"Awfully long face you're making." Cade smiled, Zelda had been lost in her thoughts, and it would make him a fool not to know why.
"Cade."
Cade knew what this meant, everyone knew what this meant. A man who disappeared out of nowhere, a General who protected said man, the Princess' wish being granted.
Awfully bold for a princess, awfully bold for a man. But it had worked and people were talking.
Cade knew Zelda like the back of his hand, knew the hunger that filled her, that made her squint her eyes to gauge a man's worth. Only the best for the kingdom. Cade knew she could withstand a thousand things out of duty, and marriage...
If only she would smile. If he told her this and she smiled... "Gor Coron came with a Goron entourage and is asking for a meeting."
Cade knew what everyone thought, feared, hoped. But if she only smiled-
Zelda closed her eyes and breathed out a breath neither she nor Cade knew she had been holding. "Thank you," she whispered, and her shoulders sagged, and her eyes wandered to her windows and she huffed and-
Zelda gave a laugh. Watery, open, unguarded.
And Cade started to hope.
When Link stepped into Zelda's balcony that day, wondering whether he should have come, whether Zelda would think it overstepping, whether maybe he should have waited a day. Zelda opened her windows and gave a snicker Link wasn't expecting.
The meeting had been tense and awkward, but the Goron representative had asked for permission in the politest way possible and Zelda had almost wanted to stand up and punch the air in victory.
It was like a switch had been flipped. Zelda shared every bit of the meeting, asked about Link's own adventures and even let him in some gossip Ashei had shared about some knights. This Zelda was unhibited, free, and the most beautiful thing Link had seen.
And he had helped her. Him. And that was everything he could think for the rest of the night.
When morning came and Link went to train back with the soldiers, he could hear some whispers behind his back. Unassuming, and most disbelieving. Robert was a bundle of energy that morning and made a couple of soldiers fall on their butts.
By the end of the day, as Link was leaving, Robert chugged his water down and waved goodbye with a smile that tried its best to be supportive, but Link's shoulders were tense and as soon as Robert looked back he understood why.
Dotour Amour was hiding in a hallway nearby, right in the path of Link's bedroom. Link squared his shoulders and marched ahead.
"A minute, Hero?"
Some fights were unavoidable, Link knew that much, and some fights were better fought head on even when one thought themselves unprepared. Sometimes a little facade of bravery was all it took, "Of course."
Dotour was not happy with Link's 'antics' as he so bitterly shared, and he was giving long-winded reasons as to why.
Link had to fight the disgust off his face, the urge to roll his eyes and the disbelief he was sure Dotour was not dumb enough not to feel, when Dotour spat, "What is it you aim with this, boy?"
Was it right to feel so angry at hearing 'boy' directed at him? "Just to help Her Majesty, sir."
"Has it ocurred to you that maybe this thing you're doing is actually harming her?"
Link stopped and looked at the man, he had to do a retake and breath in once, "I don't see ho-"
"She has to become self-sufficient, child, she has to be able to overco-"
"If you're asking me to stop helping her, then my answer is no. Whatever you think is of no importance to me and frankly-"
"You are thwarting her potential!"
Link glared at Dotour, took his time to make the man nervous, but Dotour had a gleam on his eyes Link didn't like. "She still is the best princess Hyrule has had-"
"You didn't know her father. She has so much yet to become, she has so much yet to learn."
Link had always felt a nagging feeling where Dotour was involved. Like Dotour was fighting for something that was long gone. And this-
"Zelda is not her father."
Dotour opened his eyes and Link wasn't sure whether it was because he had just forgone all etiquette when referring to the princess or because Link had hit the nail on the head.
"She-"
"She is herself, Dotour, and she is doing her best."
"You-"
"I'll keep on helping her till she tells me to stop."
"You-"
"You have done nothing but trample her and make her doubt herself. You want her to become something else so much that you have stopped caring about her."
"I have never-"
"And you should stop. You're hurting her."
Dotour opened his mouth in a clear intent to keep on talking, but Link was done and he was starting to feel uncomfortable in the way that only punches followed, so he bowed his head and left Dotour with his monologue and horrible ideas.