Chapter 24: Cater

Zelda scanned Captain Russel's report one last time…again. Overall everything seemed fine; a couple of Moblin groups had established camps around the border between the Snow and Fire realms; more than previous years, but nothing that couldn't be managed. It appeared their strategy was working for now, thankfully.

Her brain thumped against her skull and she gave her nose a pinch, as if that would soothe her headache. Collecting the pages, she rapped the pile against her desk before setting them aside, grabbing the next sheet automatically.

A knock echoed around the room, followed by the door opening just enough for Link's head to poke through

"Hey!" Link said, "it alright for me to join you?"

She practically leapt up to meet him then and there, but settled for just letting a smile grace her lips instead, "as if you need to ask."

Link disappeared for a moment, then backed through the door, clasping a tray stacked with plates. His eye's ran over her, and she found herself fumbling with her dress in an attempt to smooth it out.

Link scanned her desk before saying, "thought so, do you even know what time it is?"

"Please I'm not you, it's about half nine." She said, sighing. That was too harsh, "sorry it's…it's been a day."

Link's grin turned into a concerned frown, "do you want to talk about it?"

She shook her head. Frankly him distracting her was much more welcome.

He placed the tray onto the table by her couch, prompting her to ask, "what are you eating?"

"We're eating," he said, setting some crockery onto a side table, "and I have a few things, grilled fish, grilled meat, grilled mushroom; thought I'd go for a selection."

"And discovered the grill too, apparently."

Link chuckled, "well I didn't want you to go hungry for too long."

She rolled her eyes.

"Link, thank you, but I've already had dinner." She said, gesturing to the plate of peppered steak set aside on her desk, completely untouched save a single chunk taken from it.

"Really?" Link asked, falling onto the couch, "one bite doesn't count."

"Oh shush." She said, joining him as he passed one of the plates to her. "Wait, the kitchen staff should have finished by now, did you make all this?"

Link blushed, hand flying to his neck as he became enchanted with the table leg, "Gotter was still around, he helped me put some stuff together from leftovers. It's not fancy, but better than cold food."

He'd made it for her. Her body fizzled with happiness and she wrapped an arm round his, giving it a light squeeze; heart beating in her ears. "I think I'll be fine with that, thank you."

He quickly embraced her back, and she didn't miss the spark of excitement that thundered through her.

"You've been out for a while," she said, brushing her hair over her ear as she distracted herself with the food, "have you been having fun guarding trains?"

"It's been…entertaining," he laughed, "okay, it was completely chaotic. Surprisingly, engineers don't like it when guards order them around. But everyone's just getting used to it."

"Honestly I'm shocked, next you'll say the sky's blue," she said through a mouthful of food. Swallowing she added, "is there anything I can do to make things better?"

"Nah, Russel managed to get everyone organised, said he expected teething problems."

"Oh? I feel like there should be a 'Captain' there."

"We…he told-he said to call him that." Link stammered, spinning his fork in his food. "Besides I don't technically work for him, so it doesn't really matter what I call him."

She jabbed her elbow lightly into his side, "I'm teasing Link, it's not like you'd be disrespectful anyway."

"Of course you are, and after I was nice enough to cook too," he countered, thumping her shoulder with his own and sending her rocking; barely clutching her plate enough to stop it flying away.

"Hey, careful!" she exclaimed, "do you want me to drop this after all your hard work?"

"Oh so you appreciate it now?" Link asked as she shoved him back, and they let their giggles warm the air.

"I always appreciate you…" she murmured back, quickly adding, "when you're not being daft anyway."

"Please, says the one who forgot to eat again."

"Shush, it's not my fault, I was busy!" She exclaimed, swiping a mushroom from her plate and tossing it at him.

It hit him right in the face, leaving a spattering of sauce all over his cheek. Link stalled, only staring at her, seemingly unsure of what had happened.

"Oi! What happened to appreciating it?" he asked, scooping up a chunk of food from his plate and quickly whipping it towards her.

She threw an arm up in vain, the dollop still hitting her square in the forehead.

"Hey! I only threw a little bit!" she exclaimed, giggling as she returned fire, "don't start something you can't finish!"

She didn't hear his reply, only just managing to create a faux shield from a nearby cushion as he shot more food back. A war had broken out.

They flung food back and forth from opposite ends of the sofa, with time being the first casualty.

Soon enough, so much food had been splattered around that a ceasefire had to be called. She struggled to breath between giggles, eyes trained on Link as he reflected her. She was pretty sure they both wore more food than they'd actually eaten. Nevertheless, as she sat there, belly full and warmth flushing her cheeks, Zelda realized she couldn't even remember what had been bothering her before, the memory replaced by the image of Link's sloppy grin.

Her eyes trailed over him. He was a mess, spattered with an assortment of grilled food from head to toe. Though she reasoned that was probably the case for her too. Something clutched her heart at the thought, turning her hands cold. How ridiculous must she have looked to him? Why had she started that whole thing? Truthfully she'd done it without thinking, but was it worth how she felt now? Her stomach bubbled with a mix of warmth and worry at the thought.

"You should take more breaks," Link said, giving her a soft smile, "well I suppose that's only if you can, anything I can do to help?"

The warmth was back in her cheeks. He already looked cute, red flushing his food covered face as their eyes met, if not a little daft – and adding something like that on top just made the bubbles in her stomach begin to swirl. The whole thing was stupid, and all his fault. He must know what effect he had on her, mustn't he? How much she enjoyed his company? How he made her feel?

Oh…