We all are animals anyway

ZELDA POV

The Queen's goal was to visit the WHOLE Market, she wanted to verify the level of damage done to the establishments, and how much of it extended to the civilian's household. Gladly most of the business were intact, and only a few civilian houses were damaged. The Queen was buying random things out of every damaged business she found. When Zelda realized what her mother was doing, she could not help but be amazed by Queen Claire.

We don't need ANY of the shit she has been buying, but this IS a way to support the Hylians affected, and she is been using this as an opportunity to interact with the people. I was not sure about this, but people have behaved very grateful and respectful to us.

What I love about this, is the underlying message we are giving. We are NOT just handing them money as if they are weak. We are forcing them to stand on their own feet by supporting them, because they are NOT weak. THIS was a smart move, we are empowering the people and regaining their trust, is a double win. 

"Mom, have you seen the shooting gallery? Maybe I can try it, you know… waste some rupee there"

"You play the game twice, and then walk right back here got it?" the Queen says raising an eyebrow.

Zelda smiles as she receives 100 rupees, then happily jogs towards the shooting gallery. After a while she came out ANGRY.

I need to practice… I was able to shoot only 2 of the targets, to me that is shameful. But the owner wanted to write my name on the list of top players that he hangs on the wall, I am FAR from being a top player. But I am the Princess, I think he was aiming at gaining more costumes by showing off I had played in his establishment. I didn't allow him to do it though; I would have done so if I carried my royal seal, then I could officially stamp my name on that list. If it's not done in that matter, I fear people will call it a scam, that could play against the business. He sadly agreed it was a bad idea, but perked up when I told him I would be back to stamp my name on that list.

Zelda runs to the carriage; the driver helps her in and they start to head back to the castle. Then a shouting match starts inside the carriage between the Queen and the Princess, the driver almost falls from his seat the moment a high pitch scream was heard.

LINK POV

BEEP! … BEEP!.... BEEP!,,,, BE. Link rolls on his bed to reach for his cellphone on the bedside bureau and turns off the alarm, he lazily stretches on his bed before sitting on the edge of it. After contemplating his surroundings a few seconds, he gets out of bed and enters his closet. Once inside, he stands in front of the whole-body mirror and slowly removes the bandages to examine his wounds.

Well, it does look better, I still feel them if I stretch, but it's almost completely healed. I never meet my bio parents, but if I have to thank them for something, it would be for giving me this body. Its strong, and VERY darn resilient. My guts threatened to spill out of me and I have almost healed from that in less than a month, that HAS to be the definition of resilience.

Link heads to his desk and grabs the charcoal suit Chacha picked for him. He dresses himself and does not bother brushing his hair, he then exits his room and heads to the dining room. As he walks by Zelda's door he hears a few yells, and things being thrown around.

Being a female doesn't sound fun… or safe.

Once he arrives at the dinner, the King smiles brightly, but his eyes are pleading at him, the Queen slowly turns to look at Link and nods, her face portraying a blank expression that was almost scary.

What happened? What do you expect me to do my King? Maybe I should speak, hopefully that will distract my Queen from whatever she finds offensive at the moment.

"Good evening my beloved monarchs" Link states.

"Good evening, you look good… and I am not talking about your attire, do you feel better?" the Queen asks Link with a smile that does not reach her eyes.

"Far better, I just needed a little of sleep" Link answers, but suddenly Claires scowls.

"And WHY is my daughter not here yet? We came back together; she should be here already" states the Queen in anger.

"You told me the both of you argued, maybe she is-" the King attempts to calm her using reason.

"IS WHAT DAPHNES? I SUMMONED HER, SHE SHOULD BE HERE. I will send for her to be dragged by the hair if necessary" The Queen says fuming, her right-hand travels to lightly press on her chest.

HER HEART!!! FUCK, What the fuck happened? We were happy a while ago. Don't look at me like that my King, my hands are tied here. Whom you want is Zelda… or maybe you don't, Claire is angry with the Princess right now, putting them together on the same space may not be the brightest idea.

The sound of rushed steps approaching is heard, they all stare at the door expecting the Princess. The sound of steps stops in front of the door, but it remains closed. A few seconds go by, seconds that felt like hours under the increasing anger of the Queen. The dinner's doors are finally opened revealing the Princess. She enters smiling but soon notices everyone's stare on her.

"Did something happen?"

*SPEAK MOTHER FUCKER!!!*

"Nothing, we were waiting for you… is everything all right on your end? You took longer to arrive" Link asks Zelda, hoping he did not complicate things even more.

*The King just nodded at you…GOOD, keep talking, don't let the Queen talk until she calms down, we want to avoid a family discussion on the first day back.*

Zelda didn't get the memo.

*Doesn't matter, she fucks things up and you always fix them… nothing new there*

"Oh, I am terribly sorry for that, I was talking with Ivanna about food and spices, time flew, when I noticed I hurried to change and get here. By the way… I think WE should eat her food at least twice a week, its healthy and she make it taste good"

SHE DID WHAT! and now she wants to change the menu… that is great, I am on board with this. I will eat it more than just twice a week of course, but I will support my princess if the monarchs fight her on this.

"You want us to EAT animal innards? WHY? That is the waste part of the animal" The Queen says with disgust.

Zelda rolls her eyes "I will let you know that when Link and I scaped the castle, I got sick. But was able to avoid the flu by eating innards, they are healthy and filling."

Claire turns to look at Link nauseated by what the Princess said "YOU FEED MY DAUTHER WASTE PRODUCT?" the Queen yells.

Zelda looks at Link, her eyes telling him she was sorry for getting him in the path of her mother's wrath, but also hopping he will sand with her on this. And he was more than willing to die on that hill.

"OF COURSE I DID, I was not going to let her starve. May I remind you we were on the run, we ate what I could hunt, and we could not waste ANYTHING" Link says with authority.

Link closed his eyes and raised a hand to signal them to hold up. He needed a few seconds to build a concise argument to support his Princess. He inhaled deeply and opened his eyes to find that everyone was looking at him expectantly. Link runs a hand through his hair and continues.

"Innards are the best food you can eat when you are sick, if you don't believe me just look at the medical paperwork of your guards my King" Link smiles before continuing "I am sure that the money you waste on them is for equipment and to heal physical wounds, not to treat common sickness… I am willing to bet on that." Link says

The Queen was about to fight him on this, but the King stopped her raising a hand.

"I don't need to check anything my boy, I am aware of that, I thought the physical training was responsible for their good health" Daphnes states.

"It does help, but you are what you eat my King, besides… somebody I know with a weak heart could benefit from this shift on the menu" Link said raising his eyebrows at Claire.

The King smiles and looks directly at his Queen also lifting an eyebrow, then back at Zelda and gives a nod of approval, she squealed in excitement and smiling turns to Link and mouths a THANK YOU, then proceeds to dig into her dress for something.

Claire sighs in defeat "OH DIN… well I will talk to Ivanna about this tomorrow, to know exactly what she cooks and choose dishes from her… unusual menu, let's start with that."

Zelda beams and pulls out a sheet of paper "AND that is why I took so long to arrive today; I already did that mom" the Princess extends the menu she worked on with Nana. "Ivanna believes she is only cooking this menu for me tough; we need to let her know that she should also include the both of you… and maybe increase her salary a little" Zelda says with a shy smile.

I FUCKING HATE HER, who does she thing she is to be making me feel anything other than hate? Not going to lie though, I must admit that I AM proud of her.

Daphnes nods at Zelda's proposal "Well, with this out of the way, can we proceed with the dinner" the King claps.

Maids enter with served dishes, and glasses for the royals, they excuse themselves and exit the room. Link looks down and smiles realizing it was lasagna, just like Chacha told him.

"My King, please tell me you have good news you want to share" Link asks.

"Of course I do, SWORD agents are safely out of the territory, they have my eternal gratitude for helping in this situation. Naboru was another ace in the game, she gathered all the gerudos that respected the treaty with Hyrule, and help hunt down the rebels."

"That is VERY GOOD, we just have to focus on rebuilding then?" Link says with a sigh.

The King shakes his head "Not exactly, not yet at least, we have to send letters with our deepest condolences to the families of the diseased. And next week I have a meeting with the nobles, we will discuss what happened and next year's ball location, I am sure. Hyrule's castle is centric, that makes it the best location, but I won't allow the ball to be held here if they deny the presence of my guards, I will stand firm on that"

The Queen and the Princess gasped in surprise; Link slowly smirks at the King. Daphnes notices and smirks back.

"I will back you up if you need me to, my King. Though I really hope it won't be necessary, if I open my mouth, I will obliterate them, and whomever survives my attack will be left mentally lacerated"

Zelda panics a little at the hostility the Prince displayed "No, but why attack them? They are victims are they not?" 

"Victims? Hehe, I will explain because I think you don't know" the King rubs his eyes with the index and thumb of his right hand "The annual ball is a government audit in disguise. We check on how they spend their rupee and the constructions they held during the year. My lawyers analyze it and pair it with the objective we had set for them. Its mandatory to put away our military forces because the nobles fear public humiliation."

Zelda starts frowning and asks "why? I don't get it"

"I couldn't conceive why either. If they are doing everything under Hylian law as they claim, they won't be publicly arrested… But as years passed, I realized they like to sweep things under the rug whenever they can. Their hands are not as clean as they claim, that is why they refuse the guards presence. Because if something odd is found about them, they won't stand the humiliation of the guards arresting them in front of everyone"

"REALLY? The guards are put away because the nobles feel anxious? FUCK THEM, they almost cost us EVRYTHING. All this happened because we pamper those shit heads too much, that stops NOW" Zelda yells

"HAHAHA, I will let them know that sweetheart, and I don't care if you insult them son, they deserve it" the King says grimly.

The Queen clears her throat "The annual ball is held to inspect the govern of the nobles on their land, The ball is a relaxed way to do this, allows them to brag to others nobles about what they have done for their people. I support you honey, but if they STILL refuse the presence of the guards how do we proceed?" The Queen asks Daphness in a serious tone.

"We go back to the dark ages, we schedule the inspections, and they will be held in THEIR land under the eyes of their people, I will be escorted by my guards of course. Will it look like an invasion? Yes, it will. Will that petrify the people? I am sure it will. If there is an arrest it will happen publicly increasing the people's terror" Daphnes chuckles "I am SURE they want to avoid that, so there is only one option for them isn't there?" the King states with a huge smirk.

Link starts laughing loudly. The Queen smiles proudly at the King. Zelda stares at Daphnes in awe.

He is a fucking beast, he behaves good and compassionate but you mess with something of his, he will destroy you… scary isn't he?.

"I don't think you will need me on the meeting at all, I will still show up though, I don't want to miss on the massacre" the Prince says smirking, but ten sighs "I… have a request dad, could you stay with me after dinner? There is something I need to talk about with you." Link asks respectfully.

The King nods at Link with a solemn air.

This is it, Zelda actually helped this time, what she did about changing the menu will support my argument. She is smart, caring and responsible, all she needs is space to fully extend her wings, space her current situation can't provide for her, but I can.

The girls immediately caught on, they finished their dinner as quickly as possible and left to grant them privacy. Daphnes inhaled deeply and started the conversation.

"Before you tell me anything I need to tell you something. I am not a fool, I am now aware you have lied to me, I choose to ignore it because it benefited Hyrule at the moment, and SWORD appeared to be on board with your made-up law. I have made peace with how you handled everything, but let me be clear on this: you are not allowed to lie to me again EVER"

Link stares at the King not really surprised that he figured it all out, but confused about what was requested now of him.

He has no idea what he is asking for

*WRONG, he has no idea WHO he is asking things from*

I will explain what he just said to me, hopefully this won't change our relation and he gets to understand how I think more.

Link looks at Daphness and grins at him, a grin that does not reach his eyes

"I consider that EVERYONE has at least one possession of real value, and that is their word, reason why I hate lies and liars. I have NEVER lied to you my King, I may have omitted information and I am sorry for resorting to that. But I need you to understand one very important aspect of all this... I would do it again" Link hears the King grunting "It would make me a liar if I didn't, since it overrides my previous promise to you"

The King's temper rises, silence sets as they both engage in a threatening stare, yet the King manages to control his temper and be civil, he chooses to continue the discussion with a simple question.

"How does it override your promise to me?" the King asks somberly

"You asked me to protect your family. To properly do it, I must be willing to do ANYTHING to ensure their safety, that includes lying… even to you, my Lord"

You might not like it, but that's how the deal works. You either want it perfectly executed, or not at all… there is no gray area.

"If what you want now is for me to never lie or hide anything from you, I will tell you exactly what to say to me. And yes, YOU have to say it to my face. I ask again… do you really want me to shift from my previous focus?" Link genuinely asks. 

The King's eyes widen when he realizes what it will mean, and he could not afford for that to happen. Daphnes yells and bangs his fist on the table, he then runs both his hands through his hair and adjust his robe.

"Ignore my last request, you must continue to protect my family. What did you wanted to talk about?" the King says defeated.

"It's about your daughter. I am sure you have noticed… she shines brighter in adversity. Reading about conflict with her teachers or hearing about it from me will not satisfy her or help her in anyway. She needs to experience it, from a safe distance of course... I want Zelda to come with me when my job demands that I leave Hyrule"