25- Return to the Castle

The Market in Hyrule Castle Town is in silence, the usual business that you could always find open where closed, but a few town's people were walking around, evaluating the damage done on a few establishments, and supervising the repairs done by the carpenters. The people on the streets moved away when they heard the carriage passing through, a few of them cheered celebrating the return of the Queen. The carriage crosses the field situated in front of Hyrule´s Castle. It stops once it reaches the main entrance. Link opens the carriage door from the inside and exits it, he stretches his arms a little and extends a hand to help Queen Claire out of the carriage.

LINK POV

I am glad we are back; a week was a LONG time to be staying in Goron City, I felt like we were starting to inconvenience the Gorons, Darunia did his best to accommodate us though. Am I scared to be back? No… but I am not sure how Daphnes is going to react once he sees me. He left Goron City a few hours before Zelda and I arrived there, he KNEW we were alive and heading back, so why did he left in a hurry? to schedule repairs and tidy the place before we came back to the castle. That is what was sold to us, and it sure sounds like he is being a responsible husband and father. But I KNOW his animal by now… he is avoiding me. He knows I am hurt so he is taking care of me by removing himself, to avoid beating the crap out of me. That decision was very thoughtful of him, but now that I am here… I don't know what to expect.

"We are FINALLY back home" the Queen exclaims as she steps out of the carriage

"Castle, we are finally back at the castle" Link corrects her with half a smile.

"HOME, I said" the Queen pouts at him.

Link smiling turns and extends his hand at the carriage to help Zelda out, she takes his hand and looks at him straight in the eyes, he sighs.

"I am ok, I still need rest but it's healing nicely, and no, it doesn't hurt me." He tells the princess as he pulls her out of the carriage. He then adds

"I am going to be left with scars though, not that I mind; they will make me popular" Link says with a grin

Zelda turns to look at him skeptical

"Girls LOVE scars" Link says wiggling his eyebrows at Zelda

Zelda widens her eyes at him, then closes them and shakes her head.

The butler hurried to greet them, followed by a few soldiers.

"GREETINGS my beautiful Queen and lovely Princess…" he states happily to the female population present, then looks at Link and slowly approaches him.

I am aware that we didn't start on the right foot, but please don't make this difficult for me.

The butler gets close enough and bows at Link, who just stares at this and looks around for support, but the princess is giggling and the Queen just scoffs and half smiles.

"THANK YOU, I know the King, the Queen and the Princess are safe because you were involved… you brought them back to me, for that you have my gratitude Prince" he straightens his stance with teary eyes, yet displaying a big smile.

FUCK! I was not expecting this, I thought… the man is crying, how should I comfort him? I am not going to emasculate this good man by treating him like a woman, hugging him saying everything is all right. Still, I should say something.

"It was my duty… and my pleasure, I am glad you are alive too, that way you can help me take care of all of them, they desperately NEED it." Link overly exaggerate that last sentence.

The butler laughs loudly, the Princess starts yelling at no one, the Queen just raises an eyebrow.

"Yes, my Prince, I will see to all of you with diligence. The King is waiting for you all in the throne room, I will escort you there" he leans close to Link and says "I also know you are BADLY hurt, if you need ANYTHING for the pain, even booze, I will bring it."

DAMN, what is wrong with these people? They keep multiplying and there is just one me, how am I to care for all of them? It is what it is I guess… on a sad note, my pills can't mix with alcohol, but I appreciate the offer… WAIT, how does he know how old I am?

"He doesn't need alcohol Cormac, he has pills for that, just escort us already" says the Queen

"Suddenly the fact that he is 12 doesn't matter? he is still a child by Hylian law, he shouldn't drink" Zelda states a little exasperated by the negligent proposal.

"I turned 13 two weeks ago Princess; I just requested not to celebrate it or even speak about it" Link says

Zelda looks at him surprised and kind of puzzled

Should I do it? *HAHA WHY THE FUCK NOT*

"You laid with a MAN on those cold winter nights princess" Link tells her winking at her.

Zelda huffs and walks away, Link laughs and turns his attention back to Cormac

"Cormac, right? I was not aware you knew my age, but it was obvious if I think about it, the King had to communicate my request to someone to enforce it, I am glad it was you, I will keep in mind your offer for when I am done with the pills." Links says gratefully.

They follow the butler inside and walk through the hall until they reach the throne room, Cormac opens the double doors and steps away, they enter the Throne room and when the King notices them, he stands and rushes down the steps of the elevated throne, he rams the Queen into a weeping hug, he holds her for a while then extends a hand reaching for Zelda. She takes it and Daphnes releases the Queen and pulls the princess in a hug, Zelda starts to fight it but soon soothes herself and gets teary eyed. The King gives her a kiss on the forehead and looks directly at Link, who freezes under the intense glare, Daphness extends a hand to him without breaking eye contact.

*Take his hand, you deserve it if he breaks you*

Link takes the hand; the King slowly releases Zelda and gently pulls Link into a hug. Link stays frozen in place, but then decides to voice his thoughts.

"I… I was sure you hated me"

"WHY? Are you stupid or what?" ask the King a little angry

"You left Goron city; you were avoiding me."

The King slowly pushes Link away from the hug and grabs him by the shoulders, Daphnes sighs and looking at Link answers

"I was ANGRY, but it didn't take me long to realize you did what you did for me… for US. it was selfish of me to ask you to protect my family, a sword is not meant for that kind of job, yet you did, and came back to me with only a few dents on your edge, THAT IS A MIRACLE." The King says wiping a treacherous tear

Michelle used the farmer's analogy to easily explain to me the difference between SWORD and SHIELD. She must have explained it to Daphnes at some point, since I am SURE he is making reference to that analogy now.

"And you wanted me to stay at Goron City and wait for you? I couldn't even look at you without feeling ashamed, I had to get back here, regrow a pair, and fix as much as I could to accommodate you… so are you going to continue punishing me or are you going to be a man and hug me back?"

I... never saw myself having a family, I bowed to remain isolated, with my line of work I considered the idea of family a weakness, but seeing Daphness eyes, and hearing his plea… I WANT to be part of THIS particular family, it's far from perfect but so am I, and I guess I was wrong when I told Wolf marring and having a family was a weakness, it's NOT a weakness… it's a double edge sword. They make me stronger but I must be careful at all times if I don't want to cut myself. Hehe… this is going to be an attention and perception exercise on a whole new level.

Link opens his arms and hugs the King, who embraces Link's frame strongly, but not aggressively. After a few seconds they give each other a few pats on the back, upon separating they start throwing playful punches at each other. The Queen huffs at them smiling, Zelda rolls her eye.

ZELDA POV

Because of course, they just have to recover their manliness somehow. Sometimes I don't know if men are too simple or just fucking stupid.

The Queen proceeds to get in between the men's spar

"Sorry to interrupt your bonding moment, I am going to order a few things from the market, to replace items that we lost in the midst of all this, do any of you need ANYTHING?"

"CALL MARTIN, please my queen, I would like to replace the suit that got destroyed"

Oh my gosh, MARTIN, I would also like to order something from him, something I could use that could act like a vest too. I don't think I could use a jacket since I am a female, but he is the expert, he will figure something out, I hope.

"Yes mom, do call him, I would like to speak to him myself" Zelda asks

To this, both Link and the Queen raised their eyebrows in surprise, the Queen recovers quickly and starts to leave the throne room

"And where exactly are you going?"

"To check furniture that we need to replace, so I can make the calls, where you not paying attention darling?" the queen answers as Daphness goes back to his throne and sits on it.

"Can it wait just a few minutes at least? I want my Queen to sit on her place for a little while, I missed you"

"I don't really see the point to this, but if you say so" the queen starts walking towards her throne located next to Daphnes's one

"WOMAN, I said I want you to sit in your place" the King says as he taps on his lap with a grin

The Queen turns red and tries to hide her face from Zelda and Link, Zelda opens her eyes wide and Link turns tapping on Zelda's shoulder

"Let's give them space" he tells the princess in a low volume

"I am going to my room, if you end up going to the market let me know, I want to go too." Zelda tells her mother without looking at her, but looking at Link instead, to avoid embarrassment with the adult.

Both of them walk out of the throne room and close the doors behind them, as they are closing you can see Claire smiling as she sits on the King's lap.

"Do you think they are going to" Zelda starts to ask Link

"I don't know, and I don't care, why do you?" Link ask as they start walking towards the east tower

"it's the throne room, its unethical, and they are not young enough to be doing something so reckless"

"HOLD IT A SEC, they are NOT old either, they love each other and they are in good shape, they can do whatever they want wherever they please"

"They receive people in THAT room, it's not hygienic" Zelda still fights him, but mostly testing him, to see what he would answer to her.

"It's sex we are talking about, if done properly it's going to be dirty, sometimes even nasty and disrespectful bordering on sadomasochism, but that depends on the people doing it" He says truthfully

OMG! REALLY? HOW DOES HE KNOW THAT? Not going to be my case, I hate the idea of filthy, and no man is going to disrespect me in any way and keep his dick on.

They both continue walking when a loud whimper is heard, a lady with an apron approach running extending her hands towards Link, and right when she is about to touch him, she stops drops on her knees hugging herself and screams "YOU KNEW!"

Link looks at Nana in a mix of happiness, sadness, pity and fear. He tries to drop to her level on a knee to comfort her, but his bandages won't allow it.

"You… seem to be popular with the staff, I will leave you to handle this, I need to change clothes" Zelda says reassuming her walk to her room.

Another loud cry is heard followed by a punch on the floor, then a short but assertive yell from Link, more whimpering, Zelda turns out of curiosity and sees the lady standing up and hugging Link, he whispers something to her and they both walk toward the kitchen.

It appears he was able to handle the situation, it kind of amazes me though, how did he do it? he is loved by my parents and by the staff of the castle… yeah, I am definitely jealous of him, but in a good way.

Zelda thinks smiling to herself as she goes up the stairs.