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“I’ve been fighting this urge, to break down and cry, all day long. I just want to cry, but I can’t.”
Link was leaned up against a large tree, eating an apple. One side benefit of mutual confidence with the person you spent your entire existence following was the freedom to disregard formality. No doubt, he could be at her side within a blink of an eye, but he certainly wasn’t going to stand there stoically. He and Zelda had ventured up to a ridge in Tabantha, and his furs were soft and plush, but light enough to move in. Hers were far more elaborate than a few hides sewed into a hood, cloak, and gambeson. He tossed the core of his now finished apple to the wildlife, and returned his eye to the princess. She was contemplatively sitting on a log near their makeshift campsite. He smiled at the sight of her, before grabbing his gear and walking over to the fire.
As he got up behind her, he noticed something off. She didn’t seem quite herself; the movements, the joy of discovery, or rather lack thereof. He sat down next to her, dropping his weapons and shield to the ground next to the log, and put his arm gently around her. She tensed slightly at his touch, but after a moment she deflated, and he could tell she had been crying. Her eyes were red around the edges, and her breathing raw.
She leaned into his shoulder, and her breathing slowly steadied out. “He just asks so much of me,” she whispered, “and I can’t do anything. I would be so much more useful in the research lab up in Akkala, but we have to go to every sacred site, and do every sacred ritual, and I have to pray to a goddess who might not even hear me, and…” she trailed off into tears, and Link squeezed her lightly, just enough to let her know he understood.
“I know it’s not easy to do what he wants. I disagree with him, though you didn’t hear that. But honestly, Zelda, I think what you need to do is to go through the motions. When we get back from the Spring of Wisdom, if you haven’t made any progress, your father won’t have a choice but to let you work where you can actually help,” Link said, speaking softly down to her pointed ear, which was now resting just next to his, all of her weight leaning on him. He pulled her a bit closer and squeezed her side again. “But right now, I think we should just enjoy this. Urbosa and Revali won’t be back for another hour or so, so what if you and I go for a walk.”
Zelda looked up at him. “Here? You know anywhere more than a half mile from this site is Boko country, right?”
Link grinned. “That’s why I’m here. C’mon, we’ll be back before they are, no one will ever know we were gone.”
“Yes, they will.” A voice came from behind them, and Link's arm retreated quickly from it’s position on Zelda’s waist as she simultaneously remembered how to maintain courtly posture. “You two need to get better at keeping watch,” Impa said, dropping from a tree a few yards away. Both Link and Zelda turned bright red, and Impa laughed mischievously. “You’re lucky if I don’t get you court-martialed for unknightly conduct and executed for treason, pretty boy.”
Zelda glared at her, redder than ever. “You’ll do no such thing, Impa.”
“Of course, Your Highness. Your secret is safe with me.”