A/N: Hello everybody! (the only reason I got this chapter up so quick was because I had a rainy day and nothing better to do than to write for 16 hours straight, you know, the typical heh!)
But, I do have something to address first before we get to the actual story part, y'know? To the repeated anonymous reviewer: I see all of your suggestions (are they suggestions? you keep saying commands rather than suggestions tbh) and I appreciate that you have ideas! But, um, can you tone it down a bit? Like. Reviews are great, especially when you're analyzing the chapter! But when you say what should happen repeatedly it gets rather annoying. I understand that you want Midna and Link to do that do the council. I 've seen it several times already. But no matter how many time's you bug me about it... it's not gonna happen. If I were to implement that into the story, my whole plot would be destroyed and you'd get a boring fic. I really don't think you want a boring fic. I'm sticking to my plot. And, if you're going to make suggestions, use suggest in your review :)))) Because all I've seen is rather command-like words! I really don't appreciate that, it sounded kinda disrespectful in a way as well.
Okay I'm done ranting. On to the story!
After a rather early rise to the day, Midna guided her and Link through the halls of the palace. Now that Link was living in the twilight realm, which was filled with illness' that Midna knew he had never been exposed to, she had taken precaution to have the palace's medic do routinely check-ups for them during the first few moons. And that morning had been the first.
The two stepped into the small medical suite, and stood at the doorway waiting for the doctor to fetch them. Midna knew a few of her servants had fallen ill, and thus were requested to be quarantined here, for Link's safety. Although she felt Link's wary eyes flicker over at her, she reassured him by entangling her fingers in his hand. She knew after the previous days' incident with the twili council, he was still a bit shaken up.
Before too much time had gone, the nurse had appeared to them, and began to lead them to the back of medical chambers. In their own secluded room waited the head doctor of the palace, with him his own instruments.
"Swell morning, Queen Midna, Link." The twili grinned false-heartedly, gesturing for them to take their seats. With an unmoved nod, Link did as was suggested, with Midna beside him.
"Now, I'll be taking care of the Queen's examination, if she doesn't mind," the man chuckled a slight bit. "My fellow colleague will take care of you, Link. She does have a fascination in light dwellers, anyways."
Next thing Link knew, the doctor had stood and was taking Midna to another room. The door closed behind them. The Hylian sat in the small room, alone and cold, until he heard a small knock at the door. And then a head popped in. The door opened, then entering a younger twili woman.
Taking the spot that the other doctor had been seated, the younger woman offered her hand to Link, to which he took. "G'morning, King Link!" The blond's mood perked up hearing the title. "I'm Doctor Khina! I'll be taking care of you from now on! Honestly, I'm really excited to be working with you; I've had such interest in studying the light dwellers after the one garbed in green saved the twilight realm and his own from Zant's tyranny! I hope you don't mind my small studies every now and then!"
With a smile now wide on his face, Link nodded his head. "Oh I don't mind. I feel quite honored right now to be appreciated for the work I did. I was the one who rid of Zant." Blushing a slight amount from his boasting, but was caught off guard when the woman's clipboard and pencil hit the floor.
"You're the hero? I partially want to scream right now – the hero is right in front of me….You're so skinny, though! Are you ok? Are you sick or something?" Frantically, the woman picked up her belongings, and quick began to dart her eyes all over Link.
"I'm still recovering," Link replied. "I became really ill a year ago. I'm slowly getting better. Still not myself, as you can see."
"I do see," Khina nodded her head, still scanning over him. "Before I actually start examination and minor studies, would you mind if you told me how you and the queen met? It's just that before Zant took over, she was very against the idea of befriending the light dwellers at all. And now she's married to one. If you don't want to it is fine, I'm just rather curious."
Grinning, Link shook his head. "I don't mind, it's quite an interesting tale. Now let me see, where do we start…" And Link continued to tell his time with Midna from when he was turned into a wolf at the start of the twili invasion.
Meanwhile, in the other room, Midna was under her usual "checkup" with the head doctor. She had known the man since she was still under the care of her parents. Thus, she felt comfortable with him during physical examination. But then it hit her, as he felt her arms, her back, next - her stomach. She feared the worst. He would feel it. The creation. It was to be expected. She had no way out of it now. If it were true, she'd be almost four weeks along – enough to where it could be felt.
When the doctor's hands began poking and prodding at her stomach while she laid across the bench, Midna winced. Oh how she and Link would be in trouble. Oh how she regretting coming today. Oh how she hated the council so much right now. Oh how she hoped and prayed it wouldn't be reality. But then she saw, out of the corner of her eye, the doctor raise a brow in confusion.
"Your highness, have you been feeling alright lately?" He turned to face her. "Do you feel lethargic or fatigued easy?"
Sarcastically, she snorted. "Only when I'm working with the council. Goddesses, they can never agree on anything with me."
"Queen Midna, I am being serious. Please give me a serious answer."
Pouting, she shrugged. "I'm feeling just fine."
Slightly nodding his head, the doctor sighed and gave her a rather disgusted expression. "Have you been… err… active at night with that light dweller?"
Rolling her eyes, Midna groaned. "That light dweller is my husband – of course."
The doctor slightly shuddered as he stepped away from the Queen, allowing her to sit up and pull her blouse back down to meet her skirt. "Well, your Highness, it looks like an heir is to be expected. Rather, a mutt, I should say. You know, it is said that light and shadow shouldn't mix. If you want, we can rid of the monstrosity right now without having to tell the light dweller."
Clutching her stomach, Midna glared at the man before now. "No. You will not kill my child, take it, or perform studies on it. It is mine – it is my husband's. There is nothing you can do about that." The doctor sneered before returning to his paperwork, jotting notes on the examination.
"Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be grabbing my husband and we'll be leaving." And quicker said than done, Midna stood and exited the room, returning to the one she originally had been in. Opening the door, she peered in to see Link tying his garbs back on – lucky for her, he was all finished. "Link, we have to leave." With a nod, he sped up the returning of his clothes, and waved a goodbye to his doctor.
"King Link, I'll write a summary of the examination and drop it off at your suite this evening – just so you can know the results." Khina shouted after him, her notes still in her hand.
Quickly and quietly, Midna grabbed Link's hand and exited the medical suite with him, growing close to his side once they were in the hallways again. Link looked over at her strangely, he knew that Midna was never this touchy in public. Nor was she in a great mood either. A fear was set in her eyes – mixed with a touch of sadness. Anger as well.
"Middy, what's wrong?" Link wrapped his arm around his wife's waist and held her close as they walked around the palace. "Something's up, I can tell."
With a sigh, Midna stopped walking, Link standing beside her. "There is a baby, and he wanted to kill it – he wanted to take it from us."
The grin that formed on Link's face from the first half of the sentence fell short as Midna finished it. "They can't do that. I don't care what the council says they can't do that. You're the queen. You can overpower them."
Biting at her bottom lip, she looked at Link directly in his eyes. "Link, I can't do that. Just because I'm queen doesn't mean I have direct rule. The way the ruling power has always been is that the parliament is equal to me in power – and if one party were to overpower the other, the overpowering party would be stripped of all power. I cannot overpower the council, Link. If I do so, I wouldn't be able to run this kingdom and return it to order. If those council members get all the power, the kingdom will crumble as they do not believe in progressive ideas. I'm not letting those council members ruin my kingdom. "
"Is there anything we can do?"
Midna only stared at the floor and shook her head. "The council will dissolve in several months, by then I'm sure we can construct a more fitting parliament."
Nodding his head in agreement, Link sighed. Taking Midna's hand, he slowly took her back to their living spaces. As soon as they entered the room, Midna went straight to her desk, pulling out a blank piece of parchment, a feather, and her jar of ink. Immediately, she sat down and began to neatly write in the common twili writing on the paper.
Not wanting to ruin her focus, Link stepped away, exiting their spaces. Wandering through the halls, he made his way to the hall which the council meetings were held. Taking a peek in, he saw that he room was empty. Opening the door, Link entered the hall and gazed around. At the front of the room were the seats that he and Midna would take. And then the twelve desks lining up in row of three. The whole room was oddly void of any papers. With the purpose the room served, it would be expected that papers like unfinished bills would be found. His attention was snapped away by the opening of a door.
"Oh, Link! I wouldn't be expecting you here." The voice at the door spoke.
Link looked up with a rather surprised expression on his face. The person at the door was the head council member. "Ah, yes, hello sir." He vaguely smiled at the man before stepping away from the desks.
"What exactly are you doing in the council chamber…. Alone? I didn't really think that of you," the councilman chuckled, approaching his desk and gathering papers from its insides.
The blonde shrugged. "Midna needed some space so I began to walk about the palace. And then I figured I might as well get used to this room," pausing, he snickered a slight bit. "I'll be in here so many times, it'll probably become a second home."
The councilman surprisingly laughed with the Hylian. "It sure does. After so many years of coming here on a weekly basis, it does become somewhat of a second home."
Link began to smile at the councilman, but was quickly cut off.
"You won't be here long enough for that, though."
Taking step in front of the councilman before he could step away, Link crossed his arms. "What do you mean by that?"
The twili only smirked and lowed his glasses with one hand. "Well, Link, it is quite obvious that you and I are different. I'm much more adapted to this environment than your light dwelling body. Sure enough, the harsh conditions will chase you away from this realm."
Gritting his teeth, Link looked up at the man furrowed his brows. "Never," he hissed underneath his breath. "I would never leave Midna for something like that. I'll adjust – I won't just leave her for my own selfish needs." Shooting a glare at the man, he added, "And you won't chase me out, either."
As the twili only snickered as response, Link stormed out of the council's hall. His fists were clenched by his side while he cursed between his gritted teeth. His hatred towards the twili always got to him. Especially the ones who were out to rid of him. The followers of Zant were surely a pain – how they will do anything to kick him out without killing him and creating distrust in the public. With a grumble, he made his way back to his room, seeing Khina approaching from the opposite direction.
With a grin on her face, she waved a small handful of papers in her hand. "Sir Link! I have the reports. I can explain them to you if you would like. I'm pretty sure my handwriting is pure nonsense."
Masking his previous fit of anger with a pleasant expression, he greeted the woman. "Oh, sure! Step inside, I'm sure Midna wouldn't mind. And I feel like you were to be more trusted with some information we… err… just found out."
She shrugged. "Compared to some of the other twili, I guess you could say so!"
With a grin, Link reached over and opened the door to the room, entering and closing the door after Khina had followed him in. With a quick glance across the room, he noted that the paper that Midna had been writing on when he left was full, and she was a sleep on the desktop. Chuckling to himself, Link grabbed a free blanket and draped it over her shoulders. When he turned around to face Khina, a wide smile was planted on her face. She recollected her focus and buried her nose in her papers.
"First things first – what you have to watch out for, I guess, because you're not a twili. Well, due to your thin skin, you'll have to watch for the cold temperatures. I'm assuming the light realm is warmer due to the sun." Khina prodded at Link's exposed arm. "And the air gets thicker here sometimes. I guess you should be more careful in watching how you breathe… I guess?"
Link nodded. "It has felt a bit weird. I guess that's all." The Hylian shrugged, once again looking back at his wife.
"Soooo, what exactly did you want to tell me?" Khina raised a brow.
Taking a deep breathe, Link raised his hand and placed it on the back of his neck. "Well, the thing is…" he sighed and took a breath. "Midna's expecting. And most of the Twili we've encountered have threatened to kill any children we were to have." He looked up at Khina directly into her eyes. "I trust that you can keep this secret and help us when the time comes?"
With a warm smile on her face, the twili nodded her head. "Of course! I'll do my best… I would hate to see that you'd lose your kid to those monsters."
Link nodded his head, but quickly turned around when he heard subtle noises arising from Midna.
"Ah, I'd better go," Khina whispered. "I'll probably see you in the hallways. We can set up a place to meet daily so I can secretly make sure the Queen's alright."
Link agreed, and quietly showed Khina out. Once he silently shut the door, he approached his wife from behind, her soft snore's rather cute in the instance. Gently, he placed his hands under her knees and along her back. With a grunt, he lifted her from the chair, rushed over to the bed, and gently rested her on the mattress. He pulled the covers up to her arms stared down at her with a smile upon his face. Slowly, he placed his lips on her cheek before pulling away.
Sitting at the desk Midna had previously been at, Link placed the filled out parchment in front of him. Slowly, he began to translate the ancient twili into his own words. It was a bill. Midna had written a proposal which would allow them to keep the child that they would have in moons to come.
Giving a quick prayer to the goddesses, Link hoped that for some odd reason, the parliament would agree to her proposal. He didn't want to lose his first baby. He didn't even care if it was born or not – he knew that both he and Midna wanted it. But with the amount of power the council did have – Link feared that the council would harm Midna to exterminate the child if they were to find out. Oh goddesses, he hoped and prayed that would never happen.
Sliding the parchment to the side of the desk, he crossed his arms and laid his head in them. Link faced towards Midna, watching the rise and fall of her chest as she slept. Out the window beside their bed it was a dark navy. He couldn't even tell how late it was in the afternoon or evening – it was almost always that color outside. With a sigh, Link lifted his head and blew out the candle at the desk before returning his head to his arms. Slowly, his eyes blurred and his head dozed off into an unconscious state.
Gathering her supplies, Khina packed her back and slung it over her shoulder, saying her goodbyes to the overnight nurse at the medic suite. As she stepped outside, though, she heard the voice of the head doctor, with the elder councilman. She heard Midna's name and that was all it took.
Suddenly, a wave of anger flushed over her. How she wanted to go and beat their faces in. The scum of the realm, they were. It was crude enough for having a grudge against Link for something he couldn't handle, but what got to her was that they wanted to take their child away from them. It irked her. The idea stayed on her head ever since Link told her that evening.
Shaking her head, she felt the urge to scream, but held it back. She knew that she would have to break the news to Link and Midna. And that was the thing she was scared of.
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