After breakfast, Peach and Pit set out to explore the house. Initially, when Pit had offered to be her tour guide, Peach had declined, feeling she needed some time alone, but after much prodding by the angel, the princess had given in. Palutena had made the boy promise not to chatter too much for Peach's sake, but the princess was certain that the promise wouldn't hold. Pit didn't seem like the type who could stay quiet for extended periods of time, but Peach didn't mind. He was friendly and optimistic, and he helped her keep her mind off of her worries concerning training and Dart.

So, the two set out together through the house.

The place was truly magnificent. The design of all the rooms were simplistic for a mansion of this size, but Peach found she preferred it this way. It was cozy despite its grand size, holding the homey feel of a mountain cottage, albeit one of massive dimensions.

They meandered about for some time, looking into rooms and walking down passages and halls aimlessly about the ground floor, with Pit keeping up a near-constant stream of comments and general jabber. Peach listened to him patiently and with interest. Pit had a lot to say, but he somehow managed to make all his talk engaging, and he did have a vast collection of things to say about the house itself, which surprised Peach. If she was being honest with herself, Peach could admit that she had suspected that she would have to do all the touring and moving-along herself, but Pit kept them both busy, walking in and out of rooms with hardly a pause.

They hardly saw anyone in their wanderings, as most of the house's residents were getting in some late-morning training, though they did bump into a stoic, spiky-haired man outside the movie room whom Pit introduced as Cloud. The man himself seemed to have little to say. He grunted a noncommittal greeting to them before slipping quietly away.

"Yep, he's always like that!" Pit chirruped in explanation. "There are a bunch of weirdos around here. Anyway, lot's more to see! Follow me!"

They finished their exploration of the first floor, and moved on to the second, taking a winding staircase up to the landing at which point it divided into two parts, one leading to the right, the other to the left. Pit took the left hand fork without much thought, as though the rout was habitual, and Peach trailed close behind him.

On the second floor, Pit started down a long hallway directly ahead of them. The hall was carpeted, and its entire right side was without a wall, replaced only by a railing that overlooked the first floor of the mansion.

"This is where all the rooms are—well, the guys' rooms, anyway," Pit told Peach, continuing on with the tour, "the girls are on the other side—we'll have to find you a place to stay, come to think of it—you just take the stairs to the right—I'm glad we're all on the second floor—being high up is great, isn't it?"

"I suppose it is," Peach replied, trying to hide her grin. It was funny—and awfully cute—how Pit seemed to talk in little rushes when he was excited or particularly happy. He appeared to be very enthusiastic about the tour, Peach thought, and he seemed especially pleased to show her this floor.

Just like a little kid showing off a new toy! The princess reflected with another secret smile. She was liking Pit more and more every second.

"See this door?" Pit questioned, his words once again coming out in an ecstatic rush, "that's Marth and Shulk's room. They're both pretty cool! I think you'd like them. Marth's a bit stiff and formal when you first meet him, but I think that's just 'cause he's a prince. Once you get to know him, though, he's really fun! Shulk's actually a scientist, if you can believe that! He's not a boring one, though. He's really weird and random, but that just makes him cool! Plus, he really likes ice cream, and sometimes he takes me out to get some—even if it's, like, one in the morning!"

"They both sound lovely," Peach commented. "I did talk to Shulk earlier. He helped me find the kitchen."

"Did he?" Pit questioned, spinning around momentarily and walking backwards to meet Peach's gaze as they conversed. "Yeah, Shulk's always the one to ask when you wanna find food. But you shouldn't ask Ike. He's really stingy with his snacks. Oh! This is my room! Wanna see?"

Peach looked at the plain, white door they now stood in front of, wondering briefly how Pit could ever remember who was in which room without a name tag or anything to mark them before turning to the angel to reply to his question.

"If you think it's alright, then sure! I'd love to see it!" Peach humored him.

Pit grinned up at her beatifically, then opened the door.

"This is my room!" he announced brightly.

Peach looked in, and her breath caught in her throat. The room was beautiful, open and surprisingly clean. It too was carpeted, with two beds, one on each side of the room, pushed against the walls. There were two small bureaus opposite the ends of each bed, and matching side tables next to the heads. It was here that the near-identical furnishings differed. Whereas the table on the left was cluttered with feathers, paper clips, comic books and other odd pieces of brick-a-brack, the right one was neat, with a vast collection of books lining the small shelves in the body of the table. Upon its surface was a lamp, an alarm clock, a small, blue, flute-like instrument on a stand, and a carved figure of a bird.

All in all, it was a homey little room, almost like something out of a fancy hotel, but it wasn't the décor that had elicited Peach's astonished reaction. It was the blond-haired, blue-eyed, elven figure sitting on the right-hand bed, a guitar held in his lap as he strummed a chord experimentally. His green tunic was gone, replaced by gray sweatpants and a loose, white t-shirt, and his hair was down, falling, gold and soft, to his collar.

"And there's Link, trying to be musical," Pit concluded upon seeing him.

Peach gaped.

Link. That was Link. The gorgeous elf boy was Link. The man who had stepped in to help her that morning and had allowed her to lean on him the whole way to Mario's office was Link. This was the hero she had heard about. This was a Hylian. She wasn't sure why, but just realizing that this was the person she had hoped to meet earlier—that this was Link—made Peach feel suddenly more fluttery and flustered than she had that morning.

Link had looked up as they entered, and when his eyes fell on Peach, he stiffened, his fingers ceasing to play on the guitar strings.

"Uh… Pit?" the Hylian questioned, his gaze going to the angel, to Peach, then back again in swift succession, "what is she doing in here?"

"I was just showing her around the house, and I asked if she wanted to see my room, so here we are! In my room!" Pit replied with his customary enthusiasm.

"Pit!" Link admonished, locking gazes meaningfully with the angel and gesturing to himself meaningfully with a subtle grunt for emphasis.

"What?" the younger boy asked, clearly not catching the point Link was trying to make.

The Hylian looked quickly and pointedly at Peach before switching back to the angel, his eyebrows raised, biting his bottom lip and gesturing at the princess with his chin with another not-so-subtle grunt of emphasis.

"What!?" Pit demanded, desperately trying to to discern the silent message, "what are you—why do you keep making weird noises at me!?"

Link shot a withering glare at the angel, and Peach realized that it might be time to step in.

"I am so sorry," she apologized, knowing, unlike Pit, that it was her presence here that was bothering the Hylian, "I really didn't know this was your room, I just thought—I'll just go."

Peach turned to leave, but paused as she heard Link call back, "no! Wait!"

He dropped the guitar onto the bed with a soft twang, and hurried to stand and move over to her on his bare feet.

"Sorry about that," he said, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly, "I just wasn't expecting you there… here. I… um… I had kinda planned on talking to you later once I looked a little more presentable, but I guess this'll have to do, huh?"

"No! I mean, it's fine. You're fine. You look good. No, wait! That's not what I meant! You look good—fine! You look fine!" Peach floundered pitifully, kicking herself even as the words came out.

Link chuckled—a warm, strangely mature sound, and his body relaxed some of its stiffness.

"Thanks! I appreciate that! You're not too coherent, are you?" Link asked, not unkindly.

Peach shook her head, her face growing red with embarrassment.

"No, I guess not," she replied quietly, looking self-consciously down at her shoes.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of, I just thought it was cute is all," the Hylian explained with a smile.

Peach's knees went a little wobbly with that comment.

"Oh… I'm… thank you! That's… thanks," she stammered out, turning an even deeper shade of crimson.

Link laughed out loud, and Peach realized she'd done it again. It wasn't her fault. She wasn't normally like this, she just couldn't keep her composure around this guy!

"I don't think I ever formally introduced myself," the Hylian said when his laughter had faded, "my name's Link. It's a pleasure to meet you."

He held out his hand to her, and Peach shook it, noting absently how large his hand was compared to hers.

"Nice to meet you too," the princess responded, "I'm Peach."

And it really was nice to meet him, the girl thought, nicer than Link would ever know.

•∞•

At Pit's insistence, Link elected to join them for the remainder of the tour. Peach wasn't sure how well she could keep it together or indeed even manage to speak coherently if he was to come along, but she did her best to steady herself while she and Pit waited outside for Link to change into something "more fitting." Peach thought that a very old-fashioned thing to do, but Pit seemed to be used to it, stating brusquely, "Link's always like that at first. He'll loosen up."

The Hylian emerged a moment later with his hair tied back, wearing a white collared shirt and cargo pants. He still went shoe-less, but who wore shoes inside? Peach thought, then laughed inwardly at herself as she realized that she still wore her own pair of tall heels.

"Thanks for waiting," the young man said as he shut the door of his room closed behind him. "Where are we going now? Have you guys seen the garden yet?"

Pit shook his head.

"I think we'll do the whole house first. We'll get to the outside later. I'm thinking we'll hit the girls' wing next so Peach knows where it is, then maybe check out the armory."

The angel turned to the princess with a wide grin.

"The armory's my favorite." he explained briefly. Somehow, that fact didn't surprise Peach, but she kept the thought to herself. Instead, she returned the smile and replied, "in that case, lead on!"

•∞•

Descending the stairs that lead to the boys' rooms and climbing the set that ascended upward to the right, the threesome soon reached the girls' dormitories. The rooms appeared to be a mirror image of those belonging to the boys, with the wall on the right this time and the railing on the left. A few of the doors had plaques as well, displaying the names of the women who owned them, but a couple—likely those with a better sense of direction, Peach mused—held no sign. Unsurprisingly, as they walked down the hall, there was no trace of Zelda's name on any of the rooms, bolstering Peach's image of the other princess as someone sensible and level-headed—the exact opposite of herself. For a bleak moment, it filled her with a nagging sense of inadequacy. Zelda seemed to be everything a ruler should be, and Peach… Peach was not.

She frowned, speculating darkly on the sheer number of times she had been kidnapped and rescued by Mario and his brother, Luigi, and how she had never been able to help herself. It rankled her to be so useless, but she told herself that all that would change soon. She would train and improve, and soon would be able to fend for herself. She slipped into a fanciful daydream of herself fighting off an army of Bowser's savage underlings, and just as she got to the bit where she roundhouse kicked a snarling Goomba, the thin heel of her shoe snagged on the carpet, and she stumbled forward. She squeaked fearfully as she started to fall, and Pit began to turn at the noise just as she slammed into his feathered back. They both began to go down, and Link, standing beside the angel, reached out instinctively to stop their fall, but the weight of their combined falling bodies dragged him down as well, and a second later they were all sprawled ungracefully on the floor.

"Oh dear," a voice commented above them as the three laid there, a bit stunned, on the carpet, "you'll need much better balance if you ever hope to improve your skills!"

Peach raised her head off Pit's back, spitting feathers and reaching awkwardly for her crown, which had slipped off her head in the fall, and looked up to see a woman standing above them, smiling faintly and good-naturedly. She was tall, with very pale skin and dark hair tied into a ponytail that appeared almost lilac in color, as if it were dyed. She was dressed in a tank top and form-fitting, knee-length pants and held an energy drink in one hand. She looked like she'd just come back from a jog.

"I'd recommend yoga," she continued, reaching her free hand down to help Peach to her feet, "it does wonders for your coordination and balance."

Peach took her hand with shy gratitude and stood, readjusting her crown before helping Pit up. Link was already standing, brushing invisible dust from his clothes and raking his disheveled hair away from his face.

"That was certainly exciting," he chuckled, then turning to the jogger woman, "thanks, Monica."

Monica smiled sweetly, "no trouble. We simply can't have anyone injuring themselves, now can we? Mario's kept busy enough as it is!"

Despite everyone's unconcern about the whole affair, Peach blushed crimson at her blunder and babbled out, "I am so sorry guys. I wasn't paying attention, my shoe got stuck. I should have taken these troublesome things off sooner! It's my fault."

Pit cocked his head with another of his careless grins, plucking a stray bit of white plumage from the princess's hair as he replied, "no worries. Nobody got hurt! No blood no foul!"

Peach still felt a vague guilt about the matter, but as no one seemed angry at her, she forced the feeling away.

"Anyway, Peach," Link cut in, "this is Monica. She's our resident fitness expert." He gestured to the woman, then turned back to Monica and introduced Peach. The other woman seemed very pleased to meet the princess, and held no reservations toward her, greeting her as familiarly as if they were old friends.

"It's always nice to have another girl. If you ask me, there's far too many boys around here. They're all pleasant people, but it's not quite the same, you know?"

Peach nodded dumbly while Pit made a slight offended noise in his throat and stuck his bottom lip out in an exaggerated pout. Link chuckled lowly at him, nudging him gently with one elbow.

"I'd love to stay and chat, but I'll be late for my mid-morning treadmill run. It was nice to meet you Peach! We should catch up sometime!"

She waved and took off down the hallway, moving always at a steady, practiced jog.

"She seemed nice," Peach commented when Monica was gone. That much was true, but the princess chose not to add that she seemed a tad odd as well. That seemed to be a trademark around here. Pit was right: this mansion was full of weirdos.

•∞•

After that, the tour went on smoothly. They walked the length of the girls' dormitories, then went down to a sub-floor of the house that contained the armory, gym, secondary lounge area and kitchen, and a storage room. Then, taking them all the way up to the third floor (winding Peach with all the stair-climbing) Pit and Link showed her the music room, balcony, observatory, library, and spacious attic. That concluded the mansion tour, but Pit, ever energetic, never slackened and took Peach and Link outside next. There, they walked the perimeters of the house, and the angel pointed out the patio, pool, and picnic tables. It all seemed like regular mansion fare until they went out farther back, and Pit began to introduce her to the smithy, bomb shelter, and an ancient oak tree that he referred to as "Pittoo's brooding tree."

Finally, they moved on to the gardens. Link seemed particularly excited about this part, though Peach couldn't imagine why. She'd never much liked the outdoors. It was always either too hot, too cold, or on the days when it was just right, it was buggy. She humored him, though, and let him show her around.

The garden was rather nice as gardens went. There were small patches of vegetables growing out on black squares of soil, and a few stray fruit trees placed strategically around them to catch the most sun. These, Link pointed out with hardly a pause, heading instead for a large greenhouse placed between all this. He held the door open as she and Pit entered, then came in behind them, his eyes bright with a kind of juvenile wonder.

"This is my favorite spot." he told Peach.

The princess could see why. The greenhouse was like a well-kept jungle. Flowering plants grew everywhere, sprouting from the floor and raised wooden planters. Tendrils of lush vines crept up the walls, and laden bushes sagged nearly to the floor with their burdens of fruit. Gold sunlight filtered in through the glass roof and shone through the rich leaves, flowers, and buds crowding the place, coloring the whole interior in shades of green, blue, purple, red, and every other color Peach could imagine.

"This is beautiful," Peach gasped, her eyes drinking in the dream-like sight before her.

"Yeah," Link agreed, standing beside her and gazing with an almost parental pride and affection at the plants.

"It tends to get a bit pricey, buying enough food for meals and stuff, so we started growing some of our own a few years back. It's really helped with the finances, actually."

"Link grew most of this himself!" Pit put in as he snitched a strawberry out of a nearby planter and popped it in his mouth. "He's a real tree-hugger."

Link turned to Pit, a stung look on his face.

"I grew up in the woods and my adoptive father was a tree, Pit," he explained, sounding a bit hurt.

Peach began to laugh at that statement, believing for a second that he was joking, but her giggle died quickly when she noticed his stony expression.

"Wait..." she started uncertainly, "your dad was really a tree?"

Link looked down at her, his eyes softening just a bit and a faint smile lighting his face at her bewildered expression, "yeah. He was really a tree. He's dead now, though."

Peach, crestfallen but still confused, managed to say, "oh. I'm sorry."

Link shrugged and turned away from her.

"It's fine. There was nothing anyone could have done." His tone sounded like he was trying to reassure himself of that fact.

"Anyway," he said, turning back around and smiling again as if to shake off the gloomy atmosphere, "that was nine years ago. I think we've seen the whole place now. You should talk to the princess about where you'll be staying."

He started out, and the others followed close behind as Peach asked, "the princess?"

Link looked at her over his shoulder, replying with a small, wistful grin, "sorry. I meant Zelda."

"Oh," Peach said, but after that was silent, reflecting with a sinking heart about how the Hylian's voice had softened as he spoke the name of his princess.