The Legend Says I Love You | Zelink

Chapter 2: Revali's Flap

Revali, Champion of the Rito, openly expresses his opposition to supporting Link. He confronts Link in Rito Village, but to what end?

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Despite his constant presence in Zelda's life (lives, she internally corrected) Link had become no more of a soulmate to her, but increasingly like a shadow who silently and unwaveringly followed her everywhere. Unlike her shadow, however, he was much harder to lose in the dark.

"I'm going to pray, if you must know," she told him haughtily. "Which requires me to change into my prayer dress. And, you may not be aware of this, but as a girl I do require some privacy."

Link was less than amused by her ramblings. Confessedly, her lies were far-fetched. For one, she didn't have her prayer dress with her, and two, they were deep in the forests that surrounded the Rito stables well past moonrise.

"The Goddess calls when the Goddess calls," Zelda said pointedly. "I mean, you should know." His sword was already in his hand, glowing dimly in the night. Zelda glowered at it. She had scolded him before on plenty of occasions for needlessly brandishing it and drawing attention to both himself and, by extension, herself and her own shortcomings. But this time, there was no one else to see them but the forest. Something about that sent a hoard of keese flying through her stomach. She had been alone with him before, sure, but always in the confines of the Castle; always with a maid lurking around the next corner. Perhaps she should have felt liberated. Perhaps here was the only place they could be themselves. And yet here she was, being a prat instead.

He sheathed his sword with a slick. He pointed towards, what Zelda assumed, to be the general direction back to the stables. Admittedly, she had gotten lost in her nightly wanderings. However, had she not been trying so hard to shake Links tail, then she was sure she would've known where she was and would have found the fireflies she was searching for in the first place. "You think you can give me orders? I won't be going back with you."

Link rubbed his hand across his face before looking skywards, as if begging the Goddess for help. Zelda had found he was always more expressive in the dark – though perhaps that was also when she was most aggravating and troublesome. "That's not the direction of the stable, Princess."

"Oh. Well..." she scrambled to correct herself. The temple then. That must be it. "I no longer wish to pray, either. You've put me off it. The King will be incensed; he only appointed you to encourage me to do my duty, and now you've steered me away from it," she rambled on, trying to steer herself away from focusing on the smirk that graced his lips, lit only by the moonlight filtering through the trees.

"Not the temple either," he said. "Do you want those fireflies or not?"

Zelda was startled. "What? What makes you assume-"

"You talk to yourself a lot."

"What makes you assume," she barraged on, "that you can talk to me so informally?" Once her ramblings began it was like a wagon without brakes: once she started speaking she just had to end it with some noble nonsense in attempt to distract him from how right he was, and how ridiculous she was being. Thankfully, it always seemed to work.

"My apologies, Princess." He bowed his head. "Please allow me to escort you back to the stable."

Perhaps it worked a little too well, she thought glumly, though nevertheless following her Knight back to the stables where her small travel party had made camp on their way to Rito Village.

With Link by her side and a show of her incessant daily prayers for the past moon, her father had finally granted her leave where she could visit and examine Revali's Divine Beast – but only if Link accompanied her, and if they visited the Temple of Time afterwards. The travel party would accompany them so far as Rito Village, where they would break off to train with their archers. She would be glad to see them go; not only did she have Link following her every move, but a whole host of soldiers keen to report to her father about what she had and had not been doing. So, for the past week, she had lost herself in prayer in a mix of devotion and desire to keep public scrutiny at bay. But, with Rito Village and its Beast so close she had been itching once more to devote her time to research instead.