We all are animals anyway

The sun was setting, the castle's garden looked pristine white due to the snow that had fallen the night before. There seemed to be no Gerudos patrolling the area, but they were there… you could hear their laughter coming from inside the castle. The bitches could be seen through the broken windows, they were toying with the noble's bodies and mocking them. 

Link and Zelda walked slowly along the edges of the garden to avoid being spotted. As soon as they crossed the garden, they followed an arrow sign that pointed the way to the moat. As they approached the shore, Link notices something and stops death on his tracks, causing Zelda to collide with his back. He raises his hand to signal the Princess to stay and be quiet.

ZELDA POV

Ok I will stay but why? is somebody by the shore? Is that why he is walking crouched? I don't see anyone. Damn these breeches keep falling, this belt is not helping at all. 

Link was approaching the moat's shore crouching, then he suddenly drops on a knee. He quickly recovers and continues to move forward slowly.

What the… he fell? Isn't he supposed to be trained for this or something?

Link notices a scimitar laying on the snow, he deviates to grab it, then continues moving towards a lone oak tree near the shore. There is a Gerudo expertly camouflaged sitting by the tree. She was either a new recruit or very fucking stupid. She had made the mistake of falling asleep… and that will be her doom. Link continues to approach her silently, once he is close enough, he quickly yanks the Gerudo's pointy tail, effectively exposing her neck. She begins to scream but Link quickly slashes her neck, silencing her forever.

Zelda covers her mouth as she stares at the blood pouring out of the redhead, she watches as the Gerudo's arms go limb and her eyes roll back. Link just let the Gerudo bleed out a few seconds, he then kicked her letting go of the pointy tail, the girl fell forward on a small pool of her own blood.

How did I not notice she was there? How did he notice? I always thought that only really stupid people got mugged by a Gerudo. Since their hair and skin color is an obvious give away… I underestimated their ability to blend with the surroundings. 

Now seeing her dead body… I can't help but wonder if he did the right thing by killing her. I mean, she didn't attack us… did HE really needed to kill her? 

The Princess thought as she saw how Link was cleaning the scimitar on the dead Gerudo's clothes, and proceeds to search her body for ANYTHING that could be of use to them. He found nothing but rings and expensive collars on her… jewelry she had obviously had taken from the bodies of the nobles. 

[The bitches could be seen through the broken windows, they were toying with the noble's bodies and mocking them] The memory of what she saw the Gerudo doing with the bodies morphed Zelda's face from sorrow to pure hatred.

OF COURSE HE HAD TO KILL HER, she would have surely come after us if given the chance, that BITCH is better of dead anyway. I hope she was the only one in the area, we are kind of exposed.

Link signals for Zelda to approach him, she runs to him hoping to get there quickly, or at least before another Gerudo decides to come out of hiding.

"Are you ok?" Zelda asks him with concern

Link just gives her a questioning side glance.

"You fell, I would like to think you are just clumsy… but I know you are not" she immediately explains, more to herself than to him.

"I took gun shoot…" Link squints his eyes thinking on how to explain "I received damage from that loud weapon that made a whole in your door. It left a bullet inside… that is a small metal piece that currently hinders my gait" Link finally says,

[the rest of the improvised rope fell down next to her; the end Link should be holding was stained with blood] 

"Yeah, I had forgotten about that, seeing you alive and walking I thought they hadn't... can I see it? the wound I mean" Zelda asks

Link looks at her with half a smile "does morbidity brings you pleasure?" 

"NO, well… I am curious, not going to lie; but if you let me check it, I could help you clean it, maybe even see if something can be done for the pain" she says looking up at him with pleading eyes.

You can call it morbidity, there is a little of that, but what I REALLY want to do is check on it, maybe help clean it... 

Rolling his eyes "Why the fuck not" Link exclaims, drooping the scimitar and taking off his Jacket "dressing wounds is a skill that wouldn't hurt you to have" he now takes off the bandages exposing the wound

HOLY FUCK, I thought the tailor did a good job with his jacket, but it was not the jacket, he HAS a nice build that makes the jacket look good, how old is he? He must be close to 13… I hope. The suit in general is just a pretty wrapper for the candy… WHAT THE FUCK ZELDA, he may still be a boy, lusting over him is a NO GO. And you hated him didn't you? just focus. I think I see the metal piece he was talking about; it is not incrusted that deep.

"The wound looks very inflamed, and it's very close to the spinal cord, maybe that is why it messes your gait, but is not actively bleeding and it doesn't smell putrid, that is good right? I can see the metal piece by the way"

"Think you can reach it?" Link asks with hope

"Maybe… WHY?" Zelda asks with wide fearful eyes

"Take it out…" Link orders "please" he adds.

WOW!!! NO! I CAN'T DO THAT!

"It is close enough for me to look at it, but I am no nurse or medic, and ANY health professional would still need equipment to extract it without damaging the skin around, if I do it with just my fingers I will rip the skin around it. It will HURT A LOT" Zelda warns

Link looks around and grabs a coarse fallen branch and bites on it

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS GUY? it's like he really does not care about the pain this will cause. Oh well… if he doesn't care why should I? let's do this. 

Zelda grabs some snow and rubs her hands a little on it, tying to clean them before touching Link's wound. Then she puts her left hand on his upper back for support, inserting her right-hand index on his wound. She fears to end up pushing the object even more, so she attempts to hook the bullet with her nails and draw it out. But doing so meant widening the wound.

CRACK!!!

Did he just bite through the branch? And I thought I was doing it so well, painless even since he never complained or scream, I kind of feel bad now, but I finally got it, this will be over soon.

Zelda pulls the bullet out, and starts inspecting it with curiosity, Link sighs and starts placing the bandages back, Zelda notices and stops him grabbing his arm, she rips a small portion of the bandage and uses it to clean the wound.

"Sorry but you are bleeding again, not much but I should clean it or it will attract wild animals... or so I have read. Apparently, blood smells, does it?" she genuinely asks.

"It does, thanks for getting the bullet out, and for cleaning the wound" Link tells her sincerely.

Zelda looks down at her hands, and then at the blood stains on the snow "don't thank me for that, I increased the size of the wound and it caused pain" Zelda says, not understanding why she felt bad about causing him pain. She was exhilarated about it a few moments ago.

Link closes his eyes and breaths in deeply. Turns to stare directly at Zelda, he then lifts her head with his index finger "I will only say this once. You need to start looking at the WHOLE PICTURE, not just the negative part of it. Yes, I am going to be VERY SORE, but there is nothing impeding my movement now. That alone increases our chances of survival, and all it took was a few painful minutes" He grabs for the jacket and puts it on, then picks up the scimitar and starts walking.

Wow… he actually made me feel better.

"I… guess I am a pessimist, but I am glad I could be of help… I have been meaning to ask, why are you not wearing an undertunic?" Zelda asks suddenly puzzled by Link not wearing more protection against the cold

"Your dress was not the only thing that burned… it was bloodied and you said it yourself, it attracts wild life, so I got rid of it… can you row?" Link asks lifting an eyebrow and pointing at the small boat by the moat's shore. 

We are using THAT to cross the moat? SWEET, I have never rowed a boat, but it can't be THAT hard, I want to do it, this is so exiting.

Zelda just smiles and dashes to inspect the boat.

LINK POV

She seems… happy? Maybe even excited about the idea. Wow, seeing her running to the boat like that ripped a genuine smile out of me. I have to admit, she has surprised me… she just witnessed me slicing a throat and did not scream, has not even talked about it. 

[The Gerudo quickly drew her scimitars and slashed the girl's throat, the Queen's expression remained stoic, she did not scream, she kept running] 

She is Claire's daughter all right. When I requested her help extracting the bullet, she just did it, without gagging or complaining about my request, that shocked me… I think she wants to prove that she can be reliable… I CAN DEFENETLY WORK WITH THAT. 

Link walks to the boat looking around, then he finds what he was looking for, a long and sturdy branch, he picks it up and quickly sharpens the tip with the scimitar, he throws the stick inside the boat and boards it, he extends his hand towards Zelda to help her board. Then suddenly her breaches drop.

HAHAHAHAHA, I did say I needed to fix her belt, didn't I? 

"I SWEAR this was not intentional or an innuendo in any way?" Zelda exclaims picking up the breeches, her face red in anger and shame.

"I know Zelda, hand over that belt so I can fix it"

She removes the belt and throws it at Link, he catches it and draws his Swiss knife from a pocket on his Jacket, an old present from General Zalatoris, he effectively punctures a new hole on the belt and gives it back to Zelda. She immediately uses it to finally hold the breeches in place, then looks at Link who once again outstretches his hand to help her board the boat.

"Can I row the boat?" Zelda asks hopeful.

"You can, but it will tire you. When it does, you tell me and I take over, fair?" 

Zelda just nods at Link grinning and takes his hand to board, Link then properly sets the oars and rows a little to instruct her on how to do it, he then stands leaving Zelda to it while he is looking at the water. 

"GOSH, I need to lose weight, YOU need to lose weight too" Zelda says frustrated.

"Tired already?"

"No, I can keep this up a little longer, I am just stressed because I am obviously not doing it right, I am barely making the boat move forward"

Link raises his hand to signal her to stop, she stops rowing with a quizzical look on her face, Link suddenly stabs at the water with the branch he sharpened and raises it smiling, there is an eel wriggling at the end of the makeshift lance.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?" Zelda yells, eyes wide open.

"Dinner"