Really enjoyed writing this one, mainly because it builds on things I've been planning for a while and leads into what I hope will be an interesting turn of events (and finally going into something I promised a while ago).

Chapter 28: Coupling

"I do like his stories; it's just that Niko has me listen to each one at least twelve times before he finishes making all the pictures," Link said from his seat besides the fountain in the castle's upper garden. He once again attempted to fit a short cylinder attached to four tiny fans to one of his model trains. "I've learnt half of 'em by heart."

He looked up from his project to catch Zelda's eye. She stood in a small clearing amid the numerous hedgerows of the garden, all surprisingly green despite it being mid-winter, circled by numerous weapons, tools and bits of equipment – mostly his own. They were a little away from the stairs to the lower garden – a spot Zelda had chosen actually, specifically because 'Teacher won't see us, he'd blow his top if he found me experimenting with all these.'

"Still, how could you fall asleep? You couldn't pull me away if you tried!" Zelda exclaimed, finally picking his shield for her next attempt, replacing the sword she'd just been using.

"I have tried! We had to listen to an hour of Teacher's lectures because you wouldn't go!" Link replied, accidently tapping the fan against the engines casing, causing the fans to spin and the mechanism to explode free from the model's front. He tore his mittens off, throwing them aside; they may have helped with the cold, but they made tinkering practically impossible. "Honestly, if you wanted to trade places sometime, you could've just asked."

Zelda laughed, winking at him, "I'd be tempted, if for nothing else than just to see you deal with a trade meeting!" With that she closed her eyes, lifting the shield into an attempt at a proper position – like someone with practice but no actual experience.

"Hold it a little higher," he said, watching as she did so. "Yeah, like that – that type's different from a Phantom's shield, it's a lot smaller so any lower and it leaves some openings."

"Thank you, sir," Zelda said, giving him a mock guard's salute before opening an eye to glance at him, "now shush, I need to focus."

She didn't really need to say it anymore, how many attempts to use the Light Force – as Zelda's handbook had called it – had it been today? Seven? Eight? At least enough that lunch was now a distant memory, and dinner was quickly taking over his thoughts. She'd nearly gone round the whole circle of equipment at this point, though only had any major success with her bow and arrow. Regardless, he went quiet, watching for any sign of the golden glow.

Zelda took a deep breath in, then out – repeating the process over and over. Slowly, a faint light began to glow within the three triangles at the shield's centre.

"Are you sure this's alright? You're still on duty aren't you?" a girl's voice asked. It wasn't loud, but still stood out in the silence.

The glow popped out of existence as Zelda's eyes flew open and she gave him a confused look.

"Don't worry, the Captain's still away, and no one ever comes here in winter," a deeper male voice replied, "well…'cept the Princess, but you said she's distracted with Link, right?"

Zelda went first, leaving the shield behind as she stretched on her tip-toes, attempting to see over the hedge and into the lower garden. Link, taking a moment to place his project in his pouch, followed her – struggling to even reach the top of the hedge, let alone look over. He was about to hop onto the fountain's rim, when Zelda gasped and yanked him down.

"It's Maggie, with Parrow!" She whispered, though she was clearly forcing herself to do so. "I can't believe her, she said she had a family guest to entertain, I didn't know it was a private meeting!"

He knew the shining look in her eye, the same one she had when Orca and Dovok had gotten engaged mere minutes after meeting.

"Maybe we should give them some privacy?" Link asked, following Zelda as she began sneaking around the hedge.

Zelda almost looked offended at the suggestion, "this is my castle, no one's stopping me from walking in my own gardens if I wish it."

Yeah, that seemed about right.

"You're just nosy," he replied. It wasn't a criticism, truthfully he had no intention of leaving either – now he just had an excuse.

Zelda stuck her tongue out at him in response as they reached a small, benched, outcropping that overlooked the lower garden – and more importantly the couple walking through it. They knelt on one of the benches, barely peeking over the small perimeter wall to see below.

If it was possible, with her hand in Parrow's, Maggie managed to look even more nervous than normal; though he'd often seen the guards training, and even at attention Parrow had seemed more relaxed.

"They're adorable," Zelda whispered as Parrow said something to Maggie that caused her to laugh unexpectedly loud. "Although it's been, what, two weeks at most since my party? They didn't waste any time."

"Honestly, I'm a little surprised it happened at all; isn't it improper or something for a Lady and guard to have a relationship?" Link asked.

Zelda had a sparkle in her eyes as she threw her arm to gesture at the couple, "who cares? That just makes it more romantic! And if I approve no-one's going to object." She leaned towards him, whispering despite no one else being there. "Besides, it's not exactly rare – or at least I know that lots of girls like the uniforms, makes them seem like adventurers."

He couldn't help but agree, thinking back to how Zelda had looked in his own uniform; how it'd been a little too large, causing the sleeves to cutely hang loose over her hands, or that she'd fumbled with the cap so it sat lopsided on her head…

He needed to stop getting distracted.

"You don't sound too keen yourself – not your type?" he asked, leaning back from the wall as Maggie and Parrow passed through the archway to the lower garden's pond, ready for Zelda to lead him elsewhere to watch.

Instead she shrugged, and swung herself over the barrier to balance on the outcropping's thin outer edge. Hanging from the wall, she leant over the drop – presumably attempting to see the couple, "I've been around guards literally my whole life, they don't really interest me anymore."

Consciously he knew she'd be fine, she'd probably been clambering around the garden since she was little. That didn't make it any easier to see her dangle above the four metres of empty air. Still, there was something he could use to distract himself. "Anymore?"

Zelda refused to look at him, though still didn't manage to hide her blush, "I can barely see them – oh! I think Maggie's leaning on his shoulder!"

"Really? That's quite romantic," Link said, almost managing to bite back his tongue, "she's living your dream for you."

Zelda pulled herself back to his side, puffing out her cheeks. "Oh please, it was once – and I was eight!" she replied, walking to a tree near the castle's wall. "What, are you going to tell me you've never had a crush before?

"That-that's not the point," he stammered, following her.

"I knew it!" Zelda exclaimed, meeting his eyes as she poked his shoulder, "who is it? A friend? Someone you met while travelling?"

You.

He ignored that thought; as much as he wanted to say it, he couldn't – not so spontaneously anyway. He'd definitely need to plan how he'd let her know his feelings, and make it a good one at that – the ideas he'd come up with so far…well, they were far too embarrassing to even consider.

"Not sure if it counts," he said, "but there was a girl a little older than me – actually probably our age now – her parents owned a Bullbo farm that we traded with. It was before I started my apprenticeship, so I can't really remember her too clearly, but she looked after us when we were kids a fair bit. Apparently I used to always ask her to dance with me at parties, or went on 'dates' with her. She was probably just humouring me; actually she definitely was, 'cause I remember getting jealous when she got a boyfriend."

"Aw, it sounds cute," Zelda said, inspecting the tree, "It's like when Alfonzo would have picnics with me."

"It was fun, haven't seen her since I moved in with Niko though and…what are you doing?"

Zelda had begun pulling herself up the tree, and was now dangling off the lowest branch.

"I'm…climbing," she said, hoisting herself up so she could sit on it, "we can get onto the wall from here, it'll give us a better view," she hung an arm down for him.

Taking it, he clambered up behind her and, working together, they managed to scramble onto the castle's wall.

Turned out Zelda was right; from there he could see all of the pond – even making out the tiny fish that occasionally hopped above the surface. They began walking, scanning the garden for Maggie and Parrow as they went. The couple seemed to have disappeared, had they lost them? Or maybe they were hidden somewhere? If so, then he wouldn't be much help. Would Zelda know where they'd gone? She seemed aware of all the secret places around the castle.

…Apparently he was quite invested in this, when had that happened?

He barely saw Zelda begin to lag behind him, just catching it from the corner of his eye. Had she spotted them?

"Mine was Alfonzo."

What?

He looked back to find Zelda was hiding her face behind her hand – facing away from, but still peeking out at, him – and he realized she wasn't kidding.

"No!" he exclaimed, smirk consuming his face, "I had no idea – wait does he? I have to tell him!"

Zelda grabbed his arm, wide-eyed and red faced. "Absolutely not!" she squeaked, "if he finds out, you're banned from Castle Town – no, actually I'll banish you from the country!"

Could she do that? Would she do that? He doubted it; then again, while he'd only meant to joke, she looked almost as worked up as when she'd lost her body.

"Ok, I won't say anything; promise," he said, meeting her eyes and finding he was unable to hide his grin. "But really, Alfonzo? He isn't exactly the princess wooing type."

Zelda narrowed her eyes at him, as if debating whether or not to believe him, before letting his arm go and shrugging as she spoke. "Well, what can I say? He was my brave, loyal, personal guard. He always listened to me – regardless of what I wanted to talk about. He even competed in my honour in tournaments a couple of times." She smiled, seemingly lost in memories for a moment. "Really, it shouldn't be a surprise, though I've moved on now."

"Aw, he'd be so disappointed."

"Oh yes, I'm sure he would be devastated," Zelda replied, rolling her eyes before meeting his, "and that's why he can never know."

Link chuckled, "So long as you don't say about mine, it's something I've actually managed to keep hidden from him!"

Zelda seemed satisfied with that and began scanning the garden for the couple. He did the same, except he wasn't really looking; something else had caught his mind's Zelda had 'moved on,' did that mean she had a new crush?

"Ah, look!" Zelda exclaimed, pointing to a small wooden building, without any walls, in the garden – destroying his thoughts. "They're down there, in the gazebo!"

He finally spotted them, seated almost on top of each other as they seemed to be sharing some food – he thought he recognised it from Pita's bakery, a crepe maybe? Regardless, it looked good, enough that he could feel his stomach growling…and the idea of dinner popped into his head again.

The thought was pushed away as Maggie wiped something from Parrow's cheek and, after a moment of hesitation, she planted a kiss on it.

Zelda squealed next to him, and began shaking him by the shoulder when Parrow kissed Maggie back on the lips. "She did it! They did it! Ah, I need to talk with her!"

"Except," Link said, with great difficulty as the world shook around him, cocking a brow at her, "we aren't supposed to know, they're clearly trying to be secretive."

Zelda looked like she'd actually forgotten that detail, as if the last fifteen minutes hadn't happened, and her energy seemingly evaporated as she released him – before being replaced by a mischievous smirk, "I'll just have to get her to tell me then; ooh, that'll be fun."

"You're terrible, you know I'm starting to see the pirate in you," Link said, noticing how the couple were still kissing. "They…seem to be enjoying themselves. Maybe we should give them some privacy now."

"That…would seem to be best, yes," Zelda said, already looking away from the new couple and beginning to head back towards the castle proper – presumably intending to head back to the upper garden the proper way this time. He barely caught her flush.

"Oh? So you're bothered now?" Link asked, cocking his head round to look up at her as he walked by her side. "You know I wouldn't have thought kissing, of all things, was too much for you."

"Oh shush; a peck is fine but that much is just...more personal," she replied, smirking at him. "Besides, you're the one who suggested it – and you're red!" She leaned into him. "What's wrong? Does it make you nervous? Putting thoughts in your head?"

His mind exploded into high speed, flashing with thought before his next step. She knew exactly what she was doing, didn't she? She was close; to the point he could see the slight tinge of pink on her lips. Why were they so eye-catching? Spirits, he wanted to kiss her. Did she want him to? No, that was the worst idea – if he was wrong she'd definitely find a way to actually banish him. Why couldn't this be simple?

...Did he just imagine her glancing at his lips too? Or had she really done that?

The moment vanished as they stepped into the castle and the heated air wrapped around them.

"Well, can you blame me?" Link said, "It isn't like I've had much experience with that sort of thing."

"Really? I'm surprised, I'd have thought-"

"Princess! I've been looking for you – I knew you two would be together," a worried voice said from ahead of them, grabbing their attention. Link couldn't decide if he was glad for that or not.

Teacher looked out of breath, panting deeply as he spoke – as if he'd just run a lap of the castle. He held Link's shield across his chest. Combined with his panicked look, the meaning was clear – it seemed they hadn't been as secretive with Zelda's practice as they'd thought.

"Don't worry, sir, Link has just been demonstrating his swordsmanship for me," Zelda said, gesturing to him with one hand and smiling at Teacher, "we're fine. What do you need me for?"

Teacher shook his head as he walked up to them, "It's Link I need, though you should both hear this." He placed a hand on Link's shoulder and took a deep breath before meeting his eyes and conjuring a soft grimace. "Link, Niko has passed away."

As usual, I hope you enjoyed reading - though I was wondering what people's thoughts are on introducing/developing the minor game characters? Is it something you like or do you find it takes away from what you're wanting from the story?