A Couple of Trials (ZeLink)

Chapter 51: The Desire to Heal

"And... there," Zelda mumbled to herself.

With a sigh, she pushed herself up from the floor she had been leaning over, choosing to rest on her knees as she lifted a moist rag she had been using to scrub the stained floorboards. Having been down there for some time now, Zelda reached her hands up into the air, stretching her back out until all the tension in her back muscles had been released. It had been a while since she had been given such a cleaning challenge. She and her lover had been cleaning the house for the past few hours, getting the glass shards off the floor, replacing the weapons that had fallen back onto their display walls, refolding clothes that had fallen, and so much more.

After choosing to accept the area on the floor she had been wiping down— the part where the wine had been dumped on her— she twisted her waist to look at the one helping her. The table that had been flipped over was still on its side, but now it was like that for intentional reasonings. As Zelda had been wiping down the floor, Link (who had changed from his once again destroyed Champions Tunic into a fresh sweater) had pushed it more toward the wall and was now sitting next to it with his legs crossed. He hadn't noticed Zelda look at him, for he was focused on ensuring the table's legs hadn't been broken or loosened from their earlier abuse. Every now and then he would try and shake one of them, and if it wasn't to his liking, he would try and fit them properly back into place. With a smile, she crawled over to him before returning to her knees, now choosing to lean her arm against his.

"How's this coming along?" she asked, watching as his hands worked.

"It's coming alright," he said without taking his eyes off the wooden leg. "Were you able to get the stains out of the wood?"

"For the most part," Zelda replied, now resting her cheek on his shoulder. "It won't vanish completely, but it isn't noticeable. Unless you know where to look, that is."

"I guess that's the best we're gonna get," Link said. "We're just gonna have to live with those for now. Sorry."

"It isn't so bad. I'm sure we'll get used to them," Zelda said calmly, silently enjoying the feeling of Link's shoulder muscles massaging her cheek. "Maybe I can come up with a solution to clean them out completely sometime later."

"You think you could do that?" Link asked, tugging slightly on the leg he just finished adjusting, ensuring it was as stiff as he wanted it to be.

"With enough research and testing, I'm sure I could," Zelda said. "But, it's fine if they stay. They'll fade over time."

"I guess they will, huh," Link said.

Noticing the slight change in his tone, Zelda glanced up to see that his focus had shifted from the table's legs to the weapons that had been returned to their places on the wall. After a pause, she wrapped her arms around one of his, pulling it away from the leg and against her body.

"I miss them too," she said. "A lot."

"You handle it so well," Link said. "Way better than I have."

"Well, I didn't see what you did," Zelda explained. "I felt it, but that was a hundred years ago. The time I spent with the Calamity in the castle felt like a dream, but time still passed. I still had thoughts. I'm sure if I relived the events and actually saw what happened to them, I'd be just like you. Maybe even worse if I'm being honest."

"Worse than me? That would be something," Link said.

"Hey, you saw me before the Calamity," Zelda playfully argued. "You aren't the only reckless one here."

"Oh, you're finally admitting that?" Link chuckled. "You always got on me for being reckless, yet you would always go off alone. Even ran into some Yiga in the desert—"