Zelda sat in her office, relaxed by the sound of the rain dripping off of the windowsill and onto the wall on the castle's exterior. She straightened out a small stack of papers, clipping them together. The light rain continued.

She sifted through papers.

Drip, drip.

She clipped them together.

Drip, drip.

Her eyes began to droop.

Drip, drip...

Well, a short nap wouldn't hurt anyone...

Drip, drip...

She drifted off to sleep. The day felt all too heavy... something wasn't sitting well with her. Maybe the extra sleep would do her well...

Zelda was awoken much too soon, probably only ten or twenty minutes after she'd drifted off.

"Your Majesty," a soft voice called from the doorway, and she jolted awake.

"I... o-oh, yes...?" she asked, rubbing her eyes.

"Sorry to bother you, my lady," the guard asked, "but I was told to inform you that Link is back..."

Zelda stood up from her desk, eyes wide. "He is? Oh... good, I'll go see him-"

"He couldn't come to the castle, just yet," the guard told her. "Impa went off to find him after she was informed of his arrival... he's at the residence of a man named 'Shad'..."

She smiled. "Well, I'll just go and find him, too," the queen nodded. "I know Shad... oh, and thank you for telling me."

"Of course," he replied as she ran off down the hall. "Take care, Majesty."

...

Zelda shivered, although the rain was gone and gathered in puddles throughout the square as she walked through town. She smiled, waving at the young children who splashed around in them, and they turned away bashfully as she giggled.

She pulled her coat around herself tightly as she reached Shad's house, lightly knocking on the door. There was quiet conversation from behind the door, and it opened after some time, revealing a surprised Impa.

"Zelda... what are you doing here...?"

Zelda saw Link over Impa's shoulder, a big smile growing on her face as she walked past Impa. "Link, you're back! I'm so glad that..."

She trailed off when she saw the lack of emotion on his face, and that was when she noticed Shad holding Ashei close, the latter's face buried into her own hands as she shook slightly.

The room was deafeningly silent.

The young queen took a seat beside Ashei, looking incredibly concerned. "Ashei... what happened...?"

The young warrior managed to pull her hands from her eyes, revealing the deadness of her teary gaze.

"H-He's... he's gone..."

Zelda's blood curdled. "...W-What do you mean...?"

Ashei had a strange look on her face, the kind where it was hard to pin down exactly what emotion she felt... there was a slight smile there, though of course there was no joy in those eyes...

"My dad..." she responded, completely deadpan, as if she was making a news report or reciting from a textbook. "An old friend came to check on him this morning, and he was dead..."

Ashei laughed, sounding eerily like her regular self. "Imagine that... I just saw him less than a week ago. Funny how things work, right...?"

"I'm so sorry…" the young woman managed, her eyes wide. "I… I-I don't know what to say… I just… I'm so sorry…"

"Don't be," she shrugged, the concern on Shad's face more than obvious at her nonchalance. "Not your fault, after all…"

Shad simply gazed at her, gripping onto her arm firmly. "Ash…"

"What?" she asked, as if he'd bothered her from something to get her attention.

"Ash… you… a-are you…? N-No, of course you're not okay…"

"I'm just tired," she shrugged slightly. "Tired…"

Impa pursed her lips. "Ashei… we're here for you…"

Ashei wiped her tears, a blank look on her face. "Yeah… I know…" She stood up as Shad let go of her arm, and she yawned. "You're not going to let me be alone, huh?" she asked. "Let's get out of the house then, yeah? Anyone want to go out for a drink or two?"

"I can come with you," Impa nodded, "I don't drink, though…"

"I'll come with you, too," Zelda remarked, offering her a small smile.

The three girls led the way out of the house as Shad and Link trailed behind, the former looking at the other.

"I just… I-I don't know what to say..." Link muttered, shaking his head.

Shad furrowed his brow. "I think that… I think that she needs to get out of here," he muttered. "Just for a while… but I can't leave her alone, and…" He closed the door behind them, locking it as they went outside. "...I just don't know what to do… I'm… I'm stumped."

"What about Wolf…?" Link asked. "He's been her friend for a long time… where is he…?"

"He's been busy at the castle, the past few days…" the scholar replied. "He doesn't know about her dad, yet… maybe… maybe it'd be good, if she spent time with him."

"Maybe you guys could go to her home," the young hero responded in a soft manner. "Let her… I don't know… tie up loose ends. I'm sure she has some unfinished business, there… maybe she could keep something of her dad's to remember him, by."

"I don't know if she'd ever come back…" Shad admitted with a small shake of the head. "She'll likely inherit the place, anyway… and she lived there for most of her life…"

A swath of silence fell over them once again as they kept their distance from the group ahead so as not to be overheard.

"Maybe… that'd be best for her," Link suggested. "I mean… I-I don't know… I don't know how it feels to lose someone, especially someone so important to you… I guess that… you would know, wouldn't you…?"

Shad furrowed his brow, pulling off his glasses and cleaning off the lenses. "I felt too confined, inheriting my dad's house…" he stated. "Like it was suffocating me, you know…? But I was very young then, after all… in the end, it's her choice, where she decides to go from here…"

Link nodded. "We'll just… all keep an eye on her, for now."

He nodded back. "Right…"

...

She drank heavily that evening, far heavier than she usually did, which was a feat in itself. Her lips were parched as Shad sat beside her, trying to coax the bottle away from her grasp. She was obstinate, as always, yet the playful whininess that was usually in her voice when she told him to lay off was gone; there was something that replaced it that felt much more curt... mean-spirited, even.

When Telma caught wind of what was happening, she finally refused to serve Ashei for the rest of the night... and received an awful glower from the young warrior as Impa insisted that they go back to the castle for a bit, sit down and relax for a while.

She was a bumbling mess during the walk to the castle, and every now and then she'd whisper something into Shad's ear that made him turn red, though he said nothing in return.

The group seated themselves in the sitting room soon after, and when Impa went to cook dinner, it was only the four young adults left.

"I think that... it's fair to say that I'm going a little crazy," Ashei remarked with a shrug.

Zelda sighed softly. "Of course not, Ashei... people handle grief differently..."

"Was it like this with your parents?"she asked. "I mean, I can't imagine it was; after all, everyone missed your mom and dad when they died... my pop, though? I'm the only one who'll miss him."

"That's not true," Zelda murmured with a stern shake of the head. "Everybody is missed by someone in the world, whether they've passed away or not... everybody. The people in the world who feel sadness every day, every waking minute of their lives... it's my belief that they are weeping for one of the people in the world who has died with no one to remember them, no family or friends... every single person is meant to be remembered; each human life is a complex chain of memory."

There was something thoughtful in Ashei's eyes... particularly thoughtful for someone who'd been drinking away their sensibility for the entire night, at that.

For a moment it looked as if she may cry, but it didn't happen.

"Is it selfish to wish that you were dead, even if you know that people will miss you?" Ashei asked, a sad smile on her face as she curled up into a ball on the couch.

Zelda considered this. "No... it's not selfish," she replied. She pulled the other girl into a hug, shaking her head. "It's not selfish at all... don't say that. Just... please don't do something rash, Ashei... whether it seems selfish or not, please don't... please..."

The warrior twiddled her thumbs after Zelda had pulled away, shaking her head. "...I won't," she told Zelda. "...I won't…"

Shad had a pained look about him, and he pulled Ashei into a hug. "Ash… I think that… maybe we could host a funeral for him."

"It'd be pretty lonely," she remarked.

He shook his head. "I'm sure that there are plenty of people who he's had an effect on… I guarantee it. And we'll pull them altogether and show you that other people are going to miss him, too… I never even met him, and I miss him, Ash; you've told me so much about him over the years that I feel as if I did know him."

Ashei thought about this for a moment before shaking her head. "I just... want to go to sleep..."

Shad nodded, and Zelda stood up. "There are plenty of spare rooms... I can take you up to one, if you want..."

Ashei nodded, following the young queen wordlessly as Shad stayed with Link near the fireplace. Link looked at Shad and saw a complete stranger... as if his good friend had become another person. There was a deadness in his eyes, and so Link lowered his gaze.

"...Zelda will station a guard outside Ash's room," Link assured him. "And... a lot of the guest rooms don't have windows..."

"I know..." Shad muttered, nodding slightly.

The crackling of the logs in the fire pervaded the otherwise silent room. The waft of Impa's cooking crept up on them, yet neither of them felt their stomachs growling. In fact, they didn't feel much of anything at all.

Zelda was back downstairs soon enough, and she sat beside Shad, her gaze rather solid.

Link was slightly hunched over as he looked over at them. "Was it like this for you two?"

Shad wrung his hands. "For me... it was close. It wasn't as sudden, though..."

The hero looked over at Zelda, who simply shrugged, her voice dripping with sarcasm, "Princesses aren't supposed to be sad... they're too important to show that sort of weakness." She lowered her gaze. "...But yes... it did hurt. And my parents didn't speak to me often, as it was, while Ashei's father..." Zelda shook her head. "...He was her world."

The logs crackled through the silence, still, and Shad looked up at the vaulted ceiling.

"...It just… doesn't seem right, you know? He wasn't incredibly old… besides the drinking, he didn't have any particularly debilitating habits. My dad barely slept at all, barely ate… it didn't come as too much of a surprise that he got sick. But her dad was… just a normal person. And he just got sick out of nowhere."

Zelda nodded. "It's a strange thing… it makes you question the legitimacy of fate…"

"I never much believed in fate, to begin with…" Shad murmured.

She raised an eyebrow. "Really? That's… surprising, actually. Considering-"

"My historical research?" he asked. Shad nodded slightly. "Yeah… I can see why. I don't know, it just… never seemed likely, to me. I believe in chance, sure, and even coincidence… but fate seems like too much of a fairy tale. Still, if the goddesses are still watching over Hyrule, then… I suppose that it could be true."

She clasped her hands together, the fire burning in her eyes. The serenity that they still gave off, though, was… dissonant, to say the least.

"I believe that they are…" the queen murmured with a nod. "That belief isn't… something that can be proven by fact, though. It's… something completely different. It's just… faith."

Shad nodded. "Faith…"

Link rubbed his eyes. "I can only assume that the goddesses are still watching…" he remarked. "From experience…"

"And taking a look at Hyrule's history, it seems like their persistence to protect Hyrule is rather consistent…" Zelda murmured.

Shad seemed to think about this deeply for a moment, the fire also reflecting in his glasses. He sighed deeply. "I've often thought about why the faithless turn to divinity after tragedy, as if it would make a large difference… and I only realized when my own father died why such a thing happens, because I experienced it myself; they want to believe that the person that they lost had somewhere to go after it all. In a way, it was almost therapeutic…"

"I don't know if Ashei would believe in something like that," Link remarked pensively.

"...Whatever happens, I just… want her to feel some sort of closure," Zelda nodded curtly. "...She deserves that much; her father does too, of course. She's done so much for us… it's the least that can be done to try and repay that, at least in part, I believe."

Shad nodded. "Yeah… I can definitely agree with that. Oh, and um…" The scholar clasped his hands together. "Would it be a good idea for her to… head back home, at least for the time being? Link… thought that it might be a good idea…"

Zelda considered this. "I… I think that it would be best to get her opinion, on it," she began, "but… I just…"

"Don't know if it'd make her feel better?"

"Don't know if she'd come back," Zelda murmured.

He lowered his gaze. "...Yeah… that's what I was thinking. Link thought that… maybe that'd be okay, though…"

It was then that Link got a look- an actually good look- at Shad's eyes. Hidden behind the flames that reflected in the lenses of his glasses, his eyes were… sad. Not blank, or with a deadness about them like Ashei usually had; they were just sad, in a thoughtless way.

Link couldn't pull his gaze away. Did he really care about Ashei's dad that much…? Or…

"...be better for her to leave…? I mean… if that meant her not coming back…?" asked Shad.

Link only caught the end of that sentence.

Zelda rubbed the back of her neck. "...I…I honestly don't know… it wouldn't be right to make decisions without any evidence to back it up with… and I doubt if Ashei would appreciate us discussing solutions on her behalf, as it is."

Shad nodded slightly, though his gaze met nobody else's. "Probably…"

The young hero blinked a few times, feeling stupid for not realizing it before…

"...Ashei's gonna be okay, Shad," he assured him, nodding curtly.

Shad nodded slightly, though it seemed as if he doubted this. He sighed after a moment. "I… should be getting to bed, too. I'm not really hungry, and it's been a long day, to say the least…"

Picking up on this, Zelda stood up, but Shad put a hand up to stop her.

"It's okay… I remember the way up," he nodded slightly. "Assuming that the same room is still free…"

The young woman nodded. "It is."

He nodded again. "I'll see you both in the morning, then…"

"See you in the morning," Zelda told him, and Link simply gave a small wave of the hand as Shad headed through the door and back into the foyer.

Link sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Looks like I chose an excellent day to come back…" he murmured. "I doubt if she wanted more people around… Ashei's not exactly one to enjoy being the center of attention, even in good situations…"

Zelda rubbed the back of her neck. "It's… troubling, of course. But… I am glad that you're back. I've missed you…"

A hint of a smile appeared on his face, and he pulled her close, sighing softly. "I've missed you, too…"

"...Is it selfish to wish that we could've had a better reunion?" Zelda asked softly, her eyes tired as she kept her gaze low.

He shook his head. "No, not at all… it's not like you don't care about Ashei, after all…"

"Certainly not; I care quite a deal about Ashei," Zelda nodded. "She's been a wonderful friend, through and through… I just hope that this situation is sorted out, for her sake. It's bad enough that such a thing happened… even being a bystander is unbearable; I don't know what to do, to help…"

"Your magic can't bring people back from the dead?" he muttered dejectedly, though there was a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

She shook her head. "That's never been attempted… and even so, it'd likely kill me, instead…"

"That simply wouldn't do…" he muttered, rubbing his eyes.

She managed a smile. "I would hope not…"

Link sighed softly, resting his chin on top of her head.

The young woman could feel the tension in his arms, and she held onto one of his hands gently. "Things will get better," she murmured, closing her eyes. "I know that they will… for all of us."

He exhaled softly, pressing his lips to her forehead. "...I know."

She rested her head against him, and Link smiled.

"I love you…" Link told her, feeling relieved at being able to finally tell her after what felt like being gone for an eternity.

"I love you, too," she replied without hesitation, holding onto him loosely. "I'm so glad that you're back… I don't have to sleep alone, anymore…"

He chuckled, a slight grin on his face. "What, you didn't find a new fiancé, in the time that I was gone? I'd have thought that you'd have the entire town lined up out front, trying to win you over…"

Zelda laughed. "No, that didn't happen… unless you count the mailman running letters, as always, though he definitely said nothing to try and win me over…"

"I'm sure that he's planning something; he'll try to steal your heart and then whisk you away from me, I'm certain of it..." Link smirked, and she grinned widely, messing up his hair.

"Oh dear, whatever shall I do?" she asked in a falsely scared voice. "If he uses his charms on me, then my fragile will may shatter; I'm afraid that I am but a damsel in distress at the hands of such dashingly suave men as he…"

"So you're calling off the marriage?" Link laughed.

"Only if you mind a love triangle."

"How could I? Things get boring around here, Zelda, and I am more than willing to prove my love for you."

"How do you know that he isn't a master swordsman?" she grinned.

"I shall take my chances… for your honor, Your Majesty."

She giggled. "You're incorrigible…"

"I know," he grinned proudly.

And just like that, the troubles of the day had melted away… perhaps it was so gratifying just to be together again that those bad memories had been pushed to the back of their conscious, and they could do nothing more than be glad that they were able to see each other again.

So their night went on, and it felt wrong to sleep, as they did indeed have some catching up to do. Impa ate dinner with the two of them, and the three spoke as if it had been ages since they all were last together.

They made plans for the next day, somehow feeling refreshed despite staying up late, because there was still that prodding thought of Ashei in the back of their minds and somewhere in them was a feeling of guilt. The best that they could do was talk, still, if just to feel better than they would in the silence that had been so prevalent throughout the day.

It hadn't gotten light outside yet, and eventually they did fall asleep, not bothering to head upstairs and instead falling asleep on the sofa, the fire having since been put out.

Like that flame, they went out, but it was then that the troubles of their subconscious could rise again.

And so, that pain went on until they could awaken once more.