For the love of Link & Zelda

IV / Salt

Zelda stood in the Skyloft Academy kitchen, her cerise sleeves rolled up, her blonde locks tied back, and a small apron wrapped around her small waist. She had been given special permission by her father to use the academy kitchen to practice her cookery skillset. The student had been tasked to present a menu for the next graduation ceremony, so naturally, she decided to rope her lover Link into helping with the taste testing of each dish.

In the weeks leading up to today, Zelda had dragged him to the library most days to research new and exotic dishes. Most of the time she found Link would find a chair down one of the shelving aisles and fall asleep in the time it took her to collect everything she needed. While she was thrilled her lover was supportive, she did wonder if he enjoyed being dragged about to the library every-other night and gently forced into taste-testing her cookery creations.

Trial and error had always been Zelda's best asset, as a naturally clumsy person, particularly in the kitchen. She recalled the time she had baked Link a sweet pumpkin pie for his birthday, it had taken a least three attempts to perfect. She sighed to herself, checking off the ingredients she had previously laid out with her notes, listed in a leather-bound notebook. Link watched as she counted, studying the way her face creased with concentration. A happy smile appeared on his lips, and she turned to check on him.

The blonde's cheeks flushed crimson, "What are you looking at me like that for, Link?" she cried, checking herself over. The boy laughed shaking his head, reassuring his princess that was nothing to be concerned about. Zelda let out a little huff, sounding more like a squeak. Link gave her a worried smile and waved his arms towards her. He loved looking at his girl, he believed she was the most beautiful girl in the whole of Skyloft, if not further afield.

She met his smile with hands-on-hips, "Whatever you're thinking, it better be something nice," she gave him a little giggle. The noise made his heart skip a beat. Link nodded in reply frantically.

"Right then, let us begin. Are you ready?" Link gave her a single nod, "Then let us begin," Zelda beamed with confidence as she began measuring her ingredients. She began with her dessert course, being the most time consuming of the three. The student was particularly proud of the last pie she had baked and decided on making something similar. To celebrate their village of Skyloft, Zelda had chosen to use the native fruit that bore the trees, juicy red apples. Naturally sweet in flavor, they were perfect to use for a pie.

Zelda mixed her ingredients together to create a soft dough, before kneading and rolling into a thin sheet. She carefully lined three baking tins with the pastry, leaving a little leftover, "Always better in threes," she smiled at her companion. Link raised an eyebrow, what had she not told him, "Speaking of my last encounter with a pastry dish, of course." Link nodded at her reply and continued to watch her work intrigued.

The blonde placed the trays in the oven to blind bake, before returning to her work station. She began peeling and de-coring the apples. She handed one to Link with a spare knife, "Say Mister Hero, would you mind helping?" she smiled sweetly. Her companion blushed to accept her gift and began to copy her. Zelda beamed, it was lovely for him to assist with her work, making it enjoyable for the pair of them. The student chopped the apples into small cubes before placing them into a bowl. She combined a spoonful of flour with a sprinkle of cinnamon to the apple chunks, mixing it well. Zelda moved to the oven to check the progress of the pastry shells, all three had darkened to a beautiful brown, perfect. She removed them from the oven, carefully setting them to one side to cool before moving onto her main course – baked salmon fillet. Zelda was lucky, Link had offered, in his own special way, to catch a couple of salmon so she wouldn't have to worry about sourcing the fish. Due to her sensitivity to animals, her father had asked the academy cook to pre-fillet the salmon before Zelda started her prep. She was thankful for all the assistance she had received in the making of her menu.