It had been three days since the ceremony, and she hated every minute of it. She didn't like the idea of someone following her every move every waking moment of the day, but when it became reality she found out that she didn't like it.

She completely despised it.

She understood that it was now his job to guard her with his life, but his near constant silence was maddening and made her want to snap. He followed behind her like a shadow everywhere except for her bedroom and study where he stood outside her door until she came out. As a result, she practically barricaded herself in her room and buried herself in her studies unless she was forced to come out.

She sat at the dinner table, but once again couldn't eat. It was cream of carrot, one of her favorite foods, but every time she looked at the bowl she wanted to vomit. Even the smell was making her nauseous. She felt eyes watching her, but she didn't need to look up to see who it was. She had to keep telling herself that this was his job the watch and protect her; she shouldn't yell at him for it.

"How goes your training, my dear?" her father asked as he patted away a stray drop of soup from his beard, "Well, I hope?"

No

"I plan to travel to the Spring of Power in a few days when the roads are clearer," she said calmly, but kept her head down towards the soup, "I've been keeping up my daily prayer, but I still haven't been able to access my power." Her father only replied with what she translated as a disappointed grunt. Not being able to access her power when she was younger was understandable, but now? She should have it mastered by now, but she hasn't heard the faintest whisper from Hylia.

Pathetic

Now she did feel like she was going to throw up.

"Maybe you are spending too much time with your studies," her father suggested, but she was too busy trying to stop the room from spinning under her. Thank Goddess she was sitting or else she would have passed out, "I think you should devote more time to your prayer and training."

"I spend most of my day in prayer, Father." She said slightly surprised that her voice didn't give away how horrible she felt, "I'm to become a Queen, not a nun."

"Of course," he said and returned to his meal, but she knew the conversation wasn't over.

"I think I shall retire early for the night," she said slowly rising from her chair with her hands on the table. She raised her head and started towards the door as she noticed that no one seemed to notice how awful she felt.

"Goodnight, Zelda." She heard her father say, but she was out the door and didn't trust her body to speak. The next thing she knew, she was in her room bent over the only empty vase in the room. She didn't have anything in her stomach to throw up, but that didn't stop her body from trying.

It felt like she was there for hours, but it was probably only 10 minutes at most. Her head was swimming in circles, and her stomach ached painfully from the constant clenching to rid its nonexistent contents. She didn't have the energy to move from the spot she had crumpled in in the corner of her room, and she wouldn't have fallen asleep right there had there not been a quiet knock at the door.

"Come in," she had hoarsely, and part of her screamed to tried and look presentable, but she didn't care. If they were coming into her room, then they probably heard her dry heaving and came to see what was wrong.

"Princess?" someone asked as a pair of brown boots knelt beside her with a glass of water and some kind of soup.

"I'm fine." She said, but she could hide the hoarseness in her voice or stop another wave of nausea from giving her one more dry heave for good measure. She heard footsteps walk away and a plate being set on a table before a gentle hand held her elbow and tried to help her up. She used the wall as support but kept her eyes closed tight to keep the room from spinning as she was gently lead to her bed. She immediately curled into the pillows, and hoped it would be enough to make the spinning and nausea go away; it helped a little bit, but not much.

"The doctor will be in the morning," the person said again, but she really didn't care at the moment. She was already half asleep from all the energy she had just lost tearing apart her stomach, and now that she was under her covers she was falling fast asleep. The last thing she heard was the door click shut and a muffled voice before she fell into a dreamless sleep.

It only felt like she had closed her eyes for a minute before she felt someone gently shaking her shoulder. She groaned, but still didn't open her eyes; she felt worse than when she went to bed and wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep.

"Zelda," A gruff voice said softly, "I need you to wake up, sweetheart." She forced her eyes open, and the bright light felt like daggers digging into her skull. As she adjusted to the light, she saw her fathers worried face knelt beside her. He must have noticed how bad she felt last night, or whatever maid had come in to help her went and told him. Either way, she didn't like seeing her father look so worried even if it was about her.

"Lady Zelda," another voice said, and she rolled her head to the source. An older lady in her late 60s stood at the foot of her bed with a kind smile, and an old leather bag at her side, "I've been told you haven't been feeling very well lately."

"I haven't been feeling like myself lately, no," she replied; her tongue clicked against her dry gums and lips, and she tasted leftover bile from the night before. Her father handed her the glass of water that had been left on her nightstand the night before, and she took slow sips as the woman continued.

"My names Doctor Addermire I'm the Castle's royal physician." She set the bag down on the foot of her bed; it looked much lighter than it actually was as it sank into the bed, "Can you go over what's been wrong for me?"

She told her about how she hadn't had an appetite for the past three weeks, and that looking at any kind of food made her head spin. She told her about last night, and how she had to excuse herself early from dinner before she was trying to throw up, but couldn't manage more than a mouth full of spit. Doctor Addermire began pulling stuff from her bag as a man's voice spoke loudly from the other side of the door. Her father reacted quickly and stepped out and she caught the quickest glimpse of a Sheikah bard waving his hands about in the air, and his face was quite red with frustration. Her knight was completely blocking the doorway with his sword pointed down to the ground. The bard was getting in the knight's face, but he didn't seem to move an inch or speak a word to the other man. Her stomach twisted, and she felt a chill run up along her spine. Doctor Addermire must have noticed as she turned her attention to the commotion at the door.

"Gentlemen," she said sternly, and the bard stopped and made eye contact with Zelda for the briefest moment before looking at the Doctor, "I have a very sick patient here that would do well to have some peace and quiet for a little bit."

"But I…" The bard tried to push past her knight, but he didn't budge. The bard stared him down, but he stared back silently with an unflinching gaze.

"Come with me to my Chambers Alu," her father said sternly, and there was a quick flash of fear in the bard's eyes before he turned to address the King.

"Yes, your Highness," he replied. Her father shut the door before she could hear if anything more happened, but she was just glad they were gone.

"Men can never learn to be quiet in my experience," Doctor Addermire chuckled as she listened to her heartbeat, "But when they leave, it makes things much easier for both me and my patients."

"Are your patients mostly women?" Zelda asked hoarsely as she dug into her bag for another instrument.

"Men don't like to admit when something is serious enough to see a doctor, so that's why I usually don't see very many here." She said, "They're all stubborn as mules."

"I've dealt with a few like that before," Zelda added with a weak chuckle as she remembered one of the cleaners getting stuck up in the chandelier for three days, but was too stubborn to admit that he forgot to secure the ladder before he started cleaning so refused to call for help.

"I'm afraid its time for the awkward questioning, Lady Zelda." She said as she sat at the edge of the bed. She groaned to herself; she hated answering these questions because they never applied to her, "Ready?" She nodded.

"Have you bee sexually active in the last three months?" Zelda shook her head as a rosy blush colored her cheeks

"Have you had any drugs or alcohol in the past month?" She shook her head again.

"Have you had any uncooked fish lately, like sushi?" Another shake of the head.

"Have you been under more stress than normal?" She bit the inside of her cheek. She was supposed to be under stress that was normal for a person of her bloodline, but her father had been pushing her training harder lately.

"Yes," she said quite shamefully and didn't meet the doctor's gaze.

"Ok," she continued, "Have you traveled outside of Central Hyrule lately to one of the other towns?"

"Yes," she answered once again, "I've been to Gerudo Town and Zora's Domain within the past month." Doctor Addermire nodded with a faint smile that Zelda found herself grateful for.

"Alright, well I think it could be one of two things," she started, "I'm thinking it's a severe case of food poisoning probably from something you ate either in Zora's Domain or Gerudo Town. Your symptoms match up; low-grade fever, nausea, dizziness, vomiting, loss of appetite, cold chills…"

"And the other possibility?" she asked

"This could all be from too much stress. When the mind is too focused on one thing it can make other basic functions like sleep or eating seem less important. The only problem with that is that stress wouldn't cause a fever or cold chills, so that's why I think it's most likely food poisoning." Zelda nodded weakly and laid her head back to try and process all the information she was just told.

"I'm going to put you on two weeks bed rest and an antibiotic until it shows signs of clearing up," she said as she stood from the bed and grabbed her bag, "I'll be back at the end of next week to see how your doing, and then we'll go from there."

"Thank you, Doctor Addermire," Zelda said with the most grateful smile she could muster

"You are very welcome, my Lady," she replied with a slight nod of her head, "I'll have a maid bring your medicine up tonight. Feel better soon, Lady Zelda." She quietly left the room, and Zelda was left only with only the growling of her stomach to keep her company. She could bring her research books to her bed and read in between her naps, but sleep was pulling her back down as she buried herself back into her pillows and blankets.

Doctor Addermire quietly closed the door with a soft click, and a quiet sigh as she swung her bag over her shoulder. As she turned to leave, she nearly bumped into the Princesses knight who still stood in the same position he had been since the night before.

"Thank you for bringing this to our attention, Sir Link." She said with a nod, "Lady Zelda can be stubborn when it comes to sickness, almost as much as the guardsmen." Link glanced over towards her.

"I noticed the Princess wasn't eating and meant to bring it up sooner than last night." He said calmly. Doctor Addermire noticed a faint twitch of his ears before he returned his gaze back in front of him. She knew the signs of guilt from a mile away, and she had treated Link before for various injuries, so she was vaguely familiar with his habits. The role he had to live up to was much larger than anyone could fill even someone of the Royal Guard, yet here he was.

"I'll have a maid send up her medication in a bit as well as some broth to try and get something on her stomach," she said, but Link remand silent, "Should anything change, come find me right away." Link nodded his head, and Doctor Addermire turned and started down the long staircase to the closest maid station.

AN: Anyone that's had food poisoning knows that it is the biggest pain in the ass and the worst experience you will ever go through its terrible. Always clean your chicken children.

Anyway! Zelda's dying (kind of), Link's being a guard dog and 10 points to whoever gets the Easter egg I snuck in here. This story won't be too long, like maybe 5 chapters at most cause I'm testing the waters with writing in this universe because I currently have a much bigger story in the works, but I just want to see how well received my writing style is in this fandom and it looks like its gone pretty well lol you guys are amazing.

Hope you guys had a great friday and I'll see ya next week!