The Princess' disappointment in her knight refusing to speak to her soon changed into anger. But she never let it show to anyone and kept the fire silently burning within her (and it didn't exactly help that her horse refused to move like she wanted it to on their way from Goron City back to the castle) and tried to ignore him as much as she could. She spent more time with her research on ancient Sheikah technology and visited the lab whenever she could. Purah and Robbie seemed to make small progress every day while she was stuck, but she wouldn't give up so easily. She needed to show herself, and everyone else, that she was good for something and still willing to help her people in any way she could. Hopefully had the rumor of her incompetence of summoning the divine power not yet reached the numerous villages and towns around Hyrule. She also wished that not even the citizens of Castle Town knew about it but since it was much closer to the castle and played as the economic and political center, she couldn't be so sure. But, remembering the happy smiles she had seen a few weeks ago, perhaps they still were ignorant of her problem.
She went to the goddess statue in the castle more often now, partly to please her father and partly to clear her mind. She had been either annoyed, anxious or frustrated the past days and focusing on praying sometimes helped her to feel calmer.
Luckily was her knight following behind her so she wouldn't have to see him and constantly be reminded of his presence. However, when she did remember that she wasn't alone (she still wasn't used to him being around) she either began to scold herself for her fails and faults or considering asking her father for another knight from the royal guard who could protect her. Someone who wouldn't make her feel so anxious and would answer her questions. But she couldn't possibly ask for that with Link in constant earshot. And she doubted that her father would even grant less listen to her wish. If she had gotten her mother's beauty, she got her stubbornness from her father.
And stubborn, the Princess was. Some of the research papers mentioned that more guardians were stored somewhere where the Hyrule Castle was now standing and Zelda promised Robbie that she would try her best to try and find them. She hadn't been in the castle's cellar since she was a small child and had accidentally ended up there while playing so she didn't remember much of it. She didn't like it, but she only had one option left if she was going to find the guardians and wouldn't find any staff working down there. She took a breath.
"Would you be so kind and help me navigate in the cellar?" she asked Link. She was still in the lab with Purah and Robbie and forced herself to speak to him again. He almost looked a bit surprised that she had addressed him since she hadn't said a word to him for days. And he didn't really know why she suddenly had stopped talking aloud.
He blinked before he nodded to give his answer. He wasn't really familiar with the cellar either but he figured that he might be able to help her walk through the corridors since he has a few times been running through them to quickly reach the opposite side of the castle when it was required to be there. For sudden assemblies of his unit of the royal guard and such.
Princess Zelda turned her attention back to Robbie. "Then I'll go and search for any clues right away. If what the papers say is true, then it can't be that difficult to find those columns containing guardians beneath the castle. It's would be wonderful if some of them were completely new guardians we haven't discovered yet." She allowed herself to feel excitement over the possibility of finding other versions of guardians. She had almost forgotten how fun research could be when a new goal and problem were made to be solved.
"If you would happen to find any columns, come back and let me know immediately before you try anything, Princess. I wouldn't want to miss that moment of seeing another type of these creatures." Robbie looked at the guardian behind him which he was working on.
"Come back and let us know." Purah corrected him with a hint of irritation in her tone. Princess Zelda smirked. She loved that Purah wasn't afraid of being herself within the castle walls, but she slipped away from the lab before they would start trying to convince the other who was the other's superior again. She knew that neither of them would win the discussion, they were both equally good researchers in their separate fields anyway.
Link quietly followed after the Princess until she slowed down to let him take the lead and show her the way to the cellar. Without exchanging looks, he first took the stairs down to a long hallway which he doubted the Princess had taken that often before, if ever. The only way to get to the cellar was through any of the staff dominated areas of the castle such as the kitchen, the dock, the guards' armory or guard's chambers. And the way to the cellar he knew the best were through the armory and chambers, but letting her pass through the latter wouldn't be appropriate. Luckily was the walk from the lab to the armory fairly short.
Descending another staircase, they passed through a short semi-lit tunnel and reached the door to the armory. A royal guard he didn't recognize (he must be in another unit Link thought) immediately straight his rather slouched position when he noticed them approaching and his jaw dropped when he saw the Princess standing in before him, a most unlikely place to see her. He raised his arm for a salute, exclaimed "Princess!" out of surprise and broke the well-known rule of not speaking to members of the Royal family and nobles before they first spoke to you. Realizing his mistake, he shut his mouth and tried to look as professional as he could. Fortunately did the Princess not mind or perhaps not notice his mistake. Then he noticed her appointed knight and rumored hero of Hyrule standing beside her and he hurriedly took a step aside, opened the door and let them pass.
Princess Zelda had never been at the armory before. Her head was facing forward as she followed where Link took her, keeping her aura of superiority and royalty with every step she took, but her curious eyes couldn't stay away from looking at the unfamiliar room around her and all it contained. Every guard silenced when the Princess approached and passed, and either saluted her or kneeled to show their respects. Hushed whispers about the reason why the Princess and her knight were down here soon began far behind them and out of earshot and wouldn't stop before their superiors would scold them for discussing private matters about the royal family. But by then, Link and Zelda were already in the cellar and wouldn't hear the scolding.
Link had kept his gaze down the whole time as he lead the Princess, not wanting to see any hopeful eyes on him. In his heart, he still felt like them, still a guard, and not like a hero and he wished they didn't treat him differently because of that. Because of the sword. Although, he had to admit, it was a great honor to carry it.
He took a torch leaning against the wall and lit it up before he opened the door leading to the cellar.
He had let the Princess take the final stairs down first and they were finally in the cellar. She looked expectantly at him and he slowly began to lead again. The cellar was large with many tunnels and had a high ceiling height where a few of them crossed, almost like an intersection. They first took left and walked for a few minutes before Link hesitantly slowed down and looked at the Princess behind him. He could follow the tunnels for almost an eternity but he wasn't sure when to stop or when the Princess would take over and start looking for the columns. Luckily she got the hint and took the lead instead.
He wasn't sure what she intended to do as she mostly just followed any tunnel and stopped if anything caught her interest and tried to study it with only the light coming from the torch. She didn't speak so neither did he. He tried his best to remember which turns they had taken instead so they would find their way back. He made small holes in the earthy ground with his boots every once in a while just to be sure. The Princess once made a turn which took them back to a tunnel they had already been in but he didn't say anything, thinking that she might want to look at something in it again, but she sighed, frustrated, when she realized she had already stared on that wall only a few minutes ago.
Time wasn't easy to estimate in the darkness but Link figured that at least two hours must have passed, and the Princess still wasn't showing any signs of giving up. She observed every wall with intensity, not wanting to miss anything which might be a clue about the columns, while Link was starting to get bored. He would've helped her to look if he could but keeping track of where they were was occupying his mind enough. If he would have to guess, he would guess that they were somewhere under the library or east passage.
With nothing else to look at than the dirty walls and the ground beneath them, he dared to observe the Princess while she worked. He recalled seeing her a few times in the castle while he was still only a guard but he didn't know much about her. None of the really guards did. He could never have guessed that she was so interested in Sheikah technology, something he had begun to understand more and more whenever she was talking aloud during their travels, and he believed that her interest was true and not only an obligation to help her people. He didn't have the same sharp mind as her when it came to subjects like that but her passion made her seem more human than the collected Princess he had seen pass by him in the hallways, and he liked that.
Lost in his thoughts, he almost spaced out and realized after a minute or two where the Princess was going. They were not at all below the east side of the castle as he had thought. They weren't even close. The Princess was in the tunnel leading to the guards' chamber, almost at the stairs leading to the door, and he quickly walked up to her. He would have to stop her before she would call it a day, walk up the stairs and without a doubt embarrass herself and the guards in their private chamber if she opened the wooden door.
She already had a foot placed on the first step.
He knew he couldn't touch her to make her stop.
"Not that way, your Majesty."
The sudden and unexpected sound made the Princess shriek before he even finished the sentence and she snapped her head around in surprise, looking for who or what had caused the sound. It took her less than half a second to realize that… her knight had spoken those words?!
Link saw the expression on the Princess' face go from fright to surprise (and almost shock?) and he realized that he must have scared her. Considering how quiet it was in the cellar and how none of them had spoken for days, it wasn't hard to imagine how frightened the poor Princess must have felt for a second. He glanced to the ground and took a step aside to tell her to return, glad that she couldn't see his embarrassment in the darkness. The only way to stop her had been to simply tell her but he hadn't meant to scare her so. She still stood on the first steps, staring at him with his neck bent downwards, before she regained her composure and went back. She waited for him at the end of the tunnel to show her the way back because, she realized, she hadn't thought of making marks to show which tunnels she had inspected. Luckily, he seemed to know the way and they were soon back above earth again.
She could barely believe it. He had said something. To her. After all this time, he had spoken even if it was only to warn her to not pass through the door. She tried to remember his words but she couldn't. She hadn't even heard him finish the sentence. She couldn't even remember what his voice sounded like. The moment had been so short and she had ruined it by screaming in surprise.
Endless thoughts entered her mind and none of them were about the research any longer. Would he speak again? Would this mean that he would speak more often now? Or had he spoken only to warn her? Would he start answering her questions now? Or give a comment whenever she was talking aloud? Why hadn't he spoken sooner? Had he always been so quiet in his life? Why was he always so quiet around her, was he quiet around everybody? What had made him say a few words in Goron City?
… Had he only done his job as her appointed knight or did he perhaps not despise her after all? Surely he wouldn't have stopped her from entering the door if he truly looked down on her? She didn't know what was behind it but he seemed to know…
And the more she thought about it, the more anxious she became and her mind convinced her once more that he was most likely thinking the worst of her.
She wasn't giving up of finding the columns yet. She wanted to go down to the cellar the following day but she didn't want her knight to come with her and observe her failing at finding them and ordered him to not follow her.
He still went down with her.
She went back to the lab to tell the young Sheikah researchers that she hadn't been able to find any signs of the columns below the castle, and they came to the conclusion that they must either be hidden deep below ground or, mostly wishful thinking, would appear once the Calamity is threatening the kingdom.
Zelda went to the library to look for any books which might mention old shrines. Purah told her the other day of a shrine which had been newly reported to have been found to the west of Hyrule. This was one of the very few they had knowledge of but hopefully the purpose and secrets of the shrines would be known.
She told her knight that he didn't have to come along.
He still accompanied her.
Beginning to feel frustrated of not finding any clues in the old books, she left the library only to see her father again who reminded her to not neglect her praying. She ensured him that she wouldn't and felt the annoyance grow of being constantly reminded of her duty.
Dinner wasn't different from the usual. The food was delicious but she was getting so tired of the nobles and their meaningless talk when a disaster was hanging above them. But she was glad that no one seemed to talk about the Calamity either, that would probably only made her feel even worse.
After dinner she could feel their eyes on her and could only imagine what they were discussing about, and she just wanted to leave. She wanted to leave the castle, leave all the pressure, leave her mean thoughts, she just wanted to be alone for once. She was never alone anymore with that knight following her every step, except for when she was in her chamber or study room. Those weren't enough. She barely remembered what freedom felt like, that small amount of freedom she had within the castle walls, and she desperately had to be alone.
But it was late and soon time for bed and she had nowhere to go to be alone than to her bedroom. She would be alone once her lady's maid had helped her brush through her hair and change her into her nightgown.
With a hopeless sigh, she flopped onto her bed and let out a frustrated growl into the thick covers and mattress. She stayed still and her mind wandered. And she began to wonder once again why her knight was staying so silent.
With another frustrated sigh, she propped herself up only to drag her over to her pillow, crash on top of it angrily draped the cover over her.
Just wanted to wish everyone Happy Holidays! If you would ever get bored, I really recommend reading What We Saw From the Outside by Wavebreeze if you haven't already. It's a modern AU fanfic based on the Zelda characters. I usually don't like AU fanfictions but omg, this one made me want to cry at the first chapter and then I did in chapter two, it made me laugh too and I stayed up until 4 AM reading the first seven chapters and was hooked on the story the next day. Truly recommend it, so go and read it! (and please don't forget about me lol)