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Chapter Text

The defeat of Dark Beast Ganon was an oddly quiet one. The tendrils of malice that once formed the monster withered and faded away, carried off into the breeze until there was nothing left of it. If not for the wreckage left behind for the Calamity, one could think it was all just a bad dream. It was beautiful, really. The same breeze that carried away the terror of Hyrule sifted through the petals of silent princesses, and one stood across from an equally silent knight.

“Do you... really remember me?”

The fanfare following the end of the Calamity came upon their arrival at Hateno Village. The townspeople wept tears of joy. Some couldn't believe their eyes when the being of malice disappeared from its patrol around Hyrule Castle, but the sight of their princess for the first time since most of the elderly were born confirmed their hopes. From her perch on the back of the knight's horse, the princess of Hyrule accepted the praise with grace, even as exhaustion slowly took hold of her.

Link's house was quaint. Zelda didn't have much memory of it, as she never had any reason to see it, especially since the loyal knight always spent his days somewhere near the princess rather than at home. The bridge groaned under their feet, ever so slightly swaying in the breeze. Link led his horse to the stable to the side of the house, motioning for Zelda to head inside. The princess was hesitant to open the door. This was distinctly Link’s space. Even after all they’d been through together, Zelda rarely had the opportunity to peak into his personal life. She put her hand on the aged wood and pushed, crossing into the knight’s home.

She froze in the doorway, staring at the first objects that caught her eye. Lined up on the wall were the former arms of the Champions, their friends. Zelda walked up to the nearest display, Mipha’s spear, the Lightscale Trident. It was polished to a shine and sharpened to a deadly point. The spear almost seemed to have never seen the fields of battle at all, if not for a nick in one of the trident’s points that must have been to deep to sand out. She reached out before stopping herself, her hand hovering just before the trident’s hilt. It felt like touching the weapon would be wrong, something akin to desecration.

The princess had been keeping the Calamity at bay for a century, but it hadn’t felt that way. It was like a dream. She could tell time was passing, but, at the same time, she felt frozen in place. Her friends had been dead for one hundred years, but it felt like only yesterday they stood against the Blights. She could still remember their faces clearly, their voices. She had half-expected them to be among the cheering crowd, welcoming her home.

She hadn’t noticed Link approaching until he laid a comforting hand on her shoulder, and only then did she realize her cheeks were wet with tears. Zelda dropped to her knees, suddenly overcome with every emotion she had been holding onto for one hundred years. Link knelt down next to the princess and pulled her close to his chest, her head resting on his shoulder as sobs racked her body. Despite the knight’s relative silence, Zelda could tell she was not the only one shaking with tears. For a fleeting moment, she wondered if he wished he had not remembered the happy moments the Champions spent together, if only to escape the wave of grief that had crashed over them. Neither knew how long they knelt before their friends’ memorials, but the sun had long vanished from the horizon when they gathered the strength to rise.

Link had found some clothes for her to wear to bed. They weren’t tailored to her form, but they would do. The clothes definitely weren’t tight due to the muscle mass he had over her, but the pants stopped short around her shins rather than her ankles. Link had offered to make them some food, but Zelda found she had little energy left in her, and wanted nothing more than to rest. By how quickly Link had relented, she could tell he needed sleep as well. She was honestly surprised he had not passed out sooner due to the fact that he had defeated the beast that had tormented Hyrule for a century earlier that same day.

Link guided her up the stairs to the loft and under the covers of his bed. Zelda’s eyes were barely holding themselves open, the feeling of dried tears amplifying her drowsiness. However, the moment Link began to pull away from her form, she suddenly found herself wide awake.

“Wait–” she gasped, clinging onto his wrist, “can you– will you please stay… stay here with me?”

A flush overcame her features the moment the words left her mouth. It felt… indecent, even if her intentions were anything but. Still, she meant every word. She knew if Link left her presence, she wouldn’t be able to get a single moment of sleep.

The knight’s face would have been unreadable to anyone else, but Zelda had spent enough time observing him when he wasn’t looking to decipher the feelings he kept hidden behind a mask of silence. The way his eyes would light up when he learned of a new, peculiar recipe, or the way his jaw would set when he locked onto a monstrous target, determination schooling his features. Now, his face showed an emotion Zelda rarely saw painted on his features: apprehension. The princess opened her mouth to take back her words, even if she didn’t want to, when the knight nodded minutely.

He slid under the woolen blankets, taking his place next to the princess. The bed was not designed to hold two people. It originally had only a single pillow, but Link had retrieved a spare pillow for the princess’s extra comfort while she was changing earlier. Zelda could feel her tense body relax the moment Link settled next to her, even as her heart raced.

And so, the princess and her knight fell asleep.

Chapter Text

Link slowly blinked awake as he adjusted to the sun shining through the window. He refrained from startling when he remembered he wasn’t alone.

The princess was still asleep, breathing softly against the pillow her face was nuzzled in. Her blonde hair was tousled slightly from moving in her sleep, pooling underneath her head. It had been so long since Link saw such a peaceful expression on her face, unburdened by attempts to awaken her power, to awaken her knight. There was no crease of frustration on her brow or frown on her lips.

Zelda’s arm was draped around Link, holding him close, and Link’s arm was around Zelda’s middle. Their legs had tangled together in the night, intertwining their forms intimately. Link was grateful for the fact that Zelda had yet to wake, as the prospect of her seeing the blush that appeared on his face would have made his cheeks flush further.

Link was sure he hadn’t gotten enough sleep, but he found that he couldn’t find it in himself to go back to sleep. Instead, he observed the princess laying in lying on his bed, the golden light of the sunrise spilling. around her sleeping form. His blanket was pulled up to her chin, rising and falling with each breath she took. In the rays of sunlight peeking through his window, Zelda’s hair appeared like liquid gold. Slowly, as to not wake her, Link carefully extracted his arm from her waist and pushed her bangs from where they covered her cheek behind her ear. It was probably a strange thing to do, watching the princess to sleep, but Link knew how light of a sleeper she was from the days they spent camping together. If Link chose to get up, she would surely wake. He would never take her much needed sleep from her like that.

In the light of the golden hour, the knight watched his princess.

It was an odd feeling, waking up in bed with Link. Her eyes opened to meet his looking back at her. They both said nothing, simply basking in each other’s presence, cataloguing their existence in their minds. Zelda smiled, and Link smiled right back. She wanted to see that smile in every waking moment. Sunlight highlighted his features, tracing the curves of his face. It was an odd feeling, waking up in bed with Link. Zelda wanted to feel it every day.

When they finally found it in themselves to emerge from their bed, Link set off to make breakfast. It was more like lunch by that time, but Zelda didn’t care. She waited at the table inside while he cooked outside, examining the arms of their friends once again. How she wished they were able to share this meal with them, celebrating their victory together…

After their meal, Link went outside to feed his horse, Epona, if she recalled correctly, a rather unique name. She had tried asking him how he came up with it, once, and Link simply shrugged. Link handed Zelda an apple to feed Epona while he gathered her proper feed, and she stroked the horse’s white mane.

Zelda sat on the grass while Link fed Epona, unbothered by the prospect of grass stains after spending so much of her free time in nature during her research. She carded her fingers through her hair while the wind flowed through it. A contemplative expression crossed her face while she thought.

“Link,” her knight turned his head towards her from where he stood by the stable, “do you have any shears?”

Zelda watched as locks of her hair floated onto the grass below her. Link held her hair so gently, careful to keep the blades away from her skin. She had told him what length she wanted it, as she didn’t trust herself to cut her own hair properly. When Link finally pulled the shears away, her head felt so much lighter, and the afternoon breeze tickled the now sensitive hairs on her neck. Link repositioned himself so he sat in front of her, mirroring the cross-legged position she was sitting in.

“How do I look?”

For a moment, Link simply stared at her. His eyes roamed around her face, and she had to stop herself from squirming under his gaze. Eventually, he reached out a hand, taking a strand of hair between his fingers and settling it behind her pointed ear. Zelda realized how close he had gotten and, without thinking, closed the distance between them, pressing a chaste kiss against his lips. She pulled back after a moment, blushing at her own actions.

Link’s eyes met hers, and he smiled.

“Oh dear!” exclaimed a young woman as they entered Hateno. “Your highness, what happened to your hair?”

The princess turned sheepish.

“I decided to cut it,” she responded, fiddling with her hair between her fingers. “I know it is a drastic change, but it felt right.”

“I see…” the woman’s eyes flitted around nervously. “Did you cut it… yourself?”

“No, I asked Link to do it. I felt I could not trust myself to cut it properly without a mirror.”

“Did you… um… how do I say this? Did you find a mirror after he cut your hair?”

The princess was caught off guard by the question.

“I simply asked Link what he thought about it,” Zelda blushed at the memory. “He seemed to like it.”

“Well… here. I think the reflection in this river should suffice.”

“LINK!”

It seemed precision with a blade did not translate well to those of a pair of shears.