Zelink! BotW, TP, ALTTP, and a smattering of other Zelda. Some NSFW with warnings, some skippable. Lore, too.
Most Recent / Recently Updated:
The Horizon Cannot Come To Me - on Tumblr - on Ao3 - (Ongoing 3/? chapters. BotW AU, Zelink, will earn E rating eventually, romance, humor). Prompt: She stared at the sea, as blue as his eyes.
The Deadlocked Sun - on Ao3 only - Ongoing 3/? chapters, Zelink, ALTTP AU, Zelda joins Link on his journey, dark fantasy, romance, action, horror, rated E, 3 chapters so far. Zeldagoestoo!AU.
Adventure Log+ - on Tumblr - on AO3 - (Sequel to Link's Thought Brambles, Zelink, romcom, Drama, Action - ongoing, 24/? chapters, rated M, Sheikah Slate POV).
Uncourtly - on Tumblr - on Ao3 - Ongoing 1/? chapters, Zelink, AoC post-game, romcom, Link's sister (Chee) POV, rated T.
With(out) Friends Like These - on Tumblr - on Ao3 - 4/4 chapters, complete, Zelink, humor, fluff, rated E.
Follow this link for my ongoing 500 follower celebration fic collection.
Follow this link for my collections of Mini-Fics! (Very short, usually 3-sentence fics).
Fics in Adventure Log+ AU:
Suggested reading order for this AU here.
Link's Thought Brambles - on Tumblr - on AO3 - (Zelink, Rom-Com, Drama, Action - complete work, 56 chapters, 203,000 words, rated M). - Link accidentally activates the Sheikah Slate's Adventure Log pre-Calamity, before its Great Plateau Tower software update. The beta version produces a more... er... complete log.
Adventure Log+ (See above under most recently updated!)
Zelink Week 2022 Entries - Tumblr - (Ao3 links on each fic) - (Zelink, Romance, Comedy, Drama, including some poetry - 7 fics rated T to E with appropriate warnings). - Prequels to Link's Thought Brambles and short stories concurrent with it and Adventure Log+.
Other Ongoing Fics:
Adventure Log- - on Tumblr - (Zelink, Rom-Com, Drama, Action, written partially as captions to screenshots - work in progress 21/?, rated T). - Link wakes up in the Shrine of Resurrection. The Slate receives his thoughts but doesn't log them verbatim. Lucky us, we get to listen in. (Not a sequel - this is canon-compliant, not an AU, just Link with the same backstory as Adventure Log+).
Adventures in Invertebrates - on Tumblr - on Ao3 - (Zelink, Hateno Homestead, ecology!, rom-com, rated T) - Link and Zelda are building a life for themselves in Hateno post-Calamity. One day, Link finds some very busy slugs and brings them home - Zelda educates him, and Link realizes invertebrates are cool.
Les Misérables de la Nature - on Tumblr - A Les Mis + Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild parody. I hope to replace the lyrics in every song in Les Mis with words sung by characters from BotW.
One-Shots:
The Unexpected Benefits of Late Weather Warnings - on Tumblr - on Ao3 - (One-shot. Zelink, humor, fluff, romance, modern AU, 12K words, a holiday gift for Midna's Merry Mixup, rated T).
The Space Between - on Tumblr - on Ao3 - (One-shot. Zelink, Dark Fantasy with a happy+bittersweet ending, 16K words, a holiday gift for ZHS HGE, rated T though I think it's on the verge of M).
The Seeds of Love, Well Worn - on Tumblr - on AO3 - (Romance, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, TotK Zelink, post-game, Canon-Compliant - 9400 words, rated T) - Link wants to give Zelda an extraordinary birthday present. She thinks he might be nuts.
Black Flowers Blossom - on Tumblr - on AO3 - (Drama, Romance, BotW Zelink, pre-Calamity, Canon-Compliant - 13,300 words, rated E - very nsfw) - A cruel prince is no match for love, even and especially in darkness.
Crow's Feet - on Tumblr - on AO3 - (Drama, Romance, TP Zelink, post-game, Canon-Compliant - 5100 words, rated T) - Zelda tries to move on after the events of Twilight Princess. She can't.
What Once Rang Hollow - on Tumblr - on AO3 - (Drama, Hurt/Comfort, BotW Zelink, Post-Calamity, Canon-Compliant - 9,000 words, rated T) - The great Akkala Citadel holds memories Zelda fears Link is not ready for.
The Long Climb Toward Summer - on Tumblr - on AO3 - (Drama, Hurt/Comfort, some fluff/humor, BotW Pre-Calamity, 7500 words, rated T) - An unusual winter solstice celebration prompts Zelda to take a close look at her knight—and her people.
The King's Royal Fry Cook - on Tumblr - on AO3 - (Inspired by this art by @chimpukampu, Short One-Shot, Humor - 1,409 words, rated T). - Sometimes, one cannot help but smile. One of those times is when eating the King's Fried Cucco. If you're a madman, that is...
LoZ Lore and Theory
Follow this link for my LoZ Lore and Theory Post List
Teaser Fics for ZeldaGoesToo! ALTTP AU:
These will eventually be part of one much larger Link to the Past series, but for the moment they stand alone.
Flourish - on Tumblr - on AO3 - (Zelink, Drama, Romance, ~3500 words, rated M) - "Zelda’s voice so often struck Link in tinkling taps: wind chimes—delicate and harmonious. Unyielding."
Twilight - on Tumblr - on AO3 - (Zelink, Action, Dark Fantasy, Dread, ~2250 words, rated M) - Link and Zelda appear at the top of the Pyramid of Power, sent by Agahnim with his dying breath. They hurtle directly into battle in a dark reflection of their own world.
Dissonance - on Tumblr (as 2 parts: Crow and Dissonance) - on AO3 - (Zelink, Dark Fantasy, Drama, 3500 words, rated T) - Link and Zelda must survive harsh conditions and start to understand the Dark World.
Inevitable - on Tumblr - on AO3 - (Zelink, Dark Fantasy, Erotica, 3700 words, rated E) - Link and Zelda pursue their desires in the Sacred Realm.
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Link and Zelda are hurtled far from Hyrule by a storm that seemingly came from nowhere. How will they fare on the deserted island they were fortunate enough to arrive on?
BotW DesertedIsland!AU, pre-calamity, will earn E rating eventually (those chapters may only appear on Ao3 but will link from here). Also on A03.
Chapter list:
1 - A Wreckage or Two
2 - Rock-Wrapping-Bokoblin-Acolyte-Knight
3 - Apologies
A BotW DesertedIsland!AU. Will be rated E eventually. Chapter list on Tumblr, also on Ao3.
Chapter 3: Apologies
Zelda insisted Link sleep first, this time. He got no further than opening his mouth to protest.
“I order you to sleep,” she said, tossing him the Korok-cloth. Though he caught it, it had spread on its way to him, landing with its jangle-berries draped over his face.
He surprised her by removing his tunic first, folding it neatly on a nearby rock. Even the meager fire- and Slate- light revealed the pitiful state of his skin—peeling all across his shoulders. Zelda presumed his legs would begin soon.
He fell asleep within minutes, head propped on the mediocre pillow she’d rolled for him, body draped with tree spirits. She glanced at his sleeping face whenever her eyes begged for relief from the Slate’s partially-comprehended inner language. Unlike the Ancient Sheikah symbols written in light in the map, compendium, and album, there was no Hyrulean translation for many of the characters in the code. That some were mathematical was quite obvious from their forms, yet others were evidently compact instructions. It would take her an age to interpret them all. She lamented the loss of her notebook (which now presumably rested, water-logged, at the bottom of the sea; perhaps fish would eat its pages).
Zelda’s head began to hurt shortly after 1:00 am. Link sat up almost as soon as she considered waking him, as though he’d sensed it. He crawled toward her and nearly desposited the cloth at her side, hesitating at the last second, peering at the rest of the collection on her mat. Then he folded the korok cloth and placed it under his tunic.
He held his hand out for the Slate. She only rankled a little this time, and only at her own lack of progress.
"Your ankle," Link said. His soft, sleepy tone surprised Zelda, somehow.
"What of it?" She asked.
"Wrap." He cleared his throat. "Before sleep."
"A- ah." Her cheeks went the slightest bit warm, then warmer as Link pulled a roll of gauze out of his pouch. "Goodness. Are you a medic as well as a knight?"
"May as well be. I can keep stuff clean in here." Other words lingered behind his still-waking eyes—they transformed his tiny smile into something wary, but too transient for Zelda to place. "Can I…?" He glanced at her leg.
Zelda nodded, attempting to keep her swallow hidden behind her chin. She was prepared, this time, for the unfamiliar sensations to travel up her nerves. As before, he slid a gentle hand around her calf and the other behind her heel, settling her foot in his lap. It was his calluses, she decided. They caught strangely on her skin and tickled. Yes, that was it.
As he wound the gauze around her ankle and arch of her foot, she distracted herself from the pain and ostensible tickling by attempting to assess the damage to the skin on his face and shoulders. The fire had burned down, leaving little but the Slate to see him by. Its blue glow lit the lean-to's cloth, the diffuse reflection striking Link's back. Zelda found it difficult to tell just how bad it was, so she flipped the slate to face downward, the bright orange light on its back mixing with the blue.
Link blinked, his head jerking up to meet her eyes, his face suddenly boyish, eyes wide and round.
"What is it?" Zelda asked.
His brow pinched for a moment and his head shook an instant later. "Nothing, Princess."
He returned to his work, and Zelda grimaced. The Slate's screen was far brighter than its back—she'd learned nothing new despite the fuller spectrum.
Link finished his wrapping job with a firm knot to keep it in place. Zelda lifted her foot, cautious at first. The bracing pressure did indeed seem to support her in a pleasant way. It seemed less likely she would awaken to any painfully overstretched tendons. "Thank you, Sir," she said.
"You're welcome, Princess." He hesitated a moment, then gave her another one of his not-smiles, the ones that didn't reach his eyes. He then assumed his quiet watch from the previous night, cross-legged, wrists balanced on knees.
Zelda settled a little more comfortably than before, but disheartened, wondering what had emerged to trouble her knight. Her thoughts wandered to his water-making contraption. She could easily see that being it, a mote of self-admonishment warming her skin that she hadn't considered that problem at first. Her last conscious thought was to wonder how well it was working, if at all.
It blended seamlessly into her first waking thought.
She sat up, seeking Link and his rocks and finding only the latter. She pushed the Rito-cloth off and lifted her injured leg experimentally. It was extremely stiff all the way up even to her thigh. She suspected prolonged immobility was to blame for the discomfort everywhere other than her ankle.
She shifted to sit with her legs curled to the side, the injured one on top, gritting her teeth at the offputting full feeling in that foot. Then a splash of color to her left caught her eye.
Link had left two spindly skewers of lightly roasted fruit—perhaps remaining bits of what they’d been eating the past few days. She lifted one of the creations, sniffing: palm meat, cantaloupe, and banana.
She had her doubts about roasted banana. They turned out to be correct—while roasting had improved the flavor of the others, it had merely made the banana slimy and much too soft. She ate her entire meal regardless of the offputting texture. It would be madness to waste food in this situation.
Makeshift skewers cleaned, she replaced them on the banana leaf and rolled to her knees. Link was still nowhere in sight. She crawled to see past the back of the lean-to, just in case. He wasn’t there. She wished again for her notebook, but in its absence and Link’s, she supposed the best way to avoid another ankle injury was to write in the sand.
This, it turned out, was easier said than done. She tried her index finger first, but the sand fell to fill in the shapes she made if they were too small, and when she tried to make the letters large enough to remain, her arm wasn’t long enough to write much from the same kneeling position. She grabbed Link’s spiny stick, which at least let her write further out. When she finished, she sat back to inspect her work.
IN BUSHES
PRIVACY
Deeming it readable enough, she crawled backward out one side of the lean-to, thinking to return quickly. She doubted the wind would suddenly kick up and erase her writing, but she could easily see Link stepping through it before noticing she’d gone.
She paused at the sight of royal blue, black, and white draped over the deep green of a thick, ferny branch. With an abortive glance toward her message, she decided she’d worn Link’s clothing long enough. Surely her less-angry ankle would allow her to manage the change now.
She anchored herself on the small, ferny tree’s trunk and managed to stand on her uninjured leg, though there was much scraping against its bark as she did so. She grimaced, the side of her which had pressed against the tree painful, but she would survive. She tested her bad leg, toes-first; the stiffness was extraordinary. Surely the tumble she’d taken dismounting her horse when she was ten had been more severe than this. Yet she doubted she could put weight on it without injuring it further, despite any advantage the wrap may have bestowed.
Shaking her head, she shook out her riding clothes (insects, after all, may have enjoyed the shelter of her sleeves), threw them over her shoulder, and hopped as carefully as one could with so indignified of a motion into the thicker body of ferns.
Her first order of business, while hard on her ankle, occurred without further injury, though she'd begun to sincerely appreciate the amenities of home (or indeed anywhere maintained by people with hygiene in mind). It took her far longer than she'd hoped, yet she'd heard no sign of Link moving about. Hoping he'd stay away a bit longer, she fully removed the Sheikah shorts he'd given her while still kneeling in the sand, intending of course to wash them at the earliest opportunity (she would not ask Link to wash them for her, or indeed for himself either—she had worn them, and she would wash them, too).
She then realized she'd made an error.
She examined the quantity of sand in the shorts she'd just removed. She had no desire to scoop sand up in her (relatively) clean underthings immediately before pulling them up. Were there either a suitable rock here or had she thought to bring a paraglider cloth, she could have seated herself on it and changed that way. As things stood, she would need to stand to avoid depositing sand in her nethers.
Alternatively, she could crawl back to the lean-to, of course, and either change there or retrieve a cloth.
She stared at the Sheikah shorts, grimacing more and more at the choice before her: accept sandy privates, or crawl back to the lean-to for a cloth and accept the possibility that Link might see far more than either of them bargained for. She tested the length of the tunic, as though it would magically cover her behind while crawling today, though it had not yesterday.
A wry laugh left her as she shuffled on knees over to the clothing she'd draped on one of those short, ferny trees, imagining what her knight might think should her note say "IN BUSHES" when the reality was "NAKED AND RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU." Well—half-naked, though the worse half for it to be.
She pulled herself up, standing once more on her good leg only and with only a little pain in her side. She removed Link's tunic.
This, of course, was when she heard footsteps nearby.
Zelda clamped her throat hard on a gasp and thrust her arms through the holes in her brassiere, pulled it over her chest and tightened the laces, tying them faster than she had in her life. The sounds moved behind and to her right, stopping at what she very muched hoped was within easy sight of her message.
She lifted her bad foot further to step through one side of her other undergarment. In her haste, her big toe caught on its edge, sending pain lancing up her leg, and if she hadn’t chosen to lean on the tree trunk, she was sure she’d have fallen again. As it was, she’d simply released an odd little peep.
“Princess?”
The stress in his much-too-near voice filled her with visions of another restroom-guard mishap. “All is well!” she said, her voice wavering.
His reply was silence.
She pulled the undergarment partway up her bad leg.
Then she stared at the other.
Then she began to feel supremely foolish.
How would she loop her good foot through?
Admonishing herself for not thinking to bring a cloth with her, she wrapped her free arm around the tree trunk. She made a little hop with a tiny grunt of erffort, her good foot hitting sand quicker and harder than she'd expected.
“Princess?”
“All. Well!” She was not a weakling. She could manage this.
With a deep breath, she lowered her undergarment, clamped her arm down hard, and brought her good foot up and through the other loop at utmost speed. She slipped partway down the trunk with a hiss of new pain, though nothing approaching what she’d expect were her bad foot to hit ground.
She met with both success and failure. Her garment had, indeed, made it up her legs, and her good foot returned to ground without pressuring her injured one in the slightest. Her side, arm, and armpit stung, however, and the grit of sand on her thighs was unmistakable.
A sound issued from her, part-growl, part-sigh, and part-groan.
“Princess? Do you need help?”
His voice had a soft rasp, didn’t it, even when he wasn't sleepy? At least he wasn’t shouting her into the atmosphere. “Not at present.” She pulled her undergarment partway down, shaking and wiping sand out, rolling her eyes at herself. She managed reasonably well, she thought. She then reached over to the fern supporting her white shirt, gathered it, slipped her forearms into her sleeves, and stopped short at the sight of bright red flecks on her right one. She shifted her highly-stainable shirt away from the blood, inspecting her arm, then her side where she stung. The cuts weren't deep, but the area was wide, a swath of her hip with tiny, red strips of broken skin. She re-hung the shirt and checked the rest of her, finding scrapes high on her ribs, the rear side of her armpit, and the underside of her bicep. She couldn’t help the groan.
“That’s it,” Link muttered. Ferns began rustling toward her.
“Privacy!” Zelda cried.
“Something’s wrong.”
“Nothing of particular import.”
“Some kind of import, though?”
“I-“ she swallowed, considering the minor nature of the wounds, yet their utter lack of access to any sort of care should something environmental manage to work its way into them. “I- wonder if you might have an antiseptic.”
“…Antiseptic.” His voice was very quiet; he must have been quite near.
“Yes.”
A tiny sound of brushing cloth preceeded a liquid sloshing. “How deep?”
“Barely at all.”
“How big?”
She made an uncertain sound.
“…Princess, can I help?”
“Sir Link, I am not- not-“ she floundered. “I am not dressed adequately.”
“I figured.” Some manner of large bird squawked above their heads as though in punctuation.
Link's footsteps resumed.
“S- Sir Link-“
“I won’t look.” Ferns parted to the right of her little tree. He emerged partway, his tunic in place once more, eyes shut with a dark bottle in one hand. “Where…?”
“I’m- here.” Her arms wrapped around her midriff and chest. When she wobbled, the midriff-one returned to the tree.
“Okay. Can you reach- everywhere you need to?”
“Yes.”
He nodded. “Here’s the bottle. And…” his hand reached into the pouch with a brush of knuckles on cloth- “for putting it on.” He gripped a small square of light white cloth, bandage-like, daintily by a corner. “It’s boiled.”
Her eyebrows rose. “That- is fortunate.” His offerings were slightly out of her reach. “Would you mind- taking a few steps this way?”
He came closer than she’d thought. She swallowed, ignoring her pounding heart and jitters and reaching first for the bottle. She unstoppered it.
Iodine.
She took care as he had to handle the square of cloth cautiously. She applied the dark brown liquid, then returned the bottle to Link and began smearing her scrapes.
His ear shifted slightly toward her side as she raised her arm, the tilt of his head following her hand as it reached further, his brow knitting as it did.
“What happened?” he asked.
She held in a sigh. “I… braced myself on a tree to- to- change my undergarment.”
His face pulled into an extended wince.
She finished, awkwardly holding the used square. “What should I do with the cloth?”
He held out an open palm. She placed it there, though with reservations. He returned it to his pouch.
Zelda eyed her shirt.
Should she and Link manage to return to Hyrule, she doubted anyone would care if her clothing were ruined. Yet a vision again invaded her mind of Link seeing brown blotches on her to remind him just how useless a Princess he'd been saddled with.
"Princess?" A rustle signaled the bottle's return to his pouch.
Zelda eyed the as-yet impotent Slate laying beside the trunk. A hand entered her line of vision, palm-up and chest height.
"I'm a better brace than one of these tree trunks," he said. "It's… not like home. Not many branches, and the few around are pretty weak."
Zelda blinked her eyes wide and kept blinking. She would not allow tears to fall yet again.
"Princess?"
That word. He'd never spoken so many words in her presence. Would that fewer of them were that particular one. She'd not earned it. A shaking breath left her. "I- I'd managed. The garment."
He nodded his curt nod. His brow remained knit, and his lips had parted. "But… you're not fully dressed."
"…No." She couldn't bring herself to look at her bright white shirt. Perhaps she could wear only the blue cover? "One- one moment." She reached for the blue top—then realized the iodine would easily stain that, too, though granted with less contrast. She tamped a growl down hard, settling for an irritated grimace. "I- perhaps ought to wait. Anything I touch, I shall stain."
Link's head cocked. "I'll… live," he said.
Zelda had no idea what to say to that. "I- I just-" How could she explain she didn't wish to display a constant reminder of her ineptitude without bringing her ineptitude to the forefront?
He cut her rumination short by pulling his tunic off and tossing it blindly, his horrendous suburn suddenly on full and painful display.
"What?" she said—not so much a question as an expression of surprise. She blinked at his peeling chest.
"No tunic, no stains."
Zelda felt foolish yet again for failing to consider exactly what bracing herself on him would entail. "I- had- not-" There went his shoulders, again—drooping just a fraction. She was, indeed, learning her knight. "I- I thank you," she said quickly. "I'd- meant my own clothing, but yes, yours would stain as well," and she would, possibly, feel even worse to have ruined his.
Link's eyebrows flew up. "Oh! Oh. Um." He moved almost as though looking around wildly, but his eyes were shut. "Sorry. Sorry, Princess. Do you- I mean, I can put the tunic back on, no problem, I just have to find it-"
"No- no, it's alright."
"Are you sure?!"
"Wait!" she said.
"What?!"
"Your sunburn!"
"What about it?"
"It shall hurt!"
A corner of his mouth twitched just a little bit up. "I'll… live," he repeated.
"So shall I if I must wait a little while to finish dressing."
"Princess…" he sighed. "You're injured. Please-" a deep set of creases appeared on his forehead, and something in the motions of his mouth again suggested he wished to say something, but held is tongue. "I- am- happy to help. Any way you're comfortable."
Zelda once again found herself pulling tear-water back in. "Perhaps- the sensible path is- to fetch a paraglider cloth? I may finish changing on it."
"Done," he said.
He returned moments later, eyes still shut. "Princess?"
"Yes?"
He nodded and spread the cloth out in front of her.
And he held her hand while she hopped over, and helped to lower her down.
And he turned, opening his eyes just for a moment to fetch her clothing for her.
Once delivered, he turned again and picked up the Slate and his spare clothing.
"I intend to wash those," Zelda rushed to say.
His face did that half-pinch again, this time with his eyes shut. He opened his mouth—then shut it, nodded, and walked through the ferns.
She put her feet through the holes in her riding pants with a sinking feeling in her stomach. She waited a whie with her pants half-on and no shirt, allowing the iodine to dry fully, testing with an occasional poke to its edge. She still felt her white shirt would fare worse against it. She eventually rolled onto her back to pull her pants all the way on like a struggling turtle, then pulled the blue top directly over her brassiere. It felt strange to wear it so—the golden strips of cloth crossing her chest without the undershirt looked out of place, and she was sure they, the underarms, and the band below her breasts would chafe. And then there was the issue of being dressed so at all in her knight's presence. Perhaps it would provide the incentive her mind needed to sort out the confusing issues with the Slate.
She sat a long time, her face turned up to the wide, interlocking leaves far above. Were the Slate in reach, she'd have tried to take a picture of a large, colorful bird flapping its wings just within sight to the northeast. Something of its colors intrigued her—a darker blue than her expectations intertwined with a silvery-white underside, a hint of gold peeking through from somewhere.
"Princess?"
The word crawled down her spine from behind her. "Apologies. I…" was what? Relaxing? Thinking? It had been neither, truly.
His feet shuffled soft in the sand. He crouched beside her. His silence dragged her eyes toward him, and she found him studying her face, no hint of a smile. He did it again—almost said something, his mouth opening a fraction, then closing. It drew her attention to his lips. They had tiny, little lines in them, running in-to-out. They seemed slightly chapped. "Are you thirsty?" she asked.
One of those not-smiles appeared. "I can- deal with that in a bit." He pressed those dry lips together—then his nose wrinkled a little along with the undersides of his eyelids. "What- were you apologizing for? Princess."
Zelda found herself fascinated with the tremulous, boyish quality to that last word. She searched herself for an answer to his question, an answer slowly coming to settle deep in the pit of her stomach. "For my inactivity." Uselessness, truly. The bird released a chittering pattern of throaty noises.
A soft noise that might have been a laugh left him. "You could use more of that."
She frowned at him, questioning.
"I mean it," he said with a swallow, that boyish quality back, his eyes widening and hands coming up, palm-out like they had the previous night. "I… back home, I…" He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head, and Zelda became acutely aware that her knight was once more expressing. "You never stop," he said.
"Stop?" she repeated.
"Whether it's prayer, the Divine Beasts, the shrines, the Slate, or just—all the other things. Normal- Princess-things," he said with a wince. "Dealing with all the stupid court people."
Zelda barked a laugh.
"Sorry, sorry-"
"Don't be," she said, a giggle leaving her that sounded quite maniacal. Perhaps she was on the verge of some manner of episode. Perhaps that was why she'd remained immobile here for however long.
He smiled with her a bit, and this time it reached his eyes again. It faded gradually as he searched all over her face. Zelda found her cheeks heating at the attention.
"No, I should be sorry," Link said.
Zelda's head pulled a fraction back. "What for?"
He seemed to struggle a a long time, whether for words or the courage to say them. When he finally did, his voice trembled. "I know you don't… trust me."
"That's- that's not-"
"I mean, you do with your life."
"Well. Yes." Zelda gestured all around them, to their entire situation.
He nodded, but it wasn't his normal nod. He kept bobbing. "But- you- mmm." He struggled again with some inner turmoil, shutting his eyes and curling his fingers. When he opened his eyes again, he focused them squarely on hers. "You didn't even trust me enough to say you were hurt."
Zelda's jaw slackened. "That- no, that's not-" she shook her head.
"It sounds like you're going to say that's not it," he nearly whispered.
"Well, yes!"
"But it is."
"I trust you," she said, defiant.
"You don't trust me not to be like them." His eyes glittered at her, shifting back and forth between hers. "And that's my fault."
Zelda squinted at him, trying to understand.
"I- I should've said something. Long before now. Should've told some of those- stupid- court people to shut up." He went pale, and Zelda could've sworn she saw him tremble, just for a moment. "I was afraid anything I said- could- make things worse, but it just doesn't matter now. If you die here because you won't let me help you, I'll never forgive myself."
"I have let you help me," Zelda said, her voice very small.
"Minimally," Link said with an off-kilter chuckle.
"You are the one keeping us fed and watered," Zelda said, her skin heating and brows turning down. "You treated my ankle, and helped me here." She waggled one hand at the ferns.
"Do you know what I would like to do right now, Princess?" he asked, a little heat in his voice, too.
"What?!" she demanded, in full-Princess-command-voice.
His response mollified her instantly. He paled, sitting back on his haunches, one hand hooking behind his neck.
Zelda shook her head, filled with a sudden shame, tears brimming again. She sat up, attempting to cross her legs and wincing when she couldn't. Leaving her bad leg straight out, she reached for the hand still laying in Link's lap. She folded hers around it, unsure what to do. "Forgive me." She swallowed. "Truly. That was- uncalled for. You have been nothing but kind and considerate, and- and prepared- and I have been-" tears finally fell.
"Hey- hey, no, don't-"
Zelda felt him lean toward her, and when one of his knuckles brushed a tear from her cheek, he burst a hole in some dam. Her belly shook, more tears fell, and he removed his other hand from hers to tend to each, as though a challenge—could he swipe every tear from her face before it struck ground? She hypersensitized to the touch, unable to remember when or if anyone else had ever done such a thing for her.
"I-" his voice sounded strangely throaty- "I don't want you to… beat yourself up here like you do in Hyrule."
A few high little sounds of surprise escaped her.
"I want to… pick you up, and carry you back to the lean-to. And then I want to open another coconut for us, and see if the crab I caught is done roasting yet."
Now that he said it, Zelda could smell it, just a little.
"And then—" he seemed to struggle again, and Zelda managed to open her eyes, finding tears streaking down his cheeks, too. She leaned forward without thinking, brushing his away, though with one hand—she couldn't keep balance without the other. As with her, the moment she touched him the tears seemed to flow without barrier, the corners of his mouth turning way down. "I really wish I didn't have to say this—I have to ask for your help."
Zelda laughed. "My help?"
"With the water," Link said. "I just—I'm not as smart as you," he said. "I haven't gotten it to work yet, and it's so important. I'm extremely sorry."
"You needn't be," she said, incredulous.
"No, I should be. I should've asked earlier." He swallowed. "I can't decide if I'm more likely to find a cookpot replacement or to get that to work, and with only one of us mobile, we can't pursue both at the same time."
Zelda sighed, deep and long. "If you should be sorry, I most certainly should be. I've been of far less use."
He shook his head vehemently. "You're the only one who can do anything with the Slate."
She gave him as flat of a look as she could manage with her tear-swollen face. "In your own words, I haven't gotten it to work yet, and it's so important."
He laughed a little. Her tears had stopped, but his knuckles still curled on either side of her face. "I… figured, when you didn't want me to see it."
Her head cocked between his hands. "What do you mean?"
"You turned it over last night," he said, "so I couldn't see the screen."
She shook her head, her hand drawn to curl around one of his wrists. "No. I wanted the orange light from the back. I was trying to inspect your sunburn."
He gave her an incredulous look.
"It is atrocious. Have you looked?"
"I can feel it. It's peeling."
"Indeed it is."
"…Okay," Link said, his face puffy, but with another of those almost-smiles that did reach his eyes. "But… next time… just ask? Princess," he said.
He said it with far too much of a return to that boyish anxiety. He moved as though biting the inside of his lower lip. Zelda bit hers as though driven to mirror him. "Alright."
A moment's silence passed, each studying ithe other's face.
"So… can I carry you back?" Link asked.
There were those flutters again. She studiously ignored them as she nodded and as he rose, his knuckles slipping away from her. He pulled her up, first, to her good leg—then he scooped her up, with no seeming exertion at all. Her arm automatically hooked around his neck; then she lifted it with a gasp. "Your sunburn!"
"It's alright," he said with a laugh. "I don't mind."
Zelda tried to ignore the butterflies as the skin on her side brushed his, as the unfamiliar sensations of his hands and arms pressing into her back, side, and legs made themselves newly known with each step. It only took moments for him to deliver her to the lean-to, but he made sure her leg-"pillow" was situated well for her, and that she was reasonably comfortable before tending to food and water.
The crab was delicious, though it was an ironshell (meaning Link did the shell-cracking for both of them) and a single one split between them was not a large meal. Zelda didn't mind—but she began to wonder how Link was faring. "Are you… eating enough?"
"I'm… okay for now," he said, digging some meat out of a claw and depositing it in one of the empty coconut shells.
"How long would you say that will last?"
He shrugged. "Once water's taken care of, I'll think more about food. Besides, there's the pouch."
"You mean your hoard."
Air puffed out his nose. "Yeah. I just don't want to take it for granted."
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I had ambitions to do every day for Zelink Week this year but in the end only this idea motivated me enough. Well, better one strong idea than seven meh ones 😄
The most ridiculous OoT theory you’ll hear lately:
AKA Why tf are there Cows underground in random holes???
Alright. Bear with me.
To understand this, we need to look at Majora’s mask.
So, Majora’s Mask is kind of infamous for one of it’s quests at the ranch involving cows being abducted by aliens that are simply dubbed as Them. If you fail to protect the ranch by way of loosing arrows at the invaders, they abduct the cows (and Romani) and plonk her back a day later with her memories wiped. You can find the poor girl wandering around in the rain, looking terrifically lost, and a little bit distressed as she tries to remember what has happened and cannot.
Traumatising stuff when you’re a young lad.
So we have that, and we have this:
And basically we can consider that aliens are *present* in the series, at this point, even if only as a very background thing. There’s no evidence of Them in OoT… that we know of. Arwings not withstanding.
Except… Most of the cows in OoT seem to be buried in holes.
Why? Well, because in Zelda, Cows appear to attract fucking aliens.
So if you have a cow, and you know that cows typically attract really weird happenings and possibly just vanish due to abductions, I mean– First, expensive losses. Second, what the fuck. Third, in a world setting like OoT you really can’t do without cows.
So what do you do?
Hide them.
No, seriously. They fucking hide them. All over the damn country, in fact.
The vast majority of cows in OoT are hidden in holes. The rest are usually hidden in even weirder places.
Impa keeps her cow INSIDE her house, in a cage. There’s plenty of good grazing room in the center of Kakariko. This is a weird choice.
Then again the Sheikah in the Era were torturers
There’s one in Jabu Jabu’s belly. Causing indigestion, no doubt, but since Ruto is in charge of feeding him and he tends to inhale just about anything led onto that platform, suffice to say, this was on purpose.
The Gerudo do have a cow but it’s right down the bottom of the canyon and not at all in plain sight, with rocky cliffs preventing abduction. It is purposefully put here, even though this is a ridiculous spot for it. It has a guard standing by and a crate for milk collection and even a soft soil patch for bean plants that it presumably eats.
This qualifies as a hidden cow also.
But what about Lon Lon, you say? The ranch obviously has cows?
Yes it does, however:
Not only are the cows indoors again, despite the best possible opportunity in the game to have cows just kind of grazing, but the Ranch seems to keep a few spare HIDDEN cows in the only solid stone building they have: their storage room. They have cows in the obvious place, in the barn, and then they have some hidden aside for… no valid reason at all.
Unless alien abductions were a frequent enough affair to warrant this precaution.
Because the Ranch is responsible for most of the milk in game, and makes large deliveries to the castle too. An alien induced milk shortage would be bad. And perhaps having a few cows available in the one place the aliens know they’ll be is easier on everyone, also, because then they probably don’t come down looking.
Also, what happened to Malon’s mother?
Maybe somebody was trying to protect their cows and got beamed up, huh?
What are your 5 favorite pieces of oot Zelink art?
ohoho here we go
https://www.tumblr.com/tarulink/815116821614182400?source=share
This one is one of my favs with the tension that is just dripping off the page.
https://x.com/i/status/2025240984515432591
Using "Night we Met" by Lord Huron and just how smooth the animation was got me feral for this one
https://x.com/balo_badartist/status/1920103311304249369?s=20
Balo's art is always a treasure trove, I just love the way Zelda is hugging him so tight after years of not seeing him
https://x.com/smolverito/status/1674537360736788480
The colors and just the expressions they have AHHH
https://www.tumblr.com/zelinkslullaby/744623336575893504?source=share
This is one of my all time favs with the ambiance, the way theyre dancing its just so romantic
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I D E S P E R S T L Y need fanfiction about these two pre calamity from knight links perspective where he doesn't talk but we can hear the moral delema of falling in love with his princess in his head. How she's the reason for his life and purpose so of course he loves her, but has to fight the urge to love her because of his obligations to the crown
It was a huge milestone of scientific and technological advancement. (Plus, at the time, politically significant). Humanity went to space! We set foot on a celestial body that was not earth for the first time in human history! That’s a big deal! I’ve never thought about it before but now that I have, it’s ridiculous to me that that’s not part of our everyday lives and the public consciousness anymore. Why don’t we have a public holiday and a family barbecue about it. Why have I never seen the original broadcast of the moon landing? It should be all over the news every year!
It’s July 20th. That’s the day of the moon landing. Next year is going to be the 54th anniversary. I’m ordering astronaut shaped cookie cutters on Etsy and I’m going to have a goddamn potluck. You’re all invited.
PITCH: We call it Moon Day, and then every 7 years when it falls on a Monday, that's an even BIGGER deal and we call that Moon Day Monday and go absolutely apeshit about it (the next Moon Day Monday is in 2026 so we have a couple trial runs first)
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ugh another set of armour that I just LOVE and I'm so happy I thought of an idea for it. this is all I wanted in the canon ending!! *screams at sky* okay I am calm...
