BotW Zelink Oneshots

Decorum's Abandonment (E)

It was an ordinary night after an ordinary day; I'd been asleep in my private quarters at the castle around the time the moon was at its peek when I awoke, disquiet stirring in my chest. It was a feeling telling me that something was out of place or not the way it should've been. The first thing that came to mind was the princess. The very thought of something happening to her gave me a jolt of anxiety that pulverized any remaining drowsiness in an instant. With haste, I got dressed, dawned my weapon, and made my way to her bedroom, only to discover that it was empty, just as I had suspected.

Without letting another moment escape my grasp, I roused my steed and rode past the castle gates. My instincts told me that she had gone far beyond the boundaries of the town. Epona and I raced across the outskirts of Hyrule Field in search of her. I could tell she too had sensed her disappearance as she tended to be more skittish and alert whenever the princess wasn't around.

I searched for hours, riding for miles and miles without rest, slaying every beast that stood in my way. I scoured the field, crossed Hylia River to the east, then crossed back onto the field again. After giving it another once-over, I headed northwest across Carok Bridge, through the Breach of Demise, across Jedo Bridge, and past Sanidin Park. Finally I found her, on a small plateau just west of Dalite Forest. The air about the place was quiet and tranquil. The light of the fireflies sparkled on the surface of the shallow pond, and the only sounds that could be heard were the wind in the trees and the chittering of crickets. She was sitting atop a small protrusion of land, under the limbs of the tallest tree. When I spotted her, my heart pulsed in relief and I regained my ability to breathe.

But when she sensed my approach and looked up at me, she donned an unreadable expression. "Oh, it's you," she murmured almost inaudibly. "I should've known you'd come looking for me." I couldn't tell if she was disappointed to see my face or relieved that it wasn't some other knight who'd come to drag her back to the castle. Either way, I didn't intend to do so. I wanted to know first why she had come here, in the middle of the night.

"Your Highness, why are you out here?" If she weren't royalty, I would've scolded her for going off on her own and putting her life in danger like this.

She gave a weighted sigh, her shoulders rising and falling like lead. "It's my father." Earlier that day, the princess had been overseeing an experiment having to do with the research of ancient Sheikah technology, something anyone could see she was passionate about. Just as her session had been drawing to a close, her father, the king, had appeared. He'd reprimanded her for neglecting her training as the wielder of the Goddess's divine power. My heart had broken for her as I'd listened to him belittle her and her efforts. "You heard what he said, didn't you? That I'm 'the heir to a throne of nothing but failure'." She sat curled up in a fetal position, her head hung. She looked as though she could start crying at any moment, and yet her voice remained monotonous. "Link...what do you think of me?"

Her inquiry had me taken aback. I loved her. But I couldn't just blurt that out to her. Now was not the time. There had to be something else I could say that wouldn't be as shocking to hear. "I think you're an amazing person, Your Highness." She looked up at me from her lap. "You're dedicated to what you love, and you're always doing everything you can to help others."

Now when she looked up at me, her eyes shimmered. She smiled weakly, looking back down toward her knees. A single set of tears rolled down both her cheeks, leaving wet streaks that glistened in the moonlight. Then she murmured, barely above a whisper, "Thank you."

I wasn't quite sure what the most appropriate thing for me to do was at this point. I had the instinct to put my arms around her, but that would've been absolutely too overly familiar of me. So instead, I simply took a seat next to her against the trunk of the tree. A pregnant silence hung in the air until it was replaced by her voice.