"You! Boy! Get back to work!"

The young boy was unresponsive to the sound of the head cook's voice. He'd been in a daze for a moment there, fingers wound loosely around the handle of a broom, blue eyes staring off into space.

Well, more or less.

The lovely Princess Zelda stood hardly a dozen feet away, engaged in conversation with one of the maids. Link, no more than a kitchen boy, had only caught sight of Her Highness once or twice during the month that he'd spent hard at work in Hyrule Castle. To be in such close proximity was certainly a treat- and not just because she was the fairest woman he'd ever laid eyes on.

Sure, she was ten years older than the thirteen-year-old. But what did that mean to a starry-eyed teenager?

"Oi! Did you hear me or not, boy?!"

Startled, Link dragged his gaze off of the princess and began sweeping the floor vigorously. His cheeks had gone slightly pink, and as he swept under the counter a mouse scampered out and he gasped.

"MOUSE!" he screeched, and the kitchen erupted into chaos. The cook abandoned his pots and jumped for the creature, skidding across the floor. Link went to attack the mouse with his broom, but it was to no avail- he knocked over a sack of flour instead, which landed on the tiles with a thud. The mouse continued its escapade across the kitchen floor, scuttling underneath the princess' skirts and causing her to scream in terror, stumbling backwards and frightening the mouse away until he disappeared in a hole in the wall.

The princess was leaning against a countertop, her hand resting upon her chest as she tried to catch her breath. After a moment, she cleared her throat and laughed lightly, the color rising in her face.

Link was staring again.

"Boy!"

"Ah!" Link shouted with a jump. His broom was quick as lightning after that. The princess gave her apologies and departed, and Link watched her go until she'd disappeared up the staircase, her satin skirts trailing behind her, her golden hair shimmering in the waning light-

"BOY!"

Link got back to work.

Manny, a close friend, found the entire ordeal quite entertaining.

"Some charmer you are," the freckled boy joked from the top bunk. It was the dead of night, now, and the servants' quarters were quiet, but Link and his roommate were wide awake as ever.

"I didn't say anything-"

Manny hung upside-down over the bunk, his shaggy blond hair forming a curtain around his face. "You tried to save her from a mouse. That makes you half a hero."

Link threw a pillow, hoping that Manny might fall. He didn't.

"Go back to your stupid pencils," Link mumbled, and flopped over onto his mattress. He could feel Manny still staring, and it was bugging him.

"My pencils aren't stupid."

"Shut up, Manny."

"I'll be a great artist one day. You'll see. We'll get out of this kitchen, and I'll be the most famous artist of them all. And you can become a knight, like you always wanted to be."

"I said shut up, Manny!"

A pause. "If you say so." And Manny dragged himself back onto the top bunk, where he let out a melodramatic sigh.

Silence ensued. It was uncomfortable, and Link spent the better part of it peeling at a moonlit patch of wallpaper. A corner had come loose recently, and it was bugging him to no avail. He wished he could just rip all those stupid, faded printed peonies from the wall and toss them all into a trash bin. Then this room would look less like a servant's and more like a knight's, and pretending would be easier. A lot easier.

Maybe tonight he would dream about dragons. The best nighttime fantasies were the ones where he slew great, scaly beasts and was knighted in the Temple of Time. Someday, someday…

Just when he was beginning to drift off to sleep, Manny spoke up again.

"You don't think there are any mice in our room, are there?"

"Shut up, Manny, or I'll come up there and punch you in your stupid freckled face!"

That shut him up for sure.

Link awoke to a beautiful morning. The sun was shining as he'd never seen it before. It was infuriating.

"I hate beautiful weather," he bemoaned as he tied his apron behind his back. Beside him, Manny cast him a confused look.

"Why?"

"Makes me wish I was outside."

"We all wish that, boy," the cook sounded from behind him. He was slicing fruit as he spoke, and once he'd dumped it all into an ornate glass bowl, he shoved it in Link's direction. "Here. Find out where in hell Salvatore is and send this up with him. The king'll be throwing a fit by now, fat pig as he is…"

Link pretended not to have heard the words fat pig and went off in search of the first footman, who he eventually found sulking by the kitchen staircase with a sourpuss expression.

"Good morning, Salvatore," he greeted, which earned him no response. "Hey. Hey. Salvatore."

The gaunt blond man raised an eyebrow. "Whaaaat?"

"Cook says to run this fruit platter up to the dining room."

"You tell the cook he can run this fruit platter up his buttocks," Salvatore replied deftly, but he took the fruit up the staircase anyway. Link did not deliver Salvatore's message, but instead returned to the cook's side to await further orders.

"The queen's picnicking with some ladies of Labrynna this morning," the head cook explained once Link had drawn near. He handed him a basket with a stack of steaming pastries inside, and upon Manny he bestowed a pitcher of iced tea. With a scowl, the cook surveyed the room.

"And where the hell is Niko?"

They all waited for some reply, but there was nothing. Finally, Manny sighed.

"We'll go get him. Come on, Link."

They set down their goods and instead padded down the hall into the servants' quarters. They found Niko's door firmly shut, and it took Manny three loud knocks and a kick to shove the thing open.

Niko was sound asleep in his bed, and Manny groaned.

"You-" kick- "great-" kick- "OAF!"

"I'm awake- I'm awake-" twenty-year-old Niko remarked, and scrambled to his feet. He was a roommate of Salvatore, and had the same thin frame, but Niko was more poorly-kept, with shadowy whiskers and shaggy hair that he did nothing about.

"What is it, lads?!" Niko asked, stumbling about and trying to rub the sleep from his eyes. "Is it dragons? Pirates? Assassins, is it assassins?!"

"It's breakfast," Manny replied, and looped an apron around Niko's shoulders almost like a noose. "Let's move."

"But I need the bathroom," Niko moaned as they stumbled out into the hallway and drew nearer to the kitchen. Thankfully, he'd never bothered to change into a nightgown the night before, so he already had his shoes on.

"All right, Cook, we've got him," said Manny. The cook seemed irritated, and he thrust a basket of muffins into Niko's arms a little more forcefully than was probably necessary.

"Here. Don't eat any of them, as I know you're sometimes prone to doing."

Link and Manny took up their goods once more, and the delivery team set off. It was a bit of a trek to the gardens, and they all were thankful for a bit of fresh air.

"Nice day indeed," Manny remarked, but Niko didn't seem to agree.

"It's too bloody sunny," he complained.

"Oh, shut it."

"And the pollen!" Niko continued, and right on cue, he sneezed right into the muffins. Manny groaned.

"Now look what you've done!" he cried, the iced tea splashing about as he lurched towards Niko in anger.

"You're spilling it! You're spilling it!" Niko replied, and that was it. The two descended into endless arguing in the middle of the courtyard.

A distant whinny distracted Link from the conversation, and he turned just in time to see a man crossing the courtyard on horseback. Behind him, a dozen men traveled on foot. They all were dressed from head to toe in steel, the gold and azure banner of the royal family streaming behind them. Link's breath caught in his throat for a moment, and his chest swelled with longing.

After a minute, the man on horseback came to a halt and removed his helm. He shook out his black hair and dismounted his steed, landing with the ringing of steel and turning to the stableboy, who had come to take the horse.

"Take good care of him, Abe," the knight requested, and the stableboy smiled.

"You know I will, Sir Nohansen!" he exclaimed with a smile, and led the red stallion across the stables.

"Sir Nohansen!" a musical voice sounded, and Link's heart thudded as Princess Zelda emerged from the front doors. She was dressed all in violet today, her golden curls dancing in the morning breeze. She lifted her skirts a few inches and rushed to the man's side. "You've returned!" she exclaimed in absolute glee, and the (Link hated to admit it) awfully handsome Sir Nohansen offered up a modest smile.

"Indeed I have, and in one piece!"

Zelda giggled. "Why, how wonderful. Please, you must join us for breakfast, and tell us of your travels…" She took the knight's arm and began to lead him inside.

"Why, Link, you're positively green with envy," Manny piped up. He himself was beaming, which led Link to believe that Manny had won the argument with Niko.

"Envious? Me? Nah," Link said, and yet he couldn't stop staring. Manny sighed and puffed out his cheeks.

"That'll be you someday. All dressed in steel, riding the best horse in the stables, a princess on your arm… or maybe even that princess, eh?"

Link shrugged.

"Oh, come on, now. Don't look so sad. We've got to keep our heads up, because that's all we've got, really." He threw his free arm around Link's shoulders. "Come on, Link. Let's deliver these damn pastries, and then we'll be one step closer to greatness."

A fic that started as a bit of a joke since I, too, work in a kitchen. We'll see where this goes, if I ever continue. :)