Disclaimer: The Legend of Zelda does not belong to me


Link had never heard such a lengthy or excitable explanation in his life. To be honest, it was the Princess' enthusiasm that kept him interested. He listened as she described her travels around Hyrule and almost everything she learned about ancient Sheikah technology. She would've finished too, but Lady Elfrida decided to make an appearance. Link grew a bit annoyed when she did. Zelda did say the castle garden was one of the most private locations, but even that didn't prevent one from being found.

Oh, gods, it's her, he thought, and listened to the conversation being held by the nobles.

"Your Highness, I apologize for the inconvenience," Elfrida then realized Link was there as well, "And you too, Link. Princess, it's your father."

"What's wrong?" Zelda stood up from the bench and dusted her dress off.

Elfrida opened her mouth to say something but closed it when she remembered Link. "It's classified."

"Lady Eldrida, there's no point in hiding it. We both know the gossip mongers will catch wind of it eventually."

She sighed, "We believe someone poisoned your father."

An alarmed look came across Link's face, but he resisted the urge to butt in.

"What?!" Zelda gasped, "Who would do such a thing?"

"We're doing our best to figure out. Now, please, your father is waiting." She started to walk away.

"I'm sorry, Link. We'll have to continue this conversation later," she quickly followed Elfrida, leaving Link alone in the garden.

The voe sighed. Part of him wanted to join the princess and councilor, but he decided it would be best to stay out of the way for the moment. "Now…what was I doing again? I was looking for a book about… Din, I forgot…" He sighed and got up to head to the library but stopped when he heard some rustling. He muttered something before heading toward the sound.

"Vasaaq, Link," Kada greeted from behind him.

Link turned around and blinked, "Lady Kada, please don't take this the wrong way, but are you capable of greeting people normally?"

"Very. But I find it much easier to greet people on the spot than waiting for them to notice me. Also, you forgot something," she held up one of the scrolls she gave him yesterday. "I assume this is the item you were looking for?"

She sat down on the bench he was previously sitting on and patted the spot next to her. He sat down next to her, pushing off the feeling of being treated like a child. She took off the band that secured the scroll and unrolled it open. She started explaining the most recent hero and his adventure while saving Hyrule. Recent being 10,000 years ago. Before she could go into depth, Link interrupted her to ask a question.

"Did you hear about King Rhoam?"

She let the scroll curl up. "I never saw you as one to be into rumors."

"It's not a rumor, it's a fact," he stated. "Lady El—"

"Yes, I'm aware. She ran past me on the way here. And, yes, I did hear about the poisoning. The attempt failed, Lord Cyrill was poisoned instead."

"Really? Wait, how do you know?"

"I just do." She opened the scroll again, "Are you ready to continue your lesson?"

Link nodded and listened to her lengthy explanation.


While Kada was giving Link a history lesson, Zelda and Elfrida made it to the infirmary. Zelda was more anxious than she previously thought. So when she asked one of the doctors about her father, she was pointed toward a bed that her father was…standing by? She looked Elfrida's way and noticed that she looked shocked and a bit horrified. But why? Zelda sighed lightly and resisted the urge to call out Elfrida's actions and walked up to her father.

"Dad, you're okay…?" Zelda knew the term was informal, but for the time being, she didn't care.

Rhoam turned to face his daughter. He smiled when he realized she was worried about him, but frowned a bit when he realized what she said. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Lady Elfrida told me that you were…poisoned…" Her words trailed off and she messed with a lock of hair.

Rhoam placed a hand on her shoulder, the gesture was one of the few times he treated her like his daughter. "I'm fine. Thank you for the concern. I believe Lady Elfrida meant to tell you that someone attempted to poison me. Whoever they are, they got Lord Cyrill instead."

"Cyrill?!" Elfrida suddenly blurted out.

Both Rhoam and Zelda looked her way. Rhoam nodded and moved to the side, allowing Zelda and Elfrida to see Cyrill lying unconscious on the bed. He was considerably paler and had some beads of sweat on his face. His breaths were deep and slow.

"Is he going to be okay?" Zelda asked, then turned to her father.

"According to the castle healer looking after him, the dosage of poisoning wasn't enough to be lethal, so he should be fine. It might a few days for him to get the poison fully out of his system, though."

Zelda nodded and looked back at Cyrill. "Are they any closer to figuring out who the suspect is?"

"Well, um," Elfrida stuttered, "it was a slow day so I got the names of all the people the knights on duty recall entering the kitchen that aren't cooks. There was me, Coralyn, and the Hylian Gerudo boy."

"Link?"

Elfrida nodded, "There is also a possibility that the food was poisoned just before it reached the table. Meaning that it wasn't someone who cooked but someone who served."

"Has the type of poison been identified yet?"

"Dr. Purah is working on it," Rhoam said, "We should go now. We can return when Cyrill awakens."

Zelda followed the adults outside the infirmary. She heard Lady Elfrida apologize to her father for the outburst. Claiming that when she heard someone had been poisoned she believed it to be him. Zelda followed them for a bit before leaving and going to her own room. She saw the same tray from this morning still on her table, and took another small loaf of bread and a few pieces of fruit. She had involuntarily chosen to skip lunch when she decided to talk to Link. She finished eating and went to her desk to finish reading her book.


With the sun starting to set, Link, glad his lesson was over, walked aimlessly throughout the castle. While walking, he heard the voices of at least two vais echoing through the hallway. He could tell by the failed attempt to keep the conversation hushed, they were gossip mongers. Normally, he would ignore the senseless words from a gossip monger, but this conversation caught his attention.

"—break the Hylian-Gerudo treaty, Honbria," one vai said.

"Really? Why?" the vai Link guessed was Honbria asked.

"The councilors and Rhoam believe that the Hylian boy was stolen."

"The Hylian boy was what?" Link asked as if he misheard, and walked up behind the vais.

They immediately turned around and were surprised that the person of subject was so close. Both vais looked similar. Both had round ears, peach colored skin, navy blue eyes, and black hair. They both wore similar styled tunics. The only difference was that one had a pair of glasses while the other didn't, but had a satchel hanging by her side instead.

Twins, Link thought. He sighed when they refused to answer. "The Hylian boy was what?" he asked again.

"No-nothing, Sir Link," Honbria, the one with glasses, stuttered. "Kreeli, apologize," she hissed and nudged her sister in the ribs.

"Uh, yes, I'm sorry, Sir Link," Kreeli did a small bow and Link let out a small huff of air.

"You know," Link took a step closer to them. "I find it a bit funny that when I'm near, you suddenly decide you want to respect me. I also find it a bit funny, that you don't respect King Rhoam when he's not in earshot. I mean, considering that he's technically the only reason you have a job at the castle, and your life," he added quickly, "it's a bit strange you won't respect him, even when he's not close by. Now, care to tell me what the councilors and the king believe I am?"

"It's nothing bad. They just think—"

"I'm not an idiot. I heard what you said, they think I was stolen. Also," he took another step, now in her face, "next time you want to talk bad about someone but can't say it to their face, don't say it at all. It makes you look weak." With that said, he turned around to continue his wandering.

"Rude," Kreeli muttered to herself.

"It's a castle hallway," Link turned to face them, "If you want privacy, talk in a private location. Not here. Also, think twice before trying to gossip around a Hylian—we have very good hearing. But considering that you're a normal human, you wouldn't know that, would you? Sav'orq."

As they watched Link walk away, Honbria stuck her tongue out in an immature fashion.


Elfrida, with two message scrolls in hand, walked past Link, who seemed satisfied with himself. She walked for a bit longer before hearing voices and followed the sound. "Finally, a messenger," she said to herself.

She offered to give Urbosa's message to one of the messengers herself, and to her relief, Rhoam let her. She read Urbosa's letter, and unfortunately, there wasn't anything exactly revealing about it. It just gave a brief explanation about the situation and asked for an answer.

She heard the voices complaining about something, and walked up to the source. "Hello, Kreeli. Hello, Honbria," she greeted.

Both stopped talking and greeted her back.

Elfrida nodded, "Kreeli, you're working today, correct?"

"Yes, Lady Elfrida."

"This is a message from Lady Urbosa. It's to be sent to Ender in Gerudo Town." She handed Urbosa"s scroll to Kreeli, gave another nod, and started to walk away.

"Lady Elfrida, the other scroll?"

Elfrida was about to ask what she meant but remembered she wrote her own letter. "Oh, yes, I nearly forgot! This message is to be sent to Koume and Kotake, they're in Gerudo Town as well." She swiftly turned on her heel and left.

"How do you nearly forget sending a letter?" Honbria crossed her arms.

"Happens all the time."

"Not when you're holding the letter."

Kreeli just shrugged and said goodbye to her sister. She then went to the stables to get a horse to start her journey.

Elfrida entered her room and sat down at her desk. She gave a loud, irritated groan and placed her palm against her forehead. She probably would've stayed this way for the rest of night, but a sudden gust of wind and a puff of red smoke prevented her from doing so. She stood up as she coughed into her fist a few times until the smoke cleared. When it did, she turned, and saw an irritated looking Gerudo wearing the clothes of a Yiga blademaster. She didn't have her mask on, but had her windcleaver resting on her shoulder.

"Elfrida, do you care to explain what happened?" the Gerudo asked with a scowl.

"How am I supposed to know?" Elfrida hissed, "I didn't apply the poison. So whichever one of you Yigas did, failed to, one, get the right person, and two, made the dosage far too high, for said wrong target."

"Cyrill's dead?"

"No. But the dosage was just a few units away from being lethal," she sat back down. "I'm glad it wasn't lethal, though."

"Why? With Cyrill out of the way, there would be one less obstacle preventing us from killing the royal family."

"True," she hummed in a reflective way. "But if he was to die in such a manner, the security around the kitchen would be even tighter. Rhoam ordered for stricter surveillance in the kitchen, and that's only because someone was poisoned. Now suppose Cyrill had actually died from the poison."

"I see where you're going with this." She moved her sword and let the tip rest on the floor. "Do you have anymore poison or do you need more?"

"Kelsie, relax, will you? I sent a message to Gerudo Town. I'll get the poison in a few days."

"A few days? We can't risk waiting that long. Who's to say Zelda won't find the Hylian Champion in that time or unlock her powers? You should've just called me, I can get it much faster."

"You make a good point, but I want the tension to die down before we attempt to poison Rhoam and Zelda again."

"I suppose." Kelsie leaned heavily against her sword. "Do you have any idea who the Hylian Champion may be?"

"Not a clue. The royal family has been looking at the younger Royal Guards and knights, though."

Kelsie stayed quiet for a moment before looking at Elfrida, "They're looking for a teenager?" she asked in disbelief.

"I'm thinking more young adult than teenager."

Kelsie nodded, "Well, I'll get out of your hair and tell Master about the incident. Sav'orq!" She disappeared the same way she appeared, leaving Elfrida alone in the room.

Elfrida sighed and almost let her head slam against her desktop. A few minutes later, a handmaiden came to tell her dinner was ready. She thanked the maid and fixed her clothes, then left for the dining hall.


Guest: I'm sorry, I forgot this last time. No, your review didn't come off as criticizing. At least, not in a bad way. In fact, I found your way of summarizing that scene a bit funny. You know, ha ha funny. Most of the story has been planned out already, and I assure you there will be scenes involving Link's past. I just can't really say how close it is.

I hoped you enjoyed this chapter of The Hylian Child. And now's the part where I semi-promote myself. Feel free to leave a review, ask a question, or something. I don't know. You do you. Until next time. Bye~