When Link did finally return to his home, a few months or so after Zelda's most recent visit and departure, he was shocked to find that yet again, a woman was waiting for him in his house. But it wasn't Zelda; it was Ruto. She sat at his kitchen table with two guards, and while Link was still trying to remember if he locked the door, she thumped a warped, swollen, and barnacle-crusted wooden box onto the table. "This was found a few miles off the coast of Lake Hylia last week." She fixed him with a steady gaze. "What do you make of it, Link?"

Link sat down slowly at the table, pulling the box over with his fingertips and opening it. The rings sat mired in sticky mud, their carefully engraved curls coated and almost completely hidden. He took out his handkerchief and cleaned them carefully with the edge of his nail, shaking his head. "They're still in excellent condition," he muttered.

Ruto licked her lips. "I take it you know what those are and who they belonged to, then?"

Link looked at her, raising an eyebrow before settling back. He was not in the mood for Ruto's games. "How'd you get into my house, and how'd you figure out those are mine?"

"A key, and honestly, carving a Triforce on the inside of the lid, with your initials in the spots for Courage and Wisdom, isn't very subtle." Ruto fixed him with a sad gaze. "Link, did she know that you were thinking of proposing?"

Link raised his eyebrows. "I wouldn't say proposing, so much as I wanted her to have a physical symbol of… what we have—had. How I feel about her an' such." He frowned. "So why'd you have to bring these to me specifically? I'm sure you find dozens of—maybe even hundreds of lost engagement rings. Why couldn't you just leave them be?"

Ruto rubbed her palms together. "I… I know how you and Zelda have been, for months now. And that her engagement and marriage could not have been easy on either of you; she wasn't always lying when she told her father she was spending the night at my palace. Of course, we only talked about the wedding in negative tones…" Ruto looked away, sighing. "You should go see her at the castle. She was always coming to see you, and you two are so in love. If she cannot come to you, why do you not go to her?"

Link shook his head. "With the security and the guards, it made more sense for her to come here; a strange man in the queen's quarters would've caused a scandal."

"As if her not being at my palace, but in the arms of another man, wouldn't have?" Ruto arched one eyebrow. "I say this on behalf of what I know about your relationship: go to her. Give her the rings, and tell her you will love her no matter what comes between you two, and that you let her go to have a happy life. If that is how you feel."

Link slammed a fist into the table, glaring at Ruto. She jumped, as did her guards, on edge. "I have TRIED! To let her go! She has tried to stay away! But I can hardly breathe without her! Every day without her, knowing that she is holed up in a castle and a marriage with some… some noble bastard who doesn't know the first THING about her is KILLING. ME." Link's breath heaved, and he gritted his teeth, glowering at the Zora queen. "And before you suggest we run off into the sunset together to another country to scratch a meager existence from the land, she won't do it because she is bound to this country by her birth right." He looked away, and his left hand twitched. "Excuse me," he growled, not waiting for Ruto's permission, and going to his bedroom to prepare his pipe.

Ruto followed him, folding her arms together and leaning against the doorway to his bedroom. "Link." He half-turned toward her, lighting a match with his thumbnail and lighting the tobacco. "Zelda's with child."

"I'm late," she whispered in a panicked tone. Link had been woken up by her frantic knocking, and the moon was high in the sky.

He stared at Zelda, uncomprehending for a few minutes, replying stupidly, "Well yeah, I was sleeping, but my door's always open to y—

"No," she corrected him sharply. "My cycles, they're…"

Link chewed his lower lip, letting it dawn on him. He stepped back and let her in, shutting the door tight. "Are you sure?"

"Yes." Zelda was pale and trembling, and she started to pace around the house. "It's been too long, the moon's starting a new phase, I'm behind by a few days. Oh Goddesses, what if I'm pregnant, what will I do, I can't just hide this until the wedding, we have seven months and I'll be showing—

Link grabbed Zelda by the shoulders and pulled her close, kissing her forehead. In a way, he was excited at the possibility. Something physical, something to tie them together. Even if it meant, unfortunately, that Zelda would be disgraced from the crown, and he would be wanted for taking her chastity. He would take her away from Hyrule, and they would live together off the land. The child would have her hair and his eyes, a boy, and Link would show him how to hunt and farm—

"If you're pregnant, I will take you in. We can live together, Zelda, and raise our child."

She looked at him, uncomprehending. "Our… Link, no. They'll kill you! For… for taking my virtue, they'll hunt you down and behead you!" She pulled away and paced again, and her erratic worries irritated Link deep down inside.

"We could leave Hyrule!" he called after her.

Zelda shook her head. "Don't be stupid. I can't leave Hyrule."

Link growled in frustration and folded his arms, flopping down heavily into a chair at the kitchen table. Zelda continued to pace, muttering to herself. "… but it'll be expected if it's the king's child, as it's fairly common for the bride and groom to be acquainted well before the actual marriage night…."

Link looked up at her sharply, narrowing his eyes. "Zelda, you're not honestly thinking—

"Yes, yes," she whispered, taking a seat at the table. "I'll just… I'll couple with Bertrand, and then it will be as if it's his child and not…" She looked up at Link with a lost, child-like expression. "Can we make some tea?"

He sighed heavily and shook his head, standing. "Sure."

A week or so after this exchange, Zelda came back. Link let her in like usual, going to start the kettle. "It was a… a false alarm," she said, swallowing. "My cycles have come, and… it was a false alarm." Link couldn't tell her that he'd been… disappointed. So instead, they made tea, and curled up together on the sprawling couch under a warm blanket, sipping their drinks and speaking very little.