Epilogue - Destiny; Just a Game

Years passed in a much different way than they had in an alternate seven years.

They were peaceful. And prosperous.

"Link!" Zelda called across the green practice courtyard.

"What?" he answered from an obscure location, the sound of the dull 'thunk' of an arrow hitting its target following his short reply.

"I need help!!"

In the past ten years, the Princess had grown into a young woman nobody originally thought she could be. The Kingdom of Hyrule prospered. The Hero of Time was hardly called upon to save the world, anymore. Despite the fact that he was still treated like a celebrity.

"So, what's going on?" Link asked, walking into the clearing where he knew Zelda to be.

"Vaiya's being completely unfair!" she retorted, pointing at the dark-haired, twenty-five year old Sheikah woman, who was currently sitting on a plane a bit higher than the roof, looking down at the two of them.

"No, I'm not," came the innocent reply.

"I told you no Sight!!"

"I didn't!" called the seer.

"I said no magic, though, at least!"

A young woman named Vaiya had turned up at Hyrule Castle one day, requesting to see her aunt, the attendant to Princess Zelda. When an audience was arranged, Vaiya said that she had Seen something, as a Seer of the Sheikah, of a future that was actually something of a past. Impa of the Sheikah had been only too happy to explain to her niece that all of Hyrule had been effectively thrown backward in Time seven years.

Though Vaiya had boggled at that, she had accepted it. And she had come routinely to the Castle ever so often to say hello to her aunt and her friends, found in the Hero of Time and Princess Zelda.

"In a pretend fight, you can at least play by the rules," the Princess continued, imperiously.

"Well, that's never gonna get you anywhere in real combat," Vaiya retorted.

Zelda looked imploringly to Link, who only shook his head.

"She's right, you know."

"Grr! You're supposed to take my side!" the Princess seethed, summoning a small ball of energy in her fist and, seconds later, blinking into existence on a plane of air at Vaiya's level.

"You only had enough time to get up here because you Saw what I was going to do. I know that much."

Vaiya shrugged. "Ah, well."

With that, Zelda snapped, the abrupt click resounding oddly in the thrumming of the magic already in use, and they both dropped to the floor. Not the sudden fall that one would expect with the pull of gravity, but slowed enough so that they could land on their feet.

"I thought you just said no magic."

As the only heir to the Hylian throne, Zelda thought it would be in her best interest to not only study the ways of ruling a kingdom, but to study the ways of the soldier and the warrior. After all, she couldn't trust Link to do everything, all the time.

It hadn't been long, when the two had first gone back in Time, before the King had realized that the strange little Kokiri boy was there to stay. And he had allowed him a space to live at the castle, which Link only took, initially, because he was aware that his home in Kokiri wouldn't even be able to hold him for very much longer.

The two had become easy friends, being two of the only eight people to remember that Hyrule had lived seven years under the reign of a Dark King.

Zelda smiled, snapping her fingers once again to make their weapons, short, curved, Gerudo styled swords, disappear into a pocket of space until she wanted them again.

"Cheat," Vaiya muttered.

"I'm hungry!" the Princess announced, ignoring her friend. "Let's eat!"

So, three individuals made their way to the castle kitchens, only to find that there was already a cook standing there with a plate of sandwiches.

"I'd figured as much," the cook said, as the crew grabbed the plate and headed toward Zelda's personal courtyard.

Though Zelda had often stopped to think about the life she had lead before, she found that she often couldn't remember anything much about it. The only thing she realized was that it seemed more and more trivial than the life she was leading now, as the Princess of Hyrule.

"The girl from Lon Lon Ranch is here to see you, Highness," a guard announced, entering the yard briefly before departing without a backward glance.

Zelda jumped up from her seat on the stone bench, leaving Link and Vaiya behind as she ran to an adjacent hall of ivy and stone, scanning the area for a familiar, redheaded figure.

"Malon!" Zelda shouted, seeing the young woman and running toward her.

"Hey, Zelda!" the ranch girl shouted back, turning to Zelda to embrace her briefly.

"How are you!?" Zelda asked. "You're never around here much, any more!"

In the alternate seven years, Malon had been a force that kept Zelda on the path to the current Time. But even now, when Hyrule wasn't in any kind of grave peril, Malon kept her saner than most other forces could.

"I'm just fine!" Malon laughed. "And you?"

"Great!" Zelda chirped.

But then, Malon gave a little noise at the back of her throat, and said, excitedly, "Lemme see your hand, again!"

Zelda groaned slightly, unconsciously twisting the glittering object resting on a finger of her left hand. "You've only seen it fifty million times!"

"I know," Malon said. "But it's so shiny!"

Zelda rolled her eyes, holding up the hand upon which rested a golden ring, complete with diamond and sapphire, the stone of her birth season.

And Malon smiled and contained the little squeal of excitement as she asked, "And now, how long?"
"Two months," Zelda said, automatically.

"Bet'cha can't wait," Malon inquired, smirking slightly.

"Oh, really?" the Princess asked, raising her eyebrows slightly.

Some time before, it had become official news that the Princess and the Hero of Time were something of an item. And they had made their relationship official several months before, when their engagement had been announced. The King was only glad that his daughter had had the common sense to marry someone at least respectable enough to have made a name for himself.

And Zelda laughed at the people who thought it was predictable, or cliché.

But, really. The Princess of Destiny and the Hero of Time.

Malon and Zelda walked back to the Princess's courtyard, taking their time. Because there wasn't a need to rush; not at the moment, at least. They all knew that the peace couldn't last this way forever.

As the group of Hylians, and one Sheikah, sat in the grass and talked about everything and nothing and all the random things in between, Zelda thought about exactly what she had become. She was a woman who was happy with what she was; she knew that much. Princes of Destiny, which was definitely not a game. Holder of the Triforce of Wisdom. Soon to be wife of Link, Hero of Time. And she was Zelda, Princess of Hyrule. But mostly... just Zelda.

And maybe her Destiny was a bit of a game, after all.

The End