Link walked on in the rain. He was glad for it, as it hid his own tears. He knew that it was a stupid idea, hurting her so she would let go. But a part of him still wished she'd come after him. He slowed at the sounds of her sobbing, a pain in his chest growing. Gulping down his own sobs, he walked on.

Zelda had fallen asleep to her own sobs after collapsing on the ground. The next morning she awoke to the sound of a rumbling carriage. She blinked, her eyes burning from crying so much the night before. The sun stained her eyes. She felt her hair...it was a mess...then it clicked. It was him. It was the Prince.  He was going to come the next morning...what would he say?

She scrambled to her feet as the carriage stopped.

Out stepped a foot with a long black boot on, grey tights underneath. A voice followed. "Excuse me, little girl. Is this the way to the Castle?" The Prince's voice smoothly flowed.

"I'm Princess Zelda of Hyrule. Don't you dare call me little girl!" Zelda replied, brushing her messy hair behind her back.

"Brandon, get this girl to a doctor...she's becoming delusional..." The Prince said, turning his nose up at her.

Zelda glanced down at herself. Her dress was covered in mud, torn in several spots. One of her gloves had fallen off and her diadem was nowhere to be seen.

An arrow thunked into the carriage next to the prince's head. His face blanched as he looked into the trees. There, just out of his line of sight, stood link. "The girl speaks the truth," he said evenly, his face still colored with last night's exertion. " I suggest you treat her nicely from now on, unless you want an arrow all to yourself."

The Prince laughed a haughty laugh. "Nonsense." He swiped his shoulder-length hair behind his back. "How could this rubbish ever be even close to the Princess?" He sneered at Zelda. "And if she's the Princess, why a peasant like yourself be calling her "girl" instead of Princess?"

" I pay no allegiance to her title, only to her. And this," he said, readying his bow again, " should be proof enough. The arrow thunked into the carriage. From it dangled a small locket. The words 'princess of Hyrule' had been neatly lettered on the front. The prince opened the clasp to reveal a picture of Zelda.

The Prince looked from the locket picture to the rugged looking girl struggling from his servant's grasp. He shrugged, "So be it." He looked rather disappointed that such a poor looking girl was the woman he was supposed to get to know and marry. He motioned for her to get inside the carriage

Zelda glanced at Link. The remark he'd made before had hurt her. She slipped in the carriage, not looking at Link, acting like he'd never done anything. She tried to look as though she was enjoying being with the Prince

Link stared after the carriage until it had disappeared around the nearest bend. Sighing, he shouldered his pack and headed for town

        Zelda sneered at the Prince, sprinting up her tower stairs, finally reaching her room, she walked into the bathroom just next door and had the servants bring up some hot water. She shooed them out, and soaked in her bathtub for a long time, thinking about Link the entire time.

Link stopped at the fork in the path. One way led to Zelda, the other away from her. He stood there, deciding what was right. Sighing, he finally chose a path

        Once she was finished, she got fully dressed and combed her hair, and grabbed for a new diadem, but instead grabbed the tiny locket the Prince had opened earlier...she hadn't seen that thing in ages...she tried to remember when she'd last seen it...

Link trudged along the dirt path, remembering the day Zelda had given him the locket. They had been younger then, but he had still felt the same about her as he always had. She said…

"Make sure you NEVER lose this, or I'll humiliate you like you've never been!" Zelda's little naive child-hood voice rang in her head. Zelda smiled...clutching the locket to her heart. She'd forgotten all these years why she'd wanted to humiliate him so much...she put the locket down. 'No more Link...he's gone...' she thought, finishing getting ready.

"She's gone," he finished saying out loud to the empty forest. " But not if I can help it." he marched straight along the path, heading for the castle.

Zelda finally arranged the diadem to level perfectly on her forehead. She walked to her full-length mirror and spun slowly, making sure she was flawless. She smiled, feeling rather beautiful at this point. She walked down the tower stairs and into the dining hall to see the Prince and his servant waiting.

"Beautiful! Simply beautiful!" The Prince remarked.

Zelda blushed.

"No, no, dear. I wasn't talking about you...I was talking about myself." The Prince added, thinking that Zelda had taken it the wrong way. He was marveling at his velvety black and green cloak.

Link watched from the window, rolling his eyes in disgust. Why every member of royalty have to e obsessed with their own looks? He stifled a giggle as he remembered Zelda being the same way back when.

Zelda took no hence to the Prince and decided to seat herself since he wouldn't seem to pull out a chair like she was so used to having others do. She barely touched her food, listening to the Prince harp on and on about how wonderful he looked in his new Hylian cloak, the servant nodding in approval as well. She glanced up to the window...

Link hopped back from his crouching position, hanging from the windowsill by one hand. The shock of almost being seen by Zelda made his heart pound. It also averted his concentration form the fact that his hand was slipping.

He thudded into the rosebushes below noisily.

Zelda nearly jumped, feeling the ground below her rumble slightly along with the loud thumping noise. "It's a beautiful day. I...um...I'm going to go for a walk." Zelda excused herself.

"Oh no, no. Let me come with you. I bet you'd love to get to know me..." The Prince said, quickly walking up to her and taking her arm. Zelda rolled her eyes.