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[Underneath the veil of his bangs, Sheik's expression tightens. She's not... saying anything. Is she angry? Upset? Anxious? He can't tell, not from those two short syllables, and it eats him up inside, along with all the questions he burns to ask but knows he can't. Not now, while his nerves are so frayed - while he's not sure how to get the answers he wants without revealing all the things he's kept secret for seven years.

Not now, while she's reeling about ancient evils instead of joyfully dancing the night away like she should.

She says she needs to sit down and finally, he dares to lift his head to watch her find her seat, only to see her hesitate instead. It takes him a moment to consider why, and when he does, well, if the atmosphere were any lighter, he would have had to laugh. Protocol is in such disarray on so many levels, and she isn't even aware of a solid third of them. What an absurd situation. The Goddesses must be laughing.

He decides for her, pulling himself upright without waiting for her command. And then he decides to eschew protocol even further by taking his godmother-granted suit jacket off and draping it around her shoulders, shielding her against the cool air.]

... I am sorry to have burdened you with this, Princess.

[He's not a knight or even a gentleman, but he is a liar, and if this is the only comfort he can offer her, then he can pretend. It might even fit her decently, save for being a little broad in the shoulders.]

If... you would prefer to be alone with your thoughts, I would understand.

[He has a hard time imagining his presence being helpful even in the best of times, and these are very not the best of times.]

No!

[ Without even thinking, Zelda's hand darts out and latches onto Sheik's wrist. She is suddenly possessed by the irrational certainty that, if she lets him leave, he will simply vanish into thin air, never to be seen again. ]

[ It only takes a moment for her brain to catch up with her body. When Zelda realizes what she's just done, she immediately drops his wrist. The panic that briefly overtook her expression vanishes, replaced with embarrassment over the faux pax she has just committed. ]

My apologies.

[ The look of panic that briefly overtook her expression fades into embarrassment and self consciousness over the faux pax she just committed. Zelda tucks her arm back under the jacket he kindly (gentlemanly, even), placed over her shoulders as she regards him. ]

But please do not go.

[ The princess draws in a deep breath and exhales it slowly, trying to settle all of her emotions.

While she was grappling with all of Sheik's revelations, Zelda hadn't realized how her silence was affecting him. There's a line of tension in his features, subtle but detectable by one with a sharp eye. It's not just the strangeness of their situation that is troubling him, but the way his words might have impacted her. ]

I assure you that you have not burdened me. I am simply... surprised to hear that you hail from so dark a period in Hyrule's history. [ And she feels safe in her guess that Sheik's Hyrule is sometime in her kingdom's very distant past. Otherwise how could he not know of Calamity Ganon? ]

That is, I know that Hyrule has not always been a peaceful place, but reading about periods of strife in historical records is not the same as meeting someone who has suffered those times.

[ She pauses, looking from Sheik to the stone bench nearby and back again. It is a wordless invitation—nay, expectation—that he will follow her. Then she goes to take a seat and rest her trembling legs before they give out under the weight of Sheik's experiences. ]

[He can't help it. He flinches, his own alarm mirroring hers in that moment she catches his wrist. Her fear is not that irrational, after all, though she has no way of knowing that; getting caught like this is the very thing he's had to avoid at all costs all this time. But it's her expression - desperate, pleading - that keeps him from snatching his hand away on pure instinct.

(He stops seeing her, for a fleeting moment. In that instant, there's a boy in her place clad in a green like her eyes, reaching for him no less desperately before vanishing in a flash of light. And he can't stay, he knows he can't stay, it would just make everything harder in the end if he did, but that doesn't stop him from wanting--)

She releases him just as quickly, and he releases the breath that had been caught high and tight in his lungs, simply... watching her as she finally gives voice to some of her thoughts.

And she pities them, the ancestors who could only give her a world with something as vile as "Calamity Ganon" plaguing it. Would she feel the same if she knew the truth of things, he wonders? There must be a connection there - between her Calamity and his King - and it seems like she's come to the same conclusion that only one could follow the other. Certainly, she would have something different to say if she were to speak with the ancient Princess of Hyrule who allowed such tragedy to come to pass, instead of a shadow that will fade into nothing once light shines across all corners of Hyrule once more.

Sheik hesitates, jaw tight and hands balled into fists at his sides, but of course he joins her on the bench. How could he do anything else?]

... You need not pity us, your highness.

[He starts, and it almost sounds like we don't deserve it, but no, soothing her concerns is the priority right now. Fortunately, he's had quite a bit of practice convincing himself that all is not hopeless.]

The Hero lives, and has fought back much of the evil plaguing the land already. And... if you live, then surely the Princess of our time does as well, no? [As much as he burns to fill in the gaps of his knowledge between their times, it's fortunate for him that she voiced her assumption of his place in her past first, instead of having to bring it up himself. Small blessings.] Peace will return to Hyrule... for a time.

[It must. Even if he can't keep the sour taste from his mouth with the confirmation that such peace will only be temporary-- their fight... can't be for nothing.]

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