It had been three days since the defeat of Crazy Hand, and everyone was still getting used to living in the Smash Mansion. Luigi couldn't deny that there were a lot of benefits to living here - spacious bedrooms with beds that made themselves every day, large communal areas, a kitchen that had all the ingredients he could ever want, a tennis court, two swimming pools, an indoor gym, and even a sauna - though he hadn't yet found a time to use the sauna when Captain Falcon hadn't been in there.

  On the other hand, the bathroom situation was the worst part. It seemed that Master Hand had decided that they only needed two - one per gender. During the day this wasn't so bad, but in the morning when everyone needed to wash up, it became much more of a problem. He hadn't yet worked out if he preferred to get up early and avoid the queue, and face an ever increasing frequency of knocks, or to wait as long as he could and face the likelihood of Fox or Donkey Kong getting in first and covering everything with fur.

  This morning he had ended up somewhere in the middle of the queue, just behind Link and just in front of Yoshi. He couldn't help but watch with some envy as Peach walked down the length of the line and stepped into the unlocked ladies' room.

  Inside, Peach saw Zelda standing by the sink, brushing out her hair. She smiled at Peach as she entered. Peach returned the smile and went to stand by her. She had a long morning routine, and she needed to get it started as quickly as possible.

  "Did you sleep well?" Zelda asked. Peach noticed the slightly clipped formality in her voice. It was the kind she had been taught by Toadsworth and her other advisors growing up - her royal voice, as she had called it. It was enough to confirm that at the moment Zelda saw her as another princess before anything else.

  "Quite," Peach replied. Her hand went to her mouth when she realised she had used the same tone of voice that Zelda had. Clearly she had internalised her lessons well. "I wanted to ask you something," she said, trying to force a more casual tone into her voice. "If you aren't doing anything today, would you like to spend the day with me?"

  Zelda looked surprised by the offer. "Oh, of course Princess. That would be most agreeable. I would love to learn more about you and your kingdom."

  "Actually, I was thinking we could play a game of tennis first," Peach suggested.

  Zelda blinked. "Yes. Those courts were called tennis courts weren't they. So, what is tennis exactly?"

  "So what is tennis exactly?" Link asked. He and Mario were sitting in the stands of the tennis court, watching as their respective princesses warmed up on the court with some practice swings. Zelda kept tugging nervously at the neck of the "athletic top" that Peach had found for her. Link understood how she felt - all of the casual clothes in this mansion came in styles and materials that were unfamiliar to him. It was why he was wearing his tunic even though he didn't actually need to.

  "It's a game we play in the mushroom kingdom," Mario explained. He narrated as Peach went to her end of the pitch and began to bounce the ball on the ground. "Basically, the goal is to hit the ball over the net onto the other person's side of the court so that they can't hit it back. There are some more rules to it than that, but it's easier to learn by watching."

  Peach took one last practice swing. It had been a while since she played, but the racket felt good in her hands. "Are you ready, Zelda?" she asked.

  Zelda nodded nervously. "I think I understand the rules. I'll do my best."

  Peach threw the ball into the air, and smashed it with the racket as hard as she could. The ball hit the court and bounced past Zelda before hitting the fence behind her. Zelda turned to watch the ball hit the ground. "That was so fast," she said.

  "Sorry," Peach said. "I get quite competitive when I play. We can say that was a practice if you like."

  "No, that's okay," Zelda said. "You said the score is fifteen love, right?"

  "That's right. And it's my serve again."

  Zelda tossed the ball back over to Peach. Before she could serve again, Zelda held up her hand. "Wait. Is it alright if I just do one thing to get ready?"

  "Of course."

  Zelda held her racket in front of her, and let loose her magic. Light covered her body, then faded away. She now had a scarf tied around her head, which hid her hair and much of her face.

  "When I'm like this, call me Sheik!" she announced.

  Mario leaned forwards. "Does she do that often?"

  Link shrugged. "It depends on which version of her she is. Sometimes she's a ninja. Other times she's more of a pirate."

  Peach smiled. "That's a good look on you. Are you ready?" Without waiting for an answer, she made her serve. Once again, the ball was hit across the court with incredible speed. This time however, Sheik was able to move fast enough to intercept the ball and hit it back with almost as much speed.

  "She's so fast!" Mario gasped.

  Peach gritted her teeth as the ball rocketed towards her. She stepped back and spun around into a powerful backhand that sent the ball flying high into the air.

  Sheik put her hands together and vanished into a puff of smoke. She reappeared high in the air, and hit the tennis ball downwards in a huge smash. Peach let it bounce in front of her, then hit it on the rebound so that it careened towards the far end of the pitch, far from where Sheik would be able to reach it. Sheik reacted quickly, attaching a chain to the end of her racket and throwing it in the path of the ball. It flew back towards Peach, who pulled an ice flower from her pocket and quickly ate it. Ice spread across the ground from her feet, allowing her to slide into the path of the ball and hit it back.

  Link watched with interest. "Is this usually how tennis is played?"

  "Not usually," Mario admitted.

  Sheik made a strange pulling motion, and her racket glowed before splitting into two smaller rackets that she held in reverse grip. As she hit the ball, she cast some kind of spell and the ball also doubled, tripled and quadrupled before more than a dozen tennis balls were flying towards Peach. She let her ice form go and grabbed a Mega Mushroom from somewhere. Eating it caused her to rapidly grow in size, along with her racket, allowing her to hit back all of the balls at once.

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  "This definitely isn't how tennis is usually played," Mario confirmed. "This could take a while. Do you want to go and get some lunch?"

  Link looked at his princess, who had created a number of duplicates of herself in order to hit the balls back. "I think I could eat, yes. Do we have any of that pasta you made yesterday left?"

  Peach collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath. Zelda fell next to her, just as tired as she was. They had been playing for a few hours by now, and they had only completed three rallies during that time.

  "Who won?" Zelda asked.

  "I think we can call it a draw today," Peach said. Feeling too tired to stand, she rolled to the edge of the pitch where she had left her water bottle. To her dismay, it was empty.

  "Here," Zelda said. She held out her hand, and a trickle of water dripped from her fingers that quickly increased in intensity. Peach held her bottle under it, and took a big gulp when it was full. It tasted delicious.

  "Was it really okay for you to use all of those items?" Zelda asked, as they both got into a sitting position. "I mean, what if they would be useful later."

  "It's fine," Peach said. "One of the first things I did once we got the mansion was start a garden to grow them here. They grow in just a few days, so I'm not in danger of running out."

  She noticed that they had both stopped using their learned, formal speech.

  "That's good," Zelda said. "I'd love to learn more about the science of your plants. How much of what they can do is inherent, and how much is magical?"

  "You like science?" Peach asked.

  Zelda nodded. "I do. Though, it's probably more accurate to say that I enjoy learning things. I always say that if I weren't a princess I would have become a scholar."

  "Can't you do both?" Peach asked.

  "I'd like to think so," Zelda replied. "But there's a lot that comes with ruling Hyrule. I honestly wish I could spend more time on studying the world around me, at times. What about you? Is there a passion that you have?"

  Peach shrugged. "I don't know if there's one in particular. The Mushroom Kingdom is a simple place, and simple places need their princesses as figureheads more than they need them as leaders. Except for when we're in a crisis, I have a lot of time to do what I want... but there are a lot of things I've done with that time, and no one thing that stands out like your scholarly pursuits."

  "But that's wonderful!" Zelda said. "To be able to pursue so many interests at once. If you're as proficient in all of them as you are in tennis, then you're really quite amazing."

  Peach felt herself blush, and hoped it was hidden by her face being flushed from the game. "Thank you," she said. "I think you're quite wonderful too. Your skills with magic are excellent, and you picked up tennis so quickly."

  "Thank you," Zelda said.

  Before either one of them could speak again, a deep voice said "Excuse me. We were hoping to use the court?"

  They looked up and saw Captain Falcon and Donkey Kong walking towards them. They were both carrying rackets and wearing tennis gear, which for Donkey Kong meant more clothes than Peach had ever seen him wear, and for Captain Falcon meant his jumpsuit was replaced by a very tight pair of white shorts and a white shirt with a very low neckline.

  Peach and Zelda shared an aghast look. "I know," Peach said. "Zelda, have you ever tried to make a cake before?"

  The two princesses stared at the pile of ingredients on the counter in front of them. "I think this is everything we need," Zelda said nervously.

  "You're really never baked before?" Peach asked amusedly.

  "My father thought that my time as a princess was better dedicated to learning statecraft, while my tutor taught me magic and ninja arts," Zelda replied. "I haven't had much time for baking - or any kind of cooking at all."

  "Well, I'll be here to help you," Peach said. "You can ask me if you need any help."

  Zelda nodded. "Thank you. But I want to try on my own first - I have this recipe, there's no reason that I shouldn't be able to follow it."

  The list of errors that came from Zelda's first attempt at baking included splitting the bag of flower and covering both of them like they were a pair of ghosts, breaking more than a dozen eggs and creating a mess of yolk on the countertop, turning on the mixture on a too powerful setting and covering the entire room in cake mixture, and lastly burning the cake. She only noticed when smoke began to press around the sides of the oven doors, and Peach had to stop her from grabbing the cake without gloves.

  In the end, they both looked at the blackened heap on the table. Zelda sighed. "That wasn't supposed to go that way at all," she lamented.

  Peach patted her gently on the shoulder. "It's alright. I didn't do very well the first time either. I barely even measured my ingredients and I used the wrong kind of eggs, the icing somehow ended up everywhere except for on the cake, and it wasn't even baked all the way through. Tell me, did you have fun with it?"

  Zelda nodded. "I did. Though I wish it could have turned out differently."

  "Maybe it will next time," Peach said. "Next time, we can work on it together, okay?"

  "Okay," Zelda said. "Now, I suppose we should dispose of this one."

  As if on cue, Kirby waddled into the kitchen. He looked around for a few seconds, before jumping onto the counter and approaching the cake. He stared at it, then opened his mouth and made a sucking noise. The cake vanished within his body. He looked at them and gave them a thankful smile, before jumping back down off the counter and leaving the room.

  After a moment of silence, they both started giggling.

  "It's good to know that however bad my bakes turn out someone will eat them," Zelda laughed. "Although even without Kirby, Link would probably eat anything I made with a smile on his face and tell me it was the best thing he'd ever eaten. I think he wouldn't even be lying."

  Peach nodded. "Loving someone does that to you."

  Zelda flushed. "What? No, I assure you he doesn't think of me that way. It's just, we've been through a lot together and that's cultivated a high level of loyalty between us, and of course we're very good friends and I care for him very much but honestly I really don't think love is on the table here."

  Peach tried to ignore the fact that Zelda's face was turning redder than the strawberries they had planned to use for decorating. She wondered if Zelda was trying and failing to keep this very obviously mutual infatuation a secret, or if she actually believed that Link wasn't in love with her. Either way, she decided not to interfere.

  "Well, I guess I was wrong then," she said. "Hey, what do you want to do next? I'm sure there's plenty to do here that you've never done before." She started to walk towards the door.

  "Peach," Zelda said. The serious tone in her voice made Peach stop.

  "Yes?" she asked.

  "Why are you acting like this?" Zelda asked. "I mean, today... why are we doing these things together?"

  Peach turned around. "To be honest," she said. "I was worried that if I didn't, we'd just be princesses to one another. Diplomats to a foreign kingdom. And I'm not saying that we can't be that. In fact, if we ever do make it home I want to find out if there's some way our kingdoms can maintain diplomatic relations. But while we're here, I wated to be your friend before anything else."

  "Why?"

  "Because..." she closed her eyes and remembered. "When we were in the Melee Machine together, I saw glimpses of your mind. I saw how for most of your lives, you didn't really have any really close friends. There were mentors, family members. Link. All friends. But never someone who was like you. Someone who understood your position and what it was like to carry your responsibility."

  "You saw all that from just a glimpse?" Zelda asked.

  "I recognised it because I understand it," Peach said. "I lived a lot of my life as the only human I knew. I met Mario and Luigi later of course, and I love them deeply, but they aren't royalty. They don't understand me fully. But I think you can. So, it might have been selfish, but I wanted to ask-"

  "Yes!" Zelda said. "Yes, we can be friends!" She grabbed Peach by the hands. "To be honest, I wanted the same thing, but I was too afraid to ask in case you rejected me. I'm glad that you and I can be friends."

  "Great!" Peach said. "Now, come on - that pool has a diving board, and I'm willing to bet you've never done a high dive."

  A nervous expression passed over Zelda's face. "A high what?"

  Peach laughed. "Come on. I'll show you."