12

Royal Castle

"With the royal cookbooks and the best chefs, it tastes almost the same," Princess Zelda said to Link.

Link agreed, consuming the wonderful food. Hino, Brigdo and Nekk were also not being shy with the meal.

The front of the castle had been fixed as well as some of the sides. While much was still in need of help, the money was being spread out across Hyrule, only some being used on the castle at a time. Now though? The kitchen area had been restored enough to cook again, along with the beauty of the dining room. While it used to house much more people, the massive size was still enjoyed by her and her guards. She was now paying a cook to make the royal recipes she had grown up with and had missed eating. Link had, of course, found the royal meals quite enjoyable too.

So far, the day was going well. Life in general seemed to be doing well. That is, until Hino came over.

"The food was remarkably good. I didn't want to ruin it." He gave her an article. "Just arrived this morning. Are you done eating?"

Zelda took the article. "Who am I being set up with this week?"

"It's not that," Hino answered.

Oh. That wasn't good. Zelda only had to read a slice of the article. Nutcake Girl was finally making her move. She sat it down and Link scooped it up.

He made a grunt. No surprise. He whispered in her ear. "No one should have followed you there."

"She must have been tagging along from a distance," Zelda answered him. "For who knows how long."

Link was right though, no one should have been following her. The goddess springs were sacred, and she was performing sacred blessings there. The article didn't say anything about the malice discovery, but it was clearly made to make people question why she was returning to the goddess springs so much. The world doesn't know how often I visited, I could just say that it was customary to visit so much? Would they believe that? Toward the end of her father's reign, she had gone with Link and prayed at each blessing shrine, but it hadn't been nearly as much. To cross all over the world took time, she couldn't simply say it was a given. Could she? Maybe she should just ignore it. It was often the best way to handle gossip mongers.

She noticed Link's stare. She knew what that stare had been. A deal is a deal. Link preferred being her only guard. He worked better, and he didn't have to watch out for other fighters in his way. It was the same reason her father wanted only one to watch over her. Link had benefits too from it. He tended to recall more memories when they were isolated.

He also pointed out the obvious that neither Hino nor Brigdo had the same level of training. Link had tested Brigdo, but even an advanced moblin proved to be a hard thing to handle. In a world where only the strongest monsters seemed to still prosper, it posed a problem. Hino had very little fighting skills, his interest in the blood moon that no longer came had propelled an interest in weather. He was the best source of knowing when the weather would change. Had she been riding with him from Kakariko she would have known what had been coming.

Link had talked it over with her. They did have uses, but not the same uses she could see. Brigdo was a defending fighter. He didn't like to go out and fight, he preferred to defend his own area. He had no problem commanding people in his area to take action too. He was a good guard to protect the castle, and extra help when they were there. Hino read weather and for places that tended to have more extreme areas of weather that changed, he was quite useful. For places like Hebra or Gerudo or Eldin he wasn't of much help. He should be employed part time to protect on their journeys, but stay and watch for the castle too. Letting others know about the weather if it turned dire could be important if the castle went under attack.

Zelda hadn't wanted to do that though. She wanted a certain distance from Link. While he was a good soldier, he was also a fine man. She had always noticed that. Many people did. The last thing the Princess of Hyrule should be doing is ever looking at her Knight with anything but kindness. Even now, their bonding . . . it felt different. When Hino and Brigdo were with her around Link, she felt more reserved. When it was just them, she felt a different dynamic. A sense of them almost wanting to cling to each other. They rode horses closer together, he was constantly holding her ever closer when he took her somewhere by shrine, he was still trying to pay for things or give her food even though she had plenty. She was even now paying him the salary he rightfully deserved as a Knight.

Even the shrine travel, it was something the others couldn't do, so many times she still traveled the slower way. She couldn't explain it though correctly to Link just why. She didn't know herself how to feel about the extra contact again. Instead of explaining, she agreed to a compromise. A compromise she didn't think could happen. The same reason Link said 'no one should follow you there'.

If something happened that no one should know about, or that the others had fallen into suspicion? Whether it was favoring another kingdom or helping the tabloid for extra money, if there was suspicion. She would agree to it.

Link ate his roasted fish but he was glancing at her between. Waiting on her.

A promise was a promise. "Gentlemen," Princess Zelda started. "Brigdo and Hino, I would like to offer you new positions." She explained to each their parts, and they both looked delighted with the decisions. Brigdo had wanted to stay and defend, and Hino had apparently wanted to concentrate more on the weather and the skies than wondering if a monster would be attacking over every new cliff.

Once that was done, Link was delightfully eating his roasted fish. Now they could travel through shrines, towers, and anywhere else an ancient travel portal had been located. It would be great on time.

Yet, Zelda wasn't so sure it would be good for them. The more people knew they could travel fast, the more they would request to see her. The more she associated with others, the more likely her secret would come out.

But she had to perform her royal duties to the best of her ability. For the future, no matter what happened, she should give her all.

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