Chapter 4 - There's a princess in my house
"She just needs to eat and sleep."
He'd had time to feed the horses, fill the pots with fresh water from the village spring, air out the entire downstairs, and buy a few minimal groceries at the store. He didn't want to wander too far in case Zelda woke up to find the house empty. But she was still sleeping in her curled-up position, like a small animal in its nest, just as he had left her the night before. He supposed the knights used to stand guard or something, not wandering too far away.
His house seemed ridiculously small to accommodate a princess. He didn't buy it with the idea of hosting anyone, he didn't even buy it with the idea of living there, he bought it because he needed to put his stuff away. His house fit into the smallest of the halls he'd seen in the castle. In fact, the entire village could fit in the huge hall of the throne room. Besides the small size, there were no luxuries at home like there might be in a palace, yet in some ways, the house was comfortable and practical. Everything was close and handy, without artifice or fancy ornamentation. A small kitchen, the fireplace, the storeroom... Anyway, it was only a matter of time before the princess wanted to regain her status and look for something big, and a lot of people around to serve her. King Dorephan had at least twelve servants around him at all times, and Sidon even had a palace all to himself, on the East Pond. He imagined that the luxuries of the hylian royals would be at least similar to those of the zora.
That night he'd slept on the floor by the fireplace. The pain of the broken ribs had been accentuated by the journey, and one more night on the floor didn't do him much good. He had been thinking about it, and there was the possibility of refurbishing the cupboard, taking some space from the shed and making a new room. That way, the two of them could share the house until the princess could find something suitable for her class. And he'd have a new bed to sleep soundly in.
He had several things to do and couldn't be waiting all day for her to get up, so he decided to go find Bolson and the builders. He found him with two of his men, erecting another of those empty houses that were never going to be sold because of their high price. Link wondered what was the point of all this waste, all this building mania, if there was hardly anyone in all of Hyrule who could afford such a thing. The gerudo, perhaps, but they preferred to live in their forbidden city, where no one bothered them or told them what to do.
He got Bolson to stop and have a talk with him. He didn't know how the guy could be so rough with him, after all the rupees he'd paid him for the purchase and renovation of his house. Apparently, Zelda's arrival piqued the master of builder's interest and he stopped what he was doing to put all his senses on Link.
"Who is she?"
"I've told you, a guest who will stay home for a while." Link growled, annoyed by the sudden interest.
"Is she your wife?"
"Not at all."
"Then she's your fiancée. If you're going to get married, you're going to need a much bigger house, I can take care of that."
"Neither is my fiancée, you know, I need your help to buil-
"Goddess, a forbidden romance, I love it!"
"No romance, stop talking nonsense!" He exclaimed, tired of the gossip, "she's a friend who'll stay for a while with me until she finds something else, that's all."
"Alright, if you don't tell me the truth, she'll do."
"But..."
"Karson!" Bolson exclaimed, calling one of his assistants, "go and prepare the materials, tomorrow we will go to work at Link's house."
After the visit to the master of builders, he ate at a street stall where they were roasting peppers and goat meat. He ran a couple more errands and as Zelda was still asleep, he decided to visit the sheikah. He trudged up the hill, still uncomfortable from the conversation with the builders. Bolson was insufferable and always poking his nose into other people's business. He would have to warn Zelda about him, Impa had made it clear that it was best that no one discovered Zelda's true identity, so she had to be prepared against gossip.
When he reached the strange lab at the top of the hill, almost at the edge of the cliff, he didn't have to knock at the door. Purah was outside, with a strange flying contraption, hopping and scampering about the little green meadow that crowned the hill. Beside her was her assistant, Symin, who was just reading quietly, sitting on the steps of the entrance. Noticing his arrival, Symin glanced at Link over his tiny spectacles and smiled, waving silently.
"Looks like you're not hiding so much from your neighbours anymore," Link told Purah, who hadn't even seen him coming.
"Linky! What are you doing? Where the hell did you go? Have you noticed what's going on? Did you have anything to do with the guardians' energetic cessation?"
"Stop, stop. One question at a time. What's that thing, a kite?"
Purah tugged at the string of her kite and picked up the contraption, immediately giving him a disapproving look.
"Don't be absurd, this is not a toy. It's an ancient wave meter. But it doesn't capture anything, anything! I usually have it at home and it's always measuring overflowing radiation levels but for a few days now I can't even get the slightest signal."
"I don't think you're going to measure anything anymore. The energy's gone."
"What? What do you mean with the energy's gone? What the hell does that mean?"
Link shrugged and smiled.
"Here, it's a letter from Impa," he said, pulling out the piece of parchment he had kept since they left Kakariko, "everything's explained there."
Purah snatched the letter from him in such an agile impulse that it practically disappeared from his hands. As her eyes moved at full speed through Impa's calligraphy, Symin closed the book and stood up to get close to them.
"Can I offer you something, Link? A tea maybe?"
"Tea's fine, thank you."
"Forget the tea, Symin!" Purah exclaimed. The paper slipped out of her hands and fell to the ground, "Is it true? Is it true what Impa says? Linky, don't stand there like an idiot!"
"I haven't read it, but I guess so."
"How can you be so calm?"
"What does Impa say?" Symin asked, picking up the paper from the ground to read it.
"Have you defeated Ganon and... and her royal highness is alive?"
"Indeed," Link murmured. Now he was craving the tea that Symin hadn't come to serve him, and maybe some biscuits. Biscuits with bits of blueberries, he knew the sheikah used to make them that way, they were delicious.
"Skies...," Symin said, "so it's all over. It's extraordinary, Link."
"I suppose so." He shrugged.
"I can't believe it, you must be sick, how come you're not jumping up and down, crazy with euphoria?" asked Purah. She was jumping, she looked like a hummingbird fluttering from one side to the other.
"It was a few days ago. I guess I've gone through the euphoria already," he said. In fact, there was never euphoria.
"And the princess is alive. Safe and healthy... Gods to bless her, it's a miracle," Purah continued.
"Yes. Tomorrow, if she's okay, you can see her," Link said. He hadn't talked to her, but he assumed Zelda would have to visit the sheikah sooner or later.
"Wait, wait...," Purah said, "are you implying that her royal highness is in the village?"
"Yes, she's at my house."
"Zelda Bosphoramus, princess of Hyrule, bearer of the Sacred Triforce, heir to the crown of Hyrule, destroyer of the Calamity... is in your house?" Purah asked again, widening her eyes.
"Yes, the same one."
"Keep calm, Purah, too many emotions at once," Symin interjected, grabbing Purah by the hand. For once, the little sheikah had run out of words.
"I can't believe it... we have to see her now! You have to tell me everything, Linky!"
"Yes, I'll tell you everything you want to know..." Link coughed, clearing his throat, "so, about that tea you mentioned…"
"Good idea, Link," Symin interjected, "let's go inside and tell us all about it."
For a while he tried to narrate, more or less, what had happened at Hyrule Castle. Purah interrupted him to ask for details continuously and that made him lose the track of the story over and over again. He didn't remember so many details, but he could still feel many things. The cold, the darkness and the terror that was breathed there. He tried to explain, with little success, that inside the castle it was as if time was passing much slower, or as if it was not moving at all.
"Were you carrying a clock with you? Did the clock hands stop?"
"N-no, Purah, you don't understand me, I-
"Didn't it occur to you to look at the sheikah slate? You know there's a clock in the sheikah slate..."
"Yes, but-
"I need the sheikah slate so I can analyse everything you've saved there. Some conclusions may be drawn."
"I'll bring it to you tomorrow, now Zelda has it."
Purah set about instructing Symin on the analysis plans they wanted to make. She was always a little brusque with her assistant, but Symin took her temper with infinite patience. While the sheikah were making their notes, he took the opportunity to eat biscuits, which he had barely had a chance to taste with so many questions. This time they were made of wild blackberries and were crunchy and a little sour, a delight. Then they returned to the story, and during his narration of the battle against Ganon the questioning ceased. The two sheikah listened dumbfounded, without saying a word.
"It's unbelievable...," Purah murmured once he concluded the story. "It was fate... it was always meant to be. I wonder how the princess managed to awaken her power. She tried for so long without success... My sister assigned me to this village when Ganon appeared, she wanted Robbie, her, and me to be in different regions to avoid being hit by evil in the same place, that would have been a catastrophe because we wouldn't have been able to help at all. I never knew what exactly happened to our princess. As you know, the data from the sheikah slate was almost entirely lost and I only heard about Princess Zelda again when my sister told me that they'd discovered that the princess had gone to confront Ganon on her own. Did her royal highness tell you how all that happened before?"
"No, she hasn't."
"Oh, wow..."
"Zelda's not okay," he confessed.
"What do you mean? Is she hurt?"
He sighed. Zelda wasn't visibly hurt, but for sure there was something wrong with her.
"She just needs to rest and recover. And... she feels a little weak after everything that's happened. Perhaps, in peace and quiet in the village she will regain her joy."
Purah perched on the table to examine him closely. Her huge round glasses always intimidated him a little.
"Has her royal highness talked to you?"
"What does she have to talk to me about?"
"I see." Purah returned to her position and took off her glasses to clean them with a small white handkerchief. He didn't understand anything.
"She slept all day, even before I came here, she was still asleep. Do you think there's something wrong with her?" he asked, feeling a little pinch in his stomach. Maybe the sheikah knew something he was missing.
"Nothing to worry about, Linky," Purah smiled, "she may have woken up as we speak. It will soon start to get dark and it's better that you're there so that she doesn't feel disoriented."
"Yes, you're right," Link stood up and grabbed the last biscuit on the plate, "Purah, there's something I wanted to ask you..."
"What is it?"
By the time he reached home, a purple dusk hung over the humble rooftops of the village. Crickets chirped and the temperature dropped, an icy air always descending from Mount Lanayru that made Hateno's nights cool, no matter what time of year it was.
He found Zelda sitting on the wooden steps outside the front door. She was barefoot, her feet buried in the green grass that grew around the house.
"Aren't you cold?" He asked as soon as he saw her.
"Hey! I'm not. I'm fine here. I hear the sound of that stream and the grass tickles my feet," she said, smiling. It was a genuine smile, not one of those dull smiles he'd seen so often.
"Did you sleep well? I'm sure the bed was dirty, I hadn't been in the house for a long time and the sheets must have been dusty."
"Actually... I don't think I've ever slept so well. I hadn't slept so well in my entire life, so maybe the trick is to sleep on a bunch of dusty sheets..."
He was sure the princess was trying to be polite to him. In the castle she must have had a bed so large that it would not fit in his house. She'd have soft sheets, of the finest materials, and her maids would always keep them perfect.
"Are you hungry?" He asked. He was actually starving, "I can make dinner."
"I think it's a great idea." She replied, standing up.
He lit the house fire and prepared something simple and fast. He'd bought some vegetables in the village and washed and peeled them to accompany the chicken brochettes he was going to roast in the fire.
"What have you done all day?" asked Zelda, who was watching him closely from her position at the table.
"I went to talk to the builders. They'll come here tomorrow and we'll make a new bedroom at home."
"Oh…"
"There's room between the cupboard and the shed, more than enough for a comfortable bedroom."
"I'm sorry to be a nuisance."
"You're not a nuisance," he said, frowning.
"Because of me last night you slept again on the floor. You can take your bed tonight, Link. I've slept so much that... tonight is all yours."
"I don't know what you're talking about, I don't want that bed as long as you're my guest." he said, wiping his hands on a rag.
No way. No, no and no. He couldn't keep a princess awake all night while he slept peacefully, that was simply unacceptable. The bed was hers now.
"And... what else have you done out there?" Zelda asked, trying to regain the joyful tone.
"I bought some food, and I also went to see the sheikah. I had to deliver them Impa's letter and tell them that we are settled here, as we agreed before we left Kakariko."
"Have you gone to see the sheikah without me?"
"I'm sorry, it's just... Impa asked me to report immediately and didn't know if you... I think I've done wrong."
"No, no, not at all," she hastened to say, "you've done well. There'll be time to meet Purah."
"As for that,..." he said, hesitating, "has Impa told you anything about Purah?"
"What does Impa have to tell me about?"
"You'd better see it for yourself. She's a bit changed."
They had dined in near silence. And for once, Zelda ate her entire ration. He was dreading seeing her peck here and there again without ever really tasting anything, but that night she ate everything he put on her plate. And she praised and thanked him for the food. Maybe it was wrong to be flattered by her compliments, he was sure she'd tasted a thousand times better meals, but he couldn't help but feel a kind of warmth in his chest when she said she'd never tasted fresher carrots, or that the chicken was tender and juicy.
After dinner Zelda insisted on cleaning up. He wanted to stop her, but she had already set to work and he knew she wasn't going to give in. He went outside to check on the horses. They had fresh hay to spare, but he liked to spend a few minutes alone with Shadow, the horse had been his only companion for so many nights that if he didn't come over to say goodnight he felt the day wasn't complete.
When he returned to the house he saw that Zelda had gone back to the bedroom, upstairs. Perhaps she needed more sleep, but by the Goddesses, he hoped she'd put on the clean sheets he'd prepared for her and not sleep another night wrapped in a cloud of dust. He took the moment to take out of the bag what Purah had given him that evening. He lit a candle and sat down by the fire, taking off his boots. There was hardly a sound upstairs, surely the princess had gone back to sleep. He ran his fingers over the leather cover of the book he held in his hands: "A Knight's Tale" by Master Fergus of Lahn, of the Great Plateau. It was a thick tome, in tight handwriting. "I recommend you start with this one, Link," Purah had said, "it is a collection of the great jests and exploits of Hyrule knights, which serve to illustrate many of the behaviours expected of knighthood. But it is written as if all of these exploits were performed by one single knight".
Link wondered if the Great Plateau of the stories would be the same place where he awoke.
"What are you doing?"
"Dammit, Zelda!" He exclaimed, his heart beating at full speed, "you scared me, I didn't hear you coming."
"I'm so sorry! I didn't pretend to scare you, please forgive me! I've tried to sleep, but I've slept so many hours today that I couldn't. I'm leaving you alone, I don't want to disturb you. Forgive me." She apologized again.
"No! You don't have to, you're not disturbing at all...," he stammered, "you can stay here, really."
"May I see your book?"
He nodded silently and held it out for her to examine.
"A Knight's Tale...," she read. Then she smiled and returned the book to him.
"It's just that since you told me about the knight's vow of poverty, I was curious, I just wanted to look at it for that reason, that's all."
He felt his cheeks burn. The worst thing that could happen had happened; surely she would find his eagerness to be a knight a little absurd. He was clumsy and used to spending his nights with only Shadow and other animals for company, in the middle of the countryside. He could never be anything like what he had once been before he lost his memory.
"A long time ago, when I lived in the castle, I was always going to sleep with a book in my hands. And... I used to wake up with another book in my hands. Anyway, I guess I almost always had a book in my hands," Zelda smiled.
"Oh, that's nice" he said, not quite knowing what to say. He was still whipping himself for his clumsiness.
"I've forgotten the last time I read something," she said, "it was too long ago, I guess."
Her famous sad smile, which had been missing all night, returned, and Link felt a pang of guilt.
"Here. You can read it," he said, offering her the book. He didn't have more books at home, that was the only one.
"No! Please don't. It's yours, and I'm interrupting you again. I'll go upstairs, don't worry, I'll ask Purah for books when I see her."
Zelda turned around somewhat hastily, intending to return to the bedroom.
"Wait. If you want, you can read it with me."
"With you?"
"Yes, we'll read it at the same time," he moved to one side, making room for her on the rug in front of the fire.
Zelda wore the same indecipherable expression as that day on Impa's terrace, the day he'd proposed the idea of living in Hateno. What was going through her mind? He hoped that he hadn't gone too far with his offers and she hadn't burst into tears like the other time.
After the moment of doubt, she ended up sitting down next to him.
"May I?" Zelda asked shyly, pointing to the book. He gave it to her, "we can read in turns. If... if you don't like the way I read, you can read all the time. Or better I'll look at the letters silently on one side while you turn the pages, I don't mind."
"You read first," he determined.
He felt a little confused, as if he was dizzy, he wasn't going to be able to look at the letters properly. It was probably because he wasn't used to dealing with princesses, and it wasn't clear to him whether he had led her into an inappropriate situation that she had accepted out of politeness. Goddesses, he had so much to learn...
Zelda took her time getting started. She settled in nicely and let the only sound in the house be that of wood crackling as it burned in the fire in front of them.
"Sir Alec of the Darklands did not have a fine heraldry like the other knights. He barely had a name. His name was not a prestigious name, nor was it reminiscent of rich and prosperous lands. He was just a knight from nowhere, a son of barren and dusty lands where no green grows, of a family without a tradition..."
Link closed his eyes for a moment. He lost himself in the story and in the voice that narrated it. Her voice. Her voice was like being at home for real. It was like feeling safe. It was the only thing that had brought him back.