Hero by Heart

Chapter 74

Castle Town had become unrecognisable. The empty, barren plains were once again filled with buildings, roads, nature and people. All trace of the horrible ruins had disappeared, as if nothing had ever happened.
Link had seen the progress made, had seen the skyline change day by day, but still it made his breath stop for a moment to see it now.
He vaguely remembered the way it had looked a century ago, enough to know that it looked scarily much alike.
Bright blue rooftops on light stone, with dark wood accentuating the small turrets scattered across town, waving colourful flags in the evening breeze.
     It was beautiful.
     Unfortunately, the enormous amount of structures littering the space within the walls made it almost impossible to host such a large party.
     Therefore, Zelda had arranged for a specific festive area outside of the walls, where Hyrule Field offered more than enough room for the hundreds of people that had traveled from all over the kingdom to attend the feast.
     Link stood on top of the Main Gate looking out over that field now, vividly recalling another time he had stood there recently, with much less happy prospects than the current view.
     The trees surrounding the Sacred Ground Ruins were filled with countless lights, giving the place a holy appearance.
     It couldn't exactly be called a ruin anymore either, for Zelda had made sure that it was restored to its former glory, adding further to its sacred name.
     Here too flags were waving in the wind, enormous banners with the Royal crest embroidered on them in bright colours.
     It all looked marvellous, but that small grove of trees wasn't the main location. That was slightly further to the right, where a vast expanse of grass stretched out across the hills.
     Part of the tall grass had been cut down and trimmed to create an even terrain, which would be used as the dance floor.
     On one side of this area a wooden platform was raised, meant for the musicians to perform.
     Of course Kass would provide most of the night's entertainment, but he had brought his daughters over to join him as well.
     Link smiled to himself as he thought back on their arrival, accompanied by much excitement. They had never even been outside of the Tabantha Region, and had certainly never seen anything nearly as impressive as the castle.
     It had taken him some time to understand any of their chattering, with their squeaky voices tumbling all over each other.
     Still, once their initial amazement had worn off, they had thrown themselves at their task with nearly as much excitement, and Link didn't doubt that it would be quite the spectacle.
     The rest of the terrain surrounding the dance floor was littered with tables and chairs, with almost as many fireplaces set up between them.
     Stalls along the edge of the terrain were used for supplies from all over the kingdom, to provide everyone with more than enough to choose from, both from their own home as from others'.
     Already the smells of delicious foods were rising up from the cooking fires and drifted on the wind towards Link, making him close his eyes and sniff appreciatively.
     It all looked wonderful, and he didn't doubt that Zelda had thought of every last detail.
     This night was one to be remembered.

For the occasion Link had dressed his very best. He didn't own a lot of suitable whole and clean clothes, so he had asked Rhondson to tailor him something special.
     She had gladly taken his request, and ignored any other suggestions for how he would like it to be.
     Even when he tried to thank her and pay fairly for her work, she had refused, saying how she owed him for bringing her together with her husband and building a life in Tarrey Town.
     'Business is thriving!' She had said when Link had objected. 'You are the last person I will take money from.' And that had been that.
     Now Link thought he looked rather regal, befitting of a high position at court, almost like the king himself.
The thought still made his stomach clench in nervous fear, but he became better at pushing it away, without showing how much it scared him to be able to get such an opportunity.
As inconspicuous as possible he dragged a hand through his carefully adjusted hair, pulling a few strands loose from their confines and giving him a sense of freedom back, no matter how small.
     He shuffled his feet in his polished high boots, glinting in the light of a dozen fires and twice as many torches.
It was almost laughable, how badly he felt out of place here, leaning against the stone ledge above the Main Gate and sneaking peeks at the crowd below him, all of them dressed to impress.
People were scattered between the trees as far as he could see, all waiting for the same thing. Their princess.
Once more he looked down at his own outfit, frowning and wondering for the millionth time if it wasn't too much. Did he even still look like him?
     He wore white breeches with golden thread along the sides, tucked neatly into his boots just below the knees. His undershirt was white too, and on top of that he wore a dark blue tunic, also stitched with gold along its edges.
     On his chest the Royal crest was embroidered in red, making it stick out like the sun in a night sky.
     It was beautiful, and looked a lot fancier than he felt he had any right to be. What if he was totally overdressed? Everyone would see how he was just a commoner, trying to be something he wasn't.
     All those thoughts, however, disappeared when Zelda came up to the gate.
     She was flanked by Riju, who looked rather dazzling herself, with a lot of gold and exposed smooth, tanned skin. But the sight of the princess herself took his breath away.
     She was beautiful, absolutely stunning, wiping every single thought from his mind.
     Her shortened hair was braided along the sides and combed until it shone in the weak firelight, radiating a warm, golden colour that was no match for all the impressive pieces of the Gerudo.
     Her outfit was so shockingly similar to his own, that Link immediately knew who was behind it, although he wasn't sure if he felt relieved or horrified by it.
     Zelda's long dress was the same dark blue, with golden thread and the Royal crest on her chest, but there was no doubt in his mind that Zelda truly carried it to a whole new level of regality.
     There was now no question that he would be exposed as a fraud the minute they stepped into the light, and a ball of nerves twisted even further in his stomach.
     Looking at the princess now he simply couldn't believe that he had ever thought that he could truly be worthy of her. He was nowhere near the level of this woman. She was a queen and nothing less.
     Utterly humbled by her appearance he went down to fall in behind her, taking his familiar position as her appointed knight, in front of the two brand new members of the Royal Guard.
The two men looked way too young, inexperienced and excited to be in this position, but they were all they had until a proper guard was in place again.
When Zelda noticed what he did she shot him a strange look, her eyebrows raised, and held out her hand.
     He hesitantly let her pull him closer, until she had hooked her arm around his elbow, making it clear that he would not get to hide behind her.
     When he looked at her she smiled warmly, and suddenly he felt like he could breathe again.
     This was Zelda. He knew her better than anyone. If she wanted him here, then he would stay by her side.
     He smiled too and tried to straighten his back, hoping against hope that he would look some part like he was worthy of standing beside her.
Now their small assembly slowly made their way down the road and into the grove, where people started to clap and cheer at their appearance.
Link tried to ignore all those eyes, painfully aware of the princess at his arm.
     Still, he couldn't help but feel a little proud at seeing the amount of different people. They had come from everywhere, and he even recognized some fishermen from Lurelin Village, who usually really kept to themselves.
There were Gorons, Gerudo, Rito and Zora, as well as Hylians and Sheikah with their typical white hair, all of them mingled and cheering together.
Seeing all of these races united and happy made Link feel full of hope, but terrified at the same time. There truly were a lot of eyes watching him and the princess walk by.
When they finally reached the steps up to the platform, he took a deep breath. There would be no hiding now. Up there he would be exposed to the world, for all to see.
'Just keep your eyes on me,' Zelda whispered from the corner of her mouth as they crossed the small bridge.
Link did as she said and smiled hesitantly, but there was no way to block out all those people watching them from across the water. They were surrounded.