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Link’s posture was stiff as a statue from his position atop his horse. Even outside of the castle with no eyes on him but Zelda’s, he acted the part of a perfect knight. His face was stuck in a near unbreakable mask, alert but expressionless. Cold as stone, with unreadable eyes either staring straight ahead or following her like a hawk. It was unnerving.
Zelda’s own steed dipped beneath her with the rough earthen path. The sun beat down on her hands as she loosely held the reins. But it wasn’t unpleasant, it was only just beginning to warm up now and the heat was bearable. Much easier to acclimate to than the Gerudo Desert, which they had just come from.
By the sun’s position in the sky she could tell it was only early afternoon. If they kept up this pace they would be at an inn by sundown, and the next afternoon they would reach the castle. They were already a day behind schedule due to the Yiga attacking her near the bazaar. Link and Urbosa had refused to let her leave Gerudo town for an entire day so she could come down from the shock.
And while she made a fuss about being treated as helpless, a part of her appreciated the moment to gather her wits. She couldn’t lie and say the attempt on her life wasn’t terrifying. Her hands had been shaking for what seemed like hours afterwards, even after Link had escorted her back to town so she could be near Urbosa. Even though he would be forced to sit outside while she was within the city walls.
That morning when she stepped through the city gates she found her knight standing ramrod straight outside of the city walls. His sword was in his hands and dried blood still dirtied the blade. His gaze was as intense as ever but Zelda couldn’t help but notice the shadows underneath his eyes. A twinge of guilt had itched at her stomach as she came to the conclusion that he had stood out here for an entire day and night. Not even taking the time to clean his weapon.
It was only when Urbosa pulled her aside before they departed that she learned Link had been walking the perimeter of the city all night. Making sure no more Yiga assassins dared scale the walls. And with the lack of bodies surrounding the walls it seemed he’d done a good job at scaring them off.
“He’s an excellent knight,” Urbosa had said to her before she left them at the nearby stable. “And if I am being honest with you, quite a sweet voe. Him and Mipha have been close friends for years, she speaks very highly of him.” Urbosa pulled her into a tight hug and while finishing her thought. “Give him a chance, little bird, he might just surprise you.”
Zelda didn’t know what to do with all this new information. He’d saved her life even after she snuck away, he’d walked around an already guarded city for hours and hours just in case he needed to protect her. He could’ve easily waited in the bazaar. But he stayed as close as possible, not taking the time to rest or even eat. It was infuriating as well as endearing.
As the sun moved across the sky in its constant race to reach the horizon Zelda tried to make sense of her thoughts and emotions.
Link was… a thorn in her side. He refused to talk to anyone, she’d never heard the boy speak even once. Not even during meetings with the King himself. He followed her everywhere, always a respectable five feet behind. Everytime she told him to leave her alone he didn’t bother to react. She’d yelled at him multiple times to go away and he didn’t even flinch. Just walking behind her like a loyal hound.
On his back he carried the legendary sword. The Sword that Seals the Darkness. A reminder of her own failure as a princess. That she was unable to unlock the power needed to save the world. And he was never without it. She hated that sword.
She hated him.
She hated how she knew he must look down on her for her uselessness. For her inability to do what every woman in her family was able to. What she was born to do. He must hate her.
But then why did he save her yesterday? Could it just be blind duty? It was his job to keep her safe, his sworn oath. If harm ever befell her while he was on duty she was sure the punishment would be immense. And under most circumstances she would believe he was just doing what he was told to.
But yesterday wasn’t most circumstances. She’d ditched him the moment she had a chance, sneaking away while he slept. And when she found herself trapped and unable to escape from the three Yiga members surrounding her, wielding sharp sickening scythes he had saved her life.
The expression he wore was the only one she’d ever seen on him. Cold and emotionless. Like marble. But his eyes burned with a never before seen fire. She’d seen him run drills and fight off monsters before. But not with this underlying intensity.
And when the Yiga lay dead on the cold dry sand beginning to pool with blood, her knight lay his sword on the ground and knelt before her. His blue eyes scanned her for injuries, and after finding none sat back on his haunches.
Her heart was stuck in her throat, shock keeping her frozen still in fear.
Link opened his mouth as if to say something, then shut it closed firmly. Instead he raised his hands and began to wave them in slow intricate motions. He seemed almost unsure as he communicated in what she recognized as Hylian sign language. She’d been tutored in it at the age of eleven. It always struck her as strange that her father didn’t learn the language if she was forced to. He never explained the reason, only now she realized that Link was eleven when he found the sword, something she’d learned through palace gossip. He’d never tried to talk to her this way before.
She was then pulled out of her thoughts by Link flapping his hand briefly infront of her and repeating his motions slower. ‘ Princess, are you injured?’
Zelda shook her head and whispered with the only voice she could muster in all the shock. “No, I’m alright.”
Link nodded firmly and raised his hands to sign again. ‘ Perhaps we should delay our departure for the day, you can rest in Gerudo Town. It may be dangerous to leave now with the Yiga still in the area.’
Zelda took a minute to process his words, a part of her was upset that he thought she was unable to protect herself. But with what happened today, he might be correct. Besides all she wanted to do right now was see Urbosa.
Link had reached out a hand to pull her up and she gripped it tightly, following beside him towards Kara Kara Bazaar. She didn’t let go of his hand until they were almost at the entrance to town. He said nothing of it.
Recalling all of that now she couldn’t help but feel as though she’d been in the wrong all this time. How many times had he endangered himself on their various trips around Hyrule just to protect her? How many times had he stayed awake keeping watch over their camp so that she would be safe?
How many times had she lost her cool and told him to go away, how many times had she complained about him in front of his face? How many times had he just stood there and accepted her ire?
Goddess, I’ve been awful to him.
She took her eyes off the road to sneak a look at the knight following behind her. He looked no different than usual besides the slight discoloration beneath his eyes. He was just as stoic as ever, not showing a trace of the gentle way he’d lead her back to the safety of Urbosa. Just a knight doing his duty. Zelda turned her attention to the road before her once again.
I need to apologize to him, don't I? But what words could I say to him that would make up for all the hurt I’ve caused?
Zelda didn’t know the answer to her own question, just that she had to figure it out soon. She clenched her fists and decided she would plan out an apology on the way back to the castle. She had to.
-
Link heard it first, he always did. The distinctive sniffing and grunting of monsters, Moblins and Bokoblins by the smell of it. That rotten meat smell that triggered his fight responses.
He moved fast. Forcing Epona to ride up before Zelda and blocking her effectively. Before the princess could ask what was going on Link signed one word, ‘monsters.’ He was glad she seemed to know sign, it would make communication in times like these much more effective.
He held one hand out in a motion for her to stay where she was and she nodded firmly, used to this situation by now. Link took this opportunity to dismount his horse and giving her a pat on the nose handed the reins over to Zelda.
And he was off, a hand pulling the master sword from its sheath and making sure to hide behind rock formations while he rounded the bend in the road. Just as he suspected a large monster camp was in a small clearing. Silver Moblins surrounding a large cooking hunk of meat on an open fire. A few silver Bokoblins swinging weapons and sitting in the dirt. His stomach rumbled slightly at the sight of food, they hadn’t stopped for the midday meal yet and it was getting to him. But he shook it off as was his duty.
Link readied his sword and shield and stepped into the open, rushing the monsters fast so they wouldn’t know what direction he’d come from, hoping they wouldn’t notice that not far away but out of their sights was a lone princess who was unarmed.
With little difficulty he hacked at a Moblin’s leg and sent it spinning to the ground. A Bokoblin came up behind him and without hesitation he stabbed the creature through the heart, nimbly dodging its claws. He quickly turned and did the same to the felled Moblin. Blood sprayed into the air, coating his sword and tunic before the body dissolved into black and red mist.
But he had only begun to empty the area of bloodthirsty monsters. The next few minutes were a whirl of steel on steel and blood spatter and spilled guts. Link dodged and parried with gritted teeth as he tore through the enemy one by one. By the time he was down to the last two creatures his head was spinning with exhaustion, arm and legs beginning to tire from movement and very little rest. He’d been up the previous night walking in circles afterall, not taking even a moment to rest his aching body. And unfortunately even with all his training and skill a tired body would always be a liability in battle.
That’s why when he faced the silver Moblin in front of him he momentarily forgot about the Bokoblin behind. And as he struck the larger creature down in practiced fashion he was struck in the side with a sharp spear. A hot white pain flared through his body as he pivoted to his left and cut off the creatures head in one quick movement. Instincts fully taking over as he did so.
And once the dark smoke cleared, Link, the Knight to Princess Zelda and Champion of Hyrule, fell face first to the earth slick with blood. Unable to force his exhausted legs to carry his own weight. He could feel the warm blood leaking sluggishly though his clothing, and the agonizing pain ripped through his torso with little remorse.
Unwilling to leave his charge alone and unprotected any longer he forced himself to his elbows, desperately trying to pull himself forward. All the while internally berating himself for letting his guard down for even an instant. You know better than this! How could you, now the princess is without a useful guard! She could be attacked any minute and you’ll be completely to blame!
So with gritted teeth and an arm wrapped around his stomach Link pushed himself to his feet, sheathing his sword and one step at a time stumbled back to where he had left Zelda. All the time an overwhelming dizziness overtook him.
-
Zelda was growing anxious by the second. It had been only a few minutes but Link usually returned by now, always slick with sweat and blood but unharmed. By now he’d usually be cleaning off his sword and feeding Epona one of the seemingly limitless apples he always carried with him. But her loyal Knight was nowhere to be found.
Zelda could smell the iron in the air, but the clanging of weapons had subsided, and now all that was left was a haunting silence. She had just about made up her mind to dismount and sneak around the rock figures to see what was going on when Link rounded the corner.
At first she let out a relieved sigh, then she saw how he was clutching his torso, and blood wasn’t just coating him, it was dripping from his once brilliant blue tunic. The tunic she’d sewn for him now a dark red in the near blinding sunlight. And then without warning, Link collapsed. Dust flew around him as his legs buckled and he fell prone on the earthen path.
She leaped from the saddle, nearly avoiding being tangled in her stallion’s leather reins and ran to him, sliding to her knees as she approached. “Link! Link! What happened?!”
He groaned in pain, one of the only sounds she’d ever heard him make, but his eyes connected with hers and he shakily lifted his free hand.
‘Need stitches.’
Zelda gasped. She’d never envisioned the day he would be seriously injured, much less ask for her help.
“We have to get you to a doctor! There much be one at the inn, if we hurry-.”
Link interrupted her with a wet cough, and a shaky hand. ‘No time, supplies in saddlebag.’
“But, but, there’s no pain medicine, and I don’t know how.” She was getting desperate, pleading with him, for what she didn’t know.
‘I teach you.’
So she ran to the horses and hastily dug through the contents of Links saddlebag. Normally this would be an invasion of privacy, but there wasn’t time so she searched wildly. After seconds that felt more like days she found what she was looking for, thin black thread meant for sewing holes in clothing and a sharp silver needle. Bile coated her thoat at the thought of what she was about to do.
She rushed back to Link frantically trying the thread in place and knelt down to him once more. While grabbing supplies she also taken a spare belt from his bag and gripped it in a shaking fist. She offered it to him now, “Here, bite on this so you don’t bite through your tongue.”
He shook his head, and Zelda, not in the mood to argue, put the leather strap down, instead moving to push up his sticky tunic.
The wound was worse than she’d thought. A gaping cut in the side of his torso, completely red with blood and bleeding at a concerning rate, she was surprised he was still conscious. She held back the vomit that warned to crawl up her throat and began wiping at the blood with her embroidered handkerchief. She looked to Link for instruction, completely out of her depth, Princess training had nothing to do with being a field medic.
Link, now able to use both hands to sign forced his trembling fingers to comply. ‘Just like normal sewing, be fast, don’t worry about pain.’
And Zelda bit her lip in regret for what she was about to do, and pierced through his top layer of skin like thick fabric. Her stomach roiled as she repeated the process, fingers shaking wildly, Link reached to hold her wrists as still as possible.
His teeth were clenched in pain, his face somehow still not truly portraying the absolute agony he must be in. And for the first time Zelda fully realized how built into him was his stoicism. How it wasn’t just a mask he put on while on duty, a statue who only followed the King’s orders. But something so deeply ingrained in the fabric of his being that it scared her to think of how he’d ended up this way.
None of the other castle guards and knights were this way. They laughed and joked while off duty. They were jolly and talked amongst themselves. They greeted Zelda cheerily while she wandered the palace, making polite conversation when she could be spared a few minutes. But Link was none of those things. He seemed to be carved from stone and diamond. Unbreakable.
Only now as he stared straight up at the sky, jaw tight, actively fighting for consciousness did Zelda realize how misguided her judgments of him had been.
He was only a few months older than her after all. A child who should be playing in the streets and smiling amongst friends. But instead he was expected to fall on his sword at seemingly anyone’s request. He’d never backed away from a challenge, no matter how dangerous or bad for his health. He constantly put everyone’s lives before his own, previously Zelda had assumed it was some self righteous action, him believing that only he the wielder of the sword of legend could solve others problems. Now she understood that it was a true recklessness and disregard for his own personhood. He’d been transformed into just a vessel for a prophecy, and seemingly never seen the purpose of fighting it.
What in Hylia's name did the world do to make you this way? To make you loose your own sense of humanity?
She tied off the stitches with now blood slick fingers and cut the remaining thread with the small pair of scissors she carried with her for plant samples. A sigh of relief escaped her, as the blood stopped pooling from his body and his breathing evened out.
‘Thank you.’ Link signed before he began to push himself up.
“Where in Nayru’s name do you think you're going?” She carefully pushed his chest back to the ground, worried he would aggravate his wound even more by moving.
‘Need to get to inn before dark.’
And as much as Zelda wished to argue with him, she didn’t think he was in any position to fight off stal monsters if they showed up that night.
“Fine, but you’re in no health to stay atop your horse, you’ll fall off in seconds.” She crossed her arms and stared into his eyes, knowing that she was fully right
‘But-.’ Link began.
“Nuh, uh. Not buts about it, you’ll be riding with me, that way you stay on the horse.” She reached out a hand to help him up, not giving him time to respond.
He hesitantly accepted the help standing, and seemingly accepted his fate as he let her support him to her white stallion and gingerly climbed up into the saddle. She grabbed Epona’s thankfully long reins in one hand and clambered up in front of Link in the saddle. She tied the leather straps to the horn of her saddle and mentally readied herself for the hours-long journey to civilization.
“Link, hold on to me, I don’t want you falling off.” Zelda said, already knowing the awkward position they were both in. If not for Link’s injury this situation would be the talk of the gossip mongers for weeks. She could only imagine the rumors flying through Hyrule. It probably still would be knowing how stablehands talked.
Link very tentatively held onto her shoulders, and Zelda huffed indignantly. She guided his arms to wrap around her waist, flushing a bit at the contact. She’d never been very close to her knight, much less had his arms wrapped around her. But it was the only way he wouldn’t fall out of the saddle while they sped through Hyrule.
She could feel him tense behind her but loosely obeyed her command.
“Are you ready Sir Link?” She gripped the reins, angling her heels to nudge at her stead. Link grunted in affirmation and they were off. There was no use going slow to avoid aggravating his injury, a horse would never be a smooth trip no matter what speed one went, so in the sake of making the trip as short as possible Zelda pushed her stallion into a gallop, Epona keeping pace beside them. Link held to her tighter as they gained speed, and she smiled a bit to herself. Maybe this could be a start to my apology.
-
It was dark when Zelda finally steered the horses into the inn’s small courtyard. Link was barely awake by the time she helped him from the saddle. His eyes were drooping heavily and he was still a bit woozy from blood loss. She carefully held onto his arm as she handed off Epona and Storm’s reigns to the nearby stablehand. She thanked him quietly and ushered her injured and exhausted knight into the inn,
He stumbled wearily behind her as she spoke to the innkeeper, sliding over eighty rupees for a two-bed-room and two bowls of meat stew. She thanked him as she took the key and dragged Link up the stairs towards their room. As she unlocked the door she realized this would be the first time Link would be sleeping in the same room as her.
Does he ever sleep when we’re on trips?
She realized he must, otherwise things like what happened today would be much more common. But whenever she left whatever chambers she’d been given in the mornings while outside of the castle, Link was always standing alert right outside her door. Perhaps he slept leaning against the door, or sitting down. She didn’t much like that thought.
I really am a horrid excuse for a princess.
“Here, Link.” She motioned him towards the closet bed. Surprisingly for his seemingly half asleep state he shook his head.
“Do you really expect to guard me all through the night?” Zelda questioned, already knowing the answer. He took the King’s word as law, which she supposed it was. And he had firmly told Link to let no danger befall her. Which he had seemingly taken to mean “never let her out of a ten foot radius.”
Link only nodded in answer, stumbling slightly to the left.
“No. You are going to sit down and eat the food I ordered and then sleep. We can find a healer in the morning.” Zelda placed a hand on her hip, staring right into his weary eyes.
The staring contest lasted a good thirty seconds before Link relented and sat stiffly on the brown bedspread. His hands were clenched at his sides as if he was still standing at attention. His hair was a mess from the long ride here and still speckled with blood and grime. In fact almost all of him was still coated in the aftermath of his fight. Blood on his tunic and hands, dirt on his knees, he was a mess.
As much as Zelda wanted to convince him to get clean and changed she knew it was a lost battle. They both needed rest and food, everything else could be dealt with in the morning. Instead she plopped down on her own bed and began to untie her dusty boots.
“You look a mess right now, but I suppose we both do.” She tried to make awkward conversation as she noticed the flaky dried blood underneath her nails. Link didn’t respond, he had begun wiping down his sword instead. Worn handkerchief running over smooth metal, wiping away dried mud and gore.
Zelda had seen him do this multiple times a day since he’d become her guard. It seemed he took better care of his weapon than his own body, and Zelda who spent hours kneeling in freezing springs and on hard stone until her fingers were blue and her knees were bruised understood the reasoning. They were so similar now that she bothered to recognize it. Tied up in duty and a divine prophecy neither of them could fully comprehend. If the stories were to be believed they had known each other for dozens of lifetimes. Princesses and heroes saving the world from evil everytime they were reborn.
They were meant to be a team, and maybe part of why she hated him so much was that her existence bound not only her, but Link as well to a life of doom and pain. They were nothing but playthings in Hylia’s hand, always fighting her battles.
Maybe her resentment was why the goddess continued to forsake her. But she couldn’t help it, and Zelda was beginning to wonder if Link felt the same way she did. Everytime he held that weapon his eyes were almost resentful. She wondered what he used to be like, before destiny was thrust over his head in the form of a gleaming sword. Did he ever smile or laugh? Did he have friends? Hobbies? Or was he always the shell she saw before her now, weighed down by expectations?
She hadn’t realized that a heavy silence had enveloped the room until there was a knock on the door. “Princess Zelda. Your food is here.”
She sighed, body aching from the day of travel pushing herself up and towards the door. Thanking the man with as much regal appreciation as she could before she took the tray and closed the wooden door behind her.
The food looked heavenly, two large bowls of thick meaty stew, a small loaf of bread cut down the middle, warm and crisp ready to dip into the stew. After not eating most of the day Zelda was nearly drooling over the meal.
But first she handed Link his serving, which he took with grimy hands and a small nod of gratitude. She then took her own food and sat down across from him on her bed, legs crossed up so the tray could sit comfortably in her lap.
The food was delicious, and as she ate she found herself watching the knight seated before her. He chewed, which in itself was odd. He always inhaled food, gulping it down like a true glutton. To add to that his eyes were beginning to take longer to open each time he blinked.
By the time his meal was finished and he’d laid his bowl on the bedside table he practically collapsed into his bed, not even bothering to pull up his covers. Zelda kept quiet as she finished her food and placed her dishes next to his.
She didn’t change into sleeping clothes, only removed her leather belt and shoes. Tomorrow she could figure out the rest. Tomorrow she would have to explain to her father what happened in the desert. Tomorrow she would apologize to Link. But tonight she will sleep with blood under her nails and her knight sleeping peacefully on the other side of the room.