Things were often unspoken between Link and Zelda. Partially because Link hardly spoke at all, and partially because the pair had reached such deep mutual understanding that things often needn't be said.
When Zelda was finally freed from Calamity Ganon, Link simply resumed his duties protecting her. Even though the Royal guard, and by extension his position as her appointed knight, had been exterminated more than a century ago, Link never considered leaving her side. Nor did Zelda ever ask why Link decided to continue things more or less the way they used to be.
It needn't be said.
When Link and Zelda stood on a grassy hill in Hyrule Field in the peaceful fallout of Link's defeat of Ganon, the pair had gazed upon the blackened ruins of what was once Zelda's home. The question of where Zelda would live after that never came up. The two had simply trekked to Hateno village, where "Link's House" became "Link and Zelda's House" without so much as a word.
It needn't be said.
When Link followed Zelda across Hyrule, sword in hand, the message was clear: he would protect her. When Link assembled a pile of cushions and blankets on his floor the night they arrived in Hateno, the message was clear: Zelda was welcome in his home. But some things were more subtle - the way Zelda would squeeze his arm when she laughed, the way she would instinctively grab his hand when there was danger - what was the message then? What did it mean? How did she feel about him?
These thoughts had crossed his mind more and more since the gestures had started to escalate. A squeeze on the arm or a grasp of a hand were one thing, but what about when Zelda had crawled into bed with him after she had a nightmare? What did that mean? And what about the fact that she kept doing it every night, even after the nightmares subsided? Was it appropriate to ask?
Tonight presented one such situation. Link and Zelda had been visiting Purah in Akkala, and were returning home, south, to Hateno. They had stabled their horses in the South Akkala Stable instead of the East Akkala Stable, so that they could visit the beach near Malin Bay unencumbered. That meant more of their journey had to be made on foot, but the scenery was beautiful, and the skies were clear. At least, they had been all day.
But as clouds began to roll in over the Rist Peninsula, they heard the sound of thunder, and had to make a choice: travel south, to Tarrey town, or travel west, toward the stable. Tarrey town was closer, but it was in the opposite direction of the stable, where they would need to
eventually retrieve their horses. If they went west, they'd be moving away from the storm. If they went south, it might miss them altogether.
They decided to head west.
Very quickly they realized their mistake, as mere minutes into their journey, they felt the sprinkling of rain on their skin. Weighed down by their packs, and feeling the unpaved path beneath their feet begin to sag, they knew there was no hope of outrunning the storm. Their new objective was to find shelter where they could wait for the storm to pass.
As the sprinkling became a shower, and the shower became a torrent, Link finally spotted a cave in the rocky cliffs to their left, overlooking Lake Akkala. He grabbed Zelda's wrist and the two trudged over to the cave. It was a rather sizable cavern, and it curved around inside to provide privacy and shelter from the outside.
In the comfort of the cave, the deafening roar of the rain was muffled just enough for Link and Zelda to hear their own ragged breathing. They looked at each other, hunched over, hands on their knees, dumbfounded for a moment. Zelda gave an incredulous but good natured chuckle as she heaved. Link simply smiled.
"Wow," Zelda breathed. "I've never run so fast in all my life!"
Link nodded in agreement. He let his pack slide off his shoulders and hit the rocky floor of the cave with a squelch. Zelda more delicately placed her own pack on the floor and sat cross-legged near the cave's entrance, just far enough inside to stay dry.
"This doesn't look like some passing shower," She remarked, grabbing the length of her hair with both hands and wringing the water out. "Maybe we should get comfortable."
Link hummed in agreement, and started looking through his pack for supplies. They had extra clothes, wood for a fire, some snacks, and some blankets to keep warm or to use as towels. He grabbed one of the blankets and walked it over to Zelda.
"Ah, thank you," She said, taking the blanket and smearing it over her face in a decidedly un-dignified but very endearing way. Link watched her with amusement for a moment before returning to his pack and gathering wood for a fire. Zelda heard the commotion and looked over her shoulder.
"Good idea," she remarked. She walked over to her own pack and began rifling through it. Link concentrated on making the fire. Zelda grabbed some things out of her pack and walked to the back of the cave. After a few minutes of intense focus, Link was able to get a fire started. At just the same time, Zelda sat down next to him, having changed into dry clothing. She was futilely trying to brush her hair, but the brush kept getting stuck in the matted knots.
"Ugh," She gave a grunt of frustration. "I cannot wait for the comforts of home." Link began rifling through his pack for ingredients to make food. Their afternoon had left them both starved. Eventually, Link had gathered some meat, some mushrooms, and some cooking equipment. He mentally remarked how quickly they had been able to travel despite practically lugging a kitchen on their backs the whole time.
As Link finished cooking, they had spent the better part of an hour, and the storm outside had only intensified. Link had forgotten to change his clothes, but cooking over the fire had dried them out naturally. The two ate in comfortable silence, accompanied only by the sound of the rain, and by the time they had finished their meal, the skies outside began to darken. It seemed the sun was setting behind the storm clouds, and they would have no chance of making it to the stable tonight. They would have to camp in the cave.
With dry clothes, full bellies, a warm fire, and the sound of rain outside, sleep would be no issue for them. Link grabbed Zelda's now-dry blanket from beside the fire and draped it against the sloping side of the cave to make a bed for her. She happily obliged and lay down on it. Before Link could turn to get his own blanket, she patted the spot next to her on the blanket, beckoning him to lay with her.
"Bring the Sheikah Slate," She pleaded. Link hesitated for a moment, but ultimately relented. They did do this at home, after all. He went and grabbed the Sheikah Slate from his bag and brought it to where she lay, and joined her. She gingerly took it from him, snuggling up next to him, resting her head on his chest, far too close to be proper. The blanket provided little cushion against the hard rocky floor, but at least there were no sharp rocks jutting up.
She began fiddling with the screen, eventually finding the Hyrule Compendium. He should have known; she was obsessed with the flora and fauna of Hyrule. She looked through his photos, occasionally humming in recognition. For his part, Link was enjoying the warmth and closeness, and he hoped she couldn't hear the speed of his heart where she rested her head on his chest. Then, Zelda gasped.
"An Akkalan Bullfrog!" She exclaimed, her eyes locked on the photo of what Link had thought was an ordinary frog. "You actually saw one?"
She looked up at him, and he looked down at her, bringing their faces incredibly close. He could feel the heat of her breath on him. The orange light of the fire mixed with the blue glow of the Sheikah Slate, and it reflected in her turquoise eyes, and it danced on her perfect skin, and Link thought he might pass out. The way she looked up at him was not the way any princess normally looked at anyone. Her wide eyes looked back and forth between his own, awaiting his answer. He was, as usual, speechless, but managed to nod. Zelda, for her part, unceremoniously went back to looking at the picture, sparing Link's nerves any further stress.
Did she know what she was doing to him? Did she realize how she was torturing him?
"Lucky," She practically pouted. "The Akkalan Bullfrog is incredibly rare. What I wouldn't give to see one with my own eyes," She mused. "Maybe one day I could even study one."
She continued scrolling through the pictures for a long while, her remarks getting fewer and farther between. Eventually, Link noticed she had stopped swiping altogether, and figured she must have fallen asleep. He stared into the fire, hypnotized, and wondered how far things would go between them before he'd have to say something.
Despite those thoughts on his mind, and the rain still pouring outside, sleep found him quickly.
—
Link didn't know what time it had stopped raining, but he was awakened by rays of morning sunshine spilling into the cave. For a moment he felt a profound peace as he listened to the chirping birds and tittering bugs outside.
Then he realized Zelda was gone.
He shot upright in a panic, his head swiveling quickly every which way, searching for any sign of her. Then, his eyes met a small piece of parchment on the ground near his feet, with a note scrawled on it. He shakily picked it up and read it.
Going just outside to freshen up. Will call if I need you.
-Z
Link breathed a trembling sigh of relief and gave an embarrassed chuckle. He knew he worried too much; Zelda was no fool, she could take care of herself without him knowing her every move. Old habits die hard, he supposed.
He gave a wry grin at the contents of the note itself. "Freshen up," she wrote. Even regarding the most unglamorous aspects of camping, Link thought, Zelda remained professional and dignified.
Link yawned, now having fully come down from his brief panic. But before he could truly relax, he heard Zelda call for him.
"Link!" she cried. "Come quickly!"
Without hesitation, Link rocketed to his feet, ran out of the cave, and looked around. In front of him, the road, still pocked with puddles, ran left and right. Down the hill to his left was the shore of Lake Akkala, lined with occasional groves of trees and bushes. But he couldn't see Zelda anywhere.
"Link!" her voice came again. He unsheathed the Master Sword and followed Zelda's voice toward a patch of vegetation on the lakeshore, making a beeline for the trees. He shoved his way through the shrubs, emerging on the lakeshore to find…
Zelda. He stopped dead in his tracks, nearly dropping the Master Sword. She was standing waist deep in the water, soaking wet from head to toe. Her hands were clasped together, apparently holding something tightly. She was alone, and apparently completely unharmed.
She was also completely nude.
Link stood looking at her stupidly. The morning sunlight glistened off the droplets of water that cascaded down her perfect body and looked like a thousand stars. The way her outstretched arms pushed her chest together was downright scandalous. Her hair, no longer tangled from the rain, draped across her shoulders like a golden shawl. It was a sight Link felt entirely unworthy to behold. She wasn't a mere princess, she was a goddess.
"Ah, there you are!" She smiled, completely unfazed by his intrusion on her bathing. Zelda's voice brought Link's senses back to him, and he quickly dropped his vision to look at his own feet. He felt his face grow red hot as he realized the impropriety of what was happening. "You're not going to believe this, but… look!"
She was telling him to look. Clearly she had meant to look at whatever was in her hands, but he couldn't look at that without looking at…her. He supposed an order was an order, so he steeled his nerves and prepared to look right at her hands, and nowhere else.
He failed.
But Zelda didn't seem to notice, and eventually his eyes found her hands. There she held the same seemingly-normal frog she had fawned over on his Sheikah Slate the night before.
"It's an Akkalan Bullfrog! I can't believe my luck," She beamed. Link couldn't stand it anymore, and he looked away once again, nodding in acknowledgement. She was silent for a moment, then she spoke.
"It's just a frog," She said, a bit incredulously. "It's not going to hurt you."
Link shook his head, unable to think, much less respond.
"Will you go retrieve my pack? I'd like to take it home with us to study. It can live in the well." She requested. Link nodded urgently and turned to go back to the cave. He trudged up the side of the hill, dizzy and unsteady, his head spinning with questions.
Had she really not realized why he was so flustered? Had she no desire for privacy? Had she no shame? Perhaps she, too, had suffered memory loss after her hundred years in Hyrule Castle, forgetting that young women don't usually bare themselves to young men so casually.
Then again, he thought, she did come from royalty, and the world of the royals was completely alien to commoners like Link. Was this sort of thing normal for her? He was pretty sure even the royal family valued their privacy. Zelda had even had a folding screen in her bedroom in the castle, before the Calamity.
Link reached the mouth of the cave, practically stumbling inside toward Zelda's pack. As he grabbed it, he looked up toward the back of the cave. While it curved slightly to provide shelter from the elements, there was nowhere private in the cave. Link remembered how by the time he had finished cooking, Zelda had changed clothes, and he realized she must have done it right in front of him, and he simply hadn't looked up. The thought made him blush anew.
It occurred to him then that her privacy was yet another unspoken tradition between them. At home, Link would simply leave the room when Zelda changed or bathed, but she had never once asked him to. Did she even care in the first place?
And if not, why not?
He began his trek down the hillside again, his heart race increasing as he neared the grove of trees again. He muscled his way through the vegetation, his eyes already averted, and emerged onto the shore, eyes on the ground, his hand holding her pack outstretched.
"There you are," Zelda said, a bit impatiently. "You were gone an awfully long time." There was an awkward silence as Link continued to look at his feet. After a beat, he took a cautious step forward.
"Honestly, Link," Zelda admonished, "You defeat Calamity Ganon with no hesitation at all, but you're terrified of a little frog?"
Link internally screamed. He couldn't dare point it out. So instead, he inched closer and closer, eventually dipping his feet in the water, getting close enough for Zelda to reach the pack. When he felt the bag get heavier with a soft thud, he figured she must have dropped the frog inside. He whirled around and marched back through the trees and to the safety of the hillside.
"Thank you!" Zelda called after him. "I'll be up in just a moment!"
Link ducked inside the cave and used the brief moment of privacy to change into clean clothes himself. He gathered the supplies that had been strewn across the cave floor and stuffed them haphazardly into his pack in a daze. A few moments later, Zelda walked in the cave, mercifully dressed.
"Ready to go?" She asked. Link nodded nervously.
It was going to be a long journey home.
—
They reached the stables by mid evening without incident, but didn't dare risk continuing on and potentially having to camp again. So, instead, they spent the afternoon at the stable, chatting with starstruck locals and making merry.
Link enjoyed himself, but he couldn't help but ruminate anxiously on the last 24 hours' events. He was sure Zelda was sending him another unspoken message, but he couldn't interpret it. Whatever this was, it was complicated and unfamiliar to him. All he was picking up so far was that she was comfortable around him, exceedingly so. But what could he do with that?
That night, Link and Zelda shared a delicious fruit-and-veggie salad, and did not share a bed, thankfully. The next morning, they mounted their horses and continued South toward Hateno. On horseback, they would make it by nightfall.
As usual, Zelda spent most of the ride thinking out loud, only ever asking Link a yes or no question every few minutes or so. Link found himself spacing out in thought as she gushed about that supposedly rare frog.
What did it mean that Zelda was comfortable around him? What did he want it to mean? Obviously she trusted him; he had dedicated his life to her protection and wellbeing, by his own volition. He had freed her from decades-long captivity and let her move into his house. Surely anyone would be quite friendly in her shoes.
But what about sleeping together? In any normal situation, that would be the behavior of lovers. Of course, their situation was anything but normal. Zelda had endured a level of trauma that perhaps no one ever had. Furthermore, Link was one of exceedingly few people still alive from Zelda's upbringing. It made sense for her to take comfort in his protection. Maybe neglecting to acknowledge the intimacy of the act made it more palatable for her.
But what about her reaction to his seeing her in such an exposed state in the waters of Lake Akkala? Or, more precisely, what did her lack of reaction mean? That level of comfort was a good thing.
"Right?"
He supposed it could be, but what if it wasn't? What if she was only comfortable with him because he was "only" her knight? Perhaps she was comfortable with him the way she would be with a royal servant who helps her dress in the morning?
"Link?" he snapped out of his thoughts and turned to her. She looked at him expectantly. When he didn't answer, she narrowed her eyes. "Were you even listening to me?"
Link smiled sheepishly and scratched the side of his head. Zelda groaned and rolled her eyes.
"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised," she said. "It's what I get for trying to talk about girl things with a boy."
What on Earth had she asked him? The remark sent a new wave of questions through his mind. She had been talking about "girl things"? Maybe she viewed him like she would one of her female friends, as someone close in whom to confide and find comfort, but completely removed from the thought of romance? Perhaps he wasn't even considered an option for her? The thought made his stomach turn.
The stress was eating him alive. These new behaviors were sending so many unclear messages that he was beginning to think he would need to actually discuss the matter with her. He wasn't sure he could sleep that night otherwise.
To avoid further admonishment, he banished his thoughts for the time being and focused on Zelda's musings the rest of the ride home.
—
When they finally did arrive home, Zelda hopped off her horse and began walking around the back of the house. Without turning around, she called to him.
"I'm just taking Frogbert to the well!" She called as she rounded the corner of the house. Link chuckled at the name she had given her new amphibious pet. When she was out of sight, Link let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding and hung his head. He breathed deeply in through his nose and steeled his nerves. He opened the door to his – to their – home and went inside. He slung his pack unceremoniously onto the floor and slumped down in a chair. Now alone for the first time in hours, he contemplated his next move.
He had decided two things: One, that he needed to know how Zelda felt, because two, he was pretty sure he was falling in love with her. Even if she didn't feel the same way, he needed to know, and he would understand. At least that's what he told himself.
What he hadn't decided is how to broach the question. He couldn't simply ask her how she felt, right? Such forwardness would be too brash even for someone more social than he. Furthermore, and he was cautious not to entertain this thought prematurely, what would it mean if she did return his affections? Would they marry? He didn't have a ring.
What would he do if she didn't return his affections? Could he continue to be her knight, knowing that she would never truly be his? And even if he could, would she no longer behave so comfortably around him? As much as it made his head spin, he would be lying if he said he wanted it to stop.
What did he want?
Link sat there, his head whirling with these thoughts, waiting for Zelda for what seemed like an unusually long time to throw a frog in a well. But then, as if on cue, the door opened, and she stood on the threshold.
She was carrying two steaming bowls, one in each hand, and was propping the door open with her hip. Her face lit up in a beaming smile.
"Ta-da!" She sang, "I wanted to thank you for taking such good care of me on this trip. I know it didn't go according to plan, but I still enjoyed myself. It's not often we get to go camping."
She walked into their home, slowly and carefully so as not to drop their dinner.
"I made your favorite," she said. "Egg drop soup."
And in an instant, it clicked. This was what he wanted. They traveled the world together. They lived in a home together. They shared a bed. They trusted each other more deeply than anyone else. Their souls had been connected for more than a hundred years.
And so, as she leaned down to place his soup on the coffee table, Link did something impulsive.
He leaned up and kissed her on the cheek.
Zelda made the tiniest noise of surprise. Link was mentally reeling before his lips had even left her skin. Why had he done that?
Zelda held her hand to her cheek where he had kissed it and raised her eyebrows. After a brief moment, she hummed and smiled dreamily.
"You're welcome," she said, and went to sit across from him with her own dinner.
There were no questions. There were no fireworks. There was no confession. There was no discussion. They simply and happily ate their dinner, relishing in the comfort of finally being home.
Later that evening, Link sat in that same chair as Zelda finished getting ready for bed in the loft. He hadn't broached the question at all. But he supposed he didn't need to.
"Link," Zelda beckoned, leaning over the railing of the loft in her nightgown. Link tilted his head backwards over the back of the chair to look at her. "Are you coming to bed?"
Link groggily stood, worn out mentally, emotionally, and physically from their journey. He trudged up the stairs to find Zelda already in bed, leaving half of it clear for him. He climbed in, and she rolled into him.
"Good night," she said, her eyes already closed.
Now Link was alone with the silence. But in that silence, he could hear the crickets chirping peacefully outside. He could hear the tranquil water running down the creek beside their home. And in that silence, everything was clear.
Zelda loved Link, and he loved her.
It needn't be said.