The barracks hadn't been difficult to find, nor had the strategists, who'd literally been hanging over a map. They'd permitted Zelda and Link to stay for the rest of their meeting, and they gratefully listened to any intel on the castle, Ganondorf's troops, and the usurper himself that she had to offer.

It had taken up a good portion of the afternoon, and Zelda debated going back to her room before dinner, but decided against it, instead, taking the long route through the mansion, getting to know the building and all the long hallways as they did. Since officially arriving, it was the first moment they'd had where someone wasn't watching. Though, when Link had tried to sneak a quick kiss from her, she'd stopped him.

"I'll leave a mark," Zelda laughed, pointing to her painted lips.

"I could too," Link chuckled as he followed her.

She shot him a grin but didn't say anything else as they turned into a crowded room, filled with servants and soldiers mulling about.

Zelda noticed just how many heads turned to her. Most of them were shock and surprise. Though Link's hand wasn't on his sword, he was alert. Perhaps too alert. His ears perked at every comment: confusion, awe, and suggestive. And, well, they had Link grinding his teeth and biting back retorts to most of them, though he was quick to stand between her and the prying eyes of some people with louder comments. He was shocked by how unaffected Zelda was.

Ignoring them was easy. It was something Zelda had learned to filter out over the years, a skill as much as a safety mechanism. She couldn't listen to everyone. But she couldn't filter out seeing the people as they whispered. And she didn't expect the twinge of jealousy she felt when she saw the way some of the women were openly staring at Link. It certainly wasn't a raging jealousy that tinged her vision, but it was enough to feel the need to get her own look at him herself.

When she turned to him, she saw him watching her, and a mutual revelation passed through them. She chuckled, seeing the jealousy in his eyes too. His eyes narrowed at her with a smirk, though neither said a word. Neither needed to.

"Link?" a voice asked as a soldier rounded a corner in at the end of the hall.

Link stepped forward and squinted at the man coming toward them. "Finn? Is that you?"

"In the flesh!" Finn laughed, holding his arms out in a welcoming gesture. Link met him in the middle and grasped his forearm before feeling himself tugged into a rather aggressive, but excited hug, which Link returned.

"You're alive? How?"

"Me?" Finn scoffed. "How about you? How did you survive? Last I saw, you were facing Ganondorf himself!"

Zelda watched the exchange with interest, never actually having seen Link with such excitement to see someone. Actually, she'd never seen him meet anyone he'd known from before.

He turned to her and gestured that she join them. "She's how. Finn, Princess Zelda. Princess, Finn, my old friend."

Zelda held out her hand and smiled. "Finn? That's familiar. Is he the one who was imprisoned at the same time as you?"

"That's him."

Finn, however, stared open-mouthed at her, taking her hand with one that had gone into a nervous shake. His eyes were unblinking, starstruck. "You… you know who I am, Princess?"

Link lightly smacked his cheek. "You'll catch bugs."

Zelda chuckled, watching him stutter a few more times before realizing he wasn't actually trying to say anything. "Yes, Link has told me many stories about you."

"The… the P-Princess knows… who I am? You've told her stories... about me?" He cleared his throat and stood up a little taller, though he looked between Zelda and Link. "So how did you get this poor old sod out?"

"I seduced her until she let me out," Link laughed.

But Zelda shot him a bland look.

Finn, however, looked pale. "You sed—you know who you're talking to? The Princess of Hyrule. Not the princess of some club!"

Link threw an arm casually around Zelda, though his eyes were saying way too much. "Oh, she and I go way back now. She's used to me."

Zelda didn't pull away but crossed her arms, her attention on Link's friend. "Would you like to take him back?"

The poor man's eyes were everywhere, and his breathing was erratic with nerves and confusion. It was so genuine, Zelda couldn't help but smile at him as he tried to reason everything out. "I… you were with her when? During the battle?"

"No," Link turned to Zelda, looking for permission to tell the whole story. She was in a trusting mood, especially with Link's confidence in Finn so high. Besides, it's not like she was hiding anymore. So she nodded, and he went off. "Well, after Ganondorf's men got me, they threw me in the dungeon. Him too," he added for Zelda's sake before returning his attention to Finn again. "After a few failed escapes, they kept me chained to the wall, and then I heard my new neighbor, who just so happened to be Princess Zelda here, which I didn't know. So, she ends up being moved into my cell to…" he hesitated and cleared his throat. "…because they needed hers for someone else. So after, I don't know, a week or two maybe, she played dead, we strangled a guard, got his keys, created a distraction and basically that's the story."

Zelda nodded along, grateful he'd left out certain parts of that tale.

"A distraction… like letting all the prisoners out?"

Link's grin twitched. "Yeah? You hear about it?"

"I didn't have to. I was one of them. Apparently, you both saved my life. I was near death in there, and I barely escaped. I ran north and joined up here as soon as I realized who they were. You know, I'd heard that the cells were opened by someone who kidnapped the Princess, but I never would have guessed it was you."

"Kidnapped is a strong word," Zelda scoffed.

"I did have to carry you out," Link winked, nudging her, much to Finn's horror at his familiarity with the Princess.

She whacked Link's arm and turned to Finn. "I was injured. He did not kidnap me."

"I-I can't believe it," Finn sighed. "I owe you my life. Both of you. I mean, Link, you saved me, you saved the Princess, you saved all those people in that hall. You're going to get a promotion whenever we get back home."

"The people in the hall?" Zelda asked, turning to Link, who was surprisingly turning red.

Finn had no qualms telling the story though. "It was right before we faced Ganondorf. There would have been a slaughter if Link hadn't been there. He and two others held off half the Demon King's army when about twenty of us were trapped in a hallway by some debris in the way of the only exit. Link, Nell, and Darl held them off us while we cleared the way. Only Link made it back in time, but he took a few pretty good scrapes and bruises. He was going to sacrifice himself so we could loosen the debris again and they couldn't follow. Well, we blocked the path, trapping him with the others, but we weren't going to leave him. We made him go to the window and jump to us. It wasn't a far jump, but it took four of us just to bring him in. Then, unlucky bastards that we are, ran into Ganondorf."

He covered his mouth and stuttered out an apology.

"You don't need to be so nervous around me, Finn," she said. "I'm not so fragile that you saying 'bastards' will harm my precious royal ears. And you," she turned to Link. "You never told me that part. Why?"

He shrugged, shaking his head. "It was a long day. I don't know."

She could see the real reason in the way his eyes wouldn't meet hers. It wasn't a good memory, like it had been for Finn. Link had nearly died, and he'd lived when two others had died. She didn't push. "That's fair," Zelda said, her muscles screaming for her to put a comforting hand on Link's arm, but she fought back the urge. "You two can stay and catch up, if you'd like. I can have your meal brought to your room."

"No, I'll come with you," he said.

But Zelda shook her head. "I'm just going to eat. Stay. Actually, I'll order you to stay with Finn. How's that?"

"But they're... you might ne…"

"Dinner will be boring and filled with dull conversation. There's no reason we should both suffer. Besides, I'll fill you in on it later. You haven't had a moment without needing to worry about my safety since we met. Take this one."

Link nodded, and she could see the smallest smile. She knew he wanted to catch up with Finn. After all, he'd thought he'd been dead until then. And Zelda knew just how badly she'd wish to talk to those she'd lost. And with a final glance at each other, she turned the corner for the dining room.

She was met first by Niko, who grabbed her hand and kissed it sloppily yet again. She pulled it away from him and rolled her eyes. "Niko. Daltus," she said, nodding a greeting to them both.

"Was your strategy meeting successful, cousin?" he asked, spite barely concealed in his tone.

"It was, thank you. I learned about our troops, numbers, formations, battle plans… all things you could know if you went down there, which I hear you haven't been since you've been here. How long is that, by the way?"

Daltus sat down and glanced at Niko for the answer. "Oh, a month, perhaps?"

"A month?" Zelda blanched. "And you've done nothing since? You've seen what Ganondorf is doing, but you've done nothing?"

"Planning," Daltus said stiffly. "For such an ambitious endeavor, we must be sufficiently prepared."

"When my family was murdered, whereabouts were you when you heard?"

He shrugged and shook his head. "I can't recall. I believe we were still on our side of the boarder. But we had already mobilized to provide aid. With the assumption of your death and no word of your life, we didn't believe haste and pushing our soldiers was the best option, so we came here to regroup. And many Hylians have joined us here."

"After their homes have been destroyed and they're left with little other choice but to seek refuge. You haven't been out there. You have to act soon."

"Zelda, baby cousin," Daltus said patronizingly as he leaned forward, "you've been here for a day. Don't presume one meeting with our strategists has made you an expert on my tactics. Don't think boldness is a substitute for wisdom. And don't assume that your eagerness to learn is sufficient enough for us to forget that you are untested and have never led anyone anywhere. You father coddled you by keeping you in the palace without your own pieces of land to govern. You're going to feel that soon."

Zelda gripped the edge of the table, directing as much energy there instead of at Daltus. Though, she couldn't bite back all of her words. "At least I wasn't raised to be an entitled, self-absorbed coward. I've been toe-to-toe with Ganondorf himself, and Daltus, you are not nearly as frightening as you think you are, and you're leagues away from Ganondorf. Your ego has been stroked far too many times."

It took him a moment to compose himself, his fists clenched much as hers were. "Baby cousin, please sit down. You're ruining the kind words I had planned to say to you."

Biting her lip harder than she should have, she begged her brain to stop. She pleaded for her tutor's lessons on etiquette and patience to come back to her. Entitled, rude… Daltus was still her only hope of defeating Ganondorf. He had the army, he had the connections. For all his comments, he was right about one thing: she was still new to this, and she couldn't afford to mess this one up. So, with a fake smile and as much grace as she could muster, she sat down and endured his insincere speech of 'kind words' to his baby cousin.

And she prayed to the Goddess that this was one of the few meals she'd have to sit through with him. She wasn't sure she could take too many more.