The knight couldn't handle it. Ganon was smiling, laughing, making Zelda laugh, and something angry twists knots into his stomach. He thought that he'd grown jealous at first. Having met him the night before, Link wouldn't admit it, however there had been something that Ganondorf had stirred up within him that he simply couldn't quell.

The Gerudo King was intelligent and outspoken, his energy was trustworthy, and his presence made him feel more courageous than he believed himself to be. To the hero, it was a feeling that made him want to move closer to him, to feel the warmth of his skin on his, to bask in the soft energy that emanated from his being, or to ask him for permission to know all of the secrets and memories that he held dear.

The feeling troubled him.

It had troubled him since he had made his way to his chamber that morning. Then, he hadn't thought that he'd see the man again. Castletown was a popular destination for many travellers, a mere stop along the way toward their final destination. Link had supposed that the king would've been gone in the morning, instead, he had come face-to-face with him in the great hall, finally comprehending that the woman that Ganondorf hadn't wanted to marry was Princess Zelda.

"Is he alright…?" Zelda asks, looking to her right as the chair is slid out and Link makes his way toward the hall just outside.

"He looked a bit pale…" Impa sighs in concern poking her head around Astor's to catch a glimpse of Link. Ganon feels his stomach flip when his eyes meet the hero's; he could see him struggling internally as he watched them interact. He couldn't be sure as to the reason for Link's sudden departure but something nagged at him to follow him out.

"Cease your worry - I will check in on your knight." The Gerudo King says with a bow of his head, excusing himself from the table and making his way into the hallway where he hoped that he would find the younger man standing. Instead, the hero had already made it much further than Ganon thought that he would have.

The Hyrulian King's eyebrows furrow suspiciously from the head of the table.

"Link!" Ganondorf calls. When Link refuses to stop or slow his pace, Ganon breaks into a fast walk. Once close enough, strong hands grasp the knight's wrist.

"Please! Stop."

"You lie so easily!" Link turns, snatching his wrist back from the man.

"I…." The King's eyebrows furrow. "have not lied."

"You have! Can your mind not think on our conversation at nightfall?"

Ganondorf finds anxiety rising in his gut. Could they hear them speak through the thick brick walls of the castle? Or were they safely out of earshot? The king hoped for the latter to be of more truth than its former.

"What you said then, how your warmth falls for those like you. How can you sit there with the king and charm his daughter, all the while knowing that your prison awaits you in this castle?"

Ganon smiles, albeit softly. He could see it so clearly unguarded in his eyes that it took him aback. Since when had a Hylian's care shocked him last? More importantly, had there ever been a time that he'd felt their care was genuine as much as he did this time? No, Ganon thought, this particular voe was special. There was something about him that drew him in the night before, something about how he watched the sky with so much child-like wonder and beauty in his gaze that had made him want to talk to him. He was grateful that he'd swallowed all of his doubt and made his approach there on the castle wall covered in the shadow of night. The town had still been illuminated by the light of the moon and the warmth left over by the sun but Ganon believed that the light and warmth merely resided his presence; being around him had made him feel floaty and comfortable, as if nestled deeply into a warm bed with many blankets surrounding him in the dead of a desert-chilled night.

"Your care is heard -" Ganon coos concession. "but it is not injustice from where I stand. You speak of our conversation and yet forget what I said about your king. To marry his daughter is far from injustice, regardless of my personal circumstance. My love for men is not as great as the love I have for my people. If I were to have declined the king's offer, they would become the victims of my ignorance."

"But what about yourself? Do you not wish for love?"

"I have been cursed since the moment air touched my lungs. One day, I will be the destruction of this kingdom. To know love only to have the eyes of that love pierce me with hatred - I couldn't bear it, not after so long of being able to convince myself that I am…not as cursed as I believe myself to be."

Link suddenly feels sick. He had never been one for following the crowd but he knew what it felt like to feel a sense of duty in the foundation of his being. That feeling had pushed him to become a knight worthy of Rhoam's audience.

However, what strikes him most about it is that while Ganon believed everybody was worthy of love, Ganon believed himself exempt from that rule. He wonders briefly how somebody like Ganon failed to see the worth in the life that he lived but there was a part of him that understood it. Demise was hated among their people, feared, his name defamed and brutalized with words and to be clearly the assumed vessel of such a beast, it must've weighed his soul down from the time of his birth until this very moment.

Blue meets amber, Ganon grows emotional, and Link follows suit. They speak no words, simply stand there in understanding, a couple of feet apart on the red and gold carpet of Hyrule Castle until the heavy footsteps of the king and the creak of a large wooden door echo behind them.

"Link? Are you alright?" The king questions, crossing his arms over his chest and sending a disgruntled look in Ganon's direction. Tension grows between the three of them but Link begins to walk toward the king and Ganon, making sure to bow his head when he passes the Gerudo king, their shoulders brushing only for a moment before he disappears back into the great hall. The king turns on his heels beginning to walk before he stops with his fingers on the brass knob of the door.

"Ganon?" He prompts over his shoulder.

"I will…follow shortly." Ganon says with a subtle shake to his voice. Perhaps, the young knight was correct in his words. Ganon had felt them deeply with the brush of their shoulders. The knight's touch had sent chills throughout his system but it also quelled his anxiety that he would let slip the nature of their shared secret. Ganondorf could tell by the look in his eyes that while Link didn't agree with his actions, his warmth for men would remain a secret until The Gerudo King allowed himself to speak on it on his own terms. Still, the care in his beautiful blue eyes had made the look that Rhoam had given him sting less. He had been king for ten years and every dealing that he'd had with the Hyrulian king since his coronation had felt the same.

Rhoam gives the other king a nod before he disappears back into the great hall.

It wasn't that Link's care made the Hyrulian King's ignorance any less of importance to Ganondorf, it had simply allowed him to cling onto the hope that the newer generation would help anyone of non or half-Hylian blood feel as if this entire kingdom was their home.

With a sigh and an intake of breath, Ganondorf faces back toward the wooden doors. Beyond that point, the princess awaited his presence once more and once more, he would have to charm her. Although, the king thought, it hadn't been as difficult to do as he'd convinced himself it would be. Zelda was thankfully nothing like her father, instead, her mother's blood ran through her with strength. He could tell that she held some prejudice within her mind but his hope was that he could dismantle it as they grew to know each other.

The Gerudo King enters back into the hall, bowing his head in apology. His eyes find the knight who quickly turns his gaze out onto Hyrule from his chair.

After tea, Zelda and Ganondorf make their way into the castle courtyard. Much to the king's surprise, the princess had been keen to show him around the castle. Whether it was to spend time without her father's gaze upon them he couldn't be sure, but he was grateful that Rhoam had an important meeting to attend to with the guard that afternoon and had permitted it. He had watched the young princess come out of her shell, her passionate musings and descriptive knowledge had left him with a new outlook on what life might be like after they were wed. She held some of the same passions for education as he did, her research had puzzled him, and her desire to see the kingdom unite under her rule made an emotion swell inside of him.

They were well matched for strangers.

"Stop it!" Impa whispers as Link tries to poke his head out further than the sheikah advisor's from behind a large stone pillar that looks out into the courtyard.

"Ouch! That's my ankle!" She whines again. Astor chuckles, resting against the brick as far back from the pair of them as he could. To say that he wasn't curious to what was going on would've been an understatement, however, it was far more entertaining watching the two of them struggle to see where his king and their princess had wandered off too together than it was to watch Ganon charm Zelda.

"Do you think she likes him?" Impa asks quietly, her eyes perched on the pair and fingers grasping brick. Link shrugs his shoulders.

"More importantly, do you think that he likes her?" She asks again. Astor shifts, snorting as his eyes roll.

"No." The prophet chuckles, pushing himself from the wall.

"Ganon seems incapable of love."

Surprised by the answer, Link loses his footing, causing Impa to roll over him and the sound of his armour to clash out loudly in the courtyard, alerting the two royals of their cheekiness.

"Princess?" Ganondorf grins, tightening his arm around the bend of her elbow.

"Do you sense eyes upon your back?" He could feel the princess giggle into a nod. While they were meant to be alone, they hadn't gotten very far before a knight and two advisors had followed them with curiosity.

"I believe so." Zelda giggles, turning on her heels with amusement clear in her eyes. When she views the scene laid out before her, Zelda can't help but laugh. Impa lay haphazardly on-top of the knight who gave a simple wave from the ground. Ganon chuckles, extending his hand for Link to take, Zelda doing the same for Impa. And he takes it without much thought, swallowing his pride and care and allowing Ganon to help him from his bizarre position in the grass.

"You're quite clumsy for a knight." The King teases cautiously. Link's sarcastic but amused eye roll disperses his anxiety. It seemed that all was forgiven now even if it was clear that Link still felt that courting the princess was unfair to himself. Perhaps it was, however, Ganon was willing to make the sacrifices necessary to ensure that his people had a bright future to look toward.

"It has rained for days." Link nearly pouts. "The ground gave way."

Ganon hums into a chuckle.

"Yet the sun has shone since Tuesday." Link crosses his arms over his chest in a defiant and pouty manner, only side glancing at the man.

"The brick shades the soil."

"In other words, it was the fault of the Earth then?"

"Precisely." Link grins.