A Soldier's Love: Tale of a Hylian Guard

4

The guardsman stood watch outside Zelda's bedchambers the next day, another soldier standing beside him. 

The soldier yawned. "How long are we supposed to stand her and guard this brat? I have more important things to do than play house with the princess."

The guardsman flinched, as if the soldier were speaking of him instead of her. 

"After all, whatever she asks for, she-"

"You do not speak of the Princess in such a manner, soldier," the guardsman said through clenched teeth. "That's an order."

"Oh, please. I'll do what I want, guardsman." The soldier spat out the word guardsman like a piece of hard meat. "No one but the king and my captain can tell me what to do."

It took all his mental strength to refrain from . "I am your captain, soldier, and I'd watch your attitude or-"

"Or what? Is your Princess going to save you again? Will she come running out to help you as you stand helpless? Will you be crying for-"

The guardsman tackled him to the ground, channeling all his fury into landing blow upon blow on his nose. The soldier tried weakly to defend himself, but all he could do was lie there and allow himself to be hit. 

"Just what is going on here?!" boomed a voice from behind them. 

The guardsman immediately stood at attention. He could recognize that regal voice from anywhere in the castle. 

The soldier, however, was still lying on the ground, moaning and clutching his face in pain. 

"Your Majesty," began the guardsman. "This soldier was disgracing the name of Princess Zelda. I had no choice but to silence him, and the only method to do so was through violence."

"He's lying!" shouted the soldier through his hands. "I didn't do a thing, Your Majesty.  He was the one who-"

"I doubt that," interrupted the king. "See that this does not happen again, or else you both will be relieved of duty." He narrowed his eyes at the guardsman. "Regardless of any vows or promises made."

"Yes, sir," both of them said. 

He straightened. "Now that this...conflict is settled, I came to summon you."

The guardsman blanched in an instant. 

"No need to worry. Zelda insisted I personally invite you and Impa to accompany her in the garden."

*******************************************************************

It was indescribable.

"How come there is only one single species of butterfly in the whole kingdom?" asked Zelda. "I'm not complaining, but I would like to see other colors on a butterfly than yellow and black."

He had never seen so much color in a single place; lurid purples, blazing reds, oranges which appeared to catch fire in the light.

"Ah, but there is more to them than meets the eye, little one," Impa said mysteriously. "There is a legend my people used to tell me when I was young:

Do not harm those black and yellow
for they are in disguise;
when touched with wood of easy flame,
a fairy shall arise.

And the smell! One would think the scent of a hundred different types of flowers would sicken a man, but even he had to struggle to keep his eyes open and not inhale deeply all the different fragrances surrounding him.