Reincarnated

Chapter 7: Excerpt from Zelda's Diary

Nightfall came before I gathered the courage to admit the slightest truth to Link. Of course, I attempted passing comments in the interim. "Are you familiar with this word?" while searching an unfamiliar text. "Have you ever been to the desert?" when reminded of the region's unfamiliarity. "Are you from Castle Town?" when I became curious. Each time, I was met with the resolute coldness he'd constructed in defense after my earlier interrogation. "No" "No" "Yes" followed by the silence of a party uninterested in conversation.

It wasn't until I looked out towards the sparsely lit streets of West Castle Town below the rapidly falling sun that I felt compelled towards the truth. I traced the streets' orange glow that I'd traveled the day before, refamiliarizing myself with the exhilarating journey. The alley which had originated my venture was dark, unlike the wide streets that led to the castle. If I focused hard enough though, I imagined I could make out the exterior of my sweet, old woman's home through the contrast of the sunset.

Her gifted dress hung in shadow at the front of my closet across the room. Close by stood Link, watching for any movement of my fingers towards the clasp of the window I sat next to. "I'm not just going to fling myself from the tower, you can relax. It's a long process getting down safely." He raised his head from my rested hands to meet my eyes. "One I'd intended to start before you came to intrude on my lonely freedom."

Unsurprisingly, his characteristic silence did not waver at my dull jab, so I decided to sharpen my appeal. "I said to you earlier that I'd tell you why you were asked to keep me here." At this, I turned fully from my seat to face him. My face, already warm from the pillar of red sun shot through the window, grew hot when I met the calmed, icy blue of his eyes. He said nothing, and he did not move, but his cold glare warmed at my proposition.

"Do you still want to know?" I asked, looking for a response to further open him up. He nodded, which I supposed would do. "Tell me first, who do you think I am?" Link thought for a moment before procuring for me the finest shaking of his head.

"Tell me," I demanded.

He looked shocked at the words. "I don't know," he said softly.

"In all this time, you couldn't come up with a single guess?" His meager, quiet voice made me feel ashamed to continue my pressure. 

"It's not part of my duty," he defended himself.

"I'm asking you to make it your duty." I provoked further.

"I don't take orders from you."

"Who then do you take orders from?"

"The King."

"Wrong! You take orders from the royal family."

"You are not a royal."

"The King is my father!" The quick responses I coaxed out of him ceased, and as I spoke, his warmed gaze molded into an intense stare with his brow pushed forward.

"Who are you?" he asked for the first time.

"I am Princess Zelda." The admission froze my body in my seat.

Link shifted his weight, perhaps for the first time since I called him to my bedside that morning. He took a step towards me, then stopped for a moment. I drew in a deep breath. The stillness of his eyes on mine felt like a chain around my neck. He took another step forward, and the chain tightened, pulling my head back into the chair. With each step, my body was pulled further and further into the chair, until the bright red haze of my window crawled up his body, and his face illuminated under the same sun as I was.

Looking up at my imprisoner now, the image of incompetence had disappeared entirely. "The King doesn't have a daughter."

"He didn't until a year ago."

Link's pure eyes were invaded by the crashing light. I could tell he was coming upon the truth. "What happened to the prince?" He asked.

"He's gone," I answered. "He became me." At this, the shallow reservoir of his responses had dried.

"So I will leave," I said up at him, pulling my neck free from its chain. "And as the princess, I command you to listen to me." Link turned his head from mine and walked back to his wall.