Zelda leaned her head back, eager to feel the warmth from the sun on her face. She was holding on to Ellie, still struggling to fight the infection and regain some strength in her unused legs.

After two days, she'd barely found herself awake as she was dosed with a seemingly endless supply of potions as Shad and Owl did everything in their combined power to ensure she wouldn't succumb to the infection. Everything else would be manageable if only that would go away. Her hand was forgotten, her wound itself was ignored. Every single potion was dedicated to staving off a septic death.

So when she'd finally had the energy, Shad gave her permission for a trip outside.

It had become a sort of field trip. She was out with Ellie, Maryse was with Finn—who had just broken the fever of his own infection—and Link was with Shad.

Link and Shad were talking to a few soldiers, though it didn't escape Zelda's notice that Link's body had somehow managed to angle towards her, checking on her occasionally.

If the circumstances were different, she might have chastised him, asking for some space from his constant watchfulness, but she welcomed it. It was endearing. Besides, when she was alert, she found herself doing the same thing with him.

Shad had told her the full story, including the parts that Link left out when they'd gotten around to discussing the battle itself. He told her about Link's visits to her, and his quiet stories that he'd tell her when no one was around. Shad knew it wasn't his business, but as the injured stopped becoming so life-threateningly fatal, the first waves of his own grief had begun to settle in over the loss of his brother, Viscen. He'd asked to know how he'd died, and Zelda had told him. His biggest consolation was that Viscen's message had gotten out of the castle and saved Damel.

"Your eyes hurt yet from staring at Link so long, Princess?" Finn laughed out. He'd taken the loss of his leg hard, but around her, he only saw the woman who'd saved his life at the risk of losing the kingdom and her own life. But another part of him saw her as the girl in love with his best friend, and he couldn't help the teasing he inflicted on both of them. It helped distract him from far more upsetting thoughts, like how he'd never be able to fight again.

But when Zelda went to respond to him, she was beat to it by Ellie.

"Half the camp here thinks you two secretly got married. Either you did and I'm feeling left out, or you just should."

"Ellie!" Maryse hissed.

Zelda rolled her eyes. "Goddess, you're all so nosey."

Ellie shrugged in agreement, freely admitting it. "Whenever he talks, you somehow come up in conversation. I asked him about when he was a kid, and you were still brought up. I swear, Princess, your name is his favorite word."

"Ellie, stop!" her mother tried again.

Zelda just smiled, giddy with the kind of unrestrained joy that a young girl in love would have, not a future queen. But for now, in the little bubble they were all in, separated from the rest of the world, she was determined to enjoy every moment of it.

What she really wanted was a moment alone with Link. Except for a few passing minutes—literal minutes—she hadn't been alone with him since she first opened her eyes.

Her ears perked at a word that she'd heard far more often nowadays than she ever expected.

"Commander!"

She watched Link roll his eyes as he turned around to answer the soldier approaching him. Zelda crossed her arms, amused and proud as she observed him handling yet another situation in the encampment with surprisingly natural expertise, as he had been doing at some point every day since she'd woken up.

"Are you going to do it?" Finn asked, seeing her expression.

She nodded, knowing exactly what he was referring to. She and Finn had been listening to the soldiers around the camp, especially the ones who shared the recovery floor they were on. And though there were stories flying around about people's experiences on the battlefield, no name came up more often than Link's, like he was some kind of legendary hero.

"Did you hear that he killed Ganondorf and nailed him to a wall with his sword?"

"That soldier single-handedly kept a dinofols off our division while we got the gate open."

"I was with him inside the castle. We cleared floors of our foes under his command."

"I heard his scar was from a fight to the death after he fell off the balcony."

"Is he just a soldier?"

There were a few high-ranking Commanders in the camp, injured themselves. Even some of them were talking. "He trained with Ashei, so he must be good." "I knew him when we were at Hyrule's Western Garrison."

"Do what?" Ellie asked, practically bounding for a new piece of news.

"You'll find out," Zelda laughed patiently.

And after a while, when she saw the other Commanders arrive and nod to her, she broke away from Ellie, clutching her waist as she tried the few steps between her and Link without any help.

"Hey," she said, practically crashing into him as one of her still-weak legs gave out. He caught her, but they both leaned against the other, groaning in pain. But it quickly turned into laughter, realizing that together, they were an absolute mess.

"Hey," he returned, helping her to steady herself before clutching his own ribs.

"I've been told the many things you did on the battlefield that you didn't tell me, thank you for leaving out your heroics, Link."

He shrugged at her tone, but his eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Tell me honestly," she said, grabbing his arm, "Now that this is over, you're willing to stay with me? You don't want to go back to the Western Garrison?"

"You're crazy," he scoffed. "If you'll have me, I'll stay with you until I die."

"Just double checking before I do something you might not like."

He cut her a sharp look as the two Commanders stood on either side of her.

"Can you bend down?" she asked.

He rolled his eyes, finally with an inkling of what she was doing. "Yes, but you don't have to do this. I just did my job."

"On your knees then, Link," she said with her clear royal demeanor overshadowing any room for argument.

He bit his lip and took a small step towards her. "Yes ma'am."

She hid her laugh behind a smirk when she saw him wink at her. She could feel the Commanders' eyes on her, mildly horrified by their exchange, if only because they had never witnessed the truth behind the rumors of their romance. With the backing of the other Commanders though, no soldier thought she was favoring Link. In truth, this hadn't even been her idea. It had been one of the Commanders.

One of them handed her their sword. She tapped it down on Link's shoulder when he'd settled comfortably on one knee. He was looking down in a traditional bow, but she couldn't help herself when she tapped the sword under his chin, urging his eyes up to hers before returning it to its place on his shoulder. "Link Forrester, you have demonstrated exemplary service to your kingdom and to your…" she hesitated, stumbling over the technically incorrect use of the word 'queen,' "…your Princess."

He smirked at her, though the glint in his eyes was decidedly unformal, and she almost regretted having him look at her. But if she was being honest, she wouldn't have had it any other way.

"From protecting me on our travels, to your defeat of Ganondorf, you have performed feats becoming a Knight of Hyrule. Do you accept this honor?"

He sucked in a breath, her expression scaring him out of any stereotypical comment he might make and settling for a simple: "I do."

"Do you know the Knight's Oath, Link?"

He hummed an affirmative—every soldier knew the oath that most of them strove for—and she nodded to him, encouraging him to say it.

"I, Link Forrester, will be true and faithful to live and die in unbounded and generous fealty to Her Royal Highness, Zelda Aravis Thaisa Hyrule, Queen of Hyrule and all its Territories. I will serve Hyrule at her command until death takes me."

They shared a look between them at his generous change to her title, but he just stared at her, daring her to say something about not being the crowned queen. Or about him using every one of her names.

"I accept your service, Sir Link. And I have one more promotion for you, if you're willing. When we return to Hyrule Castle and restore normalcy to the realm, the Hyrule Castle Garrison will be running again. I have been informed that there is no Commander there. Would you accept the position?"

He scoffed and nodded, biting back an amused grin. He knew that one had a very specific bonus behind it. Namely, a permanent home on the castle grounds. "Yes."

"Good. Then rise: Sir Link, Commander of Hyrule Castle Garrison."

The two commanders helped him up, and she returned the sword, ducking under Link's good arm to help him back toward Shad.

"I like you on your knees, Sir Link," she whispered to him with a stifled laugh.

He snorted and glanced at her with a silent spark in his eyes, quickly raising his eyebrows suggestively.

She leaned into him and tried to slow her excited heart before they reached Shad. "So, how does it feel to have a mouthful of titles?"

"Well, they got me a permanent spot in the castle with you, so I can't say I'm not excited."

"I'm sorry that it's all I could do."

"It's more than I ever expected. Thank you, Zelda."

"Link," she muttered, pulling him to a stop with her. "Can we talk? Alone."

"Of course."

They managed to get help back upstairs to the empty room, and Zelda closed the door, waiting for the footsteps to recede before turning back to Link. He was already resting on her bed, holding his ribs as he settled into place.

"I just," she started, gently dropping beside him, "I just wanted you to know… you're the most important person in my life and that will never change... unless we get that cat." He chuckled, but knew she wasn't done. "Link, I don't know if society will ever allow you to be a king or my husband, and I'm sorry I can't offer you any promises or a solid plan, but you are my family and I love you. I'm in love with you. If I wasn't… me…"

"We grew up very differently, Zelda," he said, stopping her before she could go off about being someone else. But he didn't want her to be someone else. "My relatives haven't been my family in a very long time, so maybe that's why it's easier for me to accept that there will likely never be some paper we sign or some ceremony we hold that says how much you mean to me. My family is the people I love and would die for. You, Finn, that's family to me. I don't seduce you so I can be king."

"Seduce me?" she giggled.

"Oh, absolutely. You know I do. And you love it."

"Right," she scoffed, trying to maintain some plausible deniability. But when she looked at his expression, she broke out laughing.

He joined in, pulling her towards him by the elbows, still careful of her broken wrist. When she was close enough, he brought his lips to her neck, pressing small kisses into her, matching the beat of her pulse before it sped up too quickly to follow.

"You don't know how much I missed that," he said between kisses. His hands were lightly against her waist, but there was no way he could put any pressure on her, knowing just how sensitive her skin was from the infection.

"Missed what?" she asked, scooting slightly away from his chest when she realized she was nearly touching three of his fresh wounds.

"Your laugh," he whispered, smiling into her skin as he brought his lips down for a few more teasing kisses. "It's probably my favorite sound."

"Are you doing this on purpose?" she asked, though she was starting to feel her mind cloud as she focused on the new path his lips were taking to the hollow of her throat.

"Mhmm," he nodded, daring to let his hands trail down her back where he knew there was no wound.

But she arched into him for a reason entirely unrelated to pain, despite that becoming the result.

Link buried his face into the side of her neck to stifle his hiss of pain as when she'd bent into his ribs, her legs knocking hard into the stab wound on his thigh. He straightened, thus bringing more pain to his back. And she'd felt the stabbing sensation all across her waist where the infection burned.

"Oh, Zelda, get off my leg please," he groaned, rubbing it when she moved off to the side.

She pressed a quick, apologetic kiss to his lips. "Sorry. We might need to rain check on anything… physical."

"Yeah," he agreed, much to both their disappointment. But they both found themselves laughing at the whole situation. The absurdity of it all.

Taking advantage of their time alone, Link scooted down into her bed to get comfortable and Zelda joined, talking for hours until they'd fallen asleep with their hands clasped.

And they were both so tired after that neither woke to the sounds of Maryse helping Finn into the room before immediately dragging him away towards Link's room to give them some privacy for the night.

Link sat cross-legged on Zelda's bed. She hung over his shoulder as he read the most recent of Daltus' letters. They were al addressed to Link, as Zelda's awakening was unbeknownst to him. Seres sat on Finn's bed, talking quietly to him while Link and Zelda poured through document after document that Seres had brought.

It had taken quite a while for everyone to settle down once they saw Seres arrive earlier that morning. She hadn't heard that Zelda had woken up, so her excitement was uncontainable. And Zelda hadn't heard too much about Damel except that it hadn't been destroyed. They talked for hours, to the point where Owl came in for two different examinations of Zelda's wounds.

Zelda told Seres of Viscen's death, which Link had told her in a letter, but was much harder to hear in person. Finn had explained how he'd lost his leg. Link told her about his Knighting ceremony and jokingly reminded her that she could officially call him Sir Link now.

Seres told the story of the Zora's rescue, and their assistance in driving Ganondorf's forces from Damel. She told them about her days running the city as more refugees flooded inside. She'd been surprised to admit that she was actually much better at managing everything than she thought she'd be. It had been difficult and tiring, but also fulfilling in many ways.

She also told them about Daltus' return to Damel, and how he'd arrived with a vengeance. It was as if the battle itself had sparked a new life inside him. And his first act had been to deal with the traitor, Niko, who had sent Ganondorf and Auru enough information that the battle had become deadly for far too many.

Link held the letter explaining that one, angling it so Zelda could get a good look at the words.

"Link, I am truly displeased to hear of the continued state of my cousin. I shall remain here in Damel until there is any change. Write to me if her condition alters in any way, and I will ride back down. As for your question about Ganondorf, I would personally like to see his body dismembered and thrown into a river, but I feel that his evil would pollute the water rather unfairly for the Zoras. In all truth, a quiet pyre would likely be the safest option. What you equate to a warrior's funeral is also the easiest way of disposing of his body without erecting a memorial to any remaining followers. That would be my suggestion to you. I do not know if my cousin had other plans, however.

"Since arriving here, I have also decided to take matters into my own hands, given that Zelda is still unawakened. Should she wake up, please show her this letter. I invited several noble refugees, and our Zora guests to attend the execution of the traitor, Niko. I know that Zelda was going to hold it in a more public forum, but I have arranged the bare minimum of respectful necessities. I let him choose the weapon of his death. He chose a sword. I paid for the best executioner. I held a mourning period of two days. There was a noble audience. I just could not leave him alive. There were too many risks. Ganondorf's people could still be around and set him free. I might find myself in a moment of weakness and release him. I mitigated those risks in her name. As I am writing this, Niko is dead and no longer a threat to either of our kingdoms, much as King Auru is no longer a problem. I have written a separate document of the account of the battle until I left, and I have entrusted it to Zelda's maid to deliver to you. It is sensitive, and I recommend opening it in private, but it is necessary that you know what happened if you are to know who to guard her from."

Zelda held the account in her hand, reading Daltus' view of how Auru and his troops tried to kill her when she'd been distracted, and his belief that her death would lead to him being taken captive as a weaker hostage than Zelda to sign away Hyrule. He explained what they did to ensure the safety of Zelda's soldiers and to avoid the wrath of Auru's successor.

"Again, if there is any change in my cousin's health, please let me know. I have also sent details of the Zora's aid to Damel. I have sent a letter of appreciation, but I believe—with Zelda unable and being her personal guard—a letter from you thanking them for their protection of her people might be in order. Keep it brief, as you are not the one they actually want to hear from. Just acknowledge their assistance. I pray to the Goddess for Hyrule's people. -Prince Daltus

"Did you ever send him word that I am awake?" Zelda asked without looking up, switching to a different document.

Link nodded. "I did. I never sent one to the Zoras because you woke up the night I got Seres' letter, but I did send one to Daltus the next day while you were asleep."

Zelda sighed and looked at Seres. "Did you see Niko's execution?"

Seres shook her head. "I did not. But I saw the before and the aftermath. Master Niko was begging for his life, trying to appeal to Prince Daltus in a rather undignified way. The Prince wore an expression of steel and was outwardly unaffected. When he returned, it was much the same, but he retreated to his room for the remainder of the day."

"I can't believe he did it himself," Zelda whispered, feeling an incredible sorrow for her cousin. She'd had to witness one execution with her family, and it had been brutal. There would have been a personal address from Daltus to Niko, and his hand would have commanded the swing that took Niko's life.

Link put down the letter and ran a hand through his hair. For the first time since the battle, he'd managed to get a loose shirt over his head that morning, and he fiddled with a loose thread on the hemline before looking over at Zelda.

"Looks like we have a few more burials to take care of." But when he looked at Zelda, she was looking at him strangely. "What?"

"'We.'"

He snorted, standing with more ease than he'd been able to manage in the past. "Where do we start, Zelda?"

She looked around at the faces that surrounded her, at the people she was happy to call her family.

"Let's take care of Ganondorf. It's time to move forward."