Chapter 11: Nayru's Day

"Good morning!"

Link stirred from his sleep to find princess Ruto sitting at the end of his bed.

"What are you doing here?" Link shouted at her, looking like madman with his messy hair and in this half awake state. His mother walked past the open door to Link's bedroom and peeked inside.

"You're finally awake? I let your friend in, she is such a dear. I can't believe you haven't invited her for us to meet, I didn't know you were friends with a Zora and such a pretty one too!"

"Mum! She is not a friend!"

"That's right!" Ruto cut in. "We're more than friends!"

"How sweet, is this the girl you asked to marry?" Link's mother asked with a smile.

"No!" Link exclaimed.

"Yes!" Ruto said at the same time.

"Children's games are so cute!" She giggled and continued to the kitchen. Link turned to Ruto.

"Why… are… you… here?"

"It's Nayru's Day! What have you gotten for me?"

She attacked him to see if he had something hidden in his pyjamas.

"Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! What do you mean? Nayru's Day?"

Ruto gasped. "You… don't know? This mean you haven't gotten something for me? I thought you adored me!"

Link ignored her, grabbed his tunic and went to another room to change. Ruto followed him till he shut the door in her face.

After he changed he snuck out of the window and ran to the training grounds. He exhaled in relief, believing he had escaped his fiancée.

"I can't believe you treat me like this on our first Nayru's Day!"

Link flinched at the sound of Ruto's voice. How did she get here?

"Oh, I get it!" she said and looked very smug. "I thought you were running away when I saw you through the window but you were just going to get my surprise weren't you? I'm sorry. I don't want to ruin the surprise sweetie!"

"Look. I don't have a surprise for you!" Ruto gasped at this. "I don't even now what this Nayru's Day is!"

"Nayru's Day is the day for all people who love each other! It's a day when you can surprise your love with a special gift to show how much you care!" Ruto said as she leant on his shoulder and tried to link arms with him. Link took a step to the side.

"L-love?"

Aghast he stared at her.

"Yes, like a real couple!"

"C-couple?"

"Aha!" She nodded. "…And real couples marry and live happily ever after!"

Link stared at her. He wasn't following at all. He didn't get what in Farore's name she was talking about.

"W-what?"

"You do know what love and marry means, don't you?" Ruto asked. "But of course you do! I mean, you wouldn't have asked me to marry you if that wasn't the case!" Link smiled sheepishly at this.

"Sweetie?" Ruto said as she took a step forward. Then it finally hit her that he didn't know at all what she was talking about.

After a long and detailed explanation Link walked away, speechless and very pale. He felt sick! He almost threw up. Loving someone? Kissing and hugging? Suddenly it felt like girls and boys were very, very different. He couldn't believe he had asked Zelda to marry him. His face turned crimson, all the way out to the tips of his pointy ears.

Shakily he went home to the safety of his room.

"There you are! I surely hope you weren't thinking of eloping with that fish!" Navi said as he entered. "Leaving me behind too, I don't know if I ever will be able to forgive you!"

"N-Navi, you know what love and marriage is, don't you?"

"Of course I do! Even though I have lived with the Kokiri I'm a knowing fairy and I can already say…"

"Why haven't you told me?"

"Eh?" The fairy blinked in surprise. "I… I haven't thought about that you didn't know…" The fairy felt her cheeks heat. Link was a child and here she had thought…

"Oh, then this means you weren't serious about marrying Zelda? I suspected she didn't mean that much to you when you got engaged to the fish too!" Navi laughed in relief.

Link sat down cross-legged on his bed, leaning his head in his palm. Zelda wasn't important? Yes, she was! Not serious about this? If he married Zelda would they be like his parents? What did he really think of Zelda?

"Link?"

She was cute. She was nice. There was a lot he liked about Zelda! Was there anything not to like?

No, a bit more detailed than that he had to be, despite his clumsiness with words. She was pure hearted, she had a way of appreciating the smallest things that made the world so much brighter, she always listened and she wasn't afraid to speak. When she smiled her whole face lit up in a way that was adorable, when she walked it was as though she was dancing and she had a way of understanding unlike anyone else.

"Link! Come on! Snap out of it! Today is a special day for us! I can see you in a new light. I no longer see you as a boy who constantly thinks about and miss someone he hardly sees!

"I do miss her!" Link yelled and an embarrassing silence ensued. "I mean… I actually do think of her…always… she is…" Link shook his head. He didn't know any words that fitted. "I like Zelda!" He exclaimed and fled the room. Navi's wings flapped slower and slower till she gradually sank down onto Link's bed. Her glow became faint as she looked at the closed door that had slammed shut behind him.

With a loud thump Link landed on the hard ground.

"Boy, that's the eleventh time we've thrown you out! Next time we catch you we have to report it!

Link glared at them.

The soldiers were guarding the forbidden parts of the castle. That included the garden below Zelda's window. If he could get in he could climb to her room and tell her that he liked her.

Link started to walk away but as soon as the guards went back into the garden Link came running back.

He tiptoed behind the high bushes. These guards were nearly blind! Link couldn't understand why he hadn't managed get past them yet.

"You there!" A guard had spotted him again. Link tried to run but was grabbed.

"I think I better bring you to the commander and he'll decide what we're going to do with you!"

The guard towed Link all the way to the training grounds where a lone person had just cut one of the scarecrows in two. He pushed Link forward towards the tall person and the young boy stared at the ground. This was so embarrassing!

"Sorry", he mumbled.

"Your mother will get angry if I don't raise you to be polite! What have we said about not apologizing properly?"

Link looked up to see his father's face.

"Don't look like a frightened girl!" His father stated and turned to the guard. "I'll handle this!"

As soon as the guard had left Link followed his father who was whistling a very delightful little tune as they left the training grounds.

"I thought you were practicing with the soldiers." Link said.

"Oh, I gave them a day off!" His father said cheerfully. Link stopped and stared at him in disbelief.

"Huh?"

He must have heard wrong. "B-but you never let anyone… Dad, you're not feeling sick, are you?"

"Nah, they could use some free time, besides I don't think they would be able to focus at all when it's such a special day like this… I also need this day to surprise your mother!"

His father all of a sudden looked very mischievous as he was unable to suppress a broad smile.

An idea popped up into Link's head.

"Dad, if you like a girl…" His father quickly glowered down at him.

"Not this again! If you come dragging home another fiancée I'm going to… Well, anyway, you should focus on your future and not girls! Think about it, wouldn't you rather become an honorable knight instead of putting all your energy into trying to get some girl's attention? To become a knight was my dream…" He smiled. "Then she came and ruined everything!" He clenched one of his hands into a fist. Link backed away a few steps. His father's sudden rage didn't seem to last long though.

"Well then, I must surprise my little sugar muffin!" Link's father chimed and skipped away as he kept humming his happy tune.

Link stood there shocked for a few seconds before he ran after his father.

"Dad, you must help me to surprise this girl!"

His father pouted.

"I don't want to! I must plan something really romantic for myself and your mother! It takes a lot more energy than you think"

"Please!" Link looked at his father with the puppy-dog-eyes he had inherited from his mother.

"Curse you! Did you have to get that cuteness from your mother! Curse cuteness and sweetness and love and…Okay then, you can stick to the regular stuff! Then you only have a few options. Flowers, chocolate, jewellery and poetry! And we can count out jewellery 'cause you ain't getting any! When you get older you should try to think up things of your own!"

"Thanks Dad!" Link hurried away. This was great! He had realized he liked Zelda on Nayru's Day, a perfect day to tell her. He was sure she would love a poem, his mother did.

"Hmm, let's see…" Link chewed his bottom lip as he thought about what to write. He had positioned himself by a tree when suddenly he was interrupted by a few voices nearby.

"OUT! You can't just walk in here!"

"But this is a revolutionary invention!"

Link saw an awfully old man getting dragged out by two soldiers. His face was comparable to a crushed skulltula. His expression was that of a crazy man and he had nasty, unnaturally long, yellow teeth. He also had long blue clothing and white hair.

"Go home to your old hut at Lake Hylia you crazy scientist!"

"But just think about what use you could have of my invention in this big castle! I'm doing this for the king and the princess!

"We'll get back to you!"

The old man broke free but one of the soldiers got a hold of his waste, but the old man then grabbed a tree and hugged it as if his life were hanging on a thread.

"I won't go until you let me meet the king!"

"We're not interested in any of your crazy inventions!"

"But it's such an easy design! A force being able to pull people up to an incredible height on a simple platform! I call it an elevator!" The old man said in a dramatic voice. "Just think about all the stairs your poor king has to walk. With my elevator he wouldn't have to…"

"Let go of the damn tree you old man!"

"But I've been studying it with inspiration from the Forest Temple! It's really safe!"

"The Forest Temple you say? It's forbidden to enter any of the holy temples in care of another race without permission and do you really mean to say you escaped the Lost Wood?"

Then they got interrupted by two other voices. Link looked away from the scene to see who were coming.

"Stop flinging that thing in every direction Flat!" A grumpy voice said.

"Sorry Sharp but it makes me feel the music when I sing!"

"No one wants to hear you sing!"

Sharp and Flat came within sight around a corner. Flat swung his baton as usual and Sharp looked annoyed as usual. They seemed to be taking a stroll in the garden.

The old man let go of the tree when he spotted them.

"Sharp, Flat! My old scientist colleagues! Help me telling these…"

"We're not scientists!" Sharp quickly snapped, grabbed Flat and ran away.

The soldiers grabbed the old man again.

"All right, gramps! You're coming with us!"

"No! Just think about your poor princess! Spare her from the stairs!" The old man said and fell to his knees, accidentally crushing an adorable, white flower with his weight. Suddenly everyone flinched as a dark aura surrounded the whole garden. Link recognized the dire feeling and quickly got to his feet!

"Run!" he cried.

"Get up!" A dark voice behind the old man spoke threateningly. The soldiers who faced the newly arrived person looked horror-struck.

"For the princess you say?" The person spoke.

The old man looked terrified too now, even though he still hadn't turned around.

"… Then why…" The dark person behind him pulled him up from the ground and lifted him high into the air by gripping the front of his collar. "…Did you crush the flower she planted with her very own hands?"

Link groaned at the sight of Impa holding up the poor man who struggled for all that he was worth.

"I won't allow you to do such things!" Impa snarled and sent the poor man flying over the wall surrounding the castle with a kick.

"What are you doing?" Link shouted as he walked over to them and pointed accusingly at Impa.

"He deserved it! Besides I kicked him so hard that he'll be flying for quite a while! A scientist like him should be able to figure out a way of a safe landing…"

Both the soldiers and Link gaped at her, all three feeling very uncomfortable.

"What are you looking at?"

She gave the soldiers a dark stare and they quickly hurried away. Impa also seemed to be heading elsewhere as she slowly strolled in the other direction.

Link breathed out and sat down. He started over on his poem. It took time but after several tries and hard work he held it in his hand! It was done!

"Yes!" He triumphantly said.

"What's so special about that?"

Link looked up to see Impa sitting cross-legged in front of him.

"For how long have you been sitting there?"

"Since you started. What's that? A poem?"

"So what if it is?"

"You're not going near Zelda!" Impa said as her eyes narrowed, already guessing who the receiver was.

"You don't think I've already tried? I don't care what you think"

Impa picked up a knife and started playing with it, letting her fingers trace the sharp blade without cutting herself. Link gulped.

"It's settled then. I'll give it to her but you better stop this before it becomes too serious!"

Link stared at her.

"You're actually going to help me?"

"Yes", Impa said and smiled friendly. To Link it was nothing but spooky seeing her do that. It didn't suit her at all.

"O-okay", he handed her the poem.

Impa began to walk away and unfolded the poem to read it as she walked.

"Hey! Don't read that!" Link shouted.

Zelda sat silent on the throne next to her father's. She kept her eyes locked on the double doors at the other side of the room.

Slowly they opened and light poured into the gloomy room. In contrast to the light she could see a dark, impressive figure waiting to enter.

Slowly the man approached the monarchs on the thrones. Zelda gazed at his silhouette until she could make out his looks. It was a tall man with dark skin that had a certain soft glow to it. Red, neat hair went all the way down to his shoulders and thick eyebrows almost hid his amber eyes when he lowered his head. The princess almost stopped breathing. Gold seemed to glister in those eyes. This man could only make you think of treasure and jewellery. He wore garments with traditional Gerudo symbols and much jewellery, especially one big jewel adorning his forehead was notable.

He bowed before them and both Zelda and her father lowered their heads in respect.

"Ganondorf Dragmire" Zelda's father spoke.

Zelda watched Ganondorf carefully. This was the leader of the Gerudos, a man. He neither looked young nor old, she thought to herself.

The kings talked and greeted each other. Zelda kept trying to get a good impression of this man but it was just something she didn't like. A smirk was plastered onto his face and his eyes radiated danger and evilness. Besides from that he simply gave her bad feelings, he had a special air around him. His eyes locked with hers even though he still spoke to her father. At that moment Zelda decided that this man had no good intentions and that she had to be on her guard around him. No matter how beautiful he was it was nothing but the surface, and the ocean was dark and deep beneath.

Ganondorf Dragmire had never experienced the feeling of dying and now he was drowning, drowning in those deep, blue eyes of the small girl on the throne. He had come here to nestle his way in close to the king so he could succeed with his plan. He hated how she seemed to see right through him. To know.

Still, even though he found himself breathless, his only reaction was that his eyes became wider for a second. He had self-control. Zelda noticed this too. He had noticed her looking at him in that way that made others scream and she had trained to be more concealed. Still he had hardly reacted at all. Either he was a good liar or she was a better observer. She suspected the earlier.

Ganondorf sensed her presence through the whole meeting, he was painfully aware of the small figure at the brink of his vision. He was sure that the king was nothing but an insignificant pool of water compared to this eternal ocean.

After the meeting Zelda felt relieved to be out of that room. The air itself had felt heavy and dark around that man.

She went to her room and collapsed onto her bed. Impa stepped out from a corner.

"I have something for you."

Zelda looked up with half-closed eyes.

"What?"

"A letter from a dead man", Impa said in a dark voice. Zelda rose.

"Impa!"

"Well, after reading this I'm trying to find a suitable punishment for the boy", Impa said with a shrug.

"Link!" Zelda happily shouted and reached for the letter.

"I didn't say… Oh, well, it is from him! Just read it!" Impa handed her the letter. Zelda unfolded it and read it silently to herself.

Dear Zel

I just wanted to tell

I really, really like you

So instead of saying boo

I'll give you a flower

And destroy your tower

Because I don't like stairs and you don't have an elevator

And your bodyguard is comparable to an alligator.

Love Link

"Impa, what's an elevator?"

First I want to give special thanks to sakura for saving me from deep despair and to Rynada who made me sit down and finally write this thing! Thank you so much! It really meant a lot!

Nobody who has anything to say? More seriousness? Any special character you want to see? Any suggestions? Anything? A small kind word to make me happy?

I decided to change this to humor after all. I don't seem to be able to stop with my lame jokes. I will of course try to be more serious and I'm still full of determination to make this story romantic!

If you don't find it funny you can always laugh at my grammar.