745 Words

Zelda pauses her speech, running her hand down my shoulder. She brushed my hair away from my ear. "Those are your best earrings." She says, tone suspicious. I put my hands behind my back in an effort to hide my ring.

"Well..." I sign, keeping my hands low, but by how she gasps I know she noticed it.

"Is that an engagement ring? Link, are you getting married?" I quickly sign no over and over again, but she doesn't listen. "You're marrying him, aren't you? I'm so proud!" She hugs me as I try to deny everything she just said. "He's good for you." She mumbles.

"What does that mean?"

"You need someone calm."

There's dead silence for about a minute before she bursts out laughing. "Married! Imagine that!" her tone is mocking. She takes my hand in hers and examines the ring that I'm still not used to even after a few days. "Is that the Zora's Sapphire?"

"Not sure. Is it blue?"

She punches my arm as we keep walking. Zelda rambles on and on about marriage and children and eternal love. "Did you tell anybody?" There's a long pause before she speaks again. "You actually don't need to. The whole Domain ships it."

"Good grief. More fangirls."

She sighs, continuing the one-sided conversation about marriage and love. How sweet, she remarked, that even an idiot like me scored a husband. "I mean, everyone thinks you're hot, but marriage..." she trails off. "Anyway, my Zelda Sense went crazy, so I knew something was up."

I've left the questioning of Zelda's logic behind. Zelda Sense is probably some crazy vision thing she has.

"So, cross the right one over the left," I sign, careful not to move my head. "And the new left over the right."

Deft fingers comb out my hair before following my instructions. After a few minutes of undoing and redoing my hair, Sidon ties it with a hair tie, yanking a bit too hard on the braid. I wince, and in apology, he strokes my neck gently. "That's so pretty."

"Oh, shush. It's just a braid."

"You should wear it like this more often. It's nice."

I run my fingers down the side of my head, feeling the tight plait in my hair. It's well done, criss-crossing from under my bangs over my ear and to the back of my head.

I fiddle with my ring, a habit I've recently developed. "It's not fair."

"Hm?"

"We should get married by your customs too."

"I don't think you walking around with a circlet on your head would be a good idea. Everyone would immediately know you're married, and since it's the Zora Sapphire, they'd connect the dots. We'd be exposed within seconds."

We'd talked about the marital customs in the different cultures before; it's really interesting, actually. For Hylians, it's pretty basic; two rings that bind the couple together. Zoran culture is different: if a woman proposes — which is much more normal and expected here — she crafts the armour. If a man does, then it's customary that he makes a circlet with the gem of his choice. Well, excluding a sapphire.

The one who proposes doesn't really wear anything to signify their marriage. How strange.

"And besides, I like the ring." He teases, "I had to craft it carefully to make it the right size. You have such small hands! Tiny!"

I rub my hands together. "They're not small."

"They're dainty."

"Shut up."