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After all this time, her royal clothes feel almost stuffy. They don't have the mobility she needs, if she has to jump or run away, and the weight on her head isn't– right.
It's not like she can complain that Hyrule is at peace again, though, and she's not cooped up or anything, but it's all just– stuffy. She misses traveling around Hyrule.
There's a clang and a scuffle from outside her open window, and she turns. There's a familiar blonde head poking up.
"Hey," Link signs with one hand when she comes over. He's clinging to the outer castle wall, and he's either lost one of his boots, or kicked it off for better traction.
"What are you doing up here?" She asks, leaning on the windowsill and prying absent-mindedly at one of his fingers.
He makes a motion that's probably a shrug. "Looking."
She doesn't ask for what. There's a lot of stuff you can see from Hyrule Castle's roofs.
"We should go somewhere," she says.
"Okay."
"An adventure. Without anyone bothering us."
"Okay."
"Or we can go bother Lueberry for another prototype staff."
"Okay."
She picks up Buttercup, holding her out so that her tail swishes in front of Link's face. His nose scrunches up like he's about to sneeze.
"I miss Tri," she says quietly.
He heaves himself up over the windowsill, only falling on his face a little, and stands. Zelda shifts Buttercup, holding her like she's a baby; she starts to purr.
"Is it bad I kind of miss everything else, too?" She asks. "A lot of people fell into rifts, and there was so many monsters… but it was fun sometimes, too."
"I get it," he nods. "Being crystalled sucked. Before that it was kind of fun."
She squints. Hadn't he been fending monsters off with a stick before that…? Whatever. "It did suck."
"I was stuck longer," he says.
"It's not a competition."
"It could be."
"No, it can't be."
He makes a noise of disagreement. "I could be a better crystal prisoner than you."
"No, you couldn't!" Buttercup jumps out of her arms, agitated by their argument. Zelda points at her triumphantly. "Now look what you did!"
"She agrees with me."
Buttercup jumps up on her bed, lying on her pillow and kneading her paws. It's cute, so she doesn't mind that she'll have to pick fur off later.
"It's alright to miss the adventure," he says, and she turns back towards him. "You didn't ignore Hyrule's problems to go off and have fun."
"I spent three hours doing horseback races at the ranch so Dampé could build me a bird."
"…Was it a cool and useful bird?"
"Yeah."
"That's fine, then."
She climbs out of the window and starts to descend. "You're uninvited from my new adventure, by the way."
He follows her out. "Okay."
"Stop saying okay."
"Okay," he says aloud this time, which is exactly what she should have expected. "Where are we going?"
"We're going to Seesyde Village, and you're not invited."
"I can't swim."
"It's good that you're not invited, then."
"Can we get smoothies on the way there?"
"Yes."