Work Text:
>>>
"With all due respect to the goddess Hylia, I ask that you grant me the divine power to defend the realm..."
Zelda repeated the prayer in a low, stubborn voice over and over again, drawing the triangle of force on her chest with her fingertips, unsurprisingly unresponsive, the shadow of the goddess reflected in the spring, the lake reflected a cold green light, and the stone statues in the moonlight looked holy and pitying. The goddess looked down but did not look at her.
Such prayers became routine at the age of seven, when Zelda first spoke to the goddess with reverence and hope, but after numerous vain attempts,her efforts seemed like a ridiculous self-struggle.
The coldness rose inch by inch up her frozen body, and her clasped hands were already numb, but she never stopped, for she was afraid that if she turned her head, she would see the disappointment on the Knight's face, the same expression as everyone else.
Despite Zelda's stern refusal, the king had forced Link to accompany her on her trip to the spring, and she had had enough trouble facing herself without needing another witness to her defeat, not to mention that it was Link, owner of the master's sword, the worthy hero of Hylia.
The world needs only a Ray of Light sun, and who would notice a faint, little star?
After 508 useless prayers her patience was easily broken ,whatever, Zelda thought to herself, let the courtiers mock and hate her, she's just an incompetent princess.
She waded forward, her eyes fixed on the water, avoiding the hand of the knight, trying to maintain the air of a princess. She looked up at Link's nervous gaze. What was he looking at?
A stream of heat ran down her thigh, a warm sensation that froze her heart in an instant, and she slowly followed his gaze down, a blinding red on her white prayer gown, it continues to grow along the fabric and eventually into the holy spring water.
She sprang up the steps, but slipped, and fell uncontrollably into the boy's arms, his soft grunt barely audible.
"Don't Look!"
She almost screamed, and the knight seemed startled by her, and the hand that held her arm did not relax.
Zelda began menstruating at the age of 14, later than most girls, long after her mother was dead, and King Rhoam was too busy with state affairs to notice, Zelda learned everything there is to know about a woman's menstrual cycle from books, handled the dirty clothes with astonishing calm, put on a proper smile, dealt with the many troublesome courtiers, and then returned to her room, to face the seven hard days alone.
Perhaps it was because she had been immersed in the cold spring water since she was a child. The pain continued day and night, surging up like the tide of the sea, and she was submerged. She was trapped under the water, and no one could hear her answer.
But her self-control and pride in an instant collapse, ten years of memory shattered into a cold moonlight and cut her skin. She swallowed all her shame. It was okay, it was okay, it was normal, she told herself, it was like the seasons changing, the trees growing. Winter to spring, is the eternal law of the seasons.
But she did not know that the winter was too long, too long.
>>>
Cold.
It was Link's first thought when he touched her, and the cold of the night and the cold of the spring had taken her temperature without mercy, and he had spent the whole evening trying to persuade the Princess to come up from the spring. He was not a man of words, but he was not stupid, and he knew that the princess hated him, and after the failed conversation about swords she was so obstinate that she would not speak to him again, so he had to keep silent.
Behind the walls of her heart was the silent princess, and he could not see the real Zelda.
But the wall came tumbling down, easily, and the princess burst into tears in his arms, and hot tears rained down on his palms.
"Did I hurt you?" He asked cautiously and hesitantly.
She looked at him angrily and cried louder.
The wailing princess was like a child, which made Link feel a little funny, but it was important to keep her warm. Half an hour later, the princess was wrapped in a blanket, holding a cup of boiling tea in her thin white hands. She was no longer crying. She just stared at the fire, motionless, and the light danced in her green eyes, her eyes are also like the water of the lake.
But as he passed, the water in the pool suddenly moved. "Where are you going?" The princess asked, trying to look vicious, though her red nose made the questioning less convincing.
"Go and do the laundry," he answered truthfully.
The next moment the princess jumped up like a frightened rabbit. It was new to him to see the panic on her face for the first time. "No Need!" She stammered, her cheeks flushed, and it wasn't crying, obviously. "I'll do it myself." She sniffed and then sneezed.
In the dark the knight's face seemed to soften for a moment, and he easily wrapped the struggling princess in a blanket, and sweetly added two quilts, until she could not move, there was a feeble protest under the quilt.
"I'll be right back," he added hastily, still worried.
>>>
Zelda curled up in the heavy bedding, the pain spreading from her lower abdomen to limbs and bones. In the distance came the soft sound of water. It was Link washing her prayer dress.
She suddenly felt a sense of relief, like the most embarrassing all let him see, why is it always him?
The sound stopped for a moment, and she heard footsteps approaching softly. She closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep, exhausted by the pain and embarrassed by Link.
After all the crying, breaking down and resentful, Link remained silent and forgiving.
A corner of the blanket was lifted, and a warm object was pushed into her palm -- a tiny water sac.
"Call me if you need me, I'm right here," his calm voice said in the darkness.
The footsteps faded away, and she opened her eyes to see the back of the knight by the spring. Yinger's simple, pale silhouette wrapped around his thin back, his sword in a tranquil blue in the moonlight, he is indeed its rightful owner.
Link shared the bed with her, and, perhaps because of the sensual sensitivity of her bloody period, she did not miss the gentle sneeze.
"Come and sleep."
Link turned to look at her, blinked, as if not sure what he heard.
"That's an order," she added in a muffled voice. The Knight hesitated for a long time, but slowly crawled towards her under his gaze, like a small animal trying to enter a strange territory. He gently lifted the corner of his quilt and lay down inside, then he lay stiffly on his back, trying to maintain a proper distance from her, and without hesitation she crossed that ridiculous distance and took his hand.
"Thank you." Her voice was muffled and slightly nasal. "And I'm sorry."
Link's hand trembled in her palm, and then slowly, slowly extended her fingers and wrapped her hand around it.
"You never have to apologize to me." His voice was warm.
Link's body temperature is more useful than a hundred water bags put together. She's already feeling warm. A princess sleeping with a Knight? She thought, how bad could her reputation be if it was already in the toilet?
No one understood her bitterness.
"I think," Link chuckled, "You're really gentle."
Who can understand?
Zelda raised her head, facing the silver stars which had come so far to cross the dark blue sky, then came down into a silent field.
"Will you be here when you wake up tomorrow?" She asked softly after a long while.
There was no answer to that question, for the weary Knight had fallen asleep, and still held her hand in his sleep.
He didn't let go until she told him to.
>>>
It's like falling asleep after a long time.
When she awoke again the sun slid down the thick green leaves and rolled over her eyelids. Zelda turned to look at Link's sleeping face. Before they knew it, they were so close that it was as if two lonely little moles were hugging each other for warmth. There was a heavy tactile sensation on her right hand. Her body was a little stiff, but she still didn't want to wake him up.
His lashes were thick as curtains in the morning light, and she had never imagined that a hundred years later, she would be able to watch him wake up everyday.
Zelda used to loathe the prospect of tomorrow, which would mean yet another cycle of failure and reproach.
And now she knows that tomorrow will not have any change, he is still the silent knight, and she is still incompetent princess.
But at least, she thought, she was no longer afraid of the dawn.
——fin.