Link headed up the long, winding stairway, tired, both physically and mentally. He was coming from Commander Ashei's war room where he'd given her all the information they'd learned last night from the fight with Daltus. Link was grateful that he'd woken up at such an ungodly hour to meet with Finn and Viscen. The meeting with Ashei lasted hours, but it was still before noon thanks to his early start. Now, he just had to go let Zelda know what was happening. And he dreaded it.

When he got to his room to change into something more befitting travel so he could leave quickly, he noticed that her guards Bardo and Leon were still at her door, odd, since they would have followed her out and been replaced.

"She in there still?" Link asked.

It was Leon who nodded, looking tired. "Yes, she hasn't left yet."

"Anyone been in?"

"Seres, and she hasn't left."

Zelda was normally awake and already wandering around the house finding things to accomplish by this time. Link made a face and rapped lightly on the door. It opened on its own, evidence of someone hastily and ineffectually closing it. When he looked through the crack, the room was completely dark, curtains still drawn shut to keep the sun out.

Pushing the door open further, he squinted into the darkness, noticing a figure sitting up on Zelda's bed.

"Seres?" he asked, sliding into the room to close the door most of the way.

Zelda's head was in Seres' lap, and Seres looked tired as well, stroking the Princess' hair absently, though her attention whipped to Link upon his entrance. "Master Link?"

"Is she okay?" he asked, looking at her unusual pose.

Seres shrugged. "She's… she told me she's been having nightmares for several nights now. It seems last night had a particularly bad effect. When I came in, she was tossing about, and muttering. She said her family's names, Ganondorf's… she called for you." Link winced, and Seres resumed her soothing gesture through Zelda's hair. "I'm sorry."

Link shook his head dismissively and stood over Zelda, glad to see that she looked fairly peaceful, despite the slight pinch in her brow that concerned him.

"You stayed last night. Was she like this?"

"She didn't sleep well, no."

"When I came in, it certainly didn't seem like she had."

Without any control over himself, his hand reached out and brushed a small piece of hair from her face, his fingers gliding lightly over her skin. He pulled away, stretching his fingers out as the touch lingered. This was why his chair was on the other side of the room. To avoid him doing this. She didn't stir, but he didn't expect her too. He wished he could be more like her, sleeping through everything short of a stampede. It's why he barely lowered his voice when he addressed Seres again.

"Are you going to stay with her?"

Seres looked between them, a sadness in her eyes. "If you'd rather, I'm sure she wouldn't mind."

His head shook slowly and looked at his hand. "I think that would do more harm than good. I need to talk to her, but it can wait. Can you just let her know when she wakes up? I'll be in my room on my balcony for a while."

"I'll tell her, Master Link."

He let out a breath and turned to go, seeing the letter from King Auru on a small table. He ran his hand over it before picking it up, examining it closely. He turned back to Seres. "Would you tell her I have this, too? I just want to look at it in the light. There's something bothering me."

Seres raised her eyebrows. "Just one thing, Link?"

Link turned to her with a surprised grin. Of course she knew, but she'd never been so bold as to address either of them about it, or at least not him, nor had she ever called him just by his name. He tapped the letter on the table and snorted, nodding his head in a silent admission as he slipped out the door and into his own room.

In the light, he could get a better look at the note, written in a much different handwriting than the signature of King Auru at the bottom. But that wasn't what he'd been interested in. Many royals dictated their letters. He wanted a closer look at the broken seal, the symbol of King Auru that he was positive he'd seen before.

He'd never even been close to Auru's kingdom. He'd never seen any of his soldiers. He couldn't think of what their main trade items were, or even how long a journey it would be to get there. But he knew that symbol from somewhere. He absently got his things together, thinking the whole time of what he might expect of Auru's camp with Viscen.

Ducking through his window, he let himself lay against the railing on the small balcony and close his eyes, trying to get some semblance of rest before he left later. The sun warmed his face just enough where it was comfortable, and the breeze rustled his hair. It brough back memories of another time. However, the longer he stayed there, the only thing he could end up seeing was that royal symbol as his brain replayed thousands of memories just to try to figure out where it was from.

He saw himself as a child, walking into the barracks for the first time, awed by—what he thought at that time—the most grand building he'd ever been in. A large hall with tables and mulling soldiers, hallways that led to weapon and armor stores, rooms filled with bunks, and a room designated specifically for eating in. It was nothing like he'd ever experienced.

The royal symbol—the Triforce with an elaborate wing-like design behind it—had been displayed on every banner, etched into every piece of armor, worn on every cloak, woven into the edges of the more expensive blankets. There was no way he'd seen this symbol back home.

He thought of the battles he'd been in, the barracks he'd slept in, the garrisons he'd lived in. None of them had Auru's symbol anywhere. He thought of the prisoners he'd seen walk past his cell, the people who'd passed by him in town, and the soldiers he'd fought beside.

And he… he knew where he'd seen it before.

It sent a harsh chill through him, bringing him close to nausea at the possibilities it implied.

"Link?" Zelda said, leaning out her window to look for him.

Her voice temporarily broke him from his thoughts, and he sat up so she could see that he was still out there. He looked at the sun. A decent amount of time had passed while he'd been rummaging through his thoughts, but not too much.

When she saw him, she carefully stepped onto the balcony, tugging her light robe closer to her in the breeze. He could see that she'd literally just woken up, her hair smoothed back only by a hand, not a brush, her eyes still half closed and sensitive to the light. Just looking at her had him fighting a soft smile. She didn't have to do anything to completely entrance him.

"Seres said you had something to tell me?"

He leaned heavily on the railing, nodding. "How much do you trust me?"

She scoffed, her disgust reading so clearly. "That's a stupid question that I've already answered before. I trust you more than anyone."

His smile was sad, her words biting him at the kind intonation behind them. "Okay, okay. I… I'm leaving for a few days."

"What?"

"I have to."

She balked and turned back to the window.

"Wait, where are you going?" he called, still needing to say more.

"I'm coming over there to talk."

"No, don't," he hissed, stepping up onto the railing and then the ledge.

"Oh gods," Zelda muttered as she watched him, her hands hovering nervously in his direction as he slid across, taking an easy step onto the railing on her side before hopping down. Zelda bit her lip and smacked his chest with more force than she'd intended. "You can't keep doing that! You're going to fall."

"Admittedly, that would make things easier for us," he muttered. He watched her mouth gape open and caught her hand as it went to swipe his arm. He pulled her hand against his chest, a reflex from older days. "I'm sorry. That was in poor taste."

She groaned and closed her eyes, letting her hand feel his steady heart beneath it. "You're leaving? I… is this because of King Auru coming in a few days?"

He shook his head, catching a glimpse of Seres watching them from inside. She motioned with her hand that Link should move closer, and he rolled his eyes, ignoring her.

"No. I swear, that's not why. I'm coming back. I just… I need to follow something up, something important. I'm going with Viscen, actually."

"What are you following?"

He pulled her letter from his pocket and gave it back to her. "Here, I took this, but you might want to keep it around. Viscen, Finn, and I think we might have an issue, so Viscen and I are going to fix it before it gets out of hand. It's for you, so I'm not going off on some strange adventure to King Zora to avoid Auru or anything. I talked talk to Finn. He's going to be extra cautious."

Zelda lowered her voice. "Could you send Finn in your place? I'm about to be cornered by the worst people. I want you with me."

He bit his lip, shaking his head as he fought the instinct within himself to agree with her wishes. "I can't. I have to do this. And… you know I shouldn't be with you right now." He debated his next words, choosing them with extreme care, especially after seeing her this morning. "Zelda… if we're right… just… stay safe, okay? You already know that, but Auru, or some of his people… they're not trustworthy. When he shows up, you have to be on guard. You keep that knife on you at all times, okay?"

She crossed her arms against the breeze and nodded. "I was already planning to assume that they weren't safe. But okay, that's all very comforting. I will keep my knife with me."

They stared at each other for some time, unable to bring themselves to leave.

"Since we met, we've never spent 'days' apart. The most we've ever had apart was in Saria, and that was one completely full day," Zelda noted, turning to look over the balcony, her back to Link.

He leaned against the building, watching her. "I know. Does it feel weird to you? Or is that just me?"

Zelda rubbed her eyes and turned back to him. "Yes. It does. And…" she hesitated. "I miss you and you haven't even left. Is that normal? I can't even picture what my days will be like without running into you. I don't know if I'm crazy or just used to you being around."

Link's chest hurt as he watched her expression. Unable to stop himself—again—he found himself crossing the distance between them his hands on her waist, just holding her, keeping his hands as still as he could. "If you're crazy, I'm crazy."

She tried to smile. "I'm not sure if that's a comfort or not."

"Do me one favor, Zelda: don't get married without me."

"Link," Zelda chuckled, unable to resist the urge to tease him like she normally could. "What a romantic proposal."

"I…" he chuckled, a genuine, humorous expression on his face. "That's not what I meant."

"I know," she laughed. But it faded. "I know."

He pressed his forehead to hers and closed his eyes. Zelda grabbed his hands, and she threaded her fingers between his. Neither moved for the longest time, as if they were trying to burn the feeling of the other into their brains before letting go, possibly for the last time, if Auru arrived before Link's return to her.

"I have to go," he whispered finally.

He felt her nod, but she didn't let go of him.

"Zelda…"

"I know. Sorry." She backed away, stretching her fingers at the loss of him. "Find me when you come back."

One foot was already on the ledge as he looked back at her. "Obviously."

She watched him leave her through his window, but she couldn't find the will to move. It wasn't until Seres peaked her head out that Zelda even remembered that other people existed, and it was enough to spur her to move again, sliding through her window to get ready for her day.

"Princess," Seres said, grabbing her arm to pause Zelda's aimless fiddling with her things. "He'll be okay."

Zelda didn't even bother to question if she'd been listening in. Of course she had.

"I know," she said, though it was unconvincing.

Seres laid out Zelda's things for the day silently, only speaking again when Zelda looked a bit less exhausted. "What's our next step? How else can we work to stop this wedding?"

"We can't." Zelda put down the hairbrush that she'd found in her hand and leaned back against her vanity to look squarely at Seres. Her expression was resigned but determined. "Hyrule needs those troops. Seres, I'm stuck. I always knew that this was something I'd likely need to do. I've been betrothed several times in my life to this prince or that noble, but it never seemed real. It was always some far-off future that I wouldn't need to deal with. I'd even been prepared to marry someone before the invasion to save my family and Hyrule. It was this same situation, but we were already on the throne fighting to save it, not reclaim it. The only difference is that since then, I've stupidly fallen in love with a soldier I found in a prison cell, and now I don't want to imagine a future where he's not in it."

"Can't royals take lovers? I've heard other kings and queens have done that," Seres asked, genuinely and innocently, hoping not to offend Zelda, though she knew better than to expect Zelda to lash out at the suggestion of living as an adulteress.

And as expected, Zelda didn't react poorly, rather, she just looked disappointed. "Not respectably, no. It would tarnish both of our reputations, and I couldn't do that to him. If he were a noble, that's the only time it wouldn't be looked at with burning scandal, but rather piqued interest for gossip mongers. Daltus, for example, could have Niko live with him at the palace, but it would most likely require Niko to give this place over to someone else for a permanent presence at court. Even then, Daltus has to marry a woman to have heirs for the throne. For us, it's all about ensuring the survivability of our families. And mine is dead, so I'm all that's left. That goes back to Daltus' point about Link and I: how could I subject Link to following my husband and I around, or guarding our door? I wouldn't want that if it were the other way around. It would kill me to see him with some wife of his every day and… to know. I don't even know how this is going to work at all. How could I do that to him? I'll have to let him go so he doesn't have to go through that."

Seres grabbed Zelda's arms in a comforting gesture, honest heartbreak for her princess and friend. "So, there's really nothing?"

Zelda shook her head. "No, there's nothing."