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“I can’t wait to leave,” Zelda soared through the hallways back to their rooms.
“I can tell,” Link smiled as he watched his wife skip.
Zelda kicked her heels off to perform an impromptu cartwheel, “We get four whole days away from the castle. I don’t know how you aren’t as excited as me!”
“I am just as excited, but it is un-princely to do cartwheels in the middle of the hallway,” Link imitated Impa’s lecturing voice.
Zelda laughed, “It’s just going to be you and me and Lake Hylia.”
“And no Zoras.”
“Hopefully,” she sighed. “Is it bad for me to want to get away for a weekend? I’m the Queen; I shouldn’t want to escape from my duties, right?”
They reached their rooms and fell into the routine of changing in their conjoined dressing rooms.
“It’s not a bad thing, Zel,” Link said. “Things have only been stressful since your father died, and the crown came to you so much sooner than we thought. Everyone thought we would have more than two years of marriage before all this started. Hell, I thought we’d have a kid before then.”
He turned toward his lovely wife, “You deserve time away to rejuvenate or think clearly or do whatever you want to do.”
“This is why I love you, Link,” she skipped across the partition to give him a quick kiss. “Now let’s get going.”
***
When they arrived at the lake, Zelda wasted no time changing into swimming clothes and jumping into the water. Link didn’t hesitate to follow. They spent the whole afternoon enjoying their privacy and the water, only coming into the beach house when a butler informed them that dinner was ready.
“We’re at the lake; we have to go fishing,” Link argued.
“Fishing is so boring,” Zelda countered exasperatedly. “You just stand and wait, and by the time a fish actually bites, you forget what you’re even doing.”
“Fishing is a time-honored sport,” Link huffed. “I once got a Golden Scale for catching a huge fish.”
“Funny how I’ve never seen this Golden Scale.”
“I got it before,” Link trained off. Before was the word they used to refer to the complicated mess that was Link’s past. Traveling through time and fighting wars that technically didn’t happen. Link remembered all of it, but he was the only one. Zelda tried to understand, to empathize, but she felt like she never could.
“So you were fishing instead of saving the kingdom,” Zelda smiled so he would know she was teasing.
“You need the stupid Golden Scale to dive to the bottom of the lab diving pool,” Link gestured vaguely in the direction of the lake laboratory. “And the lab director gives you a prize if you can reach the bottom.”
“What kind of prize?”
“A special prize,” Link smiled mysteriously.
“Is this another secret from the land of before?”
“Yes.”
***
“So, before, Ganondorf had frozen over Zora’s domain,” Link eagerly retold the story. “And the lake was so low, you could walk halfway across the lakebed before reaching any water. The waterfall wasn’t flowing, and you could see this cave behind it, but I never got the time to explore it.”
“You had time to go fishing, but not the time to explore a cave behind the waterfall?” Zelda teased.
“I had a kingdom to save, Zel,” Link rolled his eyes. “I couldn’t waste precious time getting lost in a cave.”
She laughed and followed her husband the last few meters around the shore so they could get close to the waterfall.
“But lucky for us,” Link started as he took off his outer clothes to reveal his swimming attire. “Ruto scoped out the cave and informed me that it is completely safe to explore.”
“We’re going to explore the cave?” Zelda’s eyes grew wide. “Like an actual adventure?”
“Yup,” Link grinned. “We have to swim to get there, but that should be no problem.”
Zelda quickly stripped to her swimming clothes and dove into the water.
“It gets pretty rough near the waterfall, so hold on to me,” Link called as they started swimming.
They made it under the waterfall without incident. The light was pretty dim once they reached the cave.
“We didn’t bring a torch,” Zelda frowned. “How will we be able to see?”
“Just wait for your eyes to adjust,” Link smiled.
They climbed up to the mouth of the cave, and that’s when Zelda saw it.
“Luminous stones?”
“Ruto told me they were here,” he grinned. “Do you like them?”
“Of course I do,” Zelda gasped. “They’re amazing, so romantic, and.” She turned back to her husband. “And I love you.”
“I love you, too.”