STEALTH.
"You're not eating anything, my Queen."
Zelda had come down for breakfast ten minutes ago, but all she'd used her fork for was to move her food around. She didn't answer him. She didn't consider herself a queen, but still a princess, though she wasn't anymore.
"Are you feeling well?"
The princess—er, queen—shook her head slightly. She wasn't feeling well at all. In fact, since she woke up, she'd felt like someone had ingested her and then spat her back up.
"You look quite pale."
She didn't look up. She pushed her eggs around her plate and kept quiet, trying not to look at the ring on her finger or at Vaati.
"Would you like to go back to your room and rest?" he asked her gently. She nodded. "Very well, then. You may go."
Zelda stood up and walked out of the dining hall. She kept her head down but her eyes were alert for any monsters about to attack. She'd been attacked four times, who she stopped by showing them the ring by the time she reached her room. Once inside, she locked the door and hurried to the bathroom attached to her room and began to throw up, tears running down her cheeks as she did. But she also felt something cold on her, something that felt like cold arms wrapping themselves around her comfortingly. When she finished, she went to her bed and laid down on it, closing the curtains.
Her throat burning, she reached over for the glass of water she'd put beside her bed the night before but found it missing. In its place, however, was a wad of paper. She took it and opened it up. It was a note to her. It read:
"Be sure you don't delay. Remember, the sooner, the better!"
She had no idea what that meant, as her dream had not yet returned to her since it escaped her mind. She tossed it side and got up to get some water from the kitchen. Once there, she drank four glasses of ice cold water. She noticed a box of something and looked inside. It was a cake, with the words: Happy First Day of Being My Queen! Love, Vaati. She grimaced. The man she married was sick minded. "Does he actually think I love him?" she asked aloud. I love someone much better. The thought involuntarily crossed her mind, and a shiver ran up her spine. She didn't love anyone. Who would she ever fall for? There was no one for her to love, there never had been and she doubted there ever will be. And yet something told her that there was deep affection for someone, but she couldn't figure out who.
On her way down, she'd noticed that it was strangely quiet. No monsters were around anywhere. And on her way back up, they were still gone. She decided to take this opportunity to find the secret way into the Dark Dungeons, for emergencies or if she needed to get down there. The guard Stalfos to the dungeons was gone, so she felt around for the stone that pushed in. Vaati couldn't know about it yet, as she found the stone and pushed it in. A small passageway opened up for her at her feet. It was smaller than she remembered, but she managed to crawl through, pull the stone back and conceal the passageway.
She walked down the stairs and found the trapdoor that led to the Dark Dungeons. She opened it up and stuck her head down to see if anyone was around. Seeing no one, she pulled her head back up and hopped down, closing the trapdoor in doing so.
Walking through an empty corridor with empty cells, she heard voices below. She snuck down and opened the door to the last floor when she heard footsteps. She froze, knowing she'd get caught. But she shook her head violently and turned and bolted to the door she'd just come out of. She yanked the door open and gasped.
"What do we have here?" said Vaati, standing before her in the doorway.