Zelda woke up for the second time that morning.
She'd actually intended to wake up for good the first time, but she and Link had… other ideas. Afterwards, they'd convinced themselves that it was still early enough that they just didn't need to leave the bed, and after their fairly sleepless night, both dozed off again.
This time, she woke up completely tangled in Link. Their legs were locked together, and she managed to sleep with about half her torso on top of his. Despite the mildly contorted position, they were both comfortable, or at least, neither had any desire to move.
When she woke up, she made no attempt to stir, especially not when she became acutely aware of one finger that lazily trailed slowly up her spine, tracing a loose figure eight into her neck, and then all the way down to the small of her back where he did the same thing.
And though she tried to feign sleep, her body betrayed her, involuntarily arching into him. She turned her head to him with a guilty grin on her face.
He chuckled and paused to kiss her before returning to her spine with more fingers, drumming a light pattern as they moved. It sent shivers through her as they roamed around her back, and she pressed into Link again with a roll of her eyes. He was very quick to learn the sensitive spots that had her body moving without her command.
"Good morning," he whispered, like he was afraid to break the calm silence of only the birds singing distantly outside.
"Again," she laughed.
"Yeah, again."
"Did you get any sleep at all?" she asked. It was a genuine question, but Link's eyes narrowed in a playfully expression.
"Not really," he finally answered. "I'll sleep later when we stop for the night, or on the horse if we don't. Unless you're anywhere near me, then there's no guarantees. You're dangerous."
"I'm dangerous?" she repeated, pulling herself up a bit.
She could see every scar on him, some that had literally torn his skin to pieces before healing, and some so small she hadn't even noticed them until she'd been close to him; his deeply bruised ribs still looked painful, and his burn was still covered by a bandage, but that was the only part of him that was left unexposed.
She'd deliberately favored his other side as often as she could remember to do so, like when she'd slept beside him, but she was almost positive that some of the aggravation to his ribs had been her fault, forgetting—like he also had until much later—that he was injured at all.
She leaned to kiss him, and Link's eyes rolled back as every part of her bare skin brushed against his until she finally settled in an equally precarious spot, feeling his muscles wind tighter where her hand rested on his abdomen. "Very dangerous."
Their kiss was slow and languid as Zelda started to wake up more and more with every passing moment and Link's mind became overwhelmed by thoughts of Zelda. Before she could trap him in a haze, he broke away to move his lips further down her throat. "You'd think after a couple of times, I might start thinking this is real. Goddess, I love you."
Zelda let out a breathy giggle and pushed her hair back, feeling her fingers caught in a tangle. "I know I'm the one who had the royal education, but surely you know how to count higher than that. 'A couple?' You must be counting by days because my calculation from last night and this morning is a little higher."
"And here I was trying to be nice!" he laughed with a genuine, hearty, throwing-his-head-back way, wrapping his arms around her and spinning them both so she was pinned beneath him. His lips crashed down into hers, and she met his enthusiasm with a force all her own.
Her hands ran through his hair, and his moved reverently down her body, completely lost in the other.
Which is how they missed the sharp rap on the door and the pause before it opened.
"Good morning, Princess," Seres said, passing by the bed without a glance. It was her morning routine, and she did most of her actions robotically, like throwing the curtains open. "Big day today. I hope you got some rest."
"Shit, shit!" Link hissed, though both he and Zelda had to fight back a look of shock and humor as they scrambled away from each other. And Link looked over at Zelda, unclothed and uncovered, before looking back at Seres, who was still busying herself with her morning tasks, like preparing a tub with water. Link hastily reached to the bottom of the bed where they'd kicked the light, nearly transparent white sheet, and pulled it up to cover the both of them as modestly as possible.
Zelda covered her mouth and nose to stop her nervous laughter, pulling her legs up to her chest and tugging her end of the sheet up to her chin as they both watched in frozen anticipation.
"Want me to just hide?" Link whispered when Seres still hadn't noticed him as she moved to the closet. He rolled his eyes as he realized the only place he really could get to before Seres noticed him was under the bed, but he'd be willing to try if Zelda wanted him to.
Zelda shook her head 'no', unable to form words as she hugged the sheet over her mouth.
"Princess," Seres said, still laying things out. "You're meant to wear this armor today, so I suggest you get out of bed and bathe rather quickly so I can figure out how to get this thing on." She finally turned to them, and Seres blushed seeing Link with Zelda, but betrayed very little surprise. "Oh, Master Link! I'm sorry, I didn't realize you stayed the night."
"Mhmm," he muttered, keeping his mischievously guilty expression decidedly off Seres.
"Well, Princess Zelda needs to get ready. The water will not stay warm forever, so…" The rest of her sentence was clear. So it's time for you to leave.
Link nudged Zelda, silently asking for assistance. She let out a sigh and bit her lip. "Seres, he… can't really get out of the bed right now."
Seres turned to them with a curious look. "Are you injured?"
He choked out a laugh and ran a hand nervously through his hair. Sitting up, the sheet dropped further and uncovered his chest before he pulled it back up. Seres looked away, and Link glanced at Zelda. She nodded, knowing there was no way out of this one, and moved back to her embarrassed position of covering her mouth with the sheet, unable to speak any more words than she already had. She wasn't embarrassed of Link being there, but Seres walking in felt similar to what she'd imagined it might be like if her sister had found them like this.
"Seres," Link said gently. "There's only one sheet here, and we're both going to need it if you want either of us get up right now."
"Wha—" Seres started, but stopped herself as she started to actually pay attention to the room that she'd developed tunnel vision to. The clothes that were scattered on the floor too far out of their reach, the comforter kicked off the foot of the bed, Zelda's bare arm that peeked out from the sheet along with that glimpse of Link's bare chest. "Oh gods! Oh gods!" Seres muttered over and over as she began to pace. "I'm so sorry! Master Link is here in the morning sometimes, so I didn't even realize! I'm sorry! Oh Din's Blood, I'm—uh… you need to… um… I—I can just go. I'll do that. I'll leave you two. But… oh, goddess, Princess, you have armor that you need to… we might need to take time because I'm not e-entirely sure how to secure it…and you have a bath drawn and I have to… no, never mind, I'll take care of that later. I—um, I'm going to go. M-master Link… d-do you need anything from your room?"
"No, thanks. I'll get it in a bit. The guards don't know I'm in here."
Zelda made a noise and turned to him. "They might have figured it out."
He made a face and nodded, grabbing his neck as red spread across his chest. "I can, uh…" he absently gestured at nothing, though his words were directed at Seres. "I can help Zelda with the armor, if you want." He turned back to Zelda. "Or I can just leave you two."
"No!" Seres said, hastily grabbing a few things and heading for the door. "No, you uh-you do the armor. I'll… be available if you need anything. Just pull the bell." Before Seres reached for the handle of the door, she gave Zelda a knowing grin before ducking out of the room and practically slamming the door shut behind her.
Zelda let out her breath and crashed into Link's shoulder, a wave of uncontrollable giggles pouring from her mouth as she tried to catch her breath. "By all the gods," she finally said, "I think my heart stopped."
Link's hand slid to her neck and he nodded, feeling her pulse. "No, your heart is racing."
Zelda pushed his hand off her and quickly slid away with a grin. "Nope! Don't touch me or someone else will walk in. It's a curse."
Link chuckled and glanced at the door. "It's never 'someone,' it's just always poor Seres."
"It was almost Shad the other day," Zelda muttered. "Go lock the door so no one else barges in. Take the sheet in case you're a few seconds late to another guest." She rolled out of the bed and crossed the room to grab her light robe, pulling it tightly around herself. And when she turned back around, Link hadn't moved, just watching her. "Link!" she scolded, going back to lean on the bed. "We actually have to start functioning."
He grinned and reached out for her hand, but she pulled away with a playfully impatient face. "You're just so beautiful and I love you so much."
Zelda could see his eyes glistening and the tight line as the corner of his lip tipped up, so she narrowed her eyes, waiting for him to continue with whatever comment she knew was about to come out of his mouth.
"But," he chuckled, watching her, "I feel obligated to tell you that your walk is a bit wobbly. You might want to work on that before we leave this room."
Zelda grabbed her pillow and slammed it down on his face. "Shut up, Link!" she laughed.
"Should I ring for Seres?" Zelda asked as she held her stomach and the metal plate inside her bodice as Link worked to re-lace it for the second time.
"You should just use buttons on this instead," he grumbled.
"I'm going to ring the bell."
"This thing was designed by a hateful god."
"Or a really smart woman," Zelda laughed.
"Listen," he mused. "You never needed any help when we were travelling together. How am I supposed to know how to help you with this death trap?"
"It's not a death trap, and I'm calling for Seres."
"Fine, do it," he scoffed, watching her pull on the rarely-used bell that was built into the wall. He ran a hand through his damp hair and leaned against the wall, completely defeated.
"You look so sad!" Zelda laughed as she leaned on the wall beside him and busily re-tied her own wet hair off her neck. "Don't worry, you'll get it. Practice, that's all."
His head lolled in her direction, and he offered her a lopsided grin. "I'm going to hate to leave this room. We'll end up in the real world again."
"How boring," she agreed, leaning against his arm and letting her tired eyes close until she heard the very loud knock against the door.
"Princess? It's Seres."
There was no sign to indicate that she was going to come in without waiting for an explicit instruction. It had Zelda chuckling. "You can come in!"
Seres peeked into the room and let out a visible sigh before entering and seeing Link fully dressed in his clothes from the night before, and Zelda in her pants, tall armor-plaited boots, and the loose bottom layer of her many tops she'd be wearing.
"You rang for me?"
Zelda patted Link's arm. "He's knows nothing about how women's clothing works."
"Oh," Seres nodded. "The laces were tripping you up?"
He grumbled a sort of vague answer.
"Okay, come here, Master Link." She pulled him beside her so he could watch her work. "It's just a pattern. Under, over, pull. Under, over, pull. Try."
Zelda bit her lip as she watched Link with a craned neck and an abundance of interest. Seres guided Link through the motions before stepping back, proud of herself and with a winning smile. She glanced at Zelda briefly, and a silent exchange passed between them and Seres looked back to Link, understanding Zelda's look. "Okay, Master Link, unlace half."
Link looked at Zelda with an accusatory expression.
"Do what she says, Link. She's the Master of the House."
Seres watched Link roll his eyes and undo all the work he'd just done, like a young boy being scolded in school. He tugged on the laces, and Seres found her hand reaching out to smack his away.
"I'm sorry," she muttered quickly. "You could really constrict her breathing if you do that though."
"Yepp," Zelda agreed, sounding winded.
"Here," Seres said, demonstrating the proper way to pull at the strings. She did it slow at first, and then sped it up to her normal speed, and Zelda was free in seconds. Likewise, she laced halfway up with blinding accuracy and handed the lace to Link. "Finish."
Like a good soldier, he followed orders and laced it up with more ease than he thought he could manage.
Seres nodded like a proud teacher. "Almost all of her bodices are like this. It should be fairly universal if… if you need to help her in or out of one."
"Be careful, Seres," Link laughed. "I might just take your job." Without even realizing it, his knuckle ran down the back of Zelda's neck and she leaned into him before shooting him a warning look.
But Seres held up her hands by her side. "There's no need to be cautious around me. I think I've got the gist of it."
"I'm so sorry," Zelda said as Link walked around her to grab the chainmail. "I honestly forgot you were coming this morning."
"Put this on," Link interrupted with a sly grin as he handed Zelda the mail.
She made a face and felt suddenly uneasy, but she tried to pull the chainmail on like she would any shirt and quickly found her arms stuck above her head, unable to push it down far enough. Listening to Link cackle had her struggling harder, but she made little progress until Link pulled it back off her.
"Pull it up to both your shoulders, then just toss it over your head and jump a few times to get the rest down where you can just pull it."
"It's heavy," Zelda muttered, adjusting it as it fell around her chest.
Link played with the loose bottom for a moment. "It's actually lighter than the average soldiers. No sleeves either, which I wouldn't have recommended, but you're not literally fighting, so it should be fine."
Seres handed Zelda the shirt, which was entirely normal and only required a little more maneuvering on Zelda's part considering that the chainmail, though it was apparently light, was still a bulky third layer.
Link took the top piece of decorated silver armor and helped it over her arms before stepping behind her with Seres as he showed her how to fasten the armor securely. There were several longer, thicker straps that were more akin to an actual soldier's armor. Link tugged one of the straps tight.
"Too much?" he asked, but Zelda shook her head.
The final piece was the wrap around her waist, but she held off. It was heavy, so Link left it on the bed so he could bring down to Epona for her where she could fasten it closer to the horse and wouldn't need to bear its weight alone for too long.
"Where's your knife?"
Zelda spun around and rustled through her things on the floor to come back with her knife and the garter that usually kept it hidden and secure beneath her skirt. She placed it in Link's outstretched hand.
He carefully pulled it from the garter and looked around her armor for a decent place to keep it concealed before tucking it into her boot. "Can you feel it?"
"Not really."
"Okay, good. Don't forget about it though."
Stepping around her, he and Seres looked her over. Seres handed over the circlet, which Zelda dangled around her arm while she reached to braid her hair, which she'd done a messy job of earlier. Seres took that over, and Link stepped closer to Zelda.
"If I was trying to kill you, here's where I'd aim," he said with an entirely serious expression as he placed his hands on her waist and squeezed. She squirmed as she was jostled back. "See? Not protected. Even that thing," he gestured to the armor still on her bed, "is going to hang too low from the weight and you'll be exposed here. Then, your arms obviously," he said, running his hands along hers as he demonstrated that she could still feel him. For contrasting effect, he pushed on her abdomen, and all she felt was the force of him moving her backwards, but nothing of his actual hand. "That's well protected. They really did well here."
Bending down, Link tightened the buckle on her boot, which went all the way up to her thigh. "You probably know this, since you're all about medicine, but you have two arteries here that will bleed out very quickly," he hesitated with Seres' eyes moving to him and off Zelda's braided hair, but he quickly tapped Zelda's thighs where a deep wound would quickly become deadly without attention. "It's actually going to be pretty hard to reach though, especially if you stay on Epona. Your boot plate and that chainmail blanket is good enough protection there."
Seres grabbed some things off the grounds and began tidying up to offer them some privacy.
"Your neck and your face are completely exposed, so take care not to get into range of anything like arrows or a sword." He lowered his lips to the spot where her pulse practically burst through her skin, and then to her lips.
She let out a deep breath when he moved away. "I'm nervous. For me, for you, for everyone. We're moving out of my warzone and back into yours."
He moved his hand to the back of her head and their foreheads met, his nose brushing the side of hers. "Nerves are good. First off, it means you're not stupid, because everyone who goes to fight should be nervous. But they'll make you stronger, smarter. Your body will act for you, protecting itself before you can even realize you need it. You'll focus harder. Just channel it. Don't let your nerves stop you, let them lead you."
"So you're nervous?" she asked, needing to know she wasn't alone.
"Gods, I've never been more nervous. I've never gone into a fight with someone to live for, or with something to make me fight to stay alive. I've always fought to survive, but surviving isn't living, is it? You put that one in my head last night. Besides, you're out there, and I don't want you to get hurt. So, I'm damn nervous."
"I love you," they both muttered at once, laughing breathily together.
Zelda let out another long gulp of air. "One for the road?" she asked.
He grinned and let out a soft laugh, bringing his lips to hers for the final time in their foreseeable future unless they managed to steal one quickly in passing.
Their arms locked each other in place. They kissed, softly at first, but dizzying all the same. There was something about the possibility of saying goodbye, even though they wouldn't reach the castle for days, that had them clinging to each other as if they were all that prevented them from a steep fall. Their lips enclosed the other's again and again, passionate without becoming sloppy as their desperation grew. Because they knew it was time to move away from each other and to leave their own little world behind. Because it would be time to let the other stand in a dangerous line of fire without standing beside them. And because would be entirely possible that they'd be returning without one another.
Link pulled away from her first, a small sound of protest from both of them, as his hand rested on the small of her back for a moment before gently urging her toward the door. "You have things to take care of. And I have to change. I'll meet you near the barracks." She nodded and he grabbed her heavy piece of armor off the bed, slinging it over his shoulder as he unlocked the window before he turned to Seres. "Thank you, Seres."
"Of course."
"I mean it. Thank you for everything you've done since we arrived. And you'll do great here. You'll be fine."
Seres offered him a friendly smile, one that didn't fail to show her genuine excitement. "Thank you. Be safe yourself, Link."
He grinned and patted the window frame before looking back to Zelda for a final glance and ducked out.
As soon as he left, Zelda felt sick as nervous tears sprang to her eyes.
"Princess," Seres tried, grabbing her arm.
Zelda fought them back and leaned against the wall for support. "Ganondorf took the people I love from me. My little sister was sixteen, and he showed her no mercy when he murdered her just inches from where I was. What would he do to someone like Link? Or Finn? Or… me?"