The journey back to Hyrule castle was a very silent one. Normally Zelda would speak her mind on such long journeys but neither of them were in a right state of mind. The kiss had left them so confused, they knew how they both felt but they knew it could never be. Unless there was anything Zelda could come up with to justify any sort of relationship between them Link had no idea what to do. His feelings for her had been very subdued until her lips touched his, then it was like a gate opened and these new sensations came flooding in. It was an odd feeling but he enjoyed it. "Zelda, are you sure you're okay?" She turned to face him, her smile was very clearly fake. "Link, I assure you, I am perfectly fine." He looked down, unable to bear the sight of pain that was so evident in her eyes. "Okay, I'm not fine. Neither of us are. I just wish that someway we could be together.." He blushed softy at her words, at least he knew how she truly felt. "Let's not focus on that for now though, when we arrive at the castle we shall meet with my Father. We should explain what happened before gossip gets out." He froze, and as she glanced over at him she giggled slightly. "Link, if you think I would be dumb enough to mention our kiss to my Father then you clearly don't know me at all." He relaxed and nodded softly. "Just the attack will do fine." She concluded before he looked forward. They were just entering Hyrule Field now, the castle was the centrepiece of the amazing view.
It wasn't all that long until they arrived at the castle. They made their way up towards the Sanctum to meet with Zelda's Father. They both stepped inside and he seemed surprised to see them. "I thought you had arranged to return yesterday, Zelda." He walked over to the railing and gazed down at them both. Link knelt down, respectfully bowing his head. "Yes, that was the intention, but something came up." He braced himself for her Father's reaction, his reaction could vary from a wide array of things. "I was walking through the desert and I was ambushed.. It was the Yiga Clan who began chasing me. However, Link saved me before anything bad could happen." 'That was an understatement.. you were seconds from death.' He listened silently and waited for the King's response. "What were you doing away from Link?" He heard her stutter slightly, trying to respond accordingly. "He was getting some things together, I simply went for a small stroll. I didn't think I'd be attacked that clos-" "You didn't think.. Zelda, you do know the burden which you must bear. Without you Hyrule will fall into ruins upon the return of Calamity Ganon. I cannot accept you to be so careless in future. You must be with Link at all times or else things like that will happen, you're lucky he was there to save you, there's no telling what those people would do." He sighed before Link heard his footsteps. "You are dismissed, Zelda. However, Link I must speak with you." He looked up, and noticed Zelda glance at him with a worried gaze as she made her way out of the room. "Yes, your highness?" He felt nervous, wondering if the King somehow knew about their kiss. "There has been reports of monster attacks on the outskirts of the Eldin Region, I would appreciate if you could take a look over there tomorrow morning and see if there is anything you can do to help out. I would like you to take Zelda so you can keep an eye on her, but don't put her in harms way. Am I understood?" Link nodded, relieved that he didn't know anything. "Of course." "Then you are dismissed." Link stood before giving a respectful nod and exiting the Sanctum. Zelda was waiting for him outside. "Is everything okay?" She seemed worried. "Everything is fine. I was simply instructed to check out some monster attacks in the Eldin Region tomorrow. You are to come with me but stay out of danger." She seemed visibly relieved at that. "I suppose Zora's Domain will have to wait a day or two then." She didn't seem disappointed by that, for which Link was grateful. "There's a stable you can probably stay at whilst I check the area out." He explained, he knew she couldn't get in the firing line. "Very well then, we'll leave in the morning."
The next morning Link woke early. He waited outside Zelda's door as usual and she eventually came out twenty minutes later. "Right then, I suppose we should get going." They made their way down to the castle stables before taking their horses out. Link decided they should stop at the Woodland stable, Zelda could wait there whilst he went searching, so they made that their destination and spent the next half hour travelling. Once they arrived Link went to the front desk and went through the process of boarding their horses. He realised he'd never learned the name of Zelda's horse, so he decided to ask her. "What's your horse named?" She looked up and was seemingly confused, as if she recalled telling him. "His name is Wild. I called him that considering that he can get quite hard to control at times." Link nodded, it was a nice name and it made sense. They made their way inside the stable and they took a seat each at a table. Link figured he could talk to her for some time before checking out the problem. "Link, what did that moment in the desert mean to you?" He shifted uncomfortably, he knew that question was always waiting to escape her lips. "Zelda, it doesn't matter what it meant, because nothing can stem from it." She sighed softly and looked down. He felt bad for leaving it at that. "But it was nice, it did mean a lot. It's just a shame that nothing can be done about it." She nodded softly. "You're right, but if it helps, it meant a lot to me too." He smiled briefly before nodding. "I'd better go, we can talk when I get back I suppose." She looked up at him and returned his smile. "I'll be here, and I promise you I won't need saving today." He chuckled before making his way outside and scaling the mountain in order to find the source of the problem.
--
After Link had left Zelda decided to pass the time by reading a book. She hadn't brought any books with her so she walked up to the front desk. "Excuse me, sir. Do you have any books I could read for some time?" She watched him nod and reach under the desk. He pulled out a rather small book, she read the title. 'The eccentric memoirs of Hyrule's most skilled archer' Revali's face was plastered all over the cover. She supposed it was worth taking a look at. "Thank you, this will do fine." She put on a smile before taking the book and making her way over to the table she previously sat at. She was surprised to see that Revali already had a book dedicated to him. She wasn't sure of his exact age but she knew he was around 25. She supposed his skill was somewhat unrivalled, but it still seemed a little ambitious. She read through the book, discovering that Revali's ego wasn't always there. It was only when he began partaking in competitions that he began to become prideful of his achievements, which led to him becoming so egotistical that he ended up almost expecting to be the one who would wield the sword that seals the darkness. She got lost in the book, finding it rather amusing, that she completely lost track of time. By the time she looked up she realised it was now early in the afternoon. She frowned in confusion before walking up to the desk again. "Sorry to bother you, but do you know how long I was sitting there?" He thought for a moment before tilting his head to the side. "Somewhere between three to four hours I'd say." She raised an eyebrow, the time had flown by. She then stopped, where in the name of Hylia was Link? She needed to go check on him, he'd been gone for ages, what if something had happened to him? "Thank you sir." She quickly made her way out of the stable and began heading up the hill where Link had gone. The terrain was rough and difficult to traverse at times but she was able to manage. She eventually saw Link sitting down, holding his arm. There were countless bodies of enemies laying on the ground ahead of him. Multiple Lynels and Bokoblins lay lifeless, she was impressed to say the least. She strolled over to Link before noticing that his sleeve was stained with blood, and he was trying to stop a small flow of blood. She rushed over to his side and examined his wound. "Oh my goddess, Link. What happened?" She kept her focus on the wound, upon closer inspection it wasn't that serious, but she figured it must have hurt quite a bit. "Sorry, one of them snuck up on me from behind." She rolled her eyes before leaning back. "That cut doesn't look too bad, actually." She rested her hands on her knees as she moved her gaze up to his eyes. "You're fine for now." She glanced at the mountain of enemies before them before sighing. "But you know, there's a fine line between courage and recklessness. As brave as you are, that does not make you immortal." He was listening, which was good. She took a good look at the monsters now, pieces of a jumbled puzzle began to form in her head. "It seems that, not only are the frequency of these types of attacks on the rise.. but the scale of beasts we are facing is intensifying as well." She raised one hand to her chest, not wanting to scare Link with her thought but not wanting to soften it either. "I feat that- I fear that this is an omen which portends the return of Calamity Ganon." She got up and on to her feet, dusting herself off before looking down at Link. "And, if that's the case, I'm ready to expect the worst. We'll need to make preparations as soon as possible." She turned and began making her way back down towards the stable. She heard Link get up and follow close behind her. "You'll need to patch that wound up for now, we can get Mipha to heal you when we go to Zora's Domain." She continued down the hill. "How does it feel?" She asked curiously, she'd never sustained any major injuries in the past. "It's quite sore but it's nothing I can't handle." She smirked softly "Boasting, are we?" She glanced over her shoulder to see him shaking his head. "No, although I doubt you could handle such a wound." She scoffed before watching him walk past her. "Excuse me, but you are supposed to be keeping watch." He turned and began walking backwards before shrugging and putting his arms out. "Well excuse me, Princess, but you're just moving too slow for me." She rolled her eyes again before quickening her pace and following him back to the stable.
--
They made it back to the stable fairly quickly thanks to Link taunting Zelda. "May we stay here for the night? I'd like another night away from the castle." He looked at her before nodding slowly, he wondered why she wasn't fond of the castle so much, but he figured being confined to it for 10 years with little time outside of it was enough to make her jump at an opportunity to escape it. "Of course." He watched her face light up before they entered the stable. They made their way over to a table before sitting down. Link hoped she wouldn't bring up the subject of the kiss again, as he felt too bad denying her again. She placed her hands on the table before letting out a sigh. He raised an eyebrow, she seemed to have something important to say. Her eyes met his as she began speaking, "Link, I would like to apologise." He paused. "Apologis-" "Link, let me speak first." He shut up and allowed her to continue. "I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused you, I'm sorry for judging you unfairly, I'm sorry for running off and then yelling at you, I'm sorry for nearly getting myself killed and.. I'm sorry for kissing you." Link paused, almost in disbelief. He accepted most of her apology. "Zelda, I can accept most of your apology, but please do not apologise for kissing me." She looked up at him, her eyes shining slightly. "I enjoyed it and so did you, it's just a shame th-" "Tell me about yourself." He blinked. "Link, tell me about yourself." She repeated and he wondered what he should say, "Well, as you know I'm from Hateno. I used to live with my Father and my sister, William and Saria until I was given a house of my own by the village. They felt they owed me for attracting so much attention to the place with my skills." He placed his hands on the table, beginning to think of something else to say. "What about your mother?" He looked down and sighed softly. He rarely thought of his mother, the memories were often too painful to bear. "She.. passed away when I was 8.." He felt her place her hand on his and squeeze it gently. "Oh, Link. I'm sorry I had no idea." He shook his head. "It's okay, I just haven't thought about her in a while. She got sick after giving birth to my sister, her memory became foggy and she lost grip of reality. It was hard on my father, he spent so long caring for her before we lost her. I'm just glad she doesn't have to suffer any longer." She squeezed his hand again and she looked up at him. He decided to change the subject. "I'm also a big fan of food." She tilted her head to the side. "I'll eat almost anything, and I have a fascination of experimenting with ingredients to find a good blend of flavour." She smiled at him before straightening up, she had something else to ask. "Link.. why are you so silent?" He inhaled sharply, thinking of a response. "Well, there's two main reasons. One being that at times I'm afraid I'll say the wrong thing, and also, with so much at stake and so many eyes upon me, I feel it necessary to silently bear any burden." She nodded thoughtfully, seemingly glad with his answer.
They talked and cracked jokes for many hours on end after that. Link was glad that he was finally able to speak more freely with her. Eventually, much later, it was dark out and the stable workers had gone to sleep for the night. They were alone now, no travellers wished to stay in the stable recently due to all the frequent attacks. Zelda placed her hand on Link's for the second time that night. "Link.. what are we?" He looked at her and frowned softly, he was hoping she wouldn't ask anything to do with their kiss or them. He sighed gently before giving his answer, though it was dodging her question. "I am a knight and you are a Princess, anything more than that is forbidden." She looked down and Link felt bad for replying that way. "Link, shut up, okay? Let me rephrase that. What do you want us to be?" He looked into her eyes, he could see that she was pleading for an answer. He sighed softly, he couldn't deny her again. "Zelda, I want us to be more than what we can be, and more than friends.." He trailed off before feeling her hand squeeze his. She was smiling shyly. "I know you think we can't have that.. but we don't actually have to tell anyone about us.." He raised an eyebrow. "I like the sound of that.." He slowly stood up and so did she. They walked around the table before facing each other. They gazed into each other's eyes, and without a word their lips connected as if pulled together by a magnetic force. Link closed his eyes and put his arms around Zelda, feeling her wrap her arms around him. They stayed like that, tightly holding each other, lips locked. After some time they pulled away, but kept their faces close to each other. "Zelda.. you are incredible.." She smirked softly and looked up into his eyes. "So are you, Link." They stood there in silence for a moment before Zelda took a hold of his hands. "Sleep with me." He blushed at her sudden request and his eyes widened. She rolled her eyes before speaking again. "Not like that you idiot, I mean just sleep with me." She giggled softly and he let out a nervous laugh before nodding. "I'd like that." He responded before she pulled away from him. "Let me get changed then." She walked over to one of the beds before hiding behind the curtains. Link made his way over to a bed too and began to change his clothing into what he usually slept in, his tunic and his baggy shorts. She emerged wearing her royal blue silk robe before making her way over to the bed he was at. He laid down first before she laid down next to him, she put her back to him and pressed herself against him. He held her tightly and took in her scent. "Goodnight, Link." He grinned softly. "Goodnight, Zelda." He closed his eyes and soon drifted off into a deep slumber.