"Your Majesty."
The king turned his attention to the shy scribe, clutching a sheaf of papers in his hands.
"After our… third check, we were still unable to find any records for the past two years indicating the purchase of any size of land by a Master Tolrose."
The king nodded. "That is what I expected," he muttered. "Dismissed."
The scribe bowed and left quickly, leaving the king to think, sitting at his massive desk in his personal chambers. He was thinking of some snatch of conversation he'd heard while at Archduke Golliet's, Link telling the Archduchess about slaying a giant spider, and the Archduke's own story about the boy that cleared fire-breathing monsters from the mountain. His first name had been Link.
The king shook his head, but he was smiling now, a little bit. It was time to meet his daughter for breakfast.
-
Zelda looked up in surprise when she was presented with a gold embossed note from her very father, inviting her to share breakfast with him. But it could only be good, after what Link told her they had talked about. Right?
She got dressed quickly and rushed downstairs, smoothing her hair back out of her face. She smiled at the king, already seated, and sat down at her usual place next to him. "Good morning, Father."
"Good morning, Daughter."
They ate first, Zelda picking at her breakfast all the while, nervous. What could he want to talk about with her? What could be going through his head? She mulled over her worries as they dined on crisped slices of bacon, hot toasted bread with butter, oatmeal with plenty of sugar and cream, everything she liked. When the last rashers of bacon were getting cold and congealed, their coffee being refilled a third time, the king finally spoke his mind.
"Do you remember about… several years ago, when Master Ganondorf was around, and you began having those dreams?"
Zelda slowly nodded.
"And then, shortly after he disappeared, you had… night terrors for a while, about being chased down by monsters, to the point where we had to get you help."
Zelda stared down into her coffee. She remembered well; for a year she'd wake up screaming, screaming that he was coming, her bed sheets soaked with sweat. Impa would grab her knowingly, hugging her tight until she passed out from exhaustion again.
"You told me once, before you started having those nightmares, that you met a young boy, the good part of your dreams. What was his name?"
Zelda could not tell him. She blinked rapidly, her heart pounding. The nightmares were always there at the back of her mind like a brand, Impa stealing her from the castle and Ganondorf lunging after them, his horse's breath blowing in the wind like smoke. But she'd gotten very good at defeating them.
The king reached over and pushed his daughter's arm. "Zelda. What was the young man's name?"
Zelda blinked and shook her head. "I don't remember."
He could not tell if she was lying or if she honestly did not know. He wouldn't be surprised if it was the latter; her doctor was very good.
Zelda had been lying, naturally. She didn't know what her father's actions were if she were to tell him that it was Link who she'd dreamed of, and she didn't want to find out.
-
Link, on the other hand, was starting to feel pretty good. He'd lost some weight and built up his muscles, and he hadn't taken a single hit in practice. Even his fellow soldiers were starting to compliment him, and the guard captain had mentioned if he kept it up, he'd be 'going places'. In a positive way, of course. He took his breakfast with the others, joking around with them. Everyone was getting nicknames now, as their personalities in swordplay shone forth. On his way out to mill the castle for something else to do, Link didn't know he was being watched by Addie, who had, of course, seen their quick kisses last night on the patio. Like usual, Zelda had their lunch arranged, and like usual, they had it out in the gardens.
They ate in silence at first. But Link decided he needed to open up his big fat mouth about something.
"You should probably pick a husband, yeah? Just to appease your dad."
"What?" Zelda snapped, eyeing him. "Do you want to leave or something?"
"No, no, no, but… well, I think your dad kinda hates me."
"Oh please, if my father hated you, he certainly wouldn't let you be around here." Zelda sipped at her wine, glaring at him.
"Well look, I just… we can't go around like this forever, you know? You're gonna need a king some day, and… I can't be king because I have no title to my name."
"You're not the type to be a king, anyway," Zelda murmured. "It's a hellish job."
Link sighed and looked away.
"Look," Zelda said with a little sigh, tilting her head slightly. He turned back towards her. "Why don't we make an arrangement? I am nowhere near ready, in my opinion, to rush into a wedding. And you are nowhere near ready to leave, I hope?"
"Well," Link glanced down at his lunch. "No."
"So, let us linger for a year. I will compare my current list of suitors, you can keep your job for a little longer, and…" she shrugged.
Link thought about it, nodding reluctantly. "Alright." Zelda smiled, leaning over and kissing his cheek. He smiled back, a little uncomfortable, but growing used to it all the same.
-
After lunch, because the weather was so good, they decided to linger outside and walk the maze. They hadn't actually gone farther than their lunch spot, although Zelda knew the maze pretty well, so she led them around, keeping Link in view so he wouldn't get lost.
"How big is this thing?" he asked as they wound their way toward the center.
"It's not too big, just so intricate one gets that feeling from it. It serves two purposes; as entertainment, and it protects part of our castle from anyone trying to sneak close and attack it."
Link looked around at the brilliant green bushes, the carefully planted and planned flowers threaded throughout the walkways. "They could light it all on fire, though."
Zelda sighed and closed her eyes. "Well, come on. If you're going to sneak into a castle you don't light a fire so close to your enemy's base."
She continued leading him through the maze until they were in the very center, where the bushes grew tallest and shrouded them in green silence. It was the eye of the storm, the calm heart of its writhing mass. Both of them had been silent for some time. There was a fountain, making the only noise, a muted splashing sound. Zelda looked over at Link and walked over to him, taking his hands. Link looked at her, his eyes bright and wondering. They kissed, over and over, lingering there in the maze.
-
Addie had watched them go out to lunch, and as an excuse to stay near the doors to the garden maze, she began to furiously clean the glass, over and over, wiping down every inch to avoid leaving as long as possible. She was at the far end of the hall, polishing an old mirror, when finally Zelda waltzed in, her face pink from the sun or excitement. Addie watched the princess dance off to her rooms, and peeked out of a low window open to the patio before the gardens, Link still hanging around out there and wiping his mouth clean, kicking his feet a little before heading determinedly to the doors. Addie rushed off, all of excitement. They couldn't resist each other, they had to be together! And she would set them up for the perfect time to do just that.
-
The next morning, immediately after Link finished his practice and long before Zelda would rise for the day and begin preparing, Addie bravely knocked at the barrack doors. One of the other soldiers answered, a younger boy with sandy hair and a stubbly chin. "Yeah?"
Addie bowed. "Excuse me, but her royal highness has requested the presence of her guard."
Link climbed down from his bed, surprised; he didn't think Zelda was up this early. He headed out and followed Addie to the stairway, pausing at the bottom step. "What's this all about?" he asked Addie sharply. She did not reply, but headed upstairs. After a few minutes, he followed.
He made Addie stop again at the door to Zelda's room. "Tell me what's going on." He was deeply annoyed, and didn't trust this girl a whole lot.
Addie cleared her throat. "Well, good sir, the princess Zelda confessed to me last night as I was combing her hair that she would like nothing more but to be woken by your kiss in the mornings." Her eyes were shining, and Addie looked lost in a dream world. What Link didn't know was that she was making the whole thing up; Zelda had said no such thing to Addie, and didn't care much for being bothered while she was sleeping, especially not by silly romantic fantasies of being kissed awake, even by someone she admired. But Addie knew this was really what they both wanted, and she was going to help it along!
As quietly as possible she opened the princess' bedroom and let Link in, shutting the doors afterwards. Link looked around her rooms; they were much brighter during the day and seen with sober eyes. Her room was tidy, one closet door open with a beautiful lace gown hanging over the top. Nervous, he poked around her vanity, sniffing at a perfume and spraying a little on his coat, sniffing and sneezing. Zelda was oblivious, tucked warm in her bed, her back to him. He touched her little makeup brushes, looked over a few scattered pieces of jewelry, and in one partially open drawer he saw a piece of paper with careful, tiny lettering. He bent down to look at it closer, and that was when Zelda rolled over in bed and opened her eyes halfway, staring at the familiar figure in her room.
"Link, what the hell are you doin' in here," she slurred, one eye barely open.
Link froze up and looked over at her. "I uh… was sent to wake you."
"Why?"
"I uh… I don't know, actually."
Zelda sighed and waved one hand at him. "Get outta here before we get in trouble."
Link turned around and tried the door, but it was locked. "Oh, what the hell," he muttered.
"What?" Zelda grumbled.
"Addie locked the door."
"What?" Zelda got up and rattled the door handle, glowering.
Addie, meanwhile, was busily cleaning at the bottom of the stairs to keep anyone from going up to wake the princess just yet. Oh, they would be so happy to have this chance!
"I'm dismissing that damn maid as soon as we're out of here," Zelda growled under her breath.
Link pulled her back and inspected the locks. Zelda's door had two of them; one on the outside and one on the inside. In times of war, they would use both, but in times of peace (like now) the outside one would be left undone and Zelda would lock the inside one herself.
Link patted his hips and then his boots, trying to find his dagger. When he did, he held it up to the keyhole, but it was far too big of a blade to fit. Zelda gently nudged him aside, holding a skinny bobby pin that she bent apart. She braced herself against the door, crouching down and wriggling the bobby pin inside of the lock tumbler, muttering under her breath, coaxing the machinery. The lock clicked over and Zelda finally opened the door, Link quickly stepping out. He turned back around to face Zelda, who had cooled somewhat in demeanor now that she was awake.
"Tell Addie that if she plans any more little trysts for us I will set up a tryst of my own between her and the pig pens."
Link nodded and rushed back down the stairs, Addie looking up all surprised at how quickly it'd gone. "Look," he snapped, pointing at her. "If you…" Oh, how had Zelda put it? "Don't you ever do somethin' like that again." Addie stepped back and bowed in shock as Link stormed off.
-
Zelda had gotten to curl back up in bed, and she woke up a few hours later again when the brilliant sun was in her eyes through the windows. "Hell," she grumbled to herself. She stretched and took her time getting out of bed, cracking her back sharply with a little groan. Two of her maids walked in, thankfully neither was Addie, and began to arrange her clothes for the day. So deep had Zelda's sleep been, that for a while she convinced herself that what had happened was little more than a dream. At least, until she was having her hair done, and her maid picked up the bent bobby pin.
"Oh dear, what happened here?" the girl muttered, looking it over and setting it back down. Zelda glanced at the bent pin and sighed, closing her eyes tight.
Eventually, she got set for the day, and wandered downstairs to see what was going on, and if Link was around and wanting lunch.
Link did want lunch, but he didn't want to have it at the castle. He was wary of Addie, and it didn't take much to convince Zelda that they should go ride their horses out somewhere with lunch. So they left the castle grounds together, Link carrying the basket on his horse, Zelda leading them out into the field.
Link spread the blanket for them and stretched out on it, looking off in the distance as Zelda set out their plates. It was the first time they were actually trusted with no guards and outside the castle. The two of them picked at the food sent with them, quiet.
"You know, I think there's supposed to be another ball in a month," Zelda finally said, peeling a grape with her teeth.
"Oh yeah?"
Zelda nodded. "Would you still want to go with me?"
Link grinned. "I'm supposed to, right?"
She laughed a little. "I guess you don't have much of a choice, do you?"
They sat staring out at the clouds, quiet again.
"I like you," she murmured under her breath.
"I like you too," he replied.
They looked at each other and Zelda smiled, real slow, looking away again. Link smiled back, nodding once.
They stayed out there for a while, not even talking. Finally, they packed up the things from lunch and headed back in, riding in silence. For a few minutes, they held hands. The whole day had sort of been wrapped in that quiet peace, like they knew that every second they spent together in dangerous closeness could be ruined at any time.
-
Dinner was a rather morose affair. Zelda and Link tried not to make eye contact, and the king was reading some sort of letter that he did not seem eager to share until he finished. Finally, he folded it in half and set it down next to his plate.
"That was a… proposal from Archduke Golliet," he spoke suddenly. Zelda and Link stared. "He and his wife were much impressed with you, and happily are offering their land and home to our estate as well as a betrothal agreement to Corbin."
Zelda dropped her fork and started panicking. "Father, it's too soon. And I don't know if I even like Corbin—
"Well he's been the most agreeable chap so far, hasn't he?" the king retorted, angry. "And I'm bloody sick of waiting for you to pick someone good enough! He's the best choice that's also eligible, my dear daughter, so I hope you get used to it! I am done with this conversation!"
Zelda shoved herself back from the table and stormed off. Link hesitated, frozen. Finally, the king looked at him and waved one hand, allowing Link to run off after Zelda.
He caught up with her; she hadn't gone very far, unable to catch her breath so easily in her corset. "Princess, look, your dad's just worried about you, you know that. And I didn't think he was such a bad fellow, you know, I thought he was alright."
Zelda took slow, small breaths, letting her heart calm back down and her lungs catch up. "You did?" she asked in a low voice.
"Yeah." He was just lying to everyone now. "I mean, he's… not me, you know, but…" he laughed, shrugging.
All mad and impulsive and full of teenage rebellion (even if she was technically an adult), Zelda grabbed Link and kissed him.
She really couldn't have picked a worse time, as three different maids and even a soldier saw this. Link, in a panic, pushed her back. "Zelda!" he hissed.
They looked around, but the hall was empty again.
"A close one," he muttered.
-
Mellie about screamed when the four of them came running into the kitchens, shouting. "It's happened! It's happened!"
"What's happened?!" she shouted.
"We saw 'em kiss!"
"Oh hell," Mellie grumbled, turning to get the box. "Well who saw 'em first?"
The three maids and the soldier stared at each other, unsure.
"I was standin' there longest," the soldier volunteered first.
"We were closest to 'em!" shouted one of the maids.
"Why don't we just split it four ways?" suggested another maid.
"No!" the other three shouted.
Mellie groaned. "Just do it four ways already, there's still the pool for catchin' them in it, an' that one's three times the size."
They grumbled as they earned their winnings, Addie watching them jealously. "Should've been my earnings," she muttered darkly. Of course, there was still the other pool…
-
"Just go through with it, okay? The wedding will take time to prepare, and hopefully by then I'll have finished training and be able to join the Royal Guard, so I won't really leave."
They were sitting outside, late at night, and Link had snuck a bottle of good stuff from the kitchens. They drank straight from the bottle, passing it back and forth as they sat around on the patio staring at the garden.
"What shall we do in the meantime?" Zelda asked as she took a restrained sip before handing the bottle back.
Link shrugged. "Just do what we've been doing, I guess. If… that's alright."
She nodded. "Probably best if we're more discreet about it though."
"Oh, sure, probably shouldn't uh, kiss in hallways during the day and all that."
Link stuffed the cork back in the bottle, wondering if he could sneak it back into the kitchen just as easily. Like the gentleman he'd been trained to be, he led Zelda to the stairway of her rooms, kissing her hand and letting her go. He did, at least, successfully sneak the wine back into the kitchens, and Mellie would gripe about the nearly empty bottle during dinner the next day.
-
The king sighed. There were quite a few Marquis on the west side of Hyrule, and most of them had yet to be wed daughters. He was struggling, trying, somehow, to find a loophole for Link. Despite his reservations and tradition and the horrible cliché that was "Guard and his ward fall in love", he wanted his little girl to be happy, and if this was the only way she could, then he would do what he could for her. He looked up when someone knocked on the door to his rooms.
"Come in," he called gruffly.
A soldier stepped in, holding a letter. "This came for you, sir."
The king opened the letter; it was a reply from the Gorons. He'd sent a letter to them after Zelda murmured she had no such idea of who she'd dreamed about. Here was the reply, where Darunia confirmed it was a young boy named Link what helped them out several years back. He thought about it, stroking his chin, chewing his lower lip. He would have to talk to his daughter again about this, and catch her off guard this time.
-
Zelda could not sleep. It was early, very early, so she forced herself up and awake, and peeked out her bedroom window to see what time it was. It was very early, the sky still grey. She peeked around, looking down at the yard below and watching the soldiers train. She looked for Link, but so up high she couldn't tell where he was. Someone entered her room and she jolted, turning around. "Father!"
The king nodded. "Sit down, Zelda." She did, and waited a few minutes before her father composed himself to speak. "Are you positive that you remember nothing whatsoever about… about those visions?"
"Yes…" she narrowed her eyes, suspicious.
"And you are not lying to me?"
"No…"
"I talked to Impa, and she told me something very different about your visions."
Zelda froze. Impa wouldn't betray her, but Impa wasn't her nanny anymore, and if it involved the princess, she would talk to the king, especially if it involved something that worried him. Her father was looking at her now with utmost concern.
"Look, Father. I… it wasn't like that; for a while I was having these visions, right, and they involved Link sort of um… saving… Hyrule, and… he did. He did." Zelda stared down at her nails, terrified.
"So he's a hero, then," the king muttered.
"Yes, I suppose, I guess…"
"Someone who should probably be knighted."
Zelda bit her lower lip. What was her father playing at?
The king leaned forward. "He was never a Viscount's son, was he?"
Zelda shook her head. "No. He was just… a boy from the woods, and he had this fairy, and he saved Hyrule as we know it, he… he's my friend."
"Do you like him?" the king asked in a low voice.
"Yes, yes, I think he's a good person."
"But do you, Zelda, believe that he is a good match for you? And would you be willing to write, for me, the extent of his deeds for our country, so that I am assured of his valor and worth?"
What was her father saying? Zelda looked at him in surprise. "Do you…"
The king took her hands in his. "My little girl, if it makes you happy, I would do this for you." He beamed at her, and Zelda nodded, sniffling, smiling, looking down.
"But I couldn't do that to him."
"Do what?"
"Marry him and make him king. I don't think he'd enjoy it, he's not… that type." She would have said "not the kind of man who can sit around and get fat", but she was on her father's very good side, and she wasn't dropping it now for anything.
"Well… well then." The king cleared his throat.
Zelda ran her fingers through her hair. "I mean… I do fancy him, but I don't think he'd enjoy running a kingdom. He's much happier being a soldier."
"I shall still give him the honors, then, and I won't dismiss him from his post," the king reassured her, patting her arm.
"And, if you wish it, and truly think he'd be a good king… I will marry Corbin," Zelda replied calmly.
The king nodded and kissed her forehead. "Go on back to bed, then."
He tucked her in, as he had not done for ages, and smiled at her. "It's all settled then, I hope."
"Yes, Father. I just can't believe that Impa betrayed me…"
The king paused, looking back and smiling. "She didn't, dear."
Zelda stared at her father, wide-eyed. "What?"
"Oh no. You acknowledged your visions; she said she had no idea you were having any at all." The king grinned, and that was the moment Zelda discovered her father could tell just as convincing of a lie as she could.