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It's only a month after Link leaves Hyrule that Zelda's odd dreams begin.
She finds herself on a raft in a dark sea, the moon above hidden away by clouds and the rumble of thunder threatening her in the distance. The fortitude of the raft always worrisome to her, its wood worn and entirely too brittle under Zelda's hand. But it always held firm, buoying her safely through choppy waters and biting winds. There was always a lantern hung at the top of the mast, acting like a lighthouse to things that might hit her otherwise. The sail was always firmly fastened to the mast, leaving her to the whims of the sea and the winds. The first two nights, she drifts, aimlessly, in a angry sea.
The third night of these dreams, Zelda's raft is not buffeted about. In fact, the sea is still enough that she can clearly see a light not too far from her across the darkness. Her hand gropes around the raft and easily finds a paddle that had not been there a moment before. Propelling her craft towards the other light, she can see that it is attached to its own raft mast and is carrying a. voyager.
It was as the edges of the two rafts gently tap together that the Princess recognizes the other person. Sat with his back to his raft's mast, cap held by the hands in his lap, his pink hair messy and unkempt, was the man who had saved her and her Kingdom.
"Link?"
He opened an eye to at the sound of his name, a sigh pushing past his nostrils as he closed it once more upon seeing her. There's a long pause, one long enough that Zelda considers speaking again, before he says,
"Was any of it real, Princess?"
"What?" She could even hear the confusion laced in her voice, her reaction completely unguarded.
Zelda watched as Link pushed himself more upright against the mat of his raft, his wincing and hiss of pain not missed. Eyes still closed, Link tilts his head back to the wood of the mast, opening his eyes to look skyward.
"Was Hyrule real? My uncle? The maidens? The Dark World? Agahnim? You?"
"I don't understand what you're asking. Why wouldn't those things be real?"
Zelda listened a Link huffed out something like a laugh, though the sound was entirely humorless. What had happened to him in his time away?
"Koholint Island was a dream, a figment entirely of the Wind Fish's making, Princess. It was absolutely filled with people. People who had lives as rich as my own and they're all just gone now. What's to say Hyrule isn't the same, that it too isn't just a dream? That it didn't vanish the moment it left my sight?"
"I don't understand what you're trying to tell me, Link. I've never heard of a place called Koholint Island. I don't know who or what the Wind Fish is."
At this, she neared the edge of her own raft and reached across to touch Link's, tethering them together in some small way.
"Even if I don't understand, I want to help. You came to my aide me when I needed it most, let me try to return the favor. Just tell me where you were before this Koholint Island and I'll do whatever I can to find you."
He's quiet for a long stretch before he softly says,
"I don't know if you can, Princess. I've been adrift for I don't know how long now, I can't even begin to guess what direction Hyrule is in."
"Well…well we found a way to talk to each other, even if you don't know where you are. We found a way to share this dream. Surely that must count for somet-"
Zelda wakes, abruptly, to a bedroom cloaked in a darkness that is only punctured by the barest hint of morning light. She lays there, staring up at the canopy of her bed, worrying at the fabric of her sheets.
Anyone else might brush such a series of dreams off, consider them the product of a mind worrying for someone dear. Princess Zelda, however, understood firsthand that sometimes it was only in dreams that prayers or hopes could be heard by the people who needed to hear them. She knew that it was all too possible to give in to hopelessness, if such quiet words were left completely ignored.
She may not know exactly how to help him but she at least now knew Link needed it.
Every night there after for weeks, Zelda's dreams were filled with the sea, with her raft, with the lantern hung high on the mast. Most nights, she is joined by another raft cradling a young man with sunset pink hair through the darkness.
The nights she dreams with Link are spent doing a number of things.
First, they tend to Link's pains.
Zelda finds that he's more aches and bruises then any actual wounds, much to her relief. For what does ail him, she reaches a hand behind herself and finds a bottle of red potion awaiting for her palm to grab.
"That…ok that definitely wasn't there a moment ago."
"Dreams will give you what you want, if you know how to ask. Now, drink up."
"What good will this do anyway Princess. Healing me here won't do me any good when i wake up any-"
"Please drink it? For me?"
"…I still don't see the point, but ok. I'll drink."
He downs it in two gulps, pulling a grimace when he re-corked the empty glass.
"That bad?"
"It's hot and bitter at the same time, like peppered tree bark."
"That sounds like one of the spices my father had me try when I was younger. It was fine when served with a little sugar and butter on toast, but on its own it was less than desirable."
Zelda watched as Link gently shook his head at her and smiled softly.
"I don't know how medicine on toast could taste good. More for you I suppose, Princess."
He doesn't wince when he moves afterwards and Zelda silently considers it a victory.
Secondly, they try to work out where Link is in the waking world. Unfortunately, they do not get very far.
"That doesn't make any sense. You're certain the last place you made port at before the storm that landed you on Koholint Island was Lurelin?"
"Yep. I was there late at night and left before the sun was back up. Stayed just long enough to replenish supplies, grab a hot meal, a scrub, and a nap."
"But there isn't a history of aether like that in or near the sea that Lurelin feeds into at all."
"I swear Princess, when I'm awake I'm surrounded by fog thick enough to put the Lost Woods to shame."
"No, I believe you, please trust in that. I just can't seem to find any area that matches what you're describing. Not on any of the sea charts I have available to me in the castle anyways."
"Can't say that bodes well."
"It just means I need to see if other map makers or collectors have charts I can look over."
"Glad to know my sleeplessness is useful in some way. What was the point of me doing that again?"
"To help me figure out the season of wherever you're at. I was hoping it would be simple enough to determine that based on the amount of daylight you're seeing and the weather patterns. The fact that you, and I quote, "saw no change, not in the fog, not in the sun, not in the weather at all", one would hope narrowing things down would be simple. There can't be that many places that fit those criteria together."
"I haven't exactly given you much to go off of Princess, don't feel bad if you don't come up with much in turn."
"But what you did provide should be enough to give me at least an idea of where you are, I can feel it."
"…still, try not to be too hard on yourself if it's not."
Mostly though, Zelda found herself listening to her friend talk about his time away from Hyrule. What for her had only been a month or so, for Link had apparently been much longer. She listened as he told her about a kind girl who helped him when she found him ship wrecked on the shore. A girl who sang with him as he played on an ocarina, had hair red like the sun, and dreamed of flying gulls.
She listened when he talked about Mabe Village and its inhabitants, as he spoke about the Owl and his cryptic words, as he recounted in a progressively tired tone about the instruments he was tasked with collecting. She listened when he explained that he didn't actually believe the island would cease to exist, not up until the very moment it began to disappear around him. She listened as he told her who and what the Wind Fish is.
As Link spoke more each night, Zelda could see something in her friend begin to shift. From cautious, guarded, blunt to vulnerable, silly, gentle. With each conversation they had, she watched more of the young man who left Hyrule return to the person on the raft with her. It brought her a quiet joy, seeing her friend becoming more himself again in some small way.
There comes a night where the sea in her dream is unnaturally still, no clouds overhead to block out the full moon that hung overhead. The sky held no constellations or stars that Zelda could readily recognize, nothing her discerning eye knew by heart. There is no current or waves to move her little raft. There is no paddle to grab when she reaches her hand out for one.
The only familiar thing that Zelda can see is the lantern of Link's own raft, a small light in the distance. A light that was slowly, oh so slowly, being approached by a eerily glowing pillar of blue light. Worry that was quickly trying to morph into panic crawled down the back of her spine at the sight; whatever the light was, it was headed towards her friend.
Desperate to help, she dove off her raft, mind made up to swim all the way to Link if she needed to, that thing wasn't going to hurt her fr-
Only to find herself awake, legs tangled in her sheets, and sprawled on her bedroom floor.
She didn't bother answering when her maid asked if she had trouble sleeping, given the state of the bed. She found herself unable to do little else except worry. Worry about what the blue pillar of light was. Worry about what it meant. Worry if Link was alright at all.
She was worrying herself nearly sick right up until she found herself in the castle gardens in the late afternoon, trying her best to settle her mind with nature. Given the peaceful status of the Kingdom, Princess Zelda was readily granted her request to visit the gardens alone, something she was very thankful for.
Walking along the once again maintained garden paths, Zelda did her very best to turn her mind outwards. She took the time to breathe in the fresh air, to appreciate the flowers and grasses the groundskeeper had been tending to with such a careful hand. She did her best to focus her mind out and away from her worries, up until she heard a rustling in a nearby brush, an accompanying squeaking pulling at her heart. Moving the brush aside carefully, Zelda honestly wasn't sure what sort of animal she was looking at.
First and foremost, it was pink.
Secondly, it had the body of a rabbit, the face of an owl, oddly glowing eyes and golden fern fronds for ears.
Thirdly, its back leg was stuck in a trap meant to deter rats, the trap's metal mouth clamped around its delicate ankle.
Zelda stepped closer, the sound of her footsteps apparently panicking the little thing, as it began to struggle harder in the trap.
"Oh, you poor thing. Here, let me-"
As if it understood her, the little rabbit-like animal stopped struggling in the trap as her hands neared it. In a few moments it was free, the little back leg pulled free, apparently uninjured given the way it wasn't limping. What a hardy little thing.
Zelda expected it to run away, given its rabbit shape and mannerisms thus far. Instead, it turned and deftly hoped into her unsuspecting arms, curling up into the cradle she formed to catch it.
"Well then! You're quite friendly, aren't you?"
The small animal only responded by curling tighter upon itself, making it clear that it had no intentions of going anywhere. She smiled and sighed softly. She was still quite worried for Link…but she knew he wouldn't fault her for helping something that needed her attention too.
That was how Princess Zelda of Hyrule found herself spending her evening reading in her room with a wild little thing curled up in the blankets at the foot of her bed.
As she laid down to sleep that night, the creature clambered from the spot it had barely moved from at the foot of the bed to rest on the pillow next to Zelda's, its body letting out a soft ompf as it plopped down heavily. It glowed a soft pink in the darkness of her room, the gentle hue reminding her of a color she had seen woven in sunsets and in the highlights of Link's hair.
Even when her eyes grew too heavy to keep open, she could still see that comforting color bleeding through her eyelids.
As she dreamed, she comes to realize she is not on her raft in a dark or still sea. Zelda is in her bed and she is being lovingly held, her face gently pressed to a warm chest. For a moment she just takes in the comforting rise and fall with each breath. When she breaths in, she can smell what lingers on the red of the tunic pressed to her cheek: salt, sun, and moss.
Shifting ever so slightly, Zelda is met with a face she recognizes well, though she has never seen it look so peaceful before. It's Link who's holding her, Link who's chest her face had just been pressed to, Link who she is only now realizing has a faintest of freckles across the bridge of his nose-
He shifts and tries to move his arms, only to find one tucked firmly under Zelda's neck. Cracking an eye open, Link blinks at her, once, before he opens both eyes, smiles at her, and softly says,
"Hi."
Stunned, Zelda cocked an eyebrow at the man before her, her hands instinctively curling towards her own chest as she said,
"Yes, hello there, I see we aren't stuck at sea anymore."
"Yeah, uh, no. I kind of found my way back to Hyrule."
Link shifts and brings his free arm to drape over the curve of her waist, hand pressing gently against the center of her back. She suspects the heat that floods her face is enough for Link to feel; if it is, he gives no indication of it. Since he was such a gentleman to afford her that grace, she soldiered forward with,
"O-oh! Well that's good, right?"
The arm tucked under her neck moves to cradle around her shoulder, pulling her to him. Her arms twist at the last moment so her palms lay against his chest, close enough that she could feel his heartbeat, thundering onward in tandem with her own.
"…I don't think I'll be seeing you again after tonight, Zelda."
Those words cut through her thoughts like a red-hot knife, her worry from the day pooling back into her veins in one fell swoop.
"What? Why? Didn't you just say you found your way back?"
"I said I kind of did."
Her heart thuds heavily in her throat when she swallowed and softly said,
"I don't understand."
Zelda can feel Link press his lips softly to her forehead, his arms tightening around her just ever so slightly more.
"Link? Please, just tell me, what do you mean you won't be seeing me again?"
A very tense pause before,
"I think everything of me that can come home to Hyrule already has and is sleeping on the pillow next to you on your bed."
Her breath hitched for a moment, his words slowly sinking in.
"The strange creature I found in the garden?"
"It's me. Or at least the part of me that got swept up with ending a deity's dream. A part that you found and guided back to Hyrule in your own dreams. The storm that blew me to Koholint also killed me, Zelda; it just took me coming all the way back home to realize it."
Something in Zelda's heart felt like it tore at his words.
"Oh. Oh Link."
"Seems like I should have realized sooner, thinking about it."
"I am so sorry, my friend."
"Try not to be. I wanted to thank you, actually. All this time and I haven't thanked you yet."
"Thank me? Thank me? I'm the one who insisted you follow through with your plans to train outside of Hyrule. I inadvertently encouraged you to go meet your death. What in the world would you have to thank me for?"
"For calling out to me in your dreams, consistently. For trying to help, especially when I wasn't very kind. I would have stayed adrift forever without you guiding me back, I think."
"I wish I had done so sooner, then. I wish I had insisted you stayed in Hyrule or something-"
"I'm grateful for what you did do though, Zelda."
They lay there together, Zelda slowly snaking her own arms around Link to return his hug, tucking her face back to his chest as she did so. She could feel him rest his cheek against the top of her head with a sigh as he said,
"I don't want to say goodbye."
His words tugged at something in her throat, had her swallowing hard before she responded with,
"I know. I don't either. I'm thankful I got to see you again at all, but I don't want this dream to end."
When Link huffed out a small laugh into her hair, it sounded wet, humorless.
"I was told that all dreams must come to an end, once. Those words made sense when it wasn't my dream that had to end; now they just make me sad."
"There's wisdom to those words…but there being wisdom in them doesn't mean you have to actually say goodbye to me."
"What do you mean? What would we do instead?"
"Just this."
"What's 'this'?"
"Talking. We can just…just continue to lay here and talk. Until our voices fail us if allowed."
Another huff of laughter from Link, this one laced with true warmth as he says,
"What would we even talk about for that long?"
"Anything. Nothing. Everything. Do you have a favorite fruit?"
"Really? OK, uh, apples. Red for eating and green for baking. You?"
Zelda hums for a moment, considering her answer carefully, before,
"Peaches for baked goods. Plums for eating, but only when they are almost too ripe."
"That's when they're all mushy though."
"But also the sweetest."
"OK, ok, fair. Do you have a favorite animal?" He asks in return.
"Snakes."
"Snakes?"
"Yes, the castle garden has had a few garter snakes over the years. I find them fascinating. What about yourself?"
"Dogs. Nothing beats making friends with a dog, they are always happy to see you."
And so it went, an answer each for a question, a question from each other in turn, round and round and round. For how long Zelda couldn't say for sure.
There comes a point when her eyes grow heavy and her words begin to trip over each other; she holds Link a little more tightly, his arms around her returning the gesture.
Neither say goodbye. It's unclear who is the last to speak or the first to fall asleep.
When Zelda wakes up, her heart is all at once heavy, happy, full and anguished.
She finds that the cushion where the little creature had curled up on lay empty, save for four rough cut gems: an emerald, a ruby, a sapphire and a diamond, colored a soft pink. Eventually, those same gems would find a permanent home in the castle as a set of jewelry. Earrings made from the emerald, a bracelet from the ruby, a circlet for the sapphire, and a pendant necklace that hung the diamond near Zelda's heart when she wore it.
Link didn't make it safely home to Hyrule and there would always be pain in that fact.
Even still, in some small way Zelda had pieces of him with her always; priceless gems, her peaceful kingdom, and the knowledge that she helped her friend in his hour of need. She would have rather her friend come home alive and safe, there's no question about it. But if this is what grace the Goddesses had left to afford her, she couldn't find it in her soul to scoff at such a gift as this.
She knew Link was adrift no more in that dark sea; that was a gift Zelda would always be grateful for.