Who We Are; Zelink, Modern (The Legend Of Zelda)

The Forest (21)

Walking to the forest ended up being easier than walking to the lake had. Link was much better after a good night of sleep. Neither of them talked about what had been said in their dream, or how they had slept next to each other against the tree.

Zelda was too embarrassed to say anything, and she figured Link was either as embarrassed as she was, or just respecting that she probably wouldn't be able to handle talking about it.

As they walked Zelda talked about what she had been doing while on the run. "I even considered cutting my hair and dying it brown but..." She shook her head. "I decided to live in an abandoned school instead," she said as she chuckled. "Rather that than lose my hair."

Link looked over at her. "I could imagine you with brown hair, but I don't know about having it short."

Zelda shrugged. "I figured there had to be some other way to disappear than a makeover."

"It wasn't your appearance that led to them finding you anyways..." Link said softly. "It was the dreams."

She nodded. "I figured..."

"I swear I didn't want to tell them, I just-"

Zelda turned on the spot and covered his mouth with her palm. "Cease and desist, boy. I know already. You don't have to keep beating yourself up. Maldus already did that for you," she said as she slowly lowered her hand and then she smiled. "Seriously Link, I..." She looked down and then sighed. She wasn't good at this. She looked back up at him and smiled again. "I forgive you, okay? So just... focus on the good things you've done for me, not the bad."

Link may or may not have looked like he was about to cry when he turned away from her and nodded. "Alright," he said as he avoided looking at her. Apparently heroes weren't supposed to cry in front of princesses.

-_-_-

They entered the forest a little after ten, and by then Zelda was in absolute shock. The trees were even bigger than she had thought they were. When she walked up to one of them she knew that a dozen people holding hands wouldn't have been able to group hug the tree. Maybe not even twice that many people.

"It's incredible," she said as she reached out her hand and pressed it against the thick bark.

"It is..." Link replied as he looked at her admiring the tree, and then turned to stare into the forest. "But remember, this place isn't all beautiful. Big trees usually have big monsters to go with them."

"Hey, don't ruin it for me," Zelda said as she turned to face him with a sarcastically pronounced pouting expression. "So we're pretty much trying to get through the forest and find the lakes beyond without getting eaten by giant hungry creatures."

"Yep."

"How long do you think that will take?"

"...I don't know. Like I said, it's pretty undiscovered territory."

"Farore guide us," Zelda whispered.

-_-_-

Zelda was quite relieved when they stopped for lunch at the base of a large tree. Walking wasn't exactly her specialty, but she was also very relieved that they hadn't been attacked by anything yet. She kept one of her guns easily accessible in her belt just in case though.

After lunch they started to walk again. Oh the dreaded walking; and if she was having a hard time, then Link most definitely was. Thankfully the trees were so large that they blocked out most of the sunlight from reaching the forest floor. It wasn't dark though, far from, the sunlight hit the leaves high above and illuminated the canopy. It just wasn't direct sunlight, and therefore there wasn't much underbrush to impede them as they went. "You alright?" Zelda asked.