Author´s Note:

Wow. Okay writting this chapter was a BLAST. We are finally here! The true ending (spoilers if you didn´t unlock it, I guess). A LOT of things happen in this chapter. In fact I had to split it into two parts.

I wanted to explore the beginning of their relationship. I wanted it to make as rocky and weird as possible, to establish that neither of them necessarilly liked each other. As opposed to... you know. Now.

I hope you enjoy, and if you do. Consider dropping a review!

As always thanks to everyone that has favorited and followed this story!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! THANK YOU!


Chapter XIII

The Princess and the Knight

They had been sitting at the top of a hill, watching Hyrule Castle from there. It was one of those days where the silence they shared, comforted her, this was happening more and more with each passing day. Link was less silent, yes, but in the times where they had nothing to say, those silences carried more meaning than anything they could´ve said.

She often recalled her mother telling her how her power would awaken, and vividly saw in her mind´s eye the day she first saw Link holding the Sword of Legend. He had been barely as tall as the fabled blade. The memory of the one time she heard the Voice of the Sword, the same afternoon that Link had almost given his life to protect her came to her mind every time she thought of 'her power', the day she realized, that she loved Link. She had been a fool to burry her feelings under the waters of indifference and outright nasty behavior, but when the back of her hand had lit up with the shape of the Triforce, Mipha´s unfinished words came to her mind. That seemed to have been the trigger for the explosion of light that took out all those possessed guardians.

She even prayed to the sword inside her mind after returning it to it´s resting place. The sword fell silent. It refused to speak again. It wasn´t until their encounter with the golden knight that attacked them just outside Gerudo City, that she realized it was the other way around.

Try as she might, her voice never reached Link´s heart, her hand never glowed and she was powerless against the monstruous knight´s unmerciful grasp. She had lost her powers.

After a long and paused sigh, she cast one last look at her old, and hopefully future home. Getting up, she shook off whatever leaves and dust she had on her pants and looked at Link. His gaze was lost, deep in thought, too. She held out her hand, Link blinked once and looked at her. He took her hand and got up too.

The Sheikah Slate was only useful now to tell her that nothing was working anymore. She looked at it nonetheless, hoping that out of nowhere, something on that screen would tell her what they needed to do next. That never happened. Only four icons representing the four Divine Beasts apeared in red, against a black background. Naboris and Ruta´s icons flickered in a faint red light, until Ruta's stopped and slowly faded to black. Rudania and Medoh´s icons were now practically invisible.

"Divine Beast Vah Ruta... Looks like it stopped working, too". She said looking at the screen. She felt Link´s eyes on her. "We should also investigate the situation while we´re there".

The reason of their journey east came to her, yet again. Mipha. As much as she wanted to unveil the mysteries ahead, this journey also meant saying good bye forever to so many people. She couldn´t imagine how Link must´ve been feeling... Attending a funeral of one of his closest friends.

"King Dorephan... Mipha´s father", she said. The last words the zora princess spoke to her ringing in her ears, "I believe he would like to hear more about her". Mipha had, after all, saved her life.

"The least we can do is offer him some closure", she stated.

"Although Ganon is gone... for now. There is still so much more for us to do, Link", she said. Determined. She couldn´t see him, but she felt him nodding.

"And so many painful memories that we must bear", she always thought about Urbosa, Mipha... Daruk, and Revali. They had died alone, asking for help... She would make sure it wasn´t all for nothing. She would make sure of that.

Looking at the castle, derelict and destroyed, she envisioned a far greater city. A far greater Kingdom. A better Hyrule.

"I belileve in my heart, that if all of us work together, we can restore Hyrule to it´s former glory", the thoughts of the zora and gorons working together back in the Gerudo desert popped in her mind. "Perhaps... even beyond", she felt the excitement reach her voice.

"But it all must start with us", she stated. She felt her stomach make a somersault, but it was the truth. Link and her were the only people that could lead their people into a new era. There was the matter of Ganondorf, but she was confident they would find a way to prevent him from coming back. Or stop him if he did. Link and her would always find a way to fight against evil, no matter how powerful.

"Let´s be off", she said, not waiting for a reply. Sonne and Mond were grazing a few meters from them. The memory of Link´s eyes closing and the urgency in the Sword´s voice came to her.

´There is still hope, child. My Master may still be saved, and you alone have the power to banish the evil that corrupts this land. Do not falter now!'

Zelda fought back the tears. Finally voicing what she had thought for months now.

"I can no longer hear the voice inside the sword". Having her back turned to Link made it easier for her to say it. But then she realized...

"I suppose it would make sense if my power had dwindled over the past hundred years", she turned around and saw Link looking at her intensely. She thought she would feel ashamed, or useless, defenseless. It was until then that her insecurities regarding her power, and how she had let that define her, didn´t matter to her anymore.

"I´m surprised to admit it", she said as a small smile found it´s way around the corners of her lips. Link mirrored her smile.

"But I can accept that", it was as if the weight of the world had been lifted from her shoulders, or as if she could finally share with the person that mattered the most to her, her most secret fear. And as it turned out, she wasn´t afraid anymore.

She started to laugh. Openly. Sharing this was the closest she had felt to him in all the years she had known him. He beamed at her, his eyes darting from her own to her lips. It seemed as if Link was thinking about many things at once but couldn´t voice his thoughts. He started to laugh too, seemingly just happy for her. She didn´t know, and she didn´t ask. Link was there with her, he had always been, and that was all that mattered. Even if she was now powerless. Whatever came towards her, she would stand her ground. Hopefully he would stand by her side too.

Link walked towards her, and without saing anything he grabbed her hand and squeezed it. He simply smiled at her again, and walked up to his horse. Zelda followed him and together they rode east.

That night, Zelda slept like she hadn´t done in her life. The whole world could crumble down that same night, for all she cared, and she wouldn´t even had noticed it. Her knight was snoring quietly just outside the tent.

-.-.-

"This one is called the stance of the falcon", he said the next morning, after breakfast, lifting his arm and holding the stick above his head. "You will need both of your arms for this one", his left arm was still very weak and she noticed he winced every now and then while showing her the basic moves.

"I only use it as a last resort, if you don´t do it correctly, it can be fatal. You leave your guard open for attack". Link lowered his arms and watched her stance, just as he had done for five days in a row. She actually felt a bit stronger, if the soreness of her muscles was anything to go by.

"You have to use your whole body in order to do it correctly", he rubbed his chin right after saying that. "I´m not sure a rapier is built for this kind of move, though". Zelda nodded. It was still useful to know all this, because she asumed she wouldn´t always have her slender blade around, and she would have to make do with whatever weapon she had at any given moment.

Link stood in front of her, holding his stick horizontally on both ends, "Let´s see what you´ve got", he teased. She furrowed her brow in concentration. She inhaled deeply and using all of her strength and body weight, her stick collided with Link´s with a vertical strike. He parried the attack and she felt the stick leave her hands and fly away somewhere to her left. She scofed.

"This is one of the downsides of using this move. If your opponent knows something about swordfighting, and more often than not, they do (even if it´s just all intuition), you have to be ready for a parrying move. If", he said while lifting his stick upwards again, "on the other hand, you keep practicing", she didn´t even see the stick landing a mere centimeter away from her right shoulder, a soft breeze followed moments later "it may be the only thing you need to do". Link smiled at her. Sometimes Zelda forgot just how accomplished a swordsman he was.

"I´ll bear that in mind", she said looking at him in the eyes. She could feel his batted breath against her face. Her heart was racing like a wild horse now. "I don´t know if I´ll ever pull this one off, but it´s good to know you can do it no problem", she teased.

"Was it hard for you?", she blurted out. Link let out a soft laugh and nodded.

"Yeah, it took me years to master some of the things I just showed you", she had a feeling that he was being modest. "This one took me well into my teens just to get my stance right", he rubbed his chin "I´d say it took me about five or six years to get the jist of it", he said matter-of-factly.

Zelda still remembered the look on his father´s face the afternoon Link had deflected a guardian´s beam with the fabled pot lid. 'That´s one tough sonofabitch, if I ever saw one', he had said to one of his captains, as they saw the events unfold from the bridge above the courtyard.

"I don´t remember watching you struggle with anything, ever", she teased. Her Knight scratched the back of his neck and lowered his glance.

"If my memory doesn´t fail me, princess", he said with a matching playful tone, "You hardly ever watched the 'bokoblink' fight with a sword", Link made a grimace and started squeaking and jumping, very much like a bokoblin. She laughed at the memory, it felt like it all had happened a thousand years ago. The memory was a mixture of shame, guilt, saddness, but also excitement, happyness and something else she couldn´t put her finger on.

Her mother and her had fancied a walk around Castle Town -the name she grew up knowing it by, browsing through the different products and stores. Her mother had always been kind and sweet. She had seen her angry just twice in her long five years in this world. The Queen was talking amiably with one of the shopkeepers near East Town. Zelda would often wander off and look around, simply amazed by the amount of things, colors, shapes, sizes and smells she would find every and any time they´d go there.

"Keep an eye on her", she said to one of the Knights that accompanied them as their Royal Guard. The soldier replied with a silent "Yes, My Queen", and followed Zelda like a shadow. It was curious to her how all the grown-ups would think she never noticed the little things, like how the knight had his hand over the pommel of his sword at all times, or how once or twice someone tried to aproach her, he would shove them off aggressively. The first time she heard a swear word was that day in the market.

"Princess!", a woman had approached her, she was holding clothes of all the colors in the world on her arms. The woman was no stranger to her, she had sold them some colorful fabrics a few weeks ago for a dress her mother had had made for her. The Royal Guardsman caught up with her only seconds later. She grabbed the woman by the wrist.

"Piss off, bitch!", he said as he threw her to the side. Her colorful merchandise all fell to the ground. At least five people passed through and not one stoped to help her, even worse, they stepped over the beautifully colored cloth.

Zelda didn´t know the meaning behind that, but it couldn´t be anything pretty.

"I don´t like you", she said looking at the guard. Which wasn´t much, because she was only about one third of his size. The guard, a nameless, stony-faced man, merely gave her half a smile.

Zelda bought all of the woman´s clothes as a way to spite the knight. Her mother scolded her hours later, when she realized that when anyone said "I´ll buy all of them", people actually mean all of them. It had taken ten maids to carry all the different sized and colored drapes, cloths, and matresses that she had inadvertently bought.

"I don´t care what he said", her mother cut her off as she was telling him off. "You are a princess, and you will behave like one". Her mother looked at her in the eye and the faintest smile crossed her face. "I know why you did it", she placed one of her golden bangs behind her pointed ear, "but you must understand, that people, more ofthen than not, are more complicated than good or bad". Her mother had picked a turquoise colored cloth with golden filigrane, and slowly graced her palm along the shapes.

"As we speak, your father is inside his study with that Knight", Zelda had felt her stomach close in like a knot. "I, of course spoke to your father before he went and fired the man. But had I not, he would have most likely lost his job, and livelyhood". Her mother had taught her to always make eye contact whenever she spoke to anyone, and right then, she wished her mother had looked another way. Zelda had been so confused, why was she the one getting punished when that stupid guard had been the one at fault!

"Our actions, as small as they seem, have consequences, my child. Being the Royal Princess does not exempt you from those", she said as she tossed the blue and gold cloth into the pile of other various textiles.

"What will you do with all this?", her mother asked as she walked to the door.

"I don´t know yet", she mumbled. Her mother cast one last look at her and closed the door behind her, leaving her alone.

"Princess?", Link was waving his hand in front of her. She blinked several times, noticing some tears had found a way to escape her eyes. She quickly wiped them off.

"Sorry, I just remembered something", she said. Looking away from him. He searched for her face, his own two eyes asking a question she knew all to well.

"I just remembered my mother", she said simply. Link´s eyes widened ever so slightly in realization.

"I´m... sorry", he mumbled. "I didn´t mean to bring such memories up". She shook her head.

"Life is just the way it is. And had it not happened the way it did, we would have never met". They shared a long silence, until a low growl made them both flinch. It was her stomach, protesting for food.

"I think I might be a little hungry", she said, rubbing her belly. Link laughed a bit to loud at her remark. It had obviously brought up some hard memories for him too.

"Let´s find something to eat", he said, beckoning her to walk with him. They had made camp inside the ruins of a house in Mabe Village. They both grabbed their swords, Link had made a pair of rustic torches out of two branches and old clothes. "Just in case", he answered her unvoiced question.


While Zelda openly refused to kill the rabbit they were now eating, it really surprised him what a good ear she had. The little bunny had been hiding behind a small bush that had grown under a birch tree. She´d heard it and seconds later, Link had quite quickly and as painlessly as he could, killed the rabbit.

Later that night, as he lay under the blanket that Dehneru had given to him prior to their departure ('You´ll thank me for this, trust me'), the memories of his childhood came back to him. As clear as that night´s sky.

"Be a lad and give your old man a glass of water, boy", the raspy voice of his father greeted him that night. The tall man undid his belt and rested his sword against the wall. Link had been waiting for him sitting at the table, he had come back later than usual.

"Yes, father", he said. Hopping off of the wooden chair so his father could sit on it. They had a small stool that Link would always use to reach the cupboard. Today, though, he had reached his father´s favorite cup without standing on his toes.

"You´ve grown", he stated. "Not such a little shit anymore, eh", he said as he laughed. His father had never shied away from speaking to him like that. 'They´re just words. I could call you an ostrich and you would still be my son, for all I know. Uglier, but still my son', he always said whenever he called him any way other than ´boy' or 'son'. Even though he was rough around the edges, Link never felt anything other than respect and admiration for his father.

Link placed the wooden cup in fron of his father, who was just taking off his white boots.

"Father", he began. Determined. His father was still drinking from the cup, but his eyes told him he could ask his question. "Why don´t you wear an armor, like the knights all the kids talk about?", his old man nearly spit some water as he forced down a laugh that ended up in a loud ´HA!'

"Because I don´t need it", he said matter-of-factly. He drank again.

"But why?", he pressed on.

His father downed the cup and looked him square in the eye as he put it down on the table.

"Because, boy. When you´re as good as your pops with the sword, an armor becomes a hindrance instead of an advantage".

"Do you know what is a knight´s greatest weapon?", his father´s face was hard to read sometimes. Link´s eyes darted towards his father´s sword. He grabbed Link´s chin with his hand in a firm but kind motion as he shook his head. He pointed a finger against his temple.

"His brains", he said. "What use is a pretty armor when the bastard in front of you knows that the weak spot of every armor in hyrule is the visor, the gorget and just behind the poleyns?". Link´s jaw slowly opened in awe. "Remember I am not like the knights your idiot friends speak about. The Royal Guard admits only the best of the best. And you can´t be that good relying on muscles alone".

Not even the fact that he insulted his friends mattered when he had shed a light as bright as the sun upon him. Having been a scrawny kid, most of his peers made fun of him, often calling him 'the Queen boy'. An insult he never quite understood, for the Queen was revered and legend had it she belonged to an old divine bloodline. His father always spoke with the utmost respect for the Royal Family, that day, though, Link noticed he was a bit off...

"I, for example, wasn´t using mine today", he said as he got up and walked to the counter, where he kept his alcoholic beverages. He took out a bottle of a brownish looking liquid, which was almost empty, and poured some into a glass. "Good thing Her Royal Highness has the biggest brains in the Realm", he said more to himself than to Link. "And an even bigger heart", he mumbled.

Link often pretended to drink whatever his father did whenever they sat at the table. A charade that his father found amusing.

"You´d do well in not taking after your old man, kid". He said after downing the contents of the glass. "Did you finish your chores?", he said. Link nodded eagerly, knowing what usually came next after that question. They had been preparing for over a year. But his father had trained him ever since he could walk and run on his own.

"Go get your sword".

They were outside in their unusually large backyard ('being a smart knight has it´s perks' he had said one time), his father held a wooden longsword, about as tall as he was, and Link held another one, though this one was smaller, so he could handle it better.

"Show me your Talus stance", his father ordered. Link held his wooden sword on his left side, it´s tip was almost touching the ground. This stance, his father had told him, was a risqué defensive one, for one would compromise the defense, but could also parry and counter-attack most downward movements, granting an almost certain victory in one fell move. Without warning his father swiped at him with all his might, Link barely even had time to lift his arm and parry the attack. He stumbled a little, but held his ground. His father made for a two handed thrust, directly at his face. Link changed his position so that in a semi-circular motion, his sword would divert his father´s attack, locking both blades up to the crossguards. He smiled at his father, who returned the smile. Almost instantly the world turned on itself and he was laying with his back against the grass.

"No fair!", he shouted as he got up. The tip of his father´s sword rested over his chest, stopping him in his tracks. "I never saw anyone fight as dirty as you do, I bet the Queen wouldn´t allow it!".

"Life isn´t fair, son. It´s time you learned that.", he said. "Bring me those lids over there", pointing his sword at a pair of barrels in the corner, where they kept their gardening tools.

The circular wooden lids were about as tall as Link was, though for some reason the one his father was holding, looked the size of a coin to him.

"Brace yourself", he said as he cross-struck him square in the face with his own makeshift shield. Link was thrown to the ground, his whole face felt dizzy, but the thrill of learning to fight made him feel very much alive.

When he woke up, in the middle of the night, the fire had practically gone out, with only a few cracks and sparks every now and then from the firewood to keep him company. He turned to where Zelda´s tent was and smiled sadly at it. Both of their lives had changed after that night. He rolled over to his side and after some moments where he swore he heard her snore, he fell soundly asleep.


Zelda woke up early the next morning. It was still dark but hard as she tried, sleep never came back to her. "Might as well...", she whispered. Having changed into her traveling clothes, she went out of the tent, only to find Link laying on his back, his right leg, up to his thigh were out of that odd Gerudo blanket. Her face burnt with something she couldn´t quite name, and soon she found out she was holding her breath. A small log that had apparently refused to go out, cracked loudly and made her jump. Link merely rolled over to his left and his whole back was left exposed.

Aparently Link slept the same way as a Gerudo now. She felt like she was invading something quite personal and making sure she had her newly bought rapier, she walked towards the small tree cluster nearby. For reasons that escaped her, she had ended up grabbing some apples and pears, she had been lucky, she thought. Having bought some Tabantha wheat and cane sugar from a gerudo woman back in Gerudo City. She also had to look out for more firewood. Her whole expedition had taken her about thirty minutes, maybe even an hour. Dawn was barely starting when she started boiling the apples and the pears.

Link had gone back to sleep on his back, this time luckily, his body was completely under Dehneru´s gift. She also made sure to heat some of the leftovers from their dinner, so Link wouldn´t protest about not having some meat. She could not bring herself to kill another living thing. She had no problem eating them, of course. But killing... was not her thing.

The sun was already up when her Appointed Knight finally woke up. He sniffed the air before even opening his eyes as he sat up and stretched.

"That smells incredibly good", he remarked, slowly opening his eyes and yawning.

"Morning", she said, as she took off the lid from where the scent was coming out.

Link stood up, much to her dismay, only to find out he was already wearing his pants. How he had done it was a mystery to her, but she was thankful for it nonetheless.

"Sorry I overslept", he said as he sat beside her. Looking at the breakfast she had made for the two of them. Zelda waved him off.

"Don´t worry, it´s not up to you to cook every day, we´re supposed to be a team", she said as she sliced the Fruitcake with her also newly bought knife. "Pass me the plates, please", she said holding out her hand. Link looked at her blankly.

"Inside the tent, I´ve packed three plates and some cuttlery", she said. Amused at his expression.

He got up and after some minutes he emerged victorious. "Uh, Zelda?", he asked as he handed her a plate.

"Yeah?", she asked serving him the largest portion of the two.

"When did you buy all this?", he asked. Dumbfounded.

"I had plenty of time to kill while -er, you recovered.", she said awkwardly. She didn´t dare look at him, but she was certain that his face was red, and probably his whole chest, as he had neglected covering his upper body at all.

"I see", he said, as he handed her the second plate.

A long silence broke between them. Link dove in his slice of Fruitcake, she on the other hand had waited for his reaction.

"Hylia above", he said seconds later, with a full mouth, "Fith ith thomething elthe." He swallowed, "This is delicious!", she let out a little laugh, feelilng proud of herself.

"It was about the only dish I ever knew how to cook", she said. Link eyed her with interest, still eating. Always eating. She knew he knew her cooking was awful, but she had never had the chance, nor the intention of cooking her favorite dish while the whole world was about to end.

"I wish I had tried it... back then", he said. After finishing his plate. "Is there more?", he asked sheepishly. Zelda laughed heartily at his question, almost choking on fruitcake while still laughing.

"Of course there´s more. Here", she said handing him the rest of the fruitcake.

According to Link, it would take them at least two more days to arrive to the Zora River Delta, and at least half a day to get to the fabled city of the Zora. They would arrive just in time for the ceremony.

The silence that saw them eating the rest of the breakfast between smiles and nods, quickly turned into a companionable one as they rode across Crenel Valley under the warm noon sun. Zelda still had the taste of the fruitcake in her tongue and in her mind. They rode past a camp of red bokoblins that were happily eating a freshly killed deer. One of them was holding a bone as a sword and had just smacked his friend in the head for bitting the deer directly from where they were cooking it.

"They´re so goofy", Link said laughing. She turned to face him, she wanted to smile but it never reached her lips.

"Yeah, I guess they are". She said.

A knock on the door awoke her the next morning. A maid dressed in a deep blue dress and white gown bowed as she entered.

"Good morning, your Highness", Zelda groaned and covered her head with her blanket.

"The sky is specially blue today, no clouds and the sun shines for us all today, Highness", she said merrily as she drew the curtains and a beam of sunlight hit right in the face. Even under the blanket, she felt the warmth it carried.

"How blue is it?", she asked, as she finally gave up and allowed Lyrianna to pull the blanket from her.

"As blue as Lake Hylia on a clear day", Lyrianna said. "Your mother said you are to wear this", Lyrianna said as she showed Zelda a dress made out of the fabric her mother had been holding the day before. Zelda jumped up and down with glee as her maid dressed her and made her look presentable and respectable.

Half an hour later her mother entered her room, just as Lyrianna was finishing braiding her hair.

"That will be all, Lyrianna. You may leave us", the Queen said with a smile. The maid merely bowed and left the room at once. Her mother sat beside her in front of her mirror.

"Look at you", she whispered. "You´re the living image of my mother". Her mother graced Zelda´shair as she spoke. "A Queen, a true Queen!" she exclaimed. Zelda looked at her mother with a confused look.

"But you are the Queen, mother!", the Queen lifted Zelda´s face up as she inclined herself a little.

"One day, my dear. You will understand the meaning behind this, the day your blood and mine, and your grandmother´s will be equal. One day you will learn and recognize the true power our family holds within". She kissed her on the forehead.

"Come now, we don´t want to keep them waiting", the Queen Regent said as she held out her hand. Zelda took it and together they walked down the many hallways that led to the main courtyard. With every step she could hear the sound of the crowd getting louder and louder.

She was met with a roaring crowd that cheered for her and her Mother, the moment she set foot on the balcony that overlooked the main courtyard. Her father stood alone in the eastern balcony, escorted by two guards. She and her mother were accompained by a pair of Royal Guard Knights, she recognized one of them as the mean, tall one. Their eyes met, and he smiled at her. She didn´t return the smile, and held her gaze. His smile wavered a little, but his expression remained soft. Out of character. She stuck out her tongue at him, that made him chuckle which he hid by coughing. Fuming, she turned her gaze to the courtyard.

"Citizens of Hyrule!", her father extended his arms. The crowd cheered some more. "It pleases me greatly to see, that so many of you have come". He extended his arm to his right.

"Please welcome my beloved wife. Your Queen!", he roared proudly. Zelda thought for a moment there had been some sort of explosion, but rather the cheers were so deafening it was hard to tell what they were saying. Her mother waved her hand slowly and deliberately. Smiling at everyone before turning her eyes to her husband and blowing him a kiss. The crowd lost it completely.

"And my dear, dear daughter. Your Princess!", he yelled. The crowd cheered for her loudly enough that it made her feel good, but she did notice the cheers were not as loud as they had been for her mother.

"We all know why you´re here! The prophecy tells us that among one of us, a Champion shall rise to yet again-", he paused dramatically, there was complete silence, "defeat the great evil once and for all!" It had the effect her father wanted. The people at the courtyard (and Zelda noticed the crowd even went as far as the inner walls), responded to the King´s statement with a sound round of applause. Some people had climbed the towers and were watching everything from there.

"All of our friends are here! This one person, shall unite us into one people, one tribe and one land!", he said gracefully. "And so!"

"Our brothers from the east, the Zora!", many cheered, some booed. Zelda had seen a Zora only once in her life, and she remembered them to be as tall as a tower and weird looking. The Zora that had gathered there also clapped their hands in a very elegant way. One of them stood among pretty much everyone else. A deep blue skin, shoulders as wide as a stone wall, and a face that would make the bravest knight think twice before crossing him. Her mother had told her about the Zora King. Dorephan. He was a sight to behold. The colossal king was waving and looking down at everyone else. He then looked up to the balcony and bowed to them. They returned the salute."My dear friend, King Dorephan has personally brought the candidates of the Zora. His daughter is one of them, Princess Mipha!". Zelda expected another eruption of cheers, instead, she noticed a grwoing murmur and a growing wave of 'awww' comming from the crowd. Princess Mipha was minute in comparison to her father. The Zora clapped louder and many of them cheered and lifted their fists up in the air, showing their pointed teeth and making all sorts of strange hissing sounds.

"My dear, Mipha. It has been so long since we last saw you. I should say, do not be deceived by her looks, she could give any of us here quite a lesson", his father´s voice seemed to reach the zora princess, as she smiled and bowed at her father. Saying something no one could hear.

"Brothers!" the King boomed. A bunch of boulders beside the Zora started making all sorts of sounds and to move up and down.

It took her a few seconds to realize those were not boulders, but rather, enormous and very real Gorons. The tallest of them all had openly laughed and waved at her father. This goron had a white mane and a matching beard, he was holding some sort of weapon in his hand. The weapon alone was the size of a horse. A huge horse.

"Welcome, welcome my old friend. Chieftain Daruk! We sure have plenty of rocks and boulders waiting for you at the welcoming banquet later tonight. I have personally tasted some of them myself". Daruk laughed again, as did pretty much everyone else, except the Zora and Zelda, that didn´t seem to get the joke. Even her mother had laughed.

"Did Father eat a rock?". She asked her mother.

"Of course not, dear. But he did taste one, though", she said giggling.

"It is my pleasure to announce that Chieftain Daruk and his disciples will be taking part in this tournament!" The goron clapped so hard it sounded as if a rockslide occurred inside the castle. Some people jumped, and many more cheered and applauded than when the Zora had been presented.

"He´s going to win", exclaimed Zelda. Positive. Her mother placed a hand over her head.

"Yes, yes. The Goron Tribe is a force to be reckoned with", his father said smiling. Zelda could tell he was enjoying this even though the tournament was being held for a very bad reason. Ganon.

"We don´t want to leave our swift friends out of this, do we?", he asked. Every female of every race screamed and giggled and jumped as they started to chant something she couldn´t understand.

"It seems, his reputation preceeds him!". Her father boomed. A blue blur flew in front of them and landed right beside one very gruffy looking rito. Even Zelda knew who this blue blur was. Revali was a teen rito that was famous for his marksmanship. He was said to have slain more than twenty lizalfos with only ten shots of his bow. Zelda often wondered how that was even possible.

"M´boy, Revali. It´s so good to see you! And Chieftain Artgyll, we are so glad you could join us, too!", Artgyll was the chieftain of the rito, and Revali´s grandfather. Chieftain Artgyll waved his feathered hand. The screams and giggles only subdued when Revali shot up to the sky, as fast as his own arrows and then dived, pulling up in the last moment and flew over the crowd, throwing what appeared to be flowers around. Many fights over the flowers ensued.

Only a couple more rito had come besides Revali and his grandfather. They hadn´t been presented. Zelda assumed Revali was the sole rito contestant.

"And now!", the murmurs grew higher as his father spoke again. Zelda had to stand on the tips of her toes to watch the next group. It was a rather big group of redheaded tall women. She beamed at the sight of Urbosa.

"Our closest friends! The protectors of the west! The Gerudo!". Every single soul cheered, clapped, screamed or jumped at the same time. It was incredible. Zelda saw many of them waving at the crowd, some were even blowing kisses to the crowd. Many men had a funny face about them.

"Matriarch Urbosa, my friend!", her father boomed again. Urbosa bowed to the King and looked up at where Zelda and her mother were. She waved at her mother and winked at Zelda.

"Lady Urbosa will too, take place in the tournament! As well as Furosa and Yrta!", many men whistled. Many women did so too. At this point the mood outside was as festive as it could possible be. The king held out his hand. The crowd grew silent after a few seconds.

"Many of you want to see your King fight as well", he said with a smile. Many cheered, others looked puzzled. "Alas, my wife wouldn´t allow it", he laughed at his own joke and his belly moved up and down. Many of the people down had laughed too. Many remained expectant.

"As you know, there is no other I would trust with the two people I tresure the most in this green world, as our Royalguardsmen and above all of them, Lord Nioisal commander of the order!" He said. "I asked my most trusted commander with the task of competing in this tournament, but-", he said extending his hand to the right, to where Zelda and her mother were standing. "He said he´s not the best anymore!". Everyone laughed and clapped. But many faces remained puzzled still.

"Go on then, who is better than the Hero of the Duelling Peaks?", someone shouted among the crowd. The remark was met with many laughs and noises of agreement. The King smiled at them all.

"Link", he simply said. No one said anything, many looked at eachother. Some frowned.

"Who?", another voice shouted.

"Link, m´boy come out!", the king said.

There, between the goron and the zora. A scrawny blonde kid stood awkwardly. Zelda thought his head was way too big for his body.. The kid, who couldn´t have been older than her, was resting his hands over the pommel of a sword as tall as himself. She noticed half of his face was swollen and purple, covered in bruises. One of his eyes was closed. His head truly resembled one of those drawings she had seen about the stupid little monsters.

Link took a step out, and then another, and then another.

"It´s a fucking kid!", someone yelled.

"This must be a joke", another exclaimed.

"What a farce!", a third voice said.

"I give you, Lord Nioisal´s only son. Link!", her father said. Pretending not having heard them. The gerudo cheered for the boy. The Zora clapped politely, but remained silent. Princess Mipha was looking at him intently. The gorons were beyond themselves, roaring with laughter, Daruk was the loudest.

"That kid´s got some BALLS showing up!", he shouted. The crowd erupted in laughter, too. But it was a different kind of laughter. Even Zelda felt the need to laugh. Her mother quickly looked at her and her green gaze told her that it would´ve been the last thing she would have done. She still opened her mouth to voice her mind.

"But mother, don´t you think he looks just a little bit weird?", Zelda began. Her shrill voice carrying itself all the way to the little boy´s ears. "He´s absolutely hopeless. I think he looks more like a bokoblin than a boy. That´s a Bokoblink".

"BOKOBLINK", someone shouted. The whole courtyard erupted in laughter and pointed fingers. Zelda had clasped her hands over her mouth. Her mother looked beyond furious and his father looked like he could spit fire.

"SILENCE!", he bellowed. Everyone fell silent at once.

"Link, my boy. I am certain you will shut everyone´s mouths by this hour in a week´s time". He said, looking directly at the boy. Link who´s face was now purple on both sides, beamed at the king. He bowed as low as he could and in a very clear voice said. "Thank you, my King". Zelda still thought he had absolutely no chance at all. Link looked up at where she was and looked at her. For the first time in her life, she felt that someone was piercing her very soul with their eyes.

A few hours later, her father was beside himself. He yelled at Zelda until he lost his voice. The veins on his temple were bulging and his beard made him look like a rabid dog. Her mother merely watched. It would usually be the other way around, as the King ofen consented and even celebrated some od Zelda´s mischief-making.

"You´re nothing but a spoiled BRAT and I am the only one to blame", he said. "You are to stay in the castle from now on. The library is out of bounds and I will make sure no one sneaks books in with your meals, which you are also having inside your room. You will not talk to anyone in this castle until you know the meaning of respect. You have embarrassed your mother and I greatly. I am beyond dissapointed, I don´t know who you are, because the Zelda I know is not this sorry excuse of a girl. Get out of my sight." His tone was final. Zelda could barely see with all the tears that had accumulated.

"M- mother?", she wimpered.

"I agree with your father. Off with you. NOW", she said.

She hated stupid Lord Nioisal and his stupid bokiblin son. She hoped he died.

Crenel valley was long behind them, but Zelda was still thinking of bokoblins.


Author´s note II:

It looks like little Zelda is in for a rude awakening... Link was the chosen one after all!

Also, present Zelda is finally coming to terms with more than one feeling...

I´m uploading the next chapter as you read this so fear not, I will not leave you hanging in suspense. OR WILL I?