Something you stole
Prologue – Ruminations at dusk
Dusk had fallen. The corridors of Hyrule castle were mostly deserted apart from a few guards starting their nightduties. The footfalls of a single pair of leather boots were the only sound echoing off the vaulted stone ceiling as the wearer approached a set of highly ornate double doors flanked by a guard on each side.
"Sir link" One of the guards addressed him with a slight bow before opening the doors to allow him passage, closing the doors behind him.
With the thud of the doors behind him, "Sir" Link awkwardly adjusted his dark green court doublet and black breeches, an outfit that he detested, before swatting his ash brown hair out of his eyes. "Damn doublet, always chafing my armpits" he growled in frustration under his breath, as he fought with the confounding, constricting nightmare in cloth.
Despite his reservations and frustrations with his attire, he knew he couldn't hold it responsible for his current state of uncharacteristic nervousness. What could leave the Saviour of Hyrule, the Banisher of Twilight and the realms greatest protector feeling so out of sorts? Well he had an audience with the princess but he'd already had plenty of those. He had been to the royal chambers before too.
No, what shook and confused him was the lateness of the hour in which he was summoned. He had been assured that she was in no danger or imminent distress, however the messenger had stressed the apparent importance her royal highness had placed on this meeting, a meeting for which he had no clue of its purpose.
What was so important that it couldn't wait until tomorrow? Didn't the princess, in all her wisdom, realise the fuel this meeting would add to the rumours flying around the castle, that she and her most favoured knight were madly in love and would soon be announcing their engagement. How did these rumours even start anyway? They were ridiculous… well at least mostly ridiculous…
Link couldn't deny that he was, unfortunately, head over heels for the princess but he found it almost comically absurd to think that she, Princess Zelda, holder of the tri-force of wisdom, ruler of Hyrule would ever feel the same way.
It was also true that Zelda was soon to be married, a calamitous circumstance that, despite his realisation of its inevitability, still left him feeling sick and hopeless. That, however, was almost entirely due to pressure from her council, desperate to stabilise the kingdom with the promise of an heir, and likely, the hope that with an heir, they may be able to keep her from disrupting their council sessions with bright ideas of helping the people instead of just helping themselves. Goddesses only knew how much he despised that bunch of snobbish pricks.
Link held onto the small satisfaction of knowing that Zelda had her own plans of what to do with the council, once crowned queen. He just hoped his heart would survive the despair of seeing her wed another, so he could witness it.
What truly baffled him was that, despite the marriage announcement and wedding day that was now only 6 weeks away, there was still little more than speculation around the lucky groom, most of it revolving around himself. Surely this had all already been planned.
As he'd ruminated Link's legs had slowly, thoughtlessly carried him along the dimly lit corridor, lined with intricate tapestries and paintings, towards the princess's study. Half way to his destined meeting place a particular image caught his eye. It often did as he'd walked this corridor many times in the last year. A magnificent painting in heavy ornate gold frame of three figures he knew all too well and which stirred many a memory. Commissioned by the princess herself to commemorate the anniversary of the end of the twilight invasion and as a tribute to the saviours of Hyrule, it always gave him pause to reflect on what both of them had gone through and the companion they'd lost.
His gaze first fell on the front most figure, blue shield in one hand, sword raised in the other, clad in his famous green and standing tall and proud. The perfect ideal of a hero. Link gave his image a bemused smile as he marvelled at just how much artistic licence had been taken with his appearance, remembering the hours he'd spent posing for it. He had to admit the end result was impressive but, as he'd protested at the time, he didn't understand why he needed to model for it when the artist insisted on changing everything anyway.
His customary hat was noticeably absent, as the painter, one of Hyrule's finest had insisted it detracted from his heroic, noble aura and promptly proceeded to lecture him on knightly and heraldic symbolism, none of which he could now recall. The one thing he could remember was the uncharacteristically unprincessly giggle that had escaped the lips of the usually regal and poised Zelda after Link took Umbridge at the implication that his hat looked "like something the court fool would wear!"
He was also aware that the artist had boosted his height by almost a foot, as it was apparently unseemly for a hero to be shorter than his princess. He had since grown slightly but to his thinly veiled chagrin so had the princess, so he was still about inch shorter than her. He also wished his physique was a little closer to his paint counterpart. It wasn't that he wasn't strong or fit. It was simply that it never seemed to show "that" much. Even his hair had been "tidied" from its usual unruly mess.
Giving one final look to his idealised image his eyes moved on to the smaller form floating next to him, the reason the painting was in the private royal chambers and not on public display. Hoovering to his right at about chest height was the diminutive impish frame of the twilight princess herself, Midna, complete with her characteristic mischievous grin. He had to hand it to the artist that he managed to get a surprising likeness despite only having his and Zelda's descriptions of her and rough sketch by Link to work from. Unfortunately, this miraculous skill could not be appreciated outside the royal wing as it was Midna's inclusion that had led to the painting being here.
Despite her many heroic contributions to the liberation of Hyrule, Midna was never the less a Twilli and therefore seen by many as a member of the invaders and it was decided that, to avoid a potential public outcry, the painting would be held in the royal chambers. Zelda had also been somewhat taken aback that the Twilight princess was presented in her cursed imp form, feeling it to be disrespectful to her status, however link actually thought it apt. While the public may have viewed it as showing her as lesser than her two Hylian compatriots, Link considered it as showing that she achieved greatness despite it. Also, Imp Midna was, to Links mind, the real one and her true Twilli form, while beautiful, was completely at odds with the mischievous, sarcastic, resourceful and sometimes annoying little rebel that he'd come to know and care for. She had been his best friend, confidante and guide during his adventure and by the end he'd grown to see her is his second surrogate sister.
Her sudden departure at the end of their long adventure had left Link reeling but time had helped to heal that wound along with many others earned throughout his adventures. Time wasn't the only healer, as he fortunately had someone to share his pain. One much wiser than him and more acquainted with loss. The third person in the painting. The very lady who was currently expectant of his arrival for a seemingly urgent matter.
Never the less Link couldn't help but glance at her image in the painting. Ever beautiful and regal, she stood in her traditional royal dress of purple and white, her head held high, hair blowing majestically in the wind. In one hand she held a golden bow, even more elaborate than the real one and in the other she was summoning light arrows which illuminated her delicately sculpted face. Her form, while every bit as royal and magnificent as one would expect was at the back of the trio, a request made by Zelda herself as she felt least deserving of credit for the downfall of the twilight. Indeed, Link had to persuade her that she should even be included, only succeeding by offering her an ultimatum, namely that he would only take part if she did.
As his gaze fixed on her face he concluded, as he always did, that for all her beauty in the painting, it paled in comparison to the real princess… who he should have been meeting a few minutes ago.
Now he knew he was just stalling because the fact was, while he couldn't be sure, he suspected whatever Zelda had to say it couldn't be good news. It had been almost a month to the day since she had delivered the revelation that the whole marriage rumour wasn't entirely inaccurate. He thought she considered him among her closest friends and confidantes which was, he suspected, why she revealed as much as she did. What if this meeting was to announce the identity of her betrothed! Such a calamity would be too much to bare. He'd rather hear that Ganondorf had returned! "Okay, maybe not that!" he mumbled under his breath.
The princess was not a giddy naïve young girl incapable of restraining her excitement. Indeed some, generally those who didn't know her as Link did, had come to name her the "ice Princess". Such a title was at odds with the princess as he knew her. She may seem to outsiders to be distant and reserved but that was just a veil. Zelda was compassionate, kind, wise, patient, graceful, innocent, beautifu… "ok heart, that's too much gushing already" Link mentally kicked himself. Anyway the point was she wouldn't suddenly request for him to meet her in private just to tell him that.
"Enough thinking, Link, time for action!" Link could almost hear Midna's voice chastising him from the painting. He turned to her image, her impish grin so life like that he couldn't help a slightly sarcastic response "Right as always Midna, well, time to see the princess, wish me luck".
With that he gathered his courage and resolve and strode down the corridor to meet his princess.