Paya was the one to greet them first. The wave of monsters from the release of Ganon was a magnitude of three times what was expected, and Paya had lost Zelda in the chaos. From what they could tell, no one had been harmed in the Divine Beast's blast, which was a miracle in and of itself. As though the beam was especially harmful for creatures of evil, it could hurt normal people as well.
Hyrule Castle, while not totally ruined, was in need of major repair. The three of them sat at the bottom of the stairs leading to the Castle, resting what little they could. After they caught their breath, Zelda started to type out a message to all of the Sheikah terminals across Hyrule.
"What should I say?" she asked. She was too drained from the battle and sudden release of all major stress from the past 15 years. She could barely make two thoughts connect to speak.
Link looked to be in a similar state, but he still peered over her shoulder to see what she was doing.
"Announce that Ganon was defeated and sealed for another hundred lifetimes!" Paya said. She was the least tired, as though she fought hard, her soul and spirit hadn't been put through the wringer theirs were. "Announce that the Princess and Hero are alive and well!"
"I hardly matter in that," Link muttered. Zelda glared at him. He quickly amended, "But put it all in there if you want."
Zelda typed out the message.
Today Ganon was defeated and sealed once more, not to be free for millenia due to the combined effort of all of Hyrule. Your Princess and Hero stand victorious due to the Guardians, Divine Beasts, and their pilots. It was a victory for Hyrule, and though the castle may stand damaged, it stands still.
Paya and Link read it over, and gave it the go ahead. As Zelda went to hit send, she accidentally hit another button which took a picture. Before she could correct the mistake, the picture was sent too.
"Oh– how do I un-send?" Zelda asked in a panic.
Paya caught the slate as it slipped from the princess' hands. She studied the picture closer. "It's not bad."
Indeed, it wasn't that bad a picture, her expression wasn't strange or anything, but she did look a mess. Her curly hair was even wilder than normal, and she was covered in dirt and grime. Her dress was ruined, as what white dress could survive anything without staining? Link was in the back of the picture still over her shoulder, looking more scuffed up than she did, but honestly, still like himself. Only Paya's hand was in the picture, which was for the best, as Paya deeply distrusted picture taking. Something about images stealing souls.
"I don't see what's to not like about it," Link said as he leaned back to lounge on the step above.
She glanced back at him to see his tender gaze, and suddenly she was feeling hot all over.
"Ah, get a room you two," Paya groaned.
Zelda blinked. Slowly she said, "Link… Ganon is defeated. Considering your key role in completing this task, you may ask one request of the royal family."
Paya furrowed her brows in confusion, before seeing Link's reaction.
Link froze for a second, loosened up again and chuckled. "You wanna do that right now?"
"I know you're impatient."
"Marry me."
Both Zelda and Paya were astounded. Paya for him actually having the gall to do it most like, and them both for his lazy way of doing so.
Zelda hit him lightly on the knee. "That wasn't even a question," she protested.
"Fine," he huffed, and stood, lifting her up from under her armpits. Zelda didn't care to be manhandled, but at the moment she did need the help to get to her feet. "We'll do this properly."
She stood on the platform while Link kneeled in front of her. "I, Link, Hero of Hyrule, Slayer of the Ice Witch, Collector of Guardian Material–"
"You never got that title," she interrupted.
He looked up at her with just his eyes, and though his face was turned down, she could tell he was smiling. "Would you grant me that title?"
"Is that your request?"
"–Humbly request Princess Zelda's hand in marriage."
Zelda was smiling again, so hard her cheeks hurt. She'd thought when she first made this deal it would be with pleased contentedness she could accept this proposal. But without the weight of duty and destiny all she could feel was giddiness.
Part of her wanted to keep up their teasing, but she was barely able to keep standing. "I, Zelda, Princess of Hyrule, accept."
He smiled, but before he could do anything else, they were interrupted by the Slate ringing.
Zelda felt her head start to spin and made to sit down, steadied by Paya. The Slate rang a series of alerts, and Paya read them aloud.
"Monsters attacked in droves in Rito Village, but was able to hold them off. After Ganon was sealed they were easy to drive off."
"River Zora attacked. Unsure if directly connected, but defeated all the same."
"The Yiga made an assault on Gerudo city, alongside lizofoles, no match for Naboris' lightning! Glad to see the Princess and Hero are well."
Before Zelda could comment, the Slate rang again.
"Death Mountain decided to be active. A dragon attacked! I took it out, but it was hard. Ready for a long vacation."
Zelda couldn't help but smile at Darlus' comment.
"But nothing from Impa?" Zelda asked, "She must be somewhere here, right?"
"I don't see anything, I'll send her a message." Paya tapped out the message speaking out loud, "Where are you?" and sent it. It was in tense silence they waited for an answer. Zelda was starting to lose hope when the Slate rang.
"Great Plateau. Near Temple of Time," Paya read. "Why would she be there, there's nothing but–" A look of horror crossed her face. Quickly she opened the map to check locations. She zoomed in on the Great Plateau and besides the tower was another warp spot.
Zelda furrowed her brow. "What's that?"
Paya shook her head. "You can deal with that after you rest."
Link trusted Paya's judgement and nodded towards a tree in the field. "Let's go nap there. I'm sure they can find someone to guard us."
Zelda wanted to argue, she wanted to know what was going on with Impa, she wanted to sleep in her own bed. But she was exhausted. She let Link half carry her to the tree where they lay an arms length apart. Her eyes were already getting heavy. She turned her head to the side to look at her fiance. He was lying on his back, hands laced behind his head. His eyes were closed already, but as if sensing her gaze, he opened an eye to look back.
It suddenly struck Zelda that this may be a sight that would come to be familiar to her. When he closed his eye and smiled, she had to ask. "What?"
"Oh, uh– nothing." he said, and Zelda was suddenly reminded of that shy boy he used to be.
"Why are you smiling?"
"It's stupid," he insisted, but after a few moments said, "I remembered a bad pickup line I thought up while I was in Hebra."
Oh, was that how the great hero spent his free time?
"You must understand I had a lot of time to think when I was hiking between locations."
"Mhmm." she rolled so she was laying on her side. "You must tell me."
"Promise you won't take back your acceptance of my proposal."
She nodded. The air felt pleasantly warm.
"Has the Castleton tourism board made you a stop on tours of Caslteton's wonders? Because you are number one on my list."
He turned to look at her expectantly. She couldn't help but snort.
"I warned you." he said.
"You're lucky you're cute," she mumbled, eyes drifting shut, missing his blush.