It was a cool night in the desert. Not that it was strange. Link was used to it now, the stark and often jarring difference between daytime and nighttime here. Everyone had warned him of the contrast, but he'd thought they were all exaggerating.

But right now he didn't really feel like he was still in the desert. Sure, he could still see sand and yes, if he pressed his hands to the sand he would surely still feel the lingering warmth within the grains, but the air was deliciously cool and he felt livelier, like he could breathe freely, now.

No matter. This was no time for leisure, no time for rest. He had to reach the princess.
His search for her brought him to the Divine Beast of the Gerudo, and for how still it and the air about it was, he wondered if she were truly here.

But she was.

He found her resting against Urbosa, her head on the Gerudo woman's shoulder. She was dozing soundly. It was a sight he didn't see often. For her to be well-rested seemed a far-off dream, a wish that would never get granted.

Perhaps the princess felt safe here, and with her.

Urbosa was awake, and her wits clearly about her - she noticed his approach though his steps were quiet. He didn't find it strange, though. It was good of her to keep her guard up, even here. She was a trained warrior, of course, and an incredibly well-trained one at that. She wouldn't have been designated a champion, otherwise.

"Ah, well, you certainly got here fast," she said, minding her volume, ensuring her words reached him but weren't so loud that they roused the young monarch beside her. "I should have expected as such, from the princess's own appointed knight." Urbosa's eyes sought out his own and he met them evenly once he came to a stop just a few precious feet behind the pair.

Knowing he wanted an explanation, Urbosa provided one: "She was out on a survey all day today," she began. "Still as the sands now."

Yes, he could certainly see that.

"So," Urbosa prompted pointedly, her piercing green eyes narrowing slightly at him. "Spill it, boy."

...?!

"Have the two of you been getting along all right?"

Oh.

His lack of an answer seemed to amuse her, because she chuckled. "It's ok," she said. "I know. Your silence speaks volumes."

Ah. Good. At least someone thinks so.

"She gets frustrated," Urbosa said, "every time she looks up and sees you carrying that sword on your back. It makes her feel like a failure when it comes to her own destiny." Sensing his unease - she seemed to be good at that - she continued without missing a beat. "Don't worry," she assured him, "it's not like you carry blame in any of this."

No? Is that true? Then why does he feel like he does?

Urbosa looked down at the princess, slumbering against her. "It's unfortunate. She's put in more than enough time."
Yes, that's true. Time and pain and hard work and blood and tears and...

"Ever since she was a young girl," Urbosa went on to explain, "she's gone through rigorous daily routines to show her dedication. She once passed out in the freezing waters trying to access the sealing power."

At least she seemed warm now. But he could imagine it, certainly. Zelda was determined, steadfast, headstrong enough to try anything, everything. Was desperate the right word? Maybe it was. But in a situation as precarious as theirs, he knew the feeling well. They were all right to be desperate. Desperate for a solution, a way to tie this all up neatly.

"And she has nothing to show for it."

He fought the urge to clench his fists. It made him angry, to think she felt that way. It was unfair. It felt childish, but it was all he could come up with. It was unfair.

"That's the motivation driving her research," Urbosa told him. "I'd be doing the same thing." So would he. If he could take this burden from her, he would.
"She really is quite special," Urbosa remarked, running a reverent hand along her hairline, brushing her loose bangs away from her face. "You be sure to protect her with your life."

He would. His life was hers to use.

Urbosa lifted her gaze up to meet his once more, and this time, her painted lips were smiling.

"It's quite the honor."

He knew that well.

"The night brings a chill," Urbosa noted, looking away from him. "It's probably time we take her in."

Yes, he would tend to agree-

"Or," Urbosa said mischievously, following her words with only a single snap of her fingers. Was this a good idea? It was a prank, which were supposed to be funny, right? But would Zelda find it funny? He battled with himself, as much as he could in that split moment: does he rush to be there to comfort and support Zelda when she was inevitably startled awake, or enjoy the harmless prank? Or-

Zelda gasped, her body lurching upwards into an attentive position as her eyes flew open. "Urbosa! What was that?! Did you feel that?"

Her attention slid across her field of sight, trying to figure out what had happened and... settled on Link's figure, who still stood still, unsure what else to do.
"Wait, what-how did you...? What are you doing here?"

And, when Urbosa threw her head back in raucous laughter, Zelda blanched and flushed completely. "What's so funny?!"
He waited for the princess to turn away. Only then did he smile.

—

I will admit that it was slightly easier, this time around, to pass the time while Link was away. Each active moment of mine was spent worrying, you must understand, but I found that I was more easily able to keep myself distracted for long-enough stretches of time to really lose myself in something and pass a few hours before remembering why I was in the desert in the first place.

Some of these activities were purely recreational. The Gerudo women offered classes in dancing and in their throaty singing, and in their weaving and sewing practices, and I took quite a few of them. There were even classes on bartering, the art of trade-making and deal-breaking, which I quite enjoyed. It cost me a pretty penny or two, but I used my personal savings for it instead of the shared pool Link and I had started together.

Besides, it was fun. I needed little other motivation or explanation than that - and besides, Link would have probably approved of money going towards such a cause, anyway.

Other activities were general maintenance and self-care. Bathing in a spring, getting massages, learning new stretches and hell, I even tried journaling.

While it all kept me busy, it still wasn't exactly easy to forget about Link and my worry completely, but that should have been obvious. The first night, I didn't get much sleep. The second night, I was able to sleep, but only for a few hours at a time. The third night... exhaustion ensured I slept, and my sleep was dreamless, thankfully.

I hate this. Hylia, I hate this.

I did at least get news that first day that the young chief had returned to Gerudo Town. I hadn't exactly been granted an audience with her or anything, but as she'd passed through town to return to her palace she and I had locked eyes, and she'd leveled me with an inscrutable, though altogether knowing glance.

It was mid-morning on... perhaps the sixth day that I clambered up atop the wall lining Gerudo Town and sat cross-legged in the shady notch of a corner. The babbling water of the aqueducts rushed behind me, a melodic song that kept the time as I read a book I'd nabbed from the bazaar the other day.

I actually didn't like to admit it, but I was starting to grow used to the dry heat. I didn't enjoy it, I don't think I ever could. My Hylian blood... oh, no. The desert sun was far more than I was used to and far more than I would ever be used to, I was sure. But for the first part of the day, finding a shady spot was nice, and I could duck back into the inn later on when the afternoon heat hit.

I got so lost in my book that I didn't realize when the far-off sandstorm broke, every grain stilling then falling to the packed-down silt that laid within the Divine Beast's path. I don't know when exactly the Beast came to a lumbering stop, but I came to the end of a chapter by the time I noticed. I set my thumb against the page to hold my spot as I glanced up, and I almost didn't notice - I read the first sentence of the new chapter before my eyes came to a stop and I blinked once, then twice.

Wait. What?

The concern that had been gnawing at my stomach and the consistent ache in my chest eased away, replaced only for a moment with confusion. My eyes narrowed as I tried figuring out what was happening - the Beast had clambered up along a gently sloping path and now knelt on the edge of a cliff face, where now it seemed to be at rest, once and for all. For good.

When a laser pierced across the desert from the camel, heading northeast - the direction of Hyrule Castle, a quiet but helpful part of my brain would acknowledge later - I flinched, despite the fact that it was nowhere near me.

I rose to my feet, watching the steady string of light that cut seamlessly across the sky. He'd done it. Link... he'd tamed the beast.
I took a step closer to the edge of the wall, trying to see if I couldn't pick Link out... only to have my eye catch on someone approaching the wall from below at a jog, simultaneously scaring the shit out of me and making my heart leap up into my throat with excitement because there was Link!

...how in Hylia's name had I missed his approach?

(Dear reader, you must remember that there is a Shrine there, and Link can quick travel... technology that is unheard of for a simple resident of Hateno!)

"Link," I exclaimed, my entire being alight with excitement and fire, so completely overjoyed to see him.

I immediately began to climb down the wall, carefully and yet as quickly as I could - and I made to drop down the final few paces, but my feet never hit the sand; instead, Link grabbed me in his arms and began to spin me, his chuckles resonating in his throat. I threw my head back with laughter, setting my hands over his arms, my back to his chest.

"Link," I said again, giggling, for I could feel his excitement in the way he was holding me and understand the relief flooding his body.

"Hey there, firefly," he said, letting me down only long enough for me to turn around to face him.

He had me in his arms immediately, his arms winding around my waist and pulling me to him. I hummed happily, so damn happy to see him - but then I drew away, trying to look at him, at his body, to gauge if he was injured, but he didn't let me create an inch of space between us anywhere.

"Come on, Link," I tried, looking at his broad smile and knowing he was doing it on purpose. He let his eyes meet mine, his eyes sparking but exhausted, relieved yet pained. "Let me see you. You're hurt, I can see it." It was obvious he was holding back a wince, but he was smiling so easily, it was almost enough to make me believe he wasn't actually injured at all.

"Nuh uh," he argued right away, his voice light and his phrasing simple. "I'm not."

"Not what? Not hurt, or not going to let me see?"

"Mm-hm!"

"Honestly," I said with a laugh, smiling when he craned his head up, pressing his forehead to mine. "You're ridiculous."

"So I've heard," he said, closing his eyes contentedly, still holding me in his arms, now pulling me so close that he was leaning back, back, back, so far that my toes lifted up out of the sand. "This girl I know always tells me something like that... that I'm ridiculous. If I didn't know any better, I'd think she meant it."

"Maybe she does," I said, playing along. "Maybe you should just indulge her a little bit and let her make sure you're not injured."

"Or," he said, smiling in a way that let me know that I probably wasn't going to like what he said next, "I can keep holding her." Ok, so I was wrong. "I'm not so injured that I can't do this, at least. I missed you."

"I... I missed you too," I admitted, hoping he could hear it in my voice that I was being completely, unbiddenly genuine. "I missed you so much, Link."

"I'm glad it's mutual," he said happily, his voice soft considering the proximity now that I ducked my head towards his neck. "Because that means you should have no problem if I say I want to take a nap."

"A nap," I repeated, almost in an incredulous manner as I lifted my head away from his. "Right now?"

He grinned boyishly. "Right now. It can't be helped, (Y/n). You're exhausted, look at you. You didn't get a wink of sleep last night, did you?"

"Well, actually-"

"So worried over me, the poor thing," he cooed playfully. "It's settled, then. We should take a nap. Right now."

"You should eat," I protested, "and I should really take a look at your wounds and-"

Link cut me off not with words, but by setting me down gently in the sand and stepping away from me. With his arms outstretched to either side, he walked around himself in a circle, revealing to me that he'd actually managed not to get too outwardly hurt.

A few spots of dried blood clung to his tunic - the one bestowed to him for being a champion, meaning he'd at least had the sense to change out of the Gerudo-wear - but other than that, he seemed perfectly alright.

"I'll tell you exactly what happened," he said surely. "I fell and scraped my back against the sand almost immediately into the mission, so Riju paused it immediately so I could get myself together and change into actual clothes, so my back's all scraped and stuff. And I got a few bruises and bumps and cuts from fighting the Thunderblight. And that's it."

He certainly sounded like he was being truthful, so I sighed and decided to take his word for it. "Alright, then," I said, conceding. "Let's take a nap."

—

I did promise him that I would join him for the nap, but I had a few things to attend to first. I managed to convince him to change, and I got that tunic of his in to soak.

He stubbornly refused to doze off until I joined him, but before I did, I took a quick inventory of what he'd used up and how much of everything we had left and though it only took a few minutes to do so, it had taken far too long in Link's opinion because he stood up just to grab my wrist and pull me down atop the bedspread with him. And there, in the relative privacy of our tented space at the inn, we took a nap.

Perhaps surprisingly, perhaps not, sleep found me relatively easily. I was just happy he was back. It helped that he was laying in my arms, certainly, but I was happy he was here, physically, for me to do so.

"You kept your promise, hero," I'd murmured just before sleep took me by the hand and enticed me to doze off. The last thing I remember consciously feeling and acknowledging was Link's smile against the delicate skin of my neck and the way he pulled me a little closer.

When we awoke, a few short hours later, we stayed inside because we wanted to wait out the worst heat of the day, so we ate lunch and he told me all about the Divine Beast.
...and he told me of his plans for us next.

"There was some confusion about my identity," he had admitted, and I'd perked up mid-bite, because that was certainly interesting in and of itself. "They didn't quite seem to believe that I was the Hylian Champion. Perhaps they didn't want to, perhaps they just couldn't."

"Strange," I had considered. "Wouldn't the Sheikah Slate be a dead giveaway?"

"You'd think so, but no," he said. "Also, I kinda forgot about that, so I didn't think to show it to them."

I'd smiled at that. "Of course not."

"So, next best thing. We've gotta go take back something that belongs to me."

"Hm? What do you..."

The answer came to me as he smiled. It was mischievous, almost. In the way his smile grew, I had a feeling that he knew that I'd figured it out - but he decided to spell it out for me anyway.

"We have to travel to the Lost Woods, find Kokiri Forest, and retrieve the Master Sword."

—

"I've heard of it, but I never thought it was real," she admitted, doing that cute thing where she articulated words with movements of her hands.

Link found himself watching her hands more than her face, which was just as well because she was moving so animatedly his attention couldn't help but be drawn back to her face anyway. She must've noticed him watching her hands because she tucked them deliberately into her lap, hiding them from his view.

They were - at long last - well out of the desert. They'd all but hightailed it away from the sand and the unbearable sun and that cursed dry heat and found themselves here; here being on the bank of a pond sitting along the southern border of Hyrule Field.

After leaving Gerudo Town, they'd passed back through the Kara Kara Bazaar and later, traveled along the road that curled through the Gerudo Canyon. Over the Digdogg Suspension Bridge they went once more, heading ever east.

Here, after several days of travel and taking it rather easy, they decided this spot was as scenic as they could hope for with the backdrop of Hyrule Castle far beyond it. Here, relatively, they were safe. It was a secluded little spot, well-fortified, so it was as good a spot as any to set up camp for a day or two.

A day, per his firefly.

Two days, maybe even three, per her hero.

But for now, they were both content to be here. She was sitting with her legs crossed about her, her hands fidgety now in her lap. Her cheeks were darkened with blush, and she was averting her eyes away from his, but he looked on, unabashed and happy. He just loved being around her. Getting to be the reason she smiled and to make her look away so cutely... it was nice.

He was laying before her on his side, his hand propping his head up and an easy smile on his face. He enjoyed listening to her talk.

...he did. It was a truth that felt like getting into a nice warm bed, one that was your own. It was comfortable and gentle, not surprising at all. And that was wonderful. It wasn't a feeling he knew well, to sleep in a bed that was his own. But he knew without a shadow of a doubt that it felt like this.

Now that he acknowledged it, he could feel his heart thump a little more surely in his chest and he almost missed what she was saying. Actually, it seemed like she'd trailed off, her words drifting away into the air.

"Firefly," Link called, his voice a lilting coo. "Can you do something for me?"

"Hm?" She seemed to forget her embarrassment, and it was replaced by genuine curiosity. "Sure, anything. What's up, Link?"

"Anything," he echoed, perking up a little. "Oh, don't tell me that."

"You know what I mean," she said, laughing a little and the sound had his heart skipping a beat or two. Maybe three. "Don't abuse that privilege."

"Ok, ok," he conceded playfully. "What I want you to do is really simple."

"If it's so simple," she said teasingly, leaning back on her hands comfortably, "then why dance around it so much? Just tell me, Link."

His smile grew mischievous, though still genuine. "Just keep talking, firefly."

"..."

"..."

"Huh?"

"Just keep talking," he repeated to her. "Just talk. Could you tell me more stories?"

"About what?"

"About anything," he supposes.

"Hmm," she said, thinking it over. Then she smirked, meeting his gaze, and he thought that maybe she'd decided on something until she spoke: "You know, you make it kinda hard to think when you look at me like that."

It was his turn to be speechless.

Oh.

Oh!

His smile turned sly and he eased himself closer to her, getting onto his back to rest his head in her lap. He looked up at her with a grin.

"...and like that."

Link chuckled, his laugh catching in his throat when she gently placed her palm over his eyes. "Hey," he protested playfully. "I don't like this. I can't see you!"

"That's the point," she said, maintaining an even tone. "It's easier to think this way."

Link pouted, taking her arm into his hands.
"Please?"

"No," she said.

"Please?"

"Hold on," she said, still thinking.

"Come on, please?"

"And... I got it. I know I've told the story about the Hero of Time, but did you know his adventure didn't end with the awakening of the Seven Sages and the rescue of the princess?"

"It didn't?"

"Nope," she said, with a satisfied air about her. "He went on to have another adventure, once again racing back and forth through and across time, this time to save Hyrule from the moon..."

—

"It's rumored that the Hero of Time, he who kept the moon from crashing down, had his trusted horse and his fairies about him, traveling with him. The Hero of Twilight, a mysterious shadow... The Hero of the Sky, his Loftwing. Every hero has his share of friends, allies, and certainly plenty of enemies... as for you..."

"I've got you," Link said, a smile on his face. "And you're more than enough for me."

I knew how he meant it, and it was incredibly sweet - but I couldn't help but tease him.

"I'm not too much more than enough, now am I?" I asked, easing myself to lay across from him, mirroring his body language.

He chuckled, shaking his head. "No," he answered, "of course not." He adjusted slightly, smiling widely at me. "Someday, they'll tell my story, the same as those other heroes. Right?"

"Right," I affirmed. "One day, when Hyrule is safe..." I laughed lightly. "I'll probably be the worst offender. I'll tell your story to everyone who asks, and even everyone who doesn't."

That made Link's smile turn somewhat bashful and his cheeks warm. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," I said, smirking, because it was adorable how suddenly embarrassed he was. "I'll tell everyone just how chivalrous, how brave, how strong you are. How you beat all the odds, heading out alone into the wilds of Hyrule to defeat foes more terrible than possibly imaginable..."

"Well," he considered, "I don't exactly head out alone, now do I?"

"As for the big battles, you do," I reminded him. "Still, I guess you're right. You're not alone because you've got me."

Link said nothing, for a moment. He seemed to really think about my words and I very quickly lost track of time passing by as I lost myself in his eyes.

Hopelessly lost, it took him saying something for me to find myself: "You're something else, (Y/n)."

"Hm? I hope that's a compliment."

"It is," he assured me. "It is. I promise. I just mean that no one in their right mind would choose this, you know? But you're in your right mind, and you did choose this, which is what I mean. You're something else, but you're incredible, you know?"

I glanced away, suddenly bashful. But why? Why bother being bashful? I couldn't help it, though I wanted to. I wanted to look at him and say something in kind but it was difficult. Link hummed thoughtfully, amusedly, and at that, I looked over at him, pulled away and distracted from my bout of embarrassment.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Because," he said simply, as though that explained it, and perhaps to him, it did, though all it did for me was leave me hopelessly lost. "I think we've traveled enough for one day, no?"

"I said we were stopping for lunch," I reminded him, though my smile had by now returned to my face, "not for the day. Or did you fill up too much?"

"Oh, no, not at all," he said. "As a matter of fact, I am raring to go. Just... not on the road." He was on his feet in a matter of seconds, taking my hand between his own and pulling - no, yanking - me to my feet unceremoniously.

"Wait, wait, wait, I-"

"Come on, firefly! Let's race!"

"We only just tied up the horses, they could use some more rest-"

"Not on horseback, you silly girl," he said with a laugh, already starting to walk quickly, clearly resisting the urge to break into a full spring right away. "Now, come on!"

"Alright, alright," I conceded, laughing.
And then he began to run, dragging me along with him.

It was less of a race, and I'm sure he knew that. With the two of us running alongside each other, there was no winner, and no loser. Just two fools, running nowhere at all in particular.

Neither of us seemed to mind, of course. We just kept running.