#pre-calamity

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“Khh-hh.”

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“Don’t forget.”

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“You MUST look!”

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muffled

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stupid mask

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“M-kh-h—. Vh.”

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We weren’t enough.

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“Kh-h—.”

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How do we be enough?

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“Khh-hhHhkh. Mgh.”

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“We meet again.”

Holy. In all the realms of light, what happened to him? “What happened to you?”

“It appears you’ve forgotten.”

“Uh. You… can’t forget something you never knew.”

“Hhfhhh. If you have forgotten, you cannot know you never knew it.”

“Kh. Ghm.”

“…Uh.” Why do I get the sense he’s raising an eyebrow at me? He can’t. Nothing but skull-above-eye-socket there.

“Do you feel ready to earn another hidden skill to steel yourself for the forthcoming battles against more powerful foes?”

MORE powerful? That doesn’t seem like a good idea, things went bad with the PREVIOUS level of powerful and oh.

Oh s#$&.

The Calamity.

It’s going to be so much worse, isn’t it? Way nastier than what we just fought. We’re dead unless we figure out how to be enough. “…What hidden skill?”

“Ha. Before we begin, I must test you to ensure you have mastered the last skill I taught you-”

“Wait, but you never-“

“-the shield attack. Now then, come at me!”

”Pff!” THAT’S his idea of a ‘hidden’ skill?! “As if I don’t know how to shield bash.”

“H-khHHh-hh.”

“You may be destined to become the hero of legend...”

“Khh-hh.”

“We covered that already. I pulled the sword, remember?”

“Yet your current power would disgrace the proud green of the hero's tunic you wear.”

“I’m only wearing green because YOU gave me a green shirt, don’t make it out to be more than it is.” I like my blue one better. She made it for me. Made with love.

“KhhhHHH-hh-hh.”

“…I do not remember you talking back this much.”

“I grew up.”

“Khhh.”

“Hf. I amend my statement. I do not recall you talking back this much AFTER you’d grown.”

Yeah, well I’m pissed. Sick of never being good enough. ‘Disgrace the proud green’ my ass. I got us through this.

“Hhh. Hhhhhhhoh.”

…Well.

“Hfff.”

No, that’s not true, Link, yeah if you’d been any weaker than you were, even a tiny bit, you’d’ve died, but you’d still’ve died without the dragon, the wind, the paraglider, the rope, thank you thank you thank you Hylia for the rope, thank you garrison-people for seeing us, for coming to find us. We’d’ve died. My Princess would’ve died. My beautiful Zelda dead broken twisted, the canyon floor-

“…Your silence says you know I am right.”

Stop. stop- SEEING that, Link “I’m not Fi.”

“You attribute her silence to confirmation, do you not? It seems likely to apply in reverse.”

…Shut up.

“You must use your courage to seek power...and find it you must. Only then will you become the hero for whom this world despairs.”

“Well, what the f#$% am I now, then?” Calm down.

“Kh-hhh.”

Calm down.

“…One who walks a lonely path.”

Lonely. I was. I was, but, “I’m better when I’m not alone.”

“Always. Friends, family, and allies are the firmament.”

“Maybe I should get off that lonely path, then.”

“You cannot.”

“Wh-?! You just said-“

“And I meant it. Yet the sword falls to you and you alone. No amount of military might may strike the killing blow against our ancient enemy. None but you may deal it.”

“Hph. Almost true.”

Sheik’s back! So glad, things'll be okay now. Wish he wouldn’t watch this, though, it’s going to be humiliating.

“True enough.”

Wait, do they know each other? Listen to Sheik grumbling and side-eyeing. Surprised he’s not arguing, actually.

“Those whom you hold dear-“

Letting the shadow-of-a-man talk instead.

“-may lift you to rise far above the height you would stand on your own. Yet if you fall, no effort of theirs will prevail. You must not fail them again.”

“Again?! What are you talking about?”

“Hh-hh. You do not remember.”

Strange to see a skeleton shudder. He’s not like them. Like Huiru. And Reida. What in all the skies happened to him?

“The world has been laid asunder.”

No it hasn’t. I was just there.

“Cleaved in two, and yet again-“

“You kept leaving me behind.”

No, Sheik! “Sheik, I never-“

“Yet not all has been set to rights.”

Ooooh, Skeleton-man, you might want to reconsider saying anything else, Sheik is NOT happy with you… wait. That’s not a glare. What is that?

“It never can be.”

Ohmy that voice on him “Sheik- it’s okay. We’re here.”

“KhhHH-hh.”

“You’re not.”

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It’s like they’re angry at each other. What for?

“I am NEVER angry with you.”

He half-shouts at ME? “What, you read minds, now?!” And he is, he totally is angry at me, what else would that be in those red eyes of-his-?

“Do not blame him for your choice.”

“I chose kindness, hero. YOU chose never to return!”

Wait, now HE’S the hero?

“And how would I have done so?”

Oh. Ohh wait, is that what he is?

“By growing up.”

Past-hero?

“Ha. Hahaha!”

He doesn’t seem much like me ooOOooh! He… has a point, gesturing to all of his absolute minimum of six feet in height, it has to be. Hard to tell exactly with that crazy helmet. I sure don’t know any six-foot children.

“I grew up in a world without you.”

“Needlessly. Hh-hh. Predictably, had I given it a deeper level of thought. I was a fool. Of course, you would do what was right. And it WAS right.”

Oh oh no are those tears? “Sheik?” Oh dear Goddess the heel of his hand. He IS crying. “Sheik- it’s- it’s okay. We’re here, right?”

“You are not. Ahhh-hhh. It is easy to forget the selfishness of the body. The painful salt of breathless sorrow.”

I…don’t understand. He doesn’t look like he does, either. But… kind of hard to read a skull’s expression.

Why does Sheik keep looking at me? I’m not who he was arguing with. O-oh- his hand, my cheek- hands, CHEEKS- why is he- why does he “Oh.” Oh no. No, I know this hand. These hands. Don’t I? Has he- have we-?! I remember feelings. Feeling these all over.

“I admit my selfishness.”

“…You… don’t seem like you’re being selfish to me, Sheik.” But my Goddess I am, what’s wrong with me?!

“I am. This simple touch. This is selfish.”

“I… don’t…” does he mean he feels it too? I don’t mean to feel it. I really don’t. I don’t understand. I only feel that way for Zelda.

The mask.

“Khh. Hh.”

It has to go.

You can do it, Link. Nice and slow. Raise your hands to his face. He’s not stopping you. He wants you to do it. There. Just tug down at the sides.

…It’s her. “Zelda.”

“Hph.”

Take her face in your hands, Link. Her. His? He’s not- she’s not- not the same. “I don’t understand.”

“You aren’t meant to. This moment. This is my selfishness at work, for I wished you to see me. Yet you MUST see me. You MUST look!”

I AM looking! “I don’t-“

“You cannot see it.”

“…Not through this one.” Woah. Woah, Link, what made you say that? This one WHAT?! Sheik- shaking his headHER headZeldahimno no it is but it isn’t

“It is asunder.”

HIM again I thought he’d left! “What is?”

“Many things. You know so.”

“Sheik… no more hiding. Say what you mean.”

“It is difficult. My conduit- wanders.”

This gets more and more confusing “What conduit?”

“Fly with the wind.”

“…The dragon?” Wait… wait- “How did I get here? I- holy s%&@ I should be in bed with Zelda! Where am I?! What did you do to me?!”

“You sleep.”

‘Sleepyhead.’

“Wh-?…This-“ no no this is wrong it’s WRONG I’m not here, I’m- “This is a dream.”

“You awaken. Finally.”

“No. No, I’m not awake, because if I were, I’d be in bed with Zelda at my side. What- who are you? You- look like her, and you look like someone else, and Goddess forgive me-“

“Mm-m.”

“-I feel like I love you both and that’s not okay. I don’t even know you. Not for real. How can I REMEMBER you, even a little bit? What did you do to me?”

“I’ve little time.”

“Why?!”

“Because YOU have little time. I must-“

“You-“

“Let me speak while you can hear me properly!”

“Why now?! Why can I hear you ‘properly’ all of a sudden, but-“

“Because your consciousness has awakened.”

“So just talk to me when I’m awake!”

“That is far more difficult to do.”

“I don’t-“

“Khh-hh. Khh.”

“Understand, yes, so you’ve said. And I am so sorry, my dearest Link.”

“Your-?”

“I am so sorry for the burden you bear. Yet it must be borne. You and I both shoulder it.”

“You mean Zelda and I.”

“All of us.”

What the- f%#& “Us who?”

“You and I.”

Holy- s#$&. Link, don’t be stupid. You’re dreaming. Dreams don’t make sense.

“A fatal enemy rests at your side.”

Cold cold deepsliding downmybody “What?” holys#$&

“You cannot see it.”

HolyS#$& are you F#$*%ing KIDDING ME?! “Don’t you dare.” Warning you warning BACK. OFF.

“You must-“

“You will NOT turn me against Zelda.” Those HANDS

“Of course not!”

those hands they’re not hers

“There is an ENEMY, Link.”

this is a dream

“One you cannot see!”

this is some spirit F#%&ING with me

“It is in the room with you!”

or my mind f#$&ing with itself noNOcold INtheroom?!!! “ZELDA is in the room with me.”

“She is not the only one.”

Holy-

Holy f%*%?

“You MUST look!”

No way this is so messed up dreaming, I’m dreaming

“YOU MUST LOOK!”

“We’re ALONE in the room!”

“You cannot SEE it!”

“What the F#$& do you want me to do then?!! Look WHERE?!”

“Seek truth! There- in ancient times- was a lens.”

“Oh great, so what, I have to do library research now on ancient lenses? Guess I’d better hurry back across Irch Plain and get SLAUGHTERED.”

“SHE will be slaughtered if you do not heed me!”

Wh-“what?” Coldcoldcold no no no this is a dream

“Khh-h— KHH-hh.”

“This IS a dream. But I assure you, I am real.”

“Then who are you?!”

“I am exactly as I appear to be.”

Horses#$&. “You appear to be Zelda. Almost.”

“That is your mind making as much sense of me as it can.”

“So, what, now you’re NOT exactly what you appear to be?”

“Hhhhh!”

Oooh pissed himheroff, good-

“I mean my original countenance was not as similar to- your- Zelda’s- as it may seem.”

“Yeah, so you lied.”

“I did NOT lie. I am who I appear to be.”

“But you’re NOT Zelda.”

“I am Zelda.”

“Skies a-f#$^ing-bove, you kind of CAN’T be.”

“I can.”

“You’re supposedly warning me that something’s going to hurt HER. Other-person-HER. NOT you.”

“And yet I say to you that I am still Zelda.”

“But you’re NOT HER.”

“NO I am not her. Nor is she me. And yet we are both Zelda.”

What the f#&$, am I just being really stupid? How many princesses in history were named Zelda? Is she a past Zelda is that all this is supposed to mean?

“Yes. Somewhat.”

Oh great.

“I am both past and present.”

“Khh-khh-hh.”

“That makes no sense.”

“It does if you heed your deepest remembrance’s words.”

“My what?” …She waves over there, overthere what oh. OH, he’s still here. “He’s… him?” Staring at me, one bright red eye like a guardian’s laser.

“The world has been split asunder. More than once.”

“What do you mean? I-“

I could go on for days. Years. Suffice to say, master, in two of these sets of memories I was far less than a mere shadow of what I am now. In only one did I remain… whole. Yet here I am. I contain these memories. I know these worlds. And so do you, master.

…Oh my Goddess.

“Mmph.”

Fi. She said there were three worlds, right? Three totally different sets of memories. Three ways things could’ve goneNO no no DID go. All real. Link- keep your- stupid mouth shut but she can READ minds whoever this ‘Zelda’ is, she knows what Fi told me already.

“Yes. And Fi has underestimated them to say the least.”

“…How many worlds are there?”

“Hahahaha. Hahahahaha-“

“Okay, so maniacal laughter? UNlikely to win me over.”

“-hahahaha. Link. My dearest… most beloved.”

…Huh?

Tears again.

Are they real?

“KhhHH-kh. Kh.”

“I am so sorry. So deeply sorry, but… the answer is one.”

“…One…” that doesn’t make any sense. “You JUST said Fi underestimated.”

“Fi does not know everything, and contrary to popular opinion, neither do I.”

“Pff. Popular opinion? Who the hell else even knows about you?” Oh what is that droll look for? He thinks I’m stupid?

“It is quite likely good that your Zelda is your Zelda. She has an abundance of patience. Hph.”

This is stupid. Just some stupid dream, it’s going off the rails like dreams do, right? Yeah there’s a real big cracklings stand over there so I might as well just grab a snack-

“NO! Link, stay with me!”

“Huh?” Oh, him again. Didn’t I just take his mask off? “You need some help with that?”

“MmMM!”

OH! Oh yes, he does, poor guy oh it’s… Sheik. Right, right “Sorry, sorry, here… here you go… why do you wear it if it does that to you?”

“I do NOT wear it.”

He looks… upset, real upset again, but why? Of course he wears it, it’s THERE, isn’t it? She’s pretty.

Wait.

“Hh. Mm. Li…nk-?”

Huh?

“Link. For the sake of all Hyrule and for yourself- for your own happiness and well-being, and your life. Your LIFE, Link.”

…Uh.

“Seek the lens of truth.”

Oh.

“Mm. Khh-hh.”

OH.

Oh “I remember now. You’re… I don’t know what you are.”

“Is it enough that I am on your side?”

But why lie to me be like Zelda but not be? “If… you know so much… why don’t you just tell me where this lens is?”

“Hhhh. I- do not know everything.”

“Heh. Wouldn’t expect you to.” Oh. Herhis hand on my face again. Love that hand, it’s Zeldawait?

“You might if you heard me more clearly.”

“Pff. All you have to do is talk more clearly, then.” Disappointed, she looks disappointed. But ohhhh no, not him again, I really want some of those pork cracklings. He’s totally going to make me wait. Find out if I remember how to do a downthrust or something.

“Fly with the wind.”

Did that already.

“Scale its mountains.”

Heeey, that, too!

“Seek out the wonders of its caverns.”

Huh. Good idea. Maybe after the cracklings.

Two please. Nooo, the big bags please, not those teeny little ones! Aww. Only little ones left? Too bad. Like one crackling in each of these. Still. Tasty.

“Kh-hm. Km.”

“You must use your courage to seek power.”

Oh, man. “Look, do you want one of these?”

“I do.”

Great! “Here you go.” Skeletal crackling-crunching, aw. Aw that’s sad. “It’s on the floor.”

“No stomach.”

“Shame.”

“It appears you are certainly capable of performing my lost art.”

Well, that came out of nowhere! “Uh. Thanks!”

“My final hidden skill is… The Great Spin!”

“Woah! Hey wait, do you mean where the sword-light comes out and knocks people over?”

“It should do far more than that to any who are your enemy. Of course… even others may startle and throw themselves to the ground beneath the wave.”

“Yeahh, pretty sure I’ve seen that happen.”

“So you’ve tried it.”

“By accident! Yep.”

“Hmph.”

Aww. That was an unhappy noise. He probably wants to test me or whatever, but that’ll have to wait. I don’t have any pants.

!!!?? No PANTS?! Where’d they go?!?! “Oh my- Hylia, I am so- so, so sorry, I- REALLY thought I dressed this morning!” What happened?!! CoveryourselfLinkCOVER!!! Nooo the crackling-bags are too small Oh Goddess no please can I hide in the food cart??! NO?!!? Why not?!! Oh you think it’s unsanitary, don’t you, of course you do, and I understand that actually, you don’t want to lose your customers, they’ll think your meat-meat is contaminated with man-meat or- I don’t know, whatever’s on my man-parts

“Phhhhh.”

actually that’s kind of a lot because of what me and Zelda did heheheheeeeh I didn’t take a bath yet. Uh. Yeah so. Um. I’ll just. Go over here.

“Khh-kh.”

Please don’t arrest me.

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I totally see them coming.

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Oh no. It’s going to be lockup with the Stalnox bones, isn’t it?

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Sneaky sneak sneak.

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Lizards. Guess I went the wrong way.

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eyes

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one

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“Khh-kh.”

—-----

“Hhhhh. Thank Hylia.”

“Hmhm. Which thing are you thanking her for in there, Sir Knight?”

“Heh. That I’m clean. But believe me, I’m thankful for other things, too.”

“As am I.”

It probably feels even better to her. Being fresh out of a (warm) bath is always great, but when you’ve wallowed in your own filth for days? Then it’s spectacular. Not that I haven’t wallowed way longer than this, but this time felt the worst. Probably had something to do with the raging infection all over my back.

We’re getting extras of that elixir from Natsu.

"Khh-hh."

And I’m asking her where she gets them

"KhhhHhh."

or if she makes them. I don’t care if they’re some closely-guarded Sheikah secretnooo, no, Link. Don’t get angry. Breathe in. Breathe out. You don’t know. They could be new. The law was they couldn’t even do the sciency things until, what… 12 years ago?

12 years ago.

That number keeps coming up.

Zelda’s mom. I can’t even imagine. SHE can’t even imagine. Can’t remember. The fortune-teller. Seeing father(Dad) cry in the kitchenno. No not him, just- don’t. Wonder how he got burntNO. He- totally doesn’t deserve your headspace right now. Breathe in. Breathe out.

12 years ago. Chee was born. It was… before or after? Mom would remember.

"Kh-khm."

…I think it was after.

DAH!

“Sir Link? If you’ve finished, I’m ready to re-bandage you.”

“Yeah. One second.” Stop daydreaming. Limited time, Link. “Fffff.” Still hurts to towel off, though.

Scabs.

Still red on the edges. Angry. Looking to blow right back up if Natsu’s stuff wasn’t in me.

Alright, enough, get this out of the way. “Sir Finn.”

“Sir Link. Ah- Princess, please-”

“Yes, yes, I’ll remain in the bedroom. I shall shut the door and prepare.”

Ahhh, cot. Hello again.

“Your progress is astonishing.”

“I thought so, too.”

“Natsu’s medicine only treats festering. The wound-healing is you.”

“I do heal fast.”

“The Princess also seems to. Except the cough.”

“…Yeah. I’d wondered about that.”

“Some people’s lungs take very poorly to smoke. Sometimes smells set them off, even pleasant ones.”

Miss Morsels’ shop… “I’ve seen her cough at a bad smell before.”

“What about flowers and trees? Or damp spaces, like basement storage?”

“No problem.”

“Perfumes?”

“No.”

“Animals?”

“Nope.”

“Hm.”

“What?”

“Usually at least some of those are problems for such people.”

“Guess I’m grateful the Princess isn’t incapacitated around perfume or flowers.”

“Agreed, Sir. It’s just unusual. Lift, please.”

“Right.” It is never not going to be awkward to have someone bandage my ass. SHOULD it be him and not me? Yes. He can see what he’s doing. Is it fun? No.

If we’re traveling in Hebra, no way I can change these unless we stop in a real sheltered spot. Set up a good tent. More likely I’ll end up just cutting them off and that’s the end of it. Not like I haven’t done it before.

Zelda, though.

She’s not used to roughing it. “So… that pouch’ll keep anything clean, including bandages. I’d like to take at least two changes for the Princess.”

“The Commander requisitioned ten already, Sir, in addition to what they’d usually take.”

Bet some of those are for me. Well I’m sure not letting him change me like a baby.

Oh s$#(, Zelda- no no no, Link. Natsu’ll take care of her. No excuse for your father to give you s#$*-

LINK.

“Did I hurt you, sir?”

“Uhno. All good.” Link. Just stop thinking about him. Stop. “Do you know what else is already on the list?”

“If you’re wondering about elixirs, we have six each of the fever reducer, pain killer, heal-boost, and three containers of the protectant salve. Helps stop festering setting in in the first place. There’s also alcohol and two dozen cough suppressants.”

“So many?”

“If she doesn’t stop coughing, you’ll need more than that. Natsu’s gathering her own supplies, and I admit hers work better. I’m no magician. I don’t know how they work theirs, but when all this is done if they’ll let me learn, I will.”

“I’ve never heard of anyone not-Sheikah doing Sheikah… mag…ic….” Wait.

“Sir?”

“Sorry, just… thinking…” Red eyes. Mask. The hair, though. Blond. No wait, blue eyes. No.

What?

What am I remembering?

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“Lift again, please.”

Sure, lift, sure.

“I am never angry with you.”

I totally remember him saying… that…

Who?

Fi, is this another one of those easy-to-open doors?

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Not good.

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“SIR FINN?”

“YES, PRINCESS?”

“IS THE MESS HALL CHILLY?”

“Ha. NO, BUT DRESS WARMLY, PLEASE, PRINCESS! That’s why we gave you those.”

She IS still cold. “What does it mean? That her temperature’s still low.”

“…Some people run cold, but you’ve said that isn’t the case.”

“Yeah, it’s not.”

“Hphhhhhh. I’ve seen it in people. They’re usually tired all the time. Tend to need more sleep and gain weight.”

“She definitely doesn’t do that.”

“She’s been tired.”

“Only here. Because of what happened.”

“KhHHHHHhh-KH.”

“Has her hair been thinning?”

“Eh- no… I don’t think so.” Though how would I know if it was way thicker a year ago? It's thick now. It would had to've been bizarrely thick- well. Chee's is thicker. Crazy head of hair like a rhododendron. But hers is frizzy, too.

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Weird to think I’ve only Zelda sixish months. Doesn’t seem possible. Can’t imagine life without her anymore.

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Silence.

It’s one of those heavy ones, isn't it. What... does he think it could be? “Is there another reason? For her to be cold?”

“…Age is often one. She’s too young for it. Hypothermia, of course, would do it.”

Well that’s sure not it. Could’ve been on the cliff, but not anymore. And the coughing - if she was sick, she’d have a fever, and she’d feel chills, sure, but actually be hot. It doesn’t make sense. Am I just crazy and she was always like this? I could swear her hands on me were always warm. But then again, before last week, her hands were NEVER on me.

Last week. Holy Hylia, how can it be so little time? Why did all this horror start NOW? It could’nt’ve given us a few weeks just to be happy? Though granted I guess the first horror was before we got…VERY happy. With far fewer clothes. What changed?

Ohhh Link. Link, something definitely changed. We went right past Carok-guy on the bridge by the Breach of Demise. He didn’t attack. Then again, maybe he would have if I hadn’t glared as insanely hard at him as I did for telling the Princess to halt. I was easily in range to end him if he tried anything. Then all the other guards swarmed him as we were leaving. No opportunity? Or no opportunity safe enough for him? He was willing to take an arrow to the chest to waste Mipha’s gift. So… not a coward.

I bet... he wasn't sure it was her until we were close. It was dark. You take the wrong shot? You out yourself and you've failed and made it very, very, VERY known the Yiga are about to start taking pot-shots at the Princess.

Failure... That was the issue, right? He wanted a setup where he had a good chance of succeeding, and he got it. EXCEPT, Link, no- no, Link, all that's true BUT if not-Erl could flood Irch Plain with monsters on one of our trips to the Royal Lab, why do it specifically on THIS trip? Why not do it before? What... the hell is going on?

...12 years, he said. Why 12 relatively peaceful years until now?

“You seem to be thinking heavy thoughts, Sir Link.”

“Yeah. I am.”

“About your path?”

Not exactly. “The path here. From last week til now.”

“Mh.”

From last week to ass-bandages. Or thigh-bandages, which is where he’s up to now. He’s quick at this. Almost done.

“We didn’t get much news here other than that you’d been injured.”

“…Yeah… I’d figured- my- father- didn’t open his letters in order.”

“Multiple letters arrived in a short time. We sent Welsirc out with the one marked urgent. He intercepted the Commander at Hebra Headspring station.”

“Is there ancient technology stuff around there?”

“Mmh. Further north, I think. I don’t know much about it. I’d ask Natsu or the Commander.”

Yeah he totally picked up on it, my father being weird about me calling him father.

“Alright, Sir- you’re set.”

“Thank you.” Aaaaand put on these new undies without giving him the full-frontal… success. “Aghm. Seriously, Sir Fin, I appreciate everything you’ve done.” Here’s my hand to shake again and heyyy I get a little bit of a smile this time and it would be way less awkward than the first time except that I know this guy was just looking at my injured buttcheeks.

“You’re welcome, Sir. Ah… I hope you can forgive me for that first day or so.”

“…Nothing to forgive.” Wellll “mostly.” OohOOOH you freaked him out Link! “I think… there might be something to address with the Princess, though I wasn’t really awake for whatever it was.”

“She… was… displeased with my handling of things, yes. Sir.”

“Might want to patch that up.”

“I will try to make amends, Sir. And...”

“Yes, Sir Finn?” He looks worried. I always was, too, when I knew Zelda was miffed at me. Which, you know, was all the time.

“This… will be impertinent.”

Oh no. No, Link hold it in hold it don’t laugh, yeah this guy was real impertinent before he knew who we were, but it’s not funny. It’s NOT funny that he thinks he's about to be.

“I make everyone’s health here my business.”

“…That makes sense for a medic.”

“Yes, Sir. And especially here, in the middle of all this cold and snow, it’s important for the mind to be healthy as well as the body.”

Uh oh. Is he- what, does he think I’m sick in the head? I mean… he might not be wrong… I do hear voices nobody else does… “…Agreed.”

“And that means everyone working at their best, alone and with each other.”

Oh s#$&. This is totally about-

“I noticed- the Commander and you.”

“…Yeah.”

“Some men… just… can’t admit things.”

Yep. Like when they’re ashamed of their children. So much so they’ll jump at the opportunity to claim they’re not theirs.

“It… doesn’t mean those things aren’t there.”

Yep again. “I know.” Oh? A shoulder-squeeze? That’s a Greggan thing. Is this guy this garrison’s Greggan? …No, no he’s not, because he’s also kind of an ass. A selective-ass. What do asses select? Damned if I know. Maybe seating.

“SIRS? MAY I EXIT?”

“Oh-“

“YES, PRINCESS!”

“-ellent.”

“Well… I have a few things to tend to before dinner.”

“We shall see you there, Sir Finn.”

A really important dinner. We have to thank every single one of these people. Profusely.

—

This is different, walking along this hallway with Zelda. They don’t know us. Not the way they did at the castle. They see something else. Keep nodding and smiling, Link, and here we go “Hello, Sir-?”

“Just Vense, Sir Link. You’re welcome. It’s good to see you up.”

Yeah, most of them didn’t see me up last night. He has a firm handshake.

“Seconded, Vense. Do I recall seeing you at the castle recently?”

“Yes, Princess. I took a position here to be near my father.”

“Ah. Is he in Tabantha Village?”

“He is.”

“Excellent. I’m glad you can be near him.”

“Thank you, Princess.”

"Thank you- Vense- for your part in aiding us."

"You are very welcome, Princess. Sir Link."

Easy. She has such an easy time. As soon as they know who she is, it’s like she’s sure who SHE is. I… never feel sure about who I am. I’d better get sure.

“I do smell something delicious.”

“More stew, I think.”

“I shan’t complain. It’s likely easiest, considering where we are.”

“Keeps the place nice and warm, too, I bet.” Constant soup? Constant fire. Well…. Constant stew, constant fire. Either way. And either way, that is some incredible stomach-rumbling from both of us. It has to wait, though, at least a little.

Heh. Look at her. No hesitation at all anymore. Just right through the doorway with a smile that’s actually real and not at all wondering whether my father will be there staring right back at her, and I’m not wondering either.

“Good evening, Sirs and Madams.”

Oh man LISTEN to that I can’t even tell what they said but pretty sure it was a bunch of Princesses and Sir Links and Your Majesties and things and I totally would’ve fumbled that entrance.

“Sir Link and I wish to express-“

‘Sirs and uhhhh’

“-our deepest, most sincere-“

‘all a you’ ‘everybody’

“-gratitude to all of you.”

well, ‘everybody’ would be fine

“Without your efforts-“

it’s just weird

“-we would certainly have died-“

coming out of a fricking GENERAL’s mouth

“-on the cliffside south of here.”

what in Hylia’s name was the King thinking?

“And then, despite your uncertainty regarding our identity, you showed us not only mercy, but kindness and care within this garrison’s walls. Without it, we also would have perished. The people of Hyrule owe you their lives—and I vow that they shall know so. Thank you—from the bottom of my heart.”

…Wow. Bowing and… those are all good sounds. All different sounds, but all good. What she just did? You need to find that in- your- self… Link…

That face.

Okay I guess my feet are moving and I’m smiling because I can’t help it. Shake this man’s hand, Link. Shake it hard. TWO hands. “Sir- I don’t know your name, but I know your face. You pulled me to safe ground.”

“Y-y-es, Sir Link.”

“Thank. You.” Can’t stop, can’t stop smiling

“You’re- very welcome, Sir.”

“What’s your name?”

“I’m Hennig, Sir.”

Not a knight yet? We’ll change that for sure. “It is an immense pleasure to meet you.”

“Hehf. Thank you- Sir Link.”

Ohmywow he’s blushing.

“I believe I recall- Arsden? Is that your name, Sir?”

“It is, Princess.”

Very very deep bow and absolutely radish-red

“I regret that I doubted you, Princess.”

“Please be at ease, Arsden. I’d have doubted us too, especially as Link and I have encountered no fewer than four Yiga assassins this past week.”

THOSE are NOT happy noises.

“They attempted to take our lives, but also others’ around us. Your vigilance is more than warranted—it is appreciated and necessary.”

Shuffling. People don’t know what to do, but she’s just-

“And you, Sir? What is your name?”

-moving on.

“Eh- Kauro, Princess.”

“A pleasure to meet you, Kauro. Thank you so much.”

Your CUE, Link! “You have my thanks, too.”

“Y- you’re welcome, Princess, Sir Link.”

Aaaand thank you, Princess

“Melry, Princess!”

Procedure established.

“Wonderful to meet you, Melry.”

THIS I can handle shake his hand “Thank you, Melry.”

“Aarlendon, Princess.”

“Hello and thank you, Aarlendon.”

FiIRM this one “Thanks, Aarlendon.” Look at them all

“I’m Thaye, Princess.”

smiling at her.

“I’m so pleased to meet you, Thaye. Thank you so much.”

Because it’s totally her, not me “Very, very much.” She’s the Princess of the realm.

“Eybin, Princess.”

I’ve only been famous a few months

“You have my thanks, Eybin.”

but the royal family of Hyrule “And mine, Eybin” is forever.

“Zask, Princess.”

If she suddenly arrived in Hateno

“Hello, Zask, and I thank you.”

she’d be like a fairy tale “Good to meet you, and thanks” come to life.

“I’m Cereyah, Princess.”

I should have realized

“Thank you so much, Cereyah.”

something was wrong “Thanks, Cereyah” at the castle

“M- eh- Gilby, Princess.”

long before I did.

“Hello, Gilby. Thank you so much.”

Well, I guess I DID “Good to meet you and thanks, Gilby” but

“Ah! And you, I know, Temda.”

didn’t guess it was magically-evilly wrong.

“Thank you so much for helping us.”

“You’re welcome, Princess- eh-“

“Yes?”

“Th-there’s been talk, Princess-“

Uh oh, talk?

“-that you and Sir Link have- eh…”

UH OH OH S@#$, WE WERE TOO LOUD OH F#$%

“Please don’t hesitate, Temda.”

NO NO NO HESITATE IT’S TOTALLY FINE, REALLY

“I am, after all, rather used to talk.”

DO NOT GLANCE AT THE DOOR LINK YOU’RE GOING TO STAND YOUR GROUND EVEN IF THEY KNOW, NO RUNNING

“Eh-he. Thank you, Princess.”

oh wait they’re laughing but NO laughing can still mean they know they might think it’s funny

“Of course!”

is it nervous laughter? Doesn’t seem like it but what the f#$& do I know

“There’s… been talk that you and Sir Link-“

F$&%pleaseno

“-have magic powers.”

OhhOHH THANK YOU HYLIA!!!

“The talk is correct.”

ALL THE THANKS TO YOU AND YOUR SPLENDIFEROUS SKIES oh they got excited look at those two bopping up and down on their toes are they cooks? We seem to have good luck with cooks.

“Can- eh- that is - can we- see?”

Ah.

“Temda!”

I should’ve expected that.

“Please, Sir Finn—it’s alright. I quite understand. Yes indeed, you can, but—perhaps after dinner?”

More laughter. Thank the Goddess

“That would be amazing, Princess!”

I do NOT want another melee. Not that your fath- “mm.” …That HE would let it happen.

“And Izzie!”

…He…

“Hello, Princess.”

wouldn’t have. Would he?

“I thank you most sincerely-“

He…

“-in general and for feeding us!”

What would he have done?OH “Thanks, Izzie. The stew’s always fantastic.”

“I’m glad, Sir Link!”

Pay attention, Link

“Oh- I’m Preelan, Princess.”

But I don’t think he’d

“Hello and thank you, Preelan.”

Just’ve let it happen “Thank you, Preelan.”

“Welsirc, Princess.”

He’d’ve… ordered them all off, or

“Ah- you are the runner!”

would he have listened to Greggan?

“I am, Princess!”

He said it was better to let it happen.

“How did you know?”

If he listened to Greggan, he’d’ve…

“Hmm, eavesdropping, I’m afraid.”

…jumped into the training yard with me.

“Quite un-princessly of me.”

Wouldn’t he? OH Zelda's talking like me, now? It went over well, though, they’re laughing.

“And Allim- I’m so glad you’re here.”

“Oh- oh?”

“Indeed! You were the first person here to make me feel welcome.”

“Oh. OH.”

…Shake her hand, man. She won’t bite.

“Oh.”

There you go. And here I go. “Thanks, man.”

“You’re very welcome, Sir Link Sir. Sir and Princess.”

“Allim, you bloody blupee.”

“Shh.”

Heh. Poor guy.

“Hello, Princess. I- my name’s Tiesh.”

Pretty sure I know how he feels.

“A pleasure to meet you, Tiesh, and thank you.”

Though, being stationed here “Thank you, Tiesh.”

they’re probably a tight-knit group

“I’m Harall, Princess.”

With all the side-talk

“Good to meet you, Harall.”

it’s hard to tell if they’re all talking about him.

“And I thank you.”

People look happy though-oh.

“Th-thank YOU, Princess.”

S#$&, how long has he been there?

“For…”

Your not-father leaning in the doorway

“…for the future.”

Just… watching me? Us?

“Hfm. The people of Hyrule-“

Just- he saw you, Link

“-are more important to me than anything, Harall.”

He knows you know he’s here.

“I will fight for that future.”

Just- for f#$&’s sake, act normal.

“As will Sir Link.”

He’s- a mess in my head.

“To our last breaths, if need be.”

Greggan said so and LINK, your Princess needs a response.

…I don’t have the words right this second. I just don’t. But- hold out your hand. Just at your side. Open.

And she agrees. Her palm in mine. Our fingers closing. Her eyes. Hard to look away. But you have to say something to this soldier. You can hear it, can’t you? In his voice. He isn’t just thankful. He IS thankful. But he’s also scared.

“Thank you, Harall.” You have to rip your eyes away from Zelda’s, Link. Look at this man, instead. “For helping to make that fight possible.” One last squeeze for Zelda’s hand. Now shake his. Two hands again. He needs it.

“Ahem.”

Fromthedoorway no, not after that don’t interrupt- wait. I know that voice but it’s not him, who is it coming toward you-?don’tlook ignoreyournot-fatherFather

He’s…from the cliff-? Zelda’s squinting at him

“…Captain…Bherlan?”

That’s a deep bow. Good, great.

“Princess. It’s an honor to see you again.”

Focus on the Captain you should really thank.

“Likewise, Sir. Thank you- so sincerely- for our lives.”

“Ahhh. Thank you, Princess, but there is another among us who deserves the very highest recognition.”

…Guess he doesn’t see whoever it is.

“Is Jessrel here?”

JESSrel?!

“Oh for goodness-“

Annnd one of the cooks, going in there- kitchen? And WOW he really is here!

“There he is. Come here, would you?”

Was he HIDING from us? Oh he looks like he’s already soiled himself. Wow. Aw- no, man- you don’t have to- damn, he can’t look me in the face at all, much less the eye, holy-

“This young man has sharp eyes and takes his duty very, very seriously. He was on watch the night of the fire and spotted you two with that glider. We’d never have known to look for you if he hadn’t insisted.”

“Thought he was joking at first.”

Aaand lots of agreement, wow- wow.

“Jessrel.”

“Pp-pr-.”

…He’s never talked to her.

…You’re supposed to be his leader, Link. He deserves every bit as much thanks as Hennig. Yep, here I am, Jessrel, don’t be scared, really—this isn’t the melee. Take my hand. Go ahead. Really. Really, take it.

“Go on, then.”

Thank you, Captain and there it is! “Thank you. So much, Jessrel. I had no idea.”

“It- it’s. Y-no. Problem.”

He’s legitimately shaking, Link, and you know what? His nose is a bit crooked now and that is your fault. “And… I’m sorry about your nose.”

“No-no, Link-“

“Oh?” “OH-HO!” “Now we know!” “Damn.”

Oooh, ooh yeah, guess he didn’t spread that story around, who’d want to?

“-I mean- S-ir I-“

‘The chosen hero punched me in the face’

“I’m the one who joined.”

“Heh” not flattering if that’s all there is to it. “You weren’t the only one.”

“Heff. Hehe eh.”

“Thank you, Jessrel.”

Princess handshake, too.

“We owe you our lives.”

One of those courtly gentle ones. Heh. She sees how fragile he is. He might spook at any second.

“Y-you’re welcome. Prin- cess.”

“Well.”

Captain?

“Might I suggest that we begin serving dinner, Churla? The stew’s never cold, but these two need to eat the strength back into them.”

“On it! Izzie, Willmina, Silbeth.”

“Princess- perhaps you’d like to sit with some you haven’t met. They can introduce themselves.”

“An excellent idea, Captain.”

“Alright, all, sort yourselves.”

Wow that got loud this is a way smaller space than the mess at the castle, all the sound bounces off the stone so much closer in. This way, I guess…

He’s not there. Wonder when he-AH!HowthehelldidhegetRIGHTNEXTTOME how can someone that huge be so sneaky and in CHAINMAIL oh he’s nodding at you. Better nod back or it’ll look really weird. Zelda just kicked ass with the public relations, you’d better not f$&^ it up by acting like a whiny brat around your fatherNOTnot-father do not think of him that way. He’s just a Commander. Someone whose orders you followNONOoo Link for f$#&’s sake, you outrank him.

…I do.

I outrank him.

But… pulling rank here? That doesn’t seem like a good idea.

He knows, right? He knows he kind of has to sit right next to me. Otherwise we’ll look f$%&ed up. Dysfunctional. Of course.

“How are you feeling?”

Be normal. “…Improved.”

“Good.”

.

.

This is NOT normal.

Dinner at home in Hateno he talked. In the Domain. No- no problem. Right? I mean. The not-talking was supposed to be at the castle. On the job. Well, I guess we ARE on the job. So maybe this is normal. But his rules sucked for me and LINK. Stop… applying his rules. “Mom’s good. So’s Chee.”

“…I hear I have you to thank for that.”

Oh. “…Mom would’ve been fine.”

“Hf. Had her daughter passed before her eyes? No. She would not.”

Yeah. Yeah, definitely not what’s wrong with you, Link? Momcryinginbed bad for the baby. This has all been bad for the baby. …It’s not normal to just stare forward, Link. Look at him. Quick look left HE’S just staring straight forward, of course he is because neither of us is normal.

“I should like to know all your names, Sirs.”

Right.

“Vallik, Princess.”

“I’m Berr, Princess.”

Remember these

“Gandril, Princess.”

Remember, Link

“Trefta!”

Rapid-fire

“Armic.”

Name-memorization

“Emz.”

“Tharandan.”

Please, brain.

“Myliel.”

Myilel

“Soppert.”

Soppert

“Bendine here!”

Bendine

“Kana.”

Kana

“Thurell.”

Thurell

“Zindie.”

Zindie

“Mechenne!”

Sounds like Serenne

“Lionry, Princess.”

don’t-

“Macheb, Princess.”

think about that right now

“Furock, Princess.”

be here

“Vreen, here.”

in the moment

“Elay.”

Elay

“Cheppe!”

Cheppe

“Salzro, Princess.”

Salzro

“Guenyanah.”

Woah Guen- yanah

“Jisk, Princess.”

Jisk

“Ottro, at your service.”

Heh. Because he’s right next to her, I guess.

“I’m pleased to meet you all, and you have my thanks. Our thanks.”

“You do.” Why does it feel so strange to say that next to him?

“We’d- heard, Princess-“

Armic, older like Greggan

“-before you arrived-“

why’s he looking at fath- rr that way

“-that Sir Link had been fatally wounded.”

Ah.

“He had.”

Shocked-confused murmurs they don’t know the whole thing.

”It was the handiwork of one of the four Yiga assassins. But Princess Mipha of the Zora bears an extraordinary healing gift. She healed Sir Link before he succumbed to his wound.”

Might not be so good. They’re all looking at each other. Yeah, I needed my ass saved twice this week. Again, great track record for the chosen hero.

“In the attack, Link saved the lives of both myself and his younger sister… and my handmaiden.”

…no details there, I see.

“I killed the archer who shot him.”

jaws dropping

“Quite a few of us dealt blows to the other, including Link and myself, though Sir Merendith landed the killing strike. Link dispatched the two assassins who had infiltrated our party on Irch Plain.”

Giving me a little too much credit there, Zelda, sheknows HEknows, he's shifting on the bench bet he thought like I did, that I couldn't noNO NO do NOT see Reida's facecrunched

“We’ve…”

Namename…?

“…been told to be on the lookout.”

…Berr. Right.

“That their bones walk, like those of the Stalnox.”

“They do. I cannot understate the threat they pose, Sirs, for they can only be killed by destroying the skull. I’m afraid Sir Link and I were too preoccupied with escaping the fire at the time to finish them off.”

“Bloody amazing you did- ehm-"

…Gandril.

“-please pardon my language, Princess.”

“No need.”

“You held on- to that glider- across the entire canyon- and you climbed the cliff wall? The strength. Hylia bless you.”

“Blessings on you both.” “Yes, indeed.” “Her light illuminate your path.”

Awkward- that sounded- WAY religious-

“Heeh! Only other man I know-“

The cookChurla

“-with strength like that-“

Oh, stew, thank you.

“-is sitting next to you.”

WHATno don’t bring him into it

“Link is a surer climber than I am.”

…Well, I am, but-

“Ohhh, but could HE have shifted-“

WOW he lets her TALK to him like that?

“-that enormous stewpot all by himself?”

Maybe because she’s not a soldier?

“Easily.”

Um. Wow, very dad-answer what the hell am I supposed to think of that like no emotion AT ALL but ‘easily’ would he even know for sure?

“In that case, maybe Sir Link can shift the old one out to the smithy later.”

“Sir Link is recovering.”

Oooh. Ooh, he called me Sir Link again.

“Madam Churla.”

That’s got to be weird. It’s weird, isn’t it?

“Oh- w-ahh, yes, Princess.”

“I shall move it for you after dinner.”

Woah! YES, Zelda!

“Oh no, Princess.” “It’s no ordinary pot.” “No way.” “What?!” “Pf hehehh.” “Www-mmm. Vgh.” “It’s huuuge, Princess.”

HAHA, listen to them freak out!

“Begging your pardon, Princess, but it’s far too heavy for… ah… for one your size.”

“Link is her size.”

OOH-F-ATH- RR Holy- HYLIA that sounded awful-

“And he would be able to lift it.”

…Oh. Okay okay that was the better way for it to be but really?!

Guess they’re all as surprised as I am but probably for different reasons, they don’t think she could lift it, either.

The cook’s just moving down the line and wow- the stew smells so good. Forever-stew. Where do they store the meat??? Do they keep getting it in from Tabantha? Never been there, shut up stomach. Zelda’s clearly waiting for everyone at the table to have food in front of them before she digs in.

“It’s about 200 pounds.”

…Fathernot says quietly to you.

“The pot.”

…Why? “…Yeah, that’s fine.” A lot of the royal guards could pick something like that up too, but… well. They’re big. Hell, I bet Oron could pick it up. We all lug heavy stuff around in the yard.

The people here… don’t be weird, Link. Don’t LOOK like you’re sizing them all up. But… yeah. There is a difference. The average is smaller. Less muscular. Lankier and a little softer. …They sent Jessrel here. This isn’t the spot for heroism. This is the spot for hunkering down in the cold, being a safe way-station, and being a watchtower. Most of these people aren’t knighted. But I really don’t look much different from a lot of them.

“You know, we’d- heard- ahm…”

Eyeing notFather why?

“…Rgh.”

…Seriously, what was that about?

“Heard what?”

Oooh. Total void. Carefree ‘Heard What?’ Furious ‘Heard What?’ Can't tell. Guy looks like he’s going to piss his pants.

“Well. It- was- just a rumor, but it turned out true. Sir Link is- quite- short.”

He’s DEFINITELY

“Hf.”

on the verge of pants-pissing and oh. He’s just. Looking at me his looking-but-not-looking thing of course why isn’t HE saying something? Is he pissy because someone called his not-kid short? Is he waiting for me to make a mistake so he can f#$&ing take it up with me later? “It’s… definitely true.” Holy- calmdownLink.

“…Did you have a point, Emz?”

Vall…ik?

“Well, it just- sounded impossible with his being the Commander’s son.”

“I look like my mother.” “Link looks like my wife.”

…Chee would say jinx.

“Stature, however, is unrelated to skill.”

…Are you kidding me?

“Do not allow it to fool you.”

After you passed up Farniha and Wenn for Kertiss?

“Several of the finest swords at the castle are Link’s height.”

I so want to say something but I also SO want to hear what he has to say for himself

“I learned today that you’d placed them on the Princess’ guard.”

“…That’s right. Farniha. Wenn.”

“And Sir Daile.”

S#$&, Link, he DOES know. “I was surprised, actually. That they weren’t part of the Royal Guard already.”

“I considered it.”

Did you?

“In the end, I preferred the quick blade to be behind the enemy, and the intimidating one beside the King.”

…Was that criticism or not? Can’t tell. Couldn’t call him out here even if it was- and wait, did he tell THEM that? Farniha seemed unhappy. So did Wenn. I want to ask. But I really, really shouldn’t at this table. “Kertiss does look” and sound “scary.”

And he’s looking at me just the tiniest bit funny. Guess that didn’t make it into a letter.

“-o on.”

“…Salzro?”

“Eh… Princess- apologies, it’s nothing.”

“It’s not nothing, you want to ask!”

“Leave me be, Cheppe!”

“Princess, he’s been thinking about it for days.”

“It’s ds-r-spct-fl!”

“Oh dear. A disrespectful question?”

“It’s- no, NO, Princess, it’s nothing like that.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. Ughh. I apologize.”

“Hh.”

Sighing notFather

“Salzro, I assure you, you may ask your question. It is highly unlikely you shall offend me.”

“His question’s for Sir Link, Princess.”

Ah. “Go ahead and ask, Salzro.”

“Sir. I- have just been wondering- can you really use that sword?”

“The Sword that Seals the Darkness?”

“Yes, Princess. It’s ungoddessly heavy, may she forgive me, please, for saying so. And Sir Link- you climbed with it on your back?”

“It and me as well for a good deal of the way.”

Seat-shifting. Don’t look left, Link.

…Look at the eyes she’s turned on you. She’s smiling. It’s a real smile, too. Not mischief-sparkle, but just- I understand. She’s so relieved. So am I. That they’re like this and not… distrustful or… hopeless.

Nod, Link. You’ve got this. Get up, carefully. Don’t spill your stewOH oh and hurry, everyone has their bowl at the table, don’t make them wait. Just… pull the sword out

“Wha!” “FF.” “Woah-“

Yeah yeah used to that at this point, people FREAK out when you pull long things out of a tiny rupee pouch. Should I unsheathe it? No, that’s impolite at the dinner table. Just hold it up. “It doesn’t feel heavy to me.”

“Nor I.”

“We couldn’t lift it.”

The Captain. Behind you.

“We could drag it on the stretchers, though.”

So strange. Really REALLY strange. I wonder… she’s… still silent. Is she still heavy to them? “I’m curious what happens if you try it now.” Just… I mean, she’s not ACTUALLY that heavy. Right? If I put her on the table, she won’t break it? Right? RIGHT?! Hylia, Link, don’t risk it if you’re not sure. There’s stew at stake, here.

Just lean the sword up on the bench… slowly… yeah. It’s fine. It acts normal. NOT like the thousand-pound-weight they seem to think or in their cases, maybe hundred-pound what’sthematterwithyouLink don’tbeanasshole. “Anyone game?”

Oooh and they’re all looking at each other.

“A lot of us have tried it already.”

“Not while I was awake.” He’s shrugging a little. Okay, Link, here he comes. This… will be good to know for sure.

“R-g! Phoo.”

Wow, yeah, that… didn’t… shift at all. Like he wasn’t even touching it.

…Really?!

“Hmh.”

Zelda. Lifting it by the scabbard and holding it up for them all to see.

“For Link and I-“

Huh? Why does he look so astonished?

“it is as though it is unusually light.”

Didn’t he say not to be fooled by size???

“I shall put it down… carefully… here. Would you like to try, Ottro?”

“W- well. At the risk of making a fool of myself...”

Thaaaat is not a flattering facial expression on him.

“Prrrrf—. Oooh. It’s immovable, Princess.”

And she just…

“Hh.” “Wow.”

picks it right up. Collective-gasp that time. Oh-?!

“Sir Lyle?”

…Well. Okay, I mean. Sure. Why not give him a turn? …The immovable vs. the immutable, here we go. Is his face going to change at all or is he just going to do his cheekbone-stare at her until she gives up? Immutable, that’s a good word. Remember that. For something.

“I decline, Princess.”

Woah- that… surprised the heck out of her.

“Indeed? May I ask why?”

“It isn’t mine.”

That’s a very, very strange answer.

“As you wish, Sir.”

Just… put it back in your pouch, then. And sit. And…

“Well. Shall we?”

“Yes, Princess.” “Yes, please.”

“Heh.” Yeah, we’re all hungry. Grab a hunk of bread too, Link. Stewy-bread. There aren’t many things better when the stew is good. When the stew is BAD, it’s another situation entirely.

This bowl is not going to last long. But you’re not going to be a glutton, Link. Eat normal portions like a normal personoohh they’re staring at me.

“Damn.”

Yeah “I get that a lot.”

“Where the blazes did you put it?! Sir.”

That was an eye-flick at father was he giving the stink…eye? No, doesn’t look like it. Just eating. Eyes on his food. “…If I knew, I’d tell you. Ah… Trefta?”

“That’s me, Sir. Ha!”

At least he approves of my stew-inhaling capability.

This… is okay.

Even with the mountain of uncertainty chewing next to me, it’s… okay. I can handle this.

And more to the point… THEY can handle this. This… was good. They’re not demoralized. Things went wrong, but they’ve got our backs anyway. They don’t seem to be wondering how the hell they could possibly survive the Calamity with idiots like me on point. And-

Hey. Heyyyyy. Listen to Zelda, just… eating her food on my other side. Chewing. Swallowing. And NOT coughing.

NOT coughing!!!

“Oh-f. What is it, Sir Knight?”

OOOH OOh Link, you f$%&ed up that was your PET NAME you must’ve done something cute, what did you do?!?!andUNCERTAINTY-MOUNTAIN IS SHIFTING, CREAKING BENCH she calledyouthething howmuchtroubleamIin?

“Gracious. You appeared suddenly overjoyed, but it has turned to marked trepidation.”

“I just- was glad your cough seems better, Princess.” …I…reverted to her title again but- she doesn’t seem to mind, that’s a little sly, isn’t it? That smile she has on, now.

“Hmm, I see. I do feel more invigorated even than a few minutes ago. I predict no difficulty with moving that stewpot.”

Aaaand no one’s arguing with her. I guess after seeing her lift my ‘ungoddessly heavy’ sword, the stewpot’s a given. It’ll be a piece of cake.

You MUST look!

...What?

"Ahhh, the bread's good today."

Wait.

"Enjoy it before the flour goes."

...She's fine.

"Those potato cakes Silbeth makes-"

What are you worried about, Link?

"-they'll do when it does."

She stopped coughing.

"As long as the cuccos keep laying."

She's smiling. Eating.

She looked a little blotchy earlier. Hard to tell now with the warm clothes. Neck covered. But...bathing can do that. Stop- stop freaking out, Link.

You MUST Look!

"...Link."

Ohs#$&. You have to, Link. Look left. Don't look like you and your dad are just really f$%&ed up.

"What disturbed you?"

"A..." what, Link? "...Dream, I think." And he's peering around me at her and looking back at me and teeny tiny frown, what?

"I... would consider heeding my dreams in times such as these."

I... can't find any reason to disagree with that, but "I don't remember clearly." The weird double-eyebrow-blink he does, what? What did I do NOW? Am I a dumbass for not being able to remember a dream?

"Perhaps..."

Clean your fricking plate with this last bit of bread, Link.

"There is a way to jog your memory."

Yeah, maybe. But... I really can't think clearly with you right next to me.

-------

Part 24 coming quite soon I hope, since a bunch of it is written already!

Follow this link for the chapter list.

Cold. Where did he go? Someone. So tired. But she's "much better."

"W- what is?"

"You. Food helped?"

"Well. Yes, my energy level is improved. The stew was delicious. But that's beside the point, Link. The populace shall panic."

Heavy eyelids. Stay open. "Margil, Beraya… Daile… won't tell anyone who shouldn't know." Neck cold, blanket up. "Hphhhhh. The others shouldn't either, if they follow protocol."

.

Zelda?

Wow. I haven't had seriously-stern royal-eyebrow turned on me since the day the Slate went nuts. At least now I know it doesn't mean she detests me.

"Link. I'm pleased you feel well enough to smile, but even ifkhHh. Khh-kh- khHHHhh. Mgh. Hhh. Even if every soldier refrained from the gossip which typically runs rampant through the barracks, we were seen by a myriad of people, and Purah knew where we were headed."

"Ugh." Yeah, Purah and the entire Royal Lab. She's right, but "I still think we can't risk a message." Because we weren't enough for this. He could be waiting for us, or his monsters could, anywhere between here and the castle. Which means he could intercept a messsenger, too. Those fricking fireballs would also roast a homing pigeon right out of the sky, and frankly that's better than the possibility of him getting hold of one that ISN'T burnt to a crisp and actually reading whatever message we send. Fi? Do you think so, too?

.

"KhhHhh-h-kh."

Fi?

.

.

"Fi?"

"Link?"

"I- she- she didn't answer me."

Sideways Zelda-worried-face? Maybe I should sit up.

"I'd noticed earlier—her absence on the Slate."

Oooh- ooh, no that takes way too much energy better to stay- but there she goes wasting HER energy getting the Slate, or maybe not a total waste because if somehow we've lost Fi that is not at all good and might mean the sword's not with us anymore, did they leave it somewhere? Zelda said it was too heavy-

"I don't see her recently, either."

Not good

"It seems she hasn't spoken at all since we were rescued."

"She goes quiet sometimes…" but not like this and you both know that. "What was the last thing she said?"

She's looking and looking, it must have been on the cliff if there was nothing after OH S$*(% "STOP!" PAIN my back, holy-

"Why?!"

don't be yellingYELLING?! I just yelled at Zelda! "I'm sorry!" The way she's clutching the slate to her chest, I am SUCH AN ASS

"M-khHh-khh. KhhHH-h."

get up and apologize to your Princess, the throbbing in your back can pack itself off to hell! "I'm sorry, I'm so-OhOOh-"

"Link!"

Yeah okay so I'm dizzy, that's to be expected and it's really, really fricking cold "Fff-f-f-f-f."

"Link, please rest! I'd interrupted your sleep with my- my brooding to begin with. I ought to be the one apologizing."

But I see the way your eyes look. I scared and confused you and "f-f-h-f" take her hands, Link. Put the Slate aside.

"Oh- Link, you are much too warm-"

"I know, I'll-" NOT shiver, NOT "f-h-f-" damn, don't be weak, don't worry her on top of it. "I'll go back down in a minute. I just- need you to know- I didn't mean to raise my voice like that. I'm so sorry. It's because…"

How do I say this without giving away anything? "…Fi told me something."

"…And?"

"She said I couldn't tell you."

She's looking between both my eyes, looking for some clue in either one of them. Must be. She looks…

"Khh-hh. "

…hurt.

"What in all the land could your sword wish you to keep from me?"

Her face in your hands, Link. Ignore the wound-blood-throbbing. "I don't really understand it, myself. I love you- so much. I don't want to have to keep secrets. Fi- Fi thinks I'm so bad at it that she wouldn't really explain, anyway, but… you're a lot smarter than me. If you read it, maybe it would make sense to you, and then…"

"Then what, Link?"

"I- don't know. Except that Fi said it was very important for you not to know- whatever it is." Something about her power not being done cooking yet, but what fully-cooked means, I have no idea. Other than it's how my brain feels.

"…It is… supremely difficult to keep secrets from one with access to your very thoughts."

"Yeah. Yeah, it is." Kiss her forehead. She really needs reassurance, now, you dumbass. Am I ever going to be able to think BEFORE I open my mouth? WoOoah- no swerving either, Link, and try not to breathe on her too much, pretty sure even my breath is too hot.

"So… the urgency in your voice was meant to stop me from reading whatever Fi said as we climbed?"

"Yeah, I- there's no excuse."

"Link, I khH-mg-ghm… quite understand that people's emotions, particularly sudden flares of them, can produce disproportionate reactions."

What… is that face? It's like a little of a smile but now a pout and no no no no she's going to cry! "Hey- hey- I- I really, really didn't mean to yell at you- I'm so sorry!"

"Phh. Hh."

"How can I make it up to you?"

"Ph-hh. It's not that, Link. Ph-h-hh. Not at all. Truly, hehe-ph, what you consider to be unacceptable vocalization is quite phh- tempered compared to- others. I just- I rather thought-ph-h… phh-h-hh- that you were ph-hh angry with me. Ph. Phh."

"What? Why would I be?"

"For- ph. Ph. Reading through the Slate- while you were unconscious. Phh-hhhh. I- I must have, to have known Fi hadn't spoken since our rescue. But I am quite-phh- sincere, Link, I did not intrude upon your thoughts. I was seeking Fi. When I found her, I stopped."

"No, no- no, you have my voice." Her hands to my heart. Press them there.

"Phh-hhh-h."

She has to feel how much I mean this. "It's my gift to you."

"Phh- hh-h-h. Phh. Khh-hh. And my gift to you- phh… my extraordinary knight- phh-hh… is trust."

Guess my hand knew to find her cheek again all by itself. Glad it did, because I'm feeling pretty slow. My fingers aren't the best handkerchief

"Heh-phh."

but I'll be damned if I don't wipe her tears away anyway.

"Hphm."

She's leaning in so hard. Nuzzling. Eyes shutting.

"I trust you, Link. I- hhh-h- trust what you do and do not choose to say. I do not need to see your omissions."

"I love that you can see them."

.

"Heh." Look at her looking at you, Link. Her smile. Peeking out. Slowly. There and then not, like she's not sure what she heard. Is it weird that I'm kind of petting her? I hope not.

"…You do?"

"I do. I, uh… didn't at first."

"HehekhHhhh-kh-hh. Quite evidently."

"Hehe-hh." Yeaaah I gave that game away fast, didn't I? 'Oooh look, bunnies!' Damn, I haven't seen Bazz yet, I have to remember the bun knees thing and LINK, now is not the time! "I-eheh. I'm pretty sure I don't remember half the things I think about. And a lot of them are about you. Why wouldn't I want you to know when I think things like- like-" oh come on Link, you think nice things ALL THE TIME about Zelda, what are they?

"Like… phh-hh. My smile is like the Sun?"

"…Exactly like that." It's not quite the first time she'd really smiled at me, but it was the first time after I pulled the sword, and how could I forget? "See? I wish I'd told you that out loud." Her hair's like threads of gold under my hands, right now, too. Might as well be liquid sunshine.

"I oughtn't scour your thoughts for such things at length, regardless of how sweet they are."

Hmm not at length, huh? "But for a short time, maybe?" Ooooh blushy-blushy Zelda, smiling? YES, good, she's feeling better aww "You don't have to hide!"

"I truly oughtn't even be tempted."

"Wehhhll… let's not forget how incredibly useful it's been, too. It's a great reason to still look. It lets us have silent conversations."

"…Well. Half-silent."

"Pff- yeah, true. Two thirds silent if you count Fi."

"Indeed! Hhh. I shall- I shall not cease to take advantage of its utility. Hh. I simply will not obsess over it as I had been."

"Oh?"

"Goodness, yes. I hardly slept."

"Ha- hahahaha really?!" Throbbing, Link, don't laugh-

"Well, initially I believed you would reveal your disdhh-khh- disdain for me if I watched carefully enough."

"Nooo."

"And then I was patently- shocked- and- forced to reconsider my errant perspective."

"For which I'll be eternally grateful."

"And then… well. You know."

I DO know, and there goes the left corner of my mouth again. It just can't contain itself.

"Kh-kh."

She sees, but it's making her smile change into something else. This face on her- this is one I want to have memorized down to the tiniest details. That cute little crease between her eyebrows, I always loved that, but there's more to it and there's so much I can't figure it all out at once. She lifts her face up. Bares more of her neck. Something changes with her shoulders, too, and her nose, and lips. She gets- gets pink. Her lips part.

I know what it means, even thoughOh- two Zeldas, that's not right- cut it out, head! Guess I need to lay back down soon, but the back of her head isn't hurt. I can stroke her hair there- cradle her. She likes when I move in slow. It makes her shake. In a good way. And slow is my speed right now.

Every time my nose brushes her skin, her breath shivers on mine and then I shiver too, and it took very, very little for this to start happening to me. Just… stay light. My lips. Hers. I'm so sorry they're so chapped. Maybe we're not really up for this, but I can show her how much I love her, even though my back's full of pounding blood and the room just started to spin a little.

"Hh-h."

I love those little gasps so much. Little breaths. They shoot straight downohOH but which way's up? Eyes shut, eyes SHUT before you fall down, guess I need all that blood for my actual head, swallow- swallow, control yourself, stay up.

"…Link?"

Breathing good, lots of breath.

"Khhhh-hh."

Her hands. My cheeks. Her forehead to mine.

"Link, you have warmed further, and so quickly. Return to your reclining position. I shall assure you fully tucked in. Consider that a royal-"

"SIR-"

HOLYKNOCKINGspinning

"Hh!"

"MA'AM-"

"KhhH-hkh-kh-hhh-khh-hh."

oOOoh too much spinning could they be any louder?!

"UNBOLT THE DOOR, PLEASE."

"Oh…"

Poor Zelda she didn't need that scare could their TIMING be worse?! Actually, yeah it could've been. If Zelda and I had actually gotten going and then they knocked, that would be way worse.

"Sir FinnkhHH-h… is perhaps unused to either entertaining guests or kh-h- keeping prisoners."

At least we were un-getting-going anyway. "Guess we should open it."

"I-hh- should open it, Sir Knight. You need to rest."

"Sorry, Princess. Door duty is knight-duty, just in case." Though I might not be much use in a fight right this second. "They want me resting, so I bet they'll let me soon."

Gather yourself, Link. At least a little. Take a few deep breaAH

"SIR! MA'AM! OPEN THIS DOOR, PLEASE!"

"We heard you the first time, holy crap- fricking-" okay, no deep breaths managed, just open it woOah. Slowly. One foot in front of the other. At least the shock calmed anything that might've been socially problematic down fast.

Unbolt and ready, just in-

Oh my Goddess.

Holy Mother Hylia.

My- Holy Goddess. "Dad?" Too many things going on in my chest way too many my eyes too what's wrong with me nothing's changed, Reida, Huiru and Not-Erl are still out there with Goddess-knows-what on the plain between us and the castle, I'm not a kid and I'm not safe just because my father's here and am I seeing things? Why is he- he looks absolutely furious, what the hell?

"Back up. Now."

"What?"

"Back up into the room."

This- no, no this seems wrong why is he looking at me like that, no Link don't stumble and DON'T look at his face, stay sharp, look at his stance holy s$&%, what the f#$&*?! S$&%, s$&%, S$&% the way his spine's curved he's curled in just a little it's his only tell holy F$&$ he's ready to ATTACK Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda watch my hands I'm reaching for you your forearms, your wrists behind me, all behind every inch of you behind me he is deadly and he knows me, it's not like other people he knows the s%*$ I pull and he knows my tells and I'm feeling more messed up by the second the room isn't spinning, no it's not and why the f#$& would he be looking at me like that?!! Something's wrong with his eyes-

"S- Sir Lyle?"

All she gets is a quick glance?! I thought he was formal as s#$&-

OH.

"Khh- khh- hh-h."

Link, don't- don't be stupid again, not when you and your Princess are trapped in a small space. He IS formal as s#$&, and he never looks you right in the eye, that's why it looks wrong.

His eyes boring directly into mine. Looking like he wants me dead. Looking half-CRAZED, not just ordinary angry. Doesn't make much sense, does it? I drive him insane, but he doesn't want to kill me. Not for REAL.

Be suspicious, Link.

"I received a message."

Watch his whole body, what is that voice? That's not his angry voice, it's not calm enough, even angry father's always calm, it's shaking like he's just barely holding back it's off it's WAY off, no NO Link! Don't look weak do NOT, you do NOT have a fever right now, you're not allowed to be sick, don't waver

"Apparently, Princess Zelda and her Appointed Knight had arrived, seriously injured, at the Tabantha Overlook Garrison."

don't shiver

"Hh-khhHhh-kh-khhh-h."

don't look like you have to breathe faster than normal, is this Yiga magic? But the person doesn't know how to act? Fi? Fi, please for the love of Hylia, now is the time to speak up, is there one of those repression fields?!

"I had little choice but to see for myself."

The emphasis on SELF was that a clue? Not-his-self?

"So."

Zelda, no, arms behind, everything behind me, nothing for him to grab, corral her forearms (so cold!), please understand, please stay

"Tell me one thing only you and I know."

…What? "…What?"

"Anything."

"Why?" Death-glare DEATH-glare back off more, back off!

"You know why."

"No I don't." NoOo, Link you're not allowed to be dizzy

"Link- Link, he-"

The glare he just gave her would melt Death Mountain itself, what the F*%(, that is not him and she actually went SILENT I've never seen anyone do that to her before, not even her father, she must be very scared

"M-khh-h."

I'm so sorry Zelda, I'm thinking, I promise, she's right to be scared, though, I'm standing but woozier by the second and we're stuck in a room with a single, small, barred window, and no weapons-

Except there is one.

They didn't know about my pouch. It's right there, and that means my old sword is, too. The wrap's somewhere in Zelda's chamber or maybe mine, but who cares. And for f$*#'s sake, Link, your stance changed, just a little but your father KNOWS you and oh f#$^, he sure picked up on it REAL FAST his is changing too it's the spread fingers, a FRACTION, he's so good at hiding it but wait wait wait is it him or not?! He DOES move like that and he knew my tell but why be so angry at me and the EYE-LOOKING is wrong

"One. Thing."

"Or what?!" Oh that surprised him a little maybe it was the weird tone that totally gave away that I feel like absolute s#$&.

"Sir Lyle!"

Zelda, stay-!

"It is plain you suspect we are not who we say we are."

…Oh s#$&.

That makes sense, Link, of course he does- and s#$&, it makes sense whether it's him or not, because if I was a Yiga and I had a chance to convince everyone who already thought we might be Yiga that we actually were, it would be a great excuse to turn the whole garrison against us and if it IS father- if it's him- he'd be pissed beyond belief at anyone pretending to be his kid. Or the Princess, for that matter.

So which- which is it?

Lungs, please stop asking for so much more air, I can't let him see I need it.

He's just staring at her.

"You need confirmation from both of us. Correct?"

Livid.

"When- when I was six."

Why'd his whole face pinch?

"Ykhhyou- khh- found me asleep in my study. The pages of the book open beneath my head were wet, for I'd been crying in my sleekhh-p. Hh."

And now- he's gone totally still.

"You awakened me, and- and handed me a handkerchief. When I looked up at you, moonlight caught on a tear. It was on your left cheek."

If he's a Yiga, he's faking it really well, now. His mouth opened a little and I know that face especially with the beard growing back in (is that a clue, would a Yiga know when he did and didn't have a beard?!), it's him when he's shocked.

Is it? Is it him?

Don't relax too much Link, Holy Hylia, you just swerved a little don't do that keep the adrenaline just in case and of course he noticed and he's eyeing you again.

"And now, Sir, if you please. After frightening the life half out of us, we quite deserve equal assurance. I insist you describe the handkerchief."

That was royal-eyebrow-voice.

…Your Princess is very smart. And extremely tricky. If he gets this wrong, she'll let me know.

.

…Does he not know? Careful. No tells. No tells. No tells. You're totally calm and confident he's going to answer and in no way visualizing how to get to that pouch while keeping Zelda safe. I'll have to pull her into a roll with me and it'll really hurt both of us but I'll pull her out of it with me too and it'll be within reach, I'll keep her back-

"It… was white, with… thin, scalloped edges, and embroidery… in pale gold and sky blue… set in a square nested evenly from the outside. Most of the embroidery was feathers. The direction they pointed alternated. One corner depicted a bird in flight. The opposite bore lettering."

"Hhh."

That… was so a sigh of relief, is- is it him?

"Thank you, Sir Lyle."

And that's a nod-

"Princess."

-and the eyes are boring into me again and ohhh no, no, he just assessed how easily he could get her away from me.

…I… know that because I know him.

It's him!

No, NO, Link, don't relax and don't let your chest start all those things again

"Khh-khkh-hh."

HE hasn't relaxed because he thinks I'm a Yiga, Holy Hylia my own father thinks I'm a Yiga, I have to think of something- think, think, think thinkthink

"I'm still waiting."

There has to be something, something only Link would know, not some Yiga impersonator but if he believes her, why not believe me too?! Reading to Chee! "When you came home, when you were-" nono Link, you're not too hot, you're fine- "I mean- I was- ten. You tried to read Chee's favorite book to her. The one- heh- hehe-"

"Link?"

Sorry Zelda, get ahold of yourself, Link, yeah it sounds STUPID but it's the book she liked. "The one with old hero legends in it. She liked the one with the egg on the mountaintop best. But she kept complaining that you were reading it wrong." What is his face, that's like nothing ever ever what is even happening which way's up? "You weren't doing the voices, and you weren't singing the song, and when she got you to sing you weren't making the instrument sounds. She got up to get me so I'd show you how to read it, but I wasn't in the house. I was listening outside the little bedroom window. Because she'd wanted you all to herself, but I wanted to hear you read it, too."

Hahhahahaa yeah he didn't even know that part

"…Chee knows this story."

WhatwhatWHAT why more pissed?!!

"It doesn't qualify as something only Link and I know."

Oh COME ON. "The part where you take me fishing at Lake Sumac the next day so I can teach you how to make my instrument noises does."

"That's not why I took- Link."

"Horses#$&." And I have never said anything like that to my father and I feel like I just committed way more sacrilege than at the Ceremonial Ground. He seems to think so, too NOO, STUPID LINK, this isn't the time for suspiciously new things!

"My wife knows that part of the story."

"So that doesn't count either?"

"No."

Spinningspinning "Oh for-hh-h-" have to end this fast "what do you want from me?" I'll go down, what if I drop before he's convinced? Ooh and now with the looming.

"M-khhkh-kh."

Zelda for Hylia's sake, she's trying to support me isn't she but her hands on my shoulders hurt. We're lucky it IS him, I'd have to take him on and trust Zelda to run, to get past the guys at the door watching the show, but she so wouldn't, she'd help me-

"Link."

"Z-" Oh f#$& Link, this is NOT the time to say it wrong- "Yes, Princess?"

"He very much must have assurance. Quite reasonably so. We discussed this. You remember?"

Discussed? My father? When? "F-f-h" noLink, no shivering you can't- can't look- weakCOLD "F-F-H!" her hands are SO COLD my forehead is an ice block now maybe that's why it can't fit through anything, Chee was right, I'm square-

"Sir Lyle, please. Give him a moment. The fever..."

The sword! Right "The sword."

"Link- hh- we discussed that, too. Your sword is not here, in any case-"

"No, no. The other one." Swallow, Link, stay steady, hold up your hands, nice and wide and high (and cold). "F-h-m. That pouch on the table. Princess, can I-" NOT shiver- "please ask you to take my old sword out of it? The one- we took the wrap from to secure the Slate."

"Out of that?!" "He's delirious."

"Certainly."

Ohhh yeah they all think we're both crazy now and who the hell knows what my father would do if I suddenly had a sword in my hand but he believes that's Zelda so it's okay, it's okay- she- yeah.

"Wha?!" "Holy…"

There it is. "My- old sword. Minus the wrap."

"…You cannot possibly believe magically producing a familiar-looking blade would suffice."

"I don't. Here's- what will." Okay, Link, you can do this, see straight long enough to get through at least a few of them. "The sheathe. If- ah- the Princess turns it around, just under the hilt there are letters tooled into it. They're hard to read because when it was your sword- mgh-" focus, Link- "you used to run your thumb along them over and over, and I know that because when you gave it to me, you caught me doing the exact same thing that very day. It's in the perfect thumb-spot if the sheathe's at your hip. You told me not to, not because you cared about the letters so much as it's bad to have the habit. It would become a tell, you said-"

"KhhHHh-khh-hh."

"-because I'd stop when about to draw. I asked you why the leather was all worn in that spot, then, and you said it's because no one warned you and that's also why you have a scar on the inside of your left bicep."

Oh Goddess he's just staring, it's not enough. "You seemed surprised when I listened to you and didn't play with it." What else what else "There's a nick- Princess, could you please draw it?" Good good there are lots of nicks, one of these has to meet his conditions. "There's a nick along the right-hand edge about three quarters of the way down- ah- right, as in the Princess's right. That happened when I was clearing out a couple bokoblins and a moblin that had gotten way too close to the village entrance. The moblin got a hold of a real heavy pitchfork, and it was smart enough to try and grab my sword with it. I realized and got the sword free before it twisted it, but one of the prongs left that mark. When you came home a few months later, we sparred as usual and you asked me about it. The next day, you brought a hefty pitchfork to spar with instead."

Is that enough? "F-h-f" NO, Link, focus, you can be sick when he believes you.

"Khh-hh."

He's not saying anything. I guess- I guess wherever he got the pitchfork from, maybe he borrowed it or bought it or whatever so technically that person knows part of the story so it doesn't count? "On the hilt- there are a ton of little scratches—if the Princess turns it that way—yeah. All those scratches, most of them running the same way. That happened in Zora's Domain. I was fourteen. I'd been with Mipha, Bazz, Rivan, Kodah, and Gaddison at Mikau Lake, climbing up and then diving into the deep part. It was a lot easier for them because they could swim right up the waterfall, so they got more dives in than I did-" Link for f$&#'s sake, he doesn't care, get to the part no one but him saw! "My overclothes and belt and sword, all that, were on the little plateau next to the waterfall when you and Seggin arrived to bring us back," which is when I realized I was an idiot.

Swallow, Link, don't pant and oOh- stand up straight. "So… Seggin took the Zora home while you waited for me to grab my stuff. I got dressed and started climbing down. I wasn't going to dive and soak my clothes and I didn't want to dive with the sword attached or toss it down, either. The rocks were wet, though, and when I got close to the bottom my right hand and foot slipped."

"M-kh-h- khh."

"I did this weird pivot-thing where I still had a grip with my left hand for a second, but then slid the rest of the way down the rockface. The sword's hilt got scraped up and I got banged up. The underside of my left forearm was scratched pretty bad and my left ribs, side, hip, and thigh had nasty bruises from the sword getting bashed into them. You got me cleaned up, and you didn't seem angry exactly, but you drilled me on how I could've avoided it. You kept me away from Mipha for a couple days because you didn't want me to get used to having injuries just fixed by magic. You said the best thing to do is not have the accident in the first place."

.

Does that not count either? Do enough people know some of that story? I didn't think he told anyone about the parts that happened when we were alone, but- he's just staring at me.

Staring- not at my eyes, though. He's doing the thing where he looks everywhere else. It's still AT you, it's just not in-the-eye. And his eyes STILL look wrong, what's the matter with him, did he take a few hits to the face earlier or something?

.

Believe me?

Please?

"Khh-h-kh."

…He needs more? "You… bought me a paraglider. Not long after that. I used it, heheh- heh. We did. To get away from the fire. I thought it was funny."

"Funny?"

Why so unhappy about that?! "Yeah, it- seemed more dangerous than climbing, to me. I was surprised you didn't think so. Not that I minded. It was fun to use."

Maybe I'm just too messed up, everything seems strange.

"Sir Lyle? Has Linkhh-h- eased your doubt?"

Her voice sounds strange, too.

He does believe me, doesn't he?? I don't understand. He's not so keyed onto how I'm standing anymore, which is "hh-" barely. Legs, I promise- down soon.

"…What were the letters?"

Letters?

"On the sheathe."

Zelda's whole stance just deflated and couldn't I just read the letters if I looked closely enough? I guess they're turned the other way right now. "They're the mark of the smithy at Fort Hateno, your initial, and the letters of your byname. F-H-S-L-O-H" And if he's going to be pissy about it, so am I. "What about your letters?"

"Mine?"

"The letters in the Princess' story. On the handkerchief. If I have to tell you mine, you should have to tell yours, too."

.

Well, that hung him up. Zelda?

She doesn't look like lack of letter-knowledge seems suspicious to her. She looks like she feels bad. And maybe a little confused.

"Z-L-O-H."

Zelda?

She's hesitating a little.

"I must admit, I don't recall the lettering itself clearly."

Is that a problem?

.

No?

Why just me?

"…Tell me…"

Cold sweat, that was sudden.

"…About the first time I trained you in swordsmanship."

We're getting specific now? "D-" no. No, what am I doing? Don't argue, it's not like you don't remember, it'll be faster. "We were in Zora's domain. It was a while into our first stay, I'm not really sure how long, but looking back I think you were trying to get me to behave instead of randomly launch myself at the soldiers like I did with Jeralt."

"Heh-khHHHh-hh. Khh-hh."

Zelda's relaxed a bit if she can laugh, and his breathing changed a little. Another win for me, I think, but hurry before your knees give out. "I was annoyed because you kept making me switch to holding the sword in my right hand. I told you it didn't feel right. You said I should learn it that way because the stairways in towers spiral in the direction that makes it easier to defend them with your right hand. I said that means if you're going up the stairs, it's easier with your left. You said that's true, but if you're going up you're the attacker, and you hoped I'd never be assaulting any of the castles in this realm." I've got him, that look on his face, there is nobody else he ever told this to for SURE I've got it this time, keep giving him more! "When I said most of the time, I probably wouldn't be on a staircase anyway, you pointed out that if I seem right-handed, I'll be able to surprise enemies by switching to my dominant hand. Pretty sure my eyes lit up when you said that, but either way I stopped arguing. And I stopped tackling your men. Asked them for lessons instead. Constantly- well, not constantly. Just constantly whenever they were around and didn't seem too busy. Which, to like a four-year old, was still way too often."

.

Come on. Say something.

I know I got it right and I KNOW he believes me. What's the issue?

"How…"

…'How can I continue not to even say hello to my own son?' would be a valid question but somehow I doubt that's what he's going to ask.

"Khh-hh- mh."

Zelda's resheathing the sword, that's probably a good idea, and she's coming back over here and oh no no no Zelda oh s$&%, he totally sees now, before he didn't think it was me so he didn't bat an eye when I corralled her or when she touched my arms or my forehead, but now that he DOES he's looking more and more freaked out by the second just by her fingertips touching my shoulder and we're both half naked, he's eyeing her hand so hard, though the bandages give away at least some of how bad this was, concern is totally warranted, and is he in pain?? He looks like-

"You're alive."

…Oh my Goddess. "D-hh. Father-"

"Commander?"

"Sir Finn."

No, no, SHUT UP Sir Finn!!

"This… is your son?"

Zelda knew, didn't she? She tried to say.

"He is Link."

He thought I was dead.

"My Goddess."

"It's really…" "Hoooly mother." "We locked up the Princess." "Are you s#$^^ing me?"

"Shh!"

And here comes Finn, of course, because now that I'm not a Yiga he's going to-

"Excuse me, sir."

"FffFff!" do THATcold hand in armpit, really?!

"Back under that fur—right now. You too, Princess."

"I amkhHhh- well enough."

"Let's keep it that way."

He went real pale "FFff-f-f-f." Under the fur, there you go legs. Ho"OH-ly-fff." Even the weight of the fricking blanket hurts and now father's looking at the couches and the fact she's getting on the other one and they're literally pushed right up against each other and there are so many things going on on his face right now he's thinking about ALL of it, isn't he, just trying to decide what to ask or do first, and he hasn't even said he's glad I'm not dead, keep it- keep it together, Link- "Father-"

"Is it the wounds?"

"Yes, commander."

Oh, that's better than I expected, actually, I thought it would be 'Get the Princess her own room immediately' but hello? "Fa-"

"Ewiter."

What the f#$(.

"Yes, sir?"

Back to business-as-usual already?

"Tell Captain Bherlan to send an urgent request for medical aid to the Sheikah down in the village."

"Yes, sir!"

Fight urge to say 'I'll be alright.' I've beat things like this before, like that time with the moblin snot.

"Lynd."

But that doesn't mean I should take the chance.

"Yes, Commander?"

Especially since so much rides on me not dying pointlessly.

"Now that it's clear who our guests are, their accommodations are inappropriate. Have the opposite room prepared."

OOH I KNEW IT, I KNEW IT!!

"Ye-"

"Not happening." S$#(.

"Indeed not."

I am so not up for this argument- a BIG blink at the ground, that's new, what does that mean-

"…Excuse me?"

He totally wanted to say something else, didn't he

"KhhHHh-kh-kh."

but he couldn't because the Princess said no, too, so he had to be polite.

"Hh- m. KhhhHHh."

Instead of looking crazed, he looks like he thinks I'M crazy, which at least is an improvement, and isn't that unusual though he usually thinks I'm an absurd kind of crazy

"Ahh... Temda, let's tell Wilmina to get up here soon and tend to the fire."

not keesesh$%-crazy.

"Y-yes, Sir Finn."

His face says I'm keesesh$%-crazy.

"Forgive me, Sir Lyle. I know it is unusual, but Link and I must not be separated."

"…Princess. We are at the heart of this fortification. We will assure your safety."

"My own safety is not my only concern, though I must admit, I feel far safer with Link at my side."

Ohhh his head is listing to the side, that's totally what he does when he can't believe what he's hearing. No, can't even TAKE IN what he's hearing.

"He… is… unwell."

"Indeed."

"His usefulness as your guard is therefore minimal."

…That was less pissy than I thought it'd be, is he trying to make sure I rest? "I won't be standing guard duty. But the Princess and I should stay together."

"Being her Appointed Knight does not mean you belong in her room."

But I get stern-voice? Even though you should be happy, or at least relieved? "It does if we're being hunted." …And I just screwed that up, the things that tried to kill us aren't really the point-

"I beg to differ, my extraordinary knight."

Wow, she said that in public-

"Only I have the right to decide who may and may not remain in my chamber."

Ohhhhhh s#$( am I in trouble now, too?

"And I say Link and I both remain here."

Oh. Oh no, father was in trouble.

Good.

He totally just tried to look out the window, but it's shut. Actually, maybe it's that he can't quite look at me. Or her, at the moment.

"That is highly irregular, Your Highness."

"How carefully have you read correspondence from my father, Sir?"

That… came out of nowhere, I don't even know what to make of that. "F-f-f-f-h." He's shaking his head, too.

"I… must assume the last letter I received was false, Princess."

"KhhHhkh-hh-hh- khHHh."

"Did it say I got shot at a festival?"

"…It did."

"It was real."

Wow, he- looks like he feels the arrow himself.

"…Then how… how are you here?"

"Mipha was there. She healed me." Why's he shaking his head? She's done that loads of times.

"The King wrote that both your lungs were pierced."

"…Yeah." Don't touch the spot, Link.

"No man lives an hour with such an injury. He said Mipha's gift had been spent. You'd have to wait a full day."

"I did."

"…Your son is the strongest man I've ever met, Sir."

.

I'm not that strong, Zelda. Not when I have to fight so hard to keep it together because my father doesn't even seem happy I'm not dead. No smile. No nothing. "F-"

"And your presence here, specifically?"

Seriously?

"We were beset on Irch Plain, Sir. We'd been on route to the Royal Laboratory."

That's the third time.

"This is quite far from that course."

Just… let yourself be sick, Link.

"Bokoblin riders were waiting just beyond the southwestern ridge of Elma Knolls."

Close your eyes.

"They had stolen horses."

Three interruptions.

"We investigated."

He doesn't want to talk to me. For whatever the f#$% reason.

"…You…"

Just let Zelda do the talking.

.

…Why does this feel like a very, very heavy silence?

Guess I have to open my eyes back up ohhhh ohhh he's glaring at me, and it's different this time because he knows it IS me.

"You… brought the Princess into an unsecure situation?"

Oh s#$#, Link, the answer is 'It was her choice' but then it sounds like I'm blaming her.

"The decision was mine, Sir."

Double-s#$%. His livid-face is coming back.

"With respect, Princess… Sir Link."

Ohhh ohh okay, NOW he wants to talk to 'Sir Link' now that I've done something wrong-

"Your first duty is to the life of your charge."

"My first duty is to follow the Princess' orders."

"Not if they endanger her."

"It's her choice."

"Not if it endangers her."

WHAT?

"Sir Lyle, I must disagree."

"It is your right to disagree, Princess. It is our duty to ensure your safety regardless."

Holy F$@&, the King said 'often at odds with his charge'

"KhH… khHHHh."

and THIS IS TOTALLY WHY, ISN'T IT?!

"The correct course of action-"

"No, no no no." Ohhh that surprised him, too, he's not used to me disobeying him even in THEORY. "The lab got attacked, too. They were- SO after us, father. They-"

"Knew you were coming?"

Well. Yeah, I guess-

"Meaning the proper course was to do as I was about to say—to return to the castle without delay."

.

Oh.

"Hf."

That was I-can't-believe-Link's-behavior huff, I've heard it way too many times.

"Sir Lyle, I cannot allow you to place the blame for this on Link's shoulders."

Wow, ZELDA even gets an I-can't-believe-your-behavior-face in her general direction-

"I woukHHhld- not have agreed to retreat."

"That would be a marked change of behavior."

WOAH?! HELLO??

"I have experienced quite a few changes as of late."

ZELDA PISSED

"One of which is the understanding that I am not some helpless child to be coddled."

WITH GOOD REASON

"I meant nothing of the sort, Princess. You are, however, irreplaceable."

Does he not even realize?!

"If you mean, Sir, that I must live long enough to seal the Calamity-"

"I mean, Princess-"

Should I be telling him off for interrupting her?!?!

"-that you are our late Queen's only daughter. We would be gravely remiss to risk your life in any capacity, Calamity or otherwise."

"It shkhH-hh- khHhkhhhkhh-"

And he's suddenly watching her like an islander hawk.

"-hhHh. Hhh. It- shall be unavoidable, in the Calamity's case."

Freaked out again.

"…I hope not, Princess."

"Hh." Don't laugh, don't laugh "h-hh." It's just so unrealistic. I understand, though.

'I'd have run anywhere, had it meant saving my beloved wife.'

Hello, King Rhoam. Didn't realize you were right there.

"Over the past days, Hylia has quite clearly revealed her plan for me is not one of prayer and seclusion. Despite this, and despite his encouragement and support in regard to exercising my newfound power-"

His FACE, he didn't know!

"-my Appointed Knight repeatedly requested my retreat. I refused—repeatedly. I am the one who ordered the investigation of Irch Plain—and I ordered our company into Serenne."

He kind of looks like he doesn't believe her.

"Into Serenne?"

"Yes."

"Was this in response to the fire?"

"Yes."

Oh f$%& now that livid-face is fully turned on ME, not just hypothetical Yiga version of me, he's looking me over, all over, up and down like he can see past this blanket I'm shaking under.

"…If you were more experienced… and were you not… the chosen of the sword…"

Yeah nothing, no smile for that either, of course not

"…I would relieve you of your duty to our Princess."

Of course you would.

"Sir Lyle, I cannot allow that."

Just a quick, disapproving glance for her.

"I don't intend to, Princess. Though I would be within my rights to do so."

"No you wouldn't." That sounded real spiteful. Good going, Link, you just lost the moral high-ground.

"Hphhh."

…Kind of surprised he didn't say something. It's always infuriating, whatever it is. Curt. One or two words. Something like 'I would.' Or 'Not so.' Ish.

It would give me an excuse to break the news that I outrank him. He actually can't relieve me, and he can't order me out of this room, and if he hasn't heard about her power yet, he hasn't heard about that, either. Guess he only got the urgent letter. They probably sent out a runner. "F-h-f-f-f." Everything else is sitting on a desk somewhere or something.

…Why isn't he saying anything? Oh look at that, my eyes closed all by themselves. Real heavy to open them.

He looks like he's in pain again. DID he get hurt? Maybe he took an ice lizalfos blast to the face after all, a lot of his skin is kind of red.

"I have arrangements to make. Particularly with regard to doubly securing this garrison. I will need every detail of your- detour."

Tactful, for him.

"You shall have it."

Oh she gets an expressionless little nod, that's annoying.

…Link. You really were an idiot for doing EXACTLY THAT to her for months.

"I will return for that after you've rested."

Keep your mouth shut, Link.

"KhhHHh-kh-khh. Hh."

Hyla knows what'll come out if you don't.

And there he goes, not even- oh?

"Rest."

Side-eye. That's all. And he's gone.

Just forget it, Link.

Why didn't he write to you, you wondered?

Maybe the answer's really simple. He just plain-old doesn't like you. Glad to get rid of you. Didn't even stay at the castle long enough to help you get your bearings. Just told people s%#@ about you and left. (I thought he loved me, though) he does. He does. He wouldn't care how many mistakes I make if he didn't.

Remember smiles?

When I buried him in the sand.

When I played with baby-Chee.

When I disarmed him for the first time. Like REALLY disarmed him, not just him letting me get away with it.

He's… a superb swordsman.

"Link?"

"Yeah?" Get… your voice together, Link.

"Can- can you rest?"

"Yeah." Her hand. Under my blanket. Trying to make sure I stay warm. There's no confusion there at all, just bandage-muffling keeping all of mine from feeling hers.

"Please do. It's alright. Pay- try to pay it no mind."

I'll try.

It just won't work.

…That was her humiliated voice.

I've never been so mad at him. Too tired, though. Too tired to slam the door back open and tell him all the ways he just behaved like a total asshole. He's probably not in the hall, anyway. Long gone.

------

Follow this link to read chapter 22.

Follow this link for the chapter list.

He was quite slim—odd, for a knight. He seemed more so without his customary attire. She couldn’t see his ribs. Muscle played over them, rising and falling even breaths.

On her next visual sweep, she found the Moon had cut the divots beside his kneecaps and the edges of each leg muscle in sharp relief.

You need a good source of protein, Princess.

So did he—more so, if he was to maintain that strength.

Ferns swayed in the calm breeze, black with a flickering sheen like wet ink. A nocturnal frog blurted a carefree call. Others warbled their answer, and they soon seemed to be talking among themselves. Link’s face remained slack and peaceful.

One side of Zelda’s mouth pulled in a lackluster grimace. Would that he were so relaxed in wakefulness. He might allow her to relieve herself without scaring her halfway to Hylia’s skies.

Cold sweat arrived on her skin. How would she relieve herself in her current condition? The last thing she wanted was Link’s help with that.

Perhaps she could crawl?

Her face twisted in imagined mortification. Link would have a superb view of her rear until she disappeared among the bushes.

Her eyes shot to the stretchy fabric at his hip as though compelled to even the score. She began to follow the prevalent line of his hipone—then she jerked her head up. That would be decidedly unprincessely of her. She studied his feet, instead. His pinky-toes were angled a bit inward, and Zelda found herself ruminating on her unaccountable surprise upon noticing it.

He shifted in his sleep with a snuffle, his cheek coming to rest on his palm and his back angling more groundward, his other hand coming to rest at his navel.

It didn’t look particularly comfortable.

Zelda fiddled with the spare paraglider cloths at her side, considering whether she could slip a paraglider pillow beneath his head as he’d done for her. Then she considered the potential consequences of startling a knight of the realm awake in the dark. Granted, he’d lost his sword, but if he could haul that rock down the beach, he could likely dispatch her with ease bare-handed. He clearly had no such reservations regarding her, but Zelda wasn’t a soldier.

Zelda took to staring at the starry sky, only a little disgusted with herself.

--

Link slept right through the birds’ spectacular racket at sunrise. As the day settled into blue skies and white sands at the ocean’s edge, the redness on Link’s skin shot vicarious pain down Zelda’s haunches. She winced with each glance at his chest and shoulders, but most especially his cheekbones.

The Slate read 9:26 am when he jolted, jerked his head up, and flew into a lunge, as one awaiting the start of a race.

“Be at ease, Sir Link. All is well,” Zelda said.

He hovered, blinking at her as though trying to erase some lingering dream-vision.

Zelda set the Slate aside in favor of the carefully rolled pink-spotted-egg cloth. “Here,” she said.

He stared at it.

“I hesitated to disturb your sleep. If you find this adequate, please use it next time.” She held it out to him.

He stared at it, expression oddly flat even for him. By the time he reached out to accept it, the muscle in Zelda’s forearm was burning.

“Thank you, Princess,” he said, extremely quiet. He placed the makeshift pillow where his head had recently been. “You- should have…”

She waited.

He didn’t look at her. His hand rose to press loose-fisted to his upper lip and nose. The slight wrinkle between his eyebrows betrayed his frown.

One of Zelda’s eyebrows arched. “I also highly recommend the chuchu jelly. For your- face. And shoulders. …And chest.” She cleared her throat.

He rose, dusting himself off. Zelda assured her eyes remained politely elsewhere as he reached for the jelly-bowl, though by the sound of it, he was slathering himself liberally.

She ought to return his clothing soon. Surely her own things were dry by now, though her current state would make changing a challenge.

“I’ll find us breakfast,” he said.

As he walked off, Zelda’s need for sleep closed her eyes for her. A painful throb reopened them. She reached for the remaining chuchu jelly. She could no longer consider it cold, but slightly cool was better than nothing.

She should have asked him to store the rest of it in that fantastical pouch of his.

The thought paused her. She shrunk, leaning back on the palms of her hands til her shoulders neared her earlobes. She would not ask him to do anything unecessary for her. She was fine. Uncomfortable? Yes—but fine.

She settled down to nap until Link’s return.

--

She awoke to shortened palm-shadows, two bananas, and a cracked palm nut near her head. She gulped its water gratefully, apparently parched.

He was at his flat rock again, his champion’s tunic protecting his torso from the sun (a small, relieved sigh left her). He was fiddling with a befuddling selection of rocks, placing one, then another strategically atop the flat one in size-order. She shook her head.

What in Hyrule (or outside of it) was he doing?

He backed up and stood with his knees bent and arms outstretched, peering at his creation from various angles. It gave her the impression of a curious bokoblin, and she huffed a laugh. It shifted her legs just enough to make her wince.

She lifted her once-more-distracting foot gingerly from its resting place atop her other ankle. The release of pressure beside the thickest tendon sent a flood of pain to the tips of her two smallest toes. She hissed and tried to rectify her error, but returning it groundward sent a shaft of pain behind her knee instead. Her littlest toe felt like a fat octorok balloon as she hovered, her calf in both hands, searching for some other item to prop her leg with. After far too long with her foot dangling painfully, she settled for resting the knee of the bad leg atop the other. It still hurt, but at least it was different.

She tested the chuchu jelly. Her fingertip came away covered in warm ooze. Zelda loosed a small, though unsurprised “uch” and searched for a suitable place to wipe it, settling on the side of the small boulder weighing down the rear of the lean-to.

She looked for the walking-stick-spear, thinking to test whether she could walk with its assistance, but it was nowhere in sight. He’d likely returned it to his pouch—which meant, once again, she’d have to ask for it. A many-tendrilled feeling sunk from her chest deep into the pit of her stomach. She didn’t feel up to sorting it out.

She peeled a banana and took up the Slate instead.

--

The mapping feature. She ought to have thought of it earlier!

Zelda swiped to the ever-frustrating blue grid, but for once, its lack of geographical information didn’t perturb her. She didn’t need topographics.

As always, a yellow arrow lay directly in the center of the screen. It faced roughly northward. Zelda eyed the trees’ shadows, cast over her toward Link, and nodded—direction established. Hemisphere also generally established. They’d left Hyrule, but they hadn’t gone so far as to flip the direction of sunlight.

And her father had believed her astronomical studies pointless!

Zelda’s face fell.

It’s not as though he would listen, were she to explain it to him.

She placed her thumb and index finger apart on the screen and slid them toward each other. The grid shrunk, more tiny squares appearing to fill in the edges. Aside from the arrow, it was still blank. She repeated the motion with the same result.

Thought lines appeared on her forehead.

She tried once more. Still, the screen remained blank but for the grid and arrow.

She’d little sense for how wide an area it currently showed, though she’d hoped to see the only other mark always present on the map: Purah’s guidance stone. The Slate had never forgotten its first interaction with the stone’s pedestal. She’d shown this to her father with wonder, that it could always be used to find the direction of the Royal Lab. He’d been underwhelmed.

At the very least, it had to be northward. Zelda swiped to pull the grid downward on screen. The little yellow arrow flew down, then bounced back up.

A deep crease appeared at her brow.

She tried swiping left—then right—then up and down again. In no direction would it move. She tried increasing the scale of the map again, and it allowed that—so she continued, expanding and expanding as though seeking to contain the entire world on the Slate’s shining screen. It did so each time without resistance. Yet her attempts to scroll east, west, north, or south of the grid kept bouncing the arrow stubbornly to the center.

She changed tactics, instead zooming in, her fingernails tapping the screen in rhythm. It stopped at some minimum size, and while the screen contained no further information, at least she knew there was area around her which she could scroll to.

She swiped her index finger rightward.

The arrow bounced back.

“I don’t understand,” she said.

Link’s footsteps drew her eyes to his approaching feet. As she endeavored to concentrate, he deposited yet another rock beside the firepit: a long, thin, nearly-black one. His bare feet remained still, sand squished between those toes pointed toward her, and the skin on the back of Zelda’s neck began to prickle.

“Yes, Sir Link?” she asked, succumbing to distraction and raising her eyes to his. The tunic completely covered his shorts from the front. Her mouth attempted to twitch in amusement, but she tamped it, grateful his comedic attire negated the possibility of inappropriate eyelines.

He appeared to be examining her forehead.

Searching for signs of weakness, perhaps?

Zelda’s eyes lowered along with the Slate. When had she become so uncharitable?

‘It seems I’m the only one with a mind of my own!’

It was the first time his knight-face had cracked.

In her peripheral vision, his hands twitched toward her poorly-propped foot, then returned to dangle limp at his sides. She glanced at her injury. As usual, her focus had prevented her from feeling it so keenly, yet the swelling was perfectly obvious, as was the dried, translucent-white jelly she’d slathered it with repeatedly.

Zelda swallowed with a little difficulty. Her mouth was dry.

She wished he would say something.

A rustle and the sound of soft air from his nostrils signaled one of his curt nods. Then he trotted away to Zelda’s left. As she turned her head, he gripped the trunk of a tall palm tree, and much to her astonishment he began to shake it. Zelda became reluctantly fascinated with two sights: her knight’s unimposing body somehow forcing this far larger object to move, and the very top of the palm tree’s swaying trunk, where three fat palm fruits remained attached to their parent.

He tried fist-pounding next. His methods spun inquisitive thoughts (as most things did in Zelda); in the absence of sufficient data, she suspected the shaking’s low-frequency vibration was likely more effective than high-frequency shocks from his fists, but perhaps if he used a club—a lever arm would increase the force of his impact. She opened her mouth to say so.

She closed it.

Link puffed a little, squinting up at his unassuming quarry, and sprang at least four feet straight up to grasp the trunk. Zelda balked as he proceeded to scale the tree with very little apparent effort. The tree, however, continued to resist. As the trunk thinned toward the top, it bent under his weight and with one particular shift of his right arm, it swayed like the head of a spooked horse. Zelda gasped.

“Please!” she yelled.

He stopped, looking at her.

“Do not hurt yourself! There are other palms!”

He hung still another moment.

Then he wrapped both legs firm around the trunk and shook the thinner part near his head. Several wild motions like an unnaturally slow whip sent all three fruits popping off in succession. One fell straight downward, landing with a thump in the sand. The second flew somewhere away and down the beach. The third shot up, bounced off the tree and rolled conveniently toward Zelda. She didn’t even need to lean to catch it.

Link scurried down and dropped at least the last ten feet to the sand, his head snapping up at Zelda’s gasp.

Did he believe himself indestructible?

As she’d essentially just told him to be careful, she avoided a condescending repetition—but she watched him closely as he retrieved the other fruits. His jog seemed normal, but was he more able to fool her than she was him?

He returned to her side and began the disturbing process of ripping one of the fruits open. He tore off a solid half of the green husk first, then pulled out the nut. She resolved not to yelp at the now-expected crack, though she still winced. Link managed to catch almost all of the inevitably spilled water in the fruit’s outer peel.

“Here,” he said, offering her the mostly-unspilled half of the nut itself.

She stared, not at it, but at him.

He glanced at his offering, his blank face cracking a little.

It was his eyes, she decided. They widened just enough to let something other than efficiency through. What it was, exactly, she wasn’t sure.

She accepted the fruit. She’d become quite thirsty again, but she sipped slowly. Link gulped his portion from the green husk. He examined it when he’d finished, turning it over every which way. Then he set it down on his paraglider-mat.

His eyes resumed an unabashed study of her reddened ankle’s swollen outline. Zelda stopped sipping; the world seemed suddenly too quiet, as though the island had decided to eavesdrop. A shift of Zelda’s fingers rubbed palm-nut-fibers together. It might as well have been nails on slate.

Link’s eyes fell sandward, then flickered toward hers, just for a moment. Something about it seemed sheepish despite his schooled features. “I know you don’t- want…”

Zelda rested her laden hand at her chest.

The drop in his shoulders was bare milimeters. “Princess, can I look at that for you, please?”

She stared at him. Look at what?

For some reason, she didn’t say it.

For some reason, her eyes also stung. She shut them, rubbing one with the heel of her free palm.

It’s not as though she hadn’t known he knew.

“Please?” he repeated.

She took a calm sip of palm water, less and less willing to look up. Her chin had nearly met her collarbone when she nodded.

A soft hiss of shifting sand preceded the light brush of fingertips catching in an unfamiliar way on the stretched skin over her ankle. She gasped.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

She opened her eyes to the sight of him intent, his nose mere inches from her foot and his fingers sliding along her skin, testing pressure. She gritted her teeth and set her water aside.

He placed the tips of two fingers just on either side of the joint’s apex and tapped. Zelda winced, but more from surprise than pain.

His palm slid to the center of her calf, and she gasped again.

“Is this alright?” he asked, suddenly hesitant. She found his eyes wider and somehow brighter blue, his head rearing just far enough back for her to notice.

The flutter behind her navel paralyzed her.

“If-“ he glanced at her shin- “if not-“

“It’s- fine, Knight.” She flinched.

He blinked at her, one side of his face pinching. It was the most expression she’d seen on him since those first few moments ashore. He moved slowly, sitting on his heels, then resting her foot in his lap. He adjusted his calf-grip, then palmed the bottom of her foot—and pushed.

“AaAah!” Zelda’s back arched, heels of her hands dug into the sand beneath the mat behind her.

“Sorry,” he said again, very softly. “It- doesn’t want to bend at all.”

“I’m aware,” she said, all air, but the fluttering returned when his hand slid up to support her calf again. If she could have slapped herself internally, she would have. What was wrong with her?

He lifted her leg, bending her knee so her foot was well over a foot above the ground. “How does this feel?”

She found his eyes.

It was a mistake.

She didn’t know what her own would betray, but embarassment was certainly in the mix. Her cheeks had grown hot, and worse yet—he noticed. His lips pressed together just enough for her to recognize it as sympathy.

The sympathy of He-Who-Seals-The-Darkness would be a poor substitute for Hylia’s blessing should the Calamity arrive.

“I’m- sorry, Princess. I thought-“ he put her leg down very gently, with her makeshift blanket jumbled beneath her knee. “I thought it would hurt less, up like that.”

It took a moment for his words to penetrate the fog. “Hurt- less?”

He nodded. “More elevation. For swelling.”

She allowed a flicker of hope that perhaps he merely thought he’d hurt her. “Perhaps- with time. It might.”

He studied the bend of her knee and nodded.

When he jogged off again, she wiped the backs of her wrists against both eyes. The palm-nut-half still waited, unspilled a few feet away. She drank it.

Within ten minutes, Link had begun packing the area beneath her knee, calf, and foot with vegetation: ferns, banana leaves, and palm leaves, mostly, with her blanket between her and them. Even so, they prickled at her skin. When he deemed the pile high enough, he shook out the jelly-leftovers and burst a second white chuchu blob. He applied it liberally and gently. Zelda suffered. Once finished, Link popped the open bowl into his pouch.

Zelda huffed out her nose. She supposed if time did not pass within, it could not spill.

“Later- once the jelly’s dry- it might be good to wrap it,” he said.

Zelda didn’t trust herself to speak, so she nodded.

--

All of the fuss made her feel especially foolish when she did, finally, have no choice but to relieve herself. She decided to preempt Link’s overreaction. He’d continued his mysterious endeavor, fiddling with an even smaller set of rocks and yet another cloth.

“I SHALL BE BACK SHORTLY!” she yelled down the beach.

“PRINCESS?”

“I’LL BE BACK!”

To her frustration, he began jogging toward her.

“Oh- for Hylia’s- I REQUIRE PRIVACY!”

He stopped in his tracks.

He was still looking at her.

“TURN AROUND!!” she yelled, miming a spinning motion with her entire right arm.

He did. Then he turned back.

“No- NO, STAY THAT WAY!” She waggled her index finger in the direction of the ocean.

His hands spread at hip-height again.

This was clearly Link-speak. Shrug-but-not-shrug. Perhaps this entire situation was, in fact, encased in a silver lining. Her knight had little choice but to communicate with her here. This was her chance to learn what his plethora of previous silences meant.

He faced the ocean and craned his neck over his shoulder at her.

“DO. NOT. LOOK!” she tried.

His head jerked higher. Then he faced the ocean.

Another silver lining: she could indulge in a sour face as she rolled from her mat and leaf-pile and crawled into the tree line. A quick check over her shoulder showed him still standing, perfectly straight, still, and facing outward just as he would on guard at her chamber door.

He hadn’t moved an inch when she returned.

She sifted appropriate restroom-guard-dismissal words, finally shouting, “THANK YOU, SIR LINK!”

He nodded and jogged toward his rocks.

--

Zelda tapped the blue grid on the screen yet again directly over her location. She set the pin again—and it again failed to appear with a descending chime like an overlarge disappointed mockingbird.

She thought she’d had it!

She knew approximately the smallest area ever shown on the map grid thanks to her frequent Royal Lab visits. At the very least, setting two pins would therefore have given her a sense of scale. Yet the slate would not even allow her to set one!

She allowed a frustrated growl to escape, setting the Slate aside. She rubbed at her forehead, then her temples. Her eyes—and mind—needed a rest.

Link, it seemed, had draped his dark cloth atop the squat tower of rocks he’d stacked on the large, flat one. It had piqued her curiosity more as it became more reminiscent of some manner of ritual. Perhaps it was, indeed, an altar. He might intend to pray for their rescue.

He proceeded to poke the section of cloth stretched between the top and middle rocks. It made her nearly-smile again. Rock-Wrapping-Bokoblin-Acolyte-Knight could be imagined to be quite different from Statue-Standing-In-Her-Hallway-Knight.

She tore her eyes from the scene before it could delude her further, instead beginning the onerous task of examining the mysterious code governing the Slate’s map and its elusive pins.

It was difficult to concentrate. She finally unpeeled the second banana.

--

Link had apparently caught a decently-sized bass with his bare hands, gutted it, and cleaned it while she’d been too absorbed to notice. Her stomach squealed as it roasted. It turned out flaky and delicious. He’d even seasoned it with rock salt.

It made her lack of progress all the more disheartening, though she thanked Link for his efforts. Her body certainly approved of the sustenance.

Link had long since finished his portion. He sat watching the fire quietly. It struck Zelda that other than rest far into the previous night, he’d barely been still for three days. It drew her gaze to his myserious creation down the slope. “What are you making?” she asked.

He turned toward her, his hands raising a little as though to ward her off.

Zelda’s brow pinched.

“I-“ Link said.

She took another small bite of skewered fish-meat.

“I don’t know what to call it.”

She stopped mid-chew. “Oh?”

His hands were now suspended at his midriff, fingers spread and palms down. “It’s… for making water.”

Her skewer-hand fell into her lap. Her chin dropped with it. “…Making… water?”

He nodded.

She peered around him again, examining his cloth-contraption with this new illumination. Stacks of rocks. What shape were they? She hadn’t looked carefully enough.

A wide, flat, dark rock, to get hot in the sun?

She slid a wrinkled part of her paraglider mat between her thumb and fingerpads. What kind of material was it? It wasn’t absorbant. Was it coated, perhaps?

A cover, to collect condensation?

She gaped at her knight.

Then she shut her jaw with a skeptical squint at him. She was getting ahead of herself.

“I know,” he said.

Her eyes widened. Hylia forbid he could see her thoughts that clearly-

“It seems silly,” he said. “This place probably gets plenty of rain, and there’s the little pool and waterfall back there.” He swallowed. Zelda opened her mouth to speak, but he didn’t notice (his eyes were on his lap). “But we can’t boil that water without some kind of cookpot, and I haven’t found anything good for that yet, and I don’t have one, and there’s no guarantee about the rain- though a rain catcher’s next on my list- and if the palms run out, without water we’re dead in three days, so it was the highest priority. I have a lot of milk, though.”

Zelda’s mouth was still open. He’d never interrupted her before.

He’d clasped his hands firmly between his knees.

“You… have milk?”

He nodded. “And some… apple cider.”

Zelda stared at the press of his lips, set as though he once more expected to be in some manner of trouble, and the world seemed to take a sudden tip. It realigned into some unfamiliar orientation, conforming to her more-strange-than-expected knight’s rock-piles, emergency jelly, meat pies, and nervous rambling entirely at odds with- him.

Apple cider?

The hand holding her mostly-eaten fish-skewer pressed to her belly as it insisted on spasming with silent laughter. She couldn’t even look at him. Sand shifted, and she felt his knees hit the mat nearer to her.

“Princess?!I Are you alright?”

She managed to open bleary eyes enough to see his hands hovering with uncertainty before her.

“Bokoblin, indeed!” She blurted, then burst into full-on belly laughter. Tears followed, but while she’d never intended even to smile at Sir-Knight-Who-Seals-The-Darkness, tears of laughter, she felt, were entirely justified in the presence of He-Who-Hoards-Various-Liquids.

She struggled to form words through the throes of laughter. “W- when- did you find- the time- to collect all of it?”

His face spawned a new slew of uncontrollable spasms.

“I- can buy milk.”

“Indeed, Knight?  Do you make secret deals on our travels? Perhaps accept clandestine delivery of- of-“ she shook- “milk bottles- by night, while I sleep? Do you sneak from my chamber door to pilfer cider from the castle kitchens- or, Hylia forbid, the unsuspecting citizens of Castle Town?”

His hands were still outstretched, but palm-up now, in yet another Link-style-shrug—but this time, he was almost smiling.

Almost.

It was almost a real smile. Whatever it was reached his eyes, this time, though she’d never seen an actual smile on him.

The thought finally tamped her laughter. She balanced on her haunches (tricky with her elevated leg) to use her fish-free hand to knuckle away the wetness on her eyelids. “Forgive me, Sir Link.” One more short huff escaped her. “You’d said you had more than you should.”

He seemed sheepish.

“I approve of your water-making idea,” she said.

This time, his face visibly brightened.

Zelda almost smiled at that.

------

Follow this link to read chapter 3.