***ALL STANDARD DISCLAIMERS APPLY**

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In Sotto Voce

By The Wolfess

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Chapter 11

Queen Zelda was tireless. At least, that is what the people were saying. Ever since the battle, every minute of her time was spent doing something to help someone or prepare for what was coming next. She spent as much time as she could in meetings with her counselors, advisors, and generals. Sun up to sun down, they argued and wrestled with the lies that the poe, Wizzro, had spread. The progress was slow, but every day they seemed to come to more agreements.

When she wasn't in meetings, the queen visited the barracks and checked in with the scouts and the guild of aviators for news of their enemy's movements. Sometimes she met with Grand Master Rauru to work on her battle magic. She was determined that they would not be caught by surprise again, and in the next battle she would not stand back and wait. She would move forward with the rest of them and raise her sword to fight. She herself would defend Hyrule.

Through all this, Link stood at her side and worried. The makeup she wore didn't hide how gaunt her face was becoming, or how dead her eyes looked. Not from him. She barely ate, and she hardly slept. He slept in the room next door to hers—the queen desired more privacy from her bodyguard than before—but that didn't mean that he didn't hear her at night. She cried herself to sleep. In the middle of the night, he would be awakened to the sound of her sobbing or screaming. Sometimes she said things, called out names. Sometimes she called for her father. More often than not, she called for Impa. Through these night terrors, Link stayed in his room and listened. The queen had forbade him from entering her room during these moments, no matter what he heard.

When the first light of dawn came, Link would rise, wash, and dress. Zelda was always awake and fully ready when he knocked on her door, no matter how early he knocked. In the twilight hours, the queen sat at her desk and poured over book after book—ancient, dusty tomes that no one read anymore. Link didn't know what she was looking for, but he was sure that he didn't have the education to understand if he asked.

The day that Link saw Impa finally awake, he didn't tell Zelda about the encounter. The queen had made it clear that she was okay with him visiting the Sheikah, but she didn't want to hear about it. Impa's attitude was hurtful and it bothered the Hylian, but he understood why she felt that way. Everything that had been hers—her rank in the army, her honors for her deeds in the battle, Zelda herself—now belonged to Link. Link had tried to protest, but in the state that the queen was in he hadn't had the heart to protest long. Queen Zelda was a brick wall to any dissenting voice. So far, everyone—including himself—just gave in to her demands without very much fight at all. Something about her seemed to require unquestioning compliance and allegiance from them all. Though they tried to raise another opinion, she was able to argue anyone down. Perhaps it was the Triforce of Wisdom she carried leading her in a fateful direction, but they were all swayed at one point or another.

It was those nighttime hours, when the Hylian hero could hear his charge crying, that Link remembered there was still a woman underneath the queen. A woman who was in great pain. He found that he couldn't be angry or judgmental of her coldness during the day, and he didn't want to do anything that might distress her more. She probably maintained her cold, hard façade because showing any emotion would mean showing all of it. If obeying and protecting Queen Zelda mean hurting Impa's feelings, then Link found that he didn't care what the Sheikah thought half so much as he cared for the queen.

When the young captain returned to visit his Sheikah friend the next day, he found her gone. Asking around eventually unearthed the tale. Impa and Ruto had been seen leaving together with all their belongings. The stable boy revealed that they had left on a hay wagon bound for the Sheikah village. A little more hunting turned up the fact that the queen herself had orchestrated the whole thing, without once pausing in her duties to say goodbye or even watch them go.

That night, at the queen's solitary dinner, Link couldn't help but speak up. "My Queen," he started. "Princess Ruto and Impa left together yesterday. They are bound for the Sheikah village."

They were eating lentil soup alone in the dining hall with the door closed. The loudest sound was the clink of their spoons in their bowls. At his words, she set her spoon down and looked over at him. Her expression was unreadable, as usual. "I know this already," she said, her voice flat. "I thought I told you not to speak of them to me."

Link bowed his head. "My apologies, your Majesty. I just thought…they were our friends…and you might like to know that they left together."

Zelda returned to her food. Her voice was strained and stiff when she spoke next, as if it hurt her to speak at all. "They are being watched. If they have any further involvement with the enemy, then I will know, and they will be apprehended. We need not fear their closeness. If they have chosen one another's company, then…then at least we will not have to split up our spies."

Link was about to speak again when he noticed that Zelda's free hand had curled into a fist around the cloth napkin in her lap. Her knuckles where white and both of her hands shook ever so slightly. He swallowed his words and decided to let the subject drop. "It is supposed to be a beautiful day tomorrow," he said instead. "Most of the generals are taking advantage of the weather to go visit their families. Perhaps you might enjoy a walk through the gardens, or a horseback ride?"

The queen set down her spoon and looked at Link again, but this time her expression was more confused than anything. She seemed to mull it over for a moment, as if the request were somehow strange to her. Link would have given anything to know what was going through her head. "I suppose that a picnic could be agreeable," she finally said.

Link grinned, despite himself. He wiped it off his face quickly, though. "I will have arrangements made," he said, turning his attention down to his own soup. They ate the rest of their meal in silence. That evening, Zelda was in the library again until well after the rest of the castle had gone to bed. When she finally trudged up to her own room, she had a new book under her arm. She bid him goodnight and closed her door. The knight stood outside until he saw the sliver of light go out, meaning that she had put out her candles and gone to bed. He took this as his cue that he, too, could go to bed.

It wasn't long after Link dressed and settled down under his own comforter that Queen Zelda started crying again. The sound was always soft, but the wall between them had been made thin for a reason. He closed his eyes and tried to shut out the sound, but to no success. Vaguely he could make out the words "Impa" and "Ruto" and he cursed himself for ever bringing them up. He promised himself that he wouldn't do it again and spent the rest of his night thinking about ways he could make the queen smile during their picnic tomorrow.

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Zelda didn't want to go far from the castle, so when Link met her outside the throne room after her morning audience, a picnic basket thrown over his arm, she led him to the gardens. Rather than going to the rose gardens, which were the most popular section of the royal gardens, the queen took them the opposite direction. They wound through hedges taller than their heads that felt like a maze. Portions of the hedge were so overgrown that Link wondered how old this portion of the garden even was.

When they finally came to a stop, the hedge maze had given way to a large circular area. This clearing felt older still. Almost ancient…and slightly familiar. He couldn't quite put his finger on why. It had towering, ancient trees and crumbling stone benches. The fountain in the middle was green with algae and the cobblestone around it was covered in wet moss. Link spread the blanket the kitchens had provided over the driest, clearest portion of grass and sat down on his knees, placing the basket in front of him.

Zelda sat as well, slipping her legs to the side beneath her. She watched him in silence as he took out the sandwiches the cook had packed and arranged them on the clean blanket. He felt a little awkward, but when he was done, he set the empty basket aside and sat down, crossing his legs beneath him.

"Well, uh, eat up your majesty. If you want to," he said, flashing her his best smile. He was trying to appear as calm and relaxed as possible. The queen had yet to let down her guard, and every muscle in her body was tensed. Zelda nodded and picked up a sandwich. As she took a bite, her eyes stared past Link's shoulder. He didn't bother to follow her gaze. He knew she wasn't looking at anything in particular.

When Zelda did speak, Link jumped in surprise. He hadn't actually expected her to. "My father's head spun in a complete circle before he died," she said, her voice soft. "He looked at Impa and myself with his back still turned. When…when he exploded, I was too far away to be hit by the blood and flesh. But Impa…she was covered by it. She came over to check on me so coolly, as if what had just happened was just another part of battle. Her clothes were covered in chunks of my father's flesh and clothing."

Link didn't know what to say. It sounded horrible, and he couldn't believe that she was even telling him this. As far as he knew, she hadn't yet spoken to anyone about what happened. Zelda continued speaking, and her voice was barely above a whisper. "He was good king," she said. "He was a good man. A gentle father. He was not always there, but that is what happens when you rule a country alone. We ate together twice a day, every day. We celebrated the holidays together. He spared no expense in my education and entertainment. I…I loved him. He was all the family I had, besides Kishla."

She laughed a little and shook her head. For the first time, she looked directly in Link's eyes as she continued speaking. "It is ironic, is it not? The four people I have allowed to get close to me are the four who betray me." Link didn't think Impa and Ruto betrayed her at all, but he didn't say anything. This was the first time she was actually opening up, and he didn't want to jeopardize it.

"I'm sorry, your Majesty," he said instead. "It's a terrible coincidence…but I don't think you should take it as any reflection on you. You…you are a good person."

Zelda smiled at him. It was a sad smile, but he had not seen any sort of genuine smile grace her lips since she and Impa returned from their visit to Castle Town. "That is kind of you to say," she said. She reached between them and took Link's hand in her own. Shifting her grip so that their palms were pressed together, she looked at his hand curiously, examining it. Link didn't know what she was looking for, but he dared not pull his hand away.

After a while the queen sighed a little, patted the back of his hand with her free one, and let it drop. She went back to eating her sandwich, and Link picked up his. He looked around as he chewed, examining the little grove they were in. When he swallowed, he asked, "where is this place? What is it?"

Zelda raised her eyebrows, surprised that he didn't know. She looked around as she explained. "This is a grove that is almost as old as the castle. The Princess of Destiny and the Hero of Time used to meet here in secret and have their love affair. Do you not recognize it?"

Link choked a little. Coughing, he hit his chest with his fist and swallowed. "Should I?" he finally said, raising both of his eyebrows.

Zelda chuckled a little. "Well, you are his reincarnation. It might feel a little familiar at least."

Link smiled to hear her laugh, no matter how devoid of true joy it was. It was nothing like how she laughed when Impa and Ruto were around. "I guess it does feel familiar," he admitted. "I couldn't quite put my finger on it, though."

Zelda ran her fingers through the grass just off the edge of the blanket, smiling a little. "It is not much to look at now," she said. "This hedge maze is almost as old as the castle itself. Our gardeners try to tend it, but they swear that it has developed a mind of its own. No one really knows what all is in here. They say that you will discover something different every time you enter, depending on who you are and what you are looking for. The maze changes itself, adapting to who is inside of it…or so the servants say. They make up such interesting stories."

Link looked at Zelda. "And you, your Majesty? What have you been looking for here?" He knew it was a bold question, but the queen appeared to be in a revelatory mood.

"Every time I enter, I find this place," Queen Zelda answered. "I suppose that means that I am looking for companionship…was looking for companionship." The mask began to descend on her face again, memories of the world outside the hedge intruding on their moment of solitude. It wasn't long before the open, girl-like Zelda was once again hidden behind the hard, steel mask of the Queen of Hyrule. "No," she said. "I think that I have no more need of this place."

She got up suddenly, leaving her food unfinished. Link put the sandwiches away in the basket as quickly as he could and jogged to catch up with her before he lost her in the maze. "Hey," he said once he caught her. "Slow down. Please?" Zelda slowed but she didn't stop or look at him. Link sighed. "I shouldn't have asked such a personal question. I'm sorry." She still didn't reply, so he held up the basket where she could see it. "Do you want to finish this in the library?" he asked. "I know you were reading a new book there, and I don't think they would say no the queen."

Zelda looked down at the basket and then up at Link. After a moment, as they rounded a couple corners and the exit popped into view, she nodded her consent. Link held back his sigh of relief and fell into step behind her as they exited the maze. Zelda led them to the library in silence. Link set up the remains of their picnic on one of the large tables meant for spreading out books during study and dragged it over to the queen's favorite chair. She settled in and picked up one of the dusty tomes she had left there for herself. She held the book in one hand and used the other to pick at her food.

Link finished his food quietly, and then started walking around the library absently. He didn't read very much, so he just glanced at the spines of the books and tried to make out the titles. He was of a low birth, and the areas where he was strongest had always been more physical, like swordplay, or mental in the way that puzzles are. He was never much of a scholar. He left books and studying to those of a higher birth than him, like the queen. They all had their place in the grand scheme of things, he figured, and his was not in a library.

Every now and then, as the Hylian man wandered through the many, many bookshelves, he thought he caught the queen watching him. The moment he would look at her, though, she would look away. At first he didn't think much of it, but as it continued he was starting to feel weird. Finally, when he almost caught her later that afternoon, he sighed and turned to face her. "Is there something on my tunic?" he asked, trying to look down at the green fabric. "Or something on my face?"

The queen shook her head. "No," she said, turning her eyes back down to her book as if she had never been looking at him.

"You were watching me," he said, not ready to let it go. "Why?"

Zelda bit her lip. She placed her hand where she was reading and closed the book around it, then looked up at her new protector. "I have not yet figured you out," she said, her tone matter of fact. "You were friends with…" her voice hitched. She couldn't even say Impa's name. It almost hurt to watch her fish around for something else to call her. "With the Sheikah traitor," she finally said. Link couldn't hold back the small sigh that escaped him. The queen chose to ignore it. "You were friends with her, and yet you did not suspect her. Why?"

"I didn't have reason to," he answered. "I knew her heart, you know?" Zelda shook her head, looking confused. The hero supposed she wouldn't know. She never took anything on instinct, their queen. Zelda was always thinking and rethinking about everything. Link considered how to explain it in a way that she would understand, and then he drew his sword and swung it around a few times. He was careful not to hit anything with it. Finally, he held it up in front of his face and looked at its short blade in the afternoon light streaming in through the window.

"I'm a warrior right?" he finally started. Zelda nodded. "Well, when you fight someone, you come to know something about them. How they move, what decisions they make in battle, what their personality and style is. They don't need to explain it with words. You don't need to have hours of conversation to get to know each other. The more you fight each other, the better you know one another. Impa and I were sparring partners. For the past years…two or three I think, I lose count…we have fought together every day. Sometimes we teamed up against other trainees. Sometimes we fought each other. We used various weapons and techniques, fought under various conditions and with different people. By the time we met you, well, I'd say we knew each other better than we knew our own families."

Zelda shook her head. "I do not understand," she said. "You just fight. How can you come to know someone with a sword?"

"Hmm…" Link thought some more. He never had to explain it before. "I…well." He raised his sword and got into a fighting stance. "Impa…she's smart. I knew that right away. If I came forward, like this," he jabbed forward, leading with a direct attack, "she never just deflected or defended. She would spin around or jump over my head and take me from my exposed side, using my momentum and forward focus against me." Zelda nodded, so he continued. "She knew how to read body language like that. No matter how I tried to get a direct attack on her, she always read my bluffs like an open book." The queen nodded again, so the knight kept going. "But it wasn't just that she was smart. There are other ways to get around a direct attack, you know? More practical ways than her acrobatics. She threw in the acrobatics for a few reasons, and it took me longer to figure that part out."

Link stopped and looked at Zelda, trying to read her. He couldn't tell if all this talk of Impa was okay. She looked pained, that was to be expected, but when he paused, she said, "please, continue. I want to understand."

"Okay," he said. "Well, I eventually figured it out. She threw in the acrobatic techniques because she was also creative and passionate. There was always a certain…what, uh, rhythm? Flow? To how she moved. Like her water magic. It was like she heard music in her head when she was fighting, and her moves were a dance. It also keeps people on their toes, that's her intelligence again. It takes a while to figure out her patterns and how to defend her. Most people don't fight her enough to decipher that."

Link swiped his sword through the air again, and he smiled as he remembered all his battles with the Sheikah woman. "So, there you have intelligence and creativity. I also said she was passionate, and I'll add honesty to that. Impa…she overflows with energy and enthusiasm. You can see it in the speed that she moves with, and the grace of her body as she turns in the air. She loves every moment of it. That's the fire in her. She's passionate about everything she does, and she throws herself into it. So much so that she forgets simple things sometimes, like eating or sleeping. Her own welfare. To her, her own well-being takes last place to protecting others and helping them improve. I can't tell you how many times she went out to help other trainees get ready for their tests. She was like a second instructor to all of us, and she cared more than most of our real instructors. She can do that because she leaves everything on the battlefield. All her emotions and energy, every ounce of her heart and soul, she leaves it there. That's her time. That's when she really opens up and comes alive. When she's not fighting, she can give of herself almost endlessly I think."

Link sheathed his sword and came to sit down across from Zelda. The queen looked like she was about to cry again, but now that he had started, he couldn't stop. "That's why I don't think she ever betrayed you, Zelda," he said, his voice earnest. "Talk to anyone who has fought her or trained with her. You could see her nature when she fought. If there was malice in her heart, Zelda I would have known. We all would have known. It just…isn't in her to hide something when she's fighting. Fighting is the release that helps her to give and function."

Zelda wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. "I do not know if I believe you," she said, not quite keeping the emotion out of her voice. Her hands were shaking again.

Link nodded. "Okay," he said. "Fine. I'll give you an example. The morning before her test, when you asked her to be your guard." Zelda's eyes widened, and her face started to shut down. She obviously didn't want to remember this day. Link forged ahead, unwilling to give up. He had to try, for Impa's sake. He owed her that much after all she did for him. "She got up at dawn, way before everyone else, and went to the square by herself. I always get up early too, and she didn't realize I was watching her. She usually started with a regular practice routine before using magic, but she used water that morning right away. This told me that she must feeling irritated or impatient about something and wanted to sooth it with the water. Then her attacks were haphazard and sloppy. She was distressed, and it affected her control. She couldn't keep the water sphere together, which told me her mind must be scattered or focused on something else because she couldn't focus enough on what she was doing to keep it together. It was barely to size before she dropped it, which tells me that she was giving up on trying to figure out whatever it was she was running through her head. Now, I still don't know what it was that was bothering her, exactly. I have an idea, but that's all. I figured she might need some company, though, so I walked over."

Zelda was looking out the window past his shoulder again. Her face was stone. Link knew that somewhere along the line he had lost her. "Look," he sighed, "you can get rid of me too if you don't trust me," his voice sounded resigned. "I stand by Impa. Whatever Kishla and Wizzro may have tried to use her for, she didn't know about it. I would have read it in her when we trained. You know what I do think, Queen Zelda?" He didn't wait for her to ask. He knew that she wouldn't. "Kishla ran and hasn't been seen since. Wizzro had to give up control of Hyrule and run as well. Impa nearly died from that dragon fire burn she received chasing off the enemy general, which, by the way, pretty much was the stroke that won the battle, along with that central keep that she captured. All I did was stand by your side, go get her when things got weird, and clean up the rabble after she had already won. After all that, with that fire still burning a hole in her side, she all but carried you off the battlefield to a medic." He sighed and looked down at the green tunic and blue scarf he wore. "Impa was the real hero of that battle, not me. She should be wearing this stuff. Not me."

As he finished, he took off the scarf and his sword belts and set them aside, then he stripped off the green tunic and chainmail that went with it. Underneath, he wore a white peasant-top shirt and tan pants tucked into his high leather boots. Once it was off, Link threw the tunic and scarf at Zelda's feet. "I may be the next hero, you may be right," he said, his voice sad and soft, "but I haven't earned that tunic yet. Until I earn it, on the strength and credit of my own deeds, I don't want it."

Zelda looked down at the green tunic, blue scarf, and chainmail in a crumpled heap on the floor at her feet. She was still staring at it as Link walked out of the library. Alone with her thoughts, she set her book down and stared into the distance.

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Author's Notes: Revised chapter uploaded May 2022. Original Author's notes below.

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Hello again! Here's another chapter for you. Gotta love Link—he's the noblest creature around, and loyal to a fault. No wonder he and Impa are friends. :)

In other news, I went on a big camping vacation and got engaged! My girlfriend of 5 years proposed on a dock on a beautiful mountain lake hidden away in Idaho. She even used the Zelda Chest that came with a Link Between Words in Europe as the ring box (the one that plays the item get sound!) Yeah, she's pretty wonderful! :D For those who are curious, it's a three-stone white gold ring with a diamond in the center and two pear-shaped emeralds on the sides, like stone leaves around a really sparkly white rose. 3

Anyway, I'm looking forward to your reviews! Until next time.