Chapter Text
Link woke with a thud on his door.
After his meeting with Princess Zelda, Impa and another maid led him to his room in the Royal Guard’s dorms. He was given a uniform, a set of armor, then he was told breakfast was at five in the morning before the Royal Family woke up.
He stood from his new bed, feeling restless after such an eventful day and noticed that the sun wasn’t even out. He still couldn’t believe that he had spent the night in Hyrule Castle, nor that he was now the Princess’ bodyguard. And even though the job was a blessing, while he put on his uniform, he couldn’t stop thinking that maybe accepting that job was a mistake.
Princess Zelda’s mission sounded like treason. Or at least that’s what his father would say if he knew what she wanted to research. He still remembered those summers where his father would take him to the edges of the country to teach him how to shoot an arrow, how to hunt, and how to be as silent as you could when you were cornered by monsters. He knew all the tricks already; after all his father was the best monster hunter.
The second round of thuds on his door made him come back to his senses and stop thinking about his bittersweet childhood. He managed to clean his face and walked towards the door, upset about the person that was rushing him so early in the morning.
“Alright, what is it?” He asked, but a sudden blush came into his cheeks when he saw none other than Princess Zelda in front of him, a scowl on her face. “Y-Your Highness! I’m sorry, I didn’t know it was you!”
Zelda looked at him, head to toe, and he couldn’t help but think that her expression was disappointment. But why? Did he have his zipper down? Had he put the shirt on backwards? What was so bad about his uniform?
“That uniform won’t do.” She said as she looked from her shoulder. “You have five minutes, get in your civilian clothes. We’re going for a ride!”
That’s when he noticed that Zelda wasn’t wearing any dress or whatever princesses wear while they were in their castles. She was in a plain white shirt, brown riding pants and was covering her golden locks with a hood. Like she didn’t want to be recognized.
“Where are we going?” Link asked, confused, still not moving from the door frame.
“There’s a place close to Hylia Lake that I’d like to see, but I don’t want us to get caught.” She said, a playful smirk on her face before she clapped her hands twice. “Come on! We need to hurry before my Father’s Guards are done with the breakfast!”
Link blinked twice and nodded, moving to his dresser to take off his uniform and wearing just a red hylian tunic, a hood and some brown pants, then he walked towards the princess and closed the door of his room, as silent as he could be while carrying his sword on his back.
He thought that Zelda might have wanted to use some secret passage or anything that princesses did when they wanted to run away, just like he had read in some books about runaway princesses, but she was walking through the halls, maids and knights passing by them but never noticing their princess. Link was really confused by now. They couldn’t recognize their princess even when she was in front of them? Now that was alarming about the security in the Castle.
Zelda stopped behind a pillar and hid from two Royal Guards that were just at the entrance of the stables. Link followed her, looking around in case someone would catch them.
“Come on, where are you…” Zelda whispered as if she was waiting for something to happen. And then Link heard the screams.
“Guards! A Lizalfos in the kitchen!” A woman screamed and the two men left their post to go help the maid that had screamed.
Zelda couldn’t help but giggle and wink at Link. “You can always count on Hugo when you want to escape.”
Link followed her to the stables where their horses were already saddled. He wondered if Zelda had done it herself or if someone else under her command did it in exchange for a bribe. There was no way that the princess was allowed to leave the castle so early in the morning. He wasn’t as surprised that she had saddled the horses as he was at the way she managed to move through the corridors, avoiding everyone as if it was a walk through the market. He decided at that moment that he’d rather be on her good side so he wouldn’t have to look for her if she ever decided to escape.
Zelda walked towards her thoroughbred white horse.She patted its snout and spoke sweet words to it before she leapt onto its back. Link, meanwhile, stayed just by his horse, looking at Zelda with some concern on his face.
“Princess, I don’t know if it's a good idea to leave the castle while it’s still dark.” He said while grabbing the horse’s reins. “Why don’t we go when the Sun is up? That way I’ll protect you the best.”
Zelda rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Nonsense, this is the perfect time to have a morning ride. Besides, I wish to see the monsters’ morning routines, maybe we can learn something valuable today, don’t you think?”
Link stood in front of her horse. “Your Highness, I must insist.”
Zelda scowled. “You can stay if you want, Sir Link, but I’m going to Lake Hylia.”
And with those words, Zelda whipped the reins and started to ride outside the castle, leaving Link behind. It took him a few seconds to realize the princess was escaping just as he foretold, so he jumped on his horse and followed her as fast as he could.
He could see Hyrule Castle Town waking from its slumber, the vendors starting to open their stores, the small talks starting to sound in the distance between some early hylians, the smell of bread coming out of the oven at the bakery. It was hard to imagine this scenery in Hateno Village. He wasn’t used to it yet.
The farther they were from the castle, the more the sun rose, illuminating the city, the hills and the Dueling Peaks in the distance. He was at Hateno Village a day ago and he was now wondering if following the Princess was the best idea for a knight in his position. He didn’t have a name, a flag nor a land. Why would she choose him just like that?
As Link pondered, they rode together for about an hour when they arrived at a stable full of people. Travelers were getting ready to start the day with their bellies full of breakfast. He didn’t recognize the smell, but it made his stomach growl fiercely for the lack of breakfast he had that morning.
Zelda dismounted her horse and Link followed her to the stable’s front desk to let their horses in care of the owner before getting inside the tent.
“We’ll stop here for breakfast,” Zelda said and Link blushed lightly at the thought that she might hear his stomach, “then we’ll plan the best route out of the path to go find, I don’t know, anything!”
The princess was still wearing her hood over her head, maybe that was the reason why no one in that stable was paying attention to them as they walked to one of the empty tables. Even when the maid got closer to ask them if they wanted scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast, she didn’t even look suspiciously at the girl with the hood on.
The maid gave them two cups of the sourest coffee Link had ever tried in his life and left them to get their breakfast, and that’s when he started to feel awkward. They weren’t alone, but they were. He was sitting at the same table with the Crown Princess in Hyrule, and she was just looking around, like a little kid looking at clouds. What in the world could he talk about with her? Was he even allowed to talk with her? And how should he address her? Princess? Highness? Zelda?
“Link? Did you hear me?” The princess was looking at him and he realized she probably had been talking to him for a while.
“I-I’m sorry, I was distracted.” Link drank from his cup and couldn’t help the frown that appeared when his taste buds interacted with the coffee. “You were saying?”
Zelda was having a rough time not frowning with the taste of the coffee, so she faked a cough. “I was saying that if we’re doing this, we need some rules. Number one, not a single word to the King. He’s not enthusiastic about my work.”
So, treason. I’m committing treason to the King with the princess of Hyrule. Great.
“Number two, no monster killing. We want to learn from them, not get rid of them. But, if we get into a compromising situation, I hope we can get out of it without endangering them.”
Treason again, now to my father. This is just great.
“And number three, just Zelda.”
Huh?
Link looked up at her with an arched eyebrow as the maid put their scrambled eggs and toast on the table. Zelda had an amusing smile, making fun of his expression and Link couldn’t help but feel that knot in his stomach again whenever he saw her green eyes. Goddess, he needed to control himself around her.
“So, uhm, am I allowed to not use formalities with you, Prin- I mean, Zelda?” Link asked her and she couldn’t help but laugh.
“Just when we’re not in the castle. I know it might take some time, but I’d like you to trust me on this investigation, like I’m trusting you with my life. I just can’t see any other way to earn that trust but trying to be friends.” Zelda held up her hand to him, waiting for Link to shake it. “So, is it a deal?”
Link took her hand. He couldn’t deny anything to those green eyes.
“Deal.”
Just when they let go and started to eat their breakfast, making sure he wasn’t making a disaster with his lack of manners on the table, Link heard the gasp of the maid and looked at the entrance. That’s when he saw three men covered in blue slime, walking shamefully into the stable. Link knew where that gelatinous substance came from and he couldn’t help but steal a glance at Zelda. She was beaming.
“My goddess, what happened to you?” The maid asked them as she sat them down to a table close to Zelda and Link, and started to wipe their slimey faces.
One of them spit some slime. “Chuchus. We were trying to hunt close to Batrea Lake when those annoying beasts came out of nowhere and started to chase us.”
“Clearly they got us.” Said another one, trying to wipe his face.
The room burst into laughter and Link couldn’t help but join in the mockery. But then he looked at Zelda who was looking at him with an arched eyebrow. He cleared his throat.
Another man, big and with a heavy mustache, stood up and patted one of the men on his back. “Well, that settles it. I need ten strong men to come with me and eradicate these monsters.”
“Link can do it by himself!”
Link looked at Zelda who was suddenly standing on her chair, and the laughter roared again. Everyone in the stable was looking at her, but this time, Link didn’t laugh but scowled. If only they knew they were making fun of the Princess of Hyrule, he would cut their tongues with his blade.
Zelda frowned at them.
“It’s true! He can take five, no, ten white bokoblins at once!”
Link’s eyes widened. “Zelda, stop.” He whispered.
“And I’ve seen him fight a silver lynel with his bare hands!”
“Careful with what you say…”
“And… And he’s on a quest to find the last molduga!”
The big man couldn’t take it anymore and walked towards them, a frown on his face. Zelda looked like a scared puppy and moved out of her chair to hide behind Link, who was grabbing the hilt of his sword, ready to defend her from that man.
The man, instead, towered him. “You think you’re so tough, kid? Fine, go and clean Batrea Lake. We'll be waiting for you, right here.”
The man pushed them out of the stable as the rest of the people laughed and cheered up, not giving Link the chance to speak for himself or to defend Zelda. He wasn’t scared of the task anyway. He could handle some Chuchus, but the fact that Zelda had put them in that position was what annoyed him.
He looked at her and saw that she was getting on her horse again, so he grabbed her by the elbow. “Hey, where do you think you’re going?”
“To Batrea Lake.” She said, looking at him like he was dumb. Maybe he was.
“No way, I’m going to handle this and you’ll stay here, safe.” He said as he held her horse’s reins, she wasn’t going to let her escape again.
“But Link, I have to go with you! It’s my only chance to get closer to Chuchus!” She said, almost pouting at him. “Besides, you promised! You said you wouldn’t kill monsters!”
Link sighed. “If you didn’t want me to kill them, then why did you say those things in there?”
“So they would leave us alone and I can conduct my investigation!” She said as she grabbed her leather journal from her bag, the one she had showed him in her chamber. “Please Link, this is really important to me.”
Link looked at her, then towards Batrea Lake. This was a bad idea. If something happened to the Princess he could get hanged, or worse. He didn’t want her anywhere close to monsters, even if they were just Chuchus. But she was practically begging. How could he say no to her? Zelda had hired him for this. He just couldn’t deny her.
“Fine, but no horses. I don’t want them to get hurt.”
Zelda clapped her hands and squealed in excitement as she started to follow him towards Owlan Bridge, taking her hood off and enjoying the morning sun on her skin. Link had a hard time not looking at her long eyelashes and the freckles on her nose.
Instead, he focused on the path, trying to see if there was any danger around. “So, you know how to use a dagger, Princess?”
She scowled. “It’s Zelda! And yes, believe it or not, I’ve sparred with daggers and swords before. Impa taught me.”
Link lent her his knife, not because he wasn’t going to protect her, but because he didn’t want her to be defenseless. “Just in case.”
They crossed the bridge without any trouble and as they walked, they came across a patch of grass that seemed to be moving on its own. Link unsheathed his sword, ready for anything to jump at them any moment.
“Stay back.” He said, as he saw how Zelda was grabbing her journal and a pen, right behind his back.
Suddenly, a small blue creature jumped out from the grass and landed on Link's head. It was a small Chuchu who, in its panic, lashed out at Link.
“You damn thing!” Link flinched at the impact and Zelda bursted into laughter. He reached for the Chuchu, intent on striking back.
“Link, wait!” Zelda held him back and carefully plucked the creature off of his head. "It's okay, this little thing was just scared."
Link looked down at the Chuchu in her hands, and he could see that it was trembling with fear. He lowered his sword and watched as Zelda examined the creature more closely.
"I think it's a young one," she said. "And I think it was trying to protect its territory."
“What are you talking about?” Link asked her in surprise as he tried to clean the slime from his hair. Never in his life had he ever heard of Chuchus being territorial before. Not that he cared at that moment.
Zelda continued to examine the Chuchu in her hands, how it was twitching in her palms, then looked around on the floor, that's when she noticed that there was a small, hidden crevice in the grass.
"See?" she said, pointing to the crevice. "It's just trying to protect its home."
That’s when they saw a bigger Chuchu jumping out of the same crevice with three smaller ones following it. The one that Zelda had in her hands started to twitch harder and finally jumped out of her hands, getting closer to the bigger one.
Zelda gasped. “Oh Hylia, that’s its mom!”
But Link saw that Miss Chuchu was glaring at them and getting closer. Link recognized that look, so he grabbed Zelda’s wrist.
“Well, time to run, Princess!”
He didn’t wait to explain to Zelda what was going to happen when he started running, dragging her with him, as the Chuchu followed them through the forest, trying to get back at them for hurting its little baby. They ran until they were out of the Chuchus’ reach and that’s when he dropped his sword to the grass and fell to it, out of breath. Zelda, on the other hand, was breathing heavily, but looking back.
“We… We have to come back.”
Link glared at them. “Why? Chuchus remember every face, they’ll attack you the moment they see you approaching.”
“They do?” Zelda marveled with that new insight and started to write down in her journal, mumbling to herself about how amazing those creatures were. “Come on Link, what’s the point of being here if we can’t get close and study them?”
Link wanted the earth to swallow him.
A few hours later, they were hiding behind a small hill close to the crevice the Chuchus family was hiding. Zelda was sketching in her journal Chuchus of various sizes while Link fought the urge to take a nap. He tried to remember anything more boring than lying on the grass waiting for Chuchus to come up so the princess could study them, but it was a hard task.
That’s when he heard Zelda sigh.
“This is pointless.” She said, closing her journal. “I need to see their interactions. What makes them so territorial?”
“That’s easy - they’re monsters.” Link said, eyes closed as he laid on his back, head over his hands. “They’ll attack you at the first chance they have.”
Zelda closed her journal and sat by his side. “Yeah, but the little one didn’t attack me. It was scared, but didn’t do anything to hurt me.”
Link shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe it liked your smell.”
Zelda hummed and Link didn’t like the sound of that, so he opened his eyes just to see her running around, picking up some flowers that were around them, until she made a big bouquet out of Armoranths, Blue Nightshades, Mighty Thistles, and Swift Violets. Then she came back to his side and grabbed her bag to take a bowl out of it.
“How many things do you have in that?” Link asked, looking at her bag.
Zelda smiled at him, as she started to smash the flowers in the bowl with the help of a rock. “You might be a genius, Link. I usually like to use floral perfumes, similar to the flowers that grow in Hyrule. If your hypothesis is correct, we might not only find a way to not kill Chuchus, but also live alongside them without hurting each other.”
Link looked at Zelda’s bowl, how the flowers were now a dark purple paste that looked gross, but smelled good. It almost smelled like her. Not that he was going to say it out loud.
But then, she smeared that paste on his face and all the nice thoughts about her dissolved in his mind. “No! What are you doing?!”
“Testing your theory!” Zelda said with a smile. “Now, leave the sword here and go over there so the Chuchus can smell you! I’ll be here taking notes.”
Link looked at her with a frown on his face and Zelda rolled her eyes. “And I’ll protect you too, don’t worry. Go!”
Link sighed and stood up, fighting the urge to wipe his face and left his sword on the grass. He walked over the crevice and felt the earth rumble when Miss Chuchu appeared again, glaring at him like it did before, but this time, it hesitated between attacking him or getting close to him.
Then the four little ones appeared and moved towards him, attracted to Link since they started to jump around him, as if they were greeting him like a new member of their family. Miss Chuchu wasn’t getting closer, but at least it wasn’t attacking him or glaring at him anymore.
Link felt a twinge of guilt at his initial reaction. He had been so quick to attack in the beginning, not knowing the creature's intentions. He stayed still, smiling at the little Chuchus dancing around him when he heard Zelda running towards them, her face covered with the paste too.
“Yes! You did it! Goddess, this is really amazing!”
The first Chuchu jumped back at Zelda’s arms and she twirled around with the little thing. There was grass on her messy hair, dark purple paste on her face, and still she was the most beautiful woman on Hyrule. Link couldn’t help but blush.
"You know what this means?" She asked as she kept hugging the little monster. "This is the first step of getting an actual connection between monsters and Hylians! Maybe one day, we won't need to kill each other!"
Zelda put the little one down and pulled out the journal. She jotted down notes as the Chuchus circled around her. Link watched her with a mixture of awe and disbelief. But there was something there, a sense of exhilaration that he hadn't felt in a long time. He was starting to realize that working with Zelda was going to be more than just a job - it was going to be an adventure.
Eventually, the creatures retreated back into their home. Zelda and Link made their way back to the stable, discussing their findings as they went.
As they reached the stable, they saw the men that had sent them to kill the Chuchus, and Zelda couldn’t help but run towards them with a smile on her face. “We did it, we did it!”
The big man with the mustache saw her running and stood up, looking at Link. “Well, is it true? Did you kill all the monsters, boy?”
Zelda decided to ignore the fact that he wasn’t addressing her, as Link stood up by her side in silence.
“No, something better!” She opened up her journal and showed her notes to him. “We discovered a way to stop the Chuchus from attacking us. You see, they’re territorial creatures, but if you smell like the flowers in their habitat, not only will they not attack you, but they’ll also recognize you as their own! Isn’t it amazing?”
The men started to laugh at her once again, looking at her as if she was a crazy lady. This time, Link couldn’t help it.
“No, she’s right! We… We covered ourselves with this flower paste and the Chuchus were friendly!”
“Oh, and then you sang a spring song with them?” Another man said, making everyone laugh at them again.
Mustache man wiped a tear out of his eyes and looked at Zelda. “Thank you for the laugh, girl, but tomorrow morning those beasts are meeting my sword.”
“No, wait!” Zelda yelled. “You can’t hurt them, it’s just a mama trying to protect her babies!”
“And what about our babies, girl? Who’s going to protect them?” The man snarled.
“I am! Zelda, Princess of Hyrule!” She said with a frown on her face. Link swore he heard a hint of pride in her voice, something that he had never heard from her. But that wasn’t enough for the men to believe her.
“Right, a dirty girl with twigs in her hair is the Princess.” The man said as he pushed both Link and Zelda out of the stable. “Go, and never come back here.”
Zelda wanted to fight back, but Link grabbed her elbow. “Zelda, let’s go, there’s nothing we can do now.”
Zelda’s eyes were tearing up. “But, the Chuchus…”
“We can only hope they kick that man’s arse. They might not look like it, but Chuchus can be really tough.”
Zelda sobbed but there was a small smile on her face, so that made everything worth it for Link.
They walked to their horses, getting ready to go back to the castle. The guards were likely already aware of Link and Princess Zelda’s absence; her poor little lizalfos pet already in a cage. There was a lot of explaining to do.
“Excuse me, you really are Princess Zelda?”
They turned around and saw a woman, carrying a baby in her arms, while a couple of twins stood by her side, looking up at them with sadness but curiosity in her eyes. Zelda only nodded and got closer to her.
The woman bowed. “Your Highness, I hope it’s not rude of me to approach you like this, but I don’t know what else to do,
“I own a farm in the country. I used to run it with my husband until he died a few months ago. While I don’t have any trouble working the land, it’s hard for me to keep my children safe from the Chuchus that surround our area. Is it true what you said there? That you found a way to keep them at bay?”
Zelda took her journal and began to write in it, then tore the sheet out, folded it, and handed it to the woman with a smile. "Come visit me in the palace one day, I'm sure the King would like to help you. For now, I can only give you this."
The woman grabbed her hand and kissed it, before bowing and leaving them alone. Link stood there, looking at Zelda, thinking about how they were so different.
“Let’s go home.” Zelda said as she got on her horse and they rode together, back to the Castle.