Disclaimer: I don't own any of these wonderful characters- the great people over at Nintendo own them.
Chapter 1
A small boy knelt down to the ground and picked a purple flower from the ground and turned to face his mother.
"Lookie Mama, pretty flower." The boy exclaimed, holding up the flower to his mother.
Queen Zelda looked at the flower and smiled. The flower was the exact same type that Link had given her to make her feel better after her father had arranged a marriage to a foreign Prince. She knelt down to her son's height.
"It is a pretty flower Derek," she replied, touching the flower. "Are you going to keep it?"
Derek looked at his mother's face. "Yes," he answered, pocketing the flower. "I will take care of it."
Zelda studied her five-year-old son's face, trying to decipher any part of the father's features. The straw-coloured mop of hair matched her own, but she knew that Link had the same colour. Derek's deep blue eyes were not her own- they were her grandmother's eyes. Her son was nicknamed Derichio, by his nurses, which in an ancient language meant "courageous, adventurous one". Zelda always laughed whenever she heard the nurses call her son that name: it always reminded her of Link when he was only 10 years of age- wanting to go on an adventure while at the same time having the courage to do all those tasks which a normal 10-year-old would find frightening.
Zelda shook herself out of her trance. She didn't want to think about Link at a time like this. Derek was staring at his mother curiously. "What's wrong Mama? You look sad."
Zelda smiled once again, telling herself to think about her child. "I'm not sad darling, I was just thinking about what to name the new baby."
Derek grinned and placed a hand on his mother's large stomach. "How about Ida if it's a girl?" he asked, looking up innocently.
Zelda thought that name was pretty unusual for a girl, but the decided that the more unusual, the happier her husband will be.
Her husband. Zelda walked to a nearby bench in the courtyard and sat down. King of both Hyrule and her neibouring country Sytania. He was the foreign Prince that she was betrothed to since she was just 10 years of age. King Jonah was a good king in ruling the countries- but he didn't really have much to do with his wife and family- unless it had to do with a newborn child or how interesting the name was.
As Derek played amongst the flowers and butterflies, Zelda thought about her unborn child. This child wasn't Link's. It was Jonah's by mistake. Zelda had one night put her guard down one night and she couldn't remember what had happened. She sighed, trying to think back to when life for her was wonderful and free: back when she had Link. Back when the weight of the betrothal would be next to nothing.
Zelda noticed that the sun was starting to set. "Come along Derichio, time for a bath."
Derek looked up in mock fright. "A bath? I hate baths!" Then he started to run around the courtyard, trying to escape his mother, who was hot on his heels.
Zelda put on a burst of speed, which would of horrified the palace's doctors, and caught her son, scooping him up into a hug. "Gotcha!" she exclaimed, holding him close. "Bath time for you, my little Deriky Baby."
Derek pulled a face, but didn't try to escape his mother's hold as they walked back to the palace. "Don't call me that Mama! You're making me sound like a little baby."
Zelda smiled at the little joke they had between them. "Alright. Just this once, I won't call you that name," she replied, nodding her head to the servants, signaling them to run a bath for her son. "So long as you have a bath tonight."
"Yes Mama," Derek said, relaxing into his mother's hold.
Zelda noticed this. "Now don't you go falling asleep on me. I know that trick straight from the book- I know because I helped write it when I was your age."
Derek looked up interested. "You wrote a book a book of tricks when you were my age?" he said, surprised. "How?"
Zelda put her son down and his nurses took him away for his bath. "I'll tell you at bedtime," she called as the surrounding nurses and her son walked down the hall to his room.
Zelda walked slowly down the hall, not caring if she looked a sight with playing with her son. How else is a mother to bond with her child? She asked herself. Sometimes being a royal really got on her nerves as a few of her husband's friends walked by and threw disapproving glances her way when they noticed how dirty she was with dust and grass. She continued on to her rooms, head held high and shoulders back. She really wasn't looking forward to having dinner with her husband later on. Another session of dull conversation about how the nobles want to be treated and the tax situation.
Zelda just wished for the umpteenth time that her Link would come back and save her from this dreary life-style. She wished this wish every night and prayed to the Goddesses to bring him back.
But he never did.
(A.N. My first chapter in my second story. I know that I'm putting a lot of challenges for myself in writing this, for this story is very complicated, so bare with me on this one, OK? I know that you might be confused at the moment, but this is one of those stories where you start at the end and go back in time and work a story on how you end up at the end. Complicated is just one word to describe it. But, when I get into this story, you'll be able to see a real story unfold. If you want to review, thank you. Any advice you want to give to me, I'd greatly appreciate it. Don't blame me on the spelling of some words- for example, colour. I can't help that. I'm an Aussie, so that'll explain a lot.)