Everything her father said about her being a failure, everything she felt about being alone, it was all true. This world that would grow to hate her for her lack of sealing power, that was endlessly disappointed by her, had left her alone for dead.

She bowed her head and clamped her eyes shut as the Yiga moved his arm to strike forward, preparing herself for pain, for a death and assasination she couldn’t escape.

She heard the cool, slithering, metal graze of a weapon, yet no harm came to her.

Zelda looked up to see why, the movement of her head slow and cautious until she saw not tight, red fabric, but brown leather boots. Her eyes widened and, in her shock, a soft and sharp gasp parted her lips.

It was him, that boy, that knight, that one who was given everything, who pulled the sword that seals the darkness with ease while she still cried before statues upon statues of the goddess Hylia. It was that swordsman who was assigned as her knight attendant and yet seemed undeserving of everything he was given. It was that knight who kept his silence, who she assumed hated her for her incompetence and couldn’t even bring himself to utter a word of anything more than hate.

It was the knight with whom she acted the most improperly, her anger childish and the resentment she felt towards herself lashed out towards him.

It was Link.

He was protecting her, the self she knew deserved protection the least, and by his hand even more so. Yet Link stood there nonetheless, with the light of the sunset shimmering on his sword, scowling at his enemies, all because Zelda was in danger. With one movement of his sword and a flaming threat in his blue eyes, the two remaining Yiga assailants backed away in fear.

Zelda couldn’t stop staring at his determined expression, his courageous battle stance, his beastly blue eyes, his whole being, his whole life devoted to her safety. She felt a jolt in her heart as she watched the gentle breeze run through his dirty-blonde hair and studied his stance that absolutely radiated courage. Nothing would move him, would budge him from how he protected her.

The assailants had fled to the horizon, Link watching them until they no longer could be seen, hidden in cowardice by rampant desert winds. Link turned to Zelda as he lowered his sword.

He looked at her and it looked as if he were choosing his words carefully, the slight furrow in his brow ensuring Zelda that she must prepare for words of hatred, berating her for her defenselessness, for her carelessness, for her powerlessness.

But with a single blink, Zelda saw his eyes change. She had known them as neutral, having adopted the practice of endlessly searching them for any emotion and becoming frustrated when she found none, none to relate to, none to confide in. He was just so perfect that next to her, the failure, she had no choice but to hate him for the comparison the kingdom made. But in one single blink, Link’s eyes changed from a neutrality that burned--that to her, read like hatred--to something just a bit softer.  

Zelda was completely flummoxed as she tried to read it, Link sheathing his sword and taking a slight pause before he knelt before her, meeting her eye-line.

“Are you okay?” Link asked, Zelda recognizing the emotion as concern. Link was concerned for her. These bright blue eyes weren’t filled with hate or contempt or anything of the sort. And yet, that is exactly what she had thrown towards him. Her guilt bubbled and rose.

Zelda nodded, figuring she needed to respond in some way, the first of many things to make up for her childishness.

“I’m so glad I was here in time,” Link said. He didn’t blame her at all.

Zelda took a deep breath. She could hardly believe she was actually talking to him, having a conversation with him.

“So am I,” Zelda said in reply, Link standing back up. He offered his hand.

Zelda’s hand was hesitant as she reached to take it. Their fingertips brushed and that jolt in her heart returned. Their palms met and his fingers, his secure clasp felt like the safest thing in the world.

Link obviously took not notice of her newfound revelations as he pulled her up to standing.

He was about to detach his hand when she crumbled at the weight upon her two feet, Link hurriedly catching her other arm to keep her up.

“Your Highness?” Link asked, searching the pain in her face before his gaze went down to her foot, floating around her other ankle.

“I think I hurt my foot,” she said. “When I was running.”

Her face winced again as she tried to put weight on it. Link felt the way she clamped his hand.

“Don’t try,” he insisted. “We’ll get back to Gerudo Town, don’t worry.”

Zelda nodded as Link looked at how far it was. The distance wasn’t too great, but it was nothing he would ever force her to walk in her condition.

“Your Highness,” he said, returning his gaze. “Is it alright if I carry you?”

Zelda gave quick nods in affirmation.

Link brought one arm around her upper back and another behind her knees. Before she knew it, Zelda felt Link sweep her off her feet and into his strong hold. She slid her arms loosely around his neck.

“I’ll leave you with the guards at the front entrance,” Link said as he walked holding her. “They’ll take care of you. It’s obvious you feel I’m not the right knight attendant for you. I’ll go ahead and inform the king. The Gerudo will protect you from the Yiga until the king finds someone better suited to your standards.”

“No,” Zelda said. Link looked at her with a very slight surprise. Zelda wondered if she was getting better at reading those calm waters of his or if he was getting better at expressing them. “I want you.”

Zelda watched his neutrality return as his glance shifted beyond her to Gerudo Town. She wondered if he heard her before he spoke again.

“There’s a way for me to get into Gerudo Town,” Link said. “Urbosa told me about it and it does work. If you would like me to stay with you--”

“I do,” Zelda interrupted.

Link said no more, but Zelda could feel him changing from walking a straight line to veering away, likely to avoid the main entrance.

She stayed in his arms in silence, eventually tipping her head against his chest and waiting until the rhythm of his steps subsided. Zelda’s head popped up as he placed her against the outside wall of Gerudo Town.

Zelda could tell they were at the very backside, Link bringing a single finger to his mouth. They may not be seen but they could very well be heard, the throne room very close. Urbosa may know of the secret way in, but her own attendants and warriors did not.

Zelda watched with her back against the stone wall as Link dug in the sand, unearthing delicate Gerudo vai attire, hued with blues and greens. Link brushed off lingering sand as Zelda figured it out, Zelda’s hand going to her mouth.

Link stood up with the folded clothes in his hand, seeing Zelda’s silent reaction, the way her green eyes danced with an encroaching laughter.

He slightly tipped his head to one side.

Link put down the clothes, pointing at her before placing his hands over his eyes, his hands returning to his sides once he felt his point was made.

Zelda bit her lip to stop herself from laughing as she covered her eyes with her hands and closed her eyes. She heard the rustling of fabric and surprised herself by wanting to sneak a peek.

Before long, she felt his foot tap hers, the non-injured one, of course, Zelda opening her eyes to see Link standing over her.

Only he was so separated from the stoic knight she saw just a few moments ago. He was dressed in light, Gerudo fabrics and in fact made quite the convincing vai to the naked eye. Zelda in particular found herself staring at the muscles exposed by the revealing garb, his arms, his abs…

She rid herself of that train of thought by remembering he was dressed in clothes meant for a woman. Zelda stifled a laugh as best she could.

Link shook his head as he picked her back up. Zelda inwardly questioned her composure as she felt her cheeks warm at how close she was against his skin, her arms draped around his bare and, admittedly strong, shoulders.

“It’s the only way in,” she heard Link whisper as they approached a smaller entrance, a Gerudo guard nodding as they entered the town.

“I get it,” she said back, now actively resisting leaning against his chest.

“Take me to Urbosa,” Zelda said. “She will know where we can stay, and fetch a doctor. Not to mention she is likely worried sick.”

Link paced the steps up to the throne room, Urbosa standing up immediately.

“What happened?” She insisted as she walked forward.

“Link saved me from a Yiga attack,” Zelda explained. “But I hurt my ankle beforehand trying to run.”

“Take her to my chambers upstairs,” Urbosa said, addressing Link. “I’ll fetch a doctor immediately.”

Lugar: Escalera en espiral de la torre de Scharlmessen

Tras bajar dando vueltas por la escalera en espiral llegamos a la puerta.

Llegados a este punto me detuve.

Richie: ¿Fiona-chan? ¿Qué sucede?

Richie: ¿Fiona-chan? ¿Acaso te duele el estómago? ¿O te duele la cabeza?

Ellos dos que hasta hace poco querían correr hacia el jardín, se dieron vuelta y me observaron

Fiona: No, no es nada. Estoy bien, solo... estoy algo emocionada.

Hasta ahora, aunque era capaz de bajar hasta la entrada de la torre, no era capaz de salir.

Por lo general, cada vez que bajaba hasta la entrada siempre aparecía alguien diciéndome ''no puedes''. Pero ahora no hay nadie que me detenga.

En primer lugar fue Zara quién me dio permiso para salir.

Pero, estoy muy asustada, como si fuera a suceder algo muy malo.

En algún lado de mi emocionado corazón existe un terror frente al mundo exterior.

Fiona: (Está bien, todo está bien, incluso si es el exterior solo se trata del patio.)

Fiona: (A pesar de que estoy tan emocionada por salir al exterior, es extraño.)

Me dije a mí misma que todo estaba bien.

Y entonces--... Empecé a avanzar hacia afuera.

Fiona: ...

Era una sensación extraña.

No iba a ocurrir algún cambio significativo solo por el hecho de que saliera.

No era distinto del mundo que admiraba desde la ventana.

El color de los setos y el de las rosas, eran completamente iguales a como los veía desde la ventana.

Y aún así... Si el mundo que observaba desde la ventana no se diferenciaba en nada, ¿por qué?

Fiona: (Tiene una especie de olor cálido.)

No sabía qué olor era, pero era dulce, como si fuera cálido, así se sentía.

Fiona: Oye Pearl, ¿qué será este olor?

Pearl: ¿Este olor? Ah, ¿te refieres al olor de la tierra? ¿O al olor de la lluvia?

Richie: ¿Sabes Fiona-chan? Cuando llueve el olor de la tierra se intensifica, se vuelve denso.

Fiona. Eh...

Fiona: (Olor a tierra... Olor a lluvia...)

Eran cosas que no podía sentir dentro de la torre. Tampoco conocía la sensación que provocaba el viento al tocar mi piel.

Si tuviera que describir el aire de la torre que era tan alta, entonces diría que es bastante seco.

Fiona: Es un olor extraño... Pero no me disgusta.

Al dar un paso, al pisar los escalones de piedra que se encontraban mojados, estos hicieron un sonido chirriante.

Pearl: ¡Por aquí Fiona-chan!

Richie: ¡Por aquí Fiona-chan! ¡Este es nuestro lugar favorito!

Fiona: ¡Esperen un poco, ahora voy...! ¡Aah...!

Al ser llamada por los dos bajé de los adoquines de piedra hacia el jardín.

Y sin pensarlo terminé alzando la voz.

Era una sensación distinta a la del duro suelo. Es cierto que también era duro, pero se sentía distinto.

Era como un fino cojín, era una sensación extraña.

Al sentir como era pisar la maleza mojada recordé las palabras de Pearl.

Fiona: (Es realmente emocionante... ¿Cómo se sentirá cuando no está mojada?)

A pesar de que solo daba un paso tras otro se sentía muy divertido.

Solo estaba preocupada por mis pasos, pero cuando alcé la mirada pude ver el deslumbrante color verde que se encontraba empapado.

Esto tampoco tendría que ser algo distinto de lo que observaba desde la ventana, pero parecía como si estuviera brillando.

Fiona: (¿Será porque está empapado con las gotas de lluvia...?)

Mi atención era robada por las gotas de agua que se deslizaban por las hojas para después caer.

Fiona: Es tal y como dijo Richie, el jardín luego de la lluvia es muy hermoso.

Murmuré. Caminé por el jardín mientras pisaba la maleza

En esta zona, los setos de rosas están colocados de tal forma que logra conformar un laberinto, está hecho de una forma bastante complicada.

Claramente este no será el escenario donde se realizará la fiesta de hoy.

Ya que se había decidido que la fiesta se realizaría en un área abierta más cercana a la mansión.

Fiona: Pearl, Richie, ¿donde están?

Pearl: ¿Podrás encontrarme Fiona-chan?

Richie: Estoy aquí Fiona-chan.

Tras haber sido dejada y sin poder verlos decidí llamar a sus nombres, tras eso lo que recibí fueron sus alegres voces.

Al parecer estamos jugando a las escondidas.

Fiona: Entendido, entonces empecemos el juego.

Fiona: Si logro encontrarlos antes de que Nesso nos llamé la victoria será mía, y si no lo logro entonces la victoria será de ustedes.

Pearl: ¿Hay algún premio para la persona que gane?

Fiona: Déjame ver...

Fiona: Si ganan mañana les daré el bocadillo que deseen.

Richie: ¡Genial! ¡Voy a esforzarme!

Fiona: Y si yo gano... Ya sé, mañana ustedes tendrán que darme sus bocadillos de mañana.

Pearl: ¡¡...!! ¡¡N-no perderé...!! ¡¡Yo no perderé...!!

Richie: ¡¡Yo tampoco perderé...!!

Los pasos de ambos cada vez se iban alejando más y más.

Fiona: (Fufu, ¿hasta donde correrán? Esto, estoy segura de que era por aquí...)

Intentaba imaginar la vista desde arriba del jardín que siempre veía desde la ventana.

Es bastante complicado el sincronizar la imagen desde arriba que se tiene del jardín uns vez que en verdad lo estás recorriendo.

Fiona: (Estoy segura de que si doblo aquí veré una pequeña fuente... ¿Eh?)

No estaba.

Fiona: (Entonces... La fuente debe de estar por aquí.)

Continué mi paseo recorriendo el jardín mientras intentaba recordar la vista que tenía desde arriba.

Mientras lo hacía cada vez conseguía más puntos de referencia.

Fiona: ¿Donde estarán Pearl y Richie?

De repente me detengo e intento alzar una voz que ambos puedan escuchar.

Pearl: ¡No es por aquí! ¡No estoy por aquí!

Richie: ¡Yo estoy aquí! ¡A la sombra de unas rosas que han florecido bellamente!

Al recibir de inmediato sus alegres voces reí levemente y reanudé mi paseo.

Mientras los buscaba escuché un sonido parecido al de alguien atravesando los arbustos de rosas.

Caminé por entre los setos de rosas guiándome por las voces de los dos que antes había escuchado.

Fiona: (¿...Eh?)

A una leve distancia podía escuchar como los arbustos se mecían.

Era una dirección completamente distinta de la que yo estaba siguiendo para encontrar a esos dos.

Planeaba seguir en la dirección donde había escuchado sus voces, pero me preguntaba si en algún momento se me habrían escapado.

Fiona: (Esos dos son bastante hábiles.)

Como era de esperar de aquellos que siempre juegan en este jardín.

Cambio mi camino y me dirijo al lugar donde había escuchado aquel sonido.

Anterior: [6 Cuento de hadas y realidad]

Siguiente: [8 Encuentro]

Zelda looked back up, seeing Link slowly sit on the edge of the bed. His blue eyes were patient and waiting. Zelda tried to swallow her fear.

“I must apologize,” she said. “For how I’ve treated you.”

Link shook his head.

“It’s my job to--”

Zelda shook her head, stopping his words.

“My royalty, my...authority…” she insisted. “It does not excuse my immaturity, it can’t. Your job is to protect me, not tolerate my infantile behavior. I know we are close to the same age. It’s time I started acting like it.”

Her eyes locked with Link’s, Zelda studying the patience in them before she continued.

“The reason, of course,” she explained with a new breath. “Doesn’t excuse everything that has transpired between us. I don’t know how you seem to...handle it...so well, but...it’s the pressure of the calamity.”

“I’ve been...frustrated,” she continued. Link’s lips had parted, but he bit his lip to stop himself from interrupting. “...about my lack of sealing powers. I hated myself for it and hated you for how easy fulfilling your own destiny was, for pulling the sword. I thought you didn’t deserve it. In my eyes, you had done so little in comparison to me that it made no sense. I justified it by figuring it was my fault. I thought you hated me for being such a failure when it came to my own part to play...I can’t believe it took me until yesterday to see that you didn’t, at least not to the extent that I made it out to be.”

“Your Highness,” Link said. “I don’t hate you at all. I never did.”

Zelda’s expression melted with an exhale at his sincerity.

“You really don’t, do you?” She asked rhetorically. “All this time...Link, I’m so sorry for continuously lashing out at you, for being cold towards you, shutting you out when I shouldn’t have, and for silencing you because of that. I’m sorry for hating you, for manufacturing that because it was easy to believe, and for expecting such a vile emotion from you who has only shown the opposite. You’ve proven me wrong and I’ve found that...I can’t possibly hate you.”

Link looked down, Zelda eyeing the way he seemed to search for his words, hesitate upon them. She saw it in his blue eyes.

“You aren’t the reason I’m not talkative, Your Highness,” Link said, Zelda making a mental note to get around to asking him why. “Don’t fault yourself for that. And I...I accept your apologies. Although they are unnecessary.”

Zelda inhaled to object.

“I understood your behavior,” Link continued. “And cared more for your distress than my pride. I would have protected you no matter how you treated me.”

Zelda nodded.

“Because it’s your job,” she said.

Of course that was it. He didn’t hate her because the job protecting her paid well, gave him a good, high-ranking station, and brought attention to his abilities.

“Yes,” Link said. “It is my job. But that doesn’t mean it can’t align with the fact that I care about you. I care about my obligation to the king, the oaths I made. I care about my family because that is where the rupees go, but I also care about you because...because you might be the only person who understands.”

“What do you mean?” Zelda asked.

Link took an inhale, closing his eyes before he opened them slowly.

Fear. She saw fear. The first emotion of his that was clear as day and it was fear.

“You’re afraid,” she said, her voice a whisper. “Of Calamity Ganon…”

Link averted his telling gaze.

“I think I understand,” Zelda said, studying him. She started to shake her head. “I think...I’ve misjudged you...I feel I don’t know you at all and yet...I think I already do. The calamity...the pressure, you feel it as I do, you...feel alone in the world.”

“Unless…” she ascertained. “Unless you’re with...me…”

Zelda pondered her words. Perhaps he wasn’t perfect, perhaps the stoicism was a facade. Even in this moment he started to open up when it was just them. He was being vulnerable with her.

She was the only other person meant to face Calamity Ganon, who had the eyes of the kingdom fixed upon them, how could she not see it before? He needed her.

Perhaps they were more alike than she thought. Perhaps they could get along. Perhaps she could ask him about why he stays silent, and everything else she has wondered about him. Perhaps she could confide in him, them slowly opening up to each other past the formalities of princess and knight.

“Hello, Princess,” the Gerudo said. “Urbosa tells me you’ve sustained an injury.”

She sat down near her feet, Zelda feeling Urbosa sit down next to her on the bed.

“My right foot,” Zelda said as the doctor reached for the foot. “It twisted weird while I was runni...ah!”

“That hurts?” the doctor asked. Zelda nodded quickly.

“I need to take off your boot to check for swelling,” she explained. “It will hurt. Urbosa, take her hand.”

The chief did so. Zelda let out a small whimper as her boot was taken off, squeezing Urbosa’s hand tight, but the pain decreased after the doctor let it gently rest on the bed. She compared Zelda’s feet after taking off the other boot as well.

“It’s definitely swollen,” she said as she inspected them. “I can give you a elixir for the pain but if there is a bone that is broken or bruised, the only thing we can really do to mend it is to let it mend on its own. That means icing it, bracing it, and moving it as little as possible.”

Zelda nodded.

“I understand.”

“I’ll go borrow some ice from the bar,” the doctor said as she stood up and handed Zelda a bottle of dark purple liquid. “Half of this is one dose. You will feel drowsy.”

Zelda sipped it slowly, checking to make sure she didn’t drink too much every few sips or so. Not to mention, the sour taste making it hard to drink anyway. She didn’t want to think of what bug or lizard or monster part was in it.

“That looks like about half,” Zelda said as she studied it, placing it on a nearby table.

She felt Urbosa tuck a wayward strand of blonde hair behind her ear.

“I’m so glad you are okay, little bird,” Urbosa said with a motherly smile. “I wouldn’t want you joining your dear mother too soon.”

“As much as I miss her,” Zelda said. “I wouldn’t want that either. I’m glad Link was there to save me.”

Urbosa was surprised. Not only did she speak his name and not ‘the knight’ with great contempt, but she spoke of him with such civility, almost a gratefulness. Urbosa smiled at the thought. Perhaps Zelda was starting to realize how much she needed a friend in Link.

“Here,” Urbosa said, sliding off her bed and rummaging through Zelda’s things.

She offered Zelda her diary.

“In case you feel like documenting some of this.”

“Thank you,” Zelda said as she took it.

“Of course,” Urbosa said. “I have some business to attend to. Are you going to be okay here?”

Zelda looked to Link’s silhouette.

“Yes,” Zelda replied. “Yes, I think I will.”

Urbosa leaned in and gave Zelda a kiss on her forehead.

“Get some rest,” she said before departing.

Zelda looked at Link as she opened her diary, studying him with fluctuating green eyes.

Shifting to lay on her side, she placed the diary in front of her, grabbing an ink-dipped feather and looking upon the blank page.

‘I am unsure how to put today’s events into words,’ she wrote. ‘Words so often evade me lately, and now more than ever.’

Zelda blinked as she thought upon the memory, Link standing before her, the perfect picture of a hero. It should have made her blood boil, and yet it didn’t. Job or not, he protected her, came to her side in the moment she thought she was lost and alone.

‘He saved me,’ Zelda wrote. ‘Without a thought for his own life, he protected me from the ruthless blades of the Yiga Clan. Though I’ve been cold to him all this time, taking my selfish and childish anger out on him at every turn, he was still there for me. I won’t ever forget that. Tonight--”

A wave of fatigue ebbed upon her, her eyes blinking heavy. She scratched out that last word with a single line.

‘Tomorrow,’ she wrote in front of it. ‘I shall apologize for all that has transpired between us. And then…”

She paused.

Zelda had heard him talk today, full, coherent sentences. It was possible. The rumors in the castle that he was physically mute were clearly not true. She wondered at his prior silence. She used to think it was because of her failure to access the sealing power, now she feared it was because of her failure to treat him properly. She had no idea that it wasn’t her fault at all.

‘Then I will try talking to him,’ she wrote. ‘To Link. It’s worth a shot.’

Her head dropped down onto her arm as she read over what she wrote, crossing a redundant ‘then’ that looked completely foolish.