#dutifulsilence

ㅤYet now, not only had he spoken to him several times last night, he then stated looking for him. Sheik knew because a few of the Knights he did talk to informed him and they had, apparently, very willingly pointed the Hylian Champion in his direction. To which Sheik asked if they were out of their minds because he honestly had no idea what the other could have wanted from him. Other than perhaps to continue their talk from last night before they were interrupted. The very odd, very insane talk that he tried to have.

ㅤHe was an archivist, his job was knowledge. Which his people had been for generations so it wasn't much of a surprise, the important thing was that he actually quite enjoyed it. The peace and quiet of the library that was now getting disrupted by a certain blonde haired Hylian.

ㅤHonestly, seeing as the Champion didn't show up immediately, Sheik had sort of—thought he forgot? And there was initially a rather upsetting feeling at that. The sinking realization that he might not actually be worth the other's time and effort. Their dance last night had been fun actually, Link was rather skilled at it and Sheik had been trained since a young age to ballroom dance. Though it was rare that the Sheikah were actually invited to things like that, unless they were important enough to matter for it. Seeing as his family were from the direct linage of Sheikah, even the red color of their eyes passed down, they were prepared a bit more than the others.

ㅤOne never knew how the world would go, after all. And the Sheikah were prepared for anything. Always the last resort to protect Hyrule, yet the first to raise their weapons to defend it.

ㅤTheir conversation, although odd in all honesty, had actually brought a few of those reminders back to his mind. Although in history it had always been Princess Zelda that had prophetic visions, that foresaw the disaster that ravaged Hyrule by the Great Evil there was no strict rule in place that said it had to be here. Especially with her struggling to awaken her powers, Sheik wondered if perhaps the visions had struck the Hero of Hyrule this time. Sheik had to admit that Link carried all the signs of them. That sword that was said to be the Blade of Evil's Bane, the blonde hair, the bright blue eyes—if he just had the green tunic and perhaps descended from the forest he'd hit the legend to the absolute letter.

ㅤHow Sheik has actually craved to study that blade. Purah would be jealous if he managed to get his hands on it before her.

ㅤㅤNo. No.

ㅤㅤㅤFocus.

ㅤThe Sheikah lazily flipped a page in the book he was staring at, the Hyrule Historia that he had plugged off of the shelf in the restricted section. Handwritten by each generation of the Royal Family before them, this book was more fragile than it looked and worth far more than Sheik's life even. He had been searching for any specific entry on prophetic dreams, but mostly all he saw was things he was already aware of. Nothing at all about the Hero having them, but nothing about them not either. Since this books specifically was only ever written in by the Royal Family, anything from the Hero's perspective was never categorized.

ㅤUnhelpful, actually, but then there was always very little known about the Hero themselves. Even where they come from was random at points, never quite specific and never quite detailed. One of Sheik's favorite legends was about the Hero of Time but there was far less known about him than any of the others actually. Even the last Hero, the one from ten thousand years ago where the ancient technology was used, they have very little records on him and nothing useful.

ㅤSheik hadn't been permitted near the Divine Beasts or any of the other things they dug up, that had all been left to Purah who was in her field day with Robbie. A bit disappointing, actually. He would have liked to have gotten close to them, seen what magic their ancestors were truly capable of. Sheik had some talent to him for it, with the harp actually, but he never quite mastered the skill and with his discomfort with those dreams—well, he thought sometimes it was best to leave somethings in the dark.

ㅤHe gently closed the Hyrule Historia book and picked it up, holding it in his arms as he carried it back to it's case. He made sure to lock it up tightly before checking the time. Long enough had passed he was actually supposed to meet with Impa for a meeting now, as much as he would have liked to have stuck around and seen if Link showed up. Grabbing his jacket from the back of the chair he pulled the beige top on and made his way out the side door onto the path.

ㅤImpa had Sheik digging up as much records and information as he could on the ancient technology they had started to discover. Per her request he was actually carefully categorizing every single part of it and keeping detailed records of any mention of them he found in the books. He had even, with her permission, been going through their own archives though much of what he has pulled up had a bit of a learning curve. Like with any language, as time progressed, the writing itself started to change. What they spoke and wrote now wasn't the same as what they did then and Sheik needed to teach himself the different characters. It made progress slow, which frustrated everyone including him. But he was doing his best, which Impa understood.

ㅤWith his work and Purah's studies, they had starred to piece together information about the things their family created. Impa checked in every now and again to see if he had anything knew and go over what he did manage to translate or dig up. She had a talent working with people and seeing things in a light no one else did, but she wasn't as good at research and understanding complex things as Sheik and Purah was. Impa could help them see it from a different angle, but she couldn't understand it anymore than they could.

ㅤWhich was the problem they ran into this time.

ㅤWhat Sheik had managed to dig up seemed quite old and the words on it seemed almost like a cross between Sheikah and Hylian. Despite how much the two of them poured over it, all she did was shrug and tell him she had no idea what they were looking at. Not entirely a dead end, Sheik needed to write and break down what it said, but to him any progress was still progress in whatever was going on in Hyrule. Their meeting only took a little over an hour today with the dead end hit and after departing from his Aunt he made his way back to the library with the papers held tightly to his chest.

ㅤHe did not actually expect to run into Link now. The Champion was tucked against the desk Sheik had been sitting in previously, the Sheikah's harp on the table along side his bag. The harp had been moved he realized, tugged closer to the other actually and Sheik eyed it suspiciously before turning to carry his stuff back to the desk in the room. He sat it down with his papers, the notes on the things he had broken down from it and picked up the books he had meant to put away hours ago.

ㅤThis time, Link didn't talk and Sheik worked around him while keeping a close eye and ear on the other. He looked a bit rough, exhausted actually, and Sheik wondered if he had even been permitted to go home last night or if he was stuck guarding Zelda outside her room. He honestly has no idea how the Champion does it, how he even manages to guard her all the time without losing his sanity. There had to be a system, right? Where he got a break and someone else took his place. To not allow that was almost—abuse in some way. Making him work endlessly without a single break in sight.

ㅤSheik worked from the morning till somewhere in the late afternoon. Kakariko Village was a fairly good walk from the Castle and the Sheikah didn't like riding horses. So he walked the distance every single day, and got home somewhere late in the evening. He didn't mind the walk, but it was time consuming. Any job was.

ㅤSo the thought that he worked endlessly without a break? Rather distressing. Sheik's quite confident it would have broke him, if their situations were reversed. But they weren't, he wasn't the Hero, and he had no right to talk about how things went for Link.

ㅤSpeaking of Link, when Sheik rounded the corner to get more books his gaze dropped onto the table and found the Champion asleep of all things. The Sheikah paused in his steps, glanced out the window and judged the time on the sun's positions. Should he wake him? Was he on a time limit here? Was he not allowed to fall asleep? Sheik had no idea. But a part of him—really didn't want to wake the other up. Shaking his head he made his way slowly over toward the man at his table and paused at his side.

ㅤAfter a bit of hesitating instead of waking him up, Sheik reached up and removed his coat from his own shoulders. Shaking it out he draped the fabric over the other's shoulders like a makeshift blanket and then went back to work. Leaving him there like that in the hopes that he would get a little bit of rest even if it wasn't going to be a lot. Something to comfort him at the very least, something to give him a break from all the stress that he seemed to be under. Even if he might not believe the things that other spouted at him last night, that didn't mean Sheik didn't feel for him.

ㅤIt can't be easy to carry the entire burden of Hyrule on your shoulders, especially when it started at such a young age.

ㅤHe sleeps a while, actually. Hours. To the point that Sheik actually has to send guards away when they come looking for him. There might have been a few threats of violence when they attempted to persist, a dagger might have even appeared when they didn't take his words and leave. It got so late that he actually started shutting the library doors and blowing a few candles out, latching the windows shut to keep the breeze out.

ㅤHe's slept in the library before, when he got stuck on something he was working on and Sheik was actually prepared to do it again if the Hero didn't wake up. He was worried about his nutrition levels though, he hadn't eaten in a while and eventually he was going to start to get hungry. As Sheik was debating the need for sleep over the consumption of food, he actually heard the Hero stir at the desk. The Sheikah paused in searching his bag for a snack pack, head turning slowly toward the man and blinking at him.

ㅤAs he started to move, started to pick his head up, Sheik shifted and watched the very bed-headed Hylian start to take in his surroundings. Almost as if he had forgotten where he was. Their gazes met across the room and Sheik slowly pulled out the bag of dried fruits and nuts, along with the jar of steeped sun tea he had soaked before coming out here. "Hi?" That was not meant to come out as a question. He sat his bag back down and carried the two items over toward the table, setting them down and pushing them toward the other. "Here, you should eat and drink something. You slept about… six hours?" Give or take. "It's dark out now."

ㅤHe expected excuses, maybe a remark about how tired he was, literally anything than what he actually got in response. ❝ i only sleep well when you're next to me. ❞

ㅤRight. Of course. Why would he expect anything else?

Except where Sheik is quite positive this was the only time the Champion had fallen asleep near him, or been near him at all actually. Considering the fact that, aside from last night, they've never actually exchanged even a words to each other. Again, Sheik was certain Link didn't even know he existed up until that night. Apparently the other had different thoughts in his head. Odd thoughts that he really wanted to pick apart, just to see if what he was thinking might be a possibility. He grabbed the chair across from the other and tugged it out, sliding himself into it across from the other man. Reaching his hand across the table he grabbed his harp and pulled it over toward him, setting it down in front of himself now. He hadn't dared touch it before as it seemed Link was using it almost as a makeshift pillow. How that was possible with a hard gold object he honestly had no idea.