Zelda woke up rather early the next morning. She felt around the bed with her hands, searching for Link, but he wasn't there. She sat up slowly and looked around the room to see if he was up already. She checked over the edges of the bed to see if he had rolled off, but he was nowhere. She got out of the bed and made her way out of her room to go and check Link's. She opened the door slowly, but it was empty inside. It hadn't even been touched. With a frown she stood there for a second, wondering where he could've gotten to before she felt arms around her all of a sudden. "Surprise." He whispered into her ear, she shivered slightly before turning around to face him. He had some sweat present on his face. "Where were you?" She inquired softly, peering up into his cobalt eyes. "I was training, I don't want to get rusty." She nodded softly before pulling away from the embrace, not wanting to get found out so soon. "So, we will be heading to Zora's Domain today I suppose.." Zelda looked down, she wasn't particularly fond of going there now. As far as she had gathered, Link and Mipha were close whilst he was growing up, but he never specified how close, and so her mind began to wonder how close they had been. "Indeed, the Zora are very friendly so I'll doubt you'll have any issues with any of them." She put on a smile and nodded before walking back to her room. "I'll just get changed quickly." He gave her a nod before she stepped into the room and closed the door. She sighed softly before walking over to her wardrobe and opening it, picking out her usual outfit. She couldn't help but feel jealousy as she thought about Mipha, she had no right to even feel jealous, she had Link and he never said that him and Mipha ever dated previously. After she changed her clothes successfully she walked back outside. She decided she'd ask Link about him and Mipha on the journey when he couldn't dodge such a question. "Ready to go?" She gave him a nod before leading the way. He already was changed it seemed, she wondered briefly how long he had been awake. "I've never personally been to Zora's Domain as of yet, but I've heard that the area is quite beautiful, and the Zora architecture has been quite talked about by the knights of the castle, I'm excited to finally see it." Just as Zelda was fascinated by nature, she was also clearly fascinated by anything to do with Hyrule's history, and Zora's Domain was quite an old area, dating back to before most of the books in Hyrule were destroyed during Ganon's last siege on the land. She never liked thinking about that part, the fact that damage had been done to the castle. It was already a big enough burden that she had to unlock her powers, she couldn't bear to watch anything get destroyed during the fight. She began to ponder how long it would take, she'd had this question in her mind for some time but she never decided on a reasonable answer, she hoped it would be over within a week, but it could possibly take months or even a year or two. It depended on a lot of variables which she could not measure all at once.
They had been on their horses for some time now, they made small talk. Zelda wasn't in very good of a mood so talking wasn't currently her main focus. However, she did have one thing she had to ask. "Link, how are things going with you and Mipha?" She didn't want her question to be too direct, but she hoped from here that she could direct it towards the answer she longed for. She looked over at him and watched him scratch the back of his head. She tensed up, wondering if he was about to say that things between them were extremely good. She knew that Link could choose to love whoever he wished, but a big part of her hoped that it would be her that he would love "I'm not entirely sure, last time we met was at that ceremony you gave, she tried to tell me something but I brushed her off, I was too worried about following you around to pay her any notice. I felt bad afterwards, hopefully she isn't too hurt by that." She looked down, despite her worries, she felt bad for practically forcing him to come off as rude to his friend. "I see, I apologise for that." He shook his head and gave her a smile, she couldn't tell if it was genuine or not. "It'll be fine I'm sure." She nodded softly before deciding against asking him anything more about Mipha, he clearly wasn't all that fond of how he'd left things between them, and if they hadn't had any previous relationships then she didn't want to open his eyes to the possibility, she would simply see for herself once they arrived.
About three hours after departing they arrived at the Domain. So far, the Zora Princess was nowhere to be seen. One of the Zora, Muzu, had explained that she was gone teaching some of the youger Zora to swim. Prince Sidon seemingly didn't go considering he was proudly strolling around the plaza. There was a statue in the centre of one of the previous Zora Princesses. Zelda believed her name was Ruto. Prince Sidon walked over to them, he seemed to recognise Link. "This little guy is called Sidon, he can't speak just yet so instead he-" She watched as Link turned to Sidon and knelt down, whispering something into his ear. He stood back up before turning to Zelda again. "Instead he becomes all adorable." She glanced down at the Prince as he grinned brightly, she'd seen him smile like that before at his sister, Mipha when she was out recruiting each of the Champions. She smiled at the little Prince before watching him dive off the edge of the platform. "He is rather adorable." She nodded and giggled softly before her eyes landed on Mipha. She froze and watched the Zora Princess walk over to them. She had a soft smile when she looked at them both, but she noticed that the look in her eyes changed when she looked at Link. Zelda couldn't help but feel uncomfortable. "The two of you are very welcome to our Domain, is there anything I can help you two out with?" Zelda knew that Link needed his arm to be tended to, so she gently nudged him, hoping he would speak. "Yes actually, my arm got injured the other day and I was wondering if you could take a look." Zelda noticed Mipha glance at Link's arm before nodding. "Of course, I'd be more than willing to." Zelda couldn't stay here, with them both. Clearly Mipha felt something for Link even if Link didn't feel the same, and she couldn't bear to hang around and see. She walked off without saying a word, wanting to find any distraction she could.
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Link couldn't help but feel confused as he watched Zelda walk away, she hadn't even said anything, but he figured she had her reasons. "Perhaps we can find somewhere more secluded, there's something I need to confess Link." He looked at Mipha, wondering what it was that she wished to tell him. "Of course, where did you have in mind?" He watched her look to the side before looking back at him sideways. "Follow me." She announced before beginning to walk away. He began to follow after her, realising soon after that she was taking him to Vah Ruta. They boarded the Divine Beast and Mipha took Link to the trunk of the giant machine. They sat down on top of it. "Alright then, show me the injury." He slowly pulled his sleeve up and undid the bandaging which was previously on it. "Oh my, that's quite a bad one." He nodded softly, he didn't often have such bad wounds, but this was one such occasion. She placed her hand over his arm and her hand began to glow a soft blue before the wound began to feel better. It would take some time to fully heal it. He looked up at her face, she was alternating between looking at his eyes and his wound. "I was thinking.. this reminds me of the time we first met." Link thought back to his visit with his Father to the Domain after getting into a fight with a Lizalfo. "You were just a reckless child.. always getting yourself hurt at every turn." Link smiled slightly at that, remembering countless times Mipha scolded him for getting himself hurt. "Every time, I would heal you. Just as I'm doing right now." He was always thankful for her helping him, easing the pain. She meant a lot to him. "I thought it was funny how, being a Hylian, you looked grown-up much faster than I did. I was.. I was always willing to heal your wounds. Even back then." She seemed a little different currently, as though she had something important to say, he just hoped she'd get it out. She often tried to tell him something before mentally talking herself out of it." The light faded as his wound disappeared. He looked down at his arm. Normally there was at least a scar left behind, but this time it was perfectly normal. "So if this Calamity Ganon does in fact, return, what can we really do?" He found that an odd question, she knew what they had to do, destroy the beast no matter the cost. "We just don't seem to know much about what we'll be up against." He agreed with that, he still wasn't very informed on the whole situation. She looked down for a moment. "But know this: that no matter how difficult this battle might guess.. if you- if anyone ever tries to do you harm.." She looked at him again, he saw something different in her eyes, but he couldn't tell what. "Then I will heal you. No matter when, or how bad the wound.." She was looking down again. "I hope you know that I will always protect you." She put her hands together before speaking again. "Once this whole thing is over.. maybe things can go back to how they used to be when we were young." She looked up at him once more. "You know.. perhaps we could spend some time together." He nodded softly, of course they could. "Oh my Hylia, Link. You are tragic." He raised an eyebrow before she rolled her eyes. "I knew you were bad at seeing signs but I didn't think you were this bad." He was still rather confused. "Okay, let me spell it out for you then. Link, I really like you, a lot. And I don't know if you feel the same way but.. I needed to say it." He realised what it was that she was saying before sighing. "Mipha, I'm sorry but I can't return these feelings.. maybe if you'd asked before all of this, but not now." She looked down before nodding softly. "It's the Princess, isn't it?" He paused, looking away. "Well? It's okay Link, you're free to fall for whoever you wish." He nodded gently before bringing himself to look at her again. "I'm sorry Mipha." She stood up and so did he. "Don't be, I understand." She seemed a little disheartened, but she was coping quite well it seemed. "We're still friends, right?" She asked and he smiled softly as he nodded. "Of course." An idea popped into his head and he walked over to the edge before turning to face Mipha. "Fancy a swim? First one to reach the platform wins." She nodded and walked over to him before placing her hands on his shoulders. "You're on, Herp." She pushed him off and he fell down into the water, he heard her land in the water nearby and he struggled to make his way over to the edge, but she was much faster. She was standing on the ledge with her hands on her hips as he arrived, a teasing smile playing on her lips. "What's taking you so long?" She giggled before he got onto the ledge. "That was a sly move." He smiled brightly and shrugged. "You never said there were any rules. Anyways, we'd better head back. Zelda is most likely waiting for you." He nodded and they began to return to the Domain.
They planned to stay at the Domain for three days, the second day Zelda was mainly just getting friendly with the Zora whilst Link followed her around. The second day made Link quite happy though. Zelda asked Mipha if she could see Vah Ruta, and after Mipha agreed they both went towards the East Reservoir to board the Divine Beast. Sidon kept tugging on Link's tunic, a sign that he wanted Link to accompany him. The young Prince led him to Mikau lake to show off his skills at ascending waterfalls. The last time Link had watched the young Zora could only travel a quarter of the way before running out of energy, but today he was proving to be quite a lot better at the activity. After swimming up and coming back down a few times, Sidon came back to Link before sitting on a rock in front of him. "I'm very impressed little guy, I was worried for some time that you weren't going to be strong enough to look out for your sister, but now that you can swim up a waterfall such as this I know that she's in safe hands. Isn't that right?" Sidon nodded before smiling his signature grin. Link returned the smile, trying to pull it off but failing quite poorly, Sidon then did his best to teach Link how to copy his smile, but to no avail. Nonetheless, Link really enjoyed it.
Later that evening Link and Zelda made their way up Ploymus Mountain, she wanted to get a nice view of the scenery so he suggested taking her to shatterback point. The view from up there was phenomenal. "Link, I hope you know that me and heights don't go all that well." He glanced at her before shrugging lightly. "You said you wanted a view, I'm giving you the best one." They made their way to the top and Link took a seat on the edge, letting his legs hang over. Zelda was cautiously examining from the safety of a few feet away. "Come on, trust me you'll love it." She eyed him fearfully before carefully stepping towards the edge and sitting down before shuffling the rest of the way. He watched her face brighten as she looked around. "Oh wow, Link, it's so pretty!" He nodded with a smile before putting his arm around her, she rested her head against his shoulder as they gazed down at the Domain. "I have an idea.." He glanced down at her and met her eyes. "Oh? Whatever could it be?" He took his arm away before standing up. "You'll need to stand up too." She nodded softly before getting to her feet and looking over at him. He put his arms around her waist and looked into her eyes. "Do you trust me?" He whispered softly, getting lost in her green eyes. "With my life, Link." She smiled softly. "Then trust me." He began to lean to the side and her eyes widened in fear, but before she could protest he put his lips against hers as they fell over the edge. And their lips stayed locked together as they whipped down towards the water below. After hitting it, he pulled away before helping her to the shore. Once they were on it she playfully hit his arm. "Link what were you thinking?" She was giggling softly, most likely high on adrenaline after the experience. "I was thinking about you." She paused and blushed softly before looking away. "Don't say things like that, it makes me flustered." He chuckled lightly before standing up. "Let's get some sleep, we should probably be heading back tomorrow." She stood up too before looking at him. "We'll see about that." He wondered what she meant by that, but he knew he'd find out.