The Memories Between Them | ✔

14) Thrones

⚔ In which they reclaim their Kingdom ⚔ 

Link

The rest of that beautifully confusing day was spent telling stories in an attempt to sort out the jumble of faces and scenes that I know now are my memories.

And kissing. Lots of kissing...

It was amazing, really. I lost count of how many times I told her I loved her, if only to make up for every time I wish I had said it before. If only to make up for so much lost time. I lost count of the spontaneous hugs, the stolen kisses, the times we sat and just talked with little space between us. It made me wonder how I was able to live so long without holding her. Now I can hardly look at her without wanting to kiss her. I don't know how I had so much restraint before.

"It's alright, Link," she said, curled up next to me on the bed, her head on my shoulder. She pecked my nose and made me blush. "We have all the time in the world."

And we really did this time.

We spent a few days like that in Kakariko, calm and blissful until Impa basically told us that if we were going to continue making out, we should do it in the comfort of our own home.

And so we did. We returned to Hateno by warp and laughed on the walk to the house.

Things changed after that, all for the better, of course. Link's house became our house. I overheard the people referring to Zelda as "Link's girl." Zelda slept in her own room downstairs for a while. We decided that wasn't something we were willing to change yet, even though I had been sleeping in the same bed as her for a while now. That lasted for about a week, until I couldn't bare listening to her scream from nightmares.

"You talk in your sleep, too," she informs me when I bring it up. She's sitting at our dining table while I stand over the stove. I was not aware of this information. "You talk more now that you remember."

We say nothing more on the subject until that night. We had gone to bed, saying goodnight and kissing before I went upstairs. I stayed up with a book by candlelight, but was pulled from my story by the sound of soft footfalls up the stairs. Zelda stood there in one of my shirts, and I could see her face blush.

"I can't sleep," she says softly.

I smirk. "Come're," I say, scooting over.

She's hesitant for a moment.

"It might help your nightmares," I say. "But we don't have to if it makes you uncomfortable." We can take it slow. We can afford to take it slow now.

She caves a moment later and crawls into bed. I blow out the candle. She curls up against my chest, an ear over my heart. She told me once it's one of her favorite places, right where she can make sure I'm still alive. I run fingers through her hair that's grown out a bit until we're both asleep.

And that's how it was from then on. The downstairs room was now for guests and books. We didn't question it after that. It was more comfortable for us both that way.

We enjoyed the simple life in Hateno before we simply got bored. We wanted to get out, to leave.

"Our souls aren't meant for rest, I suppose," Zelda said once. "Although I'd prefer using our nervous energy doing things we actually want." I couldn't agree more.

We started by visiting the regions. First, back to Zora's Domain. The Zora were overjoyed to hear I remember them and asked no shortage of questions. I spent most of one night up by Mipha's statue, telling Sidon about his sister, the running water the only sounds, apart from the occasional laugh for cry. We only stopped when the sun began to rise. I couldn't be sure, but I thought I saw Mipha's spirit somewhere in the sun rays, smiling at the two of us as we wiped our tears and went on with our days.