Kadli joined them for breakfast in the morning, surprising Link. She regarded him coldly, but Zelda didn't think it was out of disdain.

It wasn't as awkward as she had feared it would be in the morning. Link had blended back into her life like he had never left.

"Link, this is Kadli, the Rito pilot," Zelda introduced.

He nodded in the Rito's direction.

"Have your skills polished or rusted in your years of isolation?" Kadli asked, ever the straight shooter.

Link paused a moment. He responded, "I'd like to think they were polished."

"We will go to the archery range late today."

Zelda nearly protested, but she knew archery would probably cause the pilot and Hero to bond quicker than anything else. Still, she had been wanting a slower day to recover from the excitement yesterday. And while watching the two practice would be entertaining, both would think they were leaving her out.

Link turned to her expectantly, his eyes so blue. "Will you join us?"

And when he put it like that it wasn't like she could say no. "'m not as skilled as you two, of course, but as long as you don't judge me too harshly I would be more than happy to join you."

"After breakfast then."

On their walk to their rooms, Link asked her, "So she will pilot one of the divine beasts?"

"Yes. Caused a bit of trouble..." Zelda said, "did I not even get that far in my story telling?"

Link shook his head. "You were giving me a very detailed account of sorting out Impa's communication fiasco. So tell me, are the other pilots chosen as well?"

"Yes. My friend Reba is one actually."

"The Gerudo princess," he said in recognition.

"Oh, don't call her that, but yes," Zelda said, surprised that he remembered. She could never tell what sunk in with him. "There is Amphritus for the Zora. He's never traveled outside of the Zora's domain, so I don't think you'll have met him. And Darlas for the Goron."

"Darlas… he wouldn't happen to have an interest in flowers would he?"

"Indeed he does," she said. "Do you know him?"

"A Goron came to find rare flowers in an alpine meadow. I helped him out some. That was a while ago though…" he said, "So you think we can do this?"

"Honestly?" she asked, "I feel like we stand a good chance. The pilots are all highly skilled, and with you having grown so much, perhaps we won't even need the master sword."

"The master sword…" he said thoughtfully, "You know where it is?"

"Of course I know where it is," she said with a hint of teasing, "I know everything."

They arrived at their rooms and Link rummaged around his things to find his bow. Zelda didn't travel with a bow, or any weapons really. She had a dagger she kept on her person at all times, but if it came down to it and she had to defend herself, a sword would do her little good. Besides, that's what Paya was for.

Paya was home in Kakariko though, as her mother was ill, a relapse from two years ago. In Rito village Zelda was quite safe, especially now that the Hero was back by her side.

They were led to the archery range with Kadli already there. "Princess," she said, "There's a 30 pound bow over there."

Zelda frowned at Kadli's obvious dissatisfaction with her arm strength, but knew there was no real malice behind her actions. She took the bow and the arm brace. She'd been shooting bows since she was young, but her lack of strength meant she couldn't wield a strong enough bow to do real damage. Unless she could summon a light bow. Which took a different type of strength.

"Let's see our Hero at work then," Kadli said, gesturing for him to step up to the firing line.

Link shrugged, and Zelda could see he was fighting a smile. It was good he found Kadli's personality endearing as opposed to offensive. Though Zelda couldn't say she was surprised.

He did well to hit the targets, and she could tell the young Rito was satisfied enough to not doubt his abilities.

Kadli was up next, and she was not going to be outdone. Link joined Zelda where she was standing and nodded toward the Rito pilot who had already shot a bullseye. "Does her Divine Beast have a giant bow on it?"

"Regrettably, no. The materials would break down if we tried to make a bow that big. We gave it a giant laser cannon."

Before Link could ask her what a laser cannon was, it was her turn to shoot.

She shot worse, but not that much worse. All her arrows hit the target, and within the third smallest circle. She was pleased.

"You've gotten better," Link said.

"I hope I would have."

"And what about me?" he asked.

"You've always been wonderful," she praised without thinking, "so when I say the same, it's a compliment."

He looked back at Kadli who was taking her turn. She shot even better this time. Her speed also increasing. "She's someone without a limit."

"You can tell that already?" she asked.

He shrugged.

Zelda always forgot how good of a read he was with people. It mostly came out when practicing weapons and fighting, so once more she shouldn't have been surprised.

After bow training, Zelda showed Link the Divine Beast in construction. It was clear he'd had no idea what his labor had been working towards and with a slack jaw he stared at the machine.

The rest of the day passed quietly, with the growing hope of all that this coming threat would not be so difficult with such capable people at the helm, and with such incredible technology utilized. Zelda also grew more aware that this Link was not the boy she remembered anymore.

After her evening bath, she was waiting for her hair to dry. It was a long process and she passed the time penning a letter to her brother. That was until a wild haired Link passed through the shared living area of their suite.

"You need to comb your hair to stop it from doing that," she said.

He glanced at her. "It's impossible, I should probably just cut it all off."

"You can't do that!" she protested. "It's such a nice color. Just come here." She motioned him to come sit in front of her on the floor.

"You want to… brush my hair?" he asked.

"If it was braided it wouldn't get in your way as much." she reasoned. "Besides, I taught you how to braid when you first came to the castle, right?"

He was looking at her strangely. "You did, but…"

"If you've gotten rusty, I'll just teach you again. Now come here!"

He complied and sat down on the carpeted floor. Methodically she started at the ends. The further she got through it, the more she realized he wasn't lying when he said it was impossible. Stiil, she persevered until it was brushed out. His hair was damaged and in need of a trim, but to cut it so short again– it simply felt wrong.

He'd gone quiet as soon as she started brushing his hair, and at first she was worried he wouldn't tell her when it hurt, but then it became more domestic and warm. When she started braiding, suddenly she felt something in the air shift to very warm. She glanced at the fireplace to see if it was to blame, but it burned at the same intensity as earlier. When she reached the end of the braid, she tied it off and placed her hands on his shoulders.

"Well, you were right that you need a trim, but isn't this manageable?"

He still didn't speak and it was starting to unnerve her. Maybe he felt she was still treating him like a child and was offended, or perhaps–

He turned to meet her eye, and in the low light of the fire and lanterns they seemed a more intense blue. "I can braid your hair too, I remember."

Suddenly all that she had thought to say was gone and mutely she stood. He stood as well and for a second their faces were level. Minutely, his eyes widened and he sat down. Wondering what was going on, Zelda sat crisscross where he'd been and wrung out her hair a final time. If it was braided now it should be mostly dry by morning, not ideal, but it was better to sleep with a braid than get tangled up in her sleep.

He combed it out with his fingers, and something about how gentle he was sent shivers down her spine. The quiet settled again, except for his murmured "Sorry"'s when he pulled too hard, and her "It's fine"'s. When he finally finished her braid, she felt it with her hand.

"Good work," she said, "Now why don't you braid your own hair?"

"Braiding your hair is different," he insisted.

Playfully, she bumped her head into his knee. "Now you're just making excuses."

With the end of the braid still in his hands he said, "Maybe."

Slowly, he sat on the floor next to her, but he was still close, maybe closer than before.

"I'm really happy you're back," she said quietly, "so happy I can hardly believe it."

Once more he looked shocked, but not negatively so. "I'm happy I'm back too." he said finally, smiling softly. He seemed conflicted, but after a few moments of silent thought started to say, "I don't quite know how to say this, but Princess… When you said that you would wait for me to be at your wedding I–"

He was cut off by the door opening sharply, and the cry of, "Princess!"

She stood abruptly, slightly frustrated that whatever Link had been trying to say was interrupted. He was so deliberate with his words, she didn't like him to be cut off if it could be helped. When she saw the distressed look on the Rito's face though, she knew it was serious.

"There's been an assassination at the castle," said the guard.