Guest: Yeah, pretty much! Kind of funny, when you put it like that though - a prequel to a story called "Before." XD

Chapter 26: Constellations

The room was quiet and darkening, the only light being the last rays of sun filtering through the window at the end. Unlike the Royal infirmary, which was a private room with a large, ridiculously comfortable feather bed in the middle, this infirmary had snowy white, very uncomfortable looking cots lining the walls. This made sense to Zelda, unfortunate as it was. After all, royalty always got the special treatment, whether she liked it or not.

Sitting on one of the cots near the end was Sir Link, a healer standing in front of him and speaking very firmly.

"...what with your ribs being cracked, I forbid you from participating in any strenuous activity until further notice. Understood?"

Sir Link merely nodded.

Cracked ribs? His wounds were worse than Zelda had thought - all she'd seen was bruises, barely old enough to show. They were recent.

So that begged the question… why was he training with such fresh injuries? Or better yet, why was he training on his break?

The healer nodded to the Hylian Champion before making his way towards his office, dipping his head to the princess on the way.

Zelda approached Sir Link with her hands on her hips. "Well?" she asked.

The knight blinked at her.

Zelda rolled her eyes. "Where did your injuries come from?"

Her knight averted his eyes, remaining silent.

Zelda huffed. "Unless you are forbidden to speak by my father himself, you are completely capable of telling me what is going on here." After realizing her tone of voice, Zelda's eyes softened, and she continued far more gently. "You can tell me. Maybe I can help?"

"It was…" he paused. "A training accident."

Training accident. Zelda resisted the urge to scoff out loud. No training accident would cause bruises that size and cracked ribs, for goodness's sake. Those injuries were obviously given to him by another. But… clearly he did not trust her enough to tell the truth.

Zelda felt another surge of guilt. If only I had been kinder to him… maybe then he would be willing to answer her truthfully. But that was in the past - all she could do right now was be kinder and hope for the best.

"What say you to going down to the kitchens?" Zelda suggested. "I missed dinner because I was in the labs, and you must have missed it as well, what with the... training and all." Was that rambling? She hoped not - that would seem very impolite.

An emotion flashed through the knight's face, gone before she could even guess what it was. "I am not very hungry, Your Highness," he said.

She knew he was lying, however, when his stomach growled furiously.

"Not very hungry, you say?" Zelda asked, smiling. "Your stomach seems to disagree."

"I'm fine, Princess," the knight replied, just as his stomach rumbled once again.

"Nonsense," Zelda scoffed. "You are clearly hungry. You will join me for dinner, and that is not a request."

The knight stood and bowed his head. "As you wish, Princess."

As you wish. That wasn't the first time he had said that. It seemed that was what he said when she asked something of him - something he didn't want to do.

I'm going to figure you out, Zelda thought as she led the knight out of the infirmary. You can count on that.

The kitchen was just ahead, he knew. He could smell the leftovers from where they were, a whole corridor away from the darned place, rich with the aroma of spices.

He wasn't hungry, he told himself. But as his stomach betrayed him, grumbling with displeasure yet again, he knew he was lying. He was hungry… but he hadn't had much of an appetite in weeks. The few meals he had tried to shove down tended to come back up a couple hours later, so he had decided to eat the bare minimum. Nothing more.

It was certainly unfortunate that something, once one of the few pleasures he had, had decided to ruin itself for him.

"We're here," the princess announced from up ahead, turning back to him. Link nodded, ensuring that she knew he had heard her.

The kitchen had always been a sort of safe haven for Link, as he recalled when they entered. The stone walls were always less confining than the other places in the castle, lit by cheery and welcoming firelight.

But this time, there was a tension in the air, like a cat about to pounce. The princess wanted answers - that much he could tell - and she was too stubborn to let him go without them.

As the princess asked the cooks that lingered for leftovers, Link found himself forming a battle plan.

The princess wanted to know how he was injured. She clearly didn't believe it being training accident - her expression had twisted into that of disbelief, and, if he saw right, she had held herself back from scoffing. He wasn't fond of lying… but if he didn't want to get in more trouble in the Captain than he already was, it would be necessary. I can't disappoint him further.

Maybe I was training in calvary combat? Yes, that made sense. He tumbled off his horse and found himself on the ground, cracked ribs and bruises. It was an incredibly unlikely scenario (Epona was too smart and bold, and he'd had too many years of mistakes and training drilled into his mind for that to happen), but it was believable enough to those who didn't know him well.

He hadn't realized that the princess had led him to a counter and some stools until she ordered him to sit down. Mindlessly, he did as he was told.

"One of the servants will bring us food momentarily," the princess explained, hands folded neatly in her lap. She was far more casual when out, away from the castle, he had noticed. Not vocally, of course (except maybe when she was yelling at him), but in posture. "...In the meantime, I would like to ask a few things about you. Would that be alright with you?"

Link blinked at the princess, not quite sure what he was hearing. Yes, the princess had been kinder to him recently (Hylia knew why), but didn't she hate him? A lot? Yet here she was, asking his consent to ask questions (possibly intruding ones) about himself?

Link nodded. After all, despite the softness of the princess's voice, she was just that - a princess. He couldn't deny her, no matter how nice she was being. He knew quite well what she was about to ask, and braced himself. He had always been a bad liar, so he had to be prepared.

"What is... your favorite color?" the princess blurted out.

Once again, he was completely flabbergasted. Even the princess herself looked a bit surprised and confused at the question that left her lips.

The awkward silence that followed was almost amusing. So, when all of the tension became too much, Link found himself losing control, the protests his brain screeched out not reaching him.

He was laughing.

Meanwhile, Zelda gaped at the normally emotionless knight, feeling color rise in her cheeks. She was embarrassed - that question had been so very uncalled for, so very sudden, and not what she had wanted to ask at all.

But, as she looked at the stoic knight, who laughed and smiled because of the absurdity of it all… perhaps it was worth it.

And then it dawned on her. She had never seen him smile. The way it transformed his impassive features was incredible. The way he laughed made him appear so much younger than she had pegged him to be, and so much more… free?

His laughter did not last long, however, stopping suddenly as his face contorted, reverting back to blankness as he bowed his head.

Why? Zelda thought, exasperated.

It was only when the knight looked up at her, questioning, that she realized she had voiced that out loud.

"Why," she repeated quietly, "won't you just speak to me? Why won't you show me any emotion? Is it… is it my fault?" she asked hesitantly.

The knight looked away, seeming hesitant to speak.

"You don't have to answer," Zelda sighed, tapping her fingers against the counter. "I understand. It's a personal question, and I'm being nosy."

Silence returned, as tense as before.

And then, completely catching her by surprise, he spoke.

"...The people... they need a hero," he said in that deep, quiet, soothing voice of his. "They want someone stoic and strong. Ensuring their faith is my duty to the kingdom. I will not fail."

And with that, he returned to silence.

Zelda could only stare incredulously. Here he was, the seemingly perfect hero that everyone praised and worshipped, that had taken it upon himself to instill the hope of an entire kingdom… and she had scolded him for doing so. Oh Hylia, I'm an idiot.

"That must be difficult," Zelda found herself whispering out loud, barely loud enough to be heard. Her knight was not given any chance to reply (not that he would've), as it was then that the servant arrived with two plates of food.

"Enjoy the meal, Your Highness, Master Link" the girl said, placing the wonderful smelling meal in front of them.

"Send my regards to the cooks," Zelda said to the girl, smiling. "I can tell already that it will be delicious."

The girl bowed and retreated away.

Zelda turned back to the plate. A prime meat curry, she believed. A juicy slab of meat was on the plate, snowy white rice residing beside it. She took a bite, and was immediately overwhelmed by an explosion of flavor.

It was delicious.

"What kind of spice did they use?" she asked aloud.

"Tastes like a Zoran spice," replied her knight from beside her, jerking her attention to him. His plate was already half empty.

How could he have known that? Zelda wondered. If that old cook from a week or so before was telling the truth, Sir Link was quite the culinary expert.

"Interesting," Zelda said. "I don't believe they've used any Zora spices before, at least not in anything I've had."

"It's a bit more uncommon," her knight said absently, stirring the spice a bit better into his rice. Zelda decided to do the same. "It's difficult to acquire the plants used to make it."

"Really?" Zelda asked, trying to sound disinterested when, in reality, anticipation was rising within her. This was the first real conversation she'd ever had with her knight. "How so?"

"The main plant used in it is very rare," Sir Link replied. "It grows in very specific conditions and, unfortunately, is a favorite among the wildlife." Though she could've imagined it, she thought she heard more interest in his voice, strangled though it was.

"Has anyone tried to grow it domestically?" Zelda asked before forking more of her meal into her mouth, tilting her head at him.

Sir Link nodded, finally making eye contact. Something glimmered in his cerulean irises, and Zelda thought she saw a slight tug at the corner of his mouth."It is still quite difficult - they rarely manage to survive, being a fragile plant. But when they do, there are plentiful results."

"You clearly know your spices," Zelda said. She glanced at his plate. It was empty. "You're already done?"

Slight color came to her knight's cheeks. "I suppose I was hungrier than I thought," he admitted.

Zelda shook her head with a sigh, but her smile didn't leave her face. There was so much more to her knight than she had first thought - he was as complicated as the constellations in the night sky, most of the stars hidden by dark clouds.

And now, it seemed, the clouds had begun to move.

I didn't mention this last week, because I didn't think that it would effect my writing, but I had a surgery on Wednesday. It wasn't a very serious one - I only had my tonsils removed - BUT I didn't realize how loopy the pain medications would make me. Because of these medications (and being incapable of eating very much real food), my brain has not been functioning to its greatest potential. Next chapter may be delayed because of this (though I can't exactly be sure of it yet). The most important thing at the moment is that I have probably missed a few very obvious mistakes in this chapter. If you can, it would be WONDERFUL if you could point out anything you notice. I will come back to this chapter later to fix it more, of course, but another set of eyes is always helpful!

FINALLY, this scene is done! It took a lot of work for me to decide how to do this scene (last chapter was totally stalling, and I am not ashamed to admit that), and, though it certainly has its issues, I think I like how it turned out! Once again, I am a bit loopy right now, so my opinion doesn't mean much right now, BUT WHATEVER.

Thank you, reviewers! If I failed to reply... I am very sorry! I will do my best to reply to your review next time! Hopefully I won't be so close to insanity then, and will be able to reply like a normal human being. I make no promises, though. XD

Sincerely (Is that a squirrel?!),

Ari~