His smile. How she missed that smile of his. Waiting in the darkness for a century, all she had to fall back on were her memories of her friends, and every time she tried to recall a certain memory, the less clear it became. The way someone laughed, how they talked, what their touch felt like, each time it had less detail, less clarity. Seeing Link's smile, she hoped to never forget it again.

But a melancholic ache settled over her as she reminded herself of the situation. She may remember him, but to him, she was probably nothing more than a voice in his head, a part of a destiny they've already carried out, or a reminder of what he's lost. No matter how much she might want him to remember her, she knew how much he sacrificed to save her, to save everyone.

Her sealing power still failed to activated, not even when they stood at the doorsteps of Hyrule Castle to face the imminent threat they'd trained their entire lives to fight, that they were destined to destroy. Even after they ran, Link tried to save everyone. He had thrown himself into battle to help however he could. She watched him throw himself in front of other, take hit after hit until his shield broke and then some more. He saved lives. He saved Hateno. She just wished she had saved him in time.

He sacrificed his life, and she brought him back at the cost of his memory, a sacrifice he never agreed to.

"Thank you," she said in response to his smile, his confirmation that he'd let her stay with him. She didn't expect a reply and didn't receive one. He served them their dinner and settled back against the wall of the room – inside the Deku Tree - to eat his. They ate in silence, Zelda too afraid to ask or mention anything pertaining to who she remembered him as that she simply didn't talk.

When he began to settle in to bed after cleaning up, she stood and said, "I'm going to take a walk." He didn't answer right away, his hand touching his chin like he was assessing what to do. Then he met her eyes and nodded before breaking contact by laying down. Part of her was disappointed he didn't offer to come with, but she hadn't asked that of him because, really, despite one hundred years she missed in keeping Calamity Ganon sealed away, she needed a moment to herself to think.

Stepping out into the cool night air in the Kurok forest wasn't chilling though it was cold enough that she was thankful to have changed from the white dress to Link's more practical garments. The Kuroks still danced and celebrated but certainly toned down for the night. They sparkled like stars, some bouncing around as balls of light. Some trailed at her feet as she took step by careful step, pacing in a wide circle around the Great Deku Tree.

"Why aren't you asleep?" one of the Kuroks asked. This one kept up with her pace by leaping small bounds. It looked weightless.

Another joined in, its feet quickly scuttling to keep up, and asked, "Why did you come here if Link didn't plan to return the sword?"

And the last asked her, "Aren't you tired after your fight?"

This wasn't the alone time she thought she'd have, but they seemed so concerned, she couldn't bear to turn them away. "I'm exhausted, but it's strange. It's not a physical tiredness."

One of the Koroks, the third one to join, stopped, and Zelda paused in her walk to give it her attention.

"Well that makes sense!" it said after a long contemplation. "You were probably like us!"

"Huh?"

"For one, you didn't age! While you waited, did you feel time?"

Zelda bit at her lip. The last thing she wanted to do so soon after defeating Calamity Ganon was trying to remember her long, long struggle with him. "Well, no."

"Not until your chosen showed up?"

She felt a sinking in her stomach. Figuring out why things happened never outweighed surviving them as they happened. She just assumed when she sealed Calamity Ganon and herself away, power kept them relatively timeless, but now that she thought about it, her consciousness did stray at times and Calamity Canon was able to influence the world around them. Clearly, it was not at the same strength he'd have if he wasn't sealed away, but he hadn't been completely sealed away. Link and the Master Sword was needed for that.

"I suppose so…" she trailed off, still lost in her thoughts. "You're not trying to say I'm a spirit like you?"

The first Korok jumped, shaking its arms. "No! A temporary state! A blessing?"

She gave a small nod. That would probably be her best explanation for it for the time being, though she would certainly have to investigate into it further. Had there been past incarnations of herself that had entered into a state she had? She knew of one of the more famous legends in which the Master Sword kept the Hero in some kind of stasis, waiting for him to be the right age, but her situation was seemingly the opposite.

"Thank you for your help," she said to the Koroks and began her walk again. They followed her again, the only sound coming from them being soft melodies and the faint sounds of their travel next to hers. Her mind wasn't clearer in any sense of being free from roaming thoughts, but they did bounce in her head with direction.

The moon peeking through the canopy was her only signifier of how much time she had spent circling the Deku Tree with her newfound travel companions. She came to a stop at the Tri-Force symbol, standing where she had stood before a hundred years ago, and looked up at the Deku Tree.

Would Link be asleep by now? she asked herself, wondering if it would wake him if place in which he sleep began to speak. And then she wondered if she'd wish he'd stay asleep for a private conversation with the Tree.

"You wear your worry clear on your face," the Tree said in hushed toned. "Worry not, he is restful and well."

That, without a doubt, made her blush. Zelda knew she wasn't like Link who could hide his surprise, his anger, his joy behind a placid expression, but being told it was that easy to read her was a little unsettling, like she had no private thoughts. Another task for herself to keep her busy, she supposed.

"Thank you," she whispered, feeling some comfort in knowing how Link was even when she could not get the answer from the source. It almost felt like a failure on her part, and she was all too familiar with that feeling. "Great Deku Tree, I wish to ask you something."

"Speak, child."

"I'm not sure this is my place or- or even if I should be the one asking this. I'm sure he has already spent countless hours and days trying to remember, but is there anything… anything I can do to help?" she pleaded. If her emotions still shown clear on her face, she hoped the Tree saw her desperation.

The Great Deku Tree stood silent, it's features unmoving. Each moment that passed grew the worrying thought in her mind that there wasn't a damn thing she could do for the person she owed the most to. After what felt like ages, it spoke.

"Is this desire for him?" it asked. Before she could respond, it added, "Or for you?"

She swallowed her half-formed answer and threw her gaze to the ground. For him, she wanted to say. They were his memories, after all. But she knew a more truthful answer would be both, and that the selfish core of her answer was, yes, that it was for her.

"His memories of his time before are few," it continued without her answer. "And none are of himself."

Zelda nodded half-heartedly. "Thank you again. Your words are… noted."

She returned to the refuge beneath the Tree. It was still void of Koroks, but the extra bed was made up for her, one corner of the blankets pulled back slightly into a neat triangle. Link, she saw, was as the Tree said. His breathing was long and even, though he slept on his side with his back towards her so she was not able to see his face to confirm if it was indeed restful and well. But she figured the Deku Tree had little to gain from lying, so she laid down in her bed and drifted to sleep.

No dreams came to her, and she woke the next morning alone, aside from a sole Korok that stood next to the cooking station. From where she sat in bed, she could see the bowl was empty, but the hands of the Korok were not. It held a plate of eggs and sautéed vegetables, waiting patiently for her to come and take it.

Groggily, she slipped out of bed and sat next to the fire to eat, taking small and deliberate bites. This was Link's cooking – that, she knew for sure. The Korok, bless it, sat next to her and hummed as she ate her first meal of the day. When she was done, it took her plate for her, leaving out the only exit. She followed it for a few steps until she heard Link's voice, distant and soft but his. And she froze.

He was not speaking to her currently, and to that she had no serious qualms with. She knew him, even if he did not know himself or remember the reason he rarely spoke aloud. And it was why she knew she had to step back and close off her ears. Despite her avid curiosity, she couldn't bear to betray a trust she was just starting to form with him all over again. She busied herself by pacing, tugging her fingers through her hair to comb it out, adjusting the ill-fitting clothes once more, and anything else she could think of to stay busy and, for one of the few times in her life, purposefully unfocused.

By luck, she happened to be watching the entrance when Link returned. When he saw her watching, he stopped mid stride, each foot on a different step. His face was, as usual, expressionless but comforting nonetheless. He wore none of his armor and carried none of his weapons, save for the Master Sword strapped to his back. He looked so much like the Link from her memories, and she wasn't sure if it helped or hurt.

Still, she strapped on a smile. "Good morning. Breakfast was delicious, thank you. I trust you slept well?"

He nodded.

"Good! That's good…" Zelda trailed off. Her fingers busied themselves at the hems of the borrowed clothes.

Link took a few more steps towards her, stopping only a few feet away, and began to dig through his pack. It went deep, his arm reaching down into it further than the bag's space should've allowed. Despite her curiosity over the bag, what surprised her more was what he pulled from it: a set of women's clothes. Nothing fancy but certainly something that would fit her better. She looked from the clothes in his outstretched hands and back to him, waiting until she realized she was waiting for an explanation, something he couldn't give her without his hands.

She took the clothes and held them to her chest, her arms wrapped around them.

When he still didn't explain how he got them or, if he already had them, why he hadn't given them to her earlier, she prompted the discussion with, "How in Hyrule did you find women's clothing out here?"

Link raised hand tentatively with his mouth partially open, both his hands and tongue trying to find the words, and seemingly decided against it with a shake of his head. Then he beckoned her to follow.

"Wait, uh, let me change first."

He nodded, and then, with a flash of contemplation on his face, also gave a small bow questioningly, like he wasn't sure of how or which way to respond. He left, giving her time and space to change.

The clothes fit well. Not perfectly, as was to be expected, but much better than the clothes she wore previously. They were simple, the long tunic-like off-white shirt split on the sides with a thin cloth belt to pull the fabric together at her waist, and the soft tan pants fit snuggly at her hips and hugged her legs until just below her knees. There were no replacement shoes, but she figured that would be harder to purchase for someone else than clothes were and so, like she had before, she kept her necklace and sandals.

Zelda met up with Link at the ends of the surface roots of the Great Deku Tree. He looked her over once and nodded, to which she suspected was his was of confirming what she wore fit her this time.

"Are you going to explain to me-" She cut herself off as Link once again motioned for her to follow him. It wasn't a long walk. In fact, it was hardly more than a few steps. He stopped and turned to her, taking the Sheikah Slate from off his belt. She noted the shrine behind him, one of the same kind that she had studied once so long ago with no avail.

She waited, wondering what could be specifically explained here and with the Sheikah Slate. That is, until Link showed her.

With a final tap on the surface of the Slate, she was as he, before her eyes, came undone into strands of light deconstructed before her very eyes.

"Link!" Zelda shouted, her eyes wide and heart pounding. What happened? Oh, Goddess, what happened?

Once more, her questions were answered a moment later as the same strands of light formed just ahead of her at the base of the shrine. She fell to her knees, her mind spinning.

Link had been deconstructed. Then reconstructed. Before her eyes.

With her head too busy with her thoughts, she hadn't noticed until the last moment Link rush over to help her, his hands on her forearms and a real, genuine look of concern on his face.

He signed, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

She shook her head, still dazed and amazed with her thoughts leagues away from the present. Then, in a flash, she looked at him, his concern meeting her determination, and grabbed his arms. "Please! Show me again!"

He smiled and nodded. Right there, before her eyes with the surface of the Sheikah Slate in full view for her to take in, she watched as he pulled up a map, zoomed in and tapped a blue marker. She could feel him, her hands still lightly holding his arms, and a moment later, he was gone. The light felt like nothing. Her bare skin against him didn't feel like he was being deconstructed, not like a building being pulled apart and moved. If anything, the feeling was akin to water slipping between her fingers.

But Link did not reappear at the same shrine. She waited a moment and then two before she heard his familiar footsteps behind her.

"Are there more shrines here?" she asked him as he appeared. Link nodded.

Behind him, Zelda saw the Great Deku Tree in plain view and remembered last night's conversation. With a rested mind and full stomach, she could think on its words properly. Link had no memories there were his own. She had watched Link in her mind's eye as he traveled to places they had visited together and later talk with Impa, so she knew he remembered things with him in it, so… so that meant his only memories were ones with her in them, as each scene he followed in the Sheikah slate was taken in their time together. He only knew of his self from before next to her. She couldn't help him with his childhood or any important memory alone or with people that no longer lived.

But she had an idea.

"So where did you get these clothes?" she asked, jumping up to stand next to him as he moved through the Slate's map. A little presumptively for a person who no longer knew the terrain of Hyrule, she expected him to zoom in on a location where a town or village once stood but, no, it was in the middle of a lake.

He attempted to holster the Slate back to his belt, but at the motion, Zelda held out her hands as if to say that she wished to look at it herself. With his hands free, he signed. "A Geurdo woman lives there and is very passionate about clothing."

"I see," Zelda said, looking over the Slate's map and then, by an accidental twitch of her finger, she switched to the pictures.

Her pictures were still there, but there were several other pages worth of pictures. Some of animals, monsters, and plants, but it also held pictures of himself with people in various locations and scenes of sunsets, of flowered grasslands, and tumbling waves.

"These are beautiful," she breathed, looking up at him to give him a smile. "You must have been all across the country."

He nodded.

"This one," she said, stopping at and selecting a picture that showed him smiling with a couple children and their parents over a hearty meal of seafood paella. "Where is this?"

"L-U-R-E-L-I-N village," he signed, spelling out the name and then showing her the sign he had been using for it in short hand. Then he switched to his map and closed in over the village marker on the southern coast.

"Think we could visit it sometime? I haven't seen the ocean in ages." Zelda said, her hands absently practicing the new sign for the village name, trying to commit it to memory just in case. When she looked up from the map, Link was just… staring at her.

"What?" she asked.

"You sign?"

"Oh, uh, a little," she said, wondering if she should go into detail. "I mean, obviously I can understand it, but I'm not as skilled in speaking it myself. It doesn't come as fast to me as my tongue does."

He nodded slowly, processing the information.

She took in a deep breath and held it for a slight second before letting it out in a long sigh and holding up her hands. With slow, clumsy, unpracticed hands, she signed, "Guards used sign language to communicate fast… orders without people hearing. One of them… taught me enough to understand when I explained I wanted to hear what you have to say."

When she received no response, she added, "Would you… prefer it if I signed? It's no trouble."

"No, speaking is fine. I don't mind, I was just surprised."

"When I decided to stop being so rude to you after you saved my life," Zelda said, out loud this time, "I talked to you a lot in an attempt to get to know you but to no avail. I got very frustrated when you didn't answer me with anything more than nods, shrugs, and head shakes. I complained about it to Mipha who very kindly informed me that you did not speak. Goddess, I was so embarrassed. Thankfully, a lot of signing is very symbolic so when you first used signs I didn't know, it was easy enough to guess."

Link's right hand, flat with the tips of his fingers near his lips, moved forward to say "thank you."