Chapter 14

   Back when Zelda was just a young girl, she was riding in a horse carriage along with an older woman who was her bodyguard. Impa.

   It was just like any other royal duty she had to attend to. Meeting the mayor of a small village to discuss important matters that will benefit the kingdom. Same old thing.

   "Your highness. We have arrived." Impa spoke up.

   The chauffeur opened the door. Impa was the first to step out, Zelda following right behind her for protection reasons. Looking ahead, Zelda saw that the village was basically a giant forest. The entire area was vivid green, her mouth gaping in awe.

   The two ladies saw an older gentleman walking up to them. "Greetings, your highness. I am the mayor of this village. It's very nice to meet you."

   Impa gestured Zelda to greet him back. "It's nice to meet you too."

   "You may follow me. I have refreshments inside the village hall."

   Zelda and Impa started to follow the mayor inside the village. She saw a few people passing by, bowing their heads to show respect. The water looked clean, sunlight hit every corner of this village. It was so peaceful.

Arriving near the entrance of the mayor's building, a voice of a young boy caught Zelda's attention. "Excuse me, Mr. Mayor!" She turned around, seeing a young boy in green rushing up to the mayor. For some reason, he looked a bit flustered. "I have a delivery!"

   The mayor chuckled, receiving the letter from the boy. "Thank you very much. Tell Saria my regards."

"Yes, sir!" The boy caught a glimpse of Zelda. She softly smiled at him in response. The boy turned red in the face, averting his gaze. "I-I'll be going now!" Not even a second later, he practically bolted out of the area.

   Zelda didn't know too many people around her age. She was always surrounded by grown ups. She wanted to make a friend that was her age for once. Maybe this boy felt the same way.

   "Let's proceed, your highness." Impa spoke up.

Right. She had royal duties to attend to. "Of course." Taking one last look where the boy had ran, Zelda followed Impa and the mayor inside of the building. She was so curious about the boy that she didn't think her mind would cooperate with this meeting.

   This was going to be a long day.

~

After the meeting, both Zelda and Impa stepped out of the building. Closing the door behind her, Impa walked in front of Zelda. "We'll head home at once."

"Hold on. Can we take a quick detour?"

Impa raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"I want to find that boy we saw earlier. I promise I won't take long."

Knowing Zelda would be stubborn about it if she said no, Impa crossed her arms. "I'll give you five minutes."

Zelda smiled brightly. "Thank you so much, Impa!"

"Do you know where this boy is?"

"We could always follow the direction of where he ran off to." Which the two ladies ended up doing. It was a rather small village, so it couldn't be hard to find one boy.

~

Up ahead, Zelda saw the exact same boy practicing his archery. Seeing the determined look on his face, she could tell that he was the type to never give up. This boy was interesting her more and more.

   The boy shot an arrow towards the target, missing again. Letting out a sigh, he dropped his shoulders. "When will I ever hit it..?"

   Zelda walked closer to him. "You just need to fix your posture."

   The boy turned towards the voice, instantly blushing. "I-It's you!"

   Zelda started giggling at the sight of his flustered expression. It was the most priceless, yet adorable expression she's ever seen. "It's me. I wanted to know your name before I made my leave."

   "Remember, your highness. I'm allowing you five minutes." Impa said.

   "I know, Impa." Zelda approached the boy, stopping right in front of him. "What is your name?"

   He gulped, seeming like he was having trouble answering. "M-My name is Link. N-Nice to meet you..."

   "Nice to meet you too. My name is Zelda."

   Link's eyes widen at the name. "Wait! You're the princess?!"

   Zelda started to laugh, holding her gut. "You mean to tell me you didn't know?!" This was the first time that someone didn't recognize her. Everywhere she went, people recognized her in a heartbeat.

   Link slumped his shoulders, feeling his blush deepen. "I'm sorry... I just didn't recognize you since this is my first time seeing you, your highness."

   Zelda calmed her laughter, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. "I guess I can't blame you with that. And no need for the formalities, you can just call me Zelda."

   "Is that really ok..?"

   Zelda nodded. "Sure it is! When I first saw you, I knew at that moment that I wanted to be your friend. Only if you want to, I do not wish to force a friendship upon you."

   Link waved his hands vigorously. "O-Of course we can be friends, your high- I mean... Zelda!"

   At that moment, Zelda smiled brightly. She was exhilarated to befriend someone who was a child just like her. "I'm so glad! I don't know many children that are around my age. So it makes me happy to be friends with someone who is my age."

   Link felt the exact same way. "Same here."

   Zelda looked at the bow and arrow in his hand. Wanting to help him out, she placed her hand on her chin. "You have a fine bow and arrow there. May I see it?"

   Link nodded, handing it over to the princess. He was watching her every move. Her posture was perfect, her aim was straight. The way she shot the arrow was so smooth that it managed to hit the bull's eye in one try.

   Zelda handed Link back his bow and arrow. Link just stood there in awe, not believing that the princess had accomplished what he could not. "How did you do that..?"

   Zelda had her hands behind her back while smiling. "I hope you were watching closely, because I was trying to show you how you should maintain your posture."

   The next second, Link grunted. He did see the way she was positioned. He never thought of standing like that. "Thank you for demonstrating."

   "No problem!" She was happy to help. With her demonstration, she had hoped that it would help him improve. Even if it was just a little bit.

   "Your highness." Impa spoke up. "It's time to go now."

   Zelda lowered her eyes with a smile. She wanted to spend more time with Link, but it couldn't be helped. "Very well." She looked up at her new friend. "Link, I'm not sure when I'll be back in your village. But when I do return, can we meet up like this again?"

   Link looked at a loss, like he was spacing out. In response, he nodded and softly smiled. "Of course we can! And the next time we see each other, you will see improvement!"

   "I believe you on that. Until we meet again." Zelda and Impa began walking away.

In her mind, Zelda wished to return to this village soon. She had so much to learn about her new friend. She wanted to be there to see him improve. Also to learn more about him. Smiling to herself, a blush appeared on her face.

"Wait!" At the same time, both Zelda and Impa stopped where they stood, turning towards Link. In a shy manner, Link held out a blue flower towards the princess. "This is for you! To thank you!"

   Zelda stood there in awe, taking the flower gratefully. She stared at the flower Link had given her, a smile appearing on her face. "It's beautiful. Thank you so much."

   Link started blushing, rubbing the back of his head. "You're welcome..."

   Zelda smiled fondly. Many people from different villages did nice gestures towards her before. Though it made her happy, this kind gesture in particular couldn't make her stop smiling. It felt like she was putty in the inside.

Snapping out of her thoughts, Zelda composed her posture. "See you next time." Zelda and Impa began to walk away once more.

This village boy that went by the name Link stuck with her. He consumed her mind, unable to get him out of her head. Feeing her heart skip a beat, she knew that he had consumed her heart as well.

Staring at the flower Link gave her while walking back to the horse carriage, Zelda promised herself that she will return to the village soon.

~

Some time has passed, Zelda couldn't get Link out of her mind. For some reason, her heart was sinking. Like something bad has happened. But what?

Sitting in her room, Zelda heard the door swing open. "Your highness! I have urgent news!"

Standing up, Zelda quickly rushed towards the door. Seeing Impa with a worried expression made her start to feel worried. "What's wrong?"

"The village we went to not long ago. There was a Bokoblin attack last night."

Zelda's eyes went wide. "What..? What happened to the people? Are they ok?"

Lowering her head, Impa closed her eyes, letting out a sad sigh. "I heard that there were no survivors."

It felt like time had stopped at this very moment. No survivors, no survivors whatsoever. She couldn't believe it. Link was dead. She promised that she would see him again, but now... It was too late.

Her knees unbuckled, losing her balance. Impa caught her before she could fall. "Your highness!"

Her head started pounding. Everywhere in her body hurt. What hurt the most was her heart. It felt like it was broken in two, shattering on the ground like glass.

Zelda was unable to process this news. Link was dead. Repeating over and over in her head. She wanted to deny it, believing that he was still alive and well in that village. Tears wielded up in her eyes.

The flower Link had picked for her was in a vase, sitting on a table from a distance. One of its petals fell off, indicating that heavy grief smothered the air.

~

As she got older, Zelda had gone through somewhat of a rebellious phase. She wanted to help protect the people instead of being the one protected. And to have some freedom for once instead of always having someone with her at all times. It felt suffocating.

Behind the scenes, Zelda had made a Sheikah warrior outfit, hoping no one would find out. Especially Impa, knowing she would get suspicious.

Lifting up the scarf on her face for the finishing touches, Zelda had turned into her alter ego. Sheik. She swore to protect the people in her kingdom in secret. For the first time, Zelda felt free to do whatever she wanted.

Sheik had managed to sneak out of the castle, finding their first mission in an instant. Though it was an unofficial mission, they would keep watch outside of Kakariko Village. It was so exciting.

Hiding behind the bushes, Sheik noticed a mysterious hooded person walking along the dirt path. "What is someone doing out here at this hour?"

Unable to tell what they were holding, the shadow looked like someone's head. Sheik was feeling bad vibes coming from this guy. Wanting to stop them from doing anything else that was going to put people's lives at risk, Sheik made the first move.

The battle ended before it even started. Sheik- Zelda should've known that she couldn't win against a skilled assassin. Even though she knew how to fight, it just wasn't enough.

Looking to where the assassin was walking away, Zelda felt her blood boil. This assassin shared the same name as her friend. Link. There was just no way that this guy could be that sweet village boy who always seemed like a blushing mess.

There was just no way. Zelda kept telling herself. The more she tried to deny it, the more angry she felt. She didn't want to believe that this cold-blooded assassin was that boy. He was dead. She needed to accept that.

The more she denied it, the more she thought about it. Slowly, the dots were starting to connect.