Zelda couldn’t sleep, because of course she couldn’t sleep. Today had been weird and frustrating and exhausting and she was in a strange bed, even if Alfred’s sheets smelled like him. She still had not entirely unknotted the mess in her chest, and she was lying on her side in Alfred's bed in the chemise she wore under her Ministry robes, facing the wall and the window.

Her Ministry badge rested on the windowsill, and really Zelda was waiting for it to glow green to signify that the floo was up and that they ought to report back to the Ministry. If she wasn’t going to sleep she ought to at least be useful, and she wasn’t going to sleep.

It didn’t light up, because of course things couldn’t be that easy, and Zelda was watching the snow instead now. It didn’t help that she wasn’t used to sleeping by herself - she’d shared a room with Xena her whole life, and without the sound of another person breathing, Alfred’s room was a little frighteningly silent. This was another thing she'd have to get used to once Xena was married - an empty room.

She rolled over to her other side to face the door as she heard the faint creak, and blinked up at Alfred. “Hi,” Zelda said. She bit her lip at him - there was a conversation that they ought to be having, but she didn’t even know where to start, or what she wanted to say.

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