Unable to find time away from the council, noblemen, and other castle staff, it took a few days before they could all get together again in the lab, hidden away from the pestering people above.
In the interim, Purah and Robbie made interesting finds about the slate, seeking out Link every few hours (usually in the middle of a task) to use the slate with his configurations until finally, he and Zelda could join them in the lab.
"On the slate's main interface, there are some new additions we can't see on yours or mine, Princess." Purah showed her the screen, pointing to different parts.
Zelda looked at the long line of hearts on the screen above what seemed to be a full body picture of Link right beneath. "What are these for?" She counted them, seventeen hearts and three green circles right underneath. There was what seemed to be a temperature gauge right next to it, that Zelda knew for sure with the little snowflake and fire icon next to it.
"We're not quite sure yet. We think it might be life force."
"Life force? So how much does a single heart represent?"
The two researchers shrugged. "We've yet to test that yet." The two looked at Link with far too innocent smiles, who just sighed in resignation.
"May I punch you as hard as I can?" Purah laughed.
"Alright?" Link braced his shoulder for the hit.
He watched her pull back her fist as far as she could before grunting and twisting her body around to throw her arm into his shoulder.
That didn't hurt as much as it looked like it would… "Ow." He said aloud. "Hit lighter."
Robbie hummed from behind the slate. "Nothing changed, Purah, go harder."
"Huh-" As he turned his head, he spotted Purah swinging at his shoulder with a thick, hardcover encyclopaedia, and before he could do anything, it made a loud thumping noise against his shoulder.
"It went down!"
Purah cheered.
Link looked at Zelda as he rubbed his shoulder. "This is abuse you know."
"You're fine," Zelda smacked his still-tender shoulder. "How much did it go down that time?"
"A quarter of a heart vanished." Robbie flipped the slate to show them the seventeen mostly filled hearts.
"So we need only hit Link with this encyclopaedia sixty-seven more times before they completely deplete. What happens when they hit zero?"
"Maybe let's not test that?" Link suggested, still rubbing his shoulder. "I feel like zero hearts means zero life, I very much enjoy life. Or at least, I used to before this betrayal."
Zelda stuck her tongue out at him between grinning lips, winking a bit before stepping around to start messing with the slate again. Maybe it was because the tests had evolved from annoying interludes to physical harm, but Link flinched each time the device made the little chime of a new function activating. Thankfully, the next feature they decided to play around with was the map.
"You can just make out the borders of Hyrule," Purah pointed out, running her finger across the screen presumably where the background changed texture to what looked like the eastern coastline. "There's no details except around the Plateau, but we've cross-referenced with normal maps and this glowing dot seems to indicate the slate itself."
"We originally thought it might gather data as you travel around," Robbie put in, taking a supposedly amazing pose and pointing towards the door. "But unfortunately it hasn't become any clearer despite our extensive journeys."
"What about those mysterious towers that have popped up recently? I've yet to leave the grounds to see them myself but I'd love to know more." Zelda inquired as they put the slate onto the pedestal to rest.
"That's our new working theory," Purah agreed. "The issue is we've gotten reports of fifteen different towers around Hyrule. If it requires something from each one of them, and especially if it only works with Linkie, then you're in for a looooooooong trip."
"Fifteen?" Zelda asked, evidently focusing on what was really important. "I was under the impression that each region would have one."
Impa shook her head. "Most regions have two actually, with the exception of Akkala I think, but that one's not too hard to get to." Impa laughing. "It sprouted right out of the Garrison, our luck."
"Where else?"
"The ones in Faron, Hebra and Necluda are stretched far apart, I think Faron's are the furthest apart. The ones in Necluda are at the Duelling Peaks and another is in East Necluda."
"East Necluda?" Link asked. "How far from the Fort?"
"Fort Hateno?" Purah raised a brow. She skimmed through her pages and slid it over. "Eh, you'd have to ride out toward Hateno Village to reach it anyway. It shouldn't be more than a three hour ride from the village gate."
Zelda nodded. "I'd like to see what happens if we go to each and see what we can learn about them." she said, writing down a few things."
...
"I doubt we'll find much about them," Purah admitted. "They're all identical in height and they all simply have a pedestal at the top."
"How do we climb them?"
"I suggest we either send Impa or Link—since I doubt Revali would be willing to carry him up. The towers are rather tall and do not have steps or a proper ladder." Purah suggested. "Some seem rather difficult to reach as well, difficult locations or obstacles stopping us. A few even seem to be deliberately hazardous to climb. One in the Gerudo desert emerges directly from a pit, so we'll have to fly or glide just to get to the first terrace."
"It looks like they're just showing up wherever. I got a report from the Exchange Post two days ago regarding a tower popping up in the middle of town." Link pulled out an unsealed letter. "Friend sent me a message asking about it."
"We could go to that one first then." Zelda smiled. "Are any others closer?"
Robbie pulled out a small stack of pages. "The Great Plateau isn't too far, and there's one just north of the castle in the middle of a lake, but it's been overrun by lizalfos."
"Let me guess, the electric type?" Link guessed with a heavy sigh.
Robbie nodded. "And wizzrobes."
"I vote that one to be the last one, I hate those things." Link crossed his arms.
"There are so many!" Zelda exclaimed. "So many opportunities for discovery."
So many opportunities to leave the castle and escape all the damn politics, Link thought.
"Well, you'd better pack a lunch then," Robbie said, pulling out a map from a barrel full of sticks Link couldn't even guess the function of. He laid it out on the table, taking out a pen and marking an X where each tower was. "They're spread out all over Hyrule, and some in rather ferocious weather."
Zelda frowned, folding her arms and inspecting the map. She tapped one with a finger, clearly deep in thought.
"If we have a few different teams going to each of them, they can find the quickest way up, or even prepare some pulley systems. Then we can have more time to study them and spend less of it climbing."
Link nodded, coming over and pointing to the ones nearest to Zora's Domain.
"If we plan it right, we could hand off the slate to a Zora here in the wetlands, and they could swim it to the Citadel, and from there to this one here in Eldin," he pointed out. "If Mipha or Kodah do it, we could probably have three done in one day, and the castle will be none the wiser."
"As great as that sounds, we ran into a problem." Purah stopped them from getting too excited. "The towers don't react for the researchers. We've all tried to take the Slate up there—it's a long climb," she whined and looked in the distance at one of the visible towers, "but it's not reacting."
"It's the same with the shrines."
"The shrines?" Zelda asked, stopping them. "What about them?"
"They're glowing now."
She nearly jumped out of her seat at the revelation, only to be pulled back by Link.
"How many have been reported?"
"A lot."
"A lot as in, ten or twenty?"
"A lot as in, almost sixty."
"Sixty?!"
"And we're still getting more." Robbie interrupted them before they could continue. "They're not as visible as the towers, but they aren't exactly hidden. A few Gorons stumbled across one while mining. They said it was behind a patch of loose rocks they got open with a couple good hits, almost like it was waiting for them."
This time, Link was a bit too slow in stopping Zelda from jumping across the table to hug both Purah and Robbie. Link had to admit being a little jealous.
When Zelda went looking for Link again later that afternoon, she found him in the place she least expected once again.
In the library, with a tower of books blocking him from view.
He is getting odder by the day.
She stood there for a moment, waiting for him to acknowledge her or even look at her, but he was deeply engrossed in the book he had open on the table. It was a bit of a shock, seeing Link with his nose in a book and so focused. Not that Zelda was complaining, she just didn't expect it from him.
Sometimes I forget how little I really know about him, Zelda thought a bit dourly.
Taking the opportunity to maybe fix a bit of that, she peeked at some of the titles in the stacks of towers that surrounded him.
Medical books, topics of bonds, biology books, binders with years dated on the spines, even some books on pheromone chemistry, but there was an overwhelmingly obvious focus on bonds that were popping out at her from the immense pile.
"Bonds?" Zelda asked, picking up the book Link had been so interested in.
She read the subtitle near the middle of the page.
Bond Spouse Neglect.
"Link? What in the world are you studying?" She asked almost cautiously. "You don't already regret being with me, do you?" She said, half-joking.
"Goddesses no. Zelda, you're a gem to be with." He answered immediately, relieving part of her worries. "I just—there's something bothering me about this whole thing." He told her as he ruffled his hair aggressively with a hand.
"About my mother, you mean?" Zelda took the bookmark next to Link and inserted it into the book and closed it. "You think there's something bizarre going on?"
He nodded.
"Well, I'm all ears." Zelda leaned forward on the table, coming closer to him.
He looked almost hesitant to speak on the subject, and she could see why.
Calling into question the death of a monarch was like throwing the word treason into the air, but not knowing who to point at. 'Compassing the death of the monarch' was never something anyone would want tied to their name in any way, even if it was only a rumour.
And if he was calling into question the death of her mother, he was also claiming a cover-up, and cover-ups (in Zelda's opinion) were never a good sign.
"Her Late Majesty's medical records showed she passed of Bond Spouse Neglect, right?" He asked her.
She had seen the paper herself, and it did claim such a thing. "You think it's false?"
He didn't shake or nod his head. "I just don't think I'm getting the whole picture here."
"Why? What do you think you're missing?"
"It's something my father said—or rather did." Link started.
"You think he had something to do with her death?" She couldn't keep the scepticism from her voice.
Link laughed briefly. "No. Not at all, he would never." his laughter died down to a more serious expression. "Which is something that isn't making sense to me right now."
Zelda took a seat beside him, looking at him with a slight frown.
"I'm afraid you've lost me. He wouldn't but it doesn't make sense?"
"Bond Spouse Neglect is a medical condition in which one is neglected by their bond spouse for a period of six months or longer where both people affected begin undergoing symptoms of discomfort and light-headedness." Link read off a page he'd scribbled, and Zelda noted that he'd included three different book titles and their pages.
"Alright and?"
"Do you want to know how to relieve those symptoms?" He looked pointedly at the books. "You just need to be in the same general vicinity as the other. Not even their presence, just the general vicinity. I can't see my father preventing contact between your mother and her bonded—especially if it wasn't Rhoam." He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I won't even start with how many books claim there have never been any deaths directly linked to it, it isn't severe enough apparently, even when separated for years."
"Surely if it's aggravated by outside factors, it can turn deadly." Zelda argued back casually. "I'm sure conditions like hypotension could turn deadly in such cases."
"See, I thought so too, but I had a chat with an old friend who studies the effects of it over at Hyrule Garrison and he states the two barely affect each other."
Zelda gaped at him. "How do you have a friend for everything?"
"Years of training at multiple camps gives you an almost inappropriate amount of suspicious connections." He smiled with a light shrug. "Continuing on, at the Garrison, it isn't unusual to spend up to two years there without seeing your family, wife, kids, whatever it may be, so he often has to deal with the condition in a lot of his patients, and with some soldiers undereating and overtraining, he gets a glimpse into how the condition interacts with a number of other factors."
Zelda blinked quietly at him, her mouth gaping.
"Y-You've been studying this thoroughly." She was surprised, almost shocked at how thorough he was being in his theory. She had somewhat expected him to have not spoken to anyone in particular, but clearly, he had gone out looking for experts in the field. "What even prompted this research?"
"Well, my father has said some questionable things recently, and I got to digging around." Link dug under his little stack of papers.
"Questionable how?"
He pulled out two sheets. "He has implied on numerous occasions that he has more claim to the throne than your father does-"
"That's preposterous!"
He held the page in his hands quietly, lips pulled tight, but expression remaining neutral otherwise. "Can I finish first?"
"Go on."
"—via a bond claim." he finished. "Considering the fact that your father is King and is also a beta, he also has the inability to claim a bond, which means at most, he can reach the title of Prince Consort then Prince Regent upon the death of your mother, but he cannot go higher than that, so in short, because my father is an alpha, he does—by technicalities alone—have more of a claim considering how close he was to the Royal Family."
"That's an unsettling idea." In so many ways, but Zelda had a feeling that Link was about to address it.
"It then led me to thinking. If he had been her bonded, I don't think he was, but hypothetically, she'd never have died of such a condition given they were together everyday. It's about as believable as me neglecting you."
"I can never see that happening." Zelda said, feeling thankful.
Link nodded. "Assuming she had the condition, then my father couldn't possibly have been her bonded, so I tried to look at it from his perspective instead." Link explained. "If I knew you had the condition and who your bonded was, I'd likely have done what I could to alleviate it."
"But how do you know he would have done that?"
"Trust me, with the way he talks about her, I doubt he'd have stood by and watched." Link dug around the pages again haphazardly, trying to find certain notes. He smiled when he came upon one particular page that seemed to resemble a schedule filled with dates and years. "Until about twenty years ago, there was a law we colloquially called 'Alpha Duty' where it dictated any omega—be it male or female—leaving their home had to be accompanied by an alpha or a parent, and given how most commoners' families are built around compatibility and most had multiple children, that person could have been a sibling. We have a similar law right now that we still call the same thing, but it's on a much smaller scale thanks to the Council."
Zelda nodded along. She remembered her trip to the clinic where she would have needed Link's permission to terminate or see a doctor and she shivered. It was indeed a smaller scale on what she was hearing, but at least it wasn't as bad as it could have still been.
"Thank goodness for the Council then," for once they did something good.
"No, that's wrong." He corrected her. "Your mother got rid of that law, they tried to bring it back, but the people revolted so they settled on a smaller scale of the original. Pushing boundaries just enough to keep them from revolting. Because they were already used to it from before, when it came back, everyone adopted the 'it could have been worse' mentality and just let it slide."
"Oh." To the misinformed, the councilmembers look like saints for giving them small victories. Zelda shook the thought off and tried to centre herself. "Back to the claim then. You said your father implied he has more claim than my father. What was his wording or summarise it for me?"
"He claims to know the identity of the person, but he's also among the only people we know for sure who could confirm the identity of this person, and they have the most claim on the throne."
Zelda blinked. "That is very convoluted."
Link nodded, waving his hand. "So back to the Bond Spouse Neglect, I decided to look into their excursions out of the castle. Given he was captain of her guard and an Alpha, he would have been given Alpha Duty most if not all of the time, meaning he had to escort her everywhere like I do—or did up until last week—and because every excursion leaving the castle has to be documented, I pulled up nearly fifteen years worth of records."
"How long have you been pulling records to find all of this?"
"Oh I've been using Councilmen Stura for all of this. He's in charge of documentation and delivering terrible news to the higher ups."
Zelda laughed sympathetically. "What an unfortunate position."
"I feel bad for Stura sometimes, but he's pretty helpful so I think I'm going to keep him around." Link happily tapped the stack of books to the side.
"If you think you can trust him, then I'll trust him as well. Now show me the records."
"Right." He flipped the page to her side of the table and pointed to the few lines with asterisks next to them. "I looked through the books and found that, on average, to void off the effects of the bond neglect, one should be in the general vicinity of the other person for a few hours at a time, but only once every seven to ten months, so roughly once a year for an entire day should be enough. Which means that for her to have suffered from that in the first place, it's not anyone who lived in Castle Town at the time." He grabbed his pencil and pointed to the lines once again. "I found there were diplomatic excursions to three places that coincided with that time range, and those were Zora's Domain, Tabantha, and Gerudo Desert."
She skimmed the lines and noted the months marked. Zora's domain had an excursion every six months, Tabantha every eight, and Gerudo Desert had one every eleven, but Zelda's eye caught something more. The Gerudo came to the castle every six on the other hand.
"You think she bonded to a Gerudo then?" she guessed.
He nodded. "Given that it's also the one place most male guards don't go because of the heat and the inability to enter the city, he often accompanied her no further than Kara Kara Bazaar before handing her off to the guards there to escort her within the walls of the city." He read off a page. "Chief Urbosa—or at the time, Lady Urbosa—was the person most common to accompany her thanks to her wariness of strangers, fantastic ability in both martial and armed fighting, and her control over lightning."
"Does it actually say fantastic ability?" She asked, looking over.
He showed her the note at the bottom of the page.
'Urbosa is a fantastic fighter, do not face in battle, you will lose.' was written at the base of the page, underlined with red and signed off by an unfamiliar signature.
"So you think it's Urbosa then?"
"It's a strong suspicion, but I can't say for certain."
"What's these other excursions?" She asked off-handedly. There were a few unmarked excursions with five month intervals each.
"Hmm?" He looked over at the ones she pointed at. "No idea. Nothing was in the notes, and the frequency entirely stops after this point." His finger moved down the page until it sat closer to the end. "Now concerning the visits, a few years after, the Gerudo presence in the castle increased here and here, which also lines up with your mother's pregnancy with you, and likely also a time where she would have needed her bonded closer than ever and each visit included Urbosa, but then after you arrived, the diplomatic relations return to the pre-pregnancy frequencies."
"Why don't you work in criminal investigations?"
"Not interested." He shrugged.
"I only ask because this is all terrifying to behold." She told him in all earnest. The amount of evidence he'd gathered was mostly circumstantial but believable. A brilliantly thought out case with evidence pointing clearly to his idea. "Now back to the bond idea, you said something didn't sit right with you? What was it? You seem to have a lot figured out." She looked briefly through the pages and while it was messy, alot of his evidence had references to different works, records and dates.
"I just can't see her dying of Bond Spouse Neglect, it just doesn't seem possible with all of this." Link let his head slump in his hands and he grumbled quietly and looked over his works.
And I don't think Lady Urbosa would allow that to happen. She is too protective over those she cares for, and she herself said they were on good terms. If she was truly my mother's mate, could she really have abandoned her?
With all the evidence she'd heard over the last fifteen minutes from Link, even she started to doubt it.
"Is it possible it could be someone else?"
"Of course it's possible, but who else was well-known for being close to your mother? Urbosa was one of her closest friends, my father was all but glued to her side, and even Arn was suspected but he was dismissed after they confirmed his bond with Aunt Elise." He explained. "He went on a fourteen month honeymoon and came back with a fresh mark."
"Fourteen months? Goodness." Zelda wasn't sure what to make of that specifically. "Are you positive it isn't supposed to be weeks?"
"Absolutely, but I asked the same thing. Apart from him, the longest I'd ever heard was four months, but I usually hear two, at most three from common-born people." Link snickered quietly. "He came back with a set of twin girls and a bond, according to my dad."
Zelda's eye drifted down to her stomach briefly where the fainted bump was starting to show through her dress.
Don't be twins, don't be twins, pleaseeee don't be twins. She quietly prayed.
Link fully faced her now, and she saw the look in his eyes. The sorrow and the regret, as well as worry. "But the point I'm trying to make is that it just doesn't seem possible that she'd have passed from such an ailment. Dad knows who it is and clearly knows where they were, and even Arn thinks so. I'm saying it now, he seems far too attentive to have let her pass in such a way."
"So… you think they're lying?"
"I think we're being lied to, but I don't know by who. I don't know who actually knows the truth, and who is parroting the lies through sheer ignorance." He buried his face in his hands with a groan.
Zelda thought for a moment. "Has your father ever told you how my mother would have died? Other than the official story, that is."
Link looked to the ceiling as he tried to recall. "I…I don't think so."
"Why don't you ask?"
"Zelda," Link pinched the bridge of his nose and grimaced. "Back when she first died, we moved away almost immediately. There was almost no warning there and I feel there's a reason for that. Arn has always discouraged that sort of topic from arising, and I have this gut feeling that it's for my father's own good. I think… I think something else must've happened."
"Wait, Arn? As in Captain Arn? Why would he discourage it?"
"He knows my dad the best, hell if I wanna ask." Link grumbled. "Maybe it eats at him and he gets depressed when it gets brought up, maybe he just doesn't want to hear about it, but there has to be a reason there."
"Then ask Arn in private, it sounds like a way to figure it out."
Link looked at the pile of books and papers around them. "Nothing is stopping Arn from lying to my face."
"But it's worth a try, isn't it?"
Link sighed loudly. "I suppose."
Living in West Necluda meant living at the base of Mount Lanayru. The near constant winds that descended the mountain's southern face hit them directly, meaning it was always a bit colder. The higher altitude and the ocean beside the village meant rain, snow, and wind was always guaranteed at some point.
Central Hyrule was a different story altogether.
Rain, sunshine, and surprisingly bad thunderstorms were common here, and today the sun blazed down powerfully in Hyrule field, just outside of Castletown.
Being in the middle of the social season, it was no surprise that many nobles could be spotted in the fields today with their children, some had balls with them, there were a few noblemen who'd brought a loyal dog or two to run through the tall grasses. Some families put down blankets and brought wicker baskets filled with snacks or lunch.
Aryll had insisted they go today with Arina as a family outing.
In previous years, Fredrick had hated the Central Hyrulean sun. It was bright, it was too hot, it was pretty unbearable for someone who'd grown up in the near constant shade of mountains, but today it was a welcome gift in comparison to the chilly breezes of the mountain.
The shade of the overly leafy trees was welcome, many families were seated under each at the moment.
Too many people. He couldn't help but think as his wife sat next to him with the wicker basket she'd spent part of the morning preparing.
He watched silently from his peripheral as she sat primly and properly on the small blanket and pulled a letter out from the basket, opening it with the small knife she kept inside. When the letter flicked open, he caught sight of her family's small coat of arms inked onto the page.
"From your brother?"
Madeleine shook her head. "Sister." She responded, pulling out the three long, neatly written pages. "She's telling me wild tales about the castle again."
"Oh? Like what?"
"Like power struggles, particularly with King Rhoam."
Oops.
"Probably nothing." Fredrick watched Aryll encourage Arina to sit up on her own while Sota set up a parasol above the little family.
"Save for the fact that she's mentioned you and Link by name." He heard her attitude drop. "You told me you were spending time with Arn all week."
Yes, and Arn works at the castle.
"I was." He kept his voice light, casual. Just visiting an old friend… and keeping our idiot son's head on his shoulders.
"I thought I told you not to get involved with Crown business again."
Nothing for it then. They were going to fight about it. Fredrick gritted his teeth and faced his wife. "I am not getting involved with Crown business, it is involving me again by force."
She scoffed. "A likely story." She shot him a glare from the side for a moment.
"What other news from your family recently? Aren't they in town until the end of the season?" He tried to divert the topic.
"My brother got remarried last year."
"Which of your three brothers is it?"
"Bram."
"Ah." He responded simply. "So what else is this letter about?"
"My nephew has no idea he has a crush on our son."
"Oh…that's embarrassing."
Fredrick wanted to laugh. He's met his wife's nephew once or twice over the last twenty years. Most of her siblings lived deep in Faron and it wasn't exactly an easy trip with the thick jungles, high humidity, beasts around every bend and how barren the roads were.
"What's his name again?"
"Anton."
Isn't that… He snorted when he realised that his nephew was the one who'd come asking about Link when he'd been unconscious. He hadn't realised it was his nephew. It had been almost a decade since he'd seen the lad until two weeks ago
Madeleine tutted at him. "You should tell your son that his cousin has been flirting with him endlessly. It's a tad odd to hear about this from a letter."
"Why? I think it's quite entertaining," he joked. "The nobles are at it again." At the sight of his wife's unimpressed face, he sighed. "Why don't you tell your nephew to stop then?"
"Oh yes, let's turn the family tree into a wreath, it's a marvellous idea." She rolled her eyes and grumbled something under her breath. "I won't be doing that, it's his father's job to break that news to him, I hate getting involved in their politics, I just know Kari is going to drag me back in-"
It's not like he and Anton will happen, he's got Zelda. That, however, was not news he wanted to deliver to his wife. No, their son could tell his mother that his damn self.
Fredrick decided to ignore the rest of the tirade about the Earl's political problems and image, family issues and their problems concerning the rest of the nobility. No doubt it'd be like the last venting she had.
He looked off at the base of the hill where there was a pond. Aryll and Sota were crouched over the water, pointing and making expressive faces to Arina. The baby was clearly happy to be seeing whatever it was in the pond, probably fish and bugs.
"Ari, this is a hot-footed frog, they're good for elixirs," Aryll said loudly, pointing at a bright green frog that hopped out of the water. "Mommy catches these all the time for work!" Aryll dipped her child closer to the water so she could see the critter closer.
Frogs, huh. He disliked the sliminess of their skin, and there were always so many in the pond outside their home back in Hateno. It was mostly the smell of their secretions that he disliked, it was the mold and moss scent that had him recoiling usually.
"Please don't bring it home…" he prayed quietly under his breath as he watched Sota bend and catch the frog into his hands.
He looked at the other children in the area and the parents watching them.
How often did this sort of thing happen? How often have social classes mixed like this recently? He couldn't recall much in the last years—avoiding Castletown like he does, has kept him out of the loop.
The last time he'd seen anything similar was years ago.
...
A sunny day in Central Hyrule's green fields full of flowers was ridiculously common, yet breathtaking every time. The birds flying above their heads in peace, the clouds were slow, the breezes were just right, and the warmth of the sun was just welcoming enough not to need the shade too often to cool down. The spectacular weather drew families of nobles and commoners alike to the seasonal ponds and meadows in Hyrule Field, to bask in the sunlight and the smell of blooming flowers. Fredrick, leaning against a tree, was grateful for the shade. Summer sun in full armour, even in Central Hyrule, was unpleasant.
Arn was seated not too far away under a tree with another guard, Elise—Arn's beloved wife—had come along for the day, currently watching the children play as the light drifted toward dusk.
The young Princess Zelda was allowed out of the castle that evening after hours of begging to see outside the garden walls.
Plans had quickly been made; Arn had gone home to fetch his twin girls, both age ten, with their mother tagging along, and Fredrick had convinced his wife to allow him to bring Link on the short excursion out into the fields, granted he watched him closely.
Princess Zelda was ecstatic. She was the youngest of the group at the age of six, with Link turning eight in a few weeks, but she seemed to not care as much when the two girls included the princess as though she was just like any other child.
Fredrick couldn't help but notice the different ways how children of the lower classes interacted with each other compared to the higher ones. They were having fun without nannies hovering over their every move like the children of Earls and Dukes he usually oversaw with Princess Zelda.
Children didn't really think in such complicated terms at this age, he remarked to himself. They just saw each other as friends, oh what a simple way of seeing the world.
"Mommy! Mommy!" His attention was turned to the youngest of the four running up the hill with her hands cupped closed. She ran with all of her speed as one of the girls—he could never differentiate between the two—followed closely.
"We found a frog!" One of Arn's daughters shouted happily.
"Mommy, look!" Zelda shrieked gleefully, holding out the frog as she ran to her mother as fast as her little legs could carry her.
"Dear, remember what we discussed?" Cassandra looked mildly queasy as she watched her daughter approach.
"But Momma, I caught one!" Zelda argued back as she arrived in front of her mother and held her enclosed hands outwardly.
Her mother recoiled with a forced smile. "Wonderful dear, please show the Captain the froggy, I'm sure he'd be delighted to tell you more." She squeaked out as normally as she could.
Fredrick held back laughter as the pack of children charged toward him with the widest grins imaginable on children. Zelda was cradling the frog as though it was her most prized possession, one of Arn's daughters was trying her hardest to peek into the princess' hands without opening them up, and the other was squeamish and chose to stay closer to Link in the back.
He seemed indifferent to the frog, but interested enough to stick around the excited princess, who had somehow established herself as the group's leader despite being the youngest.
Maybe he could introduce Aryll to the group when she learned a bit more about social cues.
"Uncle! It's a hot-footed frog!" Ah, so this one was Aubrey.
"No, it's a tired frog!" Zelda argued back, thrusted the frog out to Fredrick.
"Tireless frog, you mean?" The girl corrected with an increasing amount of snark. "No, this is a hot-footed frog, look at its colour!"
"Be nice," he lightly scolded the older girl. He kneeled to the ground and took off the white guard gloves and placed them to the side as he opened his hands before the princess. "May I have the frog please?"
The princess looked apprehensive. "Don't release him."
"I won't, I promise." he ignored the sliminess of the frog's skin and hid his grimace as Zelda let it sit in his hands. He quickly closed his hands and kept the jumping frog from escaping despite how much he wanted to 'accidentally' let it go.
He peeked at the frog from between the gaps of his enclosed fingers and looked at the colour. Light brownish-green, and a regular grassy green tone paired with it, it was no doubt a tireless frog by the looks of it.
"Which one is it?" Aubrey asked, nearly shaking with excitement.
"Sorry to disappoint, but it's a tireless frog." He shrugged. He lifted one of his thumbs to show the frog without letting it out. "Hot-footed frogs are vivid green, tireless ones aren't."
"See? I was right!" the little princess was ecstatic.
"No you weren't, you called it a tired frog!"
"Same thing!" Zelda yelled.
"Not the same thing!" Aubrey shouted.
Sir Fredrick chose at that moment to open his hands, and the scene devolved into screams as the children chased after the frantic amphibian. He laughed as Link lunged after the frog, landing belly-first in the shallows of the pond.