Hyrule Castle…

A very important celebration was taking place at Hyrule Castle. It was the day that the heiress apparent to the throne, Princess Zelda, would turn seventeen years old. It was an open-door celebration, as all of the residents of the Castle Town had been invited, and many kings, princes and nobles from the nearby lands had also come to pay their respects to the young princess.

The Princess was a rather tall young woman with a slender figure. She had very long, blond hair, which was tied in a long braid held by a golden held by a golden hairclip with a bright blue gem, very similar to that of the tiara she wore on her head, which also matched her own eyes, and had fair skin. She had always been considered as one of the most beautiful young women inside and outside the borders of the kingdom, and that day was no exception. Wearing an elegant, sapphire-blue party gown, which just only flattered even more her shapely figure, and the scarce makeup consisting only of some light eyeshade and a dark pink lipstick that didn't hide at all the natural beauty of her face, she never ceased to attract the attention of all the guests.

Even though she had spent the entire day greeting and showing an ample smile to her guests, inside she felt somewhat sad. After dancing a couple of songs with some of the guests, she felt somewhat tired and decided to take a sit and have a drink.

"This is so boring." She sighed.

Fortunately, there was nobody close enough or paying attention to hear her. Even though it was her birthday, which was supposed to be a special day for her, her evident boredom and sorrow were more than justified. There was a very special person in particular she wanted to see that day, but unfortunately, for circumstances out of his reach, he was unable to attend.

"Taking a break?"

Zelda looked upwards to meet the gaze of her mother, Queen Selena. A mature lady, who shared a strong physical resemblance with her daughter, especially their facial traits, skin tone and eye color, although the Queen's hair was a darker shade of blonde. Even though she was in her early forties, she seemed at least a decade younger, and she irradiated the kind of beauty and elegance that is only reached with maturity.

"Yes, I needed it," Zelda admitted. The Queen took a seat next to her. "In the end, he couldn't come."

"I'm really sorry," the Queen said in a compassionate tone. "But he needed to do this, you know that. You both need to take on your responsibilities. Everything will be worth it in the end."

"Yes, I know, Mother," Zelda replied. "But that doesn't mean I have to like it."

"No, of course not."

It was clear that the Queen was a very understanding and empathetic woman, at least with her daughter. Which made sense, since they both were the only living close family left to each other, and Zelda's father had passed away when she was just a child. The Queen had loved her husband so much, she swore upon his grave that she would care for their daughter, and never to marry again. Even by herself, she proved a strong-willed woman, capable of carrying on her shoulders the responsibilities of ruling the kingdom, but that didn't make her forget her maternal duties.

Mother and daughter loved each other dearly, and Zelda expected someday to become as good as Queen Selena when her time came.

After some "mother-to-daughter" chattering, two people approached them. One of them was a man in his forties or fifties, greenish-blond hair, a thick moustache and beard, brown eyes and a somewhat annoyed expression. The younger man next to him was clearly his son, as he had the same hair and eye colors. They both wore the same elegant, purple formal robes, with a cape held by a brooch with a coat-of-arms. Zelda recognized it immediately: the silhouette of a winged dragon, the crest of the Bern Royal Family, one of the closest neighbor nations to Hyrule.

"It's been a long time, Queen Selena," the older man said in a respectful tone.

"Indeed. A pleasure to see you again, King Desmond," the Queen replied in the same manner.

"Likewise," the man, King Desmond, answered. "Allow me to introduce you to my son, Zephiel."

"Your Majesty." The young Prince, Zephiel, courtly bowed before the Queen.

"My wife, Hellene, sends her apologies for not being able to attend in person, and so does our daughter, Guinivere," the King continued. He then turned his attention towards Zelda. "Well, would you look at this? Your daughter has grown quite a bit since the last time I saw her, she's becoming a full-fledged lady. Don't you agree, my son?"

"Of course, Father." The Prince agreed, looking at Zelda with an appreciative eye, and leaning to take her hand and kiss it. "It is a pleasure to meet in person you at last, Princess Zelda. The portraits I have seen make no justice to your beauty."

"Thank you, I'm flattered," Zelda answered. Although she only spoke that aloud out of courtesy. Zelda was not vain with her looks at all, and actually, she had been called beautiful so many times, it actually made her feel uncomfortable.

"Strangely enough, you don't seem particularly cheerful today," the Prince commented. "After all, it's your birthday we're celebrating."

"My daughter just feels a little tired, that's all," the Queen intervened, and then stood up. "Zelda, King Desmond and I have a lot to talk about. Would you mind if we leave you two alone for a while?"

"No, not at all," the Princess answered. With that, the king and queen walked away. Prince Zephiel, meanwhile, took the seat previously occupied by the queen next to Zelda.

"I was really looking forward to meet you." Zephiel said. "My father speaks very well about you."

"Really?"

Zelda knew that her mother and King Desmond were very close friends since their youth. In fact, the queen once showed her daughter some of her old diaries, and through some of the entries she learned that King Desmond once competed with Zelda's father for her hand in marriage. Despite the loss, King Desmond bore no ill will, and both nations still maintained a cordial relationship as allies. Eventually, King Desmond married the princess of another nation, and even though they had some disagreements at first, they came to get along and were very happy together.

Zelda had only seen King Desmond in very few occasions, mostly when there were diplomatic meetings held in Hyrule Castle, but he had never brought along his children. This was the first time she spoke to Zephiel.

"I've heard that you're a woman of many talents," Zephiel continued.

"Just a few, perhaps," Zelda humbly answered.

Saying "just a few" was underselling herself. Inside and outside the kingdom, many knew that the Princess was a prodigy child in many fields. A very intelligent student, capable of memorizing her books in a very short time, she had a natural grasp for magic and sorcery, with many saying that her potential was even greater than that of her mother, who was considered as the most powerful sorceress of their time, and besides, her talent also extended to arts: she had a beautiful singing voice, she could dance and play beautiful melodies with her harp. The last few were mostly a hobby to her, although like everything she did, she always made her best effort and enjoyed them in full.

"My father said that you have musical talent," Zephiel said, clearly interested. "Would you mind if I asked you for a performance? I'd love to see it by myself."

"I don't see why not," Zelda agreed. "If you excuse me for a moment."

The Princess stood up and walked towards the musicians. It would take too long to go to her room to find her own harp and it wasn't polite to have the guests waiting, so she asked them to borrow one to perform a song. The conductor allowed her to take one, and immediately called out to make the announcement.

"Please, may I have your attention?" he called, hitting his music stand with his baton. "Listen, everyone, her Royal Highness, Princess Zelda herself has requested to delight us all by performing a song."

The thunderous applause came immediately. Zelda stood up on the stage in front of everyone. It was fortunate that she didn't have stage fright, since she had already done her fair share of musical recitals, many of them even solo, so facing an audience was nothing new to her. She waited for everyone to calm down to begin her performance. She wasn't going to just play the melody, she was going to sing the lyrics with her own voice.

The song in question was a harp version of the Ballad of the Goddess, a song passed down for generations in the royal family since the times of the Goddess Hylia herself. While it usually required an orchestra, her solo performance with her harp and her beautiful voice was enough to mesmerize her audience.

Once she had concluded, everyone in the hall exploded in applause once more. Zelda bowed respectfully and gave back the harp. From their place, King Desmond and Queen Selena kept looking at the young princess the whole time, the former with special interest.

"I see that your daughter's talent hasn't diminished a bit in all these years," he commented.

"She never stops practicing," the Queen said with pride.

 The King nodded. "I'm glad to hear that. Which reminds me, there's another point I'd like to talk about. Selena, decades ago I offered you the chance for our kingdoms to unite definitely. I'd like to renew that offer today."

"Desmond, I've already told you," the Queen answered. Her voice was polite, yet firm. "I swore upon my husband's gravestone that I wouldn't marry again, and I won't betray that promise. Besides, let me remind you that you already have Hellene."

"I'm offended that you think me capable of that," the King replied. "I'd never disrespect my wife, or the memory of your husband, who was a great friend to me in his lifetime. No, dear, I'm not talking about us."

He looked again towards Zelda, who went back to talking to Prince Zephiel. It was then that the Queen got the message. When they were young, the (then) Prince Desmond was one of the candidates who presented themselves to compete for her hand in marriage, since at the time, the Kingdom of Bern was interested in placing the Holodrum region under its protection, due to its vast and fertile soils, full of natural flora and fauna reserves. The (then) Princess Selena, the heiress of the most important noble house in Holodrum, however, chose to marry Prince Daphness, the heir to the crown of Hyrule, thus the region was now part of the Hyrulean Kingdom. It seemed like Desmond still didn't give up his hopes, but instead placed them on his son, now going for a much, much bigger one.

The King spoke up once more. "The union between our kingdoms can be beneficial to both of us. Bern's military force can offer you all the protection your citizens need, and Hyrule's natural reserves can help us in preserving our own species. My son is already of marriageable age."

The Queen gazed at their young heirs. Certainly enough, Prince Zephiel saw Zelda with clear interest. But the Queen could see that her daughter didn't seem to be nearly as enthusiastic. While the alliance itself was a tempting offer, she couldn't take it lightly. There were many things to consider.

"My daughter deserves a say in this, if it involves her," the Queen said with determination.

"That will not be a problem," King Desmond said. "My son must be discussing it with her in this very moment."

Neither of them said a single word more. King Desmond seemed to be quite sure that Zelda would accept the proposal without question. Queen Selena, on the other hand, wasn't so sure about it. She knew her daughter very well, and she'd have more than one reason to refuse.

Indeed, Zephiel had managed to start a conversation with Zelda. Despite her initial reluctance, Zelda had to admit he was behaving as a real gentleman. Maybe he sounded a little pompous with his over-the-top formality, but at the very least he didn't seem to be like those arrogant nobles who just talked about themselves or their kingdoms nonstop. Instead, he seemed more interested in Zelda herself, since he asked things about her and the kingdom of Hyrule. His curiosity satisfied, Zephiel finally felt that Zelda had dropped her defenses, and he could finally go after what he wanted.

"Princess Zelda, I wish to make you a proposal," he said. "For years, our kingdoms have always maintained cordial relationships as allies, however, I'm certain that we could reach an age of even greater prosperity, together."

Zelda felt a little chill going down her spine. Deep down she knew what this meant. It wasn't the first time, and she was certain it wouldn't be the last. She was already preparing her response, but for the moment, she'd let him speak freely.

"The Kingdom of Bern has the greatest military force in the continent, which will ensure the total protection for Hyrule. And the wide array of environments Hyrule possesses will allow us to expand our natural horizons. Uniting our kingdoms would benefit us both greatly. I've wanted to meet you in person for a long time, and now that I've finally done it, I'm really impressed, with your beauty and talent. Princess Zelda…" He held her hands. "Would you accept marrying me?"

Just as she imagined. Well, she had no choice but to have a couple of seconds to take a deep breath and give him an answer.

"Prince Zephiel… as honored I feel that you've taken a shine to me, I'm afraid I cannot accept your proposal."

"Why do you say so? Do you think me a bad prospect?"

"Well, I wouldn't say that. But, in the first place… I'm still not in legal age to get married," Zelda explained. That was true, she was still one exact year away from turning eighteen so she could legally get married. "And in the second place, we've just met each other."

Prince Zephiel seemed to get the grasp of what she was trying to say. And she had a valid point, if she didn't want to marry someone she had just met, he couldn't force her. It wasn't like he was in a hurry to marry her immediately, right?

"Since you put it that way, could you give me one year? We could take that time to get to know each other better." Zephiel offered. "And by then, you could legally accept it."

Zelda remained silent. Obviously he wasn't gonna let up so easily, but at least she had been given a year to consider it.

"I'll think about it," Zelda replied. "I beg your leave, I'm going back to the party."

Zelda walked away back to the party. When she said that she'd "think about it" she actually meant to say "No" definitely. Zephiel seemed like a good person, but the Princess knew appearances to could be deceiving, and at the time she had no way to know how Zephiel could react to an open refusal. On her own experience, she knew of many heirs who always received what they wanted in a silver platter, and when they were refused something, in the best case scenario they could throw a spoiled child tantrum, and in the worst they could start incidents that could threaten the diplomatic stability. The last thing she wanted at the moment was to cause an incident that could have consequences beyond the borders of Hyrule. One year seemed like enough time to better prepare and deal with it in the best of manners. She was planning to talk to her mother about it later as well.

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A couple months later…

In the two months following Zelda's birthday, Prince Zephiel tried to make good on her promise of "getting to know each other better". However, even though they treated each other cordially, their respective duties with their kingdoms did not allow them to see each other very often, as Zephiel only came when there were diplomatic meetings along with his father, thus their encounters were few and relatively short. Not enough to get to know each other, let alone to establish a "friendship" or something similar. Even though he never mentioned the marriage proposal again, his manner of speech made it clear that he had not forgotten.

Nevertheless, for better or worse, in their fifth meeting King Desmond announced that both he and his son would be traveling across the continent, meaning they couldn't see each other in a very, very long time. Zelda was worried about the time of giving him the definite answer, which she had already decided. Zephiel offered to keep in touch by letter, but Zelda kindly turned it down. She said she wasn't very fond of that.

That night she couldn't get much sleep. Between the fact that she tried to catch up with her duties until very late, and Prince Zephiel's proposal still spinning around in her head, that still kept her awake.

While she did expose valid points to refuse, at least for the time being, she left out the most important one. One she wasn't sure she could say in public, but undoubtedly the main reason. The fact was that she couldn't just say it out loud, for she had no way to know how Zephiel, or everyone else, especially her mother, would react if they knew.

Amazing as it was, it had been a long time since her heart no longer belonged to her. She wasn't sure when it happened, or if it was gradual, but she didn't care.

When she was a little girl, Zelda didn't have many friends. She had always been a shy girl who had trouble socializing with people, which was in great part due to most of the heirs of the neighboring kingdoms were notably older than her.

That changed when her mother brought to the castle a young boy who was close to her age. His name was Link, and he was of humble origins (his grandfather was a blacksmith, and he was his apprentice), but the boy had earned the honor upon participating in the organized tournament for young swordsmen who aspired to enter the Royal Guard, the youngest one in doing so. The Queen had seemed to notice that her daughter felt very lonely sometimes since she didn't have anyone to play with, so she brought Link to give her company from time to time. Since then, the two became inseparable.

Still somewhat sleepy, Zelda got up from her bed, and went towards her bathroom to wash her face, trying to wake herself up. She couldn't show herself with eye bags or any other sign of being sleepy. She had to perform her royal duties. Once she was done, she went to her closet to get dressed and went downstairs to take her breakfast.

The morning went by very slowly. After her breakfast, she almost collapsed twice upon her desk during her classes. The elderly professor was not happy with that, even questioning if "his classes were too boring". Zelda just limited herself to apologize and tell him the truth, she felt tired and had trouble staying awake. Making an effort, she managed to endure the class until the old man said she could leave.

After lunch, she asked her mother for permission to take a walk through the castle's courtyards. She said maybe she needed some fresh air.

And upon walking out to the courtyards, specifically the central one, which was the biggest and wider of them all, she found the real reason of wanting to take a walk. There was the object of her admiration and affection, a young swordsman, surrounded by a lot of training dummies in a circle around him.

This young man was Link. He seemed to be of a similar age as Zelda, he was tall and with a strong build. His skin was somewhat tanned, in contrast to Zelda's fair skin, and he had dark blue eyes. He wore a green tunic with a chainmail underneath, white pants, and a green floppy cap covering his messy, dirty blond hair. He wore fingerless gloves, covered with silver gauntlets on the back, dark brown leather boots, and a matching belt holding the tunic in place. The most notable of his garments, perhaps, was the long blue scarf he wore around his neck, held in place by a silvery guard on his left shoulder. In the end that was left hanging there was an embroidery with the crest of Hyrule's royal family. The scarf made him stand out as a member of the Hyrulean Royal Guards, and personal bodyguard of the heiress to the throne.

The reason he had taken a leave of absence was because the Queen had sent him on a special training course, as a preparation before giving him the official post as the Princess' personal bodyguard. Said training was what prevented him from attending her birthday party. It goes without saying that neither of the two was happy with it, but they were circumstances out of their control.

At least, he was back now, and that was all that mattered. Besides, during that time, Zelda had kept in touch with him through letters, him being the only person she would do that with. That was another reason she declined Zephiel's offer, she was already writing letters with a special person and she didn't like the idea of sharing that with someone else.

Link was standing in the middle of the circle, holding his sheathed sword on his back, he ran towards the dummy he had in front and quickly drew it, delivering a clean vertical cut to split the dummy in half. Without stopping, he turned to the next one and cut its head off with a horizontal slash. The third one went down with a diagonal cut, and quickly the others followed suit in a similar fashion, until none of them was standing. Having finished, the young man re-sheathed his sword.

"Bravo, most impressive," Zelda said, clapping her hands to get his attention.

"Huh?" Link turned around, to see the princess approaching. He was so focused on his training he hadn't noticed she has watching. "Princess, I didn't know you were here."

"I apologize, I couldn't help but watch," Zelda said. "And let me remind you, when we're alone, you can drop the formalities. We are friends, aren't we?"

"Sorry, force of habit… Zelda," he replied, calling her just by her name. It was a sign of affection and trust between them. He was the only one whom she would allow to address to her in such familiar terms. "Did you need something?"

"Don't worry, I just needed some air," Zelda replied. "I couldn't get much sleep last night."

"I see. Sorry I didn't tell you I was here, I just came back," Link apologized. "And I'm sorry I missed out your birthday."

"Trust me, you didn't miss out much." Zelda smiled at him. "You would have been bored to death."

"That bad?"

"You have no idea," Zelda replied. "Next year, I'd like to have a more normal, or if possible more active one, that would be better. Also, I want my best friend to be there as well."

"So do I. Which reminds me, I have a present for you. Two months later, but better than never. Wait for a moment."

Link walked towards a corner, where he had left his belongings, mostly his training equipment, weapons and whatnot. He took something that looked long and thin, wrapped in a red cloth. He walked back and placed it on the Princess' hands. Filled with curiosity, she carefully unwrapped the cloth, and marveled at what she saw. It was a rapier sword, long and slim. The hilt was made of pure gold, and the blade clearly had been forged on the finest silver she had ever seen, she could almost see her own reflection on it.

"I had to get some help for the hilt, but I made the blade myself," Link said. "Do you like it? In your last letter you said you wanted to learn some swordplay, so I thought…"

Zelda didn't let him finish, she immediately jumped to hug him tightly. There was no doubt, this was the best gift she had ever received.

"Thank you… thank you so much."

"You're… welcome…" Link replied, a tad surprised by the princess' sudden affectionate outburst, although deep inside he wouldn't complain.

Zelda finally let go of him, and started swinging around her new rapier to test it. It felt so light, like a feather, it was so easy to wield. Definitely it had been made for her. Link saw with satisfaction how the princess looked like as happy as a little girl with a new toy.

Even so, he felt he had to ask her something, something he wanted to now since she wrote that letter expressing her wish to learn how to wield a sword.

"Zelda, can I ask you something? Why do you want to learn swordplay?"

"Isn't it obvious? To take care of myself."

"Yeah, but… correct me if I'm wrong, but with your talent for magic and sorcery, I don't get the point," Link said, trying not to offend her.

Everyone, Link included, knew that the princess was a prodigy for the magic and sorcery arts. In just a few years she had mastered some very powerful spells, and she was perfectly capable of using them to protect herself. Queen Selena herself had said that her daughter's talent surpassed her own at the same age, and that was saying a lot. Zelda, knowing already what was going through Link's head, gave him her answer.

"Magic has its limitations too," she explained. "It's not a bad idea to be prepared, you never know when it could come in handy."

That last part was true. While Zelda was capable of casting very powerful magic, that required focus, concentration, and many times (quite often, really) it took some time. Facing against an enemy at a short distance would render her magic useless if she couldn't recite the incantation or gather up the necessary energy, an opponent armed with a sword or any other close combat weapon could easily bury a few inches of steel in her heart by the time she made it. That was an inherent weakness to those who focused on magic, and of course Link himself already knew that.

"Link… will you teach me how to wield it?" Zelda asked.

"Why me?" Link said. "There's already a swordplay instructor in the castle."

"You're better than him," the Princess declared as a matter of fact. "The last time he didn't last for five minutes before you disarmed him."

Link laughed upon remembering that episode. Said instructor said that "he'd teach one or two things" to the young swordsman, but it was he who ended up schooled. In contrast with the instructor's rigid and predetermined swordplay style, Link's was more unpredictable and unorthodox, which gave him a tactical edge he knew how to use on his favor, and just in a matter of minutes he knocked his opponent's sword out of his hands. Such was the impression he made, Queen Selena decided to name Link as Zelda's personal bodyguard.

"Alright, you win." Link agreed. "But we need to talk about this with your mother. Plus, we also need to get you proper gear for training."

"I'll do anything it takes," Zelda said. "I just want to start as soon as possible."

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A few days later…

It wasn't too hard to convince Zelda's mother to let her train under Link in the art of the sword. Neither did they take too long to prepare her proper garments for the task. Zelda felt somewhat uncomfortable, since her outfit had an open skirt to allow her for free movement with her legs. She accepted it was necessary, but having her legs so wide open was embarrassing for her.

At Link's request, they added more equipment. Some protective gear, specifically some armlets, a chest-plate with shoulder pads, and knee-high boots. These were made of metal, but not as heavy so Zelda could move without much difficulty. Even so, she felt somewhat weird.

"You know, that dull metal doesn't go well with that outfit," Link commented on it.

"I don't like it very much myself, but it's the best we have," Zelda said. "Maybe I could order some custom-made gear… and with a more attractive design."

"We'll have time for that later," Link said. "Come on now, you have any questions before we begin?"

"Hmm…" Zelda thought for a bit. "Just one. Specifically, why did you chose the sword as your personal weapon? What I mean is, why a sword, why not a spear or an axe, or any other, so to speak?"

"You might call it a… natural affinity. You know that my grandpa used to forge weapons for a living, and he taught me everything I know about them," Link explained. "Swords are versatile weapons, and it's easy to learn how to wield and get used to them. Axes have a greater striking power, but they're too heavy for my taste, and spears have good reach but they're rather limited on how you can use them. If you know this, it's easier to choose a weapon better suited for you. Even amongst swords, they're very different from one another. Depending on the length, sharpness, width or hardness, they're suited for different combat styles, and you need to know how to use those characteristics. In your case, since you're not as physically strong, the rapier is an excellent weapon. I, on the other hand, prefer a double-edged, one-handed sword. Normally you need both hands to use some of these, but I've trained hard to wield this one with just one hand."

"So I have noticed," Zelda replied.

"As for the rapier, the power is focused mostly on the tip, so it's excellent for thrusts," Link continued. "With it, you need to focus on attacking specific spots, that is, going for vital points or unprotected areas. My style is different, since a long sword allows me to take advantage of the striking force to attack even in protected zones, and I mostly use the edge on the middle zone of the blade, but the principle applies in the same way."

"I understand." Zelda nodded.

"In any case, no matter your combat style or the weapon you use, never forget the prime rule." Link extended his own sword to illustrate what he said. "Don't see the weapon as a tool, or depend entirely on its power. Think of it as an extension of yourself, like it's a part of your arm extending your natural reach."

"That sounds very deep."

"Now, let's begin with the basic movements. First on the offensive. Essentially, there are just three of them. Vertical slash, horizontal slash, and thrust."

"Just three?" Zelda was confused. "But I've seen you do a lot more than that…"

"Listen, Zelda," Link interrupted her. "Any sword technique is based on these three movements. They might be simple and easy to learn, but they're hard to master. Today we'll practice on that. Follow my lead, okay?"

Zelda watched Link carefully as he explained the principles behind each movement. Simple as they might sound, each of them had its secret. It wasn't just swinging the sword around, it was also important to keep in mind the position for proper footing, and how to move the feet to increase the strength of a strike upon giving a step towards the opponent, how much force to apply in the strike for maximum efficiency. Link also explained that if at some point he made a "diagonal slash", this was mostly either vertical or horizontal depending on the angle he swung the sword. Having understood, Zelda started making some repetitions for each movement to get used to them. About one hour later, Link decided to move on to the next step.

"Alright, now you've gotten the hang on the offensive part, let's go now to the defensive one. Just like the attack, the defense uses a rather simple principle, but it has its trick. If your opponent does a vertical slash, you counter with a horizontal parry. If it's a horizontal slash, you do a vertical parry."

"And what if it's a thrust?" Zelda asked.

"That part… is a little more complicated," Link answered. "We'll get to that when I teach you dodging techniques, alright? Now, we're going to practice attack and defense simultaneously. Let's see if you've understood well."

The two of them went towards the central area of the courtyard, where there was more room to move. Link took his distance and drew his own sword.

"Take your position," he asked Zelda.

Taking a deep breath, Zelda held her rapier with both hands, pointing forward with the tip. Link shook his head upon seeing her stance.

"No, no, no, that's so wrong," he said.

"Why?"

"You want me to hit you like this?" Link said, gently tapping her on the back of the hand slightly with the sword's blunt side. "Or like this?" he added, turning the sword around and tapping her again, this time on her left shoulder. "With that stance, you're leaving your vital points all in the open."

Zelda said nothing, she was starting to feel somewhat stupid. But Link was the expert after all, and she wanted to learn.

"Let me explain. When you're facing your opponent, place your body sideways towards them, with your dominant foot stepped forward. Your off hand goes on your waist. With the other hand, point your sword at your opponent."

"And what is that good for?" Zelda asked.

"I'll show you," Link said, as he took the same stance he told her before. "Now, try and attack me."

Zelda didn't understand what he meant to say, although at first glance she assumed that by placing the body sideways, he minimized the uncovered zones his opponent could attack, and the sword itself would cover some of the ones that remained exposed. As Link said, she tried to lunge at him with a thrust, but Link just made a simple move with his own sword, parrying the attack to a side, and at the same time leaving her exposed for a counterattack. Zelda stepped back upon seeing the tip of Link's sword so close to her face. Clear evidence that she had just made a grave mistake that in a real combat could have even cost her life.

"You get it now?" Link pulled back his sword. Zelda just nodded. "Let's try that again."

The lesson continued pretty much the same way. They both alternated positions of attack and defense every once in a while. So as to not to make it too easy, Link sped up the pace of his attacks and occasionally varied to prevent Zelda from getting overconfident. The purpose of this was to get Zelda to learn the movements by heart so they were more and more fluid every time. Link admitted that, for just a beginner, she wasn't doing too badly, but she still had a long way to learn.

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One more month later…

Four weeks were enough for Zelda to get the hang of the basic movements. Link was quite pleased with his pupil's prowess. Zelda had managed to learn the foundations of the horizontal and vertical slashes, and Link had also taught her how to chain them for combined attacks much earlier than he expected. Today, it was the time to move on to the next training level: dodging skills.

When Zelda arrived to the courtyard, she noticed Link had brought along what looked like a very huge rug, which he had extended all over their usual training area.

"Well, well, you're early today," Link greeted her.

"What is the rug for?" Zelda asked. Upon looking closer, she saw it had a large red circle, with a smaller, blue one inside.

"Since today we're starting with the dodging skills, this'll help in illustrating it better." Link explained. "It's just temporary, you'll have to practice without it later."

Link stood on the center of the rug, inside the blue circle, and took his guard stance.

"I'm sure you must be wondering why the rug has these circles." Link said. "The blue circle is, in a manner of speech, your personal domain. It's the zone under your control during the combat. Of course, in a real duel it's not gonna stay there, it'll move along with you."

"I see." Zelda understood what he meant.

"Now, the red circle is a shared space between you and your opponent." Link continued. "It's the zone where you and your opponent will face and interact with each other. Outside of it, that's your opponent's domain. That zone is always out of your reach."

"I think I understand, but I still don't know how can this help me?" Zelda asked.

"Once again, we need a demonstration," Link said. "I'm not going to move out of this circle, meanwhile, you can attack me, in any way you want, and from wherever you want."

With that said, Zelda drew her rapier and prepared to attack, she raced forward towards Link to deliver a backhand horizontal slash. Link just blocked it and pushed her back. Zelda tried to circle around him to attack again, but Link never took his sight from her, and stopped her the same way. Link stopped every of Zelda's attempts in the same fashion, never countering or moving outside of the circle, only pushing her backwards to drive her away, just like he had said. After ten failed attempts, Link finally decided to come forward.

"This is the mistake you're making," he explained. "You're starting your attack from outside of the red zone. That way, I have enough time to predict and parry without any problem."

Zelda analyzed what Link had just told her. Indeed, she always initiated her attack from afar, and she also realized that Link deliberately pushed her outside of the red zone every time. That was what he tried to show her.

"If your opponent attacks from outside the red zone, it's relatively easy to block and there's no need to dodge. Of course, you can use that time to fully evade the attack instead of parrying if you want to avoid danger altogether."

"It helps that you're physically a lot stronger than me, and that's why you pushed me away, am I right?" Zelda smiled, giving him a somewhat accusing glare.

"Heh, well, I admit that it gives me an edge." Link scratched the back of his head. "It's easier when you're facing an opponent who weighs less than you. It can be done with heavier or same weight foes, but that's a little more complicated."

"I would imagine," Zelda said.

"But we're practicing your dodging skills, right? This time, come at me only with thrusts. It'll be the best way to show you what I'm trying to teach."

Zelda complied immediately. She rushed to deliver the first thrust towards Link, but he stepped backwards, leaving his other foot in place, and then spun the body and evaded. Zelda took her distance and attacked again the same way, and Link once again evaded the attack with the same movement.

"This is the most basic way of dodging a melee strike." Link said. "Hold your back foot in place, and using it as a pivot, rotate your whole body to get away from your foe's weapon."

Zelda analyzed what Link had just said, as she kept striking at him. Link dodged her strikes in the same fashion once and again. For some reason, Zelda couldn't help but associating the movements of Link's feet with the ones she usually did when taking dancing classes. Of course, Link's footwork was a lot rougher and less refined, since he was moving to fight, not to dance. Nevertheless, Zelda wondered if she could apply that same principle.

"Now it's time to put them to work, ready?"

"Of course," Zelda said firmly.

The young couple exchanged positions. This time it was Link who went on the offensive. His strikes at first were weak and predictable at first, but he gradually picked up the pace. Zelda was having trouble to make the correct move to spin her body when Link began to attack with more speed, until she finally gave a wrong step, tripped over and fell flat on her rear.

"We need to work more on that," Link sighed, as he extended his hand to help her up.

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Another month and a half later…

Zelda didn't cease to fall flat on her rear immediately. The Princess did understand the trick in theory, but in practice her feet usually got tangled with each other when Link sped up his attacks. Upon watching more closely, she noticed that Link, to spin his body, used the heel as the pivot, and that was the center of gravity for the rotation. It worked for him, but apparently not for her. So she decided to try something different: instead of using the heel as the footing point, she tried to use the tiptoe. Link took notice of this, and he said it was not a bad idea, if it worked better for her, she was free to do so.

With this problem solved, Zelda mastered the evasion technique in no time. As the training progressed, Link had the strange impression that Zelda seemed to be performing a dance, since she moved with an air of grace and elegance when she evaded his strikes. Unconsciously, he had started to extend the time of that exercise, if only to admire the Princess' movements. She, of course, made no objections. Zelda had decided to incorporate the dance steps she practiced in the technique, and amazingly not only they proved to be very effective, but also, as Link said, they were "stylish". Link was glad that his disciple went further to take the initiative, instead of just making do with his lessons.

"Today, we're practicing everything you've learned so far," Link announced. "It's time to leave the rug behind, from now on, you'll have to rely on your own skill."

Zelda took a deep breath. She knew the day would come sooner or later, although she felt it was sooner rather than later. She wasn't sure if she was ready. But in the end, it was the next training level, and she couldn't stop now.

"You ready?" Link asked, taking his stance.

"I'm ready," Zelda replied, taking her own as well.

"Alright, here I go!"

Link began with a vertical slash. Zelda placed her rapier in horizontal position to stop it. The strength of the attack pushed her back a little, but without breaking her focus she placed her right leg back to push Link away. That was how he had taught her to drive back an attacker heavier than herself, using the strength of her legs. Since the legs are naturally stronger than the upper half of the body, including them would give her an additional boost.

"Alright, I see you finally mastered it," Link commented.

Zelda just smiled at him. Link attacked her again with a combo of horizontal and vertical slashes. Since it was a training exercise Link wasn't obviously going all out on her, but she knew she couldn't rest on her laurels. Link's biggest advantage was that he avoided making the same attack pattern twice. Zelda managed to keep an iron defense, but Link still managed to make her step back. Finally, Link lifted the sword above his head to let it fall with a two-handed strike, and Zelda jumped backwards to evade and catch her breath.

Once again at a distance, Link prepared to lunge at her. Zelda was ready to rotate her body, if she managed to catch it in the last second, she could take the opening for a counterattack. She had to imagine the red zone in the rug, when he was about to make contact…

'Now…' she thought, she was about to deliver a slash on his back, she had almost made it…

…and then Link crouched down to dodge the rapier's blade, and rolled on the ground to get away. He quickly got back on his feet and turned around to face her again. Zelda exhaled a sight of frustration, that one had been close.

"Nice try." Link congratulated her.

It was very frustrating that Link still kept one or two more tricks up his sleeve on each session, but in this case, she should have seen it coming. While Link was quite strong for his age (he was barely one year older than her), his biggest strength was being unpredictable and quickly adapting to his opponent. That was something Zelda knew she had to develop by herself, since Link explained her that it can't be taught, you have to learn it with your own experience.

Not wasting any time, Link went back on the offensive. Once again, Zelda tried to hold on until she found an opening. That was another major difference between them. Link had a rather aggressive combat style, whose base was to attack non-stop so the opponent wouldn't have any chance to counter. Somewhat risky, but it worked for him. In contrast, Zelda was developing a more defensive style, as she waited for the opponent to make a mistake to start the counterattack. To an extent that was positive, as it would force her to work more in it.

They were locked when Link delivered a slash that Zelda stopped, causing the blade of his sword to get stuck on the rapier's cross-guards. Zelda had to hold her weapon with both hands to turn it around, freeing it from Link's sword and got away from him. Changing her approach, she decided to try and attack the lower half of his body, and directed her thrusts towards Link's legs. For a moment it seemed to work, since Link started to step backwards, but at the very moment Zelda was able to get close enough for a low horizontal slash, Link jumped to evade… making a somersault over Zelda, and tapped on her back with his free hand. Zelda could only turn around to see Link's sword tip, just millimeters away from her nose.

"If this was a real duel, you'd be dead now," Link said. He withdrew the sword, and let Zelda to get back up. "Let me give you a little advice, some swordmasters would tell you to 'expect the unexpected'. I, instead, would tell you to 'never expect anything'."

"Yes, I think I understand," Zelda replied. She already knew that Link had quite a few acrobatic skills, except that he hadn't shown them in the training. "One more chance, please."

"Alright, let's do it again."

They started anew. A little more prepared, this time Zelda improved her performance. She was trying to balance out between defense and attack; instead of waiting for an opening to appear in Link's defenses, she tried to create one herself. Now, every time Link attacked and she parried, she tried to follow up with an attack of her own. The changed seemed to work, but now, Zelda was making another mistake. Pushing further in the offensive looked like a good strategy, but in doing so, Zelda was making many unnecessary movements, and she was starting to get tired.

After a few rounds, Zelda had managed to endure, but she was reaching her limit. It made sense, Link for years had trained to build up stamina for long fights, but obviously Zelda couldn't do the same in such a short time. He made a personal note to make that the next step of her training. Finally, using the last bit of her energy in one last ditch move, Zelda raised her rapier and tried to deliver a vertical slash. Link managed to stop it and pushed her away, but upon stepping back, Zelda accidentally put her boot heel inside a small hole on the courtyard's floor, she lost her balance, and began to fall backwards.

"Aaaahh!"

"Look out!" Link yelled, and without wasting any time, extended his hand and grabbed her before she fell. He pulled her somewhat brusquely, and then, before he realized, he held her around the waist.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

They both remained static, looking into each other's eyes, not moving a muscle. The reason? None of them actually knew, there simply was something inside them that prompted them to stay that way. That closeness, that contact… they didn't want to break it, not at all.

Link was the first one to take notice of how compromising their position was, upon reacting to the metallic sound on the floor, which alerted him that Zelda had just dropped her rapier. They were lucky to be alone in that moment, if someone found them, they could… misinterpret the situation. Zelda felt the same, she knew they had to separate, but something just didn't let her to.

Simultaneously, they both stepped back, letting out a small gasp. By then, both of their faces had reached a crimson tone, and none of them had the courage to look at the other face to face.

"I… I'm sorry…" Link said when he finally regained his voice.

"It's… it's all right… thank you," Zelda replied.

Silence again. Link couldn't even bring himself to say "you're welcome" after Zelda thanked him for saving her from falling.

"I think… we have done enough for today," Zelda finally spoke. "It's getting a bit late, after all."

"Yeah, you're right." Link agreed, trying to hide how shaken he actually felt. "We'll keep going tomorrow."

"I'll see you tomorrow then." Zelda picked up her rapier and went back inside the castle.

Link remained static for a while, until Zelda left. As he picked up his own equipment, he couldn't stop thinking about what just had happened. It was just a reflex action, trying to prevent Zelda from falling backwards had been a natural reaction. But having held her the way he did, and even more, having PULLED her towards himself that way, and having stayed motionless looking into her eyes, why had he done that?

"Starting tomorrow, I need to help Zelda build up her stamina. That'll be the next step of her training," he said to himself in a (futile) attempt to drive those "inappropriate" thoughts out of his head.

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A few hours after…

Once the night fell upon Hyrule, Link was at his room, lying on his bed, and gazing at the ceiling. It hadn't been long since the training session had ended, and for the first time since they had started, he felt a tad nervous.

It wasn't actually the first time he had held her that way, when they were children they were no strangers to occasional shows of affections with each other; yet during that moment, just a few hours ago, he had actually felt pretty shaken.

He definitely hadn't felt in his arms that sweet young girl he had sworn to protect on royal and moral oath… now he had felt a woman, a tender rosebud blooming to turn into the most beautiful of the roses. He questioned himself on whether the affection he held towards the future queen for so many years had become something much deeper and stronger. He was ashamed of himself, since he was a soldier, he was unworthy of being by the side of such an unattainable woman like her.

"I shouldn't be feeling this… It's not right," he said to himself. "I can't have that kind of feelings for her. She's my future queen, and I'm her subject, nothing else."

The young man got up from the bed and went to take a shower to try and calm himself down. Not like it would be of any help, the flame in his heart had been lit, and it would keep burning…

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Four months after the beginning of the training…

After that day, Link gave Zelda a "small" list of exercises to improve her physical endurance, suggesting her to practice them on her free time before and after their training sessions. At the same time, he tried to teach her how to avoid unnecessary movements to reduce the strain and hold on much longer.

The first few days it was a bit annoying, but after a couple of weeks she managed to get used to it. Perhaps, the thing that helped her the most were the relaxation and muscle stretching exercises, before going to bed. Thanks to that, in the morning she felt much more refreshed and brimming with energy. At the same time, Zelda had finally been able to replace her protective gear for a more… appealing one. The protective plates were now made of gold, and better ornamented as well. Made-to-measure, just like she wanted. Even Link himself saw them with an appreciative eye during trainings.

On the side, they had also decided to call for someone else's help for the training. Specifically, for the part of "acrobatic movements", which Link admitted was not exactly his strongest point. That day, they had been joined in their training by Impa.

Impa was a female descendant of the Sheikah clan, who had served the royal family for several generations. She was a tall woman, even more than Link, and had a rather well-built physique, despite being a female. She had silvery blonde hair, with her skin even more tanned than Link and crimson eyes. Her most notable traits were the long and thin strand of hair hanging from her right temple, and a red tattoo around her left eye. She wore a form-fitting blue jumpsuit, with silver protective plates, and on the right side of her chest-plate there was the symbol of the Sheikah, a red eye with three triangle spikes above and a tear falling out of it.

Impa was an expert in both armed and unarmed combat, arts that had been passed through the Sheikah for generations, and until Link had been given that post, she had also been Princess Zelda's bodyguard. Even so, she still kept her rank as Royal Guard Commander, but she had helped Link during his training to be fully sure that he could trust him to take her place as Zelda's new bodyguard.

At the moment, Zelda was practicing with Impa the evasion techniques Link had taught him, but this time, against another kind of weapon. Impa was using a naginata, a weapon with a longer reach than a sword, and useful to keep the opponent at bay. The weak spot, of course, was that if the opponent managed to get close enough for a direct hit, it was unable to defend. Previously, Impa had been using a dagger, for close range combat, and a giant, two-handed sword, which was so heavy that even Link had problems to lift it with both hands.

The point of this was having Zelda learn how to counteract an opponent depending on the kind of weapon he used, and it was working. So far, Zelda's training had focused mostly in one-on-one combat with medium-ranged weapons (the sword and the rapier), so it was time to tackle other areas. Short-ranged weapons, such as the dagger, focused on a hit-and-run tactic, delivering a quick, direct hit on the enemy and immediately falling back to avoid retaliation. On the other hand, the giant sword was a weapon that sought to finish the opponent in a single strike, using the weight and power to literally break through the enemy's defense (and sometimes even the weapon with it). For this reason, as the rapier wasn't a very durable weapon against something like that, Zelda had to evade the strikes at any cost.

Zelda maintained her distance to evade Impa's thrusts. Finding a hole in her defense was no easy feat. On top of that, the reach of her weapon clearly gave Impa a huge advantage, since she could strike at a distance Zelda couldn't reach with her rapier. It seemed that the naginata was Impa's preferred weapon, as it gave her a lot more troubles than any other. Zelda was grateful that her reflexes had sharpened thanks to Link's training. Impa was ready to deliver the coup de grace, but in that very instant, she held the naginata with her right hand to increase the arc of her strike. Zelda saw her chance: if she could go after Impa's left side, she could strike over there. Zelda didn't manage to fully circle around Impa, so she had to duck in order to evade the naginata slash and delivered a thrust towards the woman's left side of her lower torso. A shocked expression appeared on Impa's face when she finally realized, and she was barely able to react before Zelda's blade could touch her, but the princess quickly moved it and pointed at her throat with the tip. They both remained frozen for a few seconds, until Impa smiled.

"Nicely done, Princess," she said with pride. "You finally found the way to break through my guard."

"It wasn't easy," Zelda admitted. "I barely realized, when you made that attack, you left your left side exposed."

"That was very sharp," Impa acknowledged. "Perhaps that's your biggest advantage, noticing small details that others might let slip."

"Oh yeah," Link agreed. "There's no doubt her experience helps a lot, and her perception becomes better each time."

Zelda smiled at Link and Impa's praise. It made her happy when they said that she was progressing. On the other hand, she was always trying to find a way to take advantage of her stronger points.

"Alright, Zelda. It's time to practice in acrobatics," Impa said.

"As you say," Zelda replied.

Both women left their weapons aside, and walked towards the center of the courtyard. Link picked up the rapier and naginata and left them for the time being at the weapons rack along with the rest of the weapons Impa had brought to help Zelda with her training. He then sat to watch as Impa tried to teach Zelda a few acrobatic tricks that might come in handy. When the Sheikah woman joined them in their training, the first thing she did was teaching her how to jump sideways and backwards to evade the attacks. Zelda didn't have as much leg strength to jump as Impa or Link, but she was progressing.

While Link watched them, or rather, he watched Zelda, the young soldier's mind went on a little flight. Specifically, to the moment of that "close encounter" they had when she almost fell backwards and he instinctively held her tightly. In that very instant, it was like something inside him had been awakened. While he was actively training, he could focus and keep his head clear of it, but when he wasn't, like now, he couldn't keep it off of his mind. Link had reacted out of instinct to prevent para Zelda from falling. Up to that point, it was normal, she was his best friend, but also the heiress to the throne, his future sovereign, so it was perfectly normal that he wanted to protect her, both as his duty as her bodyguard and because he cared for her wellbeing as a friend.

However, after what happened in that instant, and having some time to ponder on what had happened, he surprised himself at what he was thinking. At the time, he wasn't seeing Zelda as a friend, or as the Princess of Hyrule. All he cared about was that he couldn't let her fall and get hurt, or worse. Nothing else.

"Why did I think that?" he said in a low voice.

For a long time, Link had started questioning himself about his true feelings for Zelda. The two had known each other for years, when she was ten years old and he was eleven. The Queen had brought him specifically so he could be her playmate, since she didn't have any friends of her own age and felt very lonely at times. At first, Link didn't understand why the Queen had chosen him for that, but once he got to meet Zelda, he didn't protest.

Soon enough it was clear to him that she was the sweetest and kindest girl he had ever met. As they grew up, he could notice that, while in public, Zelda was somewhat distant and cold with others, irradiating an aura of maturity well above her age. But when they were alone, she was back to that lovely and sweet little girl he had met in the courtyard, that girl who became his best friend.

However, time went on and the little girl grew up, slowly becoming an adult woman. A woman who wanted to be strong, to take care of herself. Which in itself was admirable, but there was something else.

Since he had started training with Zelda, for some reason he was starting to feel… much closer to her. Far beyond considering her a friend, or a sister…

"What's wrong with me?" he whispered. "Why am I thinking of this?"

As much as Link wanted to deny it, even though he was a soldier at the service of the Kingdom of Hyrule and had his duties, deep down he was still a man. A young man who knew how to appreciate the virtues of a woman, and fell enthralled by them. Starting, obviously, by the fact Zelda was a very beautiful young woman. Even when she was just a child, Link had told her she was cute, and he wasn't like those kids who just flattered girls to later deny it and make them cry. Years were kind to her, and now, he had in front of him a really beautiful young lady. But that wasn't the only thing. Zelda was also intelligent, talented and mature for her age, but overall, she was kindhearted and compassionate. If Link had defined an archetype for a "perfect woman", Zelda would fit it in full.

"Perfect woman? Goddesses, I'm losing my mind."

For a long time, Link had tried to convince himself that those feelings for Zelda were nothing but admiration and friendship. He admired the fact she wanted to be stronger so as to take care of herself (even though she had shown to be more than capable of doing so). But he wasn't so sure anymore. His feelings for her were changing, and he felt uneasy at that.

"Link… Link!" Zelda suddenly yelled, waving her hand in front of Link's face.

"Eh!" Link shook his head, as if he suddenly had gotten out of a trance. He was too lost in his thoughts to notice Zelda was right in front of him. "Sorry, I was kind of… drifting."

"That's not like you," Zelda commented. "Anyway, I was talking to Impa, and she has an idea on how to help us on the training."

"Really?"

"That's right," Impa approached him as well. "It's obvious that Princess Zelda doesn't have yet the body strength or flexibility to make complicated acrobatics. So I thought of an alternative."

"Impa suggests that I might be able to use my magic for our training," Zelda explained.

"My idea is for the Princess to use her magic to boost her physical capacities. That is, using it to move faster, to jump higher, that kind of things." Impa added.

"You can do that?" Link was suddenly interested in this.

"Magic has many applications, it's just that not many explore them all," Zelda said. "Even so, I don't know if it could be called 'fair', if you know what I mean."

"Princess, we're not in a tournament," Impa said. "There's nothing wrong with using all of your available resources."

"I think it's a marvelous idea," Link said. "And it can help me improve as well."

"Are you sure?" Zelda asked. "I don't want an unfair advantage."

"Zelda, Impa just said so, we're not in a tournament, so there's nothing wrong with taking a few liberties," Link replied. "It'll be interesting. And come to think about it, I think that should level our playing field. This training will help us both improve."

Zelda still had some doubts. However, upon seeing how enthusiastic Link seemed to be at the idea, she finally agreed. And when she thought about it, she realized it was true, during the training Link always had the advantage, thanks to the experience.

"We can start working on it tomorrow," Zelda said. "To be honest, I'm feeling too tired to continue today."

"That's fine with me," Link replied. "I'll keep training on my own for a little longer."

"See you tomorrow, then."

Link kept looking at Zelda until she left the courtyard. Impa approached him and solemnly placed her hand on the boy's shoulder.

"She's progressing very fast," the woman said.

"Yeah, she's really impressed me," Link admitted. "At this rate, I don't think she'll need me to protect her anymore."

"Hmm… do you really want that to happen?" Impa glanced at him sideways.

"What's wrong with it?" Link replied. "She has a lot of potential, she could even become stronger than me if she wanted to."

"That's not what I meant." Impa said, rather emphatic.

"I'm her bodyguard, it's my job to protect her." Link quickly replied. "Even if she's perfectly capable of taking care of herself, and we both know she is."

"But you have another reason to protect her," Impa quipped back. "One that doesn't have anything to do with your duties or obligations."

Link remained silent at those words. Yet the silence was all the answer Impa needed to know she was in the right. Even if Link wouldn't admit it out loud, inside he knew it was true. Deep down, the reason he accepted to be Zelda's bodyguard had less to do with the obligations (as well as the honors) the position itself carried, and more with a personal desire to look out for the Princess' wellbeing.

"Perhaps…" Link sighed in resignation.

"Link, we both know how much you care for her," Impa said. "I know the Queen wasn't wrong when she chose you as her bodyguard. No one can look after Zelda better than you."

With this, Impa took her leave as well. After a few seconds standing still, Link went to pick up his equipment to train by himself. He placed around the training dummies and began his exercises. But now, for a change, his focus didn't help him much in keeping those thoughts away.

Unsure why it happened, all of a sudden a question he had stopped asking himself a long time ago came back to his mind: Why did the Queen chose him to become Zelda's bodyguard? Link didn't consider himself as the best soldier in the Royal Guard (even though he had never lost a fight since he entered), and he was sure Impa was just as competent, if not more so than him for the job.

Those last words from Impa: "No one can look after Zelda better than you" kept echoing in his mind. Maybe, just maybe, the Queen might have another motive to name him as Zelda's bodyguard. One that didn't have to do with his skills or merits, and might instead be related to the motive that prompted the Queen herself to bring him to the castle, so Zelda would have a friend to play with, so many years ago.

"Nonsense," he said, laughing at himself for thinking of something that stupid. And still, a small part of himself wanted to believe it was possible.

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Three months after that…

The training continued at an even faster rate. The Princess improved every day, and her idea of using her magic to boost her physical abilities gave Link an excellent method to improve himself as he taught his pupil. Just as he expected, since Zelda didn't have the same training and strength to execute somersaults and cartwheels in the same way as Link or Impa, her magical power made for an excellent substitute. Normally, sorcerers would focus their power in their hands to cast their spells, but Zelda instead focused it on her legs and feet. This enabled her to run faster and leap further than normal, although the first few days she tripped up a lot, and it took her a bit to control the extra impulse. Furthermore, her landings whenever she tried to make somersaults in the air just like Link frequently left a lot to be desired.

One month and a half after starting, Link took notice that, along with the benefit Zelda gained from her magical power, another problem came. Despite the exercises to increase her physical endurance and stamina, using magic was mental than physical, which brought a different kind of tiredness, one Link couldn't help her with. It wasn't too hard to notice, since in the following sessions she still managed to keep up with him at the start, and even a couple of times even managed to get the upper hand, but in the end she was blatantly drained, which Link attributed to the fact that she relied too much on her magical power to boost her movements. When he finally realized this, he advised her to try and not depend that much on her magical power and use it only when absolutely necessary, since a physical and mental draining would be detrimental in a long fight, and she wasn't fit for that.

Thus, for the following seven weeks they focused on strategies to defeat the opponent quickly. At this point, Zelda's level had considerably improved, and Link had no more moves to teach her. Rather, all that was left was teaching her the best way to use them. At the start of the training he had taught her how to chain attacks, but now they were revisiting it in a different manner, more specifically, on how to create different variants of the same combinations. In that moment, Link was the one on the offensive, while Zelda blocked his attacks. The Princess was doing well, until in a certain point, expecting an attack towards her waist, she couldn't parry it because Link directed his sword in a lower slash towards her leg. The metallic sound of the weapon clashing against the armor was the sign that she had lost (again).

"You fell for it again, it's the third time," Link sighed.

"I'm so pathetic," Zelda said. "At this point I should be able to predict it."

"Don't be so harsh on yourself," Link tried to cheer her up. "It's just that, will all of our training so far, your reflexes are somewhat conditioned now. Especially because you always train with me, or Impa, so you're always 'expecting' our moves."

"I guess. But admit it, you're always trying to be unpredictable, aren't you?"

"Guilty." Link scratched the back of his head. "That's my best trick, considering that many times I've had to face against opponents who are stronger or more skilled than me. But you have your own advantage, your perception. You can spot small details, and that helps you find openings and weak spots."

The young swordsman was not lying on that one. On several occasions, for a moment he had forgotten they were on a training exercise and he had gone a tad overboard with his drive to win. That had caused him to attack somewhat rushed and recklessly, and Zelda didn't waste her chance to land a counterattack in that very instant. A couple of times her blade came dangerously close, in fact, it seemed as if every time it came closer.

"One last time," Link said. "Remember what I told you, keep focused, and don't get carried away by your instincts."

"Alright."

They both took their stances and prepared for the final round. Link opened with a high slash, followed by a low one and then a thrust. Zelda parried them without problems, as that seemed to be his signature initial move. But from then one, and she had noticed for a long time, he always varied his attack pattern and did his best to avoid using the same combo two times on the same encounter. Taking a page from her mentor's book, when he tried for a long distance lunge, Zelda waited until the last second and dodged by crouching and rolling on the ground. It had taken her some time to finally get the hang of that maneuver and get up immediately, but the practice had paid off.

Seeing her opening, the Princess tried to deliver a thrust towards his back, but Link, barely turning to look above his shoulder, placed his sword to stop the strike and quickly jumped away. Zelda thought she had seen in his eyes a glint of surprise, but she couldn't think about that now. Instantly, Link began his counterattack. To avoid being fooled, Zelda decided to keep a middle distance as she looked for an opening. It worked, since she managed to stay out of reach of almost all of the attacks, and the ones that could reach her, she had no problem in deflecting them.

Once Link was finally able to get close enough, he raised the sword for two-handed strike. Zelda jumped backwards, being forced to use her magic to dodge in time. Link didn't stop and tried to attack again, but Zelda stopped the strike. She crouched slightly and using her legs for an additional impulse, she managed to push him away at a safe distance. Using the minimum of power she needed, she leapt forward again with her rapier ready, and immediately went for the offensive. As she had been taught, she charged with a series of lightning-speed attacks, weak but accurate, taking advantage of the light weight of her weapon. Now, it was Link who stepped back. Zelda had started to stray from her usual defensive swordplay style, and now she was more proactive. Rather than waiting for an opening, she was trying to create one herself.

Despite her efforts, Link's defense seemed unbreakable. Even though Zelda managed to find any openings, she wasn't fast enough to use them. Nevertheless, she wasn't going to give up. She'd be satisfied if she could at least land one strike. Just like Impa used to leave her left side unprotected occasionally, Link sometimes did the same with his right side. Maybe that was the answer she was looking for. She tried to circle around trying to get on his blind spot on the right side. It took Link a while to notice this, while she tried to land any strikes, but once he finally did, he tried to cover this hole in his defense. Far from being discouraged, the Princess pressed forward.

Link took much longer than usual to get back on the offensive. To try and test if Zelda had really learned from her mistake, she once again executed the combo he had used to beat her in the three previous rounds: a thrust towards the chest, Zelda stepped back to avoid it; a backhand slash to her left side, she blocked it without problems; another thrust towards her shoulder, she leaned to a side to dodge. At this point, Link again pretended he was aiming the cut towards her middle body, but this time, Zelda did see the attack was aimed at her leg. She stepped backwards to get it out of the way, and turned around to circle around him and attack his right side. The rapier's tip passed dangerously close to Link's arm, who almost tripped over when trying to avoid it. But the Princess didn't stop there, before her instructor was able to mount his defense again she attacked him with several strikes in quick succession. And while she was doing that, Link couldn't help but look for a second at Zelda's eyes. They were burning with a flame of determination, the drive to win was giving her strength.

'Impressive,' Link thought. 'She's clearly enjoying herself. And I don't know why, but I like her this way.'

That single thought cost him dearly. When he realized, he stopped for a split second, but that was more than enough. It gave Zelda the chance she needed to land a hit on his shoulder. The rapier's tip clashing against the metallic shoulder pad snapped Link out of his little trance. They both stared at each other, Zelda seemed to be as surprised as Link with what just had happened.

"I think… I've just won," Zelda said, breaking the tense silence.

"Yeah, that's right," Link said. "That settles it for today. You finally managed to beat me in a round, congratulations."

"Thank you." Zelda smiled. "I think I was lucky today."

"That's not true. Seeing your progress so far, I'd say there's nothing left for me to teach you. Tomorrow's our final session."

"Final?" Zelda sounded disappointed.

"Yeah, I guess we can call it your 'final test'," Link said with pride. "If you can pass it, your training will be officially complete."

"I'm… glad," Zelda said, even though her voice tone seemed to disagree with her words.

"What's the matter?" Link didn't miss Zelda's somewhat disheartened tone.

"Don't worry, it's just… do you really think I'm ready for this? I wouldn't mind training with you a bit longer, just to be sure."

"We'll decide that tomorrow," Link said firmly. "If you can't pass this final test, then we'll keep on training a little longer. But I don't think it'll be necessary. I believe in you, I know how hard you've worked all this time."

"If you say so," Zelda replied. Unknown to Link, her dejection was due to something else. Not so much her progress itself, but the fact that her training was coming to an end. But she couldn't tell him that, not after all the effort and time he spent in teaching her. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow."

Zelda walked away, leaving Link alone with his thoughts. As the young swordsman picked up his stuff to take his break for the day, he could finally get his head clear and sort out his thoughts, to ponder on what had happened in the last round of that day.

That single victory Zelda managed to get out of him, it was due to his own blunder. That sole thought betraying him caused him to drop his guard, barely for a second, but it was enough for Zelda to land that hit. Still, he couldn't pin the blame of what had happened just on that single mistake. Zelda's progress in itself had been noticeable, and on several occasions she had come pretty close to beat him. Perhaps with a couple of years more of experience, she could become even better than him. She definitely had the potential to be.

But Link's real concern was, why did that thought cross his mind in the first place? It wasn't the first, and it certainly enough wouldn't be the last. When they started the training and she advanced at such a fast pace, he had tried to convince himself for a while that it was but admiration for her efforts and natural talent. Yes, for a while he had managed to quieten them, but as the training progressed, they were harder and harder to hold back.

Zelda was one of a kind as a woman, and her qualities always remained afloat wherever he looked at her. She was beautiful, kind and compassionate. She was also intelligent and hard-working on everything she did, perhaps to the point of perfectionism, but she always wanted to be sure of doing what needed to be done and do it well. Her training was proof of that. At this point, her swordplay had become an elegant yet deadly dance. It wasn't just effective, it was artistic, stylish. For someone like Zelda, who was more inclined to diplomacy rather than solving problems through force, it suited her perfectly.

No matter how hard he tried, there was one thing he couldn't change. He could be a soldier, a swordsman or anything else, but deep inside, he was still a man. A man in the age of being attracted to a woman. And not just physical attraction, although of course that didn't hurt at all. In his entire life, Link had never pursued that kind of relationships with any girl, the only one he would like to be with was Zelda. His rational side said no, it wasn't right, and for a time, it seemed to stay like that. But the sentiment and desire came from his heart, which seemed to be gaining dominance now.

"Get that off your head, it would never work."

No, he had no rights to hold such feelings for her. She was the Princess of Hyrule, the heiress to the throne, and he was nothing but her protector. He could perhaps play the role as her friend and confidant, but he could never go any further with her. No matter how much he wished. That wasn't right, and in any case, she would never see him in that manner, would she?

----------------------------------------

At night…

Zelda was sitting on the edge of her bed. She had removed her protective plates, yet for some reason she hadn't taken off her training garments, even though it was almost her bedtime. And at the same time, she couldn't get her eyes off of her rapier.

Some time ago, Zelda had heard that the best of gifts were the ones you made yourself for the other person. She was starting to believe it was true, as she gazed on the fine and silvery blade of her weapon. It was clear that Link had worked really hard in forging it, specifically for her. From the day she received it, she had grown very much attached to it.

It had been a very long way to learn how to wield this rapier, but it had been worth it. Nevertheless, Zelda had come to enjoy a lot her training sessions with Link, and it made her a bit sad to think they were coming to an end. She hadn't lied when she said she wanted to learn how to wield the sword to protect herself, but that wasn't the only, much less the main reason she had asked him to train her. The past year, before starting her training, she and Link had not been able to spend a lot of quality time together, their respective duties were keeping them apart. The training had become an excellent way to make up for the lost time, but even so…

*KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!*

"Who is it?" The knocking on her door snapped Zelda from her thoughts.

"It is I, my child," she heard her mother's voice. "May I come in?"

"Wait." Zelda left her rapier leaning against the wall next to her bed, and walked towards the door to open it. "Do you need something, Mother?"

"Not really, I just wondered if you had some time to speak to me," the Queen said.

"Of course."

Zelda stepped aside to let her mother into her room. The Queen grabbed the chair next to Zelda's desk and brought it closer to the bed. Meanwhile, Zelda once again sat on her bed's edge, face to face with her mother. The Queen gazed at the rapier, still resting against the wall.

"So, I trust your training is going well?" the Queen asked to break the silence.

"Pretty well." Zelda nodded. "Link says that we're almost done. Tomorrow we'll have the final test."

"It makes me happy to hear that," the Queen said. "From what Impa has told me, you have made quite the progress during these months, and it makes me proud."

"That's just because I've had a good teacher." Zelda replied with modesty.

"I have no doubt of that, but you too have worked hard to learn." The Queen smiled. "In any case, that's not what I came to talk about."

"It isn't?"

"Zelda…" Her voice suddenly became more serious. "I cannot help but think you had another reason to ask Link to train you in the way of the sword. I know for a fact you didn't lie when you said you wanted to protect yourself. But that wasn't the only reason, was it?"

"I… I don't know what you're talking about." Zelda blushed slightly.

"My dear, don't try to hide it from me," the Queen said. "I understand that for the past year you two had distanced from each other a bit, and perhaps, it was at least partly my fault."

"That's not true. We both had our duties to take care of, it couldn't be helped," Zelda intervened.

"I know that. And I also know that you both needed it," the Queen said in an understanding tone. "Even so, I can't help but think I kept you apart from your best friend."

Zelda didn't say anything. That part was true, not being able to spend time with Link had not been easy. But it had been necessary, Zelda had to be prepared for when her time came to succeed her mother as Queen of Hyrule, and also, Link had to go through an intensive training before he could be assigned as Zelda's personal bodyguard.

"Zelda, I'm going to ask you something, and I want you to answer me with full sincerity," the Queen said. "What are your thoughts about Link?"

"My thoughts? Why do you ask me that?"

"Just answer me, please?"

"Mother, he's my best friend," Zelda answered without hesitation. "He's an amazing boy, he's loyal, brave, and…" Zelda stopped cold. Suddenly, she felt she was saying too much.

"Yes, it's true that he's your best friend. But you're starting to see him as something else, right?" Zelda's face became red-hot in a second. "You can't hide it from me, my child, you're in the age for those feelings."

"I… alright, I admit it." Zelda said. "We've been together for so long… I didn't even notice, until very recently."

"That is only natural, my dear. As you grow up, your feelings will change, become stronger, and deeper."

"How could you know?" Zelda asked. "When we're together I always try to…"

"I'm your mother, it's my duty to know," the Queen said with a smile. "I'm just a little disappointed, since you didn't seem to trust me enough to tell me."

"I… thought that maybe… you wouldn't approve." Zelda felt embarrassed.

"How could you think that? To think that I brought him here myself." The Queen's tone didn't carry a single shred of reproach towards Zelda. "Do you remember that day, when you first met?"

Zelda glanced at her mother's eyes, so similar to her own. How could she forget that day? She was ten years old, sitting on the garden, bored and lonely. And then, her mother appeared, bringing along a little boy, with blond hair and blue eyes, clad in green clothes. The Queen said his name was Link, and he would now be her playmate if she wanted to. Normally, she was too shy with strangers, but something in that boy was… different. She, always so quiet and calm, all of a sudden was cheerfully running around the garden with her new friend, laughing nonstop. The Queen later said that she hadn't seen her so happy since Link had arrived. Time went on and, even though they both left the games and fun behind to assume their responsibilities, the bond that tied them together never broke. What the Queen had said was true, the feelings changed, and deepened more and more over time. Queen Selena had brought Link because she knew her daughter feel really lonely, although now, Zelda suspected she might have other undisclosed reasons.

"Mother… do you think that, maybe, I can have a relationship with Link?" Zelda asked, finally deciding to be sincere with her mother. "It's true, it's been too long since I stopped seeing him as my best friend. I've begun to see him as a man. I wonder… does he see me as a woman?"

"I cannot give you the answer to that, I'm sorry," the Queen said. "All I can tell you is this, if you want to know, you have to come clear about your feelings for him."

"But what if he doesn't feel the same?" Zelda asked. "I'm scared. I don't want to destroy our friendship if I tell him how I feel."

"My child, if you don't do it, you'll never know," the Queen said gently, yet firmly. "Sometimes, the truth can be painful, but the angst of not knowing the truth could be even more unbearable."

Zelda stopped to ponder on those last words. She could regret confessing her feelings for Link if it ended their friendship, which was the most important thing in her life. On the other hand, she could regret even more not telling him about them, and to think of the possibility of having something more between them.

"Well, my dear, I cannot force you to do this, it's up to you to decide when the right time is. Do what your heart tells you, and leave the rest on the hands of fate." The Queen then stood up. "I'll leave you alone so you can rest, goodnight."

The Queen leaned forward to kiss her daughter's forehead before turning around and leaving the room. Inexplicably, after the conversation, Zelda felt much better, as if she had gotten a huge weight off of her chest. Her mother had a special gift for that, she was capable of knowing how she felt without being told, and she always had the right words to help her feel better and get out of those crossroads. Zelda sometimes felt that her mother knew her better than herself.

She finally went to her closet to put on her nightgown. She rested on her bed, but before going to sleep, she grabbed her rapier again, and stared at it for a while. She hadn't dared to tell Link out of fear, fear of him not feeling the same way and rejecting her. Yet, looking back now, she realized how little sense that made. Link was her best friend, and while he could be rather strict while training, that didn't change she was a kind and good-hearted young man, and he had always cared for her wellbeing. Not only that, he had been the first person as far as she could remember who could make her smile and laugh when they were children. Wasn't that a proof that she had a chance, small as it might be, of him feeling something more than friendship for her?

"I've decided," she told herself with determination, placing the rapier against the wall again. "Tomorrow I'll tell him."

No matter if Link returned her feelings or not, it was best to tell him face to face. If she felt so well upon being honest with herself and her mother, without any doubt she'd feel much better by being honest with Link. And that also included telling him the true reason for asking him to train her on swordplay.

----------------------------------------

On the last training day…

That afternoon, just as she finished her 'academic duties', Zelda almost ran towards her room to get her training garments and her rapier. She was impatient to start. It was her final training session, and for her, it would be the most important one. But not for the training itself. The night before, the Princess had made up her mind, and promised herself that day to confess her feelings for Link. In fact, she caught her instructor by surprise, as she managed to arrive to the training place a couple minutes before him.

"Well, well, you came earlier than usual today," Link said when he saw her waiting for him.

"I'm sorry, I just couldn't wait anymore," Zelda replied. Link noticed her voice sounded a tad more anxious than usual. She seemed to have more energy today.

"Alright, if you're ready, let's get your final test underway now." Link drew his sword.

"Wait up, Link," Zelda interrupted. "Before we start, there's something I want to tell you."

"Can't it wait until we've finished?" Link asked.

"It's… important," Zelda insisted. "At least, it is for me. Please."

Link arched an eyebrow at that. But since it was her asking him, he would not refuse.

"First of all, I want to thank you, for agreeing to train me," Zelda said. "It hasn't been easy, but it's been worth it."

"Of course, you've come a long way these months." Link sounded proud of her.

"However, actually… when I told you I wanted to learn this so I could take care of myself… that wasn't the only reason," she confessed.

"What do you mean?" Link seemed confused.

"To be honest, the main reason I asked you to do this… it was to have a pretext to spend time with you." Zelda looked away, blushing slightly.

"To spend time with me?"

"When my mother sent you off for that intensive training, before she would assign you as my personal bodyguard…" Zelda made a pause before moving on. "During the time you were away, I felt really lonely. I missed you so much, seriously."

Link was at a loss for words. He had sorely missed her as well, but he managed to calm himself down with the thought of "I must be stronger, so I can protect her", and that made the separation more bearable. But it seemed that, for her, it had been a lot harder. She had already begun, and something told him not to stop her.

"I did everything to keep myself occupied, but you were always on my mind. Every day, I just wondered when you would come back, and sometimes, I even felt worried, I had this strange sensation that something bad could happen to you."

Link didn't say anything. As a matter of fact, he hadn't come out of his training clean, and a couple of times while he traveled, he had almost fatal accidents. It was like his "guardian angel" had saved him. But it was better for her not to know that, she didn't want to cause her any more worries.

"What I'm trying to say is… that I'm really happy to spend time with you, no matter what we do," Zelda said. "And that's something I wouldn't change for the world, if you understand me."

"I think so." Link couldn't help but smile. "I'm… flattered that you feel that way with me. Truth be told, I too missed you, a lot, but I didn't say anything. You know how hard it's for me to speak about these things."

"Yes, I understand." Zelda knew that firsthand, Link was quite reserved with his personal life. "There's one more thing I want to tell you… but, I think it can wait until we're done with this."

"If that's how you want it," Link said. "Okay, as I told you yesterday, your training is but complete at this point, there's nothing else I can teach you. This is your final challenge. You'll have to face me in a full combat."

"I imagined it would be that," Zelda replied. As per the rule, the disciple would have to prove her value by facing her master.

"So now, as they say, the gloves will have to come off," Link spoke seriously.

Saying that, the boy left his sword on the floor for a while, and proceeded to undo the straps of his gauntlets. After pulling off the left one, he dropped it, and Zelda was shocked upon hearing the blunt noise it made when it hit the ground, even sinking a bit. Link then proceeded to do the same with the right gauntlet, leaving only his thin leather fingerless gloves he wore underneath. As Link flexed a little his fingers to relax them before grabbing his sword again, Zelda was still shocked. During all of the training Link had never taken off his gauntlets. Had he really been training her with all that additional weight in his hands the entire time? And not just that, Link's sword was also quite heavy itself, she needed both hands to lift it and even so she couldn't use it effectively at 100%. She understood what Link meant with his words. Her final test would be facing him at his full capacity. Link pulled from his pocket a small stopwatch with chain, and pressed the button.

"Ten minutes," Link explained. "You'll have to endure for ten minutes without letting me disarm you. Of course, if you want to try, feel free to attack me, and if you can disarm or corner me, even better. Be warned, I'm not planning on holding back, so I expect the same of you."

"Of course," Zelda said with determination.

It all came down to that, now, Zelda would have to apply on practice everything she had learned to pass this test. Following the standard rules, Zelda had never been able to beat Link, except for the final round on the day before, and now she realized just how much he had been holding back with her this whole time. She wasn't sure if she could made it, but Link expected her to give her best, so she couldn't let him down.

They both assumed their initial stances. This time, Link was the one to deliver the first strike, raising his sword for a vertical slash. Just as Zelda expected, the attack was much faster usual, and the princess was barely able to react in time to perform a parry. But Link didn't stop there, he immediately followed up the vertical slash with a horizontal one towards her waist, and once again Zelda could barely block it in time.

Soon the Princess understood why this was the final trial of her training. Link was an exceptionally skilled swordsman, he had always proved to be every time. Yet now, she felt like she was facing a completely different opponent. His movements, without the additional weight of his gauntlets, were much faster and more accurate than ever before. Even though she managed to (barely) parry them, he was not giving her any more chances to counterattack. He charged on a constant and fierce assault of lightning-speed attacks, attacking different spots of her body, forcing Zelda to step back to keep at a safe distance. Link delivered a thrust fully extending his arm, and Zelda somersaulted above him. She quickly turned around for a counterattack, but Link blocked it by moving the sword above his shoulder, and spun it to drive her away. He immediately resumed his offensive.

Link's slashes and thrusts picked up the pace, while Zelda was having more and more difficulty to defend from them. Instinctively, she started to tighten the grip on her rapier as Link's fierce assault picked up the pace. And not just that, he seemed to make a point to not to attack the same spot twice. The only thing that helped her in keeping up with him was her sharp perception. So much time training with Link had helped her to see every single detail she could use to anticipate his attacks, and that in itself made the difference.

"Come on, Zelda, I know you can do better than that," Link suddenly said. "I told you to give me everything you had."

Why did he say that all of a sudden? Not even he knew for sure, but it didn't matter. In that instant, he simply had a strange desire to see the skills his disciple had acquired during her training. He had followed the process from beginning to end, and he wanted to see the results in full.

Meanwhile, those words coming out of Link's mouth lit up a flame inside Zelda. Perhaps for anyone else it would have sounded like an insult or a provocation attempt. But not for her, since she always managed to keep her emotions under control. Instead of that, it helped her realize something. She wasn't giving her all, and she knew it. Since they started, she had kept on the defensive, only scarcely counterattacking, just making an effort to keep Link from knocking the rapier off of her hand. Maybe it was due to the fact that the sudden increase in the speed and accuracy of Link's strikes had caught her off-guard, but the main reason was another. She was afraid of failing, thus she only played safe.

'I can't let Link down now,' she thought. 'I need to give him my best.'

Giving him her best. That was what he wanted and expected of him. Giving him her best meant being willing to take risks, instead of keeping on the defensive, covering herself as if she was afraid. To show him she could fight on his levels. She couldn't hold back, doing so would be an insult for him as her master.

"Yaaaaaah!"

On pure instinct, Zelda let out a scream upon lunging at Link with a thrust towards Link's stomach. The boy leapt backwards to dodge. Before resuming his attacks, he stared at the Princess' eyes. They had changed: they beamed with a sparkle of determination. At the same time, she tightened her grip on the rapier even more, with both hands. Link smiled, she finally had caught his massage.

Link tried to deliver a vertical slash on Zelda, which she stopped with a horizontal parry. But instead of just blocking, she crouched on her legs, to absorb the impact, and used the additional boost to push Link backwards into a more vulnerable position. With that, she delivered a 3-thrust combo, first to the head, second to the legs, and third to the chest. This time, it was Link who had to step back, but the Princess wouldn't stop just there. Encouraged by the effect of your attack, she kept pressing forward, taking advantage of the light weight of her weapon and thus was easier to chain moves in a single attack. Since Link's combat style also focused on constantly pushing on the offensive to prevent the opponent from responding, the two were soon evenly matched with each other. Every time they blocked an attack, they followed up with one of their own. Link had the advantage on strength, weight and experience, but Zelda compensated her lacking on these areas with her superior perception and agility in her movements. In fact, her grace and elegance made look like the princess was, not fighting, but rather performing a dance. Poetry in motion, so to speak.

Zelda once again tried her tactic of circling him to attack his blind spot, that is, the side furthest from his sword hand. Upon noticing this, as well as the speed boost in the Princess' movement, she decided to pull another ace up his sleeve. Rather than fully turning his body, for a quicker and more efficient defense, he switched his sword from one hand to the other. Zelda knew that Link's dominant hand was his left, but he was perfectly capable of wielding his sword with either of them, something he had as a precaution in case his dominant hand could get hurt or disabled in any way during a fight. With the gauntlets on he couldn't use this at 100% efficiency, but now he wasn't wearing them he could easily regain the upper hand. Switching from one hand do the other only increased the unpredictability factor even more, and now she had to be twice as careful. Even more, just the fact of Link being a left-handed opponent made him particularly hard, but being ambidextrous with the sword made him even deadlier.

As the sword clash sound echoed across the courtyard, two more people watched the young couple's encounter. From the window on the tower, Queen Selena and Impa watched the duel with attention. It became much more interesting when Zelda left aside the precautions and took the initiative to attack Link. Once upon a time, the Queen would be worried of her daughter doing something so dangerous, but Zelda was no longer a child. Even more, she fully trusted that Link would never, ever, do anything to harm her. She hadn't chosen him as her daughter's personal bodyguard if it weren't so. Yet both women were looking forward to something else. Something that would come after the duel ended. The Queen was sure that her daughter wouldn't wait any longer to say it.

At this point they both had lost track of time. Zelda was no longer doing occasional glances toward the little stopwatch as she did at the beginning of the combat. She seemingly had forgotten that all she had to do was enduring until the ten minutes passed. She was enjoying herself, and not just that, she wanted to win. They were lucky they had nobody else watching them up close, or they would have noticed that, every time they got close up, they glanced at each other and exchanged smiles. Somehow, each one deciphered what the other tried to do just by looking into the eye. It was almost if they could read each other's thoughts.

In a point when Link finally seemed to gain the upper hand, he tried to push Zelda down with his full weight. The Princess, instead of pushing him back as she had done so far, what she did was getting out by rolling on the ground out of his way. Link, who didn't expect this, for a moment lost his balance and almost stabbed the sword on the ground. She immediately circled him to try and get on his weak spot. Reacting on his instincts, since he couldn't fully turn his body, he switched his sword to the other hand to deliver the slash, but Zelda foresaw it and ducked to dodge, and from below, she pointed her rapier with an upwards thrust. Link's eyes had glint of shock and a bit of terror upon seeing the rapier's tip going towards him. He was exposed, he had no defense…

For a split second, the Princess realized that she was pointing her rapier right to the center point of Link's face. Realizing this, and that she couldn't stop it, she leaned it to the side to prevent it from being a fatal attack, but when Link reacted and moved his head, the blade's tip scratched his cheek, making a small cut. Zelda clenched her teeth and her arms became rigid.

The young couple remained frozen, exactly in the same position. Link with his arms wide open, holding his sword on the right hand, and Zelda holding her rapier pointing upwards with both hands, just a few centimeters from Link's face. A little strand of blood rolled down the boy's cheek, due to the small cut the Princess had managed to make with that last thrust. They gazed at each other, without blinking, both of them equally surprised to what had just happened. Right on that very instant, the stopwatch rang, indicating the ten minutes had ended. And that was all the incentive they needed to leave their trance.

"Alright…. A little bit more and that could have been fatal, I should be more careful," Link said, wiping the blood off his cheek.

Zelda was surprised too. Temporarily, she actually forgot that, even though it was a duel, it was still technically a training exercise. However, the drive to win clouded her mind for an instant. She wanted to win, she wanted to prove to herself, and Link. She was lucky there were no consequences, aside from that small cut on Link's cheek.

"I'm sorry, I think… I just got carried away," she apologized.

"Don't worry, it's nothing." Link smiled at her. "Congratulations, you passed the final trial, with flying colors. Your training is complete."

Zelda had waited for all that year to hear those words. But the price to achieve it, having caused him an injury, even a small one, having made him bleed… for a moment she felt horrified at the thought of what could have happened if she hadn't stopped in time.

"But Link…" Zelda finally regained her voice. "That last attack shouldn't count, I…"

"Hey, you moved as if it was a real combat, and that was my goal in teaching you all of this," Link said. "The way I see it… keep going on your own path and you'll be better than me in no time."

"Better than you? No way, I couldn't…"

"Zelda, think it over." Link didn't let her go on. "If you could use your magic to boost your movements, who says you can't do the same with your weapon? Just imagine, if you can channel your magical power through your rapier, you could create techniques we ordinary swordsmen could only dream of. Sure, I have taught you a lot on how to wield a sword, but you can go even further than that."

Zelda stared at her rapier. What Link said was true, in all that time she had only made use of her magical power to move faster and jump further and higher, yet she didn't seem to use it to power up her own weapon. To increase its cutting power, or adding an elemental effect. But she quickly shook those thoughts out of her head. There was something more important, now that her training had ended.

"Well, I guess that's it," Link said. "I have nothing else to teach you, so I'm taking my leave now."

"Wait!" Zelda stopped him by grabbing his arm when he turned around. "Please… don't go just yet. I still had something else to tell you, remember?"

Link turned around to face the Princess. The look on her eyes changed again, but this time it seemed… supplicant, maybe? Whatever she wanted to tell him, surely had to be important. He had to listen to her.

"There's something I haven't told you, and you should know. On my last birthday, believe it or not… I received a marriage proposal. Prince Zephiel of Bern asked me to marry him."

Link suddenly felt a small twinge in his chest. Combined also with an inexplicable and huge fury towards that Prince Zephiel, just for daring to make such a proposal to his Princess. His Princess.

"At the moment, to prevent an uproar, I couldn't give him a definite answer," Zelda continued. "All I could do, was to defer it until I turned of age. I told him to wait for one year before giving him an answer."

"I don't get it," Link said, trying to control his voice, and not to let his inner anger to slip through. "Why didn't you just say yes?"

"Are you joking? Why should I say yes, when I don't want to marry him?" Zelda didn't make a secret that she was annoyed by that remark. "I mean, he proposed to me on the very night we had just met for the first time, I can't say we're friends, or even acquaintances. How could I want to marry someone I know nothing about?"

Link felt embarrassed. Of course, that was the obvious answer, the idea of marrying a stranger, or someone you barely know, surely had to be a unpleasant notion for anybody.

"But that wasn't the only reason." Zelda calmed down after that little outburst. "The actual reason is… for a long time, I've been in love with someone else."

She looked away for a moment, and a slight blush tinted her cheeks. There was no turning back now. She had begun and she had to follow it up all the way, no matter the end result. Meanwhile, Link swallowed. Where was the Princess going with this? Could it be what he was thinking?

"Link… since we were children, you're the best friend I've ever had. As far as I can remember, you were the first person who made me laugh, and who pulled me out of that lonely childhood I always had. Your friendship is the most important thing I have, and I wouldn't change it for anything, but… I feel like that's not enough anymore. It might sound selfish of me, but I want to be sincere with you, and myself. It's not enough to be just your friend anymore."

With those words, Zelda held Link's gloved hands, and looked into his eyes. It didn't take a genius to know what came next. The sparkle on her eyes, a strange mix of hope and despair, it said it all.

"What I mean to say is…" Zelda took a deep breath, before saying the most important words. "I love you, Link. I love you with everything I have, and if there's one person I want to spend the rest of my days with, that would be you. My dearest friend, the person who made me smile genuinely for the first time in years and who saved me from the loneliness. I don't know when, or how it happened, but my heart speaks on its own. I've never shared so much with anyone, neither do I want to."

That was it, she had finally said it. All that was left was to wait for his answer. She was ready for the rejection, although it wouldn't make it any less painful. Meanwhile, Link was so surprised he couldn't even say a word. Even wearing his gloves he could feel how Zelda held his hands, He had to say something, give her a proper answer.

"What… will your mother think about this?" That was all he could say once he regained his voice. A second later, he wanted to smack himself in the face for saying something so stupid.

"She knows," Zelda said. If she had thought the same as him about his question, neither her voice nor her expression showed it. "She has known it for a while. And all she told me was that she was disappointed in me for not trusting her. Who knows, maybe she had planned it from the beginning."

A sense of relief went through Link from head to toe. That meant he wasn't wrong about that feeling he had months before. The Queen did have a good reason to bring him to the castle to play with Zelda when they were children, and later to name him as her personal bodyguard. Was that a long-term plan from the beginning to secure the succession? Or maybe, she was just thinking about her daughter's happiness? The second one seemed the most likely. Everyone knew that the person the Queen loved the most, along with her late husband, was her daughter. But very few, and Link counted himself amongst them, knew that her role as a mother took precedence to her duties to rule the kingdom. What he didn't understand was, if she had planned that for her daughter from the very beginning, why did she choose him, a young boy who descended of a humble family of blacksmiths?

"Zelda… I can't offer you grand riches, or vast lands to rule or anything like that," Link said.

"Do you think that matters to me?" Zelda replied. "You've given me much more than that. You gave me friendship, affection, and you've always been by my side. I don't want anything else."

"Princess…" Zelda felt a small chill when she heard Link calling her by her title instead of her name. Yet for some reason, the word was filled with an unusual affection. And she liked it, so she didn't scold him for it. "It's so weird that I say that I don't like lying, when I couldn't be sincere about my own feelings. I didn't feel satisfied being your friend and protector. I admit it, I've always held a great affection for you. But all this time we've spent together training, made me see you in a different light. The more you progressed, the more impressed I was. Even though at first I thought it was just admiration, part of me knew it was more than that. But I didn't want to accept it, something in me told me it was wrong, that it wasn't right for me to have these feelings for someone like you."

"Link, my mother has always said that the true royalty is in here," Zelda said, placing her hand on her heart. "The origins are not important, what really matters is how you live your life and what you feel."

Link looked aside. It seemed like he had a hard time keeping visual contact with Zelda. The Princess took notice of this, and didn't understand why he was so reluctant. They both had admitted they loved each other, and the possibility of Queen Selena not approving of their relationship was all but discarded. What was stopping them? Coming to this point Zelda decided to take a firmer approach. She started by holding Link by his chin to force him to look at her. The Princess' eyes irradiated an aura of determination and hope.

"Let me tell you something else, Link," she said. "There's an even more important reason why I asked you to train me. You've always been the one who has cared and protected me, and believe me, I'm really happy and grateful for that. But it scares me to think that something could happen to you. And that's why I wanted to become stronger. Not just to take care of myself, but also so I can protect you, too."

Those last words brought down the last defense he could Link could have placed to deny his own feelings. He didn't want to be the bodyguard anymore, neither did she want to be the Princess of Hyrule. In that moment and place, they were just a pair of teenagers in love with each other. Deciding there was nothing left to say, never letting go of his chin, Zelda placed her other hand behind his neck and got dangerously close to his face. Fully aware of what was coming next, the boy didn't put up any resistance, and closed his eyes in wait, until he could finally feel the Princess' lips on his own. This being their first kiss, he couldn't imagine the sensation, he didn't expect it to be so warm, so sweet, so simple and yet so pleasurable.

Upon finishing, they both stared at each other and smiled. The kiss had sealed it, there was no turning back. The bond of friendship between them had made way for a new one, a bond of love.

"Zelda."

"Shhhhhhh…" The Princess shushed him, placing her finger on his mouth. "Don't say anything."

"I'm just wondering…"

"Don't. Say. Anything." She gave him a mischievous smile. He couldn't help but do the same, and this time, took the initiative and holding her by the waist, it was him who started the kiss.

Meanwhile, Queen Selena and Impa, who watched the whole scene, were also happy upon seeing the young couple showing their love for each other. Somehow, they were ready to intervene "give them a hand" if it was necessary, but in the end, they were glad they didn't have to. From then on, with their feelings clear, they could walk that path on their own, together. All they had to do was wait and see where it would lead them.

To be continued…