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"You should really come and sit here, now. You'll catch cold."
Link did another set of sword guards before turning to Zelda. Cold rain drenched his uniform, but he didn't really mind. He'd done drills in the snow before— usually the exertion would help keep him warm.
Zelda patted the ground next to her. "Come on."
Link took a step forward, but his hesitation was enough to make Zelda gesture for him to come into the little rock outcropping again, so he hurried his steps and ducked under, keeping a respectable distance from her side. He brought his knees up to his shoulders and sat down neatly.
"One moment," Zelda said, digging through her bag and bringing out a crushed cheese pastry wrapped in paper. "Here you are. It's not fresh anymore, but I wanted to save it for when I wanted privacy, and I...really haven't needed it yet."
Ever since she had learned that Link was somewhat food-motivated, Zelda had kept little things in her bag to bribe him with. If she wanted to be left alone, he had ways of giving her more space now, but he couldn't say no to a snack. He dug into the cheese pastry, and relished the sharp flavor as he chewed.
A heavy, wet thing made a muffled thud as it fell around him, making everything go dark. Link yelped in confusion and struggled to throw it off for a second before Zelda panicked, and pulled it away from his face.
"Sorry!" Zelda exclaimed. "I thought you might be cold, so I threw Lily's blanket onto you!"
Link shook his head. "I couldn't see." She seemed honest, so he decided to let it slide. He snorted, and stuck his cheesy fingers into his mouth to get the last few crumbs.
"You didn't answer my question," Zelda said.
Link looked up slowly, wrapping the blanket around himself. "Huh?"
"What you would do, if you decided you didn't want to be a knight?"
He really had assumed it was rhetorical. "I've never thought about it."
"Never? You don't think about those sorts of possibilities?"
Link shook his head.
"I'm always thinking about what could have been. If…things were somehow different than they are now, if I just understood more than I did. They're usually better than reality."
"I don't see a point," Link said.
"Really?"
"I mean, we're here now. There isn't much to do about that."
Zelda made a noise, like she was going to say something, but she quieted, sinking her chin into her knees. Thunder growled overhead, and the storm clouds darkened from a pale grey to something darker.
"Your training used to bother me," Zelda mumbled. "But now, I just wonder why you do it so much. You're already so accomplished."
"I can't lose my skills. Besides, look at this." He mimicked unsheathing his sword as quickly as he could. "I've got bad form there if I don't concentrate."
"I really think the reason you didn't talk is because so many of the things you say are absolutely ridiculous. You were going to catch a cold. Calamity Ganon won't be defeated by how you unsheathe your sword."
"Still don't want bad form."
"Why does it matter?"
His wrist throbbed. He felt the cold catch up to him, and his muscles ached from the ride to Deya Village. They hadn't stopped there for long, despite the villagers' insistence. Link should've known better.
"Ah, you're worried about...looking bad, aren't you."
"I remain committed to excellence," Link said, parroting a portion of the Royal Guard's motto. "A little."
"It's...counterintuitive, isn't it," Zelda asked, "that there is so much pressure on us to succeed that we suffer because of it."
Link shrugged. "If I exert myself too much, that's my fault."
"But if you're doing it because of someone telling you that you must," Zelda insisted, "then is it fair to blame yourself for that?"
"I don't think it's good to think of the world in terms of fairness, Princess."
"The how do we determine when someone is being treated unjustly, if we don't think of fairness?" Zelda insisted. "This isn't fair, and I need to do something about it one day."
"Life isn't fair," Link blurted out, then snapped his mouth shut.
"I'm very aware of that. I'm saying we need to make it fairer!" Zelda balled one fist, and gently hit the ground with it. "We need to find a way to stop false accusations against good men and women of being traitors. We need to find a way to reconcile with the Sheikah Tribe and the Zora fully. We need to bring Hyrule closer together, to tell them that they are not useless in the fight against the Calamity. Something desperately needs to change, and I intend to lead the effort."
"How?"
Zelda's chest puffed up, and she glanced up at the ceiling of the outcropping, her expression steely before it faded into uncertainty. "I don't know."
"You could ask the king about it."
"Sometimes I wonder if he cares," Zelda replied moodily. "Did you hear about the recent reports on monster hunting?"
"They're paying less for bounties, right?"
She nodded. "They're fighting these beasts, then getting paid less, so they fight more, and are killed. Civilians being slaughtered by monsters, and there isn't anything I can do besides pray."
"No one's forcing them to," Link said. "They can sell the monster parts. There are people who want them."
"Something is pushing them to do it. I don't know what should be done, but it's...it seems unfair."
Link went quiet. The storm had begun to clear, as fickle as its sudden appearance had been. Sunlight shone through it, shimmering on drops of rain.
"You have a good heart, princess." He didn't know if that was enough, but it was true. "You'll figure something out."
She looked at him in surprise, then, slowly, a smile curled up her face. "I certainly try. Thank you." Standing up, she brushed off her clothes, and watched the sunshine peek through the clouds. "I suppose we should go."
Link pulled the horse blanket off, and folded it before sticking it under his arm. He nodded.
"I really do worry about you, though."
Link snorted, and he felt an inkling of a grin start to spread. "Same here."