20- SHIELD and SWORD
They arrived to the shore, once they were as close to dry land as the boat allowed, Link stopped rowing and climbed out of the boat, he then extended both arms towards Zelda, her eyes widened as she shakes her head furiously, they exchange a few words and she ends up allowing Link to carry her bridal style out of the boat, and then be placed on a dry part of the shore.
LINK POV
"Not all that hard, was it? That way your shoes don't get wet and I don't have to worry about you getting sick" Link says to nobody in particular
Zelda walks towards him, grabs the lower edge of his jacket and lifts it exposing his back, she then lowers it with a sigh
"YOU ARE JUST TOO DIFICULT TO HANDLE, YOU HARD HEADED BEAST" she breaths in deeply "You got shot, meaning you have an open wound. Logic states that you CAN'T lift anything, let alone ME… you don't want me getting sick, I appreciate that, but I can't let you die on me"
"I know my body, I know what it can and can't do, and I can lift you as long as you are not struggling, the proof is that it the wound isn't bleeding, or was it?" Link challenges her
"No, it was not… can you promise me one thing? That you are not going to bleed out and die on me, you are going to be extremely careful from now on" Zelda tells him looking at him right in the eyes.
*Damn, you can almost say she cares, but you know better, don't you?
I can't really promise her anything regarding ME, and YES, I know better, thanks for the reminder
"I promise that as long as I still breathe, I will take any and every precaution necessary to ensure your survival" Link answers
Zelda just continues to stare at him, closes her eyes and nods accepting his answer.
"Now what do we do? It's getting dark soon" she asks Link
"Follow me, let's see if I can find a place to set camp before it gets too dark" Link tells her and starts walking heading east in Death Mountain's direction.
They walked in silence for half an hour, until Link saw a rock formation
That could work, it's a natural wall that can protect us from the wind on one side.
"This is a good place to camp, I need you to wait for me here Zelda, take note on the winds direction and tell me when I get back"
"Ok I guess, what are you going to do?"
"Search for logs, though maybe I will have to cut them from the tree, I want to use the logs as boundaries for a leaf mattress"
She rolls her eyes "I am not a delicate girl"
[Zelda's moan after the slap] THAT I know girl, you have made that very clear
"I can sleep on the floor just fine; we should better use them for the fire" Zelda says
"Princess… we need to avoid losing body heat at all cost, the floor is going to suck it out of us if we just lay on it, the leaves will help separate our body from the floor… we are going to need a lot of leaves"
"All right, I could help with that, NO don't look at me like that… I won't go far; I will see what I can find within the area. By the way, you said I was not a princess anymore, so don't call me by that title, it feels like an insult" she says squinting her eyes at him.
Oh, so she picked up on that one
"Fine, be careful, I won't take long"
ZELDA POV
Gathering dry leaves, I can do that for sure right? I need to ask him the logic behind choosing this spot… I feel like is something I need to know…
In fact, being with him feels like I should know many of these things already, like I should prove myself to him. I wonder why I feel like that… I think it's his eyes, he has an intense stare, when he looks at me it's like he is daring me… I feel compelled to show him I am capable. And because of that I am dry leaf hunting now, in the past I would have just sat around and let him do everything. But actually, doing this hunt right now, makes me feel… good, like I am not defenseless.
Zelda quickly finds some dry leaves, and chooses to start piling them next to a few bushes that happened to b there, hoping they can protect the leaves
I still hate him though… I always wanted to row a boat; I DREAMED about escaping the castle by crossing the moat… I am SO GLAD I never got around to try it, apparently, I can't row. I mean it took me like 30 min. to get way half across the moat, how long did it take Link to finish the trip and get us to shore? 5 min. So yeah, I despise him… and I KNOW it's not his fault at all, I am just jealous. Why does he have everything? A strong and capable body and my mother's love and respect, damn even the King praises him… oh and let's add insult to injury, he is also very good looking with a strange eye color that looks amazing and intimidating. It's not fair.
Zelda was deep in thought when she heard Link dropping a few logs
"Wind direction?" Link asks
"It blows primarily from east to west" Zelda answers pointing with her fingers
He nods and starts positioning the logs accordingly, aiming to use the rocks to block the wind
"I will need more, I will be back, how did the hunt go?"
"You tell me… it's the pile by the bushes over there" Zelda point at where she left them
"Bushes protecting them from being flown away… good thinking" Link says smiling at her
"Is that ok or do I need to search for more?" Zelda asks him, cheeks a little red from what she assumes was a compliment
"I would appreciate it if you can find more, just to help light the fire easier. But if you can't that's is ok, the amount right now seems adequate for the mattress" Link answers and gets back to finding more logs
The sun starts to set, Link gets back to camp with a few more logs, the short ones he separates for the fire, the long ones he uses to finish the boundaries for the leaf mattress, then walks to the bushes to grab the leaves, Zelda notices and immediately stands up to grab some and help with that.
"I think we need to start the fire; but I don't know how to do that" Zelda says with a little of shame
"You are right, will you finish this? I will get the fire started" Link tells her
"I noticed you are not carrying the scimitar anymore" Zelda points
"Yeah… really bad iron tempering, it broke with use" Link tell her, not bothered about it.
If he doesn't mind it, I shouldn't either right? but I have a bad feeling about not having a weapon
Zelda does a few more trips to grab the leaves she left there an put them inside the wood boundaries
I must admit, it does keep the leaves in place, no matter if the wind is blowing… though the rocks kind of protect a little against the wind, I guess that is why he choose this spot… GREAT! I don't have to ask him that now. I really hate asking to know about things, makes me feel stupid.
She turns and there is a lot of smoke, Link blows on it and then there is a fire.
I… should have seen how he managed to did that
"Your turn girl" Link says after setting the camp fire, he stands and walks away
"WHAT? You can't leave me like that, what should I do now?" Zelda asks with desperation
Link grabs his Swiss knife and hands it to her
"I filled the pot in your pouch with water, boil it adding the eel"
"But the eel doesn't fit the small pot"
"That is why I handed you my knife, cut the eel into pieces"
"don't we need to clean it first?"
"Well… I already pulled back the scaly skin while you were rowing, just cut the head off. If what troubles you is the guts… I guess I could take them out"
ACHOO!
"By the love of Nayru, I carried you to avoid getting your feet wet, and you still get sick? Forget about cleaning the eel, YOU are eating it whole"
"I am not sick, I just sneezed, and don't be petty by forcing me to eat guts as punishment, ACHOO!"
All right… I may be getting sick, but EVERYONE gets sick once in while right?
Link lowers his head closing his eyes, he opens them a few seconds later and looks with an air of threat, then he immediately lifts his head smirking at Zelda.
Fuck, am I in danger? He seemed really angry at me and then his demeanor shifted completely, that was a mayor red flag, right? he could be a psychopath for all I know.
"It's not a punishment girl, it's a reward, one that you don't deserve if I may add… but I am a man of my word, I promised I would do anything and everything, animal guts offer all the nutrition you need to delay or even avoid the sickness… you not being sick means we can move faster to safety"
Zelda lowers her head, breaths in deeply and nods accepting her fate. Drops to a sitting position, pulls out the pot and brings it to the fire, then starts cutting the eel into pieces.
He is just looking at me… damn it, I am scared of him, but what should I do now? I can't continue to be quiet, maybe I should start a conversation to ease the atmosphere, because I am NOT allowing him to see me in fear, but what do I say?
"May I ask you something?" Zelda says in a very low volume
Link still hears, and lifts his head up and down.
"What are you? I mean I know you are an agent of SWORD, but what even is that? how is SWORD different from SHIELD?"
"SHIELD… everyone everywhere knows about SHIELD, their work is to defend and protect humanity, be the world's shield I suppose, SWORD is… let me use an analogy:
A farmer plants the crops, but a storm is approaching, it menaces the field where the crops are growing, SHIELD's work is to protect the field from the storm, sadly not everything growing on the field is the farmer's crops, but it doesn't matter, to properly protect the crops you need to secure ALL the field from the storm, that is SHIELD's mission. Separating the healthy crops from weeds, ferns and other plagues, that is SWORD's mission, my job"
"You… you are humanity's executioner…" she says in a low voice looking up at him, Link just produces a half smile and winks at her
He IS dangerous… but he is protecting me, isn't he? How does that work?
"Yet you are protecting me right now… how? It's not your mission"
Link deviates his line of sight and tightens his lips
"If a warrior loses his shield during a fight, he can still try to protect himself with his sword… not the same though"
"DEFINETLY NOT THE SAME, he could break the sword in the process…" She widens her eyes in realization
NO! he can't… if he dies, I won't last a day, I am uncapable and unexperienced, he IS my sword now damnit, and I refuse to break him.
"You will keep your promise, right?" Zelda asks him in a serious tone dramatically shifting the air
Zelda's sudden resolve catches Link off guard, he nods in agreement
"Good… the pot is bubbling"
"You eat, choose the guts primarily, I will eat whatever is left on the pot, if you need to drink take a sip from the broth"
Zelda starts to refuse, but upon seeing his eyes looking at her chooses to obey.
He can't be real, it goes against instinct, who chooses to abstain from food on a dire situation? For the health of a person who dislikes you? And sustaining an injury? He… I don't like him, I am afraid to an extent of him, but it would be stupid of me to say that I don't trust him. This… could taste better, it just needs condiments, but it's not as bad as I thought, it just looks disgusting, I guess.
Zelda hands him the pot once she is finished
"You really are done? The pot looks half full; I don't need you to leave me an-"
"I am full, I ate all the guts and a few of the normal slices, you can finish that… drink as much broth as you can too, it warms you up and tastes good" she says as she starts walking to the leaf mattress with exhaustion.
After laying on the leaves she finds them oddly comfortable, though that may be the exhaustion talking. The rocks are doing a great job at keeping the icy wind at bay, but she still feels cold. Even though she starts to fall asleep, she doesn't notice someone else getting in the mattress with her and hugging her from behind, Zelda just knows that she is at peace and warm, and soon starts to dream.