The sky over the desert sand went through its twilight metamorphosis, going from orange to purple and, finally, the sparkly darkness of night. The cold breeze lifted the sand and played with Princess Zelda's hair; the Princess who, with her arms wrapped around Link's waist while the hero rode his mare back to Castle Town, hid her face on his back so he wouldn't see her crying. Link, on his end, noticed how fragile and exposed the Princess felt and did not comment on it, keeping his eyes trained on the horizon, not caring to hide a single tear that crossed his face.
"We shall have to move on," the Princess said weakly, in a whisper Link suspected was meant more to herself than him. "Hyrule needs to be rebuilt and that work will not get done by itself."
Zelda adjusted herself on Epona, tightening her hold around Link to keep herself from falling. Tired, she lied her head against his back and closed her eyes, which still pooled with tears she had not given permission to be there.
Her voice came in a whisper once again, a louder one this time, showing she really was speaking to him. "What do you plan on doing now that it is all over, Hero?"
Link lowered his head, messy blond hair falling in front of his eyes, and rolled her question around in his head. If someone asked why he even had to think about it, he wouldn't know the answer. What he planned on doing, now that it was all over, was obvious: he would go back home, to his family, to his life.
Hours earlier, Hero and Princess had been in that same position, riding over Hyrule Field in a battle against the King of Darkness, Ganondorf. A moment so full of emotions like fear, anger, sorrow, but there was also hope because they had a goal, something that made them look toward the horizon and keep running. But now, less than three hours later, it was different. The ride was wrapped by the sound of silence, a heavy silence that represented the end of an adventure, the return to sameness—there was nothing left on the horizon to run towards.
"I don't know…" Link finally answered. "I think I'll go back to Ordon. It's been too long since I've last been there; I miss everyone." A nostalgic smile formed from his words. "But you know, it's strange… I want to go home, I really do, but I can't picture myself living there after everything that happened. I love my village but, to be frank, nothing ever happens there. I don't know if I can live in a place like that anymore." He laughed sheepishly. "Am I making any sense?"
"You are." She pulled herself away from his back a bit to better look at his face. "When I was nine years old, Auru took me to the desert for a lesson on the Mirror of Twilight. After that day, I would catch myself looking out my window and wondering about everything in the world I was missing by staying locked up at home all the time. The castle never felt more like a prison until that moment." She leaned back against him. "You do not dream of a different life until you know it exists."
And, once again, the silence of the end of an adventure fell upon them. The Moon was already high in the sky by the time the Hero and his Princess arrived at Hyrule Castle. Link helped the Princess dismount Epona and, at her request, accompanied her to the throne room, still in ruins after the fight against Ganondorf. Zelda felt a shiver upon entering and lamented not being able to feel at peace even in the place she called home.
Link was preparing to take his leave when the Princess finally made her thoughts into words. "Link," she called him by his name for the very first time, "about what we discussed earlier, if you feel the quiet life in Ordon does not satisfy you anymore, the gates of the castle shall always be open to you. I am certain that the Hero ought to be an excellent addition to the Hyrulean Army if it interests you."
The proposal left him speechless. The offer was tempting, but returning home truly seemed like the only option, as if life itself strived to go back to how it had always been and keep change away. "Princess, I…"
"You do not need to answer me now. Take as long as you need."
Link nodded and the two of them quietly said their farewells. When he was already at the foot of the stairs, the Princess called him from the top of it. He turned towards the sound and did not expect the "Icy Queen" to be smiling, even if so discreetly it barely counted as so. He was sure to smile back.
"Please, just call me 'Zelda'."