Link slipped one of his dark blue gloves off as he walked amidst the tall flowers and grass, letting his fingers brush against the petals, disrupting their flow in the breeze. It was a fairly sunny day, cool enough to be comfortable with his armor on. A storm was promised in the distance, rumbling very occasionally, but it seemed infinitely far away from on top of the mountain.
He hoped it wouldn’t slow her down.
Ever since the Calamity, life had shifted strangely. Although destiny no longer held them in its clutches, the world had still burned in Calamity Ganon’s wake, leaving everyone busy trying to help rebuild. Link and Mipha had gotten engaged before the final battle, unsure if they’d live to see another day but wishing to promise themselves to each other nonetheless, but now they hardly saw each other with as much as they had to move around the kingdom. Mipha was eager to help while still also rebuilding the Domain, and Link wished to eliminate the lingering monsters.
Lately, priorities had started to shift. While Link still helped with monster patrols, the Domain had mostly been self sufficient in repairing itself, and Mipha was now leading her people in helping the rest of Hyrule.
Both were happy with what they were doing, but they also desperately missed each other. Everyone had split up to cover more ground, leaving Link a little lonely. So they had corresponded, and they’d both realized they’d have a chance to be in the same general area for a short while. Mipha had been visiting Lurelin with the Zora – the village had been relatively unscathed, but guardian activity in the area had still done its damage. Link, meanwhile, was handling monsters in the Faron region. The proximity had left them excited, and they’d agreed to meet up at Lover’s Pond.
So here he stood, overlooking the scenery as the sun started to dip towards the horizon, waiting for his betrothed.
He heard some rocks tumble down the path below, and he turned to see Mipha climbing up to the area. He tried to walk at first, but just seeing her made his heart race, and his body wanted to keep up with it, and before he knew it he was running across the field at full speed as she caught sight of him. Mipha’s eyes widened a moment before she laughed and ran to meet him halfway, the couple slowing their pace just enough to not hurt each other before falling into each other’s arms.
Mipha’s head was warm and smooth against Link’s cheek as she wrapped her arms around his neck. He felt her rising onto her toes, and so he reached down to clasp his hands just below her hips, pulling her a little off the ground as she giggled. She pulled away enough for them to look each other over as he held her against him, and then she dipped in for a kiss.
Link felt himself shiver a moment as he deepened the kiss. Hot blood rushed to his cheeks, and he gasped for air when they broke apart. Mipha was similarly blushing, looking down on him, but before Link could start trailing kisses from her jaw to her neck, he noticed something that snapped him out of it.
It had been a little detail he’d disregarded when they’d first run to each other, but now that they were closer, he could see it. Her eyes were a little red, tear stains drying on her cheeks. She wasn’t actively crying from any sort of relief or joy now, so that meant this had been before she’d crested the hill.
Slowly, Link put her down, hand coming up to her face to brush the last vestiges of tears away. Mipha noticed the gesture, what it was pointing out, and she hastily stammered, “Oh, it’s—I’m alright, Link, don’t worry.”
Link’s heart rate slowed, body settling and mind taking control once more as the breeze played with his hair, catching his betrothed’s attention as she smiled at it. She ran her fingers through his locks, detangling as she went, and he leaned into the touch.
He debated pushing the matter, knowing that his dear friend definitely had a tendency to brush off her own problems. He knew he did similar, but it was for different reasons. She refused to show weakness because she didn’t have time for such things, she wanted to help everyone and be there for everyone and she couldn’t do that if she herself had issues. Link refused to show weakness because he couldn’t, because if he dared do so anything and everything would come after him. At least, that was how he had been raised and observed things in the world.
When there was so much attention on oneself, he had to be perfect.
But there wasn’t nearly the same amount of attention now, and he’d slowly been trying to learn to ease up, at least around loved ones. So he pushed her to do the same.
“How are you?” he asked quietly, trying for a less direct approach. He genuinely wanted to know, after all – though they had been writing as much as they could, he hadn’t physically seen her in months. He let his hand move from wiping tears to caressing her face, thumb moving gently across smooth, velvety pearly white skin.
“Better now that I’m with you,” she replied easily, sincerely, eyes soft as she leaned closer for another hug. Link let her rest against him, closing his eyes for a moment, basking in the gift of just being with her. Barely a minute with her had already helped ease a considerable amount of tension in his body, as she had a naturally comforting presence for him. He felt safe with her, accepted and loved.
Goddess, if only they were married already… but that would come with time. It still didn’t change the fact that they hardly saw each other now.
…But it would certainly make their reunions a little sweeter.
In either case, Mipha was deflecting and Link knew it. “You were crying.”
“Oh, it—it was just something silly, Link, don’t worry about it,” Mipha insisted, turning her head to face away from him. “Please, I… I don’t want to spoil our reunion like that.”
Link sighed, letting it go briefly as Mipha pulled away to smile at him.
“It’s so good to see you,” Mipha said.
Link reflected her smile back at her, as well as the warm sentiment, the relief of being with each other, but as they headed towards the pond together to settle into the water and relax, he felt guilty for not pressing more. He didn’t want their reunion to be spent arguing, but he would be a terrible friend and fiancé if he didn’t make sure she was actually fine and not just avoiding causing a fuss, as she usually did.
“I love you,” he whispered, moving closer to her in the water. “Please, let me help.”
Mipha stiffened a little, eyes widening, looking near horrified that she was causing him any kind of undue stress, but his words also resonated with her. She loved to help, and she could hardly deny him the right to do so.
Except it was directed at her, and that nearly always made her uncomfortable.
His beloved sighed, sinking into the water a little more, as if ashamed. “I… we really don’t have to discuss it, but… if you insist…”
Link nodded, eyes determined.
Mipha stared at the water so long Link almost prompted her again, not used to her being nearly as quiet as him. But she finally spoke, hugging herself. “I… Lurelin was only partially affected, mostly peripherally, by the Calamity. But sea water, while not really all that harmful to my people, is a little more harsh of an environment for us. My father has good relations with a nearby Zora tribe, an ocean water oriented tribe, and so I sought their aid as well.”
Link waited to see what the issue was when Mipha paused, biting her lip. Finally, he asked, “Is that bad?”
Mipha jumped, startled, shaking her head. “No, I—Muzu is from that domain, they’re decent people. Father has been working to maintain relations with them for years, including… well, there is this girl, Yona, she and Sidon are becoming close friends. She’s very sweet, I quite like her. But… w-well, you see… healing magic is very rare among the Zora, and so I am one of the very few in my Domain who can do it. But there is a healer in the other Domain who… I met her, and. Oh, this is so silly, Link, why don’t we just talk about your side of the restoration effort? How are you?”
“Mipha,” Link said gently. “What happened?”
His beloved’s eyes started to well up with tears again, and she shook her head, trying to look away. “N-nothing terrible, really! I just… there were wounded, there was an accident with some of the reconstruction. One of the injuries was more complicated than I usually heal—obviously I’ve seen plenty of bad wounds in the Calamity, but… well, this other healer managed to help in a way I couldn’t, saying that my magic still needed some work, and…”
She stopped a moment, sniffling. “She wasn’t even harsh, she was just being honest, but I’ve—oh, this is so ridiculous, I already knew I was weak, but—”
“You’re not weak,” Link interrupted firmly, swimming closer to catch her sight, looking her dead in the eye. “Not by a longshot.”
“I’ve always just been good at healing,” Mipha noted. “I’ve never—I’ve never run into anyone else who can heal like me, and… it’s almost pathetic, to be feeling this dejected over one bit of criticism, given everything poor Princess Zelda had to endure. I don’t mean to make this about me, Link, I’m sorry. I said it was silly.”
Link wasn’t entirely sure what to say to this. He was very used to critiques, hardly ever meant in a bad way, but his father was always looking to help him improve, even when he was beating people leagues ahead of him. It was what drove Link to constantly train despite being the best swordsman in the country.
It was what made him the best swordsman in the country.
Mipha and Link shared the gift and burden of being prodigies. And he knew Mipha didn’t slack off just because of her talents—they’d trained together a little as children, and he’d seen her constantly sparring with other Champions as they’d prepared for the Calamity. Had something else happened? Or was it simply so close to the one thing she was uniquely known for and excellent at?
Perhaps that was it. But he couldn’t make assumptions, he had to ask. Link was fairly perceptive, and very much aware of others’ eyes on him, but…
Well, it had taken him an awfully long time to realize Mipha had feelings for him. He suspected he probably missed a lot of things about people. He wasn’t sure he liked that.
In either case, he pressed, “She didn’t say anything rude to you, did she? Did she say you were weak?”
“No, no of course not,” Mipha quickly replied, raising her hands and moving them around in a defensive manner. “It’s not—I just—”
The crickets started to chirp, heralding the oncoming of night, as water continued to lap at the shore, filling the sudden silence.
Mipha sighed, defeated. “I… I’ve always known that, among the talented and strong like you, I have always been the weakest. But my healing… my healing was always the one thing I could offer that never seemed to fail. And now… now I can’t even seem to get that right. What use am I, what good am I, if I cannot even do that? Was I ever any good at anything, or is everyone around me simply not accustomed to someone who is actually competent so they assume I am?I feel so ashamed, and worse, I realize this must be how poor Zelda must have felt, and now I feel as if I did not do enough to help her, and—”
“Mipha,” Link gently interrupted, worried. “Mipha, stop, none of that is true, stop talking about yourself like that.”
“Oh, and now I’m making our special moment and precious little time together all about me and my whining,” Mipha lamented, burying her face in her hands, voice shaking.
Link watched her, chest tight and words failing him. He swam closer to hold her, letting her sniffle into his shoulder as the water gently bobbed them up and down in the small current the wind created. Then he slowly, gently grabbed her right wrist, guiding it to his chest, just left of midline, to a scar where a guardian claw had nearly torn him apart. He’d never seen so much blood in his life as he’d seen that night, the night Zelda had discovered her powers at the fort, the night Mipha had poured her entire being into healing him before he bled to death in minutes.
“You save lives,” he whispered, leaning his head against hers. “And I… I don’t care if you’re the best healer or not. I think most everyone in Hyrule would say you’re amazing with your magic. And I’ve seen you fight – you’re an incredible warrior. But even if you weren’t any of those things… you still mean everything to me. You’re kind, compassionate, loving, cheerful, patient, sincere… you always want to help, you always have.”
Mipha sniffled again, leaning herself against him in another hug, her body warm against his in the cooling water. “I… I’m sorry, Link. I just… I’ve always… I don’t know. I feel useless if I can’t…”
“But you can,” Link insisted, pulling away to look her in the eye. “And besides… my mother would always tell me our skills and talents don’t define who we are or what we’re worth.”
Mipha huffed a little, smiling ruefully. “My father says something similar. He tells Sidon as much. I don’t recall if he ever said it to me at that age. Perhaps things were different then. I don’t know. But I love listening to him talk to Sidon, he tells him ‘Sidon, Farore stopped what she was doing one day and decided to make you, and you must know that no matter how you feel, Farore herself thought you were worth making, and she, your sister, your mother, and I love you very deeply.’”
Link heard similarly from his own parents when he was little. It was strange, how many things spoken to him as a child had meant very little back then, how they had implanted within him but then been forgotten, but as he grew older he came to appreciate them more.
He thought briefly of his father, who also worked himself ragged alongside Link and Mipha and everyone else, and wondered if his dear papa was aware that it applied to him as well. Sometimes he wondered.
But in this moment, he focused on his betrothed, saying, “She made you too, you know. And I love you more than anything.”
Leaning in a little closer, he brushed his hand under one of her side fins, whispering to her ear, “When we’re married, I’ll show you just how much.”
Mipha gasped a little, and he felt her shiver in his arms before she stammered, “O-oh! I, ah, yes. I mean—I mean I—”
She cut herself off before giggling, “I can’t wait to show you too.”
Link felt his own cheeks color, surprisingly, and then he laughed too and kissed her on the forehead. “Please, Mipha. Don’t think any less of yourself just because you’re not perfect, because you can’t be there for everyone all the time. It’s not just about everyone else, you matter too.”
Mipha hummed, cheer dissipating a little, but she settled back into resting against his chest, red scales reflecting on the blue of the armor she’d gifted him. “Perhaps it’s… perhaps it’s simply pride, then, that drives me to always be the perfect princess I am revered to be. I suppose when one gets used to such acceptance and compliments, I just… oh, but I just don’t want to be unable to help, and—”
She stopped her spiraling before Link had a chance to interrupt her. He wasn’t entirely sure he should say something here, as she seemed to be trying to parse it out herself. He wished he could better articulate his own thoughts and feelings, but there was a reason she was the chattier one between the two, even if both were considered fairly quiet by their friends. So he just held her, let her draw strength from him, let her know that he loved her and nothing would change that.
Eventually, the couple swam to the shore so Link could rest beside the pond while Mipha slept in it. He smiled, watched her drift off, both trying to stay awake long enough to see the other sleeping peacefully. They both failed in the endeavor, dozing off around the same time, but Link felt safer and warmer than he had in a long time, thanking Hylia for a moment with the love of his life.
This was fun to do! I experimented on some things and color theory (it didnt work) but i liked it! They’re such a Blue x Red ship so i enjoyed this :) this was when i decided to color the sketch instead of doing lineart lol
I didn’t want to color this cuz that’s too many people but yay! Mipha and Link’s parents, Ammon and Sarah, who ADORE her, and Link and Mipha’s parents, Dorephan and Kailani. I’m having Mipha’s parents divorced cuz it makes things easier for me lol. Kailani doesn’t support the couple but she’ll tolerate it for Mipha’s sake. Link is scared of her
It’s miphlink week!!! :D here’s day 1! I actually hate how this pic turned out but i hope you guys like it regardless 😅 mipha just wants to give him a lil smooch
