Since you came along

Hold

After dinner with the Princess, Y/n was escorted back to her room. Zelda asked she stay in the Castle for the night and she was free to leave in the morning if she wished. Truthfully, she didn't want to leave. Moving around all of Hyrule, stability was not something she was familiar with. Zelda's offer for her to stay permanently in the Castle was not something she brushed off. It was a serious offer she was considering.

At the current moment, though, other things plagued her mind. More specifically, Link. Tonight, he seemed...off. All through dinner, she caught him staring at her. 'Is it really me catching him if he never tried to hide it? He didn't even look away once.' She stepped into the bathroom to take a bath for the second time today as she felt the grime was still adhering to her skin. The dress Zelda had given her was beautiful. It wasn't a large ball gown but rather a long dress that felt flowy and comfortable. The sleeves reached to her wrists and the neckline was low but modest.

'I had it made for you along with a few others. Amid your disappearance, I preoccupied myself with clues as to your whereabouts. The thought of finding you came to my mind, I had made the decision to offer you a home here. With that, I sent for some dresses to be made for you. I was able to get your measurements from Link in one of his rare moments of reality.'

A smile graced her lips at the memory. Zelda was a compassionate and kind woman, she could warm anyone's heart. As she slipped the dress off carefully, she kept the moment in her head. "Rare moments of reality?" She mumbled to herself the Princess's strange choice of words. Link hadn't seemed himself, yes, but was that a temporary thing, or had it been since she went missing? Why would that affect him?

'How would he even know my measurements? That's...concerning considering we don't know each other very well.'

The water was hot and the steam made the room smell of oils and flowers. She waited in a robe for the water to cool down while she checked her nails. They were dirty and chipped, she attempted to even them out and clean them in the sink. Her legs looked as if she had run them through a rose bush. On her face, a cut went across her right cheek and a smaller one on her left. There was a bruise on her left temple that was beginning to grow darker while one on her jaw was yellowing. She frowned, wondering when they would heal as she hated to see them. She walked back over to the water, which had cooled down enough for her to step in. She removed the robe and carefully slipped herself into the warm water. A sigh of contentment left her lips as her body relaxed.

It seemed as if all the racing thoughts she had dissipated in the steam and she was able to let her mind go blank. For some reason, she couldn't recall certain memories. She couldn't remember details she swore she knew just a few minutes ago.

Outside, Link stood in the middle of the training grounds. It was dark, the only light came from the torches and the moon. He stood in silence, in peace. His worries left him the minute she came back to him. All he had left was questions. How did she get out? How did she get all those wounds?

How could he get to the shadow that took her and make him pay?

He could see the light emanating from the room she was in, she was still awake. He had started walking back into the Castle before he even knew what he was doing. In what felt like a split second, he was in front of her door. He knocked on her door and waited for a response. "Come in." He opened the door and let himself in. As he was shutting the door behind him, he noticed she wasn't in view. "Link, is that you?"
"Yes. Where are you?"
"The bathroom, hold on." He sat down on the chair by the desk in the corner of the room. He looked at the various papers, journals, and books scattered on it. Zelda had left her any and all information she had on the Interlopers and dark magic. As he went to pick up a piece of parchment with writing on it, the bathroom door opened and Y/n stopped out in a long nightgown, her face and body clean and slightly glowing. "Is everything okay?" Link felt a bit speechless as he stared at her. He nodded and walked over to her. He closed the space between them by embracing her, an embrace filled with care and desperation.