Zelda paced nervously around the ballroom. It was a half hour after dinner, and she'd only been waiting ten or so minutes in the room, in comfortable slippers and a loose gown over her underpinnings. She tapped one foot, her arms folded, her head shooting up when she heard the door open. Link walked in and gave her a half-hearted wave, looking back. Two guards followed him in, looking a little more serious about their duties than before. Perhaps they'd gotten a dressing down by the king. The guards stood at either side of the door. Link looked around the room, but there was no gramophone this time, just Zelda standing in the center. She nodded to him in greeting. "Can you show me what you learned?"
"I can try," he replied, walking up. He was still in his day clothes, tanned breeches and a green (always green) cropped vest over a white shirt with full sleeves. They fit far better than the ancient digs he first appeared in, thought he didn't always look so comfortable in them.
There was no music, so they made due. Link's focus alternated between his feet and the floor. A few times, he made eye contact with Zelda. She would nod, encouraging him, keeping her gaze down. They practiced the loops three times, although Link could not change partners; the guards didn't seem willing to help. Without the strict eye of the Madame over his head, it was easier for Link to practice.
"Should we try another dance?" Zelda asked him softly.
"That's the only one I learned," he confessed in a low voice.
"It never hurts to try."
"Okay." Zelda stepped back, across from him, and curtsied; he bowed. "Now, step forward." As she spoke the steps, she illustrated them herself, Link following. "Lift your right hand." They clasped hands and walked around in another circle, Zelda watching the ground. Once they'd made a full circle, Zelda stopped. "This is where you would switch off with your left hand to a new partner-" she demonstrated alone, making another half circle, "and then a switch with your right hand to the next partner."
"What do you do at the end?"
"Everyone bows," Zelda spoke as she moved through the easy steps, "and it starts over."
Link wrinkled his nose. "These dances are all kinda similar."
"Well…" Zelda tilted her head. "They… not really, I mean; this one your hand's always in the air and there's no twirling…"
"But it's still just going around in a circle."
"Well those are the easy dances!" She spread her hands, looking at him in exasperation.
Link frowned and folded his arms. "Give me a hard one, then!"
"Fine!"
"Fine!"
Zelda stood across from him once more, stomping all the way. "Bow," she commanded.
The guards were very amused. There was a bet going on in the barracks about who would quit first; if Zelda would declare him an unfit guard, or if Link would declare that he was sick of chasing someone so spoiled. "I'm thinking the bet should change," one whispered to the other. "It might happen a lot sooner than we think, at this rate."
Link glared but bowed. Zelda was to tell him nothing about the dance this time; instead, she walked forward three steps, putting her right hand up. Link put his hand to hers; she quickly curtsied and stepped back, taking an invisible dancer's hand on the left, her back to Link. She walked around in a circle, arm still outstretched, and walked forward again, curtsying with the hand up to another invisible person, deliberately ignoring him. Link stood and watched, trying to trace each step. Instead of walking back again though, she walked again in a half-circle, spinning, switching hands and doing another half-circle before sticking her hand out in Link's direction. He reached out, and she spun him around, walking in the half-circle, spinning, walking him back around, and starting it over.
Link wobbled, uneven on his feet. "Wait, how did that go?"
She ignored him, still going through all the practiced steps, her eyes narrowed. "I thought they were all the same!" she called in reply, a ways away.
"Oh come on," he shouted back, "I'm new at this!"
"Pay more attention!"
So he watched her. He was going to get this wrong anyway, he had no doubt about that. But she moved gracefully over the polished floor, light on her feet.
She reached the end of her imaginary line and stopped, looking at him. "Got it?" There was a grin stretched across her face as Link shook his head reluctantly. "Well, it is a difficult dance, you might not even learn it until the actual day of the ball."
Zelda sighed and smoothed her hair back from her face, walking back over to him. "I think that is enough for one night, don't you? Walk me to my rooms."
"Yes, Your Highness."
She wound her arm through his, lifting her chin. The guards opened the doors for them, following along for a few minutes until they headed down the hall to Zelda's rooms' staircase. After all, they had a bet to change. Zelda pulled her arm from Link's, looking at him with a faint smile. "I will see you tomorrow for lunch, after lessons?"
"Certainly."
She extended her left hand to him, waiting with the other on her hip. Link raised one eyebrow but took it, kissing over her knuckles very lightly. "Good night, Your Highness," he murmured against her skin, dropping her hand and straightening.
She watched him walk down the hall, back to his own rooms, and shook her head when he was out of sight. "I can't trust myself around him."
-
Madame Curieire looked satisfied that Link had caught on quickly to the first dance. After only a few minutes of practicing, she clapped her hands sharply, and everyone stopped, Link again left hanging in the middle. "Very good," she called. "Now for the next dance." He waited as Madame changed the music to a slower song, and approached his partner, the same girl with the dark hair.
She barely flicked a smile at him, curtsying before taking his hands. She put one on her hip and held the other one with her own, her fingers cold and her grip near undetectable. It seemed she had no desire to be there at all. She started leading him, slowly. They went straight back, doing a slow spin to the left and heading straight the other way.
"Doing this for a lady friend?" she asked quietly, staring at Link's throat.
"Uh, I'm escorting the princess to a ball in a few days."
"Oh. Does she know you can't dance?"
Link frowned. Was he supposed to feel insulted? "She set up these lessons for me, so yeah."
The girl shrugged her shoulders. "Let's hope she isn't disappointed, then."
Her tone was flat and bored, and now Link was wondering if he'd met her somewhere before and offended her on accident. He was careful of her toes, but also had to be careful of keeping up with the rest of the dancers. She made a point of holding him apart from her body with the length of their arms, not so much resting her hand there but using it to brace him and keep him from moving in closer.
"It is all about posture," Madame spoke suddenly, right behind him.
"Shit!" he gasped, jumping and turning around to stare at her. She narrowed her eyes, but continued speaking.
"A straight pose, shoulders back, does wonders for dancing. It makes you look more confident, and you pass that confidence on to your dancing partner." She looked the two of them over and clapped her hands together, sharply. "New song!"
-
They practiced longer than the day before. Link's feet actually hurt a bit, and he had, inevitably, ended up stepping on the girl's toes. She flinched and brushed it off quickly, shrugging away his apologies. Madame was amused, but did not express it out loud.
Zelda had been waiting patiently for an hour. If someone had not told her what was taking him so long (in this case, it was one of the guards), she would have been fuming with anger. As it was, she could not fault him for staying late. When she saw him leaving the room, she was already prepared with a cold lunch (it wasn't intended to be that, but now they were stuck with it) in a basket.
"Long day today?" she teased him.
"Yeah, definitely," he replied. "I uh, accidentally stepped on a girl's foot."
Zelda smiled behind one hand. "Well; I bet you're famished after all that work. Let us go outside."
He kept back, following along behind her, but Zelda reached back and grabbed his arm, putting hers around his elbow. She'd started doing that lately, and Link wasn't sure if it was how it was supposed to go or not. She hadn't wanted to do that at first. He licked his lips, trying to think of something to say. "She taught me different dances than the ones you did."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, there's one where it's… it's pretty easy."
"Well, that's good."
"If you wanted to, I'd like to practice more, later."
Zelda nodded. "If it helps you, certainly."
They sat down at the same table as the day before, maids again setting out their food. Zelda spread some smoked fish onto a thin cracker and ate, staring into the distance.
"So… when and where is this ball?" Link finally asked her.
She looked back at him, waiting until she had swallowed. "It's about an hour's travel from this castle, a duchy to the south, Eldiday night. The duke throwing it is known for having great parties."
"Oh. Is… this the first party you've gone to of his?"
"The first without my father, at least." She smiled and went back to her lunch, rather hungry.
Link let their conversation stagnate, turning back to his own lunch. It was delicious, even cold. Fresh tea and sandwiches, chilled fruit (so at least that was supposed to be cold), more things of that nature. He never went hungry in the castle, and was actually thinking he was putting on weight. Maybe he would have to inquire about training with the knights in early mornings so that he had something to do.
But castle life, for all its faults of being somewhat sleepy and dull, had its advantages. His massive bed, made with scented sheets every day, was a sharp contrast to sleeping under the stars in a field, waking up soaked in rainwater and sinking into a massive mud puddle, all stringy muscle and bones. The only thing that truly annoyed him about the castle was the sometimes itchy clothes and the absolute requirement that he wash every day. In his opinion, he could easily go a week without needing to wash. And yet every morning, before breakfast, two maids would haul up a tub of warm water with fresh soap and cloth, waking him up and dragging him over, stripping him as he went.
The first day this occurred, he forgot where he was and actually fought back, giving one of the girls a black eye and the other a bruised rib. After that, far stronger women were sent to his rooms, frowning no-nonsense types with muscled arms and red faces, two women who usually were midwives, and used to having to restrain screaming women in labor, not heroes of time still trapped in dreamland (Link was easier). It earned him a whispered nickname among the employees of the castle, "Bruiser". Zelda knew this, and it felt odd to her that someone who was so shy and quiet on the outside could be such a fierce warrior, even knowing of his past exploits. She watched his hands as she sipped her tea, looking at their chipped nails and the veins like twine. But he was so gentle, that was the thing she didn't expect.
She snapped out of it, realizing she was still holding her teacup to her mouth without actually drinking. She set it down on the saucer and went back to her sandwiches, silent.
"Did you… want to practice the steps after lunch?" Zelda asked quite suddenly, her head tilted to the side.
"Hm?" Well, what else was there to do? "Probably a good idea; that way I got it all fresher in my mind."
When they finished, two maids packed up the dirtied dishes and leftover food. They walked together (with two guards in tow) to the ballroom. Zelda took off her silk shoes, walking to the center of the room barefoot.
"Should I take off mine as well, to spare your toes?" Link asked her, cracking a grin.
Zelda laughed too. "I've seen your hairy legs, I think I can risk my feet."
She shook out her skirts and Link walked up to her. "They uh, they didn't teach me the dances you did."
"Oh no? What, did you learn harder ones?" She laughed a little, her giggles subsiding when Link took her hands and positioned them how he was shown. Oh no. Her heart jumped in her throat, and Zelda stared down at their feet, as did Link, careful of her skirt and toes.
They danced as they had the night before, with no music. Zelda listened to Link's deep breath, and even thought she heard him whispering, counting under his breath. She glanced over at the guards, who, after a day of properly doing their duty, had resumed a relaxed approach once more. "Link," she whispered as quietly as she could. "I have to warn you of something."
Link's ears twitched and his face shot up, his eyes intense and focused as they stared into hers. His steps slowed down to a stop. "What is it?" he whispered back.
"If… you're harboring any romantic feelings for me, then I warn you now that you should… stop."
Wait, wasn't he just showing her that he knew how to dance now?
"Zelda, it's nothing like that," he whispered back, although it totally was. "I think of you as a friend, an aquaintance." He was lying again to protect himself, his heart thumping as he stared into her eyes. He wanted to kiss her, take her face in his hands and kiss her, guards be damned.
Zelda looked into his eyes. "Link. Don't lie to me. If you are suspected of any romantic inclinations towards me, you will be beheaded."
Link lifted his chin and frowned, averting his gaze. "So," he said now in a clear voice, and it made Zelda jump a little. "That's pretty much all I learned today." He let go of her hands and stepped back out of her grasp.
Zelda looked at him, and then away. "Well, it seems you might actually be prepared for the ball after all." She folded her arms over her chest, nodding to the guards that they were ready to leave. They opened the doors and Zelda led the way out, keeping a few feet in front of Link. Once more, they stopped at the staircase to her rooms. "I shall see you for dinner. Take care." She averted her eyes and walked up the staircase briskly. Link looked after her, before turning and going to his own rooms, frustrated.
Zelda stomped up to her room and flung herself onto her bed. Even though she was eighteen, she still felt very much like a child sometimes. It wasn't fair! She had to keep pushing him away, to protect him, even if it broke his heart! She just wanted to sit down with him somewhere private and talk to him, kiss him. She closed her eyes and pressed her face into a pillow. As long as they held out for another month at the most, then no longer would they be followed by guards, and… maybe their lunches together wouldn't be so quiet. She thought of writing him a letter, telling him that she felt the same way, but the servants around here were curious creatures. It would be far too risky. She would just have to tell him at the ball.
Zelda's eyes brightened when she remembered. The guards would be in the carriage on the way there and back, of course, but while there, it would be a wild place of drinking and dancing. The younger crowd sneaking off for a few hasty kisses (or more) was common. But then, of course, she was still the princess of the realm, and would have to be extra careful; scandal among the Royal Family was an entirely different animal. Zelda set to thinking, hugging a pillow to her chest.
She fell asleep without realizing it, curled up on her bed. In her dreams, she and Link were dancing, pressed close, alone in the middle of the Sacred Realm. When she looked up again at him, he took hold of her and kissed her, deeply.
She woke up again with a start, someone having been gently touching her arm. The surprised maid jumped back and bowed. "I apologize for waking you, Your Highness, but it nearly time for dinner."
"Wh… what?" How long had she slept?! Zelda groaned and sat up, slowly, the maid at once attending to her disheveled hair. The worst part, she figured, as the maid worked, was that she hadn't been able to come up with a solution to the problem with Link. She thought on it now as the maid gently combed her hair with her fingers, fixing the braids and her circlet. She'd missed tea entirely, and her stomach growled. The only thing that was coming to her was explaining herself at the ball, surrounded by noise and the self-involved. It would have to do.
She finally rushed downstairs for dinner, her father and Link already waiting. Both men were standing, and the king nodded at his daughter when she finally appeared.
"I sincerely apologize to both of you for my rudeness," Zelda bowed low, her eyes downcast.
"You're forgiven, daughter." The king sat down, and Zelda took her place between Link and the king, the maids hurriedly serving the first course.
Zelda picked at her food, glancing over at Link. He looked content to ignore her. Her heart sank, was he really so mad at her? Surely he understood that she wanted him to stay by her side…
The maids cleared their salad dishes and set down the next course of soup. Zelda managed to catch Link's eye, but she could only see ferociousness there, his own sort of quiet intensity. She tried to focus on her dinner.
Link, to his own credit, had taken Zelda's warning to heart. He was trying to create as uninterested of a persona as possible. So he blatantly ignored her gaze, made a point to say as little to her as possible, and to focus on his meals. Of course, she had no idea of this, so instead she sat there, miserable and a little sad.
"Are you familiar with the family holding the ball, Master Tolrose?"
"No, Your Majesty." Link set down his fork.
"They're a very old family, but with many daughters of an eligible age. It might do your own family good to make a connection with them."
Zelda glanced back and forth between the two men; was her father really suggesting Link try to marry himself to one of those girls? Anger and indignation made her hands clench, and she had to forcefully remind herself that her father had no idea of Link's true nature. After all, she was supposed to be looking for potential kings to the throne anyway. The worst moment though, was when Link nodded his head and smiled.
"Thank you, Your Majesty. I will remember that at the ball."
He and Zelda locked eyes again, and slowly, he grinned, just a little bit. A cold relief washed over her. Link was faking it! Never had she felt so ridiculous; how could she have fooled herself so easily? Her pounding heart slowed down, and she began to truly enjoy her dinner, eating with a larger appetite.
-
Again, more lessons for him. They rehearsed the close dance from the day before, Link stuck against a different partner this time, and only for a half hour; then Madame taught him a new dance, more of the 'touching palm' variety. She dared to sneak away longer and longer time with his lessons, insisting he needed to get them right, as Madame was a staunch perfectionist. Finally, the princess herself had to interrupt the lesson, just as Link was getting a good grasp of when to turn and when to not.
"I am sorry to interrupt," Zelda announced to the room, although that was a boldfaced lie and she was not sorry. "Master Tolrose has been requested for the final fitting for our ball."
Madame bristled but bowed. "Of course, Your Highness. I am sorry to have kept him."
Link reluctantly stepped away from the group of dancers, nodding and turning, following after Zelda. Once they got outside into the sunshine, she turned and smiled at him. "She held you an hour longer than she was supposed to."
"I didn't realize…" Link muttered, looking away from her. He kept a space apart, so that he was with her, but not with her. Zelda said nothing about it. She'd lied a little bit to Madame Curieire; the tailoring shop had notified them in the morning, and simply requested that they drop by whenever was possible.
"I know you didn't," Zelda replied. Shyly, she dropped back a little and put her arm through Link's, holding her chin high.
Link slowly released her arm. "Now you're just giving me mixed signals," he whispered to her harshly. "Is it okay, or isn't it?"
Zelda sighed in a huff, stepping forward again, her pride hurt. Didn't he realize she wanted him to be close to her? Just not… too close.
They entered the dressmakers' in silence. Zelda managed a smile when the first woman rushed to her, all excited. "We believe that this shall fit Your Highness quite well!" Both women rushed the two of them back, escorting Zelda in first to try on her dress.
Even though he'd seen her in it before, when they opened the curtain and she stepped out, it caught his breath all over again. Zelda lowered her eyes, her hands folded in front of her chest. Link cleared his throat and nodded at her, and the women rushed him into the back, dressing him, fighting with him just a little. They invited Zelda back, so that both of them could stand on twin pedestals and ensure that their clothes were of the right length at the same time.
For a moment or two, they stared at each other with longing. Zelda could read it in his eyes. Her shoes for the dance were brought out, and she slipped them on, climbing up onto the little pedestal so that her dress could be fitted one last time. Link fell into a bit of an argument with his fabrician, as she kept shoving the ugly buckled shoes at him.
"Let him wear his boots," Zelda sighed, staring at her reflection. Link glanced at her, and then away, straightening up for his fitting.