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The General of the Army was in attendance for the ball – his first public appearance since his injury.
He was more than dressed up for the occasion, his expensive clothing – courtesy of the Queen of Hyrule herself – more befitting of a Prince Consort than a General. Unsurprisingly, he drew some gasps from the people when he first appeared in the ballroom, and while he felt flattered by some of the whispering that followed, he knew what most of those looks were truly directed at.
They had never seen Link wearing an eyepatch, after all.
And he knew that no matter what he wore or how he presented himself, his face was still the first thing they would see. It was impossible to not take notice of the foreign accessory over his right eye. It was impossible not to comment, speculate, form opinions and worst of all, pity him for his condition. He had pitied himself enough already – seeing it in the eyes of his people was just twisting the knife for extra damage.
But despite the uneasy feeling in his entire being, he marched on with a confident stride, as he always did.
As the night passed, some people whom he talked to seemed genuinely happy to see him again, while others were quite apathetic – but that was fine for him, for he thought apathy was much better than petty hatred. Nowhere to be seen was the gentleman who’d said the General’s injury had earned him “special treatment” from the Queen, the latter seemingly taking care of him.
And speaking of the Queen – he hadn’t had an opportunity to speak with her for the entire night, for they were both busy socializing and dancing with others. The most they had done thus far happened during an unusual dance, where the lady accompanying Link seemingly fainted in his arms. While busy dancing with her own partner, the Queen – no, Zelda – gave him an amused look as he carried the poor woman away from the ballroom, and he shook his head dramatically in response, as if the woman was a heavy burden for him to carry. While a certainly interesting exchange, it seemed that all their interactions for the night would be limited to this.
That is, until now.
The Queen of Hyrule offered her hand to him as a familiar waltz was played, a discreet and very elegant smile creasing her eyes.
“Shall we have a dance, General?”
Smiling, Link gently placed his hand on top of hers. “It would be an honor, Your Majesty.”
Their moves were slow, quite like the music – a good change of pace from the more tiring tunes that had been played earlier. It took a low amount of effort in comparison, and the dance almost felt like an excuse to be close to each other.
At some point in the song, Zelda eyed him from head to toe and leaned in to speak. “You look amazing,” she said with a proud smile.
“You too,” he replied quietly, mirroring the smile with his eye. “I heard the Queen has good taste, judging by her and the General’s clothes.”
She giggled. “I wasn’t sure if it was your thing, to be honest. I took a few risks with it.”
“It isn’t,” he said nonchalantly in that characteristic bluntness of his, dropping the fancy and formalities, but continued before Zelda could interpret it badly. “But you know what? I like it. I needed this sort of thing, it feels good.”
She nodded and smiled, as she often did. “I know.”
They stopped talking as Link twirled her, his arm tired but still quite dexterous. When she came back to his embrace, however, her smile had all but dissipated and her eyes seemed to focus on nothing in particular.
“What is it—”
Zelda hushed him quickly. “One second, Link. Keep dancing.” He complied, and after a few moments, she discreetly turned her head to a part of the crowd, then turned back to her partner. “Goddesses,” she muttered under her breath, her grip on Link’s hand tightening.
“What is it?” he repeated, this time barely louder than a whisper, and she looked back at him with a blank stare, loosening her grip on his hand.
“Oh, it’s nothing,” she said in a calm tone, shaking her head dismissively. Link raised an eyebrow, analyzing her face – though her smile had returned, her eyes seemed to burn cold. She sighed after a moment, relenting to his perception. “It’s just that…” she bit her lip, exhaling air through her nose, “there’s a few morons here, that’s all.”
Link hummed in response, and they continued the dance as if nothing had happened. While it was still enjoyable, Zelda seemed quite impatient, if her heavy steps were any indication. When the music ended, instead of taking her time getting away from him as she usually did whenever they danced, she pulled away surprisingly fast, leaving Link standing in the middle of the ballroom with a blank face.
“General,” she began with the usual formality, her haste audible, “if you excuse me, I have some matters to attend to.”
He bowed curtly, trying to conceal a frown. “Of course… Your Majesty.”
And away she went, to a corner of the crowd, and summoned three men with her. Their faces screamed with both awe and fear as they followed the Queen’s confident long strides to the big double doors at the entrance.
Link had decided to wait, for he thought she would return soon, but as the ballroom started to empty itself and the chatter died down, it seemed that it would not be the case. While it was a bit disappointing, he’d always known she was a busy woman – and besides, it’s not like he couldn’t see her on the following day. So he bid the guests around him goodbye and made his way to the same exit the others had gone through.
He was already in the middle of the empty hallway when he spotted Zelda coming in the direction of the ballroom, a different, more relaxed look on her face.
“Link,” she called out, her steps hastening as she walked towards him. “Aren’t you staying?”
“I didn’t think you would come back,” he said, trying to conceal a hint of embarrassment in his voice. “Besides, almost everyone has already gone home.”
“Good,” she said with surprising excitement for this time of the night, and took Link by his hand in the direction of the ballroom. “Just the way I like it.”
Unsurprisingly, the once-crowded ballroom was almost completely empty, save for the packing musicians – who were suddenly all very confused by the reappearance of their queen. She dismissed them politely, waving her right arm, and suddenly Link took notice of something.
“Your glove is missing,” he pointed out, and the look on her face made it seem like she hadn’t noticed it herself.
“Oh— I must have forgotten it on the desk,” she replied nonchalantly, holding out her exposed hand for him to see it. “I took it off to take care of those idiots, and I must have left it on the desk.”
Under the light of the chandelier, he could see that the entire back of her hand was a bright red. “Did you—“
“Yes,” she said with a far-too-enthusiastic nod Link hadn’t seen in ages. “I don’t like it when people badmouth you.”
He couldn’t help but smile at Zelda’s antics. “Thank you, but that’s very… unqueenly of you.”
“You say that because you didn’t see it,” she said with a pout, placing a hand on her hip. “I acted perfectly queenly, thank you very much, General.”
With a raised eyebrow, Link took her exposed hand in his, and covered his heart with the other in feigned guilt. “Oh, please forgive me, Your Majesty.” As he pulled it to his mouth, however, she suddenly pulled away.
“Don’t kiss that!” Her voice was loud, and she looked around in transparent embarrassment. The musicians were either too busy or too scared to care, but she lowered her voice anyway. “It touched their mouths. Their filthy, idiocy-spewing mouths.”
He pulled her gloved hand instead, an amused smile tugging on his lips. “How about I kiss this one, then?”
Zelda shook her head gravely. “General, I’m afraid the Queen only accepts apologies in the form of dancing.”
Before answering, Link looked around the ballroom – if not for him and Zelda, it would be completely empty, now that the musicians had also left. And while the lack of music seemed like a problem at first, they would come to find out that they didn’t need it to dance. All they needed was a ground to dance on and one another.
“It would be a pleasure, Zelda.”