Her Love is Poison, but My Love is Pure

I Wouldn't Leave Otherwise

The four remaining Champions made it to Hyrule Castle to visit their princess for the first time ever since the funeral. Daruk carried the flowers in his hand still, handling them with as much care as he could.

Revali stole two of them, though, which annoyed Daruk until he noticed the Rito giving one of the flowers to Mipha, who smiled warmly, and put the other flower in Link's hair, who giggled. He then smiled at them and joked, "Two matching flowers for the married couple."

They both sighed heavily, and Revali and Daruk laughed heartily.

-

The King said hello to the visiting group first, since he was taking a stroll around the kingdom. He told them that Zelda was taking a nap because she was tired from all the praying she did the other night. They apologized for the time inconvenience, but they were tired from journeying to and needed to rest somewhere. The king told them to make themselves at home in the castle, which he didn't really mean but wasn't insensitive enough to say that.

They found their own rooms, and split out of the three guest rooms. Revali would get his own, because "he needed his beauty sleep without interruption," and Mipha was the only girl, so she obviously needed her own room. That left Link and Daruk to the room with two separate beds, which neither of them minded much.

It was 10:00 PM when they got there, so everyone decided to go to sleep soon. They got into their pajamas, brushed their teeth, and snuggled into their soft royal mattresses. Compared to what they slept on normally, there was no way they'd be able to sleep in their beds at home again after this.

The lights were out, everything was peaceful, and Daruk's eyes were almost closed shut, attempting to drift off to sleep. Then he got interrupted.

"Daruk?" A whispering voice called. The Goron rolled around to look at his little friend, who was pulling out his ponytail. "Do you really think Zelda's okay?" He continued, and he looked scared. Maybe it was the dark, so he turned on a candle.

Daruk sighed. "Don't worry, Link. She was just upset before, but I'm sure she's already recovering," he tried to console, but it made Link's face fill up with even more fear. Okay, maybe it wasn't just the dark that scared him.

"You don't just get over things like that though," Link mumbled. "She loved Urbosa more than even we did. Sure we're able to recover eventually, but I don't think she will." He grumbled something to himself, and then starting making signs with his hands nervously. "What if... what if she's never the same?"

After a long pause, Link fell back to sleep as best he could.

Daruk didn't sleep that night. He was too worried as to what to say to Zelda, a way to console her. After hearing what Link said, he was not on a very good track.

He decided to go with something cheesy like "We're always here for you," since it was already morning and he hadn't made any progress over the night. He worried way too much about his friends.

Just as he sat up from the bed, Revali walked into the room. "Where's Mipha?" He panicked. The other two exchanged glances, then looked back at Revali.

"Shouldn't she be in her room?" Link asked, tilting his head. Revali face palmed, trying to send the blatantly obvious message that he already checked there.

"What do you think?" The Rito grumbled. Link blushed out of embarrassment, realizing his own obliviousness.

"Wait, why don't we check if she left a note? She probably wouldn't leave without telling us. That's not something Mipha would do," Daruk intervened. That wasn't a bad idea. After all, Daruk was right 99% of the time, so they decided to search for a note.

Conveniently, the note was right there on the table in the center of the room. "See what I said?" Daruk chuckled, and the other two nodded, obviously not listening.

Revali picked up the note and read it aloud. "I have some family issues. I wouldn't have left otherwise. Sorry! Love, Mipha. What a sweet card. She even drew a heart! Probably for you, Link," Revali elbowed Link's shoulder.

"Oh shut up," he giggled.

"Well, I'm gonna check up on her. You guys can stay here, okay?" Revali devised. Daruk nodded in agreement, but Link approached the Rito with sass in his step.

"Nuh-uh," the blonde started, "I'll have you know that I'm going along with you, whether you like it or not."

Revali huffed. "Ugh, fine," he moaned. "Guess that leaves you alone to see Zelda, Daruk. Good luck!"

With that, the other two climbed out the window and flew off, leaving Daruk to pick up his bouquet of Silent Princesses and head to Zelda's quarters.