Disclaimer: The Legend of Zelda does not belong to me
Link finished dinner before everyone else, so he ended up sitting in rather awkward silence. He listened quietly as the King, the Princess, the Champions, the royal councilors, and the royal guards talked about politics, foreign kingdoms, suitors, economics, prayer, and about dealing with Calamity Ganon. He noticed that a few of the chairs at the table were empty and sighed. He waited for Urbosa to stop talking and leaned towards her to ask a question.
"The empty chairs, near the other Royal Guards, who's supposed to sit there?"
Urbosa glanced in the direction of where the Royal Guards were sitting before turning back to him. She put her mouth near his ear and whispered, "One of the captains brought some other guards with him on some trip outside of Castle Town. Why?"
"Nothing important. I just… I just wanted to say hi to someone, Lady Urbosa," he muttered slightly. He zoned out for most of the other conversations and focused on small, minute details in the room. He stopped and caught the stare of a Royal Councilor. He quickly broke the gaze and went back to focusing on the tiny details. The talking around him was constant but it suddenly went silent. He ignored it as the silence lasted for a minute or two until he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned his head and saw Urbosa looking at him with a worried look on her face. "Is something wrong, Chief?" he asked quietly.
"Yeah. You," she said with a light chuckle. "Is everything all right?"
"Yes, Lady Urbosa."
"Good. Because Lord Cyrill has been trying to ask you a question."
Link knew that if his skin wasn't so bronzed from the desert sun, that it would be obvious he was embarrassed. He hesitantly turned his head to face the councilor he believed was Lord Cyrill, a man with naturally tanned skin, hazel eyes, and black side-parted hair with a few streaks of gray.
Urbosa merely chuckled, "I apologize on Link's behalf. Mealtimes with soldiers range from being loud and prolonged to being quick and short. Link, however, is one those soldiers that always prefers it quick and short."
Cyrill nodded and opened his mouth to repeat his question but was interrupted by another councilor. "I apologize for how slow Lord Cyrill can be, Sir Link. I am Head Councilor Lady Elfrida." Elfrida was pale of skin with dark brown eyes, her blonde hair tied in a neat bun. Cyrill looked a bit annoyed and the princess stifled a laugh. "In any case, what is it like to live in the desert?"
Link stayed quiet for a short moment before answering, "Well, during the rainy season, the days are shorter than the nights by about an hour. And during the dry season, day and night are the same length. Days are hot, nights are cold. It's pretty much what you'd expect if you lived in a desert." Cyrill raised an eyebrow in puzzlement while Elfrida seemed a bit too interested for her own good. Why does she care so much? Link thought; It's the desert, nothing much to it besides sand…and Moldugas.
Cyrill cleared his throat before saying, "I believe Lady Elfrida wanted to know more about your personal life as the only male allowed in Gerudo Town. Perhaps you could tell us more about that."
Link nodded slightly, "Well, sorry to disappoint you, but there's not much to talk about. I spend most of my time training and researching."
Elfrida jumped in before anything else could be said, "What do you research?"
"Gerudo history."
"And…?"
"That's it. Gerudo history."
"You don't study about anything else? Like, oh say, Zoras, or Gorons, or maybe even Ritos?"
"I never planned on leaving the Gerudo region, so I was never interested. And to be honest, I'm still not interested."
"That can't be true, you at least want to know something, right?"
Cyrill sighed, "Leave the kid alone. If he doesn't care, he doesn't care."
"Quiet," she ordered and gave him a cold glare before looking back at Link. "So, what do you wish to know?"
Link hated that he couldn't think of a way to avoid the subject. "I guess knowing the names of the other tribes would be nice…"
"Link, please tell me you're joking," Urbosa said quietly.
"I apologize Chief, but I'm not."
"Link, Gorons and vai Ritos come into town every day. The only tribe you shouldn't know about are the Zora, honestly."
Princess Zelda decided to join in on the voe's embarrassment. "Quick question: what have you been calling Gorons and Ritos this entire time?"
Link swallowed, "Boulder people and oversized vures."
Urbosa and the large rock—Link still didn't know his name for some reason—burst out in laughter, which caused the people at the other tables to stop their own conversations and look over.
"'Oversized vure'?" The vure suddenly repeated with a trace of annoyance.
Urbosa, still laughing, barely managed to successfully tell Link to explain it.
"Yes, vure. It's Gerudo for bird," Link muttered and received a death glare from him.
"Well," Elfrida said, "I suppose Link calling you that was reasonable. We didn't give him a proper introduction!"
This vai seriously needs to take it down a notch, Link thought.
"Ah, my apologies," King Rhoam said with a bit of strain to his voice. "Zelda, care to do the honors?"
Princess Zelda nodded and placed her fork down on her plate. She had a worried look on her face, but smiled anyway; to Link, it was obvious it was forced. "Link, I would like to introduce you to our Zora Champion, Princess Mipha."
The red Zora also gave a forced smile, but it held a bit more sincerity than Zelda's.
Zelda continued her introductions. "Here is our Goron Champion, Lord Daruk, and our Rito Champion, Warrior Revali."
Daruk finished laughing and gave a large smile, teeth and all—nothing but a look of pure enthusiasm. Revali, meanwhile, simply frowned and huffed a little.
Zelda chuckled slightly, "Of course, you already know about our Gerudo Champion, Chief Urbosa."
If I didn't, I wouldn't be here right now, Link thought as he nodded his thanks for the introductions Urbosa managed to leave out.
"Perhaps, tomorrow you can meet the other members of the Royal Council."
"That would be appreciated Princess, sarqso."
Silence followed and she blinked, "I apologize, I didn't understand. Can you say that again?"
Urbosa coughed into her fist a few times as she finished laughing and put a hand on his shoulder again. "He's saying thank you."
"Ohhh," Everyone but Urbosa and Link said in unison and realization.
After dinner ended, Link went back to his room and started unpacking the rest of his stuff. When he finished, he changed into a beige long-sleeved shirt and brown pants and was about to go to lay down when he heard a knock at the door; with a frustrated sigh, he opened the door and saw Kada.
"Lady Kada," Link started, "what are you doing up so late?"
"Sheikah always keep a vigilant eye on those they protect."
He moved aside so she could come in.
"No need. I just needed to give you a few more scrolls and some books." She placed them in Link's arms and turned on her heel. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Sav'orr, Lady Kada," Link said before closing the door and placed the items down and went to bed.
"Goodnight to you too, Link."
Meanwhile, Lady Urbosa waited patiently in front of King Rhoam's quarters. She could hear light muttering coming from the room and sighed heavily. Rhoam wasn't lying when he said they would talk about Link later, she just wasn't expecting it to be so soon. A short moment later the door opened and she was invited in. Rhoam sat at his desk while Lady Elfrida and Lord Cyrill where at either side of him. She bowed and waited until she was given permission to rise.
Rhoam decided to end the silence that followed, "Lady Urbosa, you know why we're here, correct?"
"Yes, Your Grace. It's about Link." She almost licked her lips but remembered she was wearing lipstick and mentally groaned.
He nodded and put a hand to his chin, "Now, as you know, Hylians and Gerudos have always had a…rather shaky relationship."
"And as Gerudo chief it is my goal to help make it stable."
"I'm aware," he replied flatly. "Lady Elfrida?"
She thanked him before starting, "His Majesty will only consider not breaking the Hylian-Gerudo treaty when we learn about how Link fell under the care of the Gerudo."
"Well," Darn her for not listening to her mother. "I was not chief when Link was accepted to live among us. My mother Lady Oma was. I was also at Hyrule Castle when it happened. My mother said she allowed Link to live in Gerudo Town despite being a Hylian voe because she believed if she tried to return him, the Gerudo would be accused of stealing him."
Lord Cyrill intervened before Elfrida could say something. "That answers a question but it doesn't answer the question asked. How did Link get there?"
"I-I don't know."
"So, there's a chance he was stolen."
"I suppose. But, although I don't know, his mother might. She's my second-in-command, so she can't come here, but a messenger may be able to get an answer for me."
Rhoam nodded once more, "I see. Write your letter; a messenger can be sent by tomorrow afternoon. You're dismissed."
Urbosa bowed again before leaving. When she left the room she heard quick footsteps and saw the yellow and blue tail of a dress turn around the corner. "Princess Zelda?" she muttered to herself. She was curious about why Zelda was eavesdropping, but pushed it aside. She walked back to her room, changed, and went to bed.
In the morning, a young handmaiden with light brown skin, dark brown eyes, and short black hair walked to Princess Zelda's chamber with a tray containing some food items. She nodded to one of the knights on duty and he quietly opened the door. She entered and as he closed the door she placed the tray on the table. Then, she walked over to a sleeping Zelda and woke her. The Princess' moves were slow and sluggish but that didn't stop her from getting out of bed. The handmaiden pulled out a chair for her to sit; the princess yawned and rubbed her eyes before grabbing a small loaf of bed from the tray.
"Thank you, Coralyn."
"You're welcome, Princess," she replied and grabbed a brush and comb off the vanity and the parts of her dress out of her wardrobe.
She did Zelda's hair and helped her get dressed while she listened to her talk about her adventures traveling around Hyrule, her struggles with prayer, her love for Sheikah technology, and just random thoughts. When finished, Zelda took a book from her extensive book collection and sat back down at the table.
Coralyn sat down as well and took a breath before saying, "Um, Your Highness?"
Zelda looked up in response.
"I heard the news about the Hylian Gerudo boy, and I'm curious. What is he like? If you don't mind me asking."
Zelda marked where she left off with a bookmark and closed the book. "Well, um, he's…interesting, to say the least.
"'Interesting'? How so?"
"Well, he—at dinner last night, he called Revali a vure. Which is apparently Gerudo for bird. I'm not sure if he was mocking Revali when he called him that or if he was just ignorant. I also had to introduce him to the other Champions and offered to introduce him to the other Royal Councilors—thank the Goddess they won't be back for a while."
"You seem irritated. Do you not like him?"
"I don't really know how to feel about him. He's, not to be rude, but he's strange. But he did say something that caught my attention: he said he usually spends his time researching about Gerudo history; the question is, what portion?"
"Maybe you two have more in common than you think."
"Maybe… Well, I suppose that's enough chatter for today. I need to go to the library." She got up and placed the book on her desk and started heading for the door.
"Really? What for?" Coralyn opened the door and followed Zelda out.
"Stuff," she chuckled as Coralyn rolled her eyes slightly and the two separated.
Zelda continued walking through the castle halls and made it to the library. She checked the shelves but couldn't find what she was looking for. She went upstairs and was rather surprised when she saw Link closely looking at the shelves. Part of her told her to leave before he noticed her, but the other part told her to confront him. She inhaled and walked up to him.
"Greetings, Link," she said a bit nervously. What was it about this boy that made her feel like this? It wasn't love—she had possible suitors being checked out anyway—but it was just something about him. If only she could find out what it was…
"Sav'otta, Princess Zelda," he replied. He stopped browsing the shelf and straightened himself.
"Um… Right. A-about yesterday night, you said that you spend your downtime researching. I'm curious since I do research myself, but what time period do you research?"
"Any time period, as long as it's related to the Gerudo, Your Highness. If you don't mind me asking, what do you research?"
"I research Sheikah technology."
"What's that about?"
Her eyes lit up at the question. Anyone who made the semi-mistake of asking her about that knew she could talk about it for hours on end. "I'm glad you asked, but let's go outside first. I tend to get a bit…excited when I talk about this."
Link raised an eyebrow but followed the Princess anyway, unprepared for what would be the explanation of a lifetime.
Okay, so the other day I was checking the stats of this story, and dang! This story has 2,966 views! People actually want this story. So, thank you, all of you. I was not expecting that. So two things, one, what have I done to deserve this? And two, I'm curious, I've used this phrase too many times, how do you guys see my characters? I'm wondering 'cause even though I gave you guys semi-descriptions, I still wanna know how you guys see them. Also here's an incorrect quote.
Elfrida: *sniffs* Smell like good fam in here.
Cyrill: What's 'good fam'?
Elfrida: Not much, fam, what's up with you?
Cyrill: That's it! Where's my royal broadsword?
Elfrida: Cyrill?!
Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed reading this chapter of The Hylian Child. Feel free to ask any questions, tell me any concerns, or you can comment, criticize, I don't know. You do what you want. Until next time. Bye~!
