The prince of Hyrule sat erect as his desk, his hand scrawling out elegant signatures and plans with a calm nature. But while on the outside the blonde royal seemed to be as reliable and stable as ever, on the inside his mind was abuzz with worrying thoughts.

For the past month and a half, there had been reports of bandits attacking merchants on the cusp of the Gerudo Valley. They were rather ruthless marauders, taking not only rupees and trade, but also any young woman that catches their eye, hoping to sell them into a slave market for a rather large sum. If left unchecked these bandits could go from petty thieves and kidnappers to slave traders. Rather than let the ruffians commit any more crimes, the royal ordered that a platoon of Hyrule soldiers to go and apprehend them, but a certain blonde warrior wouldn't have it.

She insisted that she could take care of the situation by herself, that if she could save all of Hyrule from a giant with a god complex then she could apprehend half a dozen or so bandits. So against Zelda's better judgment he agreed to let his dear companion venture out again to be the hero.

That was three days ago.

It was less than a day's ride to get to where the bandit headquarters was reported to be, so Link should've already be back.

But she's not.

So that left the worried prince to sit at his desk with the light of the setting sun bathing his office in a pale yellow as he continued to work, because that was all he could do.

Lips turning down into a stern frown, Prince Zelda set back to work with efficiency and determination, hoping that the large amount of domestic issues that needed to be taken care would distract him from the fact that his close, companion, was still missing.

The prince sat undisturbed for hours, fingers leafing through papers, signing documents and drawing up plans for the structural advancement of the city surrounding the royal castle. It was a little project of the prince's, something that he didn't expect to finish anytime soon or maybe ever but if it could act as a base for making the kingdom of Hyrule a better place then he would do his best.

He worked through the night, only stopping to rest for a few minutes every couple hours to catch a little sleep, even if it wouldn't come easily to the worried male. To stop working would invite dark thoughts and ideas into his powerful mind, and that would do no one any good.

It was early morning by the time a sharp knock came from the large doors of the impressive study, causing the blonde prince to flinch at the disturbance of his silence. Beckoning the anonymous person in, Zelda leaned back into his large, leather desk chair and used sore fingers to delicately rub tired eyes.

"You're Highness!" A frazzled servant busted into the room, the loud noise causing an ache in to royal's head. "She's back!"

That information caused Zelda's head to snap up. "What?!" Pushing himself up from his chair quickly, the man walked around the cluttered desk. Watching the young servant nod frantically, the royal felt a surge of relief. "Good." Some of the tension released itself from the muscles in his shoulders. "Where is she?" He asked, voice calmer than how he felt.

"Down in the infirmary sir." The servant explained, glad that his employer was never one for violent outbursts. "There were a series of injuries that needed to be addressed before she could report to you."

Hearing those words Zelda felt his mind being overcome with panic. With a dismissing nod towards the servant, Zelda began walking briskly through the castle halls on the way to the infirmary. Why was she hurt? How bad was it? Were any of them fatal?

Dark thoughts flitted through the mind of the prince before he did something rather unusual for the holder of the Triforce of Wisdom, he willed all thoughts out of his head in favor of focusing on making it down to see Link.

The walk to the castle hospital felt like an eternity, but eventually he eased open the wooden doors nodding to the many nurses and doctors that turned to address their prince before returning to taking care of the few patients. Going up to a nurse, a round woman with a warm smile, that wasn't occupied with patients the royal questioned about the whereabouts of the female warrior.

"Oh that one." The woman nodded in understanding. "She came in all banged up and bloody, sir, but thankfully it seems that not all of it was hers." The nurse said, picking up a metal tray full of medical gauze and supplies. "I'm on my way to check on her if you'd want to have a little visit with her."

"Yes please, ma'am." The prince nodded politely, eager to see Link. As he followed the round woman through the infirmary to one of the private rooms in the back he questioned on his companions condition.

"Took an arrow to the knee, I believe, and a rather nasty cut on her temple." The nurse sighed, shaking her head, causing short curls to twirl slightly. "But it wasn't as bad as we original feared." Opening a door with one hand, Zelda saw his Link laying down in the bed, looking pale in the eggshell colored bed linens, gauze wrapping around her forehead a few times and pushing up her bangs at an odd angle.

Quickly and efficiently the nurse flitted about the room, fussing over the patient and checking her injuries. Everything seemed to be healing well, no signs of infection or reopening of wounds so the nurse left a red potion on the bedside table, right next to Link's folded, freshly washed and repaired, tunic and hat.

Soon the prince was left alone with his childhood friend, sitting in a rather uncomfortable visitor's chair, but the hard furniture didn't bother him. Knees pressed up against the side of the bed Zelda held onto the warm hand of his companion, his gaze focused on the soft breathing on Link.

After a while the dark blonde leaned over slightly, pressing cool lips to the wrapped temple of Link, feeling gratitude to the Goddesses for bringing her back to him.

Slowly, bright blue eyes opened again to the world, dazed at first before becoming more focused. Upon seeing her old friend, tired lips turned up into a small smile. "Hey." Hoarse voice gasped, dry from lack of use. As if reading her mind the prince brought a glass up to her lips, pouring cool water in slowly as to not choke the female.

"Hey yourself." Zelda smiled down at the blonde as he replaced the glass on the nightstand. "How are you feeling?"

"Amazing." The warrior joked, stretching and testing out sleepy limbs. "How'd you manage without me?" She questioned.

The prince shrugged, an unusual gesture for the royal. "Same old. But it was pretty quiet without you causing a ruckus all of the time."

The injured girl let out a haughty laugh. "Pfft. You're hopeless."

"Maybe." Zelda answered before falling quiet for a while, Link's eyes taking this as an invitation to close and rest for a moment. "Link, I have something to tell you."

"Hmm?" Tired eyes opened again, trying to focus on her childhood friend.

"Neither myself or my kingdom is ready for me to take on a queen," There was a tense pause. "And I feel like that's alright for now. We have time to grow and improve, I don't want to ruin anything." Releasing her hand, Zelda reached into his coat pocket, pulling out a small drawstring pouch. "But I also don't want to leave anything unsaid because life is unpredictable and who's to say that either of us will make it through the end of the year?"

"Don't worry Zelda, I'm not going anywhere." Link reassured.

"I know, but you can't deny that there have been some uncomfortably close calls." Now it was Link's turn to shrug dismissively. "But what I'm trying to say is that I don't want to look back at this time in my life and regret not acting." Drawing in a deep breathe the prince sat up straight. "I want you to know how much I care for you. I've grown up with you and you know me in a way that no one else does, just like how I know you. And I love you." Reaching into the pouch, the prince pulled out a pair of matching rings. The first was a thin, wrapping gold with Hyrulian ruins carved into it beautifully, while its match was thicker, clearly made for a man's hands with the same writing's on its surface.

The warrior's face was rather blank, even her usually expressive eyes were guarded as she stared up at her Zelda. There was a moment of deep silence, the tension eating away at the young prince. Then Link brought up a hand, gesturing for the royal to lean closer. Following instructions Zelda leaned in close to be surprised when the injured warrior leaned forward, meeting his mouth with her own.

Falling back onto the pillows Link smiled up at her prince. "So we're official now?" She crossed her arms over her chest as she laid on the bed, bunching up the sheets as she moved. "No more dancing around the subject?"

Zelda let out a short, regal laugh. "No more dancing, well, unless I escort you to a ball." The prince joked. Taking the adventurer's hand in his own, he placed the feminine ring on her finger before placing his own on.

The simple gold band sparkled in the infirmary lights, not the most romantic setting in the kingdom, but in this one moment it was everything to the pair.

Bright blue eyes eventually drifted closed again. "Be here when I wake up?" Link mumbled, already falling asleep.

"Of course." Zelda promised.