Chapter 3

"Sir! Sir!"

A sharp knocking woke Link from his deep slumber. "At ease soldier, I'm awake," he said sleepily.

"Sir! They told me to give you her Highness' schedule right now!"

Link groaned and moved towards the door. He opened it just a crack and stuck his hand out. "Thank you. Now go get some sleep."

The soldier promptly handed Link the schedule, and quickly turned around and hurried towards his quarters in the hopes of some peaceful shut-eye. Link closed the door and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He gave a quick glance over Zelda's schedule; breakfast, then a meeting with some governors he had never heard of, followed by lunch, and surprisingly the rest of the time was… free. It seemed that Sunday was not a busy workday for her highness.

Link placed the schedule on his dresser, which stood next to his bed, and quickly gathered a clean version of his uniform, stepping nimbly around the clothes he threw onto the floor yesterday. He didn't mind a dirty room, so long as he knew where everything was. It wasn't like people would be visiting him very often anyways.

Link hung his clothes on the hook inside his bathroom and stepped into the shower. Instantly, warm water flowed onto his body. Link didn't know what kind of magic or matter of physics brought warm water to the top of his tower and then back down, and he didn't care: as long as it could wake him up, it could remain a mystery.

After his brisk shower, Link promptly threw on his clothes, grabbed his sword, and hurried downstairs to the kitchen, where the staff was getting ready to prepare the King and the Princess' breakfast. Quickly, he scarfed down some scrambled eggs, sausage, and toast from the chef, and washed it all down with some cool LonLon milk. Finished, he went back upstairs to the Princess' hallway.

The two soldiers on duty snapped to attention as he came towards them. Link turned and faced them. "Men, I'm reassigning you to the dining hall. Tell them the Lord Guardian sent you. I'll take over here."

The soldiers saluted. "SIR YE-" they began to bark, before Link swiftly covered both of their mouths. "Quiet!" he hissed. "The Princess still rests." He remained in that position, ears straining to hear if the Princess within the room heard. Nothing. He slowly removed his hands.

The soldiers, quite abashed now, saluted again. "Sir yes sir," they whispered, before heading down towards the dining hall. Link sighed, and leaned against the wall. He estimated the time to be about 6:45, well before the Princess was to be woken at 8:00. He glanced down towards the hall, eyes bouncing between the walls, taking in the sights it had to offer, which quickly diminished after five minutes of staring.

He glanced the other way, where the only thing of note was a huge tapestry of the Triforce at the end of the hall, and the door to his room. There was something hanging on his door, however. He hurried towards his room, took the sheet of paper off, and hurried back to stand guard at the Princess' door again. Glancing down, he noticed the paper was signed Shad.

Link it read. This is the list of soldiers you requested yesterday. All A-class soldiers, alphabetical order, in two lists: male and female. You know where to find me if you have need of something else. Hastily scrawled at the bottom was Shad's signature.

Link flipped it over, and saw the list Shad referenced. One column had a list of about twenty men, and the other had a list of about five women. Only five A-class women soldiers? Link grimaced; he was counting on more he could use for Din's Festival on Monday. He resolved to go meet the head of the army trainees when he had the chance. He could make this work, however.

Link quickly memorized the names, and folded the paper away into one of his many pockets. It must be 7:00 by now; light was beginning to shine in through the many glass windows in the hall. A servant was hurrying by, failing to see Link, who had molded into the shadows out of habit. She seemed to be heading straight for his room.

Why would she be heading to my room? Link wondered. She knocked on the door. Link stepped out of the shadows of the curtains, next to the Princess' door. "Can I help you?" he asked the servant.

She turned around, apparently surprised that she had initially missed Link. "Oh! My apologies, Lord Guardian. I was sent here to wake you."

Link raised his eyebrow. "Wake me?"

"Yes, your Lordship. The previous Guardians have been customarily woken at this time."

Link nodded, a bit surprised at how lenient the other Guardians seemed to be about their line of work. "Well, that will no longer be necessary. I instruct the soldiers on when to wake me."

She curtsied. "As you wish, your Lordship." She turned to move past him and back to her other duties.

"I have a couple of requests of you, if it's not too much trouble however," said Link, holding a hand out to stop her.

"Yes, your Lordship?"

"Firstly, I need you to tell Shad in the library to come to me in the dining hall when his Majesty is eating breakfast. Tell him to bring the papers I need as well.

"Secondly, I require a book from the royal library. Something that can teach me about manners, yet small enough for me to carry around. Shad will probably know a book like that, just tell him."

The servant nodded. Link, satisfied, allowed her to go, and took his place against the wall of the Princess' room again. And waited. And waited.

Presently, a group of servants came along, headed straight for her Highness' room. Link held out a hand. "You are…?"

They curtsied, and begun to talk among themselves rapidly. One of them, a very red headed girl with blue eyes, stepped out from the group and began to speak with Link. "We're her Highness' servants. We wake her up and get her ready for the day."

Link quickly looked at all six of their faces, memorizing what they looked like. "For today, I will double check with the Princess to make sure everything you say is true." He knocked on the door sharply and loudly. "YOUR HIGHNESS!" All the ladies winced at that.

"Her Highness doesn't like being woken up like that…"

"Oh, this is not good… for you at least…"

"Looks like Lord Guardian is going to learn his lesson the hard way…"

The girls began to giggle among themselves. Link glanced back in confusion: had he done something wrong?

His question was answered when a deafening yell was heard within the room "WHY WOULD YOU WAKE ME SO RUDELY MALON?"

All the color drained from Link's face. The maids could hardly cover up their laughs at his reaction. "S-Some people are h-here, they say they come to wake you every morning, so I just wanted to m-make su-"

"JUST LET THEM IN ALREADY!"

Link didn't need to be told twice, swiftly stepping out of the way and allowing the girls entry. As the door closed behind them he could just hear Zelda say to her maids, "… man is insufferable…"

Link cringed internally. His first day on the job was going splendidly already.

How much time passed as Zelda was being attended to, Link didn't know. All he knew was that the walk from her room to the dining hall was silent and incredibly awkward. The Princess did not seem happy with him. At all.

Breakfast was a quiet affair as well. The King – Daphnes, Link mentally reminded himself – invited Link to eat with them. He was quite surprised when he found out Link had already eaten, and had woken up at such an early time as well.

"Boy, you can't wear yourself out working too hard. Take it easy, it's only your first day!" he said between mouthfuls of food.

Link didn't really know how to respond; should he agree to be more lenient in protecting the King's daughter? "Well, uh, Daphnes, my job is to protect your daughter, and I'll do it as best as I can."

The King snorted. "My daughter isn't going to be in danger in Hyrule Castle, of all places! I know you take your job seriously, but there's no need for such vigilance here!"

Link hesitated. The King's words were logical, but it didn't sit right with Link not to stand next to the Princess at every possible moment, guarding against any threats. "…I'll think about it," said Link, smiling.

The King laughed. "Well, perhaps after Zelda has her interrogation, you'll lighten up. Maybe that's why you're so uptight."

Link winced. Now was not a good time to provoke the Princess, and bringing him in seemed to drag Link deeper through the mud. Zelda turned to her father. "I will have you know I-"

Just then Link noticed Shad enter the room. Quietly, he extricated himself from the growing argument, and made his way over to Shad. "G'morning" murmured the scholar, holding what appeared to be a flask of cold coffee. "I have the... whatever it is you wanted."

Link struggled to keep a straight face as Shad handed him the blueprints and the book on manners. It seemed Shad was an afternoon person, if his morning attitude was anything to judge by.

Link glanced at the blueprints. The Festival seemed to be held in Castle Square. There was a stage set up behind the fountain, and the buildings were meant to have stalls selling their wares in front. The meeting place seemed to be on a balcony directly across the stage and fountain. They had a very clear view of the performers from there, but Link groaned to himself internally. So many angles, so many avenues of disaster.

Link turned back to Shad. "Who handles the logistics of the Princess' events?" he inquired.

Shad took a sip from his flask. "Well, a lot of people do, but just tell me what you want and I'll take care of all the menial work."

Link took out the letter that had hung on his door and began to point to it, beckoning Shad closer. "I want all the females on this list to be assigned to the same place as the meeting area. The rest of the soldiers are to be placed on every balcony on every building surrounding the meeting place, one per balcony.

"Since we'll have soldiers left over, the rest of the A-Class are to patrol the immediate area around the meeting place, keeping watch and dealing with potential threats. Tell that to their commanding officer, will you?"

Shad had pulled out his notebook and was writing down the instructions Link gave him. "Hmm, I think this can be done easily. Anything else?"

"Nope." Link handed back the blueprints and the letter to Shad. "Thank you for the book by the way, and on such short notice too."

Shad waved away his thanks. "I had a feeling you'd want something like that. Every other Guardian has been of noble birth, but you're the first they let in with nothing to his name. It's logical you'd want to learn to be more royal. I'll see you around." He waved goodbye as he jogged back towards his office.

Link returned to the table, where the argument was apparently winding down. "Well, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today! HAH!" the King roared. Zelda shot daggers at Link. "Yes, I suppose I did, Father." Quickly she stood up, and Link moved to follow her, head down in shame.

The meeting was boring. Nothing of note was said, nothing of note was down. Zelda seemed frustrated herself that none of the governors could bring themselves to agree on anything. Finally the meeting was adjourned, with the Princess requiring that the members come back next week already agreeing on ONE matter that they discussed today, "or else we may need to find successors," she sweetly voiced to them.

Lunch was quieter than yesterday. It seemed the King did not have it as enjoyable as the Princess, as he did not turn up for lunch at all. Link was afraid Zelda was still angry at him, and so chose to eat lunch standing up, leaning against the wall far behind Zelda's chair. Finally, Link followed Zelda to her study, where she intended to work, even on her free day.

They were both surprised, however, when they found not one, but TWO desks in her study. One had considerably less paperwork and was set to the side of the room, directly besides the doorway. As Zelda sat at her desk, Link went to the other desk and saw a note covered in familiar handwriting.

Link, this desk is your workplace. Yup, even the Lord Guardian has to deal with paperwork. I told them to move it here, I know you like to stay close to the Princess at all times. –Shad.

Link glanced up and met Zelda's curious stare. "I'm supposed to use this desk for… paperwork" he said incredulously to her. She smirked. "Even you? Surely not Lo-… Link" her voice hitched; Link had forgotten he told her to call him by his name. He was about to reply when she suddenly turned and said "Forgive me, but I would much rather get some fresh air." Link hurriedly followed.

They entered the Royal Gardens, directly in the center of the castle. Link stayed a respectable distance from the Princess; it seemed this was one of her only places where she could relax easily. He turned his thoughts to what happened in her study. So, the Princess DOES have a witty side to her. He smiled to himself. She was definitely not as stuck up as he had thought her to be. Although, it did seem like she was always hesitating around him…

A gasp of pain broke him from his thoughts, and he rushed towards Zelda, where she was nursing a cut finger. A pair of shears was strewn on the cobble path. "Zel- Princess, are you alright?" Link asked. That was close he thought to himself. I almost forgot my place.

Zelda waved him away. "Yes, yes, it is just this troublesome rose, it cut me."

Link put a hand in one of his many pockets and removed a small white fabric. He grabbed Zelda's hand – gently, of course – and wrapped the cloth around her middle and index finger, where it easily stopped the tiny flow of blood. After he was done, Zelda quickly removed her hand from his.

"Thank you," she said coolly, and quickly turned her face away.

Link didn't say anything. He had grabbed the shears and snipped the rose. Then, as efficiently as possible, he got rid of the thorns around the base of the rose, and handed it back to Zelda.

"Careful, it's still sharp around the top," he said. Zelda turned and saw Link holding out the rose to her, which she hesitantly took. "Thank you," she said, blushing furiously. Link tilted his head to the side, confused on why she seemed so flustered, before the full realization of what he actually did hit him.

"No, wait wait! Not like that, I just thought that you'd like the flower that you were trying to cut!" Nope, still sounded romantic. "I- well, that is to say, I thought because you put in all this work and all you got was a cut on your finger that you'd actually want the flower and not let your efforts go wast-"

Link's flustered rambling was cut off by a beautiful peal of sounds. He turned and saw Zelda laughing, holding a hand to her mouth. He blushed even harder than before, and resigned himself to the embarrassment.

"It is fine, Link." Zelda smiled at him. "It was really kind of you to treat my wound and… give me my flower." At that, Zelda began to giggle again.

Link glanced up and smiled. "Well, I'm glad you find something funny in my embarrassment, Zel-… er, that is, your Highness."

Silence fell between them. Zelda continued walking through the gardens, a troubled look on her face, with Link following. Presently she came to a dead end, with a small waterfall emptying itself in a creek, and a bench resting right in the middle of the beautiful area. She sat down, and Link had no choice but to stay where he was; there was no room behind her with the waterfall and the creek. Zelda stared intently at Link, who stared at the ground instead of meeting her eyes. Suddenly, he raised his head, and she began to speak.

"I just wanted to say-"

"It is alright for you to-"

They both stopped talking. "You first," they said simultaneously. "Please, your Highness, it's your right to go first" said Link.

She inhaled, before saying, "Link, please, when it's just us two, I don't mind you calling me by my name. No formalities." She exhaled deeply.

Link again was taken by surprise. She too possessed the great ability to switch from formal talk to casual conversation, just like her father. He smiled, "Fair enough, Zelda. Does that mean I can speak my mind around you?"

She smiled. "That is fine with me." She seemed relieved that Link respected how hard that was for her.

"And what about my… um… interrogation later?"

She laughed. "Well, maybe it won't be necessary after all."

They both shared a laugh at that. A comfortable silence grew between them, before Zelda broke it. "What were you going to say to me?"

Link jolted. "Oh right! I forgot" he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Um… sorry for the rude awakening this morning, heh."

Zelda grimaced. "Yes, well, just let them in next time. For what it's worth, I'm sorry you had to see me like that."

"… but you didn't say you're not sorry you yelled at me."

"That's because I'm not," Zelda pouted.

Link laughed, and Zelda joined him. She rose quickly however, eyes widening in surprise and hands covering her mouth. "I have to work!" she exclaimed, and hurried back to her study with Link laughing even harder behind her.

They returned, and Zelda immediately began to get to work. Link glanced over his desk and the stack of paper work that rested on it. He sighed and began to sign away at all the orders he had given Shad in the morning; apparently they required "official" certification.

It was around 9:00 p.m. when Zelda decided she had had enough, and moved to retire. She still held the rose that Link had given-but-not-because-he-loved-her-like-that, although her cut had long since healed. As they bade good bye, Link saw Zelda place the rose in a glass jar filled with other flowers.

Link gave instructions for the soldiers to wake him up at 5 a.m. sharp, and entered his room. He was surprised to find everything clean. Apparently someone had come in and tidied his room for him. Link took off his clothing, but placed it on the edge of his bed; he didn't want their jobs to be needlessly harder than they should have been. Turning, he found a sheet of paper on his dresser. It was the Princess' schedule tomorrow. It seemed that she would have breakfast here, then move to the Festival at 11 o' clock. The meeting was at 12. The rest of the day seemed to be at the Princess' leisure. Link hoped she didn't want to spend too much time in the crowds; it would make his job even more of a headache.

He put on his pajamas and collapsed in bed, but sleep didn't come to him quickly. His mind still wandered to that moment in the gardens, and he couldn't stop replaying it. What a fool he had made himself to be! Still, Zelda had grown friendlier with him, so it wasn't all bad, but he wanted to get to know her even better. As sleep eventually dragged him down, he could still hear Zelda's melodious laugh.

A/N: Well. excuse my tardiness, but life sometimes hits like a truck haha. I probably won't have a schedule you all can follow, unfortunately, I just try to write whenever I have time. Thanks for your patience!

Next, thank you to everyone who followed and favorited, it really means a lot that my first story is gaining traction like this!

Finally, thank you to all the reviewers, you guys really motivate me to keep writing! From the top:

-Guest: Thanks!

-Batch03: Thanks man!

-Awakening5: Thank you! Yeah, I try to build the world because it's not from any single Zelda game, and I really appreciate that you don't think my characters are boring to read!

-RenegadeReviewer: Thank you! I hope I can keep the quality going. And yeah, the King is always portrayed as some kind of person out of touch with the world, which I kind of wanted to break here.

-KDRDEADMAN: Thanks man! Keeping my fingers crossed for consistent quality haha

-minutmaidman: Thanks! Yeah, my Zelda in the beginning is kind of a drama queen, but really on the inside she's super nice. But don't think the drama ends with this chapter, just because she's friendly with Link now doesn't mean he can't slip up

-The Hylian Chronicler: Hey, thanks! I'll keep it coming for as long as I can!

Big thank you to everyone again. If the reviews keep coming at this rate I don't know if I'll be able to reply to them all, but just know that I really appreciate your feedback and support! 'Till next time!