Part I
CHAPTER 1: NEW BEGINNINGS
Loud footsteps echoed down the noisy halls of the dining area. Nobles and high ranked soldiers sat together in the dining hall for breakfast.
The people in the room suddenly silenced at the heavy footsteps of the man stomping down the room. Stares and whispers started to float around the room. The man narrowed his sharp blue eyes towards a specific soldier obviously staring at him. He visibly clenched his jaw and glared at the soldier, making the soldier turn a deep shade of red and sink back into his seat.
The man walked rather loudly to his table, which was smaller and separate from where the nobles and high-ranking soldiers ate. The table only sat three people, with only three chairs placed around the table. His breakfast was already placed out for him, as well as two other plates for the people who had not come down yet for breakfast.
The man sat down and sighed heavily. Lack of sleep clearly affected his face, as large dark circles were formed below his eyes. The man awkwardly ran a hand through his long, blonde hair, obviously uncomfortable with the stares he continued to get from the gossipy nobles.
"Sir Link!"
Link jumped and turned around to see his assistant, Damien, standing near him. Damien was someone he had appointed during his early years as crowned king. It was hard for him to adjust at first, but Damien helped him out through all the stress and social pressure that was put onto Link so suddenly.
"I have dropped some letters off from King Ralis in your studies," Damien informed him. "It seems that some Zoras are bothered by your approval for the dam to be placed in their waters. King Ralis would like to meet with you and discuss these matters so they do not get out of hand and anger the Zoran people."
Link groaned and dragged a hand down his face. "I physically cannot deal with this right now," he snapped.
Unlike others, Damien did not recoil or judge Link for being particularly snippy or rude. He understood why, and he had a good reason to. This past year had been hard on Link, clearly evident in the dark circles under his eyes.
Damien gave Link a small smile, indicating that he understood. Even though he was Link's assistant, he was like a father to him. Damien, being almost 60 and never having children, instantly took a liking to Link and aided him throughout all his political and personal troubles.
"Well, you're eventually going to have to deal with this, whether you like it or not," Damien said, with a glint of amusement in his eyes.
Link pursed his lips in thought. He sighed.
"It never ends."
Damien raised an eyebrow at that statement.
"You used to never complain about your workload. You loved helping your people."
Link scoffed. "Well, excuse me for being a little stressed," he said, rolling his eyes. "I've been dealing with quite the issue for the past year, in case you haven't heard from practically everyone in this castle."
Damien's eyes suddenly snapped up at the sound of another person's footsteps reaching the dining hall. Link's head also jerked around to see who was coming.
"Oh, wonderful," Damien said sarcastically. "There she is."
A beautiful woman walked into the dining hall. She had dark and long chestnut hair that ended at her lower back and had dark brown eyes that perfectly matched the color of her hair. She was average height for a woman, with a muscular, but feminine build and wide hips. She wore a plain, but beautiful white dress with a small golden Triforce necklace. She was a stunning woman, causing her to become the most desirable woman in Hyrule, no other than Queen Zelda herself.
The dining hall again became silent, with only whispers and sounds of utensils clanking against plates. Nobles stared and whispered, which was extremely obvious. While the stares and whispers of the nobles made Link extremely uncomfortable, Zelda handled it with grace, successfully ignoring the gossip.
Zelda gracefully walked over to the separate table and sat with Link. She immediately dug into her food, ignoring the blue eyes of her husband boring into the side of her skull.
Awkward moments of tension and silence passed between them, giving Damien his cue to leave. He silently bowed and walked away, rather quickly, to go to his own studies.
More awkward moments of silence passed. Link could practically feel the stares of the people drilling into the back of his head, but he didn't dare to turn around. It's like the nobles were waiting for something to happen.
Finally, after a few more moments of unbearable silence, the nobles and high-ranking officers went back to their conversations. Link internally cheered, thanking the gods for sparing him in that moment.
Although the room was not silent, there was still lingering silence between Zelda and Link. Eventually, not being able to take it anymore, Link cleared his throat, causing Zelda to turn her head towards him.
"Good morning," she drawled out.
"Morning," Link stated flatly. "Where's Jack? He's supposed to be down here by now."
Zelda took a deep breath. "He told me he's not hungry. He said he would rather eat at lunchtime."
Link furrowed his eyebrows at her. He knew she was lying.
"Is he studying medicine again?" Link asked, pursing his lips.
Zelda's eyes widened, but she quickly masked her surprise.
"No."
Link scoffed. He seriously couldn't take it anymore. Her protecting him like he was some child. Her lying on his behalf. It was like they both had formed a little alliance against him, an alliance that made Link look like the bad guy.
"Seriously Zel, don't lie to me. I'm not some idiot."
Now it was Zelda's turn to scoff. "Gods, would you leave the boy alone for once? Let him be."
Link clenched his jaw. "I don't feel like dealing with this, especially not now in front of all these people," he said quietly through gritted teeth.
"Then don't," Zelda deadpanned.
Link huffed and stabbed his fork into his food, shoving it in his face quickly. Zelda rolled her eyes at this childish action. Link often did this when he was angry, which Zelda found extremely annoying.
"Oh would you stop eating like that," Zelda hissed. "You're eating like a pig. It's disgusting."
Link looked up and grinned devilishly at her with a mouthful of food. Then, he continued to quickly shove food in his mouth.
Zelda face-palmed, clearly irritated at his lack of proper etiquette. This caught the attention of a few nobles, who whispered and pointed at the dysfunctional king and queen.
"Link, would you stop it!" Zelda hissed louder.
Link suddenly slammed his fork on the plate. He chewed and swallowed his mouthful of food and smirked at Zelda.
"All done!" he chirped. Link sprang up from his seat and stomped back upstairs to his studies to take a look at King Ralis's letter.
Zelda sat at the table for a few moments before slowly getting up from her seat. Although Zelda was good at not showing her emotions, she was internally embarrassed. She noticed how silent the room got again when Link left.
Zelda sighed and gracefully walked back upstairs to her bedroom, trying her best to ignore the stares from the nobles.
Link pinched the bridge of his nose, reading all the complaints from the Zoras about the dam. He was honestly too stressed to even care about the situation. Why couldn't he just catch a break?
A soft knock came from outside his door.
"Come in," Link said.
The door swung open, revealing Link's loyal assistant.
Damien slowly walked towards Link, stopping at about four feet from him. Damien studied Link's face for a moment, and then sighed.
"I heard about your little, ah, what do I call it? Argument? Even that doesn't explain the absurdity of the situation."
Link slowly dragged a hand down his face.
"I can't take it anymore, Damien," Link said, frustrated. "Her lies to cover Jack are so transparent. They both are completely turned against me."
Damien paused for a moment, thinking hard on what to say without offending the young man.
"Well, I most certainly don't blame her."
Moments of silence passed for what it seemed like eternity to Damien. Link stared at Damien with wide, angry eyes.
"You cannot be serious," Link snapped. "You cannot be supporting-"
"I am not saying I support Jack's rejection of his duties," Damien interrupted. "What I am trying to say is that I certainly can't blame her for trying to protect Jack the way she is. She's a mother after all, isn't she? All she wants is for her boy to be happy, not miserable doing something he hates for the rest of his life."
Link swallowed, taking in what Damien said. Although what he said was logical, Link's ego refused to accept his words.
"That doesn't give her the right to fully support him not inheriting the throne!" Link shouted. "It's his duty! His moral obligation! If he doesn't accept his position on the throne, this country would be in shambles!"
"But still, she just wants her boy to be happy," Damien said. "At least try and understand why she has been acting this way."
Link rolled his eyes.
"The least you could do is try and actually be kind to her," Damien continued. "I'm sure she would appreciate that. And I'm sure Jack would definitely appreciate that."
Link sighed. He just didn't understand.
"This is all bullshit," Link said angrily. "This whole situation is bullshit. That, and the stupid merchant Zelda's been frolicking around with."
Damien gulped.
"Let's not talk about that right now," Damien said quickly. "Just listen to what I said, okay? At least try and compromise with her. Maybe still let him study medicine, while devoting his time preparing to become king."
"No," Link stated flatly. "That would only drive him more to become a doctor."
Damien sighed, studying the king's face. He was so thick-headed.
"Fine, don't listen to me," Damien said. "But please at least consider what I said. Please. You know exactly what the people whisper about. Let's not give truth to their words."
With that, Damien briskly turned around and walked out of the room, softly shutting the door behind him.
Zelda brushed a comb through her hair. Her hair was still a little knotted from sleeping, so she attempted to detangle her hair the best she could.
A soft knock came from outside her bedroom door.
"Who is it?" she called out from her bathroom.
"It's Jack," a muffled voice said from outside the door.
Zelda's eyes immediately softened. A small smile came to her face.
"Come on in," Zelda said sweetly, walking out of her bathroom.
The door opened and Jack poked his head in.
"Hey mom."
Zelda smiled.
"Hey Jackie. Is there something wrong?"
Jack shyly walked over to his mother.
"No, there's not really anything wrong," Jack said. "I kind of just wanted to talk."
Zelda smiled and sat on her bed, patting the empty spot next to her.
"That's fine. Come sit."
Jack walked over to the bed and sat down next to his mother.
Some people said that Jack looked more like his mother than his father. Jack, similar to his mother, had dark brown eyes and dark chestnut hair. Although Jack didn't share the facial traits of his father, he had clearly inherited his father's muscular build and tall frame. Link stood to be six feet tall, and Jack stood to be five foot ten at the age of 15.
"I'm finding out new things everyday, mom," Jack started. He nervously took out his notes from his pocket to show her.
"I've been studying this potion called elixir," Jack continued, handing her his notes. "It's super old , I know. It was created centuries ago to help heal soldiers wounds during battle, but it was banned due to the fact that its main ingredient was liquid extracted from a Deku nut tree. The Deku nut tree was an endangered tree species already, and extracting the liquid needed for the elixir killed the Deku nut trees. So, to solve this problem, the former king banned the elixir altogether."
Zelda hummed, looking over his notes about the elixir.
"The reason why I wanted to talk to you is that..." Jack took a deep breath of air. "...is that I figured out another ingredient that can replace the Deku tree liquid," Jack said proudly.
Zelda looked up and beamed at her son.
"Really! That's wonderful!" Zelda said proudly. "What's the ingredient replacement?"
Jack coughed awkwardly.
"Um, goat milk."
Zelda burst out with laughter.
"What?" she shouted, gasping for air. "I was expecting the ingredient to be more, you know, rare and hard to obtain."
Jack laughed nervously.
"I guess so. But the goat milk works so well, possibly even better than the Deku nut liquid. I was just as surprised as you were when I figured this out."
Zelda's laughter died down eventually. She smiled proudly at her son. He was brilliant.
"You are so smart," she said. "Words cannot describe how proud of you I am." She reached over and wrapped her arms around her sons shoulders, squeezing him tightly.
"Alright mom," Jack managed to choke out. "You're going to strangle me."
Zelda quickly let go and laughed quietly to herself. Moments of comfortable silence passed between them.
"Dad wouldn't even care," Jack mumbled, breaking the silence.
Zelda raised her head up to look at Jack.
"No, honey, he would definitely care," Zelda said softly. "I mean, look at what you just discovered! You found an effective and efficient way to heal our soldiers. You're a genius." Zelda studied his face.
"No, you don't understand," Jack argued. "He doesn't care. All he wants me to do is work on preparing myself to be king and to be the next general of the army."
A sad look crossed over Zelda's features.
"Jack, look at me." Zelda grabbed her son's face to look at her. "Your father is proud of you, I promise."
"Stop sugarcoating things for me!" Jack yelled, pulling his face away from his mom's grasp. "He doesn't care, alright? I've already accepted that. He doesn't care about how smart I am or how well I am with healing potions. He doesn't care about how hard I've been working, about all my notes and studying I've been doing. He doesn't care about any of it." Jack quickly stood up, his back facing his mother.
Tears welled up in Zelda's eyes.
"Jackie-" Zelda started.
"No!" Jack yelled. He turned around and snatched his notes from his mother's hands. "Don't try and lie," Jack said quietly, lowering his voice. "I'm not stupid. Dad and practically the whole entire court are against my work in medics. They are certainly not proud, nor do they even care."
Jack let out a choked sob and abruptly turned away from his mother, clearly embarrassed.
"Oh, Jackie," Zelda started. She got to her feet and placed a warm hand on Jack's shoulder. Jack jerked away from the contact, taking a few steps away from her.
"Leave me alone," Jack mumbled with his back still turned to her. "I just want to be left alone."
Jack quickly walked out of the bedroom, slamming the door behind him.
Hey guys! I have no idea if this is going to get any reviews at all, but I'm just going to leave this comment here, just in case. This is my first Fanfiction story I've ever written, so if you're actually reading and interested in this book, please give me some feedback. If you guys like it, I'd love to create some more works in the future.
By the way, this book is totally a secretive project. If my friends or family were ever to find out about this, boy would they be weirded out. I guess everyone's got a weird side to them.
I'm also going to try and update this book at least once every week or so. Don't worry, I'm not going to abandon this story. I'm too invested in this to stop.
Anyways, I'll see you guys next week!