Restoration

Chapter Eight: Caring For You

Link’s POV:

The birds' overly loud chirping, the sun's bright rays that begin to creep into the old dingy cabin, and a dull thunking sound are what woke me up this morning.

But no Zelda, my body is groggy as I get up and stretch out my arms. I wonder where she could be…? The Sheikah slate is missing, but the horses outside are calm thankfully, but that thunking sound is continuous.

Where is that coming from?

The thunking noise persists, grating on my ears as I begin to put on my normal gear and strap up my boots. Looking out the open door, I see if there’s any trace of Zelda. Worry overwhelms me when she’s not in my immediate line of sight. I b-line towards the irregular thunking sound, hoping it’s where I’ll find her.

In the thick of the bushes and trees, the thought that she's gone begins to come over, like these past few days have been nothing but a sick joke, everything that we’ve done was all just an elaborate dream, goddesses know I have a habit of being a heavy sleeper.

Luckily, the sun catches streaks of golden blonde hair. That’s gotta be her. Walking quietly through the foliage I see a part of her backside. She’s holding something, panting, and grunting slightly.

THUNK

What’s she doing?

It becomes clear to me as I finally step through the brush. She’s holding a long golden royal bow, in a disciplined stance just like I showed her, shooting arrows in continuation and the surrounding trees are her targets.

She’s trying to hide her catching her breath. Every arrow she releases, she seethes through her teeth in slight pain. Hearing her pain makes me instinctively get closer to her, stepping on loose leaves on the ground making a cracking sound, making my presence known immediately.

“Morning,”

She turns around in shock, “L-Link! G-Good morning,”

Seeing a flustered Zelda never seems to get old, I chuckle at her nervousness.

“H-How did you sleep?” she asked, I dramatically yawn and stretched out my arms,

“Fine, considering someone was drooling in their sleep,” I laugh. She scowled at me playfully.

“You should be lucky, at least I wasn’t snoring,” she proclaimed. There’s something different about her behavior.

Her body language is off, she’s trying to hide the bow and mainly her hands behind her back. All it does is fill me with concern. I won’t force her but…

“Whatcha doing out here so early?” I ask, placing my hands on my hips, she begins to shuffle around nervously.

“Isn’t it obvious? I-I’m training so I can be more useful!”

“Are you okay?” I try to look behind her to see what she’s hiding behind her back, she perks up stuttering through her words, “Uh, y-yes! Of course I’m fine!” she said with a nervous smile,

“You’re a really bad liar y’know that?” I chuckle, I hold out my hand, hoping she’ll let me see what’s wrong with her. She accepts the invitation nervously and slowly picks her hand up and lays it on top of mine. Her hand is all bloodied and blistered, with a few splinters poking through her delicate skin.

“And you call me reckless,” I tease, trying to hide my concern for her injury. I shouldn’t be concerned about something so small, but…

“You push yourself too hard,”

She huffs “You sound like Urbosa…” with sadness in her voice.

“Well she was right, and I agree,” I retorted, carefully pulling out the splinters from the tip of her finger. She winced in a little bit of pain, pulling back every so slightly,