Couple of the Wild (ZeLink)

Chapter 51: Zelda's Healing Research

"Zelda, you've been sitting here for about two hours now," the large Rito said, looking at the girl from a small distance away. Zelda, after wandering up the road up past the Boss's house lost in thought, eventually perched atop a rather small boulder as she overlooked the bright glowing pools of Death Mountain's lava rivers. From what Kass could tell, the Hylian had apparently taken a liking to watching the orange embers float into the sky from the fiery liquids below.

"You seemed confident in your abilities earlier," Kass continued, not receiving any sort of response from Zelda as she continued to look on below the cliff. "What's gotten you upset?"

"I don't know how I'm supposed to make this medicine for Bludo. I'm not a princess anymore, Kass," Zelda said, reaching down to pick up a small rock from the ground. "I don't have a royal library anymore, nor do I have any type of equipment for researching Goron livelihood. To top it off, I know absolutely nothing about Goron anatomy and herbs that work on a Hylian may work differently on a Goron, yet I have no way of testing that theory. I'm sorry to disappoint, but I'm rather pessimistic about our situation at the moment."

Zelda chucked the rock she had picked up off the cliff, watching as it splashed into the steaming lava below. She leaned down, looking for another rock to throw as she allowed herself to sink deeper into her negative thoughts. It hadn't even been a day since Link left. In fact, Link had only left earlier this afternoon, meaning that it had only taken a few hours for Zelda to run into problems without having her knight next to her. The girl's fingers finally found another pebble near her, gently picking up the stone to inspect it. Zelda stared down at the stone, her eyes empty as she looked on before once again throwing the new pebble into the lava.

"You know," Kass said, taking a few steps closer to the girl sitting on the rocks as he looked around to ensure no one was listening in. "When I was still learning from my Sheikah teacher, I was always told that the princess of Hyrule loved research more than anyone in the kingdom. She would find the toughest of subjects more than fascinating. Is there another reason you may be a bit... negative at the moment?"

"Well, first off, your teacher was wrong," Zelda said, throwing another rock into the lava below. "I'm positive the person who loved research the most was either Purah or Robbie. Second, no; everything is fine."

Kass watched as Zelda threw a few more rocks into the lava below before smiling awkwardly. It was clear that everything was not fine. Of course Link not being with her was messing with her confidence, and their fight had only happened earlier that day.

"Maybe you should just rest for today," Kass said with his usual smile. "A lot happened with the boulder, the Yiga, and a little Goron running over your foot. It might be best for you to attempt this tomorrow."

Zelda sat without responding for a few moments until she finally nodded, however she didn't budge from her sitting rock. She continued to look out into the lava pools before taking a large breath.

"Kass? You keep avoiding my question," Zelda said quietly, not turning back to the large Rito. Kass raised an eyebrow as he looked on at the sitting Hylian. The sun had begun to set and the sky began to turn orange, the sun rays beaming down upon Zelda as she remained silent as Kass awaited the inevitable question.

"Link heard the song about my feelings... didn't he?"

Kass blinked a few times. He had vaguely remembered Zelda asking him that same question earlier that day when they had met, however they were in a rush and he had brushed off her question.

"He has heard the song," Kass said slowly. "Though I'm curious as to why he never told you that he knew. I played it for him months ago, and he seemed to take it to heart when I did."