Hyrule Academy: A Zelink Story

Superior Skills

Zelda's POV

Our first semester exams are approaching and I need to make sure my head is 100% clear for them. It's been a few weeks since Laila last spoke to me, telling me about the rumours circling around about my apparent plans to gain popularity through Malice and Link. I haven't been able to forget her words, even after Impa and Purah's comforting talk. Why am I like this? I shake off my thoughts as I meet Revali and Daruk on the Rito field.

"Hello you two. How have you been?" I smile at them, receiving a warm grin from Daruk and a nod from Revali. Our friendships have grown since I joined the academy. I always look forward to meeting them in my PE lessons, even Revail has warmed up to me, slightly.
"Willing to be content if this one shuts his mouth for a moment." Revali grumbles and shoots an arrow dangerously close to Daruk, somehow managing to curve it so it hits the target behind him.
"I'm doing well, Princess. And that's very rude, Revali." Daruk huffs. The archer rolls his eyes and turns to me.

"Ready for your lesson?" I nod and ready my wooden bow. My light bow remains in my dorm, hidden from prying eyes. I aim and fire at the target, just managing to edge onto the black circle. I groan and retrieve my arrow. After a while of shooting almost a dozen arrows, I begin to grow tired.

"I've been trying for weeks and I'm still so terrible at this!" Why can't I get this right already?!
"Well, I'm not going to argue with that. You are still terrible at this. You're starting to make me think you're unteachable." He shrugs nonchalantly, but seems to tense up when he looks at me. I'm not sure what the look on my face is right now, but I can imagine it reflects how angry and disappointed I am with myself. I huff and snatch a bunch of arrows from a bag and begin to shoot them one by one.

"Uhh, Zelda, maybe you should calm down and take it slower with this. No one masters these things straight away-" Daruk nervously says.
"-Well I have to master this quickly. And I will!" The guys exchange a look and Revali steps forward.
"The lump of muscle is right. Just stop for a second and we'll take it step by step, again."
I shake my head and launch the arrows faster, but they're only getting further away from the centre. I can't stop. I'm determined to get better. I have to get better-

"-OUCH!" My fingers slip on the string and it hits my arm. I drop the bow and place my hand on my skin, a bruise immediately forming on it. Revali rushes forward and holds my arm.
"Are you alright?" He asks as he examines it. My eyes well up with tears. It stings really bad.
"Y-yes, I-" A hand suddenly wraps round my wrist, twisting me away from Revali, to a pair of cold blue eyes.
"L-Link? What are you doing here?" I ask even though I'm aware he has his PE lessons here too. I didn't expect him to show up so suddenly. Tears run down my face as my wound continues to hurt, a line of red has shown now, it looks like it might bleed.

"Come on, I'll take you to Mipha. She can-" Revali steps beside us and grabs my uninjured arm.
"Hold on, little knight. I've dealt with wounds like this many times. You don't need to waste time taking her all the way to the nursing wing when I can heal her right here." He practically growls at him. Link sighs, his eyes narrowing.
"Mipha is skilled enough to heal this wound quickly. It looks really bad. Let's just-"
"-Do you listen to a word I say? I said I can deal with it! You want to see Mipha so bad, go yourself!"

"You guys!" We all turn to a tired looking Daruk. "I don't think bickering like this is helping the little princess right now. Look at her." They all turn back to me.
"Oh, n-no. I'm fine, it's not that bad, really." I wipe the tears from my eyes, only for new ones to form.
"Just come here." Revali takes me over to the benches and opens his first aid kit. Daruk and Link stay in place, watching silently from a distance.

He applies a big ice pack to the ugly bruise and ignores my startled hiss.
"...Is it really bad?" I manage to whisper past the pain. He shakes his head.
"I've seen and had a lot worse. It'll be fine so long as you keep an ice pack on it." I nod and squeeze my eyes shut as the cold seeps through me.
"I'm sorry. I don't know what I was thinking. I let my anger get the better of me. ...It's just, I should be better at this by now." I apologise, embarrassed at my actions.
"It's fine. I... shouldn't have added insult to injury and said you were unteachable. I didn't think you would do this." He refers to my injury and I feel my face heat up in even more embarrassment. He looks up at me with his usual serious gaze.