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At this hour, nothing could be heard in Hyrule Castle but the crackle of torches along the walls, the occasional distant steps of guards on their night shifts, or the chatter of two people encountering one another in the halls.
Tonight, in their personal chambers, nothing but the candle on Link’s bedside kept the room from dipping into the dark.
Unlike his wife, Link was awake, lounging in bed. He’d long slipped away from a proper seating position, now almost entirely on his back if it hadn’t been for the headboard keeping him from slipping further. He had Zelda snuggled into his side. Her head used his forearm as a pillow, and her back was to his side. He flicked through the last minute papers of the day, those that had escaped him earlier.
These particular papers were regarding the recent physical examinations of the royal guards. He’d done the knights that afternoon, just barely finishing in time for dinner but there still remained a dozen or so for the Royal Guards.
He looked outside. Despite the lack of light, he could see big snowflakes falling. He knew there’d be a big snowfall, it always tended to happen with those kinds. Maybe it’d be sticky, he could toss a ball or two at someone in the morning…
Zelda shifted in his arms. Her long hair fell in front of her face, obscuring it away. Link parted her hair back into its original place. This was his routine with Zelda ever since they’d married three years ago. The Calamity had been brutal, but unsuccessful in its goals. They’d won with a few dozen a sizable casualty number, but Link had been happy it hadn’t been particularly high in number, although he’d have preferred it be none.
Zelda nuzzled him a bit closer, humming something under her breath. Serene as ever…Her soft smile… he’d do anything to protect it.
He looked at the pile in his lap… They had to be done by noon tomorrow… The candle was flickering intensely, a new one would be needed too.
Link tried to shift out, but Zelda’s grip tightened on his arm. “Link?” She looked up groggily at him, eyes still closed from sleep. How could someone be so cute?
“Go back to bed.” He kissed her head and tried to slip out.
Of course, his plan was never going to work. Zelda looked at the candle and papers and frowned. “I should be saying that to you if you ever did in the first place.” She wasn’t wrong about that, she never was.
“I’ll go soon.” It felt like a lie coming out of his mouth, and it was clear Zelda felt the same by the unimpressed glare she sent his way.
“Put the papers away.” She reached for the papers, but he moved them out of reach.
“Just a few left. Please?” He kept them out of reach, but Zelda crawled on top of him and tried to reach for them .She almost managed to grab them if it hadn’t been for Link plopping them lower under the bed. “There’s 5 left.”
“More like 50.” She slumped perpendicularly over him. Her arm reached down lazily, swinging to grab the papers, but no real effort was given.
He laughed and touched her hair, flattening her forming bedhead. “Comfortable?
She stopped swinging her arm and nodded, slumping her head against the mattress next to his side. “Very much so.”
Her stomach and torso were stretched across his stomach, head slumped against his ribs, and her feet hung off her side of the bed.
He knew from years of experience and sharing the barracks with the older men to know if she spent all night like that, she’d feel like she’d aged thirty years in one night.
He slipped his arm under her far arm and heaved a bit, pulled her back against his side. “Can’t have you breaking your back for a moment of comfort.”
She groaned in protest, but the complaints didn’t last. The moment her head had rested against his chest, she nuzzled again with the faintest peek of a smile. “Blow that thing out.” she grumbled into his bare chest. “Let me have you all to myself.” Her arms slipped around his chest and tried to pull him closer. “How is it you’re so warm?”
Even after three years of marriage, was anything truly better than this?
“You may steal it all.” he smiled through her embrace.
She pressed her cheeks to his pectoral. “I love you, my personal campfire.”
He managed to stretch enough to grab the candleholder, took one last glance at his sleepy wife’s face and blew out the candle. “Good night, my queen.” With a kiss on her head, he pulled the covers up and shifted to lay down, careful not to disturb Zelda too much.
Nothing could ever beat these evenings.