Noble by Nature

Chapter 38

Link felt awful.
     Zelda had made it clear that she did not want to talk to him, so he had decided to give her the space she needed.
     He thought that she would soon come to him and they would talk it through, but that didn't happen.
     Instead he was left to himself, trying to find some way to be useful and get his mind off of the princess.
     Their first day back at the castle he had covered the walls, fighting back monsters wherever they appeared and moving on to the next patch of wall as soon as Zelda showed up.
     At night he stayed at the inn, tormented by his bittersweet memories of the place. No matter where he went, he would be reminded of the princess and of this terrible mess.
     He hated not being able to talk to her, or to comfort her. She kept pushing him away and he still wanted nothing more than to be there for her.
     But he had had enough of it. He would wait as long as it took for her to come to him. This time he would not forgive her so easily.
     When she showed no sign of approaching him, however, he was itching to walk up to her room and confront her. To make her face her own behaviour and go back to the Zelda he knew and loved. But he didn't.
     To make sure he wouldn't give in he found a way to make it impossible to go to her.

It was at the end of the third day after their return to the castle when Link was sitting near the fire in the inn's common room.
Sidon was with him, as well as Reeza and Laine. They had all spent some time at the walls earlier that day, and were now taking a well-deserved break.
Of course they had asked him about Zelda, and why she wasn't with him as she usually would be.
He hadn't wanted to speak badly of her, but they were her friends too. They wouldn't judge her too harshly. So in the end he told them the facts of what had happened in Korok Forest.
They hadn't really seemed surprised when he told them she was shutting him out.
'I think she is shutting everyone out,' Sidon had muttered with a frown. 'Even herself, if that were possible.'
'But why now?' Reeza wondered. 'I mean... things have gone wrong before, right? And you said she always talked to you about it.' She turned to Link with a shrug. 'I don't understand why she would suddenly stop doing that.'
'Me neither,' Link had grumbled, staring into the fire. 'I just don't understand any of it.' He dragged his hand through his hair in frustration.
'And you think with time she will come back to you?' Laine asked. She shrugged apologetically. 'Not to be the bad guy here, but I feel like she will only retreat further the longer she is alone.'
Link sighed deeply. That was what he was afraid of too.
'Let me talk to her,' Reeza said, a sparkle in her eyes. 'I'll get her to see reason.'
Sidon raised his eyebrows. 'What makes you so certain?'
The Gerudo offered him a wicked grin. 'I won't take no for an answer. She can kick and yell and scream all she wants, but I will find a way to get her to open up.'
Laine chuckled. 'Poor Zelda.'
Link shook his head, amused by her conviction, although he still felt defeated. He hated that he couldn't seem to reach her, but if there was anyone who stood a chance it was Reeza. No matter how bad it hurt that Zelda would let someone else in, if that was what it took he would be happy to try.

Their conversation turned in another direction, as Sidon started complaining about his inability to swim the moat with all the monsters there.
Before, he had been able to swim up the river and exchange news with the Domain, but that had become far too risky.
He hated not knowing what happened at his home, and he hated not having the upper hand over those monsters.
     As they sat discussing it, as well as the way the monsters were behaving in general, Link first came up with his plan.
'All those small attacks are driving me crazy,' Sidon was muttering. 'I prefer a real battle over this nonsense any day.'
Reeza scoffed. 'Small chance. Those cowards know they won't stand a chance.' She grimaced. 'Not without the Demon King.'
'It's exactly what they want,' Link said. 'Annoy us, tire us out, and if they're lucky we'll run out of food too.'
'I wish there was just something more we could do,' Sidon said. 'Something to return the favour, instead of constantly beating them back from our walls.'
Link looked at him, the first hints of an idea popping up in his head. 'Maybe we can...'
All three of his friends turned to look at him, full of expectation. They knew Link and his plans. They were usually quite stupid and incredibly risky, but effective.
'What do you have in mind?' Laine asked. 'They have us surrounded. Not even the Rito can pass through.'
Link grinned. 'I know. That's exactly why they won't be expecting it.'
'What?' Reeza leaned closer, her eyes glinting in the firelight.
'They know we used the Zora and the Rito to get past their defences,' Link said slowly. 'That's why they made sure we can't do that anymore.'
'Exactly,' Laine said, frowning as if wondering if Link had heard her before. 'So what aren't they expecting?'
'For us to just walk past them,' he said with a chuckle.
     It took some more explaining, and then a whole lot of patience to convince them to stay back, but in the end Link succeeded.
     Reeza had been the easiest to win over, especially when he mentioned that he was relying on her to get Zelda to see reason.
     The Gerudo knew she was being played, but her love for her friend won it in the end, so she begrudgingly agreed.
     Laine and Sidon were harder to sway, wanting to be part of the action. In the end Link's determination still won it, together with the solid argument that they were too tall and conspicuous to go without notice.
When the rest of their plans were made, Link finally felt like he had some kind of purpose again. Something useful to do, simultaneously keeping him away from Zelda.