LoZ:Old Friends 1-1

It's Been A While...

  It was a cool bright spring morning and Zelda was riding on her horse Snowdrift.  She was wearing her white riding pants and a black jacket over a white vest and a pair of black riding gloves, with two of her royal guardsmen.  She was going to see Link after all these years...  She was a bit nervous and was actually trembling while holding the reigns.  She had not really spoken to him for so long and she was wondering how he was doing.  She thought about summoning him to the castle to have an official audience with him, but she thought it better if she just dropped by unannounced... maybe even surprise him...

  They came upon the village on the outskirts of Hyrule's borders, by the name of Kemranth.  She saw the slow moving caravans on either side of the road pull to the left or right respectively, to give Zelda a wide birth.  They tipped their hats or nodded if riding and bowed or curtsied if walking on the moderately used dirt road.  She would nod back as the two guards would just face forward, looking dignified as usual.  She had not even wanted to bring those two, but her Royal Advisers were adamant about it.  It had went from six guards, down to four, to finally just the two and due to her pushing so hard, no banners of any kind.  If she had not agreed to those final terms she would not of had their approval to even leave.  And though it was not discussed what she would wear, since she was a big girl after all... she decided to wear this, something different than the flashy norm, yet still respectable.

  She rode to the entrance of the sleepy little town and one of the soldiers stopped, got off and held the reigns of her magnificent white horse as she slid off, her black riding boots sinking slightly in the soft dirt.  "The spring rains came early this year.", she thought to herself.  She told the two, as she slipped off her gloves tucking them under her saddle and then walked to the front of her prized stead petting his muzzle, to wait here. They looked at one another in concern, with one gave pause and suggested to at least have one of them follow her in, as a precaution as the other could easily handle all three horses.  "That won't be necessary.", she replied as she waved them off and made her way past the stables quickly, leaving the two in charge of her horse before one would even bring up the Royal Advisers decree again...

  Zelda caught the sights and the sounds of the goings on and sadly her nose immediately caught the foul scent of animals, but it seemed to only come if the breeze blew just the wrong way...  This was after all a farming and fishing village and they had the responsibility of helping feed the empire and of course themselves.  There were markets set up and shop keepers were either trying to sell or barter their goods, while the villagers were trying to haggle the prices down or trade as well.  With out her entourage, most of the people did not recognize her.  Which was all well and good, since she did not want them to make a fuss over her.  After all, she was on unofficial business.

  The Princess in disguise actually had an inkling to go to some of the stalls and see what wares she could find.  If Link had taught her anything, it was to appreciate the little things in life and the old traditional ways and to explore her world... Sometimes that hole in the wall, with the paint peeling and the broken window shutters or old wobbly cart, had the best food anywhere or another place had the best tasting apples straight off the tree, etc.  Something in these long years she had forgotten being away from him for so long...

  But she thought it best to go find him first and get reacquainted and then she could do all the exploring to her hearts desire... and maybe Link himself would do her the honour of showing her around, she was sure of it.  At least until the guards got too worried and spoiled her fun.  It was not easy being part of the Royal Family and in charge of everything.  You always had to be prim and proper, wear dresses all the time and be on your best behavior.  She felt it refreshing to ride her own horse instead of being driven in the carriage and to be able to wear actual honest to gods pants and a shirt and she even had her hair in a lazy ponytail, instead of just having it down or in a bun or fancy braids.

  However she had no idea where Link stayed with in the village itself.  She asked around and a shop vendor, one selling particular sweet cuts of cooked meat placed inside home made fresh rolls, told her he was further down the way, next to the water's edge and also slightly into the forest on the left.  She thanked the vendor and made a mental note to come back, the food looked absolutely delicious!

  The elegant beautiful young woman made her way there and some people stared at her, trying to place her, knowing she was not of this village and had a certain air of distinction.  But with out her guards by her side or anything else even remotely giving off her true identity, they could not ascertain her true identity.  After all, she doubted any of them had actually ever been to the castle, much less seen her.

  She traveled down the pathway as she had been instructed, passing others carrying their goods to or from the market, either getting ready to sell or coming home to begin meals.  With her high status, everything was practically done for her.  She hardly ever had to lift a finger.  Even though her Royal Cooks were the best in the land, they lacked that special something... something that Link always seemed to have when he had prepared meals for her...

  Zelda neared the waters edge and saw people fishing with deku wood poles, either for their lively hood or just for pleasure.  There were small canoes out on the lake with nets gathering fish as well and it seemed the children were also active in their families well being.  Although as Link had said before, fishing could also be very relaxing and fun.  She had not had any real enjoyment in a while since she had been away from him come to think of it...

  She saw a log cabin set moderately into the woods, not too far from the waters edge and saw someone chopping wood.  He was bare chested and wore brown shorts that were just below his knees.  She could not really see from this distance, but the spiky brown hair practically told her who it was.

  Zelda made her way over to him, as his back was turned to her.  He was grunting with effort as his brought the axe handle over his powerful shoulders and swung down hard, splitting the wood partially in half, while embedding the axe head into it.  He lifted it up shoulder height and then allowed gravity to do most of the work, hitting the wedged wood onto a rather large flat hardened tree stump and the wood split completely in two.  He reached for another rounded oblong piece of wood and placed it on the chopping block.  He placed the head of the axe to the wood to sight it and then brought his arms over his head once again, stretching his strong wet muscles glistening with sweat.  She saw the beads of water perspiring from him at the head and shoulders and was trailing all over his well defined tanned back, being a bit darker now than before, flowing over his well developed muscles.  He seemed even stronger now and even more well built than the last time she had seen him...

  He swung down hard, with a manly and animalistic deep guttural sound and it did something to her...  She bit her lower lip as it gave her shivers, all the way deep down inside of her, to the very core of her womanly being...  He actually split that piece of wood in one good whack and he proceeded to reach for another.  By now she could see that on either side of him, he had stacks of wood halved and or quartered.  As he was reaching for another piece she said out loud, "Hey Handsome...".....