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Zelda thought that no longer having her power would leave an emptiness in her, but now she’s warm and full. Living in the little house that Link paid for all on his own, with the sign in the front and the flowers and trees in the back...when they aren’t traveling all across the kingdom, that is.
The castle long uninhabitable and still left with too many painful memories, he lets her stay with him. But, they aren’t princess and knight, not exactly. They are living in a world now, where they are just two companions.
Day by day, Link remembers more of his old life. And, day by day, Zelda learns more about his new one. When she sees the way the rest of Hyrule has thrived in the past 100 years, she is proud to have been their princess, once. Her heart still very much belongs to the people.
“I see you’ve picked up a number of recipes.”
Link nods and hm’s in response as he sets the dishes down in front of Zelda.
“It was only 100 years ago when all you knew about food was to devour it.”
Zelda laughs at the way Link’s eyes widen and he ducks his head. The tips of his ears are red, and no doubt, his face, too. That is an expression that Zelda might never have forgotten even if she had been in the chamber of resurrection for a century instead.
A century that had been a long and tiring time, healed simply by the moments like this.
She picks up the Sheikah slate from the table and snaps a photo. It’s okay now, to make new memories.
She’d stayed up all night and cried, when Link had told her of the old man who was there when he’d awoken. She laughed when Link mimicked the way Revali strutted before him, even in spirit form. And, when he tells her about everyone else, all the Champions and the way weariness seemed to slip from their features at the sight of him, Zelda writes it down.
She doesn’t know what’s happened to her diary, but she figures it’s been long enough that she should - that she’s allowed to - start a new one. Even if she hadn’t used up all the pages in the old one-- it’s okay.
It’s okay, she reminds herself. To breathe, to laugh, to dance, to cry. It’s okay to listen within herself and hear no voice but her own.