Author´s note:
Okay, I had more Zelink fluff in me. I hope with this chapter it´s a bit clearer what is going on inside their minds. Yes, yes we´re going around that four-letter word. I know, but it is important, I swear.
Also I had to start the engine on the plot, even if it seems like nothing is happening!
Fair warning though, there is an F-bomb in this chapter, and some implied nudity, but nothing that would put you off, or that seems remotely vulgar. Also-also, I double checked for typos and grammar. Second languages are like riding a bike after many years: you can do it no problem, but it doesn´t feel right until some laps around the block.
Enough of my ranting:
Chapter IV
Bubbles
It was late in the afternoon when they had finished their perfectly cooked food and had gulped down every drop of water, while also eating as much desserts as they could fit inside their adolescent stomachs. Link was absolutely full, so much so in fact, that he had to stop looking at the food before feeling sick. Zelda seemed to be quite satisfied with their meal, although she wasn´t making a scene out of it. He noticed her manners were impecable, whereas his´, were invisible. She never glared at his obvious lack in decorum, in fact they had eaten and talked for the better part of two hours. Admittedly, Link did more of the eating, and Zelda was leading the conversation.
It was just after politely turning down a second helping of apple pie (which ended up on Link´s plate, for he had caught his second wind), that she said in a quiet voice:
"Do you remember what my Father said before we left?", her voice seemed to carry a second meaning to it, but Link could not decifer what it was. He merely nodded, he had just bitten a very large chunk of pie. It took him a few seconds and some milk to pass it. "I do, 'Do not undo what has already been done within. For it would bring you great sorrow and loss. Look inside'", he repeated word for word.
Zelda seemed a bit taken aback by his precise memory, and he could see the irony in that. He smiled at her, "Hey, I had to memorize a lot of stuff to... do other stuff" he ended rather sheepishly. She nodded and returned half a smile, seemingly lost in her thoughts for a moment.
"At first I thought he was speaking of us", she said bluntly. Link nearly spit his milk, but managed to keep his cool, merely coughing quietly.
"But now you...don´t?", he asked tentatively, as if trying to follow her train of thought. She waved as if brushing his question away and shook her head slowly. "I think what he said had two meanings, it was a weird thing to say, even for him", she was looking at something behind Link, as if reliving some scene inside her head, "my Father was always a very eloquent man, but he would sometimes speak in riddles whenever he wanted to tell me something but couldn´t. Most times it was because of my Mother being there, I was a funny little imp as a girl", a faint and wistful smile drew itself across her face, suddenly disappearing as she came back to where she was.
"It almost seems as if he was trying to tell me something, but why wouldn´t he say it plainly?". Link was sitting there, listening intently, aware that he had suddenly disappeared from her sight. She was talking to herself.
"Maybe the Champions were still there and he didn´t want them to know? No, no, that doesn´t make sense, what harm could´ve come from them hearing what he wanted to tell me?", she had stood up now and was pacing the small space between her chair and the wall behind it.
"Do not undo what has already been done within.." she said out loud. She glanced at him, so he nodded. She didn´t seem to notice.
"But what have we done that we could undo from within?", she waited for a response that never came, "I mean, we couldn´t possibly undo anything, even if we could, why would we even want to bring back that...thing?".
"I think maybe you´re reading too much into it", he said with a sleepy tone. She didn´t even look at him, merely waving his suggestion off. He snorted quite loudly, he quickly covered his mouth. He was sure she wouldn´t let that one pass, but she was so deep in thought that she barely paid him any atention. Why was this suddenly so important?
She suddenly let out a lound 'Gah!' voicing her frustration. She turned to face him in defeat, "I have no idea what he meant by it". He looked at her without a clue of what to say. He just shrugged and munched on his last slice of pie.
"I think we owe ourselves a break. We have just defeated the demon that wanted to destroy the world, after all", he stated firmly. He was more tired than he cared to admit, and another quest to save the world was last on his very short list of things to do.
This seemed to have pulled her back to reality, she looked him in the eye, "I guess you´re right", ending her phrase with a slow sigh that turned into her blowing a strand of hair off of her face. They looked at eachother, though Link was sure, they were both thinking of very different things.
Out of the blue Koko, the daughter of Dorian knocked on the door and made a small curtsy to the Princess while bowing her head down quite dangerously. She bowed her head back.
"My dad says, 'If you wish to take a warm bath, the bathhouse is now ready, but tell Link to wait until the princess is done', the girl had chanted, having learnt by heart what her father had told her. Zelda smiled fondly at her, which earned her a bewildered expression, followed by a clueless smile.
"I will gladly accept a warm bath, thank you..." she told her, asking for her name with her eyes.
"My name is Koko", said Koko with a tone of indignation in her voice. She was very feisty, and didn´t seem to care that she was talking to her Princess.
"Well, thank you, Koko".
Zelda stood up while glancing sideways at Link, who nodded, and also tried not to think of her taking a bath. But failed miserably, which made his ears burn red. The small sheikah, curtsied again and said in what was the most grown-up voice she could make, "Follow me, Princess. I will show you the way".
"All right, then", and with that they both left him there to his own devices.
Inside a hazy and humid room, a certain someone was sitting in a very warm and humid wooden tub. He couldn´t make out her silohuette completely, but a mane of blonde hair told him all he needed to know...
"Link?", a voice had broken his fantasy quite abruptly. Paya was standing just outside Dorian´s house, he couldn´t mistake her voice even if he´d wanted to. His heart was pumping blood so fast that when he stood up, his head was starting to feel very light and the dizziness did not go away completely as he almost swayed his way to the door. A certain lump dissapearing rather slowly down south. He prayed to Hylia, Farore, Nayru and Din that it went away, and it did started to seem smaller by the second. Paya knocked on the door once again.
"Link?", she asked again. He heard her shuffling outside the door. The light from the torches outside made it rather easy to spot the two shadows her feet cast on the floor.
"Yeah, coming!", he made sure one last time that everything was okay past his belt, and slid the door open. "Hey!", he said smiling rather unnaturally. Paya, as always, blushed and blushed until her whole face was red. She covered her entire face in what Link thought was shame. Her words came a bit muffled when she spoke next. "I should have come earlier, you have already eaten! I was busy and I just saw Zel- the princess come out", she pleaded. He had to lean his head forward to catch that last sentence.
Trying hard not to make it any more awkward that it already was, the hylian simply replied, "Don´t worry, we´ve been in here for hours, so I don´t think it matters now. Though I´m sure you have more important things to do than showing me the way to the bathhouse. If you want, you could just point me in the right direction and I´m sure I´ll find it!", he beamed at her. She was peeping at him thorugh the gaps between her fingers.
"That would be ama- I mean- it´s no problem at all!", she said, uncovering her face, still red, but with a determined expression. "Impa keeps telling me I should talk more to men my age, so I guess I should start by talking to the one I´m most comfortable around with", her last words were matched by the smallest of smiles. Taking a deep breath she told him rather bossily, "Follow me".
They walked in a mixture of awkward and comfortable silence. He welcomed the fresh air, and scenery. He pushed all thoughts of Zelda aside, scolding himself for having such thoughts of her.
He always enjoyed whenever his journeys took him to Kakariko Village, all those trips where Impa would tell him just bits of information from every picture in the Sheikah Slate. Sometimes being very cryptic, and others just pointing him in the right direction. He remembered the last picture was that of the bridge between Zelda´s room and her Study. Impa had merely stated that he should follow his heart, but 'it would be best if you followed it to Hyrule Castle', he chuckled at the memory, mirroring the very same one that Impa had offered at the time. Deep inside, Link was sure she had enjoyed just having him wandering around for days until he came back and told her everything he had remembered; much like a kid telling a story to a grown-up. It always ended with him having more questions than answers (he still had many, but the Sheikah had told him everything would fall into place when he rescued the Princess). He did have some questions for Zelda. But he felt that a barrage of questions just after killing the Apocalypse Incarnate, was frowned upon, to say the least.
Coming back to reality, he took in his surroundings. They were now in front of the stairs leading to Impa´s house, but instead of climbing the cascading stairs, they had entered a narrow passage under them. Paya had lit a torch and seeming visibly more relaxed said "I think you might like this". Link took her word for it, because he had no idea what she meant. It was apparent that she too, had a liking for cryptic phrases.
They walked through a narrow wooden passageway, it was lit with torches, and a bit damp if the dripping sounds and the splashing sounds his feet made against the wet stone were anything to go by. Surely enough, when Paya opened the door and they came out of said passage, what greeted him was something he did not expect: it was a wide cave, or rather room, which he could tell had been carved out, rather than being a natural formation. Across from where they had entered, and where a wall should have been standing, there was... nothing, there was an opening that went from ceiling to floor, and by the looks of it, also side to side. Just in front of him was a steaming pond, it looked rather inviting as small huffs of vapor flew lazily towards the ceiling. A natural fiber brush lay on one of the rocks near the edge of the pond, along with a bar of soap and a neatly folded towel. To his right he saw a wooden screen that covered most of the room´s height and seemingly divided the room in half. He heard voices on the other side. He turned as if to ask Paya, a curt nod and a blushing face was all the answers he got.
"Paya, uh...", he began slowly, "you wouldn´t happen to have some clean clothes for me, would you?", he felt bad for asking, seeing as they were already doing too much for them, but if he was honest, he reeked of blood and dirt. The young sheikah let out a gasp and dashed to a rather small but very long cabinet on the rocky wall, across the wooden screen.
"I forgot to take them out, I´m sorry!" she produced a white bundle of clean clothing and left it over the cabinet. With a quiet 'I´ll leave you to it then', she hastily closed the door behind her. Leaving him standing, there. One of the voices had dissapeared. Another one, however was humming a tune that made him think of Kass. He shook his head and laughed, covering her mouth instantly.
"Link?", the princess asked.
'You fucking idiot', he mouthed to himself. "Yeah, seems like it". His mind apparently had gone on vacation. What was he on about?!
"I never knew they had such a beautiful place under here", she said quietly, the faint sound of water told him she had walked to her side of the wooden screen. "It´s such a beautiful view", she said calmly.
"It is", he said hoarsely. He had taken his clothes off, and decided for the more 'immediate' entrance to the water, leaping into it curled into a ball. He regretted it instantly for he had hit his back with hard stone. When he came out for breath he let out a faint 'ouch', which apparently the Princess found amusing. She was laughing quietly on her side.
"Don´t know why I did that", he said feeling his neck burning with embarrassment and his pride as hurt as his back.
"I wish I had done it", said a voice on the other side of the wooden wall.
"I guess I got used to doing all sorts of things while being on the wild, not all of them were smart", he said walking slowly to a corner made by the wooden wall and a low stone wall that kept all of the watter from falling to the other side. Resting his arms over the wet stone, he finally took the landscape in. The bathroom had a panoramic view of Telta lake, which was framed by tall cliffs made of white quarry, if he squinted hard enough he thought he could see Lanayru tower.
Thoughts of steam and blonde hair suddenly fogged his mind and he was glad he was chest-deep under water.
Her Knight was so nervous it had made her smile a very toothy grin, which was of course due to her being as nervous as him. The mere thought of him naked with nothing more than a rickety wooden screen between them made her head sway and brought a warmth that didn´t come from her heart. She splashed some water over her face, regaining some control over herself.
"Everything okay over there?", he asked in a very muffled voice. It sounded as if his mouth were half inside the water. She started to laugh, it was obvious she had not heard it consciously, but now that she thought of it...
"Were you making bubbles with your mouth?", she laughed openly, picturing him doing something so child-like. There was a pause.
"No", he had almost asked defiantly. This only made her laugh more. She could hear her laughter echoing inside the cavern.
"I think you were", she teased. "I know how it sounds, because I do it all the time. Well...", she kept forgetting she was now a hundred and seventeen years old, or rather, a hundred and eighteen. "You know what I mean", she asked to the wooden division.
"I know", she pictured him sighing, but had heard nothing. "You know Princess, for a member of the Royal family, you don´t strike me as a very royaly person", he heard a tinge of nervousness in his voice. She could tell he was trying to change the subject, and she obliged.
"Those bubbles were so knightly, very becoming for Her Royal Majesty´s Guard", she seconded.
He laughed at her remark,"Yeah-", he laughed a bit more, "I guess not, but it was fun. You should try it!".
"OH?" she mocked offense. "Are you implying I´m not a fun person?", she coud feel a smile creeping it´s way to her lips as she said this.
"Look, fighting with your sworn enemy for years sounds awfuly fun, but I don´t think Ganon has anything on these bubbles", It hadn´t been even a week and he could already make jokes about it. She laughed, but her laugh was lost inside a heavy breath.
"Yeah, I guess you´re right", she said, completely killing the mood. She turned herself around and rested the back of her neck against the low stone wall, letting her body float a little. The shape of her body looked deformed by the ripples on the water.
"Sorry", muttered the Hyilian Knight. "I didn´t think-".
"It´s fine, honestly", she said turning her head towards the wood that separated them, forgetting he couldn´t see her. "I just keep thinking of my Father, of Urbosa...", she felt a light sadness creep its way through the back of her mind, but she fended it away. "I guess a hundred years of fighting would do that to you. Make you a boring old lady, huh?". She tried to inject a bit of the light mood they had created into her voice. She let the water cover her mouth and her nose and blew as hard as she could.
"Are you- Are you making bubbles!?", he asked in an incredulous tone. She laughed out loud inside the water, which made her swallow a little water and cough a little bit. Her laughter did not stop, however. "I wasn´t!", she said through fits of cough and laughter. Her Father, Urbosa, and her champions were still on her mind. But Link was right about something, they should try and have more fun. After all, they had just saved the world.
After an hour of joking and talking she could feel the tips of her fingers getting more wrinkly.
"Well", she said while walking slowly towards where Koko had left the towel, "If I don´t get out I´m going to look a hundred years old for sure", she was suddenly very aware of the sound her legs made as she steped out of the water, and then of the tiny dropplets of water that ran off her chest. She shivered a bit, seeking the comfort of the cozy piece of cloth.
Once she had put on the pair of deep blue pants and white jacket that Koko had left for her she said to him, "I guess I´ll see you tomorrow bubbly knight!".
"Be sure to pop in time for breakfast", he said playfully. She replied with one last "HA!" as she opened the door into the hallway.
"Good night, Princess", he added.
"Sleep well, Link", she replied cheerfuly.
She kept her smile all the way back to the room Impa had prepared for her. Admittedly it was Paya´s room. They had separated her bed from hers with another, albeit smaller, wooden screen. A rickety wooden nightstand stood next to her bed. Over the nightstand, she noticed, lay a blank leather notebook and a very long hawk feather already resting inside a small bottle of ink. She smiled inwardly at Impa for remembering how much she loved to write. She lifted the Hawk Feather from the bottle and wrote on the first page of her new diary.
We did it! Link and I did it! Ganon is gone for good!
She brushed the feather against her chin for a while before writing on the very next line.
I can´t recall when was the last time I laughed this much. I also didn´t remember the sound of his laugh. It´s like our lives couldn´t be more normal, and uneventfull, sometimes when he talks to me I can tell... I can tell he holds back... something. But this is so much MORE than when we first made our pilgrimage to the fountains... Is this what... friendship feels like?
She had purposedly written 'Friendship' instead of what she truly felt, because every time she thought of telling him, a little voice inside her mind had reminded her that he may not return the feeling wholeheartedly. Still she was satisfied with the relationship they had, so... why rush it?
We said our good-byes to my Father and Urbosa, Mipha, Daruk and Revali were there too, of course. I already miss them so much. Father...
Just under that note she added, Do not undo what has already been done within, for it would bring you great sorrow and loss. Look insideand you will know what I´m talking about
Father what was it you couldn´t tell me?
With that, she left the ink to dry a bit and closed her diary. She undressed and let the coolnes of the mattress embrace her. She fell asleep instantly with a smile on her face and a question in her mind.
His toes tickled a bit against the sheets. It was the tingling sensation one got after taking a hot bath and instanty hopping into bed. For a moment he recalled what it felt sleeping on a real bed. He snuggled against the cotton sheets while watching the odd shadows the candle beside him cast on the furniture. Dorian had appeared soon after Zelda left, telling him that he was to sleep in his house. He had the feeling that Koko and Cottle had something to do with that. He rolled over and there he saw the bunkbed in which a pair of small bundles were swelling up and down rhythmically. One of them was snoring quietly.
Koko had been thrilled to show him around their room. She even let him browse through her cook book. Most of the recipes were copied down, but the last pages had a few of her own, complete with drawings and colors, as she had put it.
With every passing second he felt more and more sleepy. A wide smile spread across his face, as he recalled his earlier conversation with Zelda. It was good that they had allowed themselves to be goofy, he sincerely thought they deserved these moments of silliness. He had never had the chance to make jokes with anyone up to that point, something he was sure Zelda didn´t know. It had been the happiest he had felt, ever. The bubble joke and how she kept the gag going was something he would cherrish forever. It had been like knowing a side of her no one knew about. He remembered how, back then, she had noted that he himself was very quiet and seemed to have built a wall around him that no one could tear down. It was funny how he had thought the same thing, although she had been quicker to trust him, even if the severity of the situation never allowed for jokes.
Now however, everything was different. He knew that there would come a day where they would have to part ways, but right now, they were just a couple of kids, being what kids should be. He of course knew they weren´t kids anymore, for he kept pushing aside thoughts of her as more than friends. Not because he didn´t feel something more intense than friendship, but because thinking of how real and close the person he cared for was.
Caring for another person.
He inevitably thought of Mipha and how he had shut himself out, in turn shutting her feelings out too. Soon after his memories of her came back to him he remembered how she would always talk herself around her feelings, as if it were some forbidden thing to love him. He of course had never even dared to tread on that very same thin ice, for he had always kept his mouth shut about that, too afraid to say anything that could ruin their old friendship. Soon after the Master Sword had chosen him, she had written to him, hoping to see him soon. It was only until after Zelda had appointed him as a champion that they had a moment to themselves. It had been a long day of her trying to control Vah Ruta. He had hurt himself hours before fighting some monsters they had encountered along the way to the Titan. She had healed his wounds, and also quite openly said she wished to see him again. Even now he could recall her hand over his arm. It was an odd sensation, since she was not...human. Her skin (for Zoras had no scales, as many had mistakenly believed) was soft against his, it hadn´t been slippery or anything, but it was a very different sensation than human skin indeed. He never dared to touch her, for he was afraid that would lead her on, and... what if it didn´t work out? They still had to defeat Calamity Ganon, it would have been awkward if it hadn´t...
Back then when it was only them traveling, Zelda had mentioned Mipha quite frequently, but it had never occured to him that, maybe, only maybe she was making sure nothing had been going on between them. He had always said 'We´re just friends'. At the time, he didn´t feel like sharing the deepest feelings that dwellt inside his heart. And later, many months later, he just wasn´t sure of what he felt anymore. Zelda made his mind go blank most of the time, and he had stopped seeing Mipha for a long time until that fateful afternoon, when Calamity Ganon reawakened.
It was then, that his relationship with Zelda had deepened. They had to fight alone against hordes of monsters. Zelda had done everything she could, but her powers had kept evading her, asi if denying to do as she commanded, not long after it all had gone to hell, their friends had been murdered by the Beast, and they were running from the enemy that she had finally caved in and crumbled. He had never felt pity, nor had shared the same sadness with one person, not until that night. Zelda had cried her heart out, asking him what to do, telling him how useless she felt. It was a good thing it had been raining, for he had shed many tears with her that night.
His mind told him he should wait. His heart was telling him to let go, and his soul was torn between his past and his present
He had been determined to give his life for her, not only because he had sworn an Oath and it was his duty, but because he couldn´t bear to think that something may happen to her. No one knew this, but he remembered exactly what he was thinking the moment he passed away, all those years ago fighting against that army of guardians in Fort Hateno. And he remembered the last thing he ever saw before dying: A pair of green eyes. It was in that moment that he realized, that in all the time he had known her up to that point, he had never seen her smile. His heart broke in that very moment, for the last thing those beautiful green eyes had done was shedding tears for him. He remembered making a vow in his head, that if he could go back in time he would like to see her smile, even if it was only once.
And yet, here they were. His sore belly was a testament of the many laughs they had shared in just a couple of days. Oddly enough, he had heard her laughter, and seen her half smile. But he still hadn´t seen her smile of happiness. He racked his brains, trying to recall a moment where she had been smiling at him. None came.
He turned over and faced the wall, sighing heavily, becoming aware of how tired he was, his body felt like it weighed a ton. He closed his eyes and sonn after, thoughts of laughter, the smell of earth after the rain and the taste of bacon came to his mind´s eye.
He let himself fall down into thoughts of warm sheets, puffy pillows, bubbles and an ordinary life. He managed to give certain Princess a thought or two. With one silent smile, he hoped he would dream of her.
