Zelda couldn't bear with the silence anymore. She knew that Link wouldn't respond to anything she said but she decided that she would try to speak anyway. Anything would be better than this unpleasant silence. She might not even have to try to speak to him directly (she had already given up on that) but she figured that she could talk about anything just to make herself feel better. She wouldn't go on like this for weeks in his company.
She was just leaving the castle briefly to try out the new functions of the Sheikah Slate and take a look at the path to Goron City they would take later the same day, and she tried to tell her knight that she wouldn't stay far away from the castle and wouldn't need his protection. Of course he didn't listen and accompanied her anyway. She wanted to sigh. She supposed that he couldn't disobey her father's orders after all. She let him follow her.
She picked the Sheikah Slate from where it was safely hanging on her belt and held it with both her hands. She fumbled with it a little bit, struggled to read the Sheikah letters on its display before she was sure that she was on the right road to Goron City. She began walking, occasionally looking back on the Slate, and nothing could be heard but the rustles of leaves and birds chirping happily. She could feel his eyes on her back and her uneasiness slowly grew back. She didn't even have to look back at him to know those blue eyes thought of her. It felt like… not disgust, not even disappointment… His expressionless face made it difficult for her to read it, but she was certain that he wasn't thinking good things about her. No one had spoken a word since they had left the castle gates and that had been a while ago. She reminded herself to start keep her promise to talk anyway, just to hear any voice to soothe her even if it was her own.
"This… this is called the Sheikah Slate." Hearing herself speak into the emptiness felt very strange but she forced herself to keep talking. "It's called that because it's made from technology made by the Sheikah." Ok, maybe he already knew that and what it was. She hoped she didn't make him think that she thought of him as stupid. "It only has the Sheikah alphabet in it so it can be a little tricky to read." She hoped that he didn't think of her as stupid for not being able to read it better. And she had just said the word Sheikah thrice in an equal amount of sentences. This wasn't a good start.
"You can use it to activate the Divine Beasts, like the one you saw at Rito Village, enter some ancient shrines or control the guardians. At least, that's what we have found out from our research in the castle. But," she stopped her feet, "you can also use it to make pictures without using paint." She held it up before her to demonstrate. The Sheikah Slate made a sound and the image was frozen on the display.
… Why had she done that? He probably didn't care anyway and only considered it childish. She didn't dare looking at him as she lowered her arms and quickly erased the picture. She continued walking.
Princess Zelda began explaining more about the Slate and how it showed them that this was the way to Goron City which they would soon take. And the reason why they were going there. Which he probably already knew. But she kept on talking and sounded as confident as she could. And she was soon able to forget about the knight behind her and spoke out whatever thought entered her mind, no longer feeling it so awkward to hear her voice anymore. And she confessed her curious thoughts about the guardians and Divine Beasts, how they knew so much about them but still so many unanswered questions remained and how they fascinated her… she also felt obliged to take interest in them, considering how they could be a tremendous help with defeating Ganon, the never-dying evil who, as told by legends, would always come back over and over.
Ganon… The Divine Beasts and guardians would play a key role in defeating it, but that didn't take away the fact that she had a bigger role to play and still had to find her inner power.
She looked down to the ground beneath her and slowed down and came to a stop. She held the Sheikah Slate in her left hand and let it slide down next to her leg. Her face grew an anxious and gloomy expression as she thought of the prophecy. And the legends she had heard and read about. Link had stopped too, keeping a respectful distance between them, and she was reminded of his eyes on her. She hesitantly looked over her shoulder. The legends also mentioned not only the heroes of Hyrule but also the sword they had carried. She had to ask him about it, desperately hoping that he would tell her that he was swinging it confidently and could hear a voice coming from it. Her heart pained when he didn't answer her question – why she had let herself hope for an answer when she already knew that she wouldn't get one, she didn't know – and she faced forward again.
She could only take his silence as two things; either he was already one with his sword and he considered her silly for even asking or he hadn't found the connection yet. She didn't know what would be worse.
She stayed still for a few minutes to collect her thoughts and emotions. Then she figured that they might as well head back to the castle. She turned back, convinced that her knight must despise her for not being able to find the sealing magic that all of Hyrule were so in need of.
Link began to follow her again, thoughts of the Calamity filling his mind as well. He hadn't been able to find it in his heart to tell her that he hadn't felt anything special about the sword since the moment he first held it. Perhaps it would be better for the Princess to believe that he was feeling the same as the previous… heroes so she wouldn't have to worry about that. He knew, like anyone else within the castle's walls, that the Princess had yet to awaken her power and he had sometimes seen that troubled expression on her face even though she seemed so collected for most of the time. He figured that she couldn't have it easy.
Hero… That was what she had called him at the ceremony and the royal guard all thought that he was, or would become, one. But he wasn't sure if he was worthy of being called that. Yes, he was carrying the legendary sword, but he hadn't done anything that could be considered as heroic in his life. And he wasn't feeling that connection to the sword that the Princess had mentioned during her speech. Had its previous wielders felt the same or had the sword just… picked him by mistake? Was that even possible? He knew that he was a skilled knight, he couldn't deny that, but could the sword have picked him as its carrier simply because that he was better than his comrades and that it could sense that time was running out?
He looked over to the strolling Princess before him, believing that she must hold at least some of the answers to his questions but he chose not to bother her. Perhaps he would find them eventually. He knew of a few things about the legend, mostly stories told a long time ago when he was a child and his mother and father had taken care of him. He had forgotten some parts of the stories so he couldn't even tell if they were true or not. And the parts he did remember sounded a bit too exaggerated to be true.
Maybe they were just bedtime stories for kids anyway.
Zelda suddenly turned around right before they reached the castle gates and saw, for only a second or two, her knight's face having the same troubled expression as her. But it soon disappeared as Link remembered to keep his neutral face and Zelda quickly wiped the expression off her face as well. She hadn't made that up. She had definitely seen him with another look than his trained soldier expression. But why had he looked like that? He had no reason to look worried, she thought.
… Unless he was worried about her inability to find that blasted power which she never would.
A minute passed with them just looking at each other before Zelda reminded herself of why she had turned around. She cleared her voice.
"We'll leave for Goron City as soon as I've said good-bye to my father and written some… notes. It shouldn't take more than an hour, but I expect you to bring some fire proof elixir from the kitchen so that we will be prepared to climb the mountain. Goron City is at the top of Death Mountain you see, and it is extremely hot there." She saw him nod, either for letting her know that he understood or that he already knew about the extreme climate of the mountain. "I suspect that you intend to follow me all the way to my room?" she asked with a hint of disapproval in her voice. The knight nodded hesitantly. She let out a small, almost inaudible, sigh. "When you've done that, I'd prefer it if you prepared yourself for the journey instead of watching my door. I won't leave the room and nothing would most likely happen, but if it would, there are always other guards that can defend me. And when you return, we can go together to see my father and then to the stables. Do you understand?" She looked at him with pleading eyes. He gave her a determined nod.
He escorted the Princess back to her room and hurried to the kitchen the best he could without running through the castle's corridors. Knowing how busy the chefs and cooks were, he didn't want to disturb them more than necessary and only asked for a pot and a few bottles he could bring with him. He thanked a blushing kitchen maid briefly when he got them in his hands and began to stir up the elixir by himself, enough for both him and the Princess. He knew the recipe by heart, as expected by any soldier who had any wish for survival. It didn't take him long to fill the bottles and he let the hot liquid cool down before he closed the lids. He surveyed the large kitchen for a moment or two, trying to find the dishwashing area and found it. He took the pot and soup ladle, left them there and returned to the bottles, capped them even though they were still not completely cool yet, and brought them with him as he made his way to the guard's chambers to quickly pack whatever he thought might be necessary to bring. He kept his eyes on the floor, not wanting anyone to stop him if their eyes would meet and taking a chance to express their hopes on him. But he was lucky and the hallways were nearly empty. He slid into one of the shared bunk rooms, which was luckily cleared from any fellow guards as it was almost noon, and quickly brought some extra clothes with him before he went to the armory to ask for a few arrows, both ordinary ones and ones with icy heads. It was much easier now when he didn't need permission from his superior anymore.
He checked the string to his bow once. He decided that it would make it to the mountain and back without breaking.
Realizing that one hour had almost passed since he had left the Princess at her room, he nodded his silent thanks to the clerk who had handed him the arrows before he hurriedly jogged back to the room on the opposite side of the castle. He took two steps at the time of the spiral staircase leading to the Princess' and stopped to stand a few feet away from her door to guard it. He breathed heavily through his nose, trying to catch his breath, but didn't have to wait longer than a minute before he heard the door open behind him and the Princess stepped out. She looked at his back before she took a few steps, leaned against the bridge and observed the courtyard below her with nobles and guards scattered around. She had noticed Link trying to suppress his heavy breathing when she stepped out of the room and let him catch his breath while pretending to look around them. She wasn't sure if she considered him cute for hurrying back or annoying for doing his job so well.
She straightened up and looked at him, his cheeks slightly red from the jog. She smiled, hoping that it didn't look too forced.
"Shall we go?"