We all are animals anyway

They arrived to the shore at the other side of the moat. Once they were as close to dry land as the boat allowed, Link stopped rowing and climbed out of the boat, he then extended both arms towards Zelda. Her eyes widened as she realizes what he was asking of her, she denies his request shaking her head. They exchange a few words and in defeat, Zelda allows Link to carry her bridal style out of the boat. He walks to a dry part of the shore and lowers the Princess. 

LINK POV

"Not all that hard, was it? This way, your shoes don't get wet and I don't have to worry about you getting sick" Link says to nobody in particular.

Zelda walks around him, grabs the lower edge of his jacket and lifts it. Once she takes a look at his bandaged lower back, she sighs in relief. The Princess lowers the jacket back in place, and walks around Link irate.

"YOU ARE JUST TOO DIFICULT TO HANDLE, YOU HARD HEADED BEAST" she breaths in deeply "You have an open wound. Logic states that you shouldn't lift anything, let alone ME…" she yells frustrated, but after a deep breath manages to calm down.

"You don't want me getting sick, I appreciate that, but I can't let you die on me for crap like this." she states.

He breaths out in exasperation "I know my body, I know what it can and can't do, and I CAN lift you as long as you are not struggling, proof of it is that it the wound isn't bleeding, or is it sweetheart?" Link challenges her.

Zelda sighs in defeat "No, it is not… can you promise me one thing? That you are not going to bleed out and die on me, that you are going to be extremely careful from now on" Zelda tells him looking at him right in the eyes.

*Damn, you can almost say she cares, but you know better, don't you?

I can't really promise her anything regarding me, and YES, I know better, thanks for the reminder.

"I promise that as long as I still breathe, I will take any and every precaution necessary to ensure your survival" Link answers. 

Zelda just stares at him and closes her eyes accepting his answer. 

The Princess looks around herself "Now what do we do? It's will get dark soon" she asks Link.

"Follow me, let's see if I can find a place to set camp before it gets too dark" Link tells her and starts walking east, heading for Death Mountain.

They walked in silence for half an hour, until Link saw a rock formation that stood 7 feet high and stretched for like 20 feet. 

That could work, it's a natural wall that can protect us from the wind current on one side.

"This is a good place to camp; I need you to wait for me here Zelda. Take note on the winds direction and tell me when I get back" 

"Ok I guess, what are you going to do?" asks the Princess.

"Search for logs, though maybe I will have to cut them from the tree, I want to use the logs as boundaries for a leaf mattress"

She rolls her eyes "I am not a delicate girl" 

 [Zelda's moan after the slap] THAT I know girl, you have made that very clear. 

"I can sleep on the floor just fine; we should better use them for the fire" Zelda says

Link shakes his head and rubs his temples "PRINCESS… we need to avoid losing body heat at all cost, the floor is going to suck it out of us if we just lay on it, the leaves will help separate our body from the floor… we are going to need a lot of leaves"

"All right, I could help with that, NO don't look at me like that… I won't go far; I will see what I can find within this area. By the way, you said I was not a Princess anymore, so don't call me by that title, it feels like an insult" she says squinting her eyes at him.

Oh, so she picked up on that one

"Fine, be careful, I won't take long"

ZELDA POV

Gathering dry leaves, I can do that for sure right? I need to ask him the logic behind choosing this spot… I feel like is something I need to know… 

In fact, being with him feels like I should know many of these things already, like I should prove myself to him. I wonder why I feel that way… I think it's his eyes, he has an intense stare, when he looks at me it's like he is daring me… and I feel compelled to show him that I AM capable. 

And because of that I am dry leaf hunting now, in the past I would have just sat around and let him do everything. But actually, doing this right now, makes me feel… GOOD, like I am not defenseless. 

Zelda quickly finds some dry leaves, and chooses to start piling them next to a few bushes that happened to naturally exist there. She was hoping the shrubs would prevent the leaves from flying off with the wind.

I still hate him though… I always wanted to row a boat; I DREAMED about escaping the castle by crossing the moat… I am SO GLAD I never got around to try it. Apparently, I can't row. It took me like 30 minutes to get half way across the moat, how long did it take Link to get us to shore? 5 minutes. 

So yeah, I despise him… and I KNOW it's not his fault at all, I am just jealous. Why does he have everything? A strong and capable body and my mother's love and respect, even the King praises him… oh and let's add insult to injury, he is also very good looking with a strange eye color that looks amazing and intimidating. It's not fair.

Zelda was deep in thought when she heard Link dropping a few logs 

"Wind direction?" Link asks

"It blows primarily from east to west" Zelda answers pointing with her fingers. 

He nods and starts positioning the logs accordingly, aiming to use the rocks to block most of the wind current. 

"I will need more, I will be back, how did the gathering go?"

"You tell me… it's the pile by the bushes over there" Zelda point at where she left them

"Bushes protecting them from being flown away… good thinking" Link says smiling at her.

"Is that ok or do I need to search for more?" Zelda asks him, cheeks a little red from what she assumes was a compliment.

"I would appreciate it if you can find more, just to help light the fire easier. But if you can't that's is ok, the amount right now seems adequate for the mattress" Link answers taking the pouch from her without asking, he draws the small pot out and hands the pouch back before leaving again.

Link manages to get back with a pot filled with water and few more logs before sunset, the short ones he separates for the fire, the long ones he uses to finish the boundaries for the leaf mattress, then walks to the bushes to grab the leaves, Zelda notices and immediately stands up to help with that.

"I think we need to start the fire; but I don't know how to do that" Zelda says with a little of shame.

"You are right, will you finish this? I will get the fire started" Link tells her.

Zelda nods and looks at him "I noticed you are not carrying the scimitar anymore" she points out.

"Yeah… really bad iron tempering, it broke" Link tell her, not bothered about it.

If he doesn't mind it, I shouldn't either right? but I have a bad feeling about him not having a weapon.

Zelda does a few more trips to grab the leaves an put them inside the wood boundaries.

I must admit, the log boundaries do keep the leaves in place, no matter if the wind is blowing… but I think that has more to do with the rock formation shielding us from the wind. OH, THAT is why he choose this spot… good, I don't have to ask him about it now. I really hate asking to know about things, makes me feel stupid. 

She turns and there is a lot of smoke, Link blows on it and then there is a fire.

I… should have seen how he managed to do that

"Your turn girl" Link says as he walks away.

"WHAT? You can't leave me like that, what should I do now?" Zelda asks with desperation.

Link grabs his Swiss knife and hands it to her

"I filled the pot with water, boil it and adding the eel"

"But the eel doesn't fit the small pot" Zelda complains.

"That is why I handed you my knife, cut the eel into pieces"

"Don't you need to clean it first?" she asks, hoping to see him manipulating the eel, she had NEVER even touched one. Hence… she was afraid of fucking up. If she could see how he does it, maybe she could imitate him. 

"Well… I already pulled back the scaly skin while you were rowing, just cut the head off. If what troubles you is the guts… I guess I could take them out" 

"ACHOO!!!" the Princess sneezes.

"You are kidding… right?" Link asks feeling defeated. 

Zelda goes read for a second but answers "I am not sick, I just sneezed. How could I be… you took precautions didn't you? you changed my wet clothes, and you didn't allow me to get my feet wet…it wouldn't make s- ACHOO!!!"

All right… I may be getting sick, but EVERYONE gets sick once in while right? no big deal.

Link facepalms sighing "Forget what I said about cleaning the eel, you are eating it whole"

Zelda stares at him with disdain "I really don't think it was my fault getting sick, why are you punishing me? only commoners eats the innards, that is low quality meat" Zelda states defiant.

Link turns to face the Princess directly, his once stoic semblance morphing into a dangerous smirk as he starts chuckling.

Fuck, am I in danger? He seemed really angry at me but then his demeanor shifted completely, that IS a mayor red flag, right? he could be a psychopath for all I know.

Link walks up to her threateningly "It's not a punishment, it's primary medical care, not that you deserve it" He breaths in heavily "I am a man of my word, I promised I would do anything and everything… animal guts offer all the nutrition you need to delay or even avoid this sickness. If you don't get sick, we can move faster to safety"

Zelda lowers her head, breaths in deeply and nods in acceptance. She drops to a sitting position, grabs the pot and brings it to the fire, then starts cutting the eel into pieces. 

He is just looking at me… damn it, I am scared of him, but what should I do now? I can't continue to be quiet, maybe I should start a conversation to ease the atmosphere, because I am NOT allowing him to see me in fear, but what do I say? 

"May I ask you something?" Zelda says in a very low volume.

Upon hearing her, Link slowly nods.

"What are you? I mean I know you are an agent of SWORD, but what even is that? I have read in our files about SHIELD, and that they should be avoided. Yet we have an arrangement with SWORD… how is SWORD different from SHIELD?"

"SHIELD… everyone everywhere knows about SHIELD, their work is to defend and protect humanity, be the world's shield I suppose, SWORD is… let me use an analogy"

Link clears his throat "A farmer plants the crops, but a storm is approaching, it menaces the field where the crops are growing, SHIELD's work is to protect the field from the storm, sadly not everything growing in the field is the farmer's crops, but it doesn't matter, to properly protect the crops you need to secure ALL the field from the storm, that is SHIELD's mission. Separating the healthy crops from weeds, ferns and other plagues, that is SWORD's mission, my job"

"So… you are humanity's executioner…" she says in a low voice looking up at him, Link produces a half smile and winks at her.

He IS dangerous… but he is protecting me, isn't he? How does that work?

"Yet you are protecting me right now… how? i am sure this was not in the job description" the Princess asks as she finishes cutting the eel.

Link deviates his line of sight and tightens his lips.

"If a warrior loses his shield during a fight, he can still try to protect himself with his sword… not very efficient though" 

"DEFINETLY NOT, a sword is not a shield, he could break it in the process…" She widens her eyes in realization.

NO! he can't… if he dies, I won't last a day, I am uncapable and unexperienced, he IS my sword now dam it, and I refuse to break him. 

"You will keep your promise, right?" Zelda asks him in a serious tone dramatically shifting the air.

Zelda's sudden resolve catches Link off guard, he nods in agreement.

"Good… the pot is bubbling" she states.

Link removes the pot from the fire "You eat, choose the guts primarily, I will eat whatever is left on the pot, if you need to drink take a sip from the broth"

Zelda starts to refuse, but upon seeing his eyes looking at her chooses to obey.

He can't be real, it goes against instinct, who chooses to abstain from food on a dire situation? For the health of a person who dislikes you? And sustaining an injury? He… I don't like him, I am afraid of him to an extent, but it would be stupid of me to say that I don't trust him. 

This… could taste better, it just needs condiments, but it's not as bad as I thought, it just looks disgusting. 

Zelda hands him the pot once she is finished. Link looks at the pot puzzled.

"You really are done? The pot looks half full; I don't need you to leave me an-"

"I am full, I ate all the guts and a few of the normal slices, you can finish what is left… drink as much broth as you can too, it warms you up" she says as she starts walking to the leaf mattress with exhaustion.

I am not breaking you, I am not full, but i am not hungry either. DONT YOU DARE LEAVE ANYTHING.

After laying down, she finds the leaf bed oddly comfortable, though that may be the exhaustion talking. The rocks are doing a great job at keeping the icy wind at bay, but she still feels cold. Even though, she starts to fall asleep. The Princess doesn't notice Link getting in and hugging her from behind, Zelda just knows that she is at peace and warm, and soon starts to dream.