It was about five years after they'd started their quests on a routine test in Rito Village Zelda decided to take up an offer of a short tour of the lower Hebra mountains. It was more on a whim than she'd like to admit, but she thought it would be nice to see Link– as unlikely as that would be.
Kadli had wanted to be on her guard, but unfortunately, Impa was insisting on calibration tests that required near constant attention. Zelda wondered at the necessity of doing those tests at that exact moment, and when Impa tried to convince her that she was needed as well, her suspicion was all but confirmed. For whatever reason the Sheikah inventor was going into mother hen mode.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Impa had said.
"Come now Impa, you must notice how bad it's gotten?"
"I've always been protective of you," Impa insisted, "I– I have a bad feeling. Something bad is going to happen, have you felt it?"
"I've been feeling it since I was 9," Zelda said quietly, "Impa, something bad is going to happen, but it won't be for a bit yet."
Impa shook her head. "No, I don't think it's Ganon, not exactly. It could be in service of him, but… Koshia is worried too, that's what has me worried. He's never wrong about these things."
"Perhaps, but what can I do? Stay holed up in the capital until my time comes?"
Impa sighed. "I would if I could. Don't stay out long."
Zelda had nodded, and met with her Rito guards and guide. They'd made it to the foothills just as it all fell apart.
It was just her luck when one of Hebra's freak storms hit and a strong gust of wind separated her from the Rito. They were too light and were tossed to the wind before any of them even knew what was happening.
"Find shelter Princess!" one yelled as she fought the gust. Zelda had lost sight of them nearly immediately in the thick snowfall. She stared out into the storm until her eyes stung and she had to close them. Shelter? How could she find that when she could hardly see her hand in front of her face!?
Still, she mustered on, figuring it was better to keep moving than to freeze out in the open.
She found shelter from the shrieking winds by a large rock, but even through her warm rito down clothing she knew the cold could be deadly for a Hylian like her. She had a compass and knew the stars, so she wasn't worried as much about being lost, but the cold… she grit her teeth to stop their chattering.
Sooner than she would've expected, the storm ended and she started to trudge back toward Rito village. It was dark out, and more cloudy than not. Her assurance of knowing the way back was shaken. Not to mention her toes were starting to go numb. She needed a fire, but alas, didn't think she could with just snow and ice. She was, however, 90% sure the direction she was headed was right.
It was then that she heard the howls. Wolves? Or worse, wolfos? They sounded far away, but considering how strangely sound could travel in the mountains she wasn't sure. Zelda shuddered and redoubled her efforts to return to Rito Village.
She felt eyes on her and a strike of dread went through her. They were closer than she thought. She started running, knowing she wouldn't be able to make it far. Zelda tried to manifest some light magic, but combat had never come naturally to her. Finally, she managed to create a light bow and a single arrow just as she heard the ragged pants growing closer. She turned just in time to see the large wolf charging her.
There were two, no, three of them, all a snowy white with gleaming eyes. She let out a scream as the nearest one lunged, releasing her arrow, but missed. Before it could tear into her, it was knocked out of the air by a red and silver blur. Zelda blinked as a man with wild red hair made short work of the Wolfo. He quickly turned to face the other two, short sword in hand.
They held back, but only temporarily. In unison the wolves attacked. The man wasn't overwhelmed, no, he only stabbed and blocked and ended the two monsters without flair. It was when he turned, that Zelda felt her breath catch.
He was breathing heavily, and wiped the blood off his blade in the snow. His red hair was long, past his shoulders and loose, and now that she could see his face she could see scruff on his face as well. His clothes were a forest green, and he had a fur cloak over it. He was broad shouldered, though probably not much taller than herself, and his physical strength was plain to see. Without thinking much of it, Zelda also recognized he was quite handsome. Most familiar , however, were his eyes. Clear blue, like a summer's day.
If her cheeks and nose hadn't already been red from the cold, they would be for very different reasons. She just stared for longer than she should've. She would've worried of offending him, but he seemed to be in a similar state. She wasn't sure how long they stood there just taking the other in.
"Hero!" she finally said, "Fine work!"
He smiled widely and sheathed his sword. "Princess!" he strode closer and for a second she wondered if he was going to hug her. He didn't, and his face dropped into worry as he asked, "What are you doing here? Were you looking for me?"
"I got separated from my Rito guides in the storm, but I was sort of looking for you."
"Why? Is there anything wrong? Has Ganon come early?"
"Can't I just want to see you?" she asked with a tilt of her head.
He smiled again. "You'll get to see more of me now. I'm done."
"You've collected enough material to satisfy Impa?" Zelda said, and not thinking about it, leapt to hug him. "Oh Link, that's wonderful! And I just finished the plans, how this is all working out!"
He was still in her arms, but before she could rethink her action, he spun her around once. "So you're pleased?"
"I'm more than pleased," she said, "I'm… sure."
"And shorter," he said, setting her down. They were at eye level with each other.
"I think you've just grown a few inches."
He'd grown, that was for sure. He grinned at her comment and said, "I was just headed down the mountain, I'll take you to Rito Village."
"If you would be so kind."
And though it had been five years since they last saw each other face to face, there was little awkwardness that would normally accompany such a reunion. The only new development was Zelda's avoidance of looking at him. Whenever she did, she'd be reminded he was a man now, not that his voice didn't do that as well. She wondered where that sweet boy went, but couldn't find it in her to complain about who stood in his place.
"Do I still have blood on me?" he asked.
"No," she answered, then she looked at him closer and he did indeed. "Yes, come here." Using her thumb she tried to remove the remaining Wolfo blood. It was stubborn though. "You'll have to take a bath when we get back." she said. It was strange, before she wouldn't have thought twice about being so close or fussing over him, but now there was a different current underneath it. She wondered if he felt it too.
"I probably need it, blood or not. I haven't had a proper bath in…" he tried to think, "a while."
She hadn't noticed that, as all her nose could smell was a cold and snow still. She thanked the Goddesses that their reunion wasn't marred by such a thing as body odor. "Well, we can set that up. The Rito don't bathe quite like we do, but they've had more Hylian guests over the years, and my suite has one."
If she had looked at him in the moment, she would've seen his face go red deeper than the cold and exertion. "You want me to share your suite?"
"Of course! You're on business of the King, it's only proper that you stay in the royal suite. There are rooms and beds enough!"
"Right," he said.
"You've ever slept on a Rito down bed?" Zelda asked.
He shook his head.
"Well, in my opinion it's the best sleep you'll ever have."
"Anything would beat a bed roll on permafrost, in my opinion," he said with some humor.
"So," she started, "how have the past years treated you? You look like you've been eating well enough, do you still have all your fingers?"
He held up his gloved hands and wiggled all ten of his fingers. "No frostbite here."
"I suppose you know how to deal with the cold. You did defeat that ice witch."
"Aw, ice witches," he said with a wave of his hand. "You pack enough fire arrows and they don't last long."
Ooh, fire. That sounded extremely nice to Zelda at the moment. Fire arrows were usually warm to the touch. "Do you have any fire arrows on you?" she asked.
"No," he said, "Why do you ask?"
"My hands have gotten cold, nothing too bad, but, you know, I was–" before she could finish her thought, he was pulling up her hand to inspect it. She had taken off the glove briefly to wipe at the blood on his face, and in that short while snow had drifted in. He removed the glove and his own to rub her hand between his. His own hands had new scars, and she wondered where he'd gotten them, and if he would ever tell her.
"It's not that bad…" she said, but didn't pull away. Where before she would've found this attention strange and perhaps inappropriate, now there was something pulling her in. Still, she had to make her excuses. His closeness was making her too distracted to think clearly.
He seemed to notice how intimate it was and pulled away, but didn't let go of her hand. "Sorry, I just…" he searched for a way to finish the sentence, "Worry. You are mine to protect."
Something about the way he said that resonated in her. Of course he would protect Hyrule, and by extension her, it was his destiny, his duty, but when he said it like that, it made it sound like protecting her was some sort of privilege. "Funny, five years ago I feel I would be saying that to you when dinner parties would go too late and too many people would want to talk to you, and now you're saving me from wolves and cold hands." She felt a smile break through her face, though she didn't feel particularly happy. "The challenges will just keep getting more dire, won't they?"
They walked in silence for a few moments until Link said, "I'm really thankful that you suggested I take this quest." he tightened his grip on her hand. "I didn't hate the castle, I really didn't, but I wasn't… ready for it."
"You were too young," she agreed, "It's sometimes hard even for me, and I grew up in it. I don't know how my brother handles it. For you, someone so honest, so… and don't take this the wrong way, naive… you needed freedom in a way I couldn't give it."
"But you did," he argued, "you let me out here."
"Yes, let you," she said, "I like the way you think. Oh how I've missed you." They drew closer and he murmured something she didn't catch. "Even that mumbling habit of yours."
His ears turned red at her teasing and she withdrew her hand to pull his hood up. "And your ears can still camouflage with your hair." Though taking care of him felt slightly different now that he could look her level in the eye and his shoulders were broader than hers, it still was as instinctual as it ever had been. She could get over the new level of physical attraction she felt to fall back into her old habits. Yes, she still had a place here even if he could take care of himself.
She drew away in the same teasing way she always had. She wondered if he still had a crush on her, or if that was something he'd grown out of too.
He started to say something, but was cut off by a squadron of Rito flying in the sky. There were squawks of success as they were spotted and Zelda was glad she wasn't considered missing. One of the Rito turned in a large banking movement while the other two swooped down to assist her.
"Princess! You're okay! When the storm hit and we lost you we feared–" it was then he noticed Link. "Princess don't fear, but there seems to be a mountain hermit following you."
"This mountain hermit is the Hero of Hyrule," she announced proudly. "His quest is finished."
The first Rito trilled happily, though the second one still looked skeptical.
"How can you be so sure this is the Hero?" he asked, "It has been 5 years."
"He looks just like him, what do you mean?"
The Rito narrowed his eyes to look closer at Link. "No, the hero was much shorter."
"People can grow you know," Zelda answered, "I assure you this is the hero."
"If you're sure…"
Zelda glanced back at Link who was frowning at the Rito's skepticism. He may have grown a foot, grew scruff on his face, and gotten half a dozen new scars (that she could see), but she knew those eyes anywhere. "Oh, I'm sure."
…
They arrived back at the Rito Village at dusk, though they were greeted on the road by more Rito sent by the messenger. They were all relieved to see the Princess was alright, and that the Hero had returned, though most of them shared the face blindness of the other two. Apparently, Hylians all looked the same.
Impa greeted Zelda with a formal bow, relief clear on her face. She gave Link a hug. Her relief at both of them being safe was nearly tangible.
They had a dinner of traditional Rito fair, Salmon and rice, along with mushrooms and some leafy greens. Dessert was a berry tart that she found to be a growing favorite of hers. Link ate like a man starved and it was so far removed from the nervous boy who she would sneak food to after the official dinner that she couldn't help but laugh.
"Did all my etiquette training go in one ear and out the other?" she asked.
He looked up from the second helping of salmon he was already halfway through. "I haven't had good cooking in 4 years, Princess, please forgive my manners."
"Oh," she waved her hand, "There's nothing to be forgiven, I was only teasing."
He seemed relieved and went back to eating, but with slightly less gusto.
"You were getting enough to eat those years, weren't you?"
"Oh, I'm plenty fine at hunting and foraging, I'm just rubbish at cooking." He pointed to the bread. "Haven't had bread in a while either, I forgot how good it was. Can you cook at all?"
She blushed slightly. "I dabble. I'm not particularly good at cooking, but I like to bake the odd pie. It feels good to get my hands dirty every once in a while."
He made a contented sound. "Pie, pie is good. I think what I missed the most was the company honestly, Wolves make lousy dinner guests."
"You had wolves as your dinner guests?"
"I had a few wolves that liked to follow me and rest by my fires, yes. They were annoying, always getting into my business, asking about my things."
"What do you mean by asking?"
"Just that, they were very nosy."
"Link, you can talk to wolves?"
He blinked. "Yes. Why? Is that weird?"
"It's very weird, have you always been able to do that?"
He shrugged. "I mean, sort of. After I met you it all started to come a little easier."
"You can talk to wolves," she repeated.
"Yes."
"What did they ask you about?"
"Just the 'why are you here?' 'what are you doing?' 'why are you alone?' type questions. They were very interested in my sail cloth." he muttered the last part.
"Do you know why you can do that?" She asked.
"I've never thought much of it," he responded. "Figured it was magic or something."
They finished dinner and Zelda pushed Link to take a bath first. He protested little, but entered the bathroom with caution. Zelda double checked a few reports while she waited, trying not to dwell on the fact that her now grown friend was in the bath. What was she turning into?
After she'd gotten through all the reports and glanced at the clock to realize 20 minutes had passed, and the bathroom had gone quite. The fire in the fireplace was nice, but what she really wanted to do was have a nice soak. So she'd been a good host when she let Link go first, but that was because she thought he would take a short time. Her brother took short baths.
What if something was wrong and he couldn't ask for help!
With that worry, she stood and approached the bathroom door. "Link?" she called.
No response. She tried again a little louder, "Link?"
There was a sudden splash along with a startled yelp.
She had her hand on the door knob but stopped when she heard, "Don't come in!"
Her hand stilled, but she asked, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, just…" there was a bit more splashing. "I think I fell asleep in the tub."
Her worst fears were realized. "Were you under the water? Lack of oxygen for prolonged times can be really bad for your health!" No duh! She didn't know why she was saying that. Just a few hours previous he'd been fighting Hebra wolves and before that probably even more dangerous things.
"No, I was propped up. You just startled me."
"Oh," she said, "good."
"Thanks for checking on me though, were I in here any longer I'd be a prune." He chuckled lightly. There was splashing as she assumed he got out of the tub.
"There's some pajamas in your room. I hope they fit. We guessed your size, but I'm not sure your measurements anymore." Zelda laughed awkwardly. Why was she rambling?
"In my room?" he asked, "So I'd walk through in a towel?"
"That's correct."
"... is that proper?"
She felt her face heat up. Was it? It probably wasn't, even if he were just her friend. Which was all he was. Right?
"Probably not," she responded stiltedly, "I can bring them to the door. It's no problem."
"Thank you."
Zelda did as she said she would, interrupted as she was walking back to the bathroom by Impa.
The scientist asked, "Everything going well? I'm sorry I had to go back to work, Vah Medoah was having issues with its internal power. Where's the Hero?"
Zelda was suddenly quite self conscious. "He's in the bath," she answered, "I'm bringing his clothes to him."
"I can't let the princess do something like that." Impa went to take the clothes. There was a moment of hesitance, and Impa saw it in her. "Oh come now, I'm the married one of the two of us, not to mention from a family of servants."
"The Sheikah are hardly mere servants," she commented, but let the clothes go.
Impa went to the door, and slipped the clothes to the Hero. He was obviously surprised by the scientist. Impa on her return to her room gave Zelda an unsubtle wink.
"Don't stay up too late, Princess."
Zelda could only nod.
Link exited the bathroom soon, a healthy glow about him. His hair was still quite damp and face still unshaven. The clothes looked like they fit well enough.
"Thank you for that," he said quietly, "had I not seen you tonight I probably would've just gone straight to the capitol."
"I'm glad me getting lost did something good."
He just looked at her for a second, eyes filled with a question she couldn't guess at. Whatever it was, he didn't ask, instead gesturing to the bath. "I let it empty so you can get clean water…"
"Thank you."
She made her way to the bathroom, double checking her own robe and towel were already inside. With the door closed, and the hot water running Zelda let out a small noise to deflate some of the tension. This was weird. This had never happened before.
Why was he making her feel so… warm inside. She was happy to see him of course, but this went a bit beyond just happy to see a friend. She supposed he had grown up, so perhaps it was natural to feel differently than before?
With these thoughts in her head, she slipped into the warm bath, extremely pleased how the cold melted from her bones. She could see how Link could fall asleep in the bath. And then she was thinking about him in the bath. What was wrong with her? Was she becoming a pervert?
No, she rationalised, just thinking about someone naked doesn't make you a pervert, but rethinking about it does. Was she rethinking about it? Around and around she went until the water lost it's hotness and her hair was clean yet again.
She reached the conclusion as she left the bath that no, she was not a pervert, but yes, she did think Link was handsome. And there was nothing wrong with that.
Drying off and donning her robe she started the hard work of wringing her hair dry. Or at least not dripping wet. It took quite a bit of effort. After that, she emptied the bath and stepped into the less humid, but still warm air of the main rooms. Link was sitting by the fire, but she didn't let herself gaze on him too long. Once in her room, she dressed equally quickly in her nightgown, and remembered to put in her dressing robe as well. In Rito Village she usually wore one anyways due to the chill the air almost always held, but sometimes if it were just Impa she would forgo it.
She exited her room and tried to decide where to go. Normally she would go straight to bed, but with Link still in the main area she didn't want him to feel alone.
"Were you lonely?" she found herself asking, approaching the fireplace.
He glanced up from staring into the fire. His face looked slightly red, but she couldn't tell if it was the fire reflection or a blush.
"On the mountain," she clarified. "I know you had wolves and all, but…"
He blinked and turned back towards the fire. "I was lonely sometimes… but I feel like I would've felt that way even if I were at the castle. It's not something I can say I hate. Rauru… he would say it was in solitude that a man found himself and how the Goddesses worked. I can't claim any sage wisdom… but… I feel it's prepared me."
"That's good."
"And you?" he asked.
She blinked.
"Were you lonely?"
What a question. How to answer. "I'm never really alone you know," she said in a non-answer. He could tell. He could always tell.
"I know very well you can be with people and be lonely."
"I was too busy to worry about that sort of thing." she finally said. That was also true.
Link chuckled. "Yeah, that checks out. So how far are you with everything?"
Zelda started describing everything she had done on her end. All the traveling, all the trouble shooting, all the diplomating. Link listened attentively, and only near the end did she realize he hadn't spoken in a bit. "I'm sure I'm boring you, you also had your fair share of adventure."
He only smiled and waved her off. "No, no, you hear one of my stories and you've heard them all. Besides, it's late. We should probably rest up."
Zelda glanced at the clock and did a double take. "Right, how did it get so late?"
Link stood and bowed slightly to her. "Good night, Princess."
"Good night, Hero."
The orange glow of the fire set his blue eyes ablaze. It was different being under this gaze now.
The two went to their rooms, though it took Zelda a good bit to quiet her mind enough to sleep. Something was going to happen soon, something that would change her life for good.