Every Shard of My Heart Belongs to You: Her Royal Servitude

For the next few weeks Link remained at Hyrule Castle. Though he would have liked to venture to the Kokori Forest or Lon Lon Ranch to see his friends after being so long absent, he was for the most part confined to his bed. As his wounds slowly healed, he was allowed to once again take up practicing the sword in moderation, with which he was currently occupied.

Bathed in sunlight and lying in sea of grass, he stared into the cloudless abyss of sky above him. He was winded, having just been knocked flat on his back. He tried to breathe again, but too deeply. A sharp pain from the pit of his lungs filled his chest like oxygen. His eyes widened with anxiety as he clutched his breast, and then clenched shut as if it would somehow numb the throbbing ache.

Iain, his sparring partner, called out to him, "Link! Weary already?"

He merely huffed in response. Iain paced over to Link's place on the ground and loomed over his body, partially blocking out the sun and casting a shadow across his face.

"Are you all right? Do I strike too forcefully?" the knight asked concernedly.

Link groaned and reluctantly pulled himself off the ground with Iain's helpful hand. "No, I can still breathe."

"Here. You dropped this." Iain handed Link his sword. He took it in his left hand and then forced it into the grassy plain. The exhausted young man rested on its handles with his head bowed, unruly locks of hair shading his face.

"How's his foot?" called a voice from behind them, evidently of the royal physician.

"How is your foot?" Iain repeated, softly.

"Sore." His voice was unmoving. He didn't look up as he spoke or stir in anyway.

"And your ankle?"

"Sore."

"Anything else still sore?"

"Everything that was before, and..." He winced and rubbed his chest. "A few new places, it seems." He exhaled. "I'm only getting worse, aren't I." It wasn't a question.

"Nonsense," Iain assured. "I'll just be easier on you next time. You up for another spar?"

Link looked up at him from in between tangles of hair. "I... don't think so."

Several meters away Zelda sat under the shade of the oldest tree in the royal courtyard. She leaned against the sturdy trunk only loosely interested in the bound collection of ancient tragedies she pretended to be studying.

Impa approached from behind her. "Is this the doctor's idea of therapy?"

The moment Zelda heard Impa's voice, she buried her face in the book before her. "I can't read his handwriting, let alone his mind."

"Enjoying yourself?"

"Hardly. All this sweat, dirt and blood are making me nervous."

Impa suspected that the princess's irritation originated in concern. "You don't want Link to be injured," she assumed.

"I don't want either of them to be injured," the princess admitted.

"Link agreed to it though. He said he wanted to get out."

"Couldn't he have fresh air without this?" Zelda motioned toward the men.

Link loomed over Iain, sword against sword. She gasped and put her gloved hand to her mouth as she watched Iain push his opponent forward and rise again to his feet. Their swords met once more above their heads. The knight conceded one step, but only to swing his sword from below. Link stumbled forward and then felt Iain's second blow nearly knock his sword from his hands. The knight followed up with a shove of his shoulder against Link's chest as if to pry him from his weapon. He fell backwards and remained motionless on the ground.

Zelda stared accusingly at the acclaimed doctor. He could only shrug and ask Link if he was feeling okay. She rubbed her temples and sighed in frustration.

"I'm surprised that he hasn't improved much in the last few weeks," the doctor scratched his head nervously, "For someone his age and condition of health, it is most unusual that he should not be healing more rapidly. From now on I want to see him eating properly and getting a dose of healthy, but not over strenuous, exercise."

The afternoon of the following day, Zelda watched Link from the window of her bedroom. He was shooting arrows at a wooden targets that were placed at various heights and distances around the courtyard. His bare arms and strong shoulders pulled taunt the bow; his steady eye aimed with masterly precision. Upon release it sailed swiftly to its mark, the dead center.

Zelda wondered if it was it possible to want something very much, but yet want just as much, if not more, to have never laid eyes on it? The air between them was a stifling void and she sought only elongate it. She stared at him longingly, though she would not admit it to anyone, even herself. Her window became a prison that kept her from him.

"You've had your eye on him for quite some time now," Impa remarked.

There was no point in asking of whom Impa was inquiring; it could be no one else.

"Yes, my eyes happen to be drawn to novel faces rather than ones I've seen every day for the past lifetime," she replied coyly.

"You think he is handsome."

"So what if he is handsome? I would be blind if I couldn't admit that." Zelda sighed and rested her hairbrush on the ivory surface of her vanity. "I don't think there's a girl in Hyrule who wouldn't admit that."

"That is beside the point." Impa retrieved the princess's newest gown from the closet and placed it on her bed.

"And what is the point, Impa?"

"He is the savior of this sovereignty, and of you personally. He has proven himself countless times, been knighted in three kingdoms, Hyrule included. Your father would not deny him your hand, you know."

"I think you are too far ahead of yourself, Impa. I said he was handsome. But there are plenty of other men who are equally attractive, and I have expressed no desire to marry any of them."

Zelda paused in consideration. Yes, she felt for him. Yes, her father and her people would approve of him. There was still, however, one more variable. "Besides, is it safe to assume he would not deny me?" she reminded her determined nursemaid.

"He is not a man if he could disregard such beauty and charm." Impa winked.

"But he is free, Impa. Adventure holds that space in his heart; there's no place for me. Adventure is his only mistress. Asking Link to stay here would be merciless. Can I even say that I love him? And if I did, would it really matter? I dare say that marrying for love has never been encouraged before in this family. So you see, while he is free to love as he wills, his heart belongs to his exploits and ventures and mine belongs to destiny."

"And are you not free as well, Princess?" she asked, tainted with sarcasm.

"You know as much as I do that royalty are simply well-fed slaves dressed in silk."

"You have more freedom than you think, milady. Most fathers have auctioned their daughters off to marriage by their fifteenth birthday, but you were given a choice. His patience is wearing thin and that window of freedom may not be open forever. I suggest you reconsider before he changes his mind."