I: Him?!

Remember the first look you took at that one person? And in that moment, you had absolutely no idea how much that stranger was going to change your life?

Before the Calamity

"Father, please," she begged, tugging at the kings arm, "would you just listen to me for one moment! I can't stand him! Isn't there anybody else you can appoint? Maybe someone who can actually hold a conversation?" Zelda scowled as her father pulled his arm away. She heard what Link was like: silent. She never really met him before, but she had seen him outside her window. His perfection annoyed her. Anyone but him, she thought. Anyone but Link.

"Zelda," the king began, "you know I would only choose the best for you! Link is certainly the most talented knight we have; he's bested knights far beyond his years who have been in our service since before you could remember! Do not question my decision, it is for your own safety."

"But father, please listen..."

"No more nonsense, Zelda! Link will be your knight, and that is that! Consider yourself lucky to have someone readily willing to risk their life for someone who has no care in the world for them!"

Zelda stumbled slightly, shocked by his tone. "Okay," she mumbled, slumping her shoulders and walking through a long hallway to her study. She didn't want a knight. She didn't need one. 

I'm not weak and frail like everyone thinks, I can do things on my own! she thought to herself. He's just another person to boss me around, just like Father. Will this ever end? When will I be allowed some independence? She stopped thinking for a moment, walking and staring at her feet. She tried to reassure herself that he wasn't as great as everyone said. What's so good about him anyway? she wondered as she trudged along the rug-adorned stone floor. He just stands outside my window and flails his dumb sword at wooden mannequins. And he doesn't even speak! Never a hardship in his life, he is just a lucky young boy who was gifted with talent he didn't have to work for. This is just great. 

When Zelda reached her room, she could hear faint grunts coming from outside. She crossed the walkway from her room to her study, and she looked over the edge of the bridge, knowing exactly what was going to be down there. She saw him. Link was fighting another knight down in the courtyard where the royal guard trained. As the knight swung his sword down at Link, he swiftly dodged the attack and let loose a flurry of attacks on the knight, the wooden sword clanking against his metal armor.

Zelda regained her focus, realizing she was lost in thought watching Link. Come to think of it, he wasn't hard to look at. His blonde sideburns gracefully danced on the side of his face as he moved in rhythm with his sword. His deep blue eyes focused intently on his target; the outside world must have been dead to him when he was fighting. 

She scoffed. "Do not indulge yourself in childish swordplay," she muttered to herself. "You have a kingdom to protect."

Reluctantly, she peered over the stone wall once again. Link reached out a hand to the fellow knight he knocked down. After helping him up, Link walked toward a bench and removed his blue tunic. He placed his top layer on the bench. Anyone could recognize that color- the blue of the royal family. 

Zelda stared at the tunic on the bench, not expecting what came next. Link picked at the corners of his sweat-stained white undershirt, and he pulled the sticky cloth from his skin and placed it next to the tunic.

Zelda's eyes widened as she looked at Link below her. The muscles in his back were illuminated by the glistening sweat on his body. She gazed at him with an unfamiliar longing. The king forbid Zelda to have any unsupervised contact with men. She was the princess of Hyrule, after all. The only time she could experience relationships with men was in her fantasies, alone in her room. She gently cocked her head to the side with nothing in her head. She just watched.

Zelda! She nearly said out loud as she realized what she was looking at. How unbecoming of you! This is exactly why you must stick to your studies, training, and nothing more!

One of the young knights in the courtyard noticed she was staring and nudged his friend. They both looked up at her and chuckled. A bright blush crossed Zelda's face and she quickly turned away, hiding her face. She caught her breath and scoffed, annoyed that everything about Link seemed so effortless. How embarrassing, she thought. They better not say a word to him... he will get a bigger head than he already has.

She huffed, lifted her shoulders, and walked with her head high to her study door. As she reached for the knob, her hand grew weak and fell by her side. She turned and looked back to the courtyard once more.

"That princess you're going to protect now, Link," one of the knights laughed. "Not much of an honor if you ask me! To protect an heir to the throne of nothing? Seems pointless."

"You deserve better in my opinion, Link," Another knight in training added. "She seems a little absent-minded, don't you think?" The words seemed too cruel for the princess, though Link did not know why. He looked down at his wooden sword and said nothing. "Ah, classic," another knight said. "Not like we actually expected a response!"

Zelda watched the knights talk amongst each other, her morale plummeting after hearing them. She then gazed upon Link again without realizing, and she saw him sitting on the bench fiddling with his sword. Link looked up only to meet Zelda's gaze for a split second before she turned away in shock. 

Zelda quickly fumbled with the knob and threw open the door. After walking in, she closed the door and rested her forehead on the wood. She sighed and sank to the floor, not knowing what the feeling inside of her stomach was. She was in there for no reason other than to merely hide from their sight. Their words stung her more than she let on. She wished they respected her. She wanted to be bold and confident, but she was fragile under their stares. Despite her distaste for Link, she found slight comfort in the fact that he was the only one who didn't participate in her mockery.

Her stomach churned at the idea of being a disappointment to her kingdom. I must be getting sick, she thought. Perhaps I will go lie down in my room.

As Zelda stood up, she caught a glimpse of a flower sketch she had made a few days earlier. A silent princess, she thought. She wished she could have one of her own, to grow and to keep in the castle. However, the flowers could only thrive in the wild, so the only experience Zelda could have with the wild was a simple drawing bound within the walls of Hyrule castle.

"What is your secret?" Zelda whispered to the drawing as she put her elbows on her desk, resting her chin in her hands and gazing at her notebook. "Why so silent? Your mystery is so intriguing to me." As Zelda said this, she thought, is there some sort of beauty in silence? In never making a sound?

She shook her head as if to remove the thought from her head and ran back to her room as to not be seen.