On the way back from the fabricians, Zelda put her arm through Link's, and he held it. Though they spoke little to each other while in the shop, they didn't have to. Something between them was 'reset', so to speak. Link kept an eye out for too-curious eyes as he leaned his head towards Zelda's ear.
"I need your direction in this. What are the rules?"
Zelda turned her head marginally toward his. "They aren't really that hard. You can take my arm, but you can't look too eager. Act like it is a formality. Kiss only the knuckles of my left hand when bidding me good night. Never follow me up the stairs to my room unless it is an emergency. We can only talk on the most innocuous of subjects; the weather or recent news. Honestly, didn't they tell you all this at commencement?"
"They did, but it was… in more complicated language than this." Flowery language, an older form of their Hylian tongue, done on purpose to confuse the bodyguard into screwing up. Being the princess' guard was not an easy thing to pull off, especially when he was pretending to care nothing for her.
"Our lunches together are fine, they're on an appropriate level, as long as they are out in a public area or being chaperoned by another guard. Always greet me as Your Highness. But you are never to see me in a state of undress unless, once again, it is an emergency."
Link looked at her out of the corner of his eye. He'd seen her gaze at him in the mirrors of the dressmakers' back room. He understood her same, desperate longing for a kindred spirit. He thought of bringing it up, of teasing her about feeling the same way. But he could not think of a joke, and instead, they walked on, back to the castle.
He broke his grasp of her arm to open the doors, like usual, following her in. Zelda waited a beat for him to catch up, him taking her arm again. "There is still some time before dinner, and I feel a walk in the gardens will be beneficial to our health." She looked at him pointedly. "Do you agree?"
Link briefly considered contesting the point that they were just outside, but she looked like she wanted to linger and talk to him more. "Yes, I think that'd be wise, Your Highness."
They immediately turned right and headed to the wide double doors that led out into the gardens, Link again opening one for her. As for their luck, the guards left them alone, one standing at the entrance to the gardens and deciding that was close enough. They headed midway into the maze, finding one of those convenient clearings with stone benches. Zelda sat down first, scooting over and leaving room for Link to join her.
"I've been thinking… that I might want to start practicing sword moves while living here. Maybe join the knights in their training or somethin'."
Zelda nodded, looking around the quiet gardens, listening to the birds singing to each other.
"I feel like I'm getting a little useless. All I do is follow you around," he joked, looking at her. Zelda stared straight ahead, smiling a little at his joke. She couldn't look at him, not for a few minutes, not until she was back under control.
Link thought about it; he thought about leaning over and grabbing her, kissing her mouth and holding her tight. He was positive she felt exactly the same way, and he ached to make that personal, intimate contact with her.
"Why don't you… why don't we practice the dance you learned today?" she said suddenly, as he was just about to lean in.
"Uh… oh. Sure." They both stood again, Zelda smoothing her skirts and waiting for Link to take her hand. He had them do the 'palm' dance he'd learned, going slowly and staying in closer spacing. "Y'know… what'll happen to me once you... when you find a husband?"
Oh right, that. Zelda blinked a few times. "Well." She licked her lips. "The tradition is that you, ah, retire."
"Retire?"
"Yes. You're given a patch of land, like a small viscounty or something, and a considerable account to live on. It's… usually a little ways outside of the castle."
"Ah. And… what if I, say, hadn't performed my duties adequately?" They were dancing closer now, and a little faster.
"You're discharged, so to speak, and get to live as a beggar." She grinned at him, a bad joke.
Link shook his head. "Nothing I'm not used to."
They stopped and stepped apart when a maid approached them, bowing. "Master Tolrose, Your Highness, dinner is nearly ready."
Zelda nodded, dismissing the maid. The young girl was glad for her quick dismissal; after all, the servants' quarters had their own betting pool going over who would kiss whom first. So far, very few had lost money.
"Zelda…" he asked her, as they walked through the towering green walls.
"Yes?" Her eyes were on the path as she tried to remember what way they came. As a child, her frustration came sooner, and she'd eventually throw herself through the bushes, cutting and cheating.
"Do you want to marry anyone?"
She looked at him surreptitiously. "No, not yet."
-
Dinner. Yawn. For a change of pace, though, they were joined by another noble family, who Zelda recognized as the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of one of the largest northern estates. The Grand Duchess was an old woman who powdered her face thickly as to look younger, with the opposite effect, her face and figure round and full, and not in a complementary way. The Grand Duke was just as old, but kindly, with a narrow face and sagging skin, his body wiry and tall. Zelda curtsied deeply, and Link bowed stiffly at the waist. The king smiled all around.
"Dear daughter, you remember the Grand Duke Vincent de L'oeil and his wife, Francesca?"
"Yes, of course," Zelda replied in a soft, clear voice. "I am most honored to see the two of you here."
"This," the king went on, "is her guard, Master Link Tolrose, also of the Northern estates."
The Grand Duke and Grand Duchess looked at him in pleasant surprise. Link squirmed uncomfortably, and Zelda looked quite ill. "How do you do sir, madame," he said in a choked voice. Already he could hear the slicing of the executioner's axe; was everything they worked for going to waste? Bizarrely, he was worried that he would never show Zelda that he could keep in time with his dance steps.
"His Royal Majesty tells us that your father is a Viscount in the north. Where is his land at, if you don't mind?" The Grand Duke puffed around a long pipe.
Link looked at Zelda, then back to the Grand Duke. She couldn't help him, her face frozen. "Well, uh, it's a tiny area, really, on the uh, northwestern tip; a little inlet. Bitterly cold, terrible weather. Father got it for cheap."
The Grand Duchess adjusted a pair of tiny, round-rimmed glasses on her nose, smiling at Link. He could see that her lip stain was smeared across her teeth. "How morose that must be!"
"It's uh, not so bad in the summer, though," Link threw that out there in desperation. "Keeps cool with all the water there."
"Oh, I'm sure, I'm sure." The Grand Duchess noisily sipped a cup of tea, smacking her lips.
"I'd very much like to see this estate sometime, if it is at all possible," the Grand Duke spoke, staring Link down. His skin itched and crawled, where was his sword, don't break eye contact, just do a rolling dive and get be-
Zelda must have noticed Link's fidgeting, for she kicked him in the leg with the stubby point of her heel.
"Agh! Uh, well, he's thinking of selling it!" Uh oh. Everyone at the conversation went silent.
"Oh? Why ever would that be?" The Grand Duke sipped at his own tea, careful and slow.
"Well, he finds that… that it's kinda hard keepin' up with a lot of the land work, cus it's so cold no one wants to live up there, and it's hard to grow anything around there cus the ground is so rocky, and really he feels pretty miserable being a viscount, and it's kinda useless to have a big house when my uh, brothers have all gotten married and moved out."
The king eyed Link suspiciously. "But did one of your brothers not already agree to succeed him in ruling the viscounty?"
Shit! Link floundered, Zelda taking up the conversation for him. "His wife is the daughter of a Marquis in the Western region, and as she is their only child, she will most assuredly be the one to, ah, inherit that land, so Li.. uh, Master Tolrose's brother will inevitably be the next Marquis."
The king, Grand Duke, and Grand Duchess stared at the two teenagers for a heartbeat or three, depending on whose point of view it was.
"Oh," replied the Grand Duke simply, and he turned his attention to the king to inquire about the concerns for drought for the next year. The Grand Duchess immediately wrangled Zelda's attention, asking her wherever did she get her beautiful dress, and were there any eligible bachelors she had an eye for as good ruling material?
Link took an offered cup of wine eagerly, and drank it straight down.
-
Dinner dragged on longer than he thought it would. The excessive alcohol he drank did nothing to help, and he felt heavy, like underwater or wearing the Iron Boots. Zelda did not consume nearly as much as he did, and though he managed to sag through the bows and the gestures of wishing each other well through the night, he was in rough shape by the time Zelda took his arm and had to half-drag him through the castle.
"Look, okay, I understand getting a little nervous, that was a bit of a hair-raiser now, and I'm certain that I would feel just as eager for the bottle as you obviously did, but damn it all, Link, stand up straight!" She pushed on him, Link leaning heavily on her lighter frame. "You are going to feel like a crop of bomb flowers was grown on your head in the morning," she grumbled, half-shoving him to his rooms.
"Zelda, Zelda, I'm sorry, I j… I just got so damned nervous, cus, cus…" here Link lowered his voice, leaning into the princess as he whispered. "Because we liiiied so much. We almost got caught."
Zelda wrinkled her nose and turned her head away. "Did you not get a mint leaf? Goddesses."
She foisted him off onto two guards, who struggled to hold Link up. "Take him to his rooms, please." They bowed and did as asked, even though Link wriggled against their hold. "G'night, Your Highness!" he called drowsily.
"Come on, Bruiser," the guards grumbled as they shoved him along.
"Hell yeah I'm a bruiser," Link growled in response, waving one fist. "I kicked Ganon's arse once an' I'll do it again twice if need be, the right bastard."
They flung him, unceremoniously, onto his bed, helping him take off his shoes and deciding that was the extent of their duties.
"Good night, Bruiser," one of them called to him, both of them laughing as they left.
Link rolled over on his stomach, groaning, his head swirling and spinning. He thought of Zelda, and then of his dance lessons tomorrow, more swirling and spinning and twirling—
He dove under his bed and retrieved his cleaned chamber pot, puking up most of the alcohol he drank and then some. He hugged it close between his legs, pressing his forehead against the mattress of the bed and emptying his stomach until there was nothing left but bile.
Link felt much better afterwards, and he grappled his way back up onto his bed, sprawling across the cool sheets on his stomach and burying his face into a pillow. Sweet slumber was the prescription for this illness now.
In a dream, he was staring into Zelda's eyes. As the image focused, he found they were at a wedding ceremony, holding hands, Zelda all in white and smiling. The preacher turned a page in his book and called, "Are there any who believe these two should not be wed?"
"I do!" cried Zelda, and her eyes were tearing up. "This man is a liar! A fake! He has no viscount father, he has no brothers! Everything you know of him is a lie!"
The crowd gasped in horror, and someone was grabbing Link by the back of the neck, pushing him down on his knees, his head going onto the chopping block.
"Say your prayers, hero!" bellowed Ganondorf, the executioner, wielding the Master Sword. Link looked up once in horror, squeezing his eyes shut as the blade started to fall—
In the real world, a voice was whispering over his head to another. "Listen, listen, this is hilarious."
"Goddesses, this chamber pot stinks. Looks like he's puked up everythin' he's ever ate! What are you goin' on about?"
"Watch! … Link, Link. This is the Princess Zelda." The servant giggled behind one hand, quietly.
"H'lo…" was Link's drunken reply.
"Link… do you like me?"
"… eah…"
"Stop that!" whispered the other maid, furious at having to haul around a chamber pot of vomit. "Get back to work!"
"Do you want to maaarry me, Link?"
"Nnngh.."
"Was that a yes?"
The door slammed open, and the one maid almost dropped the puke pot in surprise. The other one straightened away from Link's feverish, sweaty form, and they both stared in sudden fear at the princess, her eyes ablaze.
"What are you dawdling for?" she snapped. "Wake him up! He has already slept through breakfast and is going to miss his tutoring!"
Both maids bowed best as they could, the one with the vomit bucket rushing out the door and the one hovering over Link trying to shake him awake. This was a bad move; he grabbed her by the arm, his eyes opening and blazing. "I am no longer a child, Ganon! I am the paragon of courage, I am Farore's chosen one!" The maid cried out in pain; Link was bruising her.
Zelda rushed over and slapped Link around the face. "Snap out of it!" she shouted.
It worked; he dropped the maid's arm and fell back over, dead asleep.
"Get fresh clothes ready!" she snapped after the maid, peevish. While the maid was in another room, Zelda leaned over Link, shaking him. "Wake up, you foolish devil, wake up right now!"
Link's eyelids fluttered and he stared up at her in a daze. "Zelda? What are you doing in the Water Temple?"
"Goddess," she cursed under her breath. "Wake. Up!" She smacked him on the head, and Link cried out, clutching his temples.
"Shit and hell!" he cried out, rolling away. "What was that for?!"
"Wake up, damn you!" she shouted back, even as Link flinched. "You're going to be late!"
Link managed to force himself out of bed, and with the help of the remaining maid, got dressed in clean clothes. With her help, he managed to stumble out of the bedroom and down the hall to the ballroom, where Madame Curieire and her students stood patiently waiting.
"You are late!" she snapped, and he was, but not by too much.
"I'm terribly sorry, I'm sorry," he apologized.
She shook her head and started the music.
"This is a faster beat!" she shouted to him. "The dance is faster and closer! Take to your partners!" Again, he got the grouchy girl with dark hair. She sighed and positioned his hands; one on the hip, one in her own, using them again to brace them three feet apart. Madame thumped one heeled shoe on the floor in time to the music, rapid violins and an acoustic guitar playing together.
The dancer glared up at Link. "My foot forward, yours back," she muttered, showing him. "Now the other one." He followed her steps, staring at their feet. "Back and forth three times," she muttered, "and then a dip," as she demonstrated it, flexing back. "Now up again, twirl," as she spun herself on Link's hand that she held, "—and spin inward," as she spun herself along his arm, tucking against his chest with her small back and kicking out, "—out again, come back in, and repeat." She did not stop, hardly pausing for air. Link was glad that he was a man, and would not have to worry about memorizing much of the complicated steps for this dance.
"Is this a … Gerudo style of dance?" he asked her when she got close enough. The unfamiliar sensuality of it, for some reason, reminded him of the Gerudo dancing troupe he'd met briefly on his travels.
"Yes," she replied, still putting Link through the motions, "Madame believes that all forms of dance have something to offer, and she has studied all of them extensively. Hylian dance is best for slow music. Gerudo dance…" a dip, "is faster."
"I guess so," he replied awkwardly. This was certainly one dance he would hesitate to practice with Zelda, at least for now.
What he did not know was that a maid had come in briefly to mention that Link's hour of work was up, and she noted the rather… intimate dance they were practicing, but not really how Link held his partner, with enough grip to keep her from falling. The rumor mill in the castle churned.
Zelda was heading to the very ballroom now, a picnic basket on her arm. She slowed down in her steps before turning the corner to the room, hearing two of the girls whisper.
"Quite a frisky dance they've got today. Seems like our little guard has taken a shining to his dance partner."
"You think that means the bet's off?"
"Depends on what happens at the ball tomorrow."
Zelda slowed down, taking a deep breath. This was getting ridiculous. She straightened her spine, frowning; hardly moving a muscle when the two maids came around the corner, jumping. "Good- good day, Your Highness!" She smiled at them, eyes narrowed and tilting her head slightly, before brushing on by, cold.
The guards opened the doors for her, and Zelda paused in the doorway. Link was easy to spot; he was the only one not dressed all in black. She stared as he dipped his partner, spinning her on his hand and pulling her back in. When she got back up and saw the princess, waiting with a basket on one arm, she pulled away quickly, letting Link's hands drop. Madame clapped once, sharply, and someone ran to turn off the music. Link turned around.
Zelda managed a smile, clenching one hand around the basket handle. "Quite impressive progress you've made in the past week, Master Tolrose." She turned her head towards the towering Madame, tilting her head down slightly. "I thank you for the changes you have made in him."
Madame bowed her head. "It is a pleasure to assist the Royal Family, Your Highness."
Link offered her a shy smile, putting his hands on his hips. Zelda looked towards him, smiling a little bit. "Lunch?" she asked softly.
"Certainly," he replied. He turned and awkwardly waved to the dancers. His partner offered a faint upturn of her mouth, and waved back.
-
When Link took Zelda's arm, she relaxed. There couldn't be any truth to what the maids had been going on about. After all, most of the popular dances involved being very close together, barely an arm's-length apart. It was just her, being selfish.
Lunch had been obtained quickly this time, and there was once more a contrast between hot beef and cold, spicy mustard. Link was ravenous and thirsty. He drank eagerly from the tea pots, preferring the cold first (Zelda rathered for hot anyway), and devoured his lunch, his stomach angry for having gone empty so long. Zelda fiddled with her napkin as they ate, smiling. "Maybe," she ventured, "we could practice your new dance a little later."
"Mm." Link thought about it, giving himself time to chew and swallow. "I don't know if that's such a good idea."
Zelda flinched, looking at him, her head downtilted. "Why?"
Link rushed to finish his next bite. "It's… kind of… I dunno if it would look good."
"Why? Because I'm not a professional?" Her voice had lowered to a hiss.
Link looked at her in bewilderment. "Ze— Your Highness, it's…" He lowered his voice, leaning close. "I don't know how good it would look to the watchful gaze of the guards and castle. It's a kinda… it's a raunchy dance. Don't get all bent outta shape."
Zelda blushed. "I just… I'm sorry." She rubbed her eyes, sighing deeply. "I haven't been sleeping well."
"What's wrong?" He leaned in towards her across the table.
"I'm just… panicking," she murmured. "About the country and… my responsibilities that are rapidly encroaching…" her eyes flicked towards him and down again., "and keeping you alive. Every day, every moment we're together, I worry that… something's going to happen."
"Like what?"
"That Father will discover the truth about you. That… someone will undo all our lies." That she'd break down and kiss him, but she wasn't about to say that one out loud. Not yet.
"Look." Link reached across the table to touch her hand, to comfort her, and Zelda slid her hand back. He remembered and brought his back too, holding it down with the other hand. "We only have to survive another month under scrutiny, yeah? An'… yeah, I was stupid, I got outta control around those uh, that Duke an' his wife, but…"
"We must get our stories straight," she spoke over him, folding her hands. "We did well last night, but if we're separated for any reason, we cannot collaborate on what the … facts are." Link nodded his head, sitting back, and Zelda went on. "We've established that… your father is a viscount, selling his land, your brother is going to be a Marquis in the south end—"
"West end."
"What?" Zelda set down the strawberry she picked up to eat.
"Marquis on the west end," Link grumbled.
"Damn," Zelda muttered under her breath. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah, cus I was thinkin', well of course there'd be a nice house on the West end, that's near the Lake Hylia beaches."
"What about your other two brothers?" she continued, toying with the strawberry now.
"Uh…" Link slumped in his seat, thinking. "Middle eldest is uh, I dunno, he's a sailman or something, wants to sail the world. Third eldest has settled down with a small home near the East end. I don't see 'im much." Zelda nodded, remembering it.
"Any sisters?"
Link thought about it, shaking his head. "No. No sisters."
"Very well. What about your mother?"
Link sighed. "A nurse for a duchy whose land she grew up on, until Father saved up enough money to where she could leave and not have to work."
Zelda nodded. "Who did she work for?"
"I don't…" Link sighed in frustration. "I dunno."
Zelda tilted her head. "Well we have to think of someone."
"Maybe it was a small duchy. I don't know any nobility, Zelda, you know them all."
"Perhaps a baron, then. Someone she could step above in triumph." She sighed. "Baron Elsin… he's rather old, and has many children. I doubt he'd remember all their nurses."
They fell into silence. Link listened to birds singing overhead; he felt much more comfortable now that his sore throat and headache were abating, and his stomach had something to do.
"The ball is tomorrow," Zelda murmured finally, under her breath.
"Yes."
They sat again in silence, and once again Zelda broke it.
"Do you always have… dreams?" She wanted to say nightmares, but they didn't seem that way.
"Huh?" Link turned to her, confused.
"When we woke you this morning, um, you were… you screamed about fighting Ganon." She looked at him, and Link scratched his head, embarrassed.
"I did?"
"Yes."
"Well, to be honest, I um… I don't remember dreaming about that." He remembered other dreams he'd had that night, dreams that he could not share. "Did I hurt anyone?"
"You gave the maid trying to wake you a nasty bruise," she offered, smiling a little bit in sympathy.
Link shook his head. "Are you sure I'm worth all this trouble?"
"I am confident in it."
Before dinner, their clothes with the final touches arrived. The elegant garments were carried in cedar and pine boxes by the maids, Link's in his room and Zelda's in hers, set up and shaken out, hung up to keep wrinkles from forming. Zelda lingered in her room, staring at the dress, her maids holding a trove of jewelry for her to select from that would match. She had diamonds and sapphires aplenty, gold and silver settings, tiny post earrings and long, elaborate dangling earrings, necklaces both long and meant for looping around the head, and others tiny, almost chokers (but that was not a worry for her), bracelets that clasped around the wrist with all manner of locking mechanisms, and a treasure trove of rings.
"None of this will do," she moaned in desperation. "Get me my cloak, I need to go to a jeweler's."
They rushed her to the door. "Your Highness, should not your bodyguard go with you?" one asked in a low voice.
Zelda shook her head. "There's no time, and he has his own dilemmas, I am sure." With that, she dashed from the castle.
Zelda was entirely wrong. Link had looked over his outfit, nodded once, and promptly forgot about it again, practicing his dance moves in front of a mirror. Even now, he could picture the ball (for some reason it bore a striking resemblance to the hideous castle Ganondorf had lived in), swarming with stuffy children of dukes and counts alike, wrapped in their hideous clothing. He and Zelda would part the crowd, in the center, their heads held high as they danced. The awed masses would fall silent in amazement at his skill, and whispers would float around the room.
"I hear he is the son of a powerful Viscount."
"I hear his brother is a Marquis."
"I hear that the king has approved of their affection for each other."
"Any man'd be lucky to have such a girl."
-
Zelda made her third circle around the display cases of the jeweler's wares. The few workers of the shop stood around, smiling at her, intimidated by her power. Finally, she managed to settle on a pair of earrings, tiny ones with a blue crystal hanging above a white pearl. "Those," she murmured, pointing.
"Excellent choice, Your Highness." The earrings were retrieved and folded into a box.
She looked over the rings and bracelets, but none caught her eye; perhaps she would just wear gloves instead. On a whim, she wandered to looking at the pins and brooches, running one hand along the edge of the display. One brooch caught her eye. It was very simple, a yellow gold Triforce, with a thin circle of rose gold around its outer points. To brace the triangles together, in the center, was another triangle of white gold. "Can I… have this as well?" she asked, tapping the glass to point to it.
The pin was wrapped in a separate box, and Zelda thanked them as she left the shop, heading back to the castle. She'd put the brooch in a little bag on her hip with the other one, and now and again she touched the corner of the box through the leather material, to know that it was still there.
When she got back into the castle, she first encountered her father, who looked rather alarmed that she'd run out on her own. "Zelda!" he shouted at her. She cowered in surprise, staring at him.
"Is everything okay?" he asked in a panic, rushing to her and holding her close. It'd been a long time since he held her close, and for a little while she felt like a little girl again.
"Father, I'm alright. I just… I didn't have anything to match my dress for tomorrow, and I wanted to get something now so that I would not forget tomorrow while I got ready." She smiled at him nervously, though her father did look old and worried.
"I was just concerned; Master Tolrose did not go with you. Do you get on with him alright?"
"Yes Father, he is a good man."
The king nodded and sighed, kissing his daughter's cheek. "Come, then, dinner is set."
-
They were on the second course, soups, when the king cleared his throat. Link and Zelda both looked towards him, waiting.
"Dear daughter, what was your opinion of the Grand Duke and Duchess?"
Zelda gently touched the handle of her dessert spoon, thinking. "Honestly, father, I thought the Grand Duke was a gentleman, but his wife was… a gossipy boor."
"The reason I ask is that they have a nephew of your age who is chosen to take over their estate once they pass. Such a marriage may be advantageous, as it would give you, as the queen, tighter control over the northern realm."
Link put his soup spoon back into the half-empty bowl, not feeling so hungry anymore. Zelda glanced at him significantly, then back towards the king. "Father, I feel that before I make any such decision, I would need to actually meet their nephew. After all, he would be the one I marry."
Link lowered his eyes to his soup bowl. Zelda did not meet his gaze, returning to her own soup. "Your Majesty, if I can be so bold," Link finally spoke. The king looked at him in surprise, but nodded. "I… I was thinking that, in the early mornings, I should like to train with the Royal Guard, so that I might be better prepared to protect Her Highness should, uh, Goddesses forbid, the need arise. I uh… I'm a young man, you know, and I feel that could be useful to the country, instead of me just going off to live a pampered life once Her Highness has selected a husband."
"I thank you for your consideration, Master Tolrose. If that is what you desire, I shall speak with the Guard Captain about beginning your training tomorrow. Truly, I am moved by your dedication to your country."
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Zelda glanced at Link over her soup bowl, but he was looking not at her, but at his food.