***ALL STANDARD DISCLAIMERS APPLY**
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In Sotto Voce
By The Wolfess
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Chapter 16
When Zelda returned to her room, she found Impa's unconscious body lying on her bed. The smelling salts Zelda had asked for were not there yet, but as Link was also missing she assumed that he was getting them. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, her fingers fidgeting with the edge of her dress. Glancing from the Sheikah woman to the door and back, Zelda paced the center of the room a few times before crossing over to the settee and sitting down to wait for Link.
The room was just as she had left it, although Link had lit some candles and started a fire in the hearth before he left to speak with the doctor. She appreciated his thoughtfulness. In her current agitated state, the monarch knew she wouldn't have thought about the chill in the room. There was a single pair of glass double doors opposite the bed that led out onto a balcony. The doors were opened now, just a small crack to let some fresh air in, but enough that it had made the room cold. Through the open doors, Zelda could hear the soldiers outside. They were talking, laughing, singing, and telling stories. The battle would be soon and all the revelry would stop, but until then, the queen was glad that they were enjoying themselves.
She reexamined every inch of her room with her eyes until there was nothing left for Zelda to look at besides the one foreign thing in it: Impa. The queen shook her head and sighed. If anyone had told her the night before that she would allow Impa into her chambers and actually feel benevolence and tenderness toward her again, she wouldn't have believed them. Nonetheless, here she was looking at the Sheikah woman with fresh eyes. "Search me and know me" Impa had said, and so Zelda had freely and aggressively searched, but the tribal leader was telling the truth. There was no evil in her heart, and no foreign magical influence either. There were no underhanded plans, no devilish schemes. There was just her. Just Impa.
Zelda didn't quite know how to feel about it all. It was happening so fast that her head was spinning. What was she supposed to feel now? Relieved that Impa was on their side after all? Guilty for what she had put her and Ruto through? Nervous about what would happen once Impa woke? She didn't really know what to feel about the situation as a whole, but she did at least know how to feel about Impa—worried for her health.
Just then, there was a soft knock on the bedroom door. Link let himself in, bearing two arms full of supplies. In his left arm, he was carefully balancing a hot bowl of water with a towel draped in it. In his right arm, he had a cold bowl of water with another towel. Zelda hurried over and took the hot bowl from him, setting it down on the floor by Impa. She then took the cold bowl from him as well. While she was setting that down beside the hot bowl, Link fished the smelling salts out of the pouch on his belt. "I think this is everything," he said as he handed it to Zelda.
She nodded. "Yes, it is. Thank you for bringing it, Link. What did you tell them it was for?"
Link shrugged. "I told them that a couple Gorons got into a fight and knocked each other out. Since they're too heavy to move, we need to wake them up."
Zelda smiled. "Perfect," she said. "Now, if you would kindly give us some privacy, I would be appreciative. You may rejoin Ruto if you would like."
Link bowed a little, but he looked hesitant to leave. He glanced at Impa and back to the queen. "Can I trust you with her alone?" he asked, deciding to be honest about his apprehension. "Is she truly safe with you? I'm afraid you're going to hurt her more than you already have."
Anger rose within Zelda, but it quickly dissipated when she realized how justified his concerns were. She shook her head a little and held out her hands beside her. "Would I ask for medicines to care for her if I intended to harm her?" she asked.
Link nodded. "I guess not. Just…please. Treat her kindly. Hyrule needs her." He sighed. "I will have the servants send up her weapons. If Impa is armed and with you, I suppose I won't have the guards return."
Zelda nodded. "That will be fine. Thank you."
Link closed the door behind him gently, and Zelda got to work. She started by taking off her gloves and setting them on the vanity. Then, pushing up the long sleeves of her dress, she dragged her vanity stool over to the bedside and positioned the two bowls on either side of it. Finally, Zelda took a seat and looked at her patient. She was close enough to Impa now to begin evaluating how best to wake her. The Sheikah's breath rose and fell in a steady rhythm. Despite that, there was a sheen of sweat on her skin, as if she were suffering a fever. Zelda averted her eyes from Impa's face to the bowl of warm water. That would be a good a place as any to begin.
She picked up the cloth and rung out the extra water, careful not to drip on the expensive rug or her dress. Dabbing it over Impa's forehead, cheeks, and neck, the cloth wiped away the cold sweat. The queen's touch was feather-light. Impa's skin was tanned from time spent training outside, and yet it was also soft underneath Zelda's fingertips. When the damp cloth caressed the Sheikah's neck, the water pooled in the notch between her clavicles and trembled as she inhaled. Zelda's breath caught, despite her focus. Shaking her head, the queen put the cloth back in the warm water and placed her hand on Impa's forehead. The Sheikah was very hot. She certainly didn't have a fever, at least the queen didn't think so, but the warm cloth would not have much effect waking her up. A cooler cloth would be better.
Nodding to herself, Zelda picked up the smelling salts and the cool cloth. She waved the smelling salts under Impa's nose with one hand and patted her face and neck with the cool cloth in her other hand. This seemed to be more effective, as the queen had suspected. It wasn't long before Impa started to move around a little. Zelda dampened the cloth and kept working. Impa groaned and her forehead scrunched up. Finally, as if waking from a deep sleep, her eyes blinked open.
The queen found herself frozen by a confused red gaze. As Impa comprehended the sight of Zelda's face bent low over hers, the queen couldn't seem to make herself move, not even to set down the salts and the cloth. Impa's hand twitched and rose slightly, and then curled into a fist and lowered back to her side. After another moment of awkward stillness, the tribal leader cleared her throat. "Uh, your majesty?"
Zelda jumped. "Oh, I am sorry," she said, trying to hide the blush that wanted to creep into her cheeks. She put the cold cloth back into the water and set the salts on the nightstand. "I am glad you are awake. How do you feel?"
Impa shrugged. "Confused, and tired, but okay I think. What happened?"
Zelda bit her lip a little. "You…well, you passed out when I was…getting to know you better."
Impa's eyes widened a little, and then she nodded slowly. "When you were investigating me from the inside out, you mean," she said, her tone accusing.
Zelda looked down at her own hands. She couldn't look Impa in the eye. "Yes," she murmured.
"And did you find anything?" Impa asked. She tried to push herself up in the bed so she wasn't looking at her accuser and queen from such a prone position.
"Please, Impa, do not rise," Zelda said, pushing the warrior back onto the bed. It didn't take much force. The Sheikah's body was still recovering. "You should rest."
"You didn't answer my question," Impa insisted, although she did comply and lay back on the pillows. "Did you find anything?"
Zelda shook her head. "No," she murmured. "I did not find anything evil inside of you. I only found you."
Impa sighed and closed her eyes. "I had almost hoped that you would find something…some suppressed evil memory or deed that would justify everything you did."
"Impa, I am—"
The Sheikah woman shook her head. "Please, don't." she protested. "I am not ready to hear what you have to say."
Zelda closed her eyes. She could feel tears welling up in her throat, but she swallowed them back. She would not cry now. It would not help anything. Instead, she took a couple deep breaths and searched her mind for something to say to fill the silence between them. "Is there anything… anything I can get for you?"
Impa seemed to think for a moment. "Are we in your chambers?" she asked, looking past Zelda to see the room.
The queen nodded. "Yes, Link brought you here. I asked for his help."
The Sheikah nodded. She knew that Link would have a lot of questions of his own later. "Okay. And where is he now?"
"I let him go with Ruto. He is sending the guards to bring your weapons to my chamber, so we both thought I would be safe without him for the evening."
Impa nodded again. Silence fell between them. "So," the Sheikah said after a few awkward moments. "How long are you going to keep me here?"
Zelda's face drooped a little. "I had hoped…" she shook her head. "Never mind. I would like you to stay at least until Link returns to the adjoining room, so I can be sure you have had enough time to rest. After that…well, you may leave or you may stay. This room is yours as well. I was wrong about a lot of things, including about kicking you out of it."
Impa bit the inside of her lower lip and closed her eyes. "Zelda, please…" she said, her tone almost begging.
"No," Zelda insisted. She fisted her hands in her lap, catching the fabric of her dress in the grip. "I have to say it now, or I will lose the nerve to do so later. I am sorry for what I did to you. There are no excuses. What I did to you was unjust, and you have every reason to hate me."
Impa groaned and rubbed her head. "I don't hate you." The intensity of this conversation was making her head hurt, but the ache in her heart was even worse. "I should. Ruto has said it. I don't think she's the only one. But I am furious with you."
"For good reason," Zelda said. "I am sorry that I had to force my way into the very core of your being before I believed what everyone, even my own council and Link himself, has been telling me. What my own heart has been telling me. My power should never be used in such a way. I…I went a little crazy."
Impa started to sit up, but she immediately regretted the decision and laid back on the pillows, her head swimming. "A little crazy? Zelda, I did nothing wrong but try to protect you from Wizzro and you tarnished my name in the eyes of the whole country, including my own people. You stripped me of everything that I have spent my whole life working towards and gave it all to someone who didn't want it to begin with. Not only did you ruin my life, you ruined Link's by association. He never wanted this duty. I did."
Zelda was looking down at the ground. "I know," she murmured.
Impa shook her head carefully. "No, you don't know," she said. "I returned to the village where my mother had just been murdered in utter disgrace. When I led her funeral, I looked out on faces I have known my entire life. They looked back at me with disdain and accusation, thinking that I had played a part in killing my own mother. Yes, you lost your father in a horrible way, Zelda, but no one ever accused you of killing him. You didn't have to find a way to systematically prove to your people that you weren't a murderer and a psychopath, at the same time as you were trying to grieve. I did, and it's because of you."
The tribal leader's eyes were full of hurt. The queen opened her mouth, as if to offer some apology or defense, but there was nothing to say in the face of Impa's accusations. Instead, she just closed her mouth again as Impa continued.
"You know, with all the effort you poured into tarnishing my image and making me an enemy of the state, you could have been helping me figure out what really happened. Instead, I had to lead that investigation on my own, without your resources or input. You're lucky I was successful."
Zelda blinked and sat up a little straighter. "You were?" she asked, shocked out of her shame.
Impa nodded. "Yes. I know the whole story, or at least as much of it as we can figure out. It's a long one, and I don't have the energy to tell you right now. Maybe tomorrow. I'm not sure if knowing the names of her accomplices are even relevant to the larger campaign, and they are being dealt with by the Tribe internally. I will tell you the underlying tension that led her astray, though: it began as a personal vendetta between her and our mothers that was allowed to fester over many years."
The queen's brow furrowed. "A personal vendetta against our mothers? Do you mean that Queen Zelda the Fourteenth and Tribal Leader Tikala knew each other deeper than just political relations? There is no record of a personal friendship, and my father never mentioned her."
Impa rubbed a hand over her face and lay back into the pillows, closing her eyes. "It's a long story," was all she said. Zelda nodded.
"I am sure you are tired. I will leave you, then." The blond woman stood from her stool. She grabbed it and started to drag it back to the vanity when Impa's voice stopped her.
"Where are you going?" Impa asked, her voice still irritated. "I've been entrusted with you until Link returns. You can't leave the room."
Zelda gestured toward the bed where Impa used to sleep. "I thought I would use your old bed, since you are recovering in mine."
"No, don't do that. I can walk over there. Not much of a guardian if I can't." She started to sit up, and her head spun.
Zelda rushed over to the bedside and placed her hands on Impa's arm. "Please, do not push yourself. You were out cold. I think it is a combination of tonight's events and the prolonged physical and mental exhaustion you have put yourself through. You need a good night's rest, and that bed will do you wonders."
"Come on, Zelda. I'm not a child," Impa said.
"No," Zelda's voice and hands were firm. "You will rest, even if I have to put you back to sleep myself."
Impa sighed. "Fine," she said. "But as soon as I'm able to, I'm getting out of here. You can't make me stay."
"Of course," Zelda said, a touch of sorrow in her voice.
Impa furrowed her brow. "How do you even know what I've put myself through? You haven't been around."
Zelda's shoulders slumped. "I had you watched. For safety. They told me you have not been sleeping."
Impa rolled her eyes, as if saying of course you did, and rolled over to turn her back to the queen. The conversation was over. Zelda turned and walked to her walk-in closet. Inside, she changed into a warm nightgown and hung her regular gown on a rack for the maids to clean. Walking back into the room, she saw Impa's Biggoron Sword and Naginata leaning against the inside of the door. A guard must have slipped them in and closed the door again while she was changing.
Satisfied that the weapons were there and Impa was resting, Zelda blew out the candles and separated the logs in the hearth so the fire would die down naturally. The room darkened, and the dying firelight cast her shadow dancing around the room as she crossed over to Impa's old bed. With a sigh, she slipped under the comforter and closed her eyes. In the darkness, all she could hear was the crackling of the dying fire and Impa's steady breathing mixed with her own. Outside the window, the soldiers were still going strong. Their merriment would last deep into the night.
Over the distant sounds of revelry, Impa's voice drifted to Zelda's hearing. It was soft and sad now, but easily audible over the crackling of the fire. "Ruto says that all of that was really because you were afraid of how you felt about me. Is it true?"
Zelda's eyes opened. She turned on her side to face the larger room. The dull orange of the coals flickered over her face as she looked up toward the large royal bed. Impa wasn't looking her way, but she could see the rise of the quilts where Impa's body was nestled. She didn't answer right away. She hadn't really had time to reevaluate her motivations yet. If all those dreams and longings weren't forced into her mind and heart with sorcery by Impa herself, then she supposed there was only one answer: she really was in love with Impa. Actual infatuated, terrifying, consuming love.
"Yes," she finally said as she stared into the dying coals. "I suppose I was afraid."
Impa did turn to face Zelda now, and she peeled the quilt down just enough so that she could see the queen's face. "What was there to be afraid of? I never forced myself on you."
Zelda sighed but didn't look back at the Sheikah woman. "Of love itself, I guess. I have never known true love. Not like that."
"But your father loved you," Impa said, speaking before she remembered that she was still mad at the queen. "And your mother."
Zelda shrugged. "I suppose. My father loved me in his way, but I am not so sure about my mother. The royal records of her death are a forgery. They say she died of medical complications when I was a young child, but that is my father's lie. It was a mental sickness that killed her. She loved another, I guess. I suppose that she could not find enough love in my father or myself to live for. My father tried to love me, but he could not help but be reminded every time he looked at me of the fact that his wife loved someone else so much that she would rather die than spend her life with us."
"I'm sorry Zelda," Impa said. "Truly. I didn't know."
Zelda sighed. "No one does. Father had the medical records changed, and then he hid the wounds at the ceremony. No one knew the truth, except for me. I…I was the one who found her." Zelda wiped a tear from her eyes and looked from the dying fire to Impa. "So, to return to your question Impa, yes. Ruto is right. I was afraid of how I felt for you. I had not allowed myself to even think about what that emotion really was, but I could not stop myself in those moments we shared before the battle. What I felt was so intense it seemed like it was taking control of my decisions, my free will, my heart. In my experience, love that strong, that intoxicating, does not give life. It gives death. I never wanted to love like that, like my mother loved, and when I saw my father's death, and you covered in…" she swallowed, trying to push that image away. "I guess it all compounded. I needed to get rid of you and the feelings you brought up in me. I went crazy for a while. By the time I started to be able to rethink what I had done, it was too late, so I just chose to continue blaming you. It was the easy way. I am sorry."
After Zelda's voice faded, silence hung in the air. What could Impa say in response to that? It was understandable, but that did not make it right. Impa and Zelda stared at one another as the embers' light danced in the depths of their eyes. There was so much that each of them could say, and yet somehow it felt wrong to speak. Each of them struggled with their own feelings and misgivings, their own thoughts and fears. What could either of them say that would be sufficient to mend the rift between them? So they just stared at each other until the embers died and the room was awash in darkness. In the shadows they could barely see the outline of each other's faces, and yet they continued to stare and struggle.
Finally, Zelda slipped out of the bed and crossed over to where Impa lay. The Sheikah scooted over a little, and the queen sat on the edge of the bed. She reached over and ran her long fingers through Impa's hair. "I do have very strong feelings for you," she whispered, more to herself than to Impa. "It terrifies me, but I do. I am sorry for what I did to you in my effort to run away from that."
Impa sat up slowly and rested her back against the headboard. She had been laying down long enough to settle her spinning head. Maintaining eye contact with the blond woman opposite her, Impa reached out and took Zelda's hand in her own, twining their fingers together. "You know, you don't have to love me," she said. "We've barely known each other, and there is such history between our families. We can just like one another a lot. No pressure."
Zelda shook her head. "I do not know what you mean by history," she said, "but I don't think I have a choice but to care for you deeply. We have known one another for centuries. I could see it all inside of you and feel the centuries of togetherness when we were connected. Do you not feel the same?"
"I have felt it," Impa said, her voice lowering again. "I have felt all of the lifetimes that I have known and served you when we were connected." She paused and caressed the back of Zelda's hand with her thumb. "And yes, Zelda, I do have feelings for you as well. But there is something you should know."
The queen's brow furrowed. "What is it?" she asked.
Impa squeezed Zelda's hand a little tighter, searching her eyes for a sign of her reaction to the information she was about to receive. "The person your mother was in love with…I know who it was," Impa said. Zelda didn't respond, but her face grew apprehensive so the Sheikah continued with caution. "That's a large part of the information I uncovered back home. What they did in the name of that love is the underlying motivation behind Kishla's betrayal." Impa paused, worried about the queen's reaction. She had not been very stable lately, and this news was bigger for her than Impa had previously known. "Zelda…it was my mother. Queen Zelda the Fourteenth was in love with Tribal Leader Tikala."
Zelda shook her head, as if wanting to say no, it's not possible, but she didn't withdrawal her hand or pull away. She only rubbed her eyes with her free hand and was silent for a moment. When she felt she could speak calmly, she asked, "if that is true, then what did their love have to do with Kishla?"
"Kishla was overcome by jealousy and a twisted sense of honor," Impa explained. "She was jealous for two reasons: first, because mom was chosen for Tribal Leader as a child instead of her, who was an accomplished adult. Second, she was jealous because my mom was closer to her Zelda than she was. She felt like all of her hard work was for nothing, and destiny had passed over her."
Zelda nodded. "Okay…and the twisted sense of honor? What did she do that she thought was so honorable?"
Impa rubbed Zelda's arm with her free hand and continued. "Well, she's done a few things over the years. She told your grandparents about Tikala and the princess's love affair, even though it had been going on for years. As a result, your grandparents arranged a marriage they found suitable and forced your mother into it. Your mother never even met your father before their engagement." Impa paused and looked in Zelda's eyes to see how she was reacting.
The queen was staring past her at the wall. When she noticed Impa looking, she just squeezed Impa's hand a little and murmured, "I am fine. Please continue."
"Your mother was determined to find a way, though," she explained. "Once you were born, she invited Tikala for an audience with her and the king. Mom brought me along, and I vaguely remember how big the main chamber was. The queen framed the offer as a way to bridge the fractured relationship between the Crown and the Sheikah Tribe. Tikala's daughter was to be raised as a warrior, and when she was of age she would become the protector of the queen's heir, Princess Zelda the Fifteenth. You. This is why I was singled out, Zelda. It wasn't because of my talent or some scheme by Kishla. It was organized by our own mothers so that their love could somehow live on through their children."
Zelda was frowning. "But that is against all of our traditions," she said. "The guardian has never been chosen that way. It was wrong."
Impa nodded. "Yes, it was. When I found out, I felt betrayed by my own mother. She should never have agreed."
"So Kishla had to follow through with those wishes," Zelda said, thinking through the implications of that revelation the same way that Impa had. "She must have extended her feeling of personal betrayal to a feeling that the whole country had been secretly betrayed by the Hylian Dynasty. That must have been when she started plotting to bring that 'twisted dynasty' down." Spurned by this sudden revelation, Zelda stood up and balled her hands into fists. "It makes sense now. She thinks that she is purifying the dynasty of corruption, that's her motivation. Seeing us together must have been the final nail on the head that spurred her dormant plans into action."
Impa watched Zelda pace, but she didn't stand up. She knew it was would just make her head spin. "Years of jealousy and hatred can have severe effects on people. In Kishla, it took one betrayal of tradition and blew it up into a twisted need to save Hyrule from a fallen dynasty. She thinks that she is Hyrule's savior."
Zelda stopped by the bedside and rubbed her temples with her fingertips. "How do I explain this to my council without betraying our mothers' secret?"
"Maybe you shouldn't protect them," Impa said. "I have been conducting investigations within my tribe to root out who aided Kishla or knew about her plans. In the process, bits and pieces of the real story have come out. They have taken it well."
The queen sat back down on the bed and took Impa's hand in both of hers. "No offense intended," she started, "but Hylians are not exactly as comfortable with same sex relationships as Sheikah are. I fear they will get hung up on the detail."
Impa shrugged. "Who cares if they do, Zelda? You're the queen, it's not like you're an elected official. So what if it's not a popular detail? Maybe hiding their love in the first place was our mothers' true offense. If they had just courted openly, then the country could have wrestled with its old-fashioned opinions and figured it out. Hyrule is now allied with three nations who are open to the practice. It is alone in its beliefs." The Sheikah shrugged. "Anyway, there are much more important things happening right now than worrying that your war council might freak out about our mothers' relationship. They need to know Kishla's reasoning so they can figure out if that can be used against her, or if it can be used to deduce her next steps."
Zelda sighed. "Perhaps you are right," she said. She blinked a bit, as if trying to clear away the information she had just learned. "Anyway, we should put this aside for tonight and rest. You need to regain your strength, and we both have a big day tomorrow."
She started to get up to return to the smaller bed, but Impa caught her wrist. Zelda looked down at Impa's hand and then back up at her face. The warrior smiled sheepishly. "You…could stay, if you wanted to," the Sheikah murmured. "I've missed you."
Zelda smiled, but there was a sadness in her eyes. "A part of me wants to," she said, her voice equally soft. "But this…us…it is so complicated now. I mean, are our feelings even our own, or was that somehow rigged by our mothers too? I do not know what to think."
Impa shrugged. "I've had longer to live with this knowledge than you," she conceded, "but I know that I truly have feelings for you, despite everything that has happened. Being apart from you has only proven to me that they really were my own, not some unknown magic caused when we are together. Whether you are beside me or far away, whether you love me or hate my guts, I can't seem to stop myself. I love you Zelda, whether I want to or not. Whether I should or not. And this love is my own."
Zelda's eyes teared up. She opened her mouth to reply, to say those words back to the Sheikah woman, but nothing came out. She stood frozen, staring at the woman who loved her but unable to reciprocate. She could feel all the tension that had built up within her heart pressing up against the love she had been trying not to feel. Stuck between the two, she could neither let go of her tension nor let go of her love. But sitting in front of her was a woman who was freely offering her heart, despite everything that had happened between them, and the queen's heart moved toward that love of its own accord. It would not be fettered by her fears any longer. It knew what it wanted, and that was Impa.
Zelda found her body crawling onto the bed as if on its own. Moving on her hands and knees, she went to the head of the bed where Impa's head rested. Gentle, mindful of Impa's physical weakness, the queen placed her hands on either side of the Sheikah's face and looked into her eyes. Cornflower blue gazed into crimson red in the dark, and both of their breathing came in short bursts. The tips of their noses brushed.
"Zelda, what are you—"
Zelda pressed her lips to Impa's. Although more knowledgeable than their first one, the kiss was still clumsy. It took Impa a moment to even comprehend what was happening. This was the last thing she had expected the queen to do. When her mind caught up, she cupped her fingers under Zelda's chin and kissed her back.
Zelda leaned in to Impa's lips. What she lacked in skill, the queen certainly made up in desperation. The kiss was hard, the caress of lips more than once interrupted by the scrape of teeth and the salty taste of tears running down Zelda's face. She almost seemed to be sobbing at the same time as she was kissing Impa, her lithe form heaving with the power of the choked back tears, but when Impa tried to pull away, the queen just pulled her back.
Finally, Zelda released her grip and the two women parted. Their chests heaved, short of breath. Tears glistened on both of their faces. Neither woman moved a muscle. Frozen, they looked at one another as if afraid that any movement would shatter the illusion and it would come crashing down around them. Any moment could see the other person realize that they were still too furious to actually want this or waking up as they had so many times before. If they moved too soon, they might find themselves alone in their beds covered with sweat, the taste of the other's kiss still lingering on the edges of their mind.
It was Zelda who moved first. She bit her bottom lip and reached out with one hand, cupping Impa's cheek in her palm. Her thumb stroked the Sheikah's skin, and another tear escaped her eye. "Are you okay?" she asked, her voice barely above a breath.
Impa smiled. "Am I okay?" she laughed and reached up to take Zelda's hand in her own. "I am not the one who has been a bit emotionally unstable lately, to be frank. How are you?"
Zelda smiled sheepishly. "I am sorry," she said, but she did not move from her position crouching over Impa. "I…I am afraid. Afraid that this is a dream. Afraid that I will wake and not remember any of our reconciliation. Afraid that I will wake up alone, consumed by my own depression and fear. It has happened before. Day after day I have wiped my tears away, readied myself for the day, and dropped a wall around my heart."
Impa sighed and tugged the queen down to sit beside her. Once Zelda was seated, the Sheikah wrapped her arm around Zelda's back and pulled her in close. The blond woman sighed, and her head drifted down to rest on Impa's shoulder as her arm snaked around Impa's stomach. Soon, Zelda could feel the warrior woman's warmth seeping into her body. It was as if she was not just being held by Impa's arms, but by her whole life force. Into this calming state, the Sheikah's voice drifted to Zelda's ears. "This is real," she said. "I am real, and you are real, and we are together. It isn't a dream. And, if I may be so bold as to say it, that kiss was better than any dream could have been."
Zelda smiled into Impa's shoulder and held her a little tighter. "It could not have been that good with me blubbering the whole time."
"That's exactly why it was good, though." Impa turned her face into Zelda's hair and inhaled deeply. The princess's long blond hair draped around them like a cape of sunlight. Her warmth and her scent filled Impa. It snuck into the solitary recesses of the Sheikah's heart and nestled there, fitting inside like her heart existed for Zelda to fill. Impa could feel a lump rise in her throat. She pressed a kiss into Zelda's scalp and smiled into her hair. When she spoke, she did not move her lips away from Zelda's hair, and the golden strands brushed back and forth against her lips. "It was good because it was you. Authentic and bare and ugly and beautiful you, and I love you, ugly parts and all."
"I love you too, Impa."
The Sheikah's heart caught in her throat. For a moment, she stopped breathing, and she looked down at Zelda with her mouth open. "Really?" she finally asked, her red eyes shining in the moonlight spilling into the room.
Zelda raised her head and their eyes met. Her eyes were bloodshot from crying, her nose was red, and her mouth trembled with happiness and fear alike—and she was more beautiful in that moment than Impa had ever seen her. "Really. I love you, Impa," Zelda repeated.
A grin spread across Impa's face. "Are you sure?" she whispered, laughing at how ridiculous she sounded.
The blond had never seen her guardian this happy before. Unable to restrain herself, she started laughing too. "I'm very sure," she said. "I am telling the truth. I really do love you." They leaned in for a kiss at the same time. Their arms wrapped around each other, and after a moment neither woman could tell who initiated the kiss, or who continued it, or where one woman's body began and the other's ended. The long night was over and the sun was on the horizon.
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Author's Notes: Revised chapter uploaded May 2022. Please find original author's note below.
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Hello everyone. It has been a while since this was updated, but I hope the wait was worth it. Enjoy.
