Weeks passed between the assassination and Princess Zelda's return to the castle. They were a quiet time of mourning and regrouping– of seeing where things stood. The state of things. There was a last will and testament because there always was and it did make things easier for Zelda. The directions were clear, and the traditions were old.

The funeral was a large affair. It was closed casket, for obvious reasons, something Zelda hadn't commented on. She hadn't input much at all, floating like a ghostship with the tide. There were processions, a sea of dark clothing, and people weeping. Among the crowd were white lilies. It was a contrasting time in many ways.

Link had only ever been to one funeral before, if the simple pyre he'd built for his adopted father counted as one. Losing him had been the hardest thing Link had ever lived through, so he could imagine how Zelda felt.

Link had at least been able to personally enact vengeance, and though it didn't make him feel much better, it made him feel things were finished. That a new chapter of his life was starting. He'd moved to the castle, which while impressive, wasn't a place he longed for until he met her.

Link wished he could be the guiding light she had been to him, but he also knew their stresses were different. When Rauru had died, Link had mourned. He'd had solitude, he hadn't needed to put on a face everyday and act like he was put together. He hadn't been. He'd been a wreck.

Zelda hadn't cried yet. Some part of Link also understood that. He hadn't been able to cry for a bit after, not until it sunk in.

The evening after the burial, Link accompanied Zelda to a breezeway overlooking the garden. The sunset was beautiful and a breeze caught Zelda's dark veil and skirts. She sat on the railing with Link close by. They didn't speak.

The sun disappeared under the horizon and twilight set in, the air turning cold. Zelda didn't move. There was a crease in between her brows that Link desperately wanted to right.

But he didn't know how. He'd never been gifted with a silver tongue, nor even one of a lesser metal. He could hold her if she needed that, he could wipe her tears, he could tell her everything would be alright, but he couldn't initiate any of that and she hadn't made any indication that she would. She probably needed space and privacy, something for her own safety he couldn't provide.

The assassin they'd captured alive had died in captivity not long after the first message had been sent. It was a suicide via some curse. And with that, their leads dried up. All they could hope at this point was that the entire rogue faction had died in the attack. A hope that Link was almost certain was false. He felt it in his bones.

She'd grown statuesque in her grief. Like a figure made of marble. She'd gotten paler over the weeks she'd stayed in the castle with her veil, her dark clothes emphasising the contrast. She seemed both strong and fragile all at once. She had the weight of a kingdom and destiny, and bore it well, yet he knew if something hit her in the right place she would probably shatter.

"They were serving Ganon," she said, not looking at him. Her eyes were fixed somewhere in the horizon. He didn't need to ask who she was talking about.

"Is that known for sure?" he asked. She must've found this out when she was with Paya, as he'd not heard anything besides the fact the traitor had died.

She nodded. Slowly, she blinked and turned to face him. "A testimony from one of the guards who was severely injured in the attack. He only awoke today."

"Zel– er– Princess," he started awkwardly, "This doesn't change anything, it only gives us more of a reason to defeat Ganon."

"Yes…" she said, drifting off, before walking away from him. He caught up to be in step with her, unable to catch her eye. "Link, this may mean it was my fault."

"Your fault?" he couldn't help but ask.

"If I had been here–"

"You would've died with them," he said almost harshly. More softly he added, "You would've left all the work to me too."

She stared hard at the ground. For a second, Link feared he'd over stepped, been too blunt. He should've kept his big mouth shut. But Zelda only said, "You're right. I couldn't do that to you." She started walking again. "And Link, I don't know what you think changed, but you can still call me Zelda when we're alone."

Link swallowed dryly. He'd been trying to be more respectful now that she was the crown princess, and largely failing due to his lack of formal education on manners. It'd felt foreign to going back to calling Zelda just 'Princess' or 'Your Highness,' so he was happy at least some of the time he could call her more familiarly.

"Of course, Zelda."

She took his arm then, as he'd seen her do for male escorts as she walked, and led him to dinner. It was then that Link realized how much had changed.

...

Months after the death of the king, queen, and crown prince, there was a final calibration for the interfaces of the Divine Beast and unfortunately, it had to take place at the castle.

Amphritus was the first to come, a Zora warrior who was only slightly less serious than Kadli. He was nearly too old to be a capable warrior, but it seemed he had one battle left in him. He was tall, well, all Zora were, but he was especially so. His eyes were sad and serious, and far too often focused on Link for Link's liking at least.

Link wondered if it was for similar reasons as Kadli; if Amphritus wanted proof of his worth as Hero. It wasn't long after the Zora had arrived that he'd gotten his answer.

"We just need you to confirm that the terminal is picking up the same signal as the satellite terminals," Zelda said.

"No, I understand that, but where do I see that exactly?" Amphritus asked yet again, peering closer at the small screen.

Zelda tried to explain again and Link tried to stop his eyes from glazing over. He sympathized in that he didn't really understand it either, but then again, it wasn't his job to pilot the machines. Though it was strange. Sometimes… sometimes he could swear he could hear whispering coming from the terminal.

Finally, deciding that they might as well try, the test started. And… it failed.

Zelda frowned at the results. "We need to increase the sychonsity, otherwise there will be lag between the different components… I don't know how to fix this right now."

Amphritus frowned as well. He clearly wanted to say something, but thought better of it. Link knew that feeling. It was tempting to tell Zelda not to worry, but there was so much to worry about, and he knew he didn't understand half of it. "I will meditate on this, Princess."

Zelda nodded with tired eyes. "Thank you Amphritus. I know this is all a lot to get used to."

"It is the nature of things to grow. The future will be brighter for the toiling we do now. That's how I think about it at least."

The princess smiled and took her leave. Link followed her, floundering not for the first time. He just wanted to be useful, but all he seemed to do these days was follow her like a loyal dog. Which would perhaps prove quite useful should anyone make the mistake of attacking her, but as it stood, it just meant a lot of standing. Eyeing Zelda, he couldn't say it was without a nice view.

Zelda was still in mourning even now that the formal period had passed, wearing dark and muted colors. She'd even skipped her own birthday because of it. Despite that, he couldn't help but think she was beautiful. He tried not to think about it though. She was right when she had said there wasn't time for it. Still, they were engaged– sort of.

Given some distance from the tragedy, Link could now appreciate that. It was just the nature of his luck to be within happiness' grasp only to lose something precious. It'd been like that with Rauru too.

That was a memory seared into his mind. He'd only been 13 at the time and Rauru had sat him down. Link had been worried that he may have been in trouble, but Rauru had set his mind at ease.

"You're not in trouble, ma'boy," he said with a sigh, "not yet. Not with me."

Link had looked on curiously.

"You're meant for great things, greater than these mountains. Soon, you'll need to go to the capital."

"But why?" Link couldn't imagine a life outside of the mountains that had been his cradle. He hadn't understood the need to leave.

"You have a destiny and… and it's clear I've taught you all that I can. At the castle you will learn more."

"Destiny?" At that point, Link was still under the impression he was nothing special.

"Very soon a great evil will grip Hyrule. You will need to prepare and you should do that at the castle." Rauru had seemed sage-like in that moment. Glowing in a way, though not physically. Link wasn't sure how he'd known such things.

"Evil?" was all Link could've asked. A question that Rauru had never answered.

Rauru hadn't wanted to speak about the evil. He was superstitious, and believed talk of ill things could bring them. He also believed that speaking of good things could cause them to not happen due to evil spirits. Link didn't know if he believed that, but he'd gotten more tight-lipped as he'd gotten older. Not speaking didn't stop misfortune from following him though. Rauru had died trying to protect Link from the ice witch. Link had killed the witch and then made his way to the castle only to find there wasn't much left for him to be taught. It was the lily of Hyrule that made him believe it was where he was supposed to be. Was it the nature of things to have good and bad in cycles?

His king, queen, and crown prince had all been assassinated, and the woman he loved lost her family, but he'd also found out she wanted to marry him!

...or would be okay with marrying him. There was a slight difference, but Link was sure she wouldn't do something she didn't want to do. But first they had to defeat and reseal Ganon.

After another meeting, the two went to the garden, Zelda deciding she was going to try and relax. A troubled mind didn't find solutions easily, was her excuse.

Zelda was water coloring. Or trying to. She kept stalling before the brush touched the paper.

"Do you hear the voice of the Divine Beasts?" she asked finally.

"The voice?" he asked.

"Like… a buzzing in your ears."

"Is that what that is?"

Her eyes lit up. "So you do?"

"I guess so?"

She set down her water color and instead drew a small notepad out of her pocket. She started scribbling away, muttering under her breath. "How well can you hear it, any words?" she asked.

"Uhh…" he tried to think back. It wasn't something he focused on. In fact he usually tried to ignore it. It felt intrusive for some reason, especially when a pilot was talking to it. "Not much more than a faint murmur, like I'm half listening through a wall."

Zelda nodded. "This just might work, or at least help us find the problem."

"Really?" Link asked.

"Really." Zelda smiled slightly. The smile still didn't reach her eyes. Link felt bad for forcing her, however indirectly, to feel she had to put on a show.

Though as it would turn out the next day, Impa had already troubleshot it and Link was back to his guard duty. Which was probably for the best that his attention was undivided. But he was a good multitasker! He could do more than just stand around!

The fix had come from Zelda's report to Impa, who was still in Rito Village and a one message from Amphritus after his meditation. It was carried out and the Terminals were all synchronized. Which also meant Amphritus would be leaving soon and the next pilot would come.

Later in the evening, Link was in the yard practicing, trying to relieve his frustration at reaching his max usefulness. Paya was with the queen to be at the moment, they were probably getting ready for bed, something he obviously could have no part in. When the two of them were busy, Link had basically no friends. He had plenty of acquaintances, but most of the Sheikah were too serious to be distracted from duty (and they were always on duty), and most of the castle staff was too in awe of him. Part of him wanted to just finish off Ganon and get that done and over with, but the more rational part knew they needed more time to be ready.

He also wanted to launch his own investigation into the killers of Zelda's parents and be sure it was only the four that had done it, however at this point, he knew any skill at tracking he possessed would be useless. He was a skilled tracker, but Hylians were different from animals. Sheikah were even more elusive.

Most of all, he wanted to take all the pain in her heart onto himself. He wanted her to know she wasn't alone, she would never need to be alone as long as he was around. He wanted to be a rock she could rely on. He wanted to tell her how much he loved her. But he couldn't do that. Doing that would just cause her more pain. He was slowly falling out of his comfort zone, day by day.

His thoughts were interrupted by the large gray Zora entering the training yard.

Link nodded a greeting, and returned to his practice. His time was interrupted again when Ampritus spoke.

"You're thinking about something."

"I'm not thoughtless," he jested.

Amphritus chuckled deeply. "I never meant to imply such a thing. There's something on your mind. Something that's bothering you."

He wasn't wrong. Link lowered his sword. "How'd you know?"

"I used to do the same thing." Amphritus weighed a spear in his webbed hand. "It was usually one of two things…" He threw the spear, hitting a target in the second smallest circle. He frowned. "One, a princess." He picked up another spear and threw it, hitting the center. "Two, dissatisfaction in myself." He smiled then and turned to Link. "They generally related to each other a bit too."

Link blushed despite himself. He knew most people knew about, or at least suspected, his love for the princess. It wasn't like he was good at hiding it. He didn't try to show it off either, for her sake as much as his.

Amphritus continued, "It's good to have someone to protect. It's sometimes hard to find the will to fight without it."

"I'm not doing it just for her."

"Of course you aren't. But she lights your blood on fire just a bit, doesn't she."

He couldn't deny that.

"I had that once, but that's the cruel thing about disease, it doesn't respond at all to threats." His amber eyes burned into Link's. "So listen to me, Hero. Don't keep it all in your heart. You'll regret it."

Link was quiet for a while. Finally he said, "She knows." He let out a huff. "Everyone knows."

Amphritus laughed loudly. "It's not as obvious as you think it is, don't worry. And there's more to love than declarations of it. There's no time for romance now, of course, but that doesn't mean you can't show her your love."

Show her… It sounded so simple when said like that. He wasn't sure where to start with it, but he was sure he could find something. So caught up in his thoughts and plans, he realized he'd been silent for a few minutes. He turned quickly to Amphritus. "Thank you! Your advice is invaluable."

"Of course it is."