Chapter Text
“Chief Urbosa, you must come quickly to the bazaar. It’s Princess Zelda!”
Urbosa didn’t wait for further explanation; she grabbed a sand seal and sailed across the sands, her heart in her throat. Had Zelda been hurt? Had the Yiga found her again?
But as she neared the oasis, there were no sounds of battle. And no sign of Princess Zelda or her appointed knight. There was, however, a very large crowd, and presumably the shorter Hylians were somewhere within. Urbosa was imagining them bleeding out on the sands until she got close enough to hear the noises from the crowd which sounded much too excited for it to be an injury? What was going on? Had someone at the oasis given offence and triggered some kind of duel from the protective knight? A fight or the implied possibility of one might explain the crowd.
Then an indignant shriek carried over the murmur of voices.
“Stop touching him! Leave him alone!”
By the seven, that was Zelda’s voice. What was going on?
The crowd split obediently when Urbosa approached and cleared her throat, letting her finally see her friend’s beloved daughter. There was no blood and no battle. Princess Zelda was glaring daggers at the crowd. In a contrast to their usual roles, the princess appeared to be trying to shield Link, one arm spread wide to the side and the other tucking him close against her back. Zelda looked even younger than usual in light desert clothing rather than her standard royal travelling outfit. For a moment, Urbosa could see nothing of Zelda’s knight but a small tuft of hair over the shoulder of the angry princess. The girl was bristling like a fluffed up kitten.
As Urbosa stepped towards the centre of the crowd, she finally got a good look at Link. His hair had been gathered up on top of his head in a ponytail held with a beautiful gold-edged cuff. Someone, presumably Zelda, had found him voe armour, so the poor knight was shirtless aside from a few straps, and he was wearing a tight choker around his neck and a single pauldron over one shoulder. There was a sign affixed to the one of the straps such that it stood out on his chest. In clear, carefully formed letters the sign read “SERVICE VOE” and below that were some more words that had clearly been added in a hurry that read “do NOT pet.” The champion was carefully scanning the crowd for threats to his princess in a mirror of the way she was clearly scanning the crowd for threats to her knight. Zelda looked frazzled and angry, while Link looked like he was as stoic as always but a little bit of his concern for his charge was leaking through.
Urbosa threw her head back and laughed.
Zelda turned at the sound. “Urbosa! You’re here! Tell them to leave him alone!”
“Show’s over, let them have some space,” said Urbosa, waving her hands to disperse the crowd.
People moved off back to shopping and tending stalls but Urbosa could tell many of them were still watching the scene. Poor Link certainly was drawing attention even here where voe were more common. No surprise given what his princess had made him wear for this visit.
Urbosa glanced at the princess, who was still glaring every which way, clearly aware that they were still being observed and daring anyone to come close again. Poor thing was used to eyes on her, but this was far from one of her usual composed and tight reactions. Perhaps the problem was that this time the eyes were less on her and more on her knight. Something had definitely ruffled her feathers. Link, however, seemed to be relaxing now that Urbosa had taken control of the scene. She led them both out of sight around the corner of the inn so they could have a reasonably private conversation.
“Little bird, what happened?”
“They kept touching him!” Zelda hissed, indignant.
“I heard. Maybe start at the beginning, though? Why is Link wearing a sign?”
Zelda deflated fractionally. “I, uh. Do you remember the service retriever we saw? And how she was allowed in places that normally don’t allow dogs because she was there to serve an important role?”
Urbosa remembers and gestures for her to go on. Zelda continues in a rush, “Well, I was hoping that you’d be able to make an exception for Link in Gerudo Town. I promise he’ll be on his best behaviour and he’ll stick with me the whole time!”
Urbosa shakes her head, “You know I can’t make exceptions, little bird. But none of that explains what was going on today.”
Zelda squirmed under Urbosa’s gaze. “Well, ah. So, I made him the sign.” She gestures at it as if Urbosa could possibly have missed it in the center of Link’s chest. “And I got him to change into appropriate regional clothing so he wouldn’t stick out as much as he would in his usual tunic. But from the moment we left the stables, people kept coming up to me and asking things like ‘what sort of service does your voe provide?’ and saying things like ‘this one looks like he’s got good stamina.’ while, well, touching him.”
Urbosa glanced at Link. The bare chest, the collar, that belt slung low over his hips. It did match Zelda’s own Gerudo-made clothing reasonably well on an aesthetic level, but if the princess had been trying to have him stand out less at the oasis, she’d clearly failed. The little voe wasn’t letting any emotion show, but given the time he’d spent around other soldiers surely he must be at least a little aware of how this looked?
Zelda, oblivious, was continuing to speak, “And I thought for certain that we wouldn’t need the ‘do not pet’ part of the sign because he’s not a dog, but clearly I misunderstood the purpose of that so I went and added it but people kept touching him! What did they want?”
Zelda, beloved daughter of her heart, was definitely too sheltered to understand where she went wrong. Link looked more like an incredibly ill-thought-out gift rather than a knight and champion at this moment, and she’d paraded him through the desert like that? But Zelda was starting to look embarrassed, probably realizing that she’d missed some important nuance of this interaction. Urbosa resisted the urge to laugh. Perhaps she could take the two out to Vah Naboris for a private chat to explain before they caused another diplomatic incident, but she didn’t want to humiliate them by explaining in public before the two had a moment to cool off. For now, she tried her best to find a way to phrase things diplomatically.
“I think some of them were hoping that you’d be willing to… share his services with them.”
Zelda looked appalled. “I would never! He’s mine!”
Urbosa glanced at Link and noted the poor voe’s incredibly red ears and the look he was giving his princess.
“Yes, little bird, he certainly is.”