Linkette finished her meal and climbed out of bed to stretch her legs and sore muscles a bit, just waiting for the fretting to begin. Sheik peeked in on hearing her footsteps and asked if she needed to use the bathroom or something. She ignored him, just continuing to walk around and stretch, as well as glance around. He mumbled something about standing nearby if she needed anything and continued guard duty. Linkette decided to test the waters by going to leave the room, feeling like a caged animal. She just wanted to go to the stables and snuggle with Epona, who didn't care one way or the other if she was pregnant or not. Sheik followed at a safe distance. Things seemed to be going her way until she saw the Royal Physician, who had been on his way to check on her.
"Lady Linkette. You need to return to bed. It isn't good for you to be up so soon. You nearly lost your children multiple times now."
"She's been comatose for half a day, let her move a bit or it'll only get worse." Sheik explained from around the corner.
"Just a short walk," The doctor reluctantly allowed, "with frequent rest."
Linkette just rolled her eyes and started walking again, figuring she knew her body best and her body wanted to be free as she moved quicker towards the stables. Sheik just continued to follow/guard at a distance. Linkette left the main part of the castle to enter the stables, not minding being barefoot as she instinctively went towards Epona. Epona nuzzled her as she reached the stall she was in. Linkette let her out and led her like she was planning on just taking a walk. Sheik continued his watching. Once her and Epona were out into the field, Linkette started getting Epona into a jog, the mare looking excited at what was to come, cooperating as Linkette swung herself up, knowing to head to the exit to the road. Sheik wasn't trying to panic and to give her the space she wanted, but on seeing Epona get into a jog and seeing her swing up he figured to summon his horse to be on the safe side and continued to follow. Linkette made it out of the castle area and urged Epona faster, Epona obviously up to the challenge. She didn't know where they were going but so long as it wasn't the castle it'd be fine.
Goddesses protect her! Sheik thought as he had his horse match Epona's stride. Linkette kept going as Epona went through the town, causing much commotion, heading for the gate to leave the town. Sheik had found a guard and told him to quickly work on having the gate raised then continued to trail after her. Linkette urged Epona to go faster, relieved her horse showed no fear as she ran up the slowly rising gate, just barely getting across before the incline became too much. Epona landed on the other side of the river, but was in panic as Linkette had slipped off into the water. Epona rushed to the water and ninnied, searching for a way to lay claim to her rider. Linkette was of a similar mindset, looking for a way to climb out along with fighting the current and such. Now Sheik had to wait for the gate to be lowered and grumbled to himself the entire time. A guard urged him to use the doorway through the wall, though his horse couldn't follow. He apologized to his horse and then sprinted through the doorway, noticed Epona's distress, put two and two together and then quickly dived in to save her. Linkette found herself having a hard time swatting off a would be rescuer and trying to keep swimming, already tiring out due not being in the healthiest of shape at the moment anyway. She allowed him to get her ashore onto a small bank, panting heavily.
Sheik had to remove his face wrapping for a moment to cough out whatever water got in from Linkette's attempts to drive him off. Linkette took the distraction to start scrambling up the bank, having caught a second wind.
"Linkette!" Sheik scrambled to his feet and ran after her, "Will you stop acting like a reckless child before you get hurt?!"
She shook her head no, before trying to return to the climb, only to slide back down as her energy ran out, not even trying to stand up.
Sheik finally caught up to her at this rate and carefully picked her up, "You know this is dangerous, quit it! Just...just talk to me!" He knew what he was requesting was bordering on impossible until she got some paper and a quill, but he was too upset to think about it.
Linkette just sulked, completely worn out and having no fight left. She only kept her eyes open so that she could at least see where she was being taken. After finding Epona and calming her down, Sheik rode her with Linkette in his arms to her house, figuring that she could do with a much more familiar setting at this point. Linkette seemed to relax at seeing her own house, feeling comforted by it and the familiar smells as they dismounted, Epona going to let herself into her stable there.
"Just...please rest." Sheik's tone was that of begging. "Ganon's dead, the prince is alive, all is well once more."
Linkette gave a reluctant nod, already ready to go back down for the count after her tiring escape. She was soon passed out into a nap. Sheik tucked her in, kissed her forehead and then meandered out to make sure Epona was okay after all of that. Once the loyal steed was taken care of, he went to get his own and then turned back into Zelo to have some Sheikah keep an eye on her for the time being.
Back at the castle, everything and everyone was flustered with Linkette's running away, IN HER NIGHTGOWN, no less. The sages gave Zelo a questioning look upon his return.
"What did you do to her to make her so flighty from the castle and mistrustful of you and the guards?" Damia inquired, concerned for her friend. How Linkette went from constantly blushing and obviously wanting the prince badly to treating him like an enemy was beyond her understanding.
"I...thought I was doing the right thing in keeping guards on her while she was in bed before." Zelo sounded defeated.
"So made her feel like a prisoner?" Damia's tone was a bit accusatory.
"I wanted to keep her safe! Ganon's arrival was nigh and she has twins, what else was I to do!?" His voice cracked like he was close to tears.
"I saw her basically jump out that window during the fight, I think she might...hate you now...or severely dislike you at least…" Aiden sighed, mourning the loss of love, apparently.
"Terrific…" Zelo turned his back to the group. "Leave me be. I need to be alone."
Dale nudged Aiden and started walking, figuring they should check on Linkette. He owns a key to her place but only remembered it just now. Beau tagged along since she's his family too. The group went on their way to go check on Linkette. Aiden made sure to grab some more food for her. They soon reached the house and found Linkette still asleep in bed.
"Yeah, that figures…" Dale sighed.
Raja and Nelis just stared at everything since this had been the first time they've ever been in a Hylian home.
"At least she's safe and resting. I just hope she wakes up in a timely manner to eat," Beau figured to see what she already had to try and pre-cook something for her, just in case. "...Hey Aiden, can I see what you brought again? She has nothing."
"Sure," Aiden brought the bag of food over, having snagged some bread, cheese, cooked steak, and vegetables and milk, figuring they could make a stew. Beau seemed to be thinking about recipes as he looked over the items and did indeed do the stew.
Linkette stumbled out of her room a bit later, having changed into a green dress. She gave them a curious look, though her eyes were a bit duller than before as she sensed the Sheikah watching the house.
"We wanted to check up on you since we heard what happened earlier," Beau explained as he carefully poured the stew into a bowl.
"Epona's good, that jump didn't do any damage," Dale added with a silent scolding in his eyes.
Raja and Nelis were still awestruck about everything around them.
Linkette just glared at Dale, she knew what Epona could and couldn't handle, and trusted Epona to stop them if she couldn't handle something. She just sighed and took a seat at the table, gingerly picking at the stew as her appetite had faded.
"Um...do you have a specific place you prefer to store bread?" Beau figured she'd pass on it right now but might want it at a later date.
Linkette pointed to her bread holder, though it was obviously unused.
Beau nodded and was about to put it in when the dust it had collected moved. "Uuhh...do you have a dust rag?"
Linkette shrugged, having no idea where the maid who came weekly put it. So the group searched, soon finding some cleaning supplies and getting the food cupboards tidied up a bit.
"Do you want us to grab you some paper to talk?" Aiden tried to be helpful. Linkette just shook her head no, pushing the half eaten bowl of soup away.
"She needs time to think," Raja said, "mostly about what to do from here now that her destiny's been fulfilled."
"Do you just want to be left alone?" Aiden looked sad for her friend. Linkette meekly nodded 'yes'.
"Can we visit tomorrow?" Beau asked.
She shook her head no, figuring she'd probably be at the castle performing her regular duties again.
"We'll see ya in a few days then," Dale shrugged, "c'mon y'all, let's uh…"
"Make sure Uncle Peter's okay?" Beau supplied.
"Yeah, let's go check on Pa."
And so the Sages left. The next morning had Linkette waking up at a decent time, washing up, and putting on a nicer dress and boots to go head off to the castle to see what stupid things she needed to do, all fight gone. Needless to say the maids were glad to see her return, quick to help her doll up and such to go join Zelo in the meeting room. Said meeting was about cleanup efforts and planning a moral booster for the people, aka Zelo and Linkette's wedding, at long last. The prince was unusually curt when asked about what he wanted to see in the wedding and the topic wasn't dwelled on for long. Linkette just sat there, not even trying to write down ideas like she usually did. The meeting was a long one, eventually papers being set aside for the maids to bring in lunches for the advisors and Prince, along with his fiancee. Zelo requested that they just end the talks for the day since he had other things to do after lunch. They agreed and the group started eating, though Linkette just picked at her food. Zelo just finished his food in silence and left without looking at anyone. Linkette took that as her sign to go, the meal basically untouched. A maid was quick to be by her side, offering to get her anything she was in the mood for. Linkette just shrugged her off and upon realizing she had nothing else to do today, decided to start heading back home. At least she would have but the head maid informed her of the seamstress arriving to start getting her fitted for a wedding dress. The seamstress found herself having free reign as Linkette gave no input as to what she wanted for a dress, working until late in the afternoon. Linkette was soon realizing not eating was a bad idea as she kept standing in the stuffy room.
"Milady?" The Seamstress soon saw disaster as Linkette started to faint. "Someone send for the doctor!" She barely managed to catch her.
Luckily someone did and quickly got the physician. He examined her and said nothing was wrong, per say, and just scolded the maids for not feeding the poor girl.
"She's pregnant with twins. She cannot afford to skip meals. Or stay standing like this for a long time." He scolded them after Linkette was moved to a bed to recover.
"We offered her food, sir. She refused," the Maid sniffled.
Zelo had been passing by and paused on hearing the conversation. The maids kept going back and forth about Linkette refusing food offered and not touching lunch. She also mentioned Linkette missing her usual spark. He automatically blamed himself for his unintentional smothering and teleported before he could be seen breaking down from it.
The next few days found Damia stepping in to help keep things running smoothly while Zelo had his breakdown. Once she had a free moment she approached him.
"Zelo. This must end. Just go talk things out with her. Grovel. Beg. Do anything or you'll lose all three of them, or at the very least Linkette, forever when it is time. Promise to give her the freedom she so desires. Just anything, please."
"How can I face her when my last few interactions have only pushed her away? She wants nothing to do with me Damia, and...I just need to accept that it was never meant to be. I will grant her the freedom she so desires, I will even make sure that the children are safe from having to take the throne, but...she hates me. She is too stubborn and would never say she loves me, even if I got down on my knees and cried."
"How do you know if you don't try?! She loves you more than the Heavens and Earth! She was willing to die for you. She was willing to risk losing her children to keep you alive. That was her goal this whole quest once she had the vision of you dying. She feels betrayed, yes, but that is because she loves you and is hurting, bad."
"Because all she did was run!" Zelo snapped as tears fell from his eyes, "She just kept running...I wanted to keep an eye on her because I was concerned. I thought I gave her enough space. I thought I was comforting her. I was wrong - and she nearly drowned because of it!"
"BECAUSE SHE FEELS TRAPPED! All the guards watching her every move, having been actually under lock and key, she feels trapped. Show her she won't be and apologize for your actions. The longer this lasts the greater the rift."
"Fine!" He huffed, "But I need some time because I feel too frantic to do this calmly!"
"Fine. Just do something. I want to be planning my own wedding, not dealing with this."
"I will!" And then he teleported to blow some steam elsewhere.
Damia sighed and once finished at the castle for the day, went to return to the Hayes' place, where she was staying as a guest, along with Beau. She greeted everyone properly, a large smile on her face as she saw her fiance. He hugged her in greeting and offered her a slice of pie he and his aunt had been working on.
"Thanks. Pie sounds great right now," She thanked him with a chaste kiss on the cheek.
"How'd things go at the castle, if you don't mind my asking?" He also offered her a bottle of milk.
"Depressing," She sighed, sitting down to eat and drink. "I just hope my chat with the prince fixes things. We finished the dumb quest, it's time for happily ever afters now."
"I know," he kissed the top of her head, "but they come faster in fairy tales, not reality. There's still a little bit of work to be done, like…" he took something out of his overalls pocket, a little heart-shaped wooden box.
"What's that?" Her interest peaked as she cutely tilted her head to the side.
"Open it," he smiled with a blush quickly painting his cheeks.
She did open it, curious as to what she would find. Inside was a gold necklace with an amber pendant shaped like a heart.
"I-I know it's more traditional to use a-a ring, but...Raja said it's easier t-to make heart shapes for necklaces. Ehehe, uh...Damia, w-will you be my bride?"
"Of course," She squeed a bit, forgetting herself and pulling him in for a deep kiss, breaking it and making a silent vow to visit him that night to thank him better. He made a brief noise of glee before their lips touched and returned her affections until a maid gently cleared her throat and reminded them that Kenna would probably really disapprove of that kind of kissing.
Damia was blushing beet red, "I'll...err...be in my room till dinnertime."
"I-I, uh...I'll be in the garden," Beau stammered.
Dinnertime arrived, and with it Aiden being ill after trying to eat the cucco, rushing off to the bathroom.
"...Peter dear, do you think-"
"Probably, yes. I'll have a doctor come and look her over tomorrow. Just...no more getting her pregnant, please Dale."
Dale just sunk a little in his chair as he mumbled a confirmation he wouldn't. Aiden returned a few minutes later, looking a bit better, and started eating her side dishes instead, appetite unaffected it seemed. She looked fairly cheerful despite having just been sick. Peter and Kenna gave each other a knowing glance and just glared at Dale for a moment since they knew what was coming, and it would be a very loud affair. Dinner finished and everyone was off to get ready for bed, Aiden deciding it'd be a smart idea to head to bed early to keep herself nice and healthy. Dale joined her after squeezing in a bath and cuddled her. Beau helped with some dishes before heading to his room. Once the coast was clear, Damia snuck into Beau's room, her bedtime robe wrapped tightly around her. Beau had been reaching for his nightshirt after stripping down to his pantaloons when he saw his future wife and gave her a puzzled look. Damia just gave him a seductive smile and shut the door, locking it, moving forward to kiss him deeply again, like she'd done earlier. Beau kissed her back while holding her close. She started moving him towards the bed, keeping the kiss going. He had to slow down both the kisses and the walking so that he could carefully place her on the bed so neither of them tripped on accident. Damia leaned up to gently nip and suck on the sweet spot on his neck that she'd found that night they'd reunited. He moaned softly at the sensation and started caressing her sides. She kept at it for a while before untying her robe for him, though left it up to him to open it. He slowly removed it around her shoulders first, kissing the exposed flesh as he murmured her name in a low, husky voice. She was instantly turned on, giving words of encouragement to keep going. He moved more of her robe back, his body started to react as he saw her chest and tested the waters by kissing her collarbone area and slowly moving south from there. Her moans were a good indicator he was doing a good job, Damia having a hard time staying quiet. He did panic a little and kissed her lips while trying to keep an ear out for any maids or his aunt and uncle. Damia quieted down at that and once it was safe, begged him softly to please keep going, promising to be quiet. He went back to kissing down her neck and chest as he ditched her robe. Damia shivered a bit in excitement and at being fully exposed, keeping her cool as she took one of his hands to guide down there. He whispered an apology if his rough farm hands caused her any displeasure as he remembered what to do from when they reunited from her brainwashing. She gave quiet gasps as she enjoyed the feeling, giving more encouragement as she got closer to climax, begging for more. He carefully stuck two fingers in and moved them a little more upward since that seemed to work last time. She came a few minutes later, biting her hand slightly to muffle herself.
"Beau, please...I want all of you…"
"I-I want you to, but...the wedding…" Beau feared what happened to Aiden and Linkette would happen to her and couldn't bear the thought of putting the two stresses together on her.
"Please," She begged.
He gulped down hard. It took Dale a while to get Aiden pregnant...I think...just one time couldn't hurt, right? He really hoped that was the case as he nodded and finally took her. Damia gasped in pleasure, wrapping her legs tightly around him and encouraging him to just move. It took him a bit to find a rhythm she liked and that he could get, but once he did he screamed her name when he came. Damia came just after he did, luckily managing to keep her promise of being quiet. She sleepily snuggled him in the bed, exhausted from the endeavor. He drifted to sleep with her in his arms shortly after the deed was done. The couple ended up sleeping in the next morning, most of the household knowing what they'd gotten up to. Kenna just wrote a letter to her in-laws to expect a grandchild here soon and sent it when the postman came by.