8

Hyrule Castle

Night. Link helped Princess Zelda off her horse and went into the castle with her. Like he remembered before, it was a mess inside. There was only a sign of recent life near the doorway.

Zelda gestured toward the sleeping bags and candles. "We rest here. I do have an extra sleeping bag."

Good. Hino or Brigdo could use the spare. Link gazed around the room. He didn't see King Rhoam.

"I don't feel him right now." Zelda knelt down on one of the sleeping bags. "I couldn't see anything even if I did." Her voice was a little tight on that sentence.

Link knelt down on the sleeping bag next to her. He heard a mild protest from Hino, but it stopped. He noticed Zelda giving him a slightly strange look now?

"Not every pot in the world is yours to break, Link." Zelda knew him well. "I have a spare sleeping bag I can get for you."

No. That sleeping bag was next to Zelda. Yet, he played nice enough. Hino brought it to him. He scooted the other sleeping bags over away from Zelda, and then set the extra by her. He had the same spot, but a different sleeping bag.

"Did you honestly just move our sleeping bags?" Hino asked in surprise. "Just to sleep next to Zelda?"

Princess Zelda. Not Zelda, Princess Zelda. At the very least, The Princess. It was due to her. Respect. Respect for the royal family.

Respect for the royal family!

"Hino. Brigdo. Please go for a small walk outside if you may?" Zelda asked them. They agreed.

Zelda scooted closer beside him. "The world isn't the same, Link. I haven't officially taken the role of Queen and I've not forced anyone to call me Princess. Leveling myself up higher, in this time where I am the only royalty that exists. It makes no sense. I know why you are acting the way you are acting," she said softly to him. "The castle, the champions, the knights. The more you remember what it was like, the more you can see how much it all went wrong."

Link notched his master sword out of its hilt slightly and then notched it back in. He repeated the motion. In. Out. In. Out.

"The memories have been too often and its hitting you harder emotionally now. We can't begrudge the time we live in. We get to be happy to live." She moved back toward her sleeping bag. "There is no ranking, but you already know that you were great enough to be once assigned to my side."

Link just sat there, thinking. She didn't say much else. Just looked toward him with a sad smile. Memories coming so fast. Hearing Zelda had malice within her. King Rhoam's ghost somewhere around there. His emotions were practically clawing to be near Princess Zelda's side for the familiarity. She was right. He wasn't officially her guard or knight. He lost that position when he was sent to the shrine of resurrection. When he slept to heal and the Princess tried to fight off Ganon to keep Hyrule safe.

For a hundred years.

For a hundred years. That number was hurting so much worse. Link looked around the castle. This area, he once must have traversed it so often. To and fro with Princess Zelda. At one time, he must have made his parents proud. He must have left his house in Hateno to work for the service of the castle. Yet, that thinking was just feeding into itself. He still didn't remember his parents, let alone if they were proud. He didn't remember traversing the castle. He didn't know if his current house was the house he had actually left or not. But. Memories stirred emotion. A nostalgic longing to know. Know more about everything.

He talked with Zelda softly as the others were gone. He got very little answers, but he got enough.

"Being around each other might help or it might hurt," she confessed. "I bring you not only memories, but you bring back a sometimes painful nostalgia to me as well. However, I have it in everything. Memories pour from everywhere, even my family's dilapidated castle. If you want the honor of being called the royal knight again, it is yours. I, as on the only royal left, grant it to you. If or when you realize it isn't what you want or where you belong in this new world, you are free to leave. No obligation to me, Link. You can also be as you've tried to be before." She smiled at him lightly. "A decent person that just keeps me from being eaten by a Stalnox."

To come to her side every once in a while in a crisis. Link shook his head. No.

"Link. Be certain," she said once more. "If being around me and this barely standing castle puts anger into your gentle heart, then I don't want you to do it. I don't want you to stay. If you believe I am part of your new future, then . . . you can stay."

Hurt or not, Zelda was almost all that was left of his past. He had been making a new future for himself. Building a sort of life, but his attachment to her was too great. The more he remembered, the tighter it became.

His former self sacrificed everything to protect her. His new self, it couldn't just leave her out there with unqualified men who could probably barely raise a sword!

Besides. His new self was wherever he would make it. His home would be wherever he made it. He nodded toward her once more.

She was more than a past, she was his present.

"Okay," she agreed, "but please get along with the others?" she insisted. "They are wonderful volunteers. No, they haven't gone through all of the training a royal soldier would have, but they have good hearts. Besides, I take care of myself quite well. Just, not all the time. Like for an injury," she groaned. "I also had to share my deepest secret with them. I had to open up and trust them. They haven't let me down."

Okay. Link consented to that. His past feelings of protecting Zelda and his position and what painful memories he had of running, it had boiled a little more than he wanted to admit. He wouldn't let it boil over.

He agreed and got up to find them outside.

Link looked toward the both of them. He gave it to them straight. Thanked them for taking care of Princess Zelda. Thanked them for being present there but still told them that since he had accurate training, that if something happened, she would stay near him unless he commanded one of them to step up and take her. They understood that it wasn't belittling. It was being safe.

They all went back inside and went toward their sleeping bags. He still stayed in the one near Zelda.

He slept lightly throughout the night, waking every once in awhile to see the princess safely still there.

Until he noticed the presence next to her.