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skyloftian-nutcase · 9 months

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Breath of the Sky Ch 11 (SS meets BotW)

Summary: When Princess Zelda goes to the Spring of Courage to pray, accompanied by her appointed knight, a giant magical cog spitting out a goddess is the last thing she expects, but it is what she gets. Meanwhile, the Spirit Maiden Zelda is trying to figure out what the heck is happening and where her missing chosen hero is.

(AO3 link)

Chapter 11: Fledgling Friendships

Zelda walked with haste, her mind so preoccupied with everything she’d just learned. She was caught in a confused haze, head whirling with too many words and images, to the point that she couldn’t focus on a single coherent train of thought. It felt like when she’d started to recover her memories – her mind had been so utterly overwhelmed with an entirely new life and revelation that she’d been practically catatonic for a few hours sometimes.

Speaking of being completely distracted, Zelda gasped in surprise when she nearly collided right into someone as she rounded the corner. The person had quick reflexes, taking a step back, and it took her a minute to recognize him.

It was that knight from before. The one with the Master Sword.

“Oh!” she said softly, eyes wide. “You’re—”

She paused, realizing several things at once. First, her interactions with him had been amidst a high amount of stress and emotions, meaning she’d been fairly rude, and second, she had absolutely no idea what his name was.

“U-uh…” she continued awkwardly. “I don’t think I ever actually got your name, sorry.”

The knight watched her carefully, face decidedly neutral as he blinked a few times, and then he said in a soft voice, “Link.”

Zelda stared.

Of course his name is Link, her mind whispered. Link and Zelda, here to save the world from Demise once again. What a cruel joke.

Had the Golden Goddesses even done anything to try to stop this? She barely remembered anything about them, even with all her recovered memories of a life past. Did they even care? Somehow she couldn’t figure it out – she felt like a part of her knew they were distantly invested, but she also reasoned out that they’d left her in charge of everything, which implied that they… weren’t paying attention anymore.

She didn’t even know. All she knew was that she was screwing up this conversation like she had the others.

“Right. Link.” She said, trying to gather her thoughts. “Um. I’m Zelda.”

The two stared at each other a moment, and then Zelda wanted to smack herself. Hastily, she shook her hands with an embarrassed laugh. “But you already—I mean—wow okay, I just—”

She sighed, cutting herself off. “I’m sorry. I’m—this is a lot. I wasn’t—I wasn’t prepared for any of this.”

The strange knight watched her, and his lack of reaction made her a little uneasy. His silence reminded her of her own Link, but her husband was so expressive, she could practically read his thoughts on his face. This one was very much the opposite.

What… had they done to him? Was he just like this? No one was naturally just like this.

“I guess it would be confusing to call me Zelda, what with the princess and all,” she said, trying to keep a conversation going. “But um… it’s nice to meet you. Formally, I mean. Because like… you know, we didn’t… I mean we met before, but I never got your name and there was a lot of stuff going on.”

The knight nodded subtly.

Zelda wondered if perhaps this was anxiety, or the same breeding as the other guards who had knelt and not even looked her in the eye. At least he was making eye contact.

Just as the thought crossed her mind, this Link also seemed to realize it, and his eyes widened as he clumsily fell to his knee.

Zelda had to laugh at the maneuver, feeling equal parts guilty and amused. “Hey, it’s okay, stop doing that. I’m… we’re going to be working together a lot, I think. Please. Can we just be friends?”

Slowly, the knight glanced up at Zelda, timidness evident in the way his eyebrows were raised and how he hid his eyes under his hair. Zelda smiled, crouching down to be at eye level with him, and the motion made him pull back just a hair, eyes widening.

“I promise I don’t bite,” Zelda laughed. “Well. I mean… okay, if you asked my husband he’d say I bite but—”

The knight’s face flushed, and Zelda realized what she’d just said, hastily tripping over herself to explain, “I mean—like—like as in I can be aggressive, but—oh my gosh, that’s not—I’m—”

Just shut up, you’re making it worse!

“Ugh, this is so stupid,” Zelda finally said aloud, smacking herself in the face and rising. “I’m sorry, let’s just try again. I want to be friends, okay?”

The knight watched her for what felt like an eternity before he slowly stood. It seemed like it was the best reaction she was going to get out of him.

“So anyway,” Zelda continued awkwardly. Trying to have a conversation with this teenager felt like pulling teeth. Her own Link (good grief, they’d need to find a way to differentiate) had been very quiet and shy when they’d first become friends, but he hadn’t been so understated on top of it. “I was looking for the princess. Do you know where she is?”

The knight shook his head.

Zelda hummed thoughtfully. “Well, maybe we can look for her together? You know this place better than me; I’d get absolutely lost.”

The knight swallowed, nodding slowly. When nothing else happened, Zelda motioned for them to start walking down the cavernous hallway. A few moments later she realized he wasn’t beside her. She glanced back to see if he’d just stayed put, but instead he was following her a few paces back.

"You know... the hallway's big enough we can walk beside each other. You don't have to walk behind me." She noted, waving the space beside her with a smile.

The swordsman took a shaky, fortifying breath before stepping ahead a little faster to catch up to her. He continuously glanced at her, though he kept his face decidedly neutral. Zelda had to chuckle at it – the poor thing was very anxious, wasn’t he?

Her smile faded, as she realized her earlier behavior was probably part of the reason. That and, well… all the other things.

“I’m sorry,” she reiterated. “I… remember how I said I only bite sometimes? When people I love are in danger… I mean… especially Link… I wasn’t thinking. I just reacted, you know? I’m sorry I was mean to you.”

The knight stopped abruptly, making Zelda skid to a halt. He immediately regretted his decision, awkwardly trying to resume their walk and then stopping again when Zelda didn’t move.

“What is it?” she asked.

The newer Link remained stubbornly silent. Zelda crossed her arms. “I know you can talk, Link.”

The knight shriveled subtly, looking at the floor.

Zelda watched him a while longer, confused. “What’s wrong?”

After another shuddering breath, the knight whispered, “It’s n-nothing, Your Grace. I beg your pardon for s-stopping.”

The assertive, stubborn part of Zelda swelled within her, wanting to grab this knight by the shoulders and shake him and say she wasn’t going to strike him down if he uttered a sound and that he needed to lighten up. But she held herself in check, smiling instead and holding a hand out as if to a scared child. “Well let’s keep going, then. Maybe you can tell me about the palace?”

This Link watched her hand hesitantly as the realization dawned on him, and he slowly raised his own hand in response. When his fingers delicately folded around hers, he made a motion to kneel again, and Zelda was reminded strikingly of her and Link’s conversation in the Temple of Hylia.

She quickly jerked him towards her once she had a grip on him, erasing that memory and any attempt to repeat it. The knight stumbled forward, face finally expressing terror and shock, before she caught him easily by the shoulder. Then she laughed. “That’s better! Let’s go.”

Having his hand in hers was a grounding force for Zelda, and she sighed in relief as they strolled through the hallway. His grip was stiff, though, reminding her that she really should try to ease his worries. She herself was filled with a thousand anxieties, but she didn’t want to scare him when he already seemed petrified.

She wondered how knowing his destiny had affected him. What he even expected his destiny to be.

She’d ask later. He was far too scared for such a conversation right now. And it delayed the inevitable for a while longer – befriending him meant she didn’t have to think about the king’s request… at least until she found the princess.

“So what’s your story, Link?” she asked. “My husband trained as a knight too, you know. A lot of us do on Skyloft. Was it kind of just expected for you too? My father’s the headmaster of the knight’s academy, what about your family?”

Before Link could even attempt to answer, his gaze drifted elsewhere, and Zelda tracked it to see one of the colorfully dressed guards ahead. He looked like he was heading somewhere rather than standing guard, but he quickly noticed them. For an instant his eyes were fixed on Link rather than Zelda, and then he knelt.

Wait, she recognized this guard. “Hey, you’re the guard who found us in Castle Town the other night!”

“I am, Your Grace,” he acknowledged.

For a split second there was a strange moment where the guard glanced up long enough to look somewhere between Zelda and the knight she was with, and then he looked at the ground once more.

“Thanks for the help that night,” Zelda said. “You know, with answering questions and all that.”

“It is my honor, Your Grace.”

He reminded Zelda of Impa. Her Impa. He held a very strong sense of duty and protocol but wasn’t groveling or petrified like the others. She liked him.

“Do you know where Princess Zelda is?” she asked. “Link and I were looking for her.”

“To my knowledge, Your Grace, the princess is in her quarters.”

Zelda looked around uncertainly. “Oh. Uh… do you know where that is?”

“I can take Your Grace there if you please.”

Zelda hummed thoughtfully, glancing at Link. “Do you know where it is?”

The knight swallowed and nodded.

With that settled, Zelda smiled at the guard. “We got it, thanks! I don’t want to bother you too much, I’m sure you have important duties to attend to.”

She knew better than to wait for an acknowledgement, given how everyone acted around her, so instead she tugged the swordsman along as they walked around the guard. The hallway seemed to be never ending, and it felt like the knight was dragging his feet the farther they went.

Zelda tried to ease his worries, as well as her own, by talking about anything but what she’d just discussed with the king. “So how long have you been here? Do you know the castle pretty well?”

“I can direct you, Your Grace,” came the hesitant and quiet answer.

“No, that’s not—I mean like have you been here long,” Zelda clarified.

“A few years, Your Grace.”

“Oh! So you must be pretty familiar with all this,” Zelda said cheerily. “I could never – this place is so huge. Skyloft isn’t nearly this big. It’s just… it’s really amazing seeing what our settlement turns into. I never imagined it would be this big.”

When Link didn’t comment, Zelda changed tactics. “So how long will it take to get to the princess’ quarters? I feel like you could spend a couple days just going from one side of the castle to the other.”

The swordsman stilled, eyes downcast. Zelda watched him confusedly for a moment, prompting, “What’s wrong?”

“We’re…” he muttered. “We’re going the wrong way, Your Grace.”

Zelda blinked. Then she laughed. “Well, why didn’t you tell me, silly!”

As the pair got turned around, Zelda finally decided she really did need to address the skytail in the room. “Look. I… I understand this is weird, you know? With the ceremony, with how I acted before… but… I’m… we’re going to be working together and…”

Zelda paused, feeling vulnerable and not entirely sure she liked it. But if it meant this knight would stop acting so weird, she was willing to speak a little on the matter. “This place is overwhelming to me. I’m… I’m scared too. Please don’t think that just because your people worship means that I actually am an infallible goddess. I’m just me, I promise.”

Despite her words, she got little reaction from the knight. Sighing, she looked away, but then she felt the slightest squeeze in her hand, and she belatedly realized it was Link trying to give her something to work with.

She looked back at the knight and smiled. “Well… I guess we should keep looking. Maybe you should lead the way, though.”

The knight nodded, walking ahead with her hand still in his. With their objective made clear, Zelda found herself just as silent as her companion, no longer really able to push off the thoughts that were nagging her earlier. She instead redirected her attention to examining the knight. He really held little to no resemblance to her own Link – he was thinner in build, a little shorter, his hair was lighter and longer and less fluffy, and his demeanor was practically entirely opposite. Yet… there was something about him that made her watch him, something eerily familiar and practically magnetic.

Not to mention the sword that rested on his back.

Zelda felt the wind get knocked out of her just looking at the blade. It was still distressing realizing that after everything…

Why? Why? She had planned it all so meticulously, even had backup plans – for heaven’s sake, Link was the backup plan. He wasn’t even supposed to be involved if it wasn’t necessary.

Yet everything had failed. Everything.

She had failed in the original war. She’d only sealed him away, and at a terrible cost. She’d failed in the new plan, to obtain the Triforce herself, if possible, rather than involve Link. She’d failed in the backup plan, where Link was supposed to be the one to fix things while she held the seal.

Tears stung in her eyes, and she hastily wiped them away before anyone could notice. Why did Demise have to be a reality they still had to contend with? Why couldn’t they just… have a kingdom and be happy? Surely there were enough problems in the world without a demon king adding to them?

Perhaps it serves as a unifying thing, she thought listlessly, a small glimmering of hope latching to it. Everyone can get behind defeating pure evil.

If that were the case, though… if the entire world was unified in supporting this knight and the princess… why did he seem so broken and afraid?

She supposed it was a silly question. She herself had been terrified on her journey. But she’d had Impa. Link had Fi.

Who did this boy have? Surely he had everyone, right? Was he just naturally this timid? Or was it because she was viewed as Hylia by all?

Zelda’s musings were interrupted when they stopped in front of a door. The knight hesitantly raised his free hand to knock and then paused, glancing at her and waiting for her to give some kind of signal.

Smiling, she pushed ahead and knocked gently on the door. When she got no response, she started to open it, curious if the princess was even there. The pair slowly shuffled into the room, both a little sheepish (one far more so than the other), and then paused in the entranceway.

The soft snoring from the bed was immediately familiar. The two lumps in the bed told her the rest.

Zelda snorted out a laugh. Of course Link had somehow found his way here to sleep. She was surprised the princess was asleep in the middle of the day though. Her heart warmed with endearment as she whispered, “I guess some traits did make it through all the generations.”

Apparently Princess Zelda was as much of a sleepyhead as Link was.

She honestly didn’t want to wake them. She was certainly curious how Link had found his way here and how much he had talked to the princess before they’d both settled in for a nap, but she also didn’t want to disturb the moment. She definitely didn’t want to address the issue that had brought her here.

But there was honestly little point in avoiding it. Sighing, she pulled out some feathers from her pouch she’d been carrying with her, handing one to the knight. As she did so, she saw his stupefied expression as he stared at the pair in the bed, eyes wide and face pale.

“What’s wrong?” she asked. “Are you okay?”

The swordsman jumped, startled, and glanced at her, bemusement apparent. His cheeks flushed, and he glanced between her and the bed.

Zelda stared, completely baffled. A thought slowly coalesced in her mind, picturing all the stiff protocol she’d seen so far. “Is this something to do with manners or something? Because she’s an important figure?”

The swordsman blinked, and despite his efforts for his stoicism, the disbelief was apparent on his face.

“You’re an important figure too, so it shouldn’t be a big deal to be in here, right?” Zelda questioned confusedly. “I mean… you didn’t have any issues leading me here.”

The knight’s brow furrowed.

“You were with her earlier,” Zelda threw out the observation with a shrug. “What’s the problem?”

When she got no response, she handed the feather over to him. “Here. I’ll wake up Link, you wake up the princess.”

Zelda went to the bed without sparing him another glance, bending over and inching the feather close to her beloved’s nose. Link was curled into the blankets, his face barely visible, but she still managed to maneuver the weapon into place. As she tickled under his nose, she giggled when he scrunched it in response, his brow furrowing. Link groaned slightly, slinking away and bumping into the princess’ back. Zelda smirked, having already started to wake him up, and decided drastic measures were required. Leaping into the air, she landed on the bed, bouncing right beside her husband as he yelped and kicked in all directions, landing a hit on both his wife and the bedpost.

“Ouch!” they both yelled as the princess squealed and fell right out of the bed with a loud thud.

Gasping, Zelda crawled over Link to look over at the floor, where the knight had also rushed to the princess’ side. “Are you okay?”

The princess was panting for air as if she’d run across all of Skyloft ten times over. Zelda felt a little guilty – she supposed she shouldn’t have startled the girl. She was just having some fun with Link.

“Sorry,” Zelda said, making the princess freeze. The girl looked up at her, horror in her eyes, and then she registered the knight in front of her and squeaked, pulling a blanket off the bed to wrap herself in it. In doing so, she yanked both Zelda and Link, making them tumbled over each other, but the princess didn’t have enough strength to actually get the cloth out from under them.

The knight rose to his feet awkwardly, brow pinched as he looked between the three.

“Zelda,” Link whined from underneath Zelda. Both she and the princess looked at him, and it was at that moment that Zelda realized they really needed to work out a naming system for everyone.

In the meantime, she said, “It’s time to get up, sleepyheads!”

Despite her cheer and Link’s good-natured grumbling, the princess seemed absolutely… mortified. She looked at the knight in horror, cheeks as red as Groose’s hair, and she pulled her nightgown more tightly around her, burying her face in her knees.

Zelda looked between the pair. She was definitely missing something. The knight turned around to look a different direction, staring pointedly at the wall.

Honestly, they were acting as if they’d stumbled in on the princess bathing or something.

Oh. Wait. Was… was finding her sleeping bad in this era?

Just as Zelda was about to ask, the princess rose and rushed towards some stairs, disappearing quickly. Zelda and Link exchanged confused glances. Before she could go after the girl, though, Link followed her, leaving her and the knight alone in the bedroom.

“That was weird,” Zelda muttered. “Is… did we do something wrong?”

The knight turned slightly, eying her in profile. From this vantage point, his neutral glance looked more questioning.

“Seriously, though,” Zelda pressed on. “I… you guys act so differently from us. What’s wrong?”

Eventually, the knight seemed to realize she was genuinely asking, and he faced her fully. “It’s… not proper to see someone undressed like that. Or in bed with... B-but—that just doesn't apply to Your Grace, I—”

Here the knight’s mouth snapped shut, like he was trying to explain but was fumbling too much to try and continue. Zelda watched him a moment longer, thinking about it, and then sighed. “Oh. Oops. I’m sorry.”

The room was dead silent, and then Zelda continued, staring at her lap. “It’s just… so different here. I didn’t mean any offense or anything. I didn’t mean to upset her, or you.”

She sighed, glancing up, and smiled despite the knight’s seemingly neutral reaction. “Well, maybe we shouldn’t linger in here, then. If it’s going to upset her and all. Can you show me where the gardens are? There were tiny birds there that I liked.”

The knight glanced at the stairs, as if to express his concern for the princess, and Zelda hopped off the bed, waving her hand. “Don’t worry about the princess. Link will talk to her.”

You’re avoiding the actual conversation you need to have, a voice whispered in her mind, but she ignored it. She didn't want to further upset the princess, after all. She'd let Link smooth it over; the pair had seemed to have bonded a little, at least. She could learn about the knight instead. He had the Master Sword. He was important too.

“Show me the way to the garden,” she asked, holding out her hand. “And tell me about yourself! I’ll tell you about me.”

The knight watched her before quickly taking her hand, as if he didn’t do so fast enough he’d be in trouble. She frowned at it. “Remember I said we could be friends, right?”

The knight stared at her. Zelda sighed. This was going to take some work. But she’d figure it out.

XXX

The stone stairs in the room led to a hallway that connected to a separate tower. Link had to marvel at the size of this place all over again. The room downstairs alone could act as a house for most on Skyloft.

Never mind the scale, however – something was upsetting the girl, the princess. What was her name again?

Oh, he abruptly remembered. Oh.

Princess Zelda was seated on the ground of the hallway between the stairs and the tower, knees tucked under her chin. Her head barely peeked over the stone railing. A gentle breeze blew by, rustling her soft silky robe and dress, rustling hair into Link’s face as he carelessly brushed it aside.

Approaching her hesitantly, Link asked, “Are you okay?”

The princess jumped, startled at his approach and his words. “Am I—what are you doing out here, you can’t see me like this! Nobody but servants and my family—”

She stopped abruptly. Link stared at her. The word family bounced around in his mind again, feeling so foreign and magical, bizarre and otherworldly, exciting and terrifying.

This girl was his family. Separated by countless years, yes, but family nonetheless. Link… hadn’t had that in a very long time. At least not by blood.

“You’re—I mean—don’t you understand how improper that was?!” the princess tried again, burying her face in her knees. “I can’t do anything right.”

“Improper?” Link repeated, tilting his head to the side. “Why?”

“Why?” the princess repeated, baffled as she looked at him once more. “What do you—because it’s—I’m dressed too—and I was in bed with—and—”

She lost either her nerve or her ability to articulate at this point, shaking her head and plopping her forehead on her knees once more. Link watched her a moment longer, unsure, and moved to sit beside her when she jumped, seeming to realize something.

“I don’t—I’m sorry to be rude,” she said hastily. “I-it isn’t my intent to be disrespectful or anything, it’s just—I—isn’t it improper for you too? Why were you in my bed?!”

Link furrowed his brow. Her tone had changed, as if she’d gone from mortified to scared. What was she afraid of?

…Was she afraid of him?

Link bit his lip uncertainly, plopping himself onto the ground beside her. What reason did she have to be afraid of him? Was it because of the big fuss her people made the other night? If the words they spoke in their fairytale rendering of his journey were what they truly believed, then they really didn’t understand the full magnitude of the situation.

They didn’t understand that this was his fault. They shouldn’t be showing him any kind of respect. Link hadn’t done his job, apparently.

Demise was still alive.

The thought both chilled him to his core and enraged him. He wanted to hunt him down now, he wanted to kill him now, he wanted to run away and hide in a corner and beg Fi to wake up and tell him what the hell he was supposed to do. None of this had been part of the plan.

Not like he’d been privileged to the plan anyway.

Link shook his head, ridding his mind of the unexpectedly bitter thought. He needed to focus on the princess, not his own issues.

“I’m sorry you’re upset,” he offered quietly.

“Link saw me in bed! And I was in bed with a stranger—well, you’re not a stranger, but—but you’re the Hero of Myth and Legend! The rumors that will fly—” the princess shook her head, her hands reached to her scalp and dug through her hair anxiously.

Was that what was bothering her? Rumors? “You shouldn’t worry about what others think of you. Besides, what are they going to say?”

“We were in bed together!”

“And?”

The princess stared at him again, a baffled expression on her face. “Doesn’t that mean something to you?”

Link squinted, wondering what in the world she was getting at. “…No?? Beds are for sleeping, and that’s what we did?”

The princess stared at him and seemed to give up, sighing and looking away.

“Who cares about rumors, anyway?” Link said, shrugging.

“It matters what people say about me,” the princess muttered. “You don’t have an entire kingdom relying on you.”

Link paused, feeling the heaviness in her words. He… didn’t really have a way to fathom it. The highest authoritative figure he knew was the headmaster, and Gaepora had never really cared if students didn’t like him. He wasn’t a bad man, but he did what he thought was best whether the students liked it or not. Besides, what if he had listened to popular opinion? What if he’d listened to Groose when he whined that Link wasn’t good enough for the academy?

Before Link could really ponder the matter more, the princess jolted and looked back at him and shook her head. “I—I didn’t mean—”

“No, you’re right,” Link cut in. “I don’t have that many people relying on me like that, I guess. I can’t even think about it. Just based on how many people I saw at the party… you have a lot depending on you.”

The princess bit her lip, looking down before returning his gaze. “You did too, I suppose. I shouldn’t assume that my problems are greater than yours, that just because I’m incapable in my duty that yours was somehow lesser.”

“Incapable in your duty?” Link repeated. “Is today really that bad?”

The princess sighed wearily. “No, it’s… it’s not that. I’m sorry.”

Silence filled the air, only interrupted by the wind whistling past flags and between the stone teeth cut into the railing above them. Link shifted uncomfortably; usually he wasn’t bothered by silence, but the anxious and dejected air about the girl was unfitting and he wanted to fix it. He tried changing tactics.

“Your name is Zelda, right?” Link asked, and the princess nodded. “That’s… so weird.”

At the princess’ bemused and embarrassed look, Link hastily added, “N-not in a bad way! It’s just… my wife’s name is Zelda too. I’m going to get you two confused if I say Zelda and you’re both with me!”

“She goes by Zelda?” the princess questioned.

“Yes,” Link immediately answered firmly. “She… she went by Hylia before, but ever since her, uh… her rebirth, she prefers to go by Zelda. It’s who she is now.”

“That’s so… fascinating,” Princess Zelda whispered, glancing off to Link’s left at nothing in particular.

“Well, either way, it’s going to be confusing,” Link said, dismissing the focus on his wife’s past. He didn’t entirely understand it still, but he knew it bothered her. He’d seen her discomfort during the feast, so he wasn’t going to encourage the behavior to continue. “Do you have a nickname? She doesn’t. Or—wait, your dad has like fifty names, right? Do you have more names?”

The princess stared at him a moment and then burst out laughing. Then her hands flew to her mouth, her cheeks as red as his loftwing. “I—I’m sorry, n-no, I don’t.”

Link thought about it a moment. “What about Zellie?”

The princess stared at him. “Zellie?”

Link shrugged. He wasn’t going to call her something she didn’t like, but she wasn’t coming up with anything, so he figured he’d just throw it out there. The princess watched him a moment longer, her gaze growing distant as a small smile played at her lips.

Closing her eyes, she seemed to try to center herself. “My mother used to call me that.”

Oh. Maybe a bit too personal, then. Link was about to say so when the princess said, “I like it.”

Link smiled. “Ok. Zellie, it is.” Then he grew somber as he remembered not seeing a female king (was there a term for that?) at the feast. “What… happened to your mother?”

“She died when I was six,” the princess answered. Her tone was neutral, polite, but he could tell in the way she was squeezing her hands that it still bothered her.

Link watched her for a moment longer and then looked away. “I’m sorry. I lost my dad around that time too.”

He heard her turn her head to look at him. “You had a dad?”

Link whipped his head to stare at her. “Yes??”

Then he remembered their story from the other night and he laughed. “I—I wasn’t made from a cloud, you know! I was born to parents just like you!”

The princess’ face flushed bright red. “I—”

Link waved a hand as he giggled. “It’s okay, it’s what you were taught. I just—”

He couldn’t continue, falling apart into a fit of laughter. Maybe he should have just said he actually was made from clouds; it would have been funnier.

I’ll do it next time someone asks.

“So… how did Hylia… I mean, did she even…” Zellie shifted to face him more fully. “What happened?”

Link’s laughter died down, reality sinking into him once more. He cleared his throat a little uncomfortably. “Uh… she… I mean, she chose me, but…”

“Is Hylia your… your mother…?” the princess asked, her face pinched in a manner that showed she was disgusted at the thought but trying not to show it.

“Ew, no!” Link immediately exclaimed. His reaction caused the princess to flinch, but the girl also looked relieved at the words. “My mother was a craftswoman, she worked in the bazaar.”

“What did she make?”

Link stared off and shrugged, looking back at her somewhat apologetically. “I… don’t remember what my dad said she made, honestly. He’s been gone so long, and… she died giving birth to me. I never knew her.”

She looked sad. “I’m sorry. To never know what having a mother is like… I can’t imagine.”

“What was your mother like?”

Zellie stared at her hands as her legs slowly slid out and straightened. “She was… wise. Beautiful. Caring and so gentle. She always seemed to know what to do.”

The princess bit her lip, somehow growing even more somber.

“I’m sorry,” Link said quietly. “She sounds like a good mother.”

“Oh, how I wish she could have met you and the goddess,” Zellie said, a sad smile playing at her lips. “I imagine she would have loved it. And… yes. She would have loved it.”

“She probably is loving it,” Link nudged her with his shoulder, giving her a reassuring smile. “Wherever she is. She’s probably laughing and thinking it’s silly that you were upset earlier.”

Zellie huffed. “It isn’t silly! My position is important, and maintaining dignity is part of it. I’m not like you, I…”

The princess cut herself off, rising abruptly, before she jolted and crouched beneath the railing to stay out of sight. It was… rather silly to watch. Link felt a little bad for her.

“Why aren’t you like me?” he asked.

Zellie continued to face away from him in her awkward crouch, and her shoulders drooped as she sighed. “Oh, this is all wrong. I shouldn’t be speaking to you this way, I apologize.”

“Why? What other way should you be speaking to me?” Link queried, wondering if she’d ever turn around. “I’m just me.”

“You’re the Hero. Created by Hylia—or, well, chosen by Hylia, I guess, but—you defeated the Calamity! You’re—” Zellie finally did turn, struggling for words. “I should be showing so much more respect to you. I’m sorry.”

“Please don’t be sorry,” Link immediately assuaged her worries, giving her a gentle smile. “I don’t like being talked to like I’m some fairytale. I’m a person, just like you.”

“I’m a princess.”

“So does that mean you’re not a person?”

“No! No, it’s just…” Zellie sighed, unsure how to continue. Then she huffed. “What you did the other night was just because you wanted to, wasn’t it? It had nothing to do with dominance.”

Dominance?? “Huh?”

“When you sat on the throne with the goddess.”

“I felt like I was going to pass out,” Link explained sheepishly. “I needed to sit. Also, Zel looked upset.”

The princess stared at him. Blinked. And then she let out a shaky breath. “You… oh, you’re still sick, that’s right.”

“No,” Link argued. “I was overwhelmed. I’ve never seen so many people, especially not all staring at me.”

“You… were scared?”

Link bit his tongue a moment. He’d gotten into the habit of saying he wasn’t scared, of saying things didn’t bother him. He’d had to. But… he felt like honesty was needed here. “…Yeah. Yeah, I was.”

If you wish to be of help to Her Grace, you must summon a shred of courage and face the trails laid out before you.

Goddesses above. He’d thought he had helped. Instead, he’d cursed everything and everyone.

Link felt sick. He felt so, so sick. His words hung in the air, held heavily in place in the stillness and silence. The words were swept away, however, when he heard a strange sound from far beneath them, like mechanical whirring and large footsteps. Curious, he rose and looked down over the railing to see a giant robot with legs akin to a skulltulla, its head swiveling as it people stood around it. The princess stood and peeked over, eyes barely above the railing, and she smiled.

“That’s a guardian,” she said eagerly.

Link felt his blood run cold at the word, and he shook his head. Clearly, this was something different than that. “O-oh?”

“They were made long ago by the Sheikah,” Zellie explained. “They helped defeat the Calamity ten thousand years ago. We’re hoping to reutilize them.”

“They still work?” Link questioned, squinting at them and thinking of all the broken down robots in Lanayru. “Or are you using timeshift stones?”

Zellie whipped her had to look at him. “Timeshift stones? What are those?”

Apparently not. “They control time within a certain radius. It’s… how I got here, I think.”

The princess slid to the ground again to stay hidden from the rest of the world, her brow furrowed. “You came here using a timeshift stone?”

“It… was an accident,” Link offered feebly with a shrug as he sat beside her again. “I was in a mine full of them and there was an explosion.”

“You… you came here by accident?”

“Uh… yeah.” Now Link was starting to feel guilty. Had… had they all actually thought he and Zel had come here on purpose? What was their thought process with that?

We seek your care and protection and favors, And hope you grant them through your sages.

The prayer from the other night lingered in his mind once more, and he felt a shiver run down his spine. Did… did they…?

Oh goddesses.

He shut that train of thought down so quickly he could practically hear the door slam closed in his mind. This was just an adventure. This was fine. He was fine.

You can’t avoid your own failure, a voice whispered that sounded annoyingly like Impa.

His thoughts weren’t wrong, though. What was he going to do? If he’d kept avoiding the matter on his own adventure, Zel would be dead, Demise would have won, the world would have ended.

Why hadn’t it been enough? Why hadn’t he been enough?

“I hadn’t planned on being here,” Link said quietly, refusing to make eye contact, dragging the words out of him. “But… I think maybe the goddesses had. To help you.”

The princess was quiet a moment before saying softly, “I suppose Link will appreciate the help.”

Link? He was Link. What?

Goddess. That knight. “His… his name is Link too?”

“Well, yes,” Zellie answered matter-of-factly. “Many boys are named Link because of you.”

Nope. This was getting to be too much again. Link rose abruptly, growing dizzy. Words left him, and he hummed when Zellie also shot to her feet and held a hesitant hand out to stabilize him.

I suppose Link will appreciate the help. Ha! As if someone who seemed so capable could possibly need a failure’s assistance. He had Fi now. Link wasn’t needed. He was replaced.

Well, of course you were, this is a bajillion years in the future, idiot, he thought. Then he sighed. It didn’t matter. Whether there was a Chosen Hero or not… he’d…

He’d failed. He’d failed.

“I… I think he’s down there with Her Grace.”

Glancing over the railing, he saw Zel and the knight looking at the guardian. Fi was strapped securely on the knight’s back as if she belonged there.

Because she did.

He’d gotten sick earlier just looking at him, just thinking about all the ways he’d gone wrong, all the ways he’d dumped his failures onto the knight’s shoulders. It was no wonder the knight acted as if he were the scum of the earth.

He was.

Link wanted nothing more than to jump down there and be with his wife. He wanted nothing more than to go home and pretend he hadn’t learned about any of this. But how could he possibly avoid the truth of the future he’d doomed?

I suppose Link will appreciate the help. No. No, he wouldn’t. There was no way Link could help this knight.

You’ve already failed before and still gotten back up, he reminded himself. You completely failed Zelda and still…

Still what? Succeeded? Triumphed? Clearly not.

Link just… needed to be alone. He needed to get away. He pointedly looked away from Zelda and the knight, looked away from the princess who was watching him, and turned on his heel, disappearing down the stairs and letting his feet take him anywhere, anywhere to get him out of there.

XXX

“Wow,” Hylia breathed as she looked at the guardian. “These things are incredible. And so big!”

Link watched her hesitantly, still trying to get his heart rate under control. Despite the goddess’ casual demeanor, he still wasn’t quite able to shake the fact that he was talking to a goddess. There had to be some kind of protocol he was completely messing up, but she hadn’t shown offense and had insisted on casual interaction.

Of course, he wasn’t entirely sure what she considered casual interaction, so it was best to just stay silent unless prompted. And even then… goddess. He didn’t know what to do.

Goddess! Maybe he shouldn’t invoke her while he was thinking about her.

This entire day had been one disaster after another. First he’d been so distracted he’d nearly gotten himself injured while sparring with Mipha, worrying his dearest friend, and then he’d run into the Hero and had somehow—well. He didn’t know. He didn’t know.

Running into Hylia herself had not been in the plans for the day. He’d just wanted to find Zelda and talk to her. He’d just needed someone to parse his thoughts and worries with.

Of course running into the princess while she was in bed with a man was how this day was going to go. The impropriety of it all—the one good thing was that the only witnesses seemed completely clueless that it was wrong. Not to mention, if Hylia casually talked about running into the princess in bed alongside her immortal spouse and her current Hero, no one would question anything about it.

That didn’t make it any less embarrassing, though. And he felt bad for Zelda, too. The girl worried so much about protocols and how she was perceived.

“So they helped defeat De—Calamity Ganon in the past?”

Link nodded. Again, he wondered how she didn’t know this. How she didn’t know anything. He didn’t dare question it, didn’t dare try to parse out how a goddess of time wasn’t aware of what had happened through the ages. That felt sacrilegious to even think about, let alone ask her. Despite how seemingly normal she was trying to act, how much he truly wanted to ask about it, he wouldn't dare.

He had planned on asking Zelda, though. But he supposed it was a moot point now.

Link stared at the goddess longer than he probably should have, but… her attire caught his attention. She’d been wearing it when she’d first appeared. It was just like the Hero’s, like the ancient traditional garb from the stories and tapestries. He wondered if the Hero’s attire was fashioned after her own, then, when she’d created him. It looked nothing like the statues, and it was far more practical.

It was a uniform. It was armor. He could see the chainmail. Hylia wasn’t just a gentle, benign goddess. She was a warrior. It was an aspect of her that he’d never really known or realized, and he wasn’t entirely sure what to make of it.

If she’d been a warrior, too, why had she needed a Hero? Or was it ceremonial? Was she a goddess of knights and soldiers and he hadn’t known? Maybe that was why she didn’t know what was happening – maybe she wasn’t a goddess of time at all.

Somehow, imagining her as a goddess of knights made her more approachable than a goddess of time, but he had to remind himself that she was still a deity nonetheless. He shook his head subtly.

Hylia turned on her heel, a hand to her chin as she hummed thoughtfully. “Okay. So in the past the guardians, divine beasts, a hero and a princess defeated Ganon. They didn’t use the Triforce at all. But that still doesn’t fix the problem. He just keeps getting sealed away.”

Hylia narrowed her eyes at the ground, and her face grew stormy. Link swore he could feel the atmosphere chill at the sight of it.

“Damn that demon,” she swore softly. “Damn him.”

Link swallowed, shifting uncomfortably in place.

Hylia sighed, seeming to remember he was there. “Sorry. We… he just… it’s a lot to take in. I know that you’re looking to me for help. I’ll… we’ll figure it out.”

Figure it out? Did she not know what to do? Hylia herself didn’t know what to do?

Link had so many questions.

"I wonder if Fi still has any of him sealed away in the blade,” Hylia thought aloud, staring at Link. "Or... perhaps since she's drawn... that's the part of him that broke away?"

Fi? Was he supposed to know who that was? Link looked back at her, fear making his palms sweat, wondering if she was expecting a response. Great go—good grief, he sincerely missed the days when the pressure on him was just to fight and destroy, not to provide answers and information.

Hylia stared at him too long, and he felt his mouth go dry. Was he supposed to say something?

“You must be a very good knight,” Hylia commented. “You seem to take your duty very seriously.”

Link’s heart skipped a beat. He felt pride swell in him while simultaneously being crushed down by the expectations behind it. It was an honor, truly, but…

Hylia laughed suddenly, poking him so hard he nearly fell over. “But lighten up a little, Link! I understand this is serious business, but it doesn’t have to be all the time!”

Link gasped as he took a few steps back to catch himself. Hylia’s mirth faded, a worried expression crossing her face.

“There’s just… it’s scary,” she said softly. “And we have to focus and fix this and stuff. I get that. It was like that on my journey too. But… you can’t always be scared. You shouldn’t be. There was so much to enjoy when I was finding my path. I hope… I hope we can do the same, you know?”

“You’re scared?” the words spilled out of his mouth before he could catch them, and he knew, he knew he was going to die right there on the spot. What was he thinking, questioning a goddess—

“Yeah,” Hylia replied immediately. “Yeah, I am. I’m… sorry if that scares you too. But it’s true. I… we… we were supposed to protect you from this. I don’t understand why it didn’t work. Link beat him. I got my spirit back. We won.”

Got her spirit back? What did that mean? And…

Link stared at Hylia, watched her as she hugged herself and looked at the ground, on the verge of tears. She looked so alone.

He couldn’t not do something.

Reaching out, he put a hand on her shoulder, catching her attention, and said, “We’ll figure it out. I promise.”

Hylia held his gaze, and for the millionth time that day he felt like he was going to die on the spot. What the actual hell did I just say oh Golden Three above—

Hylia smiled, eyes shining, and she wrapped him in a tight hug. “Thanks. You’re right. We’ll figure it out.”

Link stood awkwardly in the hug, not really able to return it, but she was squeezing him so tightly he was fairly certainly he’d pop something out of joint if he tried to move anyway. It… felt good, actually.

Well… the goddess had initiated it. So it wasn’t bad, right?

Hylia let him go with a sigh. “I guess I should actually go talk to the princess now. I figure Link’s calmed her down, at least. Maybe you can talk to him?”

Link froze. Oh. Oh, no.

“Come on!” Hylia said with a laugh, dragging him out of the courtyard. “Let’s go find them.”