Zelda rubbed her cheek, "I wish you would stop looking at me like that."
"I don't know what you mean, Your Grace," Impa plopped a grape into her mouth, eyes never leaving Zelda.
Zelda crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the woman in front of her. Her lunch going untouched. Zelda usually dined with Link, but he was called away by Rusl. The sly grin that Impa was giving her making her miss his company.
"Yes, you do."
"Are you this aggressive when you have lunch with Link?" Impa asked, her smile growing.
"What is that suppose to mean?"
Impa threw back her head and laughed.
"Nothing, Your Grace… you just seem to be getting along nicely with him."
Zelda turned her eyes towards the castle. Eyeing the window to Link's study. She shifted in her seat. She felt uncomfortable, uneasy, but surprisingly happy and excited. A whole plethora of emotions fighting for dominance in the pit of her stomach.
"I think I actually like him." she whispered.
Impa's eyes widen at her confession.
"He is very kind," Impa placed another grape on her tongue, "and handsome."
Zelda felt her cheeks flush.
"I didn't notice," She said, bringing her gaze back to the lunch in front of her.
Impa once again smiled at her, Zelda hated that look. It reminded her of the same one her mother's cat used to give her before it scratched her. Predatory and sneaky.
"That was quite the show you both put on the other day."
Zelda sighed and rested her chin on her hands.
Impa's dark eyes said nothing as she stared at her, "It's okay to like him. That makes things easier, does it not?"
Zelda frowned and found her eyes once again wondering over to the Link's study. The wind gently toying with her hair.
"I'm not so sure."
Zelda tossed another knife towards a hay filled target. She frowned despite her accuracy.
"That was a good shot, but you seem disappointed."
Zelda looked back at her fiancé and found the corners of her mouth quirk up. He looked tired, but relaxed. His hair disheveled laying in several directions.
"I'm nervous," she said, surprising herslef with her honesty and the way her shoulders dropped when she looked at him. She suddenly felt relaxed to, the knots in her stomach slowing coming undone.
"Nervous?" Link walked closer to her, picking up one her knives and examining it. "You?"
Zelda felt a full smiled form on her face, "Yes I am nervous, so I'm hiding."
"What could possibly make you nervous enough to hide?" Link said, twirling a knife between his fingers.
"I get nervous around new people." Zelda picked up a knife and avoided Link's gaze. Feeling slightly embarrassed by her growing familiarity for her fiancé.
She could feel him studying her, and she was sure he must have noticed the growing blush on her cheeks. She was wondered if he already somehow managed to unlock all her secrets, if he could read her carefully crafted expressions as easily as the maps in his study.
"I understand. New people can be tiresome," He threw the knife in his hand with a casual flick of his wrist. His embedding itself next to hers, gently touching it.
"Have you talked to Illia?" She asked, wanting to gain some ground, to get her hands on some of the secrets he may have hidden, if he even had any.
His shoulders stiffened at the mention of his childhood friend.
"No, she wont see me." He said picking up another knife and Zelda could see how much it bothered him.
"Her father was right, she just needs some time." Link nodded glumly and threw another knife.
Zelda watched him retrieved the knives from the dummy. Watched his shoulders and the stiffness in them, saw the tremendous weight that rested on them, but he looked back at her with a smile. One filled with gentleness and she found herself memorizing the way his eyes crinkled at the corners.
She found herself smiling back, and realized that as the setting sun illuminated him in a soft golden glow, that anything hidden that would be that way for long.
"How about a throwing contest?"
"Why, do you think you can beat me?" she asks, taking the knives from his hands, "Do you excel at everything?"
He looked thoughtful. Staring ahead at the target, "Not everything."
He tossed a knife lazily, and smiled landed in the center of the target in front of them.
The smiled he gave her when she got ready to throw her own, seriously made her doubt that.
Zelda wasn't surprised to find Ilia following her. She noticed immediately, smiled the girls floral perfume instantly, heard her soft footfalls, and her quick breaths. Zelda admired her commitment and kept her back straight and her head high as she led the girl to the library, leaving the heavy oak doors open behind her.
Her eyes focused on the numerous books ahead of her, lazily gliding over the spines not bothering to read any of the titles.
Zelda could feel her heart hammering in her chest. She had no idea what to do. Matters of the heart weren't exactly her forte, nether were confrontations that didn't involve something pointy.
"Are you going to follow me all day?" She asked once she reached her favorite spot. A corner in between shelves of Ordon's history books and notable biographies of former rulers.
Zelda heard the girl gasp, before slowly peaking out from behind a shelf.
Her green eyes looked afraid, "Not all day."
Zelda smiled at the girls pout.
"We should talk."
Ilia's eyes widen.
"I can tell that you care for Link," Zelda started gently. She had faced numerous enemies before, but this was something else. The last thing she wanted to do was cause even more strife between Link and Ilia.
"I do," She whispered, Ilia slowly walked towards her and leaned against the shelf in front of Zelda. "I've known Link my whole life."
Zelda clasped her hands in front of her. "I know he values your friendship very much."
She visibly flinched. Maybe that had been a poor choice of words.
"I want you to know, Ilia, that though I have known Link only for a short time…I care about his happiness."
"I can tell." she said, crossing her arms over her chest and looking at Zelda with eyes filled with unshed tears. "I can tell you care about him, I saw you two on the training grounds. He seems to like you."
Zelda felt her pulse quicken. "I want us to be friends Ilia."
The smile she gave Zelda started with a touch of sadness. "I do too, but you have to promise to teach me how to throw one of those knives."
"Saria? Can I have a glass of water?" She asked, her voice coming out in a raspy whisper. Zelda tried to clear her throat, to no avail.
Zelda rubbed her cheek and glared at her reflection in her mirror.
"You've already had three." Impa said.
Zelda could hear the soft clinking of ice against the silver goblet as Saria poured the water.
She gave Zelda a sympathetic smile as she handed her the glass.
Zelda sighed and winced as a hairdresser pulled and tugged at her golden locks. Pinning them to her head, so that they will be tight ringlets on her wedding day.
The cold water eased that pain that was growing from her scalp, but did nothing to ease her nerves. She blew air out her nostrils loudly as her restlessness grew.
She ran her hand over her cheek again.
"Excited about tomorrow?" Saria asked, taking one of hand in hers and buffing the nail with a small metal file.
"Ecstatic," Zelda said with another sigh, "Maybe a little nervous."
"You have nothing to be nervous about," Impa assured her. "Everything is ready."
Zelda closed her eyes in an attemp to stop herself for sighing again, instead opting to count to ten in her head, the numbers corresponding to her hammering heartbeat.
"You are going to look lovely." Saria said, giving Zelda's hand a gentle squeeze.
Zelda frowned.
The hairdresser was finishing up with the last strands of her hair and Zelda was feeling like she was putting on her battle armour instead of night cream and perfume.
Her wedding was tomorrow, and she felt like she was going to vomit.
She was up before dawn, something she had done many times before, but hated all the same.
"Impa these preparations are ridiculous!" Zelda clutched her hands in front of her. She had an unbridled urge to tear her fingers through her scalp, "I hardly got any sleep from these insufferable things in my head!"
Impa just smiled, and placed a calming hand on her the girl's shoulder, "It is from my understanding that in order for your curls to keep their integrity they must be allowed to set overnight."
"I miss the desert!" She said in huff. Falling down into her vanity seat. Staring angrily at her reflection.
"It will be over soon, Princess."
Zelda felt her throat tighten, as Saria entered the room. This was far from over. This was just the beginning and Zelda felt an wave of restlessness. She trusted Link and she knew Impa would never have signed off on a marriage with a suitor she didn't approve of. This was Zelda's first outing as Zelda, in five years, after being presumed dead she was about to be thrust into a spotlight, and bright lights often bred the darkest shadows.
"Zelda, you should eat something!" Saria said, placing a tray with tea and some bread in front of her, "It is going to be a long day!"
Saria was extremely chirper despite early hour, but their was never a time when the girl wasn't positively beaming.
"Did you sleep well?" She asked as she hummed softly to herself and checked on the state of Zelda's curls.
"No, not really," Zelda frowned her scalp throbbing and her stomach unsettling. She tossed and turned all night. She was plagued with dreams, more then once waking up with a fear fueled start. Her nightmares slowly fading away into the darkest corners of her mind. The screams that woke her still ringing in her ears.
Zelda felt Impa give her shoulder another squeeze, sensing her unease.
It did little to stop the pounding of her heart.
It wasn't long before she was laced in her dress and her feet were squeezed into pointed shoes. Time flying doing nothing to ease Zelda's nerves.
"Are you ready?" Impa asked. Her eyes staring at the chapel's impressive doors. She was dressed in a traditional Shiekah formal wear. The sight gave Zelda some comfort.
"Yes."
Zelda surprised herself with the firmness in her own voice. She was nervous, but that didn't make her stupid. The knives hidden in her long sleeves and strapped to her thighs helped ease her sense of worry.
Impa smiled.
"See you on the other side, my Queen."
The title surprised her and thrilled her. She was one step closer to getting her home back, to freeing her people from a tyrant.
Was she strong enough?
She stared at the wooden doors in front of her, whispers from the guests were soon drowned out by gentle harps. A familiar song reaching her ears.
Impa must have given them the sheet music, it was song from her family passed down from mother to daughter. It was comforting. A piece of her family to carry her to the altar and when the doors swung open and the guests gasped, Zelda smiled.