Zelda, after sealing away Calamity Ganon, asked Link a direct question that he could not answer. She stood before him the same as he, the very same even after one hundred years. She looked the same as from his memories. The same dress, the same hair, the same way she looked at him when –

A pain shot through Link's chest, nothing more than the hauntings of a memory he could barely hold on to. From the way she looked at him, still waiting for an answer and her eyes growing sadder with every unanswered moment, she hadn't noticed. He lifted his hands to sign a response but dropped them. With his head slightly bowed, he shook his head. He couldn't see her face, his eyes locked on the ground between them, but he could hear her sigh and could practically picture her sunken shoulders.

A long time passed as they stood in silence. He wasn't sure why she kept her silence, but he had no idea what to say, what to tell her. Yes, he knew about her, but he had so few memories to go on. His ears picked up the sounds of her walking through the grass to him and opening her arms with a look that said, May I?

He nodded, a little confused but finding no reason to object. She reached around him and held him, the touch familiar even if the person was not. He wanted to lean into it or to even wrap his own arms around her, but he felt his knees buckle as he dropped to the ground. He wasn't sure if he dragged her down with him or if she dropped to her knees of her own volition to keep her hold of him; either way, he was thankful.

"You've done so much, Link," she said. One of her arms moved up, smoothing down his hair. He could feel her arms tremble, her hands shake. "You've run around this entire country on little more than faith, and I can never repay that debt." Her voice began to waver near the end. This wasn't the reunion she was hoping for, he realized, even though there was nothing in his control over it.

He wanted to remember.

Zelda pulled away – not completely, just enough to look him in the eyes. He held her gaze for a moment before looking away, not sure if he was embarrassed or guilty.

"Are you…?" From his line of sight, he could see her hair move as she shook her head. "It doesn't matter. You're alive. And I… I can help you with your memories, perhaps." A soft laugh escaped her. "We did just defeat evil incarnate. I don't think much else could be so challenging."

He looked up just to give her a small smile, an act of obligation. His mind wasn't whirring with ideas of how to solve his problem, as he was sure that was what was going through her head based on what little he knew of her, but rather his thoughts were consumed by her. While he slept, while Hyrule crumbled under a restrained Calamity Ganon, was she conscious of the passage of time? Did she wait all this time to reunite with the version of him he didn't remember? What if he never did? Would it hurt her?

He gathered that, at the very least, they had become friends before Calamity struck. Just as he awoke in a world where he knew no one, she returned to a world where the people she knew were simply… gone.

Finally, he raised his hands and signed, "Are you okay?"

She raised her hands, and his breath stopped. Was she going to sign back? He waited, watching her hands as they went up… and up to her face where she brushed a few tears away from her eyes and cheeks.

She was crying. Despite her smile, he had no idea if they were happy or sad tears.

"Let's…" His hands momentarily stopped as he tried to find the right choice of words. "Let's get you under a roof."

He stood up and offered a hand to help her up. Once she was on her feet and he began to walk towards the nearest stable, but her grip on his hand, though gentle, stopped him.

"If I could ask… could you indulge me? I wish to say goodbye," she asked of him. He wasn't entirely sure what she meant by that, but when she turned around to walk towards the castle, he followed her just a few steps behind.

She stopped at the gate and looked at the castle. He wondered how it looked to her. He only had fleeting memories of the castle to compare it to, though he knew it had seen better days, but this had been her home. He watched as he stood by her side, aware of a feeling at the back of his neck, a whisper right behind his ears.

When he closed his eyes, he didn't see more than he felt their presense, as if they were alive and standing right behind him. Mipha. Revali. Urbosa. Durak. It was a feeling he had grown so used to he had almost forgotten it was there, the presence of his old friends in spirit with him, every step of the way since he freed them.

Opening his eyes, they were gone. He looked to Zelda, wondering if she felt the same thing. She turned and gave him a knowing look that he took as a yes.

They walked back to the fields when it finally hit them: they had to go somewhere. He tapped her shoulder to get her attention and then signed, "There's a stable nearby. They have beds." She shook her head, and he saw the anxiety in her eyes.

"I… I don't know how to put this into words exactly. Do I just do what you've done? Run about the world? Sleep on a bed in a stable? The people haven't recognized you. Would they recognize me?" Something about her words held a deep hurt in them, and he realized she wasn't entirely eager for people to look upon her. At least, not yet.

He nodded and brought his fingers to his mouth to whistle for his horse. Link heard his steed before he saw her, the thumping of her hooves on the ground coming up from behind him and then slowed to trot as she rounded about the two Hylians into a stop. His horse, Meadow, was the first one he tamed after waking up from his sleep and, for some reason, had been the one to appear when he needed her.

"She's beautiful," Zelda breathed, reaching her hand up to brush against Meadow's black coat. "What's her name?"

Link didn't reply, his hands already in use as he dug through his bag to pull out a pair of pants and a shirt for her. They wouldn't fit her well but he didn't own a side saddle for her to ride a horse in a dress with. She took the non-reply gracefully – something told him she was used to it – and took the clothes. Before she could ask, Link turned so his back was to her and didn't turn back until she gave him the go ahead.

She stood before him wearing his clothes, though she kept her Triforce necklace and sandals on. In her hands was the old white dress, complete with old mud stains he remembered too much. He held out his hand to take the dress, silently offering to hold it in his bag for her, and she handed it to him though with some hesitation. Holding the dress… it didn't bring back any memories, not that he expected it to, but seeing the old mud, feeling it in his fingers, he looked up and at her, now able to spot the hints of dirt on her skin.

But that wasn't important. He stuffed away the dress and laced his fingers together to crouch down so he could give her a boost. She didn't seem offended, but he had an inkling of an idea after he helped her that she could've mounted the horse without him. He just didn't know how to interact with her when he wasn't himself. If he remembered her more, if he remembered himself more, maybe he could act the way he did in some of his later memories. Right now, it didn't feel right; it'd feel like playing a part, giving her hope that wasn't there.

He pulled himself up so he was seated right behind her, reached around her, and grabbed the reins. With a small motion from the reins, he directed Meadow north, to the Great Hyrule Woods. They traveled in silence, partially as Link couldn't talk with his hands busy with the reins but also as the monsters that once thrived off of Calamity Ganon's presence were still stalking in the usual areas. He doubted the Blood Moon would revive them anymore, but they would have to be taken down one way or another.

Finally, he led her through the forest on foot. He knew she had come here once before when he – that pain in his chest again – with the Master Sword, but it didn't feel right not being by her side through the white fog and eerie trees. Thankfully, the Korok forest was much livelier, making the awkward silence between the Hero and the Princess less tense. The spirits danced in celebration – obviously much happier than the heroes that actually sealed away Calamity Ganon – and seemed to grow more exuberant as they spotted their visitors, crowding around their feet.

The mid evening light shown through the canopy, painting shadows of leaves and trees on Link and Zelda as they approached the Deku Tree.

"It seems congratulations are in order," the tree said. "I assume your visit is to return the Master Sword?"

Link felt Zelda tense next to him and, honestly, he tried not to show the same reaction. He hadn't exactly thought about that, though it did make sense. Calamity Ganon was gone, sealed away for the next several thousand years. What use was wielding the sword that can seal the darkness without the darkness? He reached for the hilt of the sword strapped to his back and began to pull it from its scabbard when he felt the Princess's touch on his hand, again gentle but meant only to stop him.

"Does it have to be now?" Zelda asked the tree. "Perhaps aspects of Ganon are still out there. We did see the monsters he rose time and time again with each Blood Moon still roaming the landscape."

The Deku Tree's expression didn't shift. "It is not my place to say when the Master Sword should be returned. That is up to the Master Sword and the Hero."

Link's hand still rested on the hilt, unmoving. He recalled his past self had been able to hear the Master Sword and, to some degree, so had he, but since Ganon was sealed away… Nothing. Yet he was still reluctant to part with it. As an answer on its own, he let go of the sword.

"We will wait until the Master Sword returns for us to watch over," the Deku Tree said before turning silent.

Link gestured with his hands towards the inner workings of the Deku Tree, where a few Koroks resided. The Korok that tended to the beds in the forest happily gave them the room, thanking them again and again as it shuffled itself and the others outside.

"I didn't realized the Koroks would tend to such a… non-Korok function," Zelda remarked, looking between the beds and the small store, and lastly to the statue of Hylia. Though he knew in his head that Zelda unlocked her sealing power and that there was no reason for her to look upon Hylia's statue with anxiety or anger, her slight smile and nod of prayer surprised him.

Link settled down next to the fire and pot, pulling from his bag ingredients to craft together a meal. Milk, butter, wheat, meat, and some carrots.

"Some things don't change, I suppose," Zelda said. Link nearly jumped in his place; he hadn't heard her sit down next to him. He watched her as she leaned over the pot, her hand over her shoulder to keep her hair from falling forward. "It smells just as good as before."

Before. Yes, it would make sense, he supposed, that innate skills like cooking or sword fighting would stay with him even if his mind had forgotten he had them.

"Sorry. Does it bother you when I talk about the past?" she asked of him. He avoided her eyes. He was sure they looked the same as Impa's, as Robbie's and Purah's when he revealed he didn't remember them.

He shrugged, unsure of both his feelings and how to answer her. He wanted to remember. But being talked about and not feeling that connection felt odd and wrong. Like they were talking about a version of him that is dead, like his current self was incomplete or somehow not himself despite being himself? Even if he was to remember everything suddenly, with perfect connection with his returned memories, he wouldn't be the same Link that went into the Shrine of Resurrection.

"You don't remember me. Not truly," she said, not as a question like before but as a fact. "You used to speak openly with me. I'm not expecting you to feel that comfortable with me, but may I ask your permission to build your trust again until you regain your memories?"

I'm not expecting you to feel that comfortable with me… anymore, was what Link knew she meant, but he was finding it harder and harder to try and hold that against her.

She's been waiting for her Link to return to her for one hundred year, his mind reminded him. She saved your life. Her kingdom is in ruins. You owe it to her, and she needs you.

The thoughts circled around in his head, changing words but the meaning always staying the same. Guilt, he realized. Earlier, when he wasn't sure if it was embarrassment or guilt at not remembering her the way he should. Guilt that he was not who he should be. Who she needed him to be.

He looked at her and smiled.