Courage
He was quite excited about his new family, but at the same time remained determined to leave for the Spring of Courage as soon as possible.
I proposed that we go to the castle, to report Father about Akalla (well… and maybe about our little visit to Necluda), but Link rejected the idea, he wanted to face the three trials, those dangerous trials that had already put his life at risk.
So, despite how much he had looked forward to meeting the family for a lifetime, we didn't stay much longer in Hateno. Maybe long enough for spring to come in, so that Link could eat all of Grandma's food without exploding (by sheer miracle), but not long enough for his shoulder wound to heal, nor long enough for me not to see him wince in pain if he strained his leg too much.
Ardren and Fridd had been hard at work chopping wood, hunting, helping to reinforce the wall of Hateno's fort... Link was protecting his new family too, and sometimes I could see him losing his eyes at the sea, thinking of the one he had left behind.
He was different.
Stronger, more self-confident, and there was a different light in his eyes, which managed to disconcert me, because it was a new part of him that I didn't know. The springs had this power, and people mistakenly thought it was the prayer in the waters, or the power of the Goddesses themselves. But the power of change was always in the journey, in what we carry with us, in what we are given along the way, and also in all that we lose or leave behind.
I wondered if I had changed too - well, of course I had, because I was no longer Princess Zelda Bosphoramus. But... I wasn't just Zelda of the Eagle's Nest either. I knew there was something stirring inside me. For the first time I was truly afraid for Hyrule. Because what had happened to Link on Mount Lanayru was caused by an illusion, but at the same time it was as real as his wounds, a warning sign. And when darkness struck, it was impossible to protect everyone. I wanted to, as much as he did, but the war and battles take lives from our hands, and also leave their marks, on our bodies and our souls.
I had a hard time believing in fate, and that there are things we cannot control, but that they happen because they have to. Link seemed convinced of that, but I couldn't. It was against my nature and my way of perceiving the world. Everything could be changed, there always had to be something we could do to change the course of things. In my travels I learned that there were norms and rules that we derived from the very behaviour we observed in nature: in plants, in animal life, in the passing of the seasons, in the erosion of time on things... but always, always, something unexpected happened that hadn't yet been discovered or studied, and there were always changes that altered those rules. In fact, most of the time it happened that by studying something, we changed it. So, I couldn't believe in the idea that everything was written down.
"A thousand rupees for the thoughts of the princess of Hyrule," Ardren joked.
"It's nothing, I'm just trying to rest from today's journey."
"You're very quiet," he laughed, "but I'm glad it's just tiredness."
"Zelda, would you like some more stew?" Fridd offered me. I accepted it, even though I wasn't much hungrier, but he had struggled to make one of his mother's recipes and that put him in a good mood.
Impa was bandaging Link's hands, sheikah style. She was protecting them so that his recent wounds would not reopen, as they hadn't fully healed. Along the way we'd encountered hordes of monsters, more than I would like to admit, and he had again bled, he had again fought... he had again shed his skin in a reckless manner that bordered on the irrational. He caught me looking at him and got up to kiss me on the cheek and sit beside me. Then he could dip his spoon into my bowl of stew.
As for showing our affection for each other in public... Well, he was doing a fantastic job of it. He was doing fantastically and had stopped hiding. I was still blushing like an idiot, but I didn't pull away or stop him. Link was affectionate, he needed that touch as if it was his way of making sure everything was okay. And I needed that as much as he did, it's just... well, years of protocol can't be easily erased.
That night, they went hunting. Impa and him. I didn't know where that new alliance came from, but more and more it was Ardren and Fridd who stayed with me at the camp while Link and Impa were away. They came back late, I knew because I heard their footsteps splashing on the muddy ground. We were camped on the border of the jungle forest of Faron and as we had approached that border, the heat and humidity had become strong. Moreover, spring was the rainy season, and a dense layer of clouds was rising from the very heart of the forest.
I peeked my head through the canvas of my tent and saw that Impa and Link were accompanied by two spearmen dressed in skimpy clothes, with stones and animal tusks adorning their arms. They must have been members of the forest tribe.
"Princess," Impa approached me as she discovered me, "I thought you'd be asleep. We need you, I don't speak their dialect."
Even I found it a bit difficult to follow the dialect. It was old, and the tribe hadn't mixed much with the outside world for a long time. The news they gave me weren't good. They spoke of a poison, I couldn't translate it exactly, that had turned the waters of the Spring of Courage black and had ended up polluting every little fountain and stream in Faron. The tribesmen had no choice but to leave the jungle in search of clean water, and their only destination was the East, for it was the only fertile land, being surrounded to the North by the barren hill country and to the West by the Gerudo range. These two indigens were in search of water when they came upon Impa and Link. I asked about my brother, of course, and they said that he'd been trying to break the enchantment for weeks, but the Gods "didn't hear his voice", so the poison had spread further and further.
"It's the trial," Link said once when the three of us were alone.
"Impa, you were here before, did you know anything about this?" I questioned, feeling the restlessness knotting my stomach.
"No. The tribes allowed the prince and his troops to camp, but I saw nothing strange or contaminated in the waters."
"It must be inside the spring, like the other time," Link said with conviction, as he ran a stone along the edge of his sword. At other times I found that sound soothing, now it made me nervous.
"We are still half a day away from Prince Kahen's camp," Impa intervened, "tomorrow we will know more."
I nodded and agreed to set up our own camp before dawn.
Moving through the jungle wasn't pleasant. There were mosquitoes and it was sweltering hot even for spring. We had to stow all our cloaks and furs in the luggage carried by the mules, and the poor animals looked as exhausted and thirsty as we were. Our hair and clothes were sticking to our bodies, and the three barbarians didn't hesitate to uncover their torso and dress in as little as possible to bear the heat. Link hinted that I should do the same, and that he "hadn't seen me" since we were in the castle. Apart from ignoring his nonsense, I knotted my shirt so I could freshen up a bit, more than princess decorum would allow.
I had never travelled through the jungle alone, well, not as alone or as free as now, and whenever I had done so it had always been along the royal road, coming in from the north from the hill country. On the east side, however, there were countless ruined buildings, columns with images of beasts and incredible creatures carved on them, remnants of a civilisation long before our own. It was a less travelled and much more unspoilt area, full of beauty and mystery, a place I would have liked to visit without the urgency that plagued my husband and his two friends.
"You'll write down later," Link protested, a couple of times when I tried to draw the engraving of a stone column in my notebook.
"I don't know if we'll come through here again."
"Later," he growled, and took several long strides.
We arrived at Kahen's camp at nightfall. I thought it would be cooler and... well, the temperature had dropped, but the atmosphere was still tropical. The soldiers there didn't look good. They all looked exhausted, the effect of heat and dehydration, not having plenty of clean water nearby. I crouched by a stream and dipped my hand in the current. The water was murky, as if it was carrying a strange rust, millions of suspended particles. As if it was born from the bowels of a dark, volcanic earth and not from the crystal-clear spring where the Fountain of Courage was located. Surely it was acidic water, which caused vomiting and stomach pains or much greater disorders.
Two pale soldiers with dirty hair sticking to their heads led Link and me to my brother. The others stayed behind, looking for a dry place to camp. Impa decided that it should be in an area a little away from the rest of the camp, closer to the Faron Falls stables. Neither Ardren nor Fridd protested that they could rest at last, and give some rest to the horses and mules as well.
"Link," I whispered, as we walked after the soldiers "let me do the talking."
I saw the tension growing in his jaw and how he clenched his fists, seeking to calm down before the meeting with my brother.
"He doesn't know what we found in his quarters," I continued, in the face of his silence, "and if he knew Gae and I were snooping around, it would be a problem that I cannot explain in either way. Let me talk to him, now the important thing is to find out what's going on in this forest, I don't think it's normal and we need to understand why he hasn't warned Father about this or what the hell is going on here."
He stopped on his tracks and snorted, though he avoided looking at me directly.
"I told you I'd do anything you asked me to do."
"Then let me talk to my brother," I said, caressing his forearm. He relaxed a little, but not completely.
"You shouldn't be here," Kahen's voice said, behind our backs.
We both approached him to greet him and he led us to a large tent in a clearing between several trees. I don't know how it was possible, but inside his tent it was somewhat cooler and drier than outside.
"You can drink water, that one over there is clean," he offered, dropping into a kind of 'throne' he always carried on his travels. Kahen's been like that since I could remember him.
"What happened here? What's going on in the woods?" I asked.
"You always do the same thing," he said, waving his head, "since we were kids. You always have to stick your nose in everything I do, like you don't think I can solve it myself."
"It's not true, and I don't know what that's about now."
"What are you doing here, Zelda? I know for sure Father sent you to Akalla. Akalla! Gods, that's on the other side of the world. So, what have you missed so far south if not coming to correct your brother's mistakes?"
"I don't mean to correct anything. We received a message from Impa and then she met with us and... " I stopped myself. Kahen didn't have to know anything about what happened on Mount Lanayru. I looked at Link and his eyes had the same ice blue, "we're here to help."
"Have you brought more barbarians?" Kahen asked Link.
"Only my two trusted men."
"Well," he snorted, "in that case take a rest and leave tomorrow for the castle. You don't have to stay any longer. I'll figure it out on my own. Take Impa with you, she's not needed here."
"We're not going to leave until we know what's going on," I said firmly, "the water is contaminated and getting worse and worse. Kahen..."
He stood up and peered outside his tent, asking the soldiers to walk away. He came back waving his head, condescending.
"Alright, so much so that you insist...," he sighed, "there is a darkness inhabiting the Spring of Courage."
"A darkness..."
" At first I wanted to extinguish it myself, but the forest is poisoned and no matter what I do, I walk for hours and in the end it is impossible to advance to the sacred spring. A poisonous fog covers the forest and stuns the senses. So I asked my men to make a long rope chain. I asked them to map a safe path to the spring. Only three of the five men I sent returned. Two of them are sick and the poison is growing around the forest. I tried to go myself because..." he paused to study us, "well, I wanted to visit the statue of the goddess. But it's too dangerous and useless, so I've left this in the hands of my most experienced explorers. They are getting deeper and deeper, we are close to solving this matter."
"I don't see in any way that you're close to solving it," I speculated, feeling the heat rising through my stomach, like many other times I'd argued with him "rather I think the situation has gone worse. We've seen two members of a Faron tribe looking for clean water because they're starting to have supply problems."
"See Captain Link? I knew my sister would come to save the world, as usual."
Link didn't move from the spot, he didn't even blink.
"Tomorrow we'll go to check it out," I determined, "Impa will help us. And if necessary we will take some Faron inhabitants, someone who knows the place."
"Tomorrow you will do nothing because I'm still in charge of this operation. I am the crown prince and you must obey me. Father wanted it that way, just as he wanted your husband in Akalla and you in the castle. But you weren't even able to obey that."
"As far as I know, of all of us, I am the one who has obeyed Father the most." It was too late, I couldn't control my anger anymore, "it seems you've forgotten how I obeyed, accepting payment for the mistakes you've made, so I don't know what the hell you're talking about."
"This conversation is mis-rather, it is clear that you cannot put a woman in charge of any major operations. You always do the same thing, you end up mixing everything with personal feelings. Go away and let me clear it up with Captain Link."
"You must be dreaming if you think I'm going to get out of here. What the hell is wrong with you, Kahen? What's the matter with you, really? Because as hard as I try, I can't understand you."
"You always get in the way, and I'm sick of you and your always hoarding Father's attention."
"Me hoarding? Tell me what the hell am I hoarding, if Father didn't hesitate for a second to hand me and my dignity over to a foreigner. He watched me die of terror for over a week and did nothing to stop it, so what am I hoarding?"
"You always think you're the smartest of the three, you think you're smarter than me and a lot more than Gae. You think you're the only one who could rule Hyrule, everyone thinks you'd be a just, magnanimous queen. Nothing to do with the reckless Prince Kahen."
" Goddesses, you're the only one who has always done what you've always wanted to do, Kahen. Going hunting, having your own patrol of hand-picked knights, the horses, the tournaments, everything! I've only ever existed to marry a foreigner and possibly avoid a war, so tell me, tell me to my face! What am I trying to take from you?"
"The power of the goddesses!" He exclaimed. And with one swipe he threw a ceramic bottle that shattered on the floor.
Kahen was transposed, his gaze lost and trying in vain to calm down. I realised that at some point I had cried, I hated to do it and much more in front of Kahen, but I didn't even know how it had happened.
"Link," I whispered, approaching gently. He was rigid and his icy eyes were fixed on my brother, "wait for me outside for a moment."
"Don't ask me that."
"Please. Let me talk to him alone," I pleaded.
He sighed and I don't even know how, he agreed to leave us. I once heard his footsteps moving away, I started picking up the fragments of the broken bottle on the floor.
"I'm so sorry you think I'm stealing something from you. I've always believed that of the three of us I was the invisible daughter."
"I still can't figure out what you're doing with that disgusting barbarian," he growled with his lost gaze, "you could have stayed in the castle with Father instead of following him to Akalla, we'd have arranged another marriage for you. Goddesses, and much earlier, you could have run away with me in the rito village. You've had a lot of chances to escape and you haven't moved a finger to do it. The monsters are invading us because of the barbarians, if you think you are so capable of fixing things, why don't you fix that?"
"We haven't been invaded because of the barbarians."
I sounded firm, but actually... of course Link and his family were totally out of suspicion, but there were many barbarians in the West and some had to open the door to enemies. In any case I didn't want to agree with him, especially after accusing me of wanting to monopolise the throne or Father's love.
"It would have been enough if you had asked for help from me, your big brother and not the little one, and I would have taken you out of that hell. I'd have done it without hesitation to save you from paying for my sins. Instead, you come here accusing me as usual, the perfect princess, trying to teach me what a prince of Hyrule should be like, and accusing me for that barbarian raping you on your wedding night when you know how much I regretted what happened. I'd have shown you that I can be the king of Hyrule that no one expects. I'd have rescued you. I wouldn't have abandoned you to your fate and I wouldn't have turned my back on you."
"You confuse everything...," I sighed. I sat next to him and grabbed his hands. "The first thing you need to know is that Link... He should be as you say, someone heartless and self-interested who would have had me tormented and subdued in his tower, a revenge for the wrong his people suffered. But it turns out he's nothing like that. And it turns out that I love Link and I'm happy with him instead of hating him. I'm not the princess of Hyrule you imagine, I might even be a bad sister and a bad daughter for giving in to a possible enemy like that. And I don't want to go back to Father, nor do I want anyone to rescue me... I don't want the throne of Hyrule, so you can rest assured. But... I do thank you for trying to rescue me. To be honest, I didn't think I was that important to you."
He let go of my hands and stood up, clearly upset and more nervous.
"You've been confused by lust or whatever. You have no experience with men and that's why you've given up, but I assure you that it will pass."
"Lust?" I let out a laugh, "Kahen... tell me how I can help you, really. Beyond this cursed place, tell me how I can get what haunts your head out of you."
"The power of the goddesses shall be mine, and I will be the best king Hyrule will ever have known. The barbarians will surrender and submit to Hyrule, as it always should have been. Then I will raise a border so powerful that no enemy will have to cross from Ikana. And if you're not with me on this plan, you'll be against me."
"Alright, keep making plans," I stood up, "I'm not going to interfere with any of that. There is only one last thing I want to ask, and that is why you tried to kill me."
At first he seemed surprised, but he let out an ironic laugh, which sounded grotesque. I was perplexed, because he seemed to be sick, really, and I was a long way from being able to rescue him.
"Once again, you're naive. And I have no idea how you came to that conclusion, I guess the other traitor will have helped you."
"Don't even think about putting a finger on Gae. He has nothing to do with this."
"I'd never hurt my family. Whether you're wrong about everything or not, you're my blood. I just wanted to get you out of there, out of that nest of enemies, that Father saw that the barbarians can't be trusting and that I can rescue my family much better than him. But you hugged your enemy, clung to it instead of the chance to run away and help me clean up my mistake once and for all."
"You could have killed me, you know that, right?"
"My spies would have intervened sooner, don't be stupid. They would have give you the antidote."
"Kahen, what did you mean?" tears came to my eyes again, although I tried not to let it show, "you really wanted to save me, or did you want to clean your mistake in front of Father?"
"I'm tired. We've been working all day and I need to rest. Whatever you need, you can ask my men, but don't go near the Spring of Courage. End of discussion."
I nodded silently and left him there, unable to raise his head to look me in the eye. Everything he had plotted he had done for himself, for no one else. Goddesses, what had happened to him to make him so lost and alone? Maybe it was my fault, my fault for always paying more attention to Gae than to him.
Link wasn't in the mood either, that's what I was missing. He was absent and mumbling his own conclusions, which I hoped were not wrong. We walked on in silence, as a heavy tropical storm began to pour down on our heads. At first it was just warm trickles of water, then it began to rain harder and we were soon soaked from head to toe.
"Was it him?" He growled, striding and sloshing in the mud.
"It's more complicated than that."
"He poisoned you with Eyes of Death, yes or no?"
"Yes, but-
"I don't want to know any more."
"Link, don't be angry with me, please. That's the last thing I need now."
"I'm not angry."
"He didn't mean to kill me, he had his reasons, selfish reasons, but he had them and he didn't want to kill me."
"You've always had those weird ideas," he stopped, halfway. The rain fell on us, but we didn't care, "those weird ideas like he poisoned me, but it's reasonable or I wasn't in love with him, but I wanted to marry him because it was a good political union. What are they doing with you in this country?"
"I've never had the same freedom as you Link, the crown has a price to pay."
"Well, I understand about the price. But take it for what it is, it does me no good for you to exculpate your brother or your father or your strange ways. No one should believe that it's right to be forced to marry for any reason, or to believe that an attempted murder is not to be made light of if the intention was only to intimidate, or to try to cover up the murder of a child with gold."
"Do you think I approve of that?" I felt the tears burn my face again, they were warmer than the rain that drenched me, "you married without squealing out of obligation. And you took the gold to cover up a murder."
"But I don't justify it in any way. Look... " He sighed, still nervous and upset, "I need to clear up a little bit. I'll be back at camp later, I don't even know if the horses have water and food."
"Link, don't go to the spring tonight. You're nervous and you're upset about what happened, so please, I beg you not to go."
"I'm going to check on the horses."
He walked on past me and I saw him get lost near those dark stables. I went back to our camp, where Impa and the others were having trouble keeping all our stuff from getting soaked. Ardren and Fridd cut palm fronds and other tree leaves to put over the tarpaulins to keep the water down and told me that they had tried to stay at the inn, but it was already overcrowded with travellers and members of my brother's entourage.
Luckily the showers were fairly regular, but not long lasting, and by dinner time it had stopped and we even lit a small fire. Not that we were cold (unfortunately I thought the rain would make the night cooler, but the dampness just trapped the heat more), it was just to warm up the food. We dined in a kind of tense silence. There were no questions about our meeting with Kahen, or why Link preferred to be with horses rather than humans. The boys knew him and did not give it the slightest thought.
"Well?" Impa asked, after a long silence. We were all already resting around our extinguished fire... I guess it's hard to get out of that habit.
"Tomorrow we will go to the Spring of Courage. We should find some local guide, can you take care of it?"
"No problem, princess."
"Are we all going there?" Fridd asked.
"Yes. All of us. It could be dangerous, so I can't impose that you two come... but I confess that I'd like to keep us together."
"We'll go with you, of course," he said, with conviction.
We were a little quieter. I don't know what the hell Link would be doing.
"Well, this is ridiculous. I'm going to bring Link here," I said, standing up, "I won't be long."
"Sure, my lady," smiled Ardren.
I sighed with relief that Link was in the stable and hadn't thought of leaving in the middle of the night. He still seemed taciturn, though, and had been busy brushing the horses one by one. At the moment he was focused on Ardren's horse.
"You didn't come to dinner," I said. I only approached at a safe distance, and stood leaning my back against a wooden post in the stable. I heard a rattle on the roof, so the rain was back again.
"I'm not hungry."
"Oh, then you must be sick or on the verge of death," I teased him.
"I'll eat later."
"Okay. I just came to make sure everything's okay." I turned around and left him with a frown on his face.
"You died of terror for more than a week," he murmured behind my back. I stopped to get close again.
"Yes. Weren't you scared?"
"I wouldn't call it that way, I was rather angry. With my father, with yours... with the whole world."
"You know I'm sorry and I understand."
"I would never have hurt you, Zelda" he said, looking at me for the first time.
"I had no way of knowing it. To me, you were just a barbarian from the West."
"And to me you were a frightened child. That's why I got angrier when you refused to see me at the castle. If you'd given me that chance, you might have seen that I didn't mean to hurt you, your week of terror would have ended."
"I'm not perfect and I was wrong, Link," I shrugged, " I was only afraid and dreamt that it was all a nightmare from which I could wake up."
"Do you think I was wrong to shoot your brother?"
"No," I approached and caressed his arm from the shoulder to his hand. I hooked his fingers with mine, "I think Kahen got lucky with your horrible aim."
I saw a mirage of smile on his lips. He took a step and we were so close that I already began to tremble in advance. I hated that he managed to deactivate me so easily.
"I'm going to forgive Kahen," he whispered, almost on my lips. I closed my eyes waiting for a kiss that didn't come, only more anticipation and a tingle everywhere, "but this is the last chance I give him."
"I'm not going to give him any more chances either."
"I only have one question left," he said, and pulled my hair behind my ear.
"Well, don't take so long to make it."
"Are you with me out of lust?"
I let out a huge laugh, and so did he.
"So, you heard us with your big ears..."
"Not much, just that."
Deep down he was so tender... He caressed me and we kissed, kissed as if we hadn't done it for weeks. He wrapped an arm around my waist and carried me up the wooden pole from where I'd been watching him. He pressed me against him and the post, and every time he reduced the pressure, my body screamed for more.
"Well... " I managed to say, freeing myself from his mouth for a second, "maybe lust has something to do with it..."
He let out another laugh against my neck as he struggled to open my shirt. It didn't take him long, it was so hot that it was only slightly knotted. He touched me gingerly at first, though it wasn't long before he was sinking his face into my chest looking for more. I had a second's hesitation, it was the stable belonging to the inn, but it was an enclosed area, we were almost in darkness and I very much doubted anyone would show up there. He continued to trace a line of kisses down my belly, he searched and stopped at the points where I cringed at the feel of his mouth. When he reached my belt buckle he stopped, but almost instantly I felt his fingers tapping, as if they were the paws of a tiny animal manipulating it off me. I was so aroused I couldn't explain how such a small touch could make me feel this way. He undressed me and I closed my eyes and pressed my back against the post while he was still bent over, I didn't know what he was going to do with me, or maybe I did, but there? In the middle of a stable? I waited and nothing happened. When I opened my eyes I saw his eyes in front of me, burning. He kissed the tip of my nose, just that, and plunged a hand between our bodies and then slipped it between my legs and touched me. I writhed in pleasure at the contact and moaned so loudly I made him laugh.
"It's not funny," I protested.
"I think it's funny, I want to hear it again."
"No way."
He moved his hand, his fingers, I don't know what, but it made me moan unintentionally again, loud and unbidden. And I hated him for it.
"You're too wet down there."
"I know," I grabbed his wrist and put his hand away.
"I don't mind if you are, rather... " he said, bewildered, almost panicked at whether he had done or said something wrong.
Before he could react I stroked him over his trousers and I noticed how he completely blocked. He even opened his mouth to try to babble to stop me from going down that road, but I managed to get his belt off and undress him as well. I had never touched him before, this was the first time.
"Well... " he murmured, confused, not knowing what step to take.
"Don't be silly, Link," I pulled him to kiss me, and he did, as our bodies grew tighter with the touch.
"This is... I mean, this is not the place I'd imagined for... being with you."
"So you're not going to continue? I thought men in the West were not afraid of being heard…"
He lifted my leg by hooking it with his arm and held me tight, against the pole, as he searched for a way to fit me. His hands were burning, goddesses, it was happening, I didn't even know how, but I just wanted him to keep going. I closed my eyes and I could feel it all, how he sank easily inside me, how a relief washed over me as he pressed himself against me all the way inside, all over, until he couldn't go deeper. He groaned with the first movement out, also relieved and enveloped in that kind of shared dizziness, it was so soft and so pleasant... it was nothing like what I remembered from our wedding night, and I found myself wanting more and more. I opened my eyes for a moment as he moved inside, tasting me, and saw him watching me, studying me as he did so. We kissed awkwardly and he pressed his forehead to mine.
"Link, faster..."
Only my selfish desires spoke, I felt something inside me bubbling, like a tingle of pleasure that was swelling, about to overflow. I wanted to get to that point just to touch it, it was contradictory, so sometimes I pressed myself against him hard, seeking him, blinded by desire, and sometimes I pulled away to push the moment away. He was sweating, almost all the effort was in him, he was tense and hard and my hands were sliding across his skin. He pulled me up just a little higher on my leg and took control. He moved hard and fast and I came without being able to control myself for a second longer, I trembled up and down and felt like the world was clouding around me. I looked into his eyes and saw a question in his, he was panting, unmoving.
"Go on," I said, seeing his bewilderment.
"But you..."
"Come on, go on," I pressed my hips against him, inciting him.
He went on a little longer, it wasn't the same for me, it was as if my body belonged in another world, but he was where I was seconds before, and it didn't take him long to finish, he moaned and then hugged me, letting his arm fall limply and my leg dropped with him to the floor.
"Zelda... " he whispered.
"It wasn't horrible," I smiled.
"No," he smiled at me too, before kissing me.
He immediately bent down to try to help me get dressed. True, we were still in the middle of the stable, it was a good idea. It was he who pulled up my trousers, I let him buckle my belt and knot my shirt, his eyes focused on leaving the knot the same as it was before. Only then did he take care of himself, but I admit it was so nice to feel him dressing me that all I could think about was getting undressed to start again.
"You know? If Kahen ever accuses me of being with you out of lust again, we'll both know how to respond."