We all are animals anyway

Zelda opens her eyes; she was awakened by the sound of birds chirping and the sunlight entering through her window. She opens her eyes wide in panic and jumps out of her bed. She looks at the clock hanging by the window, it read 10:05 am.

ZELDA POV

WOW, I slept 12 hours straight. That was unexpected, how long has it been? 5, maybe 6 years since the last time I was able to sleep 8hrs straight, and now I slept 12. Something must have changed.

[Link quickly gets on top of her and uses his right hand to grab both her wrists on top of her head, and his left hand to press on her neck]

It was Link. He is still a brute, but he made me feel accompanied. He makes me feel like he KNOWS my head is in a turmoil, and has taken it upon himself to fix it, whether I wanted it or not. This is a level of certainty I am not accustomed to… but I like it.

She heads to her walk-in closet to properly dress herself, once out in a white dress, she walks to her desk and opens the drawer. The Princess moves trinkets and papers around until she finds the photo she was looking for; she smiles and heads out of her room.

In the middle of her walk towards Link's room, the Princess starts to overthink her current actions, causing her to slow down to a complete stop.

Wait, it's not that early, I may not find him in his room… also, I should have written my dad's name on the back of the picture to make things easier. But I just went through the items in my drawer and didn't saw any ink left. Let's trust Link's memory, or that he has ink and paper to write it down himself.

Zelda thought as she continued to walk down the corridor towards hell. Once in front Link's door she hesitates before knocking, The Princess starts to lower her head, obviously backing down but then a gloved hand slams on the door right next to her. She freezes over for a second and slowly turns around to find Link with his head low trying to catch his breath, he looks disheveled and sweaty.

"You should teach me how to do that" Zelda states.

Link raises his head to look at her with a questioning look, still trying to catch his breath.

"To walk without making a sound I mean" she clarifies.

He smiles "Impossible if you are using heels, do you need anything?" Link asks.

"Damn it, I definitely can't lose the heels… I brought you the photo of my father" Zelda says handing him the photo.

"Great" Link says lacking excitement, he grabs the photo and enters his room, heads to the desk and grabs his cellphone. After a few seconds he takes a snapshot of the photo with it, then hands the actual photo back to the Princess.

What did he do? I get to keep my father's photo then? I had mourned departing with it yesterday, thinking it was worth it if I got to see him again.

Link was looking at Zelda raising both his eyebrows.

"Right, sorry, I was… Bardick Tudor is the name"

Link types it on his cell and shows it to Zelda.

"Did I write the name correctly?"

Zelda looks at the little screen of his cellphone and is amazed at the quality of the image, it almost looked better than the actual picture, she reads and rereads the name at the bottom of the image, just to making sure there is no spelling errors. She then nods at him and he sends it.

"SWORD will notify me of where to find him" Link lets her know.

"How? Do they know where EVERYONE lives?" Zelda asks.

"No… kind of. They only know if there are legal records of you, meaning if you exist on paper they will find you. Your father DEFINETLY exist on paper since SWORD allowed him entrance"

"But… he left his clothes and all his paper behind?"

Link chuckles at that "I am sure SWORD generated papers for him, like a birth certificate. Papers he will need to apply for a job, and to rent a house. Papers that will allow SWORD to keep track of him" Link says hoping this Tudor guy has remained easy to track down.

"Makes a lot of sense" Zelda trembles out of excitement and hugs herself "This is definitely happening, isn't it? wait a little… are we searching for my dad NOW? don't you have something SWORD needs you to do? I mean, thank you… but I don't want to interrupt your job affairs."

"My job this time is to stablish friendly contact with some unicorns… I CAN dedicate a day to search for your dad. So, let's make this trip a family gathering"

Zelda looks at Link puzzled "Family gathering? Unicorns?"

Link closes his eyes and breathes in deeply "The people I am searching for possess a DNA profile very similar to mine" Zelda still looks confused "That means they can donate me blood as if they were my family… but they are not. That is extremely rare, so my mission it to confirm it"

Oh, unicorns of course, very rare and very important. He needs those blood bags in case he gets hurt. Had no idea it had to be family, I thought it could be anyone's blood… I need to check on how we do that here. Hehehe Link said to call it a family gathering.

Zelda begins to smirk at Link "How does it feel to suddenly have a family? A royal one at that, and we appear to be multiplying in and out of Hyrule" Zelda laughs at the hilarious idea.

Link stands straight, and answers with a neutral face.

"It's awful"

Zelda drops her laughter "I… was not expecting such a straight and honest answer, but what you say rings true, family can hit you where it really hurts, its stressful not knowing where the next punch is coming from… anyway, when are we leaving? Do I need to buy clothes or anything?"

LINK POV

That played out different in my head, she talks like she receives punches from her family frequently, and SHE DOES NOT. She is just a privileged girl that claims to suffer on a daily basis, and now she wants to talk to me about pain? What does she know about pain?

*Not much, not in the sense we do, you are an expert on physical pain… I think she is talking about emotional pain*

Emotional pain… I have a master on that too, emphasis on betrayal.

*And that is the common ground you both share, you both find it difficult to trust. You were both betrayed by someone you thought cared for you, someone you loved… in her case it was her bio father. Is not physical pain, but it does leave deeper scars, doesn't it? *

"Buy comfortable boy clothes, and shoes you can run in, you will start exercising once we come back, and I will make you run tomorrow morning before we leave" Link looks at Zelda as he says this, she is pursing her lips in thought, and paying attention to everything he is saying.

"Leaving this land implies we must follow protocol, meaning we should not bring anything from Hyrule with us, that includes clothing. I will lend you some clothes of mine the day we leave. The first thing we are doing once we arrive, is buying you proper clothes for that world." Link says half closing his eyes. He had been expecting and outburst from her, since he was suggesting to dress her in his ¨filthy¨ clothes, but the Princess remained relatively calm.

Zelda looks at him a little nervous and quietly asks "Not even undergarments?"

"As I said before, I will lend you clothes. They will not fit, but you won't be naked, or are you backing down on me over this?" Link asks raising an eyebrow with a half-smile.

"NEVER" Zelda answers with determination "I will buy what I need for tomorrow, good day" she walks out of his room.

Link closes his door chuckling, fetches his cellphone from his desk and dials Carla.

"What do you want Kid?"

"Can we fall on the basic level of civility? Greeting each other properly you know and-"

"Too busy to put up with your crap, good bye"

"NO, wait, I do need something… I am expected there tomorrow, right? just making sure that the General is aware of my current legal situation as the Princess's guardian… and that we BOTH will be arriving tomorrow" Link states.

"HE FUCKING KNOWS THAT!!! Why do you think I am so busy here?" Carla yells.

"Wait… I send all the paperwork you could possibly need to expedite the procedure" Link says perplexed.

"Oh yeah, that was beautiful work from your part, thanks for helping me with that. the problem I am dealing with is that I need to dress your Princess, and I have no idea of her size on any-"

"Carla calm down" Link says trying to placate her "just get some shorts, and flip flops, I am taking her to buy clothes immediately"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN CALM DOWN? You have NO idea what being a woman means, she CAN'T go out to buy clothes without panties and a bra on"

Oh yeah… that is something to consider.

"Why not? I go around without boxers"

*don't push her motherfucker*

"That is because you have bubblegum in your brain, its insane how you still manage to properly function. But she is a sane and pretty girl, I am not allowing her out of the base without panties and a bra, so I am looking at pictures of models her age and probably her size, to properly guess and order some"

"You know… you are not an agent, you are just a secretary, I am sure they can spare you for a few hours, so why don't you come with us to find her proper clothes?" Link asks knowing he is going to be denied.

"HAHAHAHA, just a secretary, IF ONLY THAT WAS TRUE, all of you depend TOO MUCH on my work, I can't leave my station. But do send me pictures of her outfits when she tries them on… and get here early tomorrow, so you can give her proper time for shopping"

"Consider it done madam, do I need to beware of Zalatoris upon arrival?"

"No, I don't think so… I thought he was going to freak out when I showed him Daphnes request, but he didn't, he just took a deep breath and singed it. But YOU MUST stay on your best behavior not to spike him. The General is allowing this because he is in debt with the girl. He understands that you are alive because of her, so if she wants to come, he won't deny her"

Link sighted in relief and walked towards his window, then he sees something that makes his eyes open wide.

"FUCK!!! Thanks, the call ends here" he hangs and runs out of his room heading for the garden.

*Hahaha, don't yell at him*

DAMN RIGHT I WONT YELL, I will just punch the living lights out of him.

On his way out, Link notices the King sitting in Nana's kitchen, but he can't stop to inquire about it, Pepe seemed to be organizing a fight between the carpenters and the castle guards. He had to take care of that first.

As he exits the castle, he notices a groom tending to a horse in the middle part of the garden. He stops to look at the interaction, he notices on how the horse slowly relaxes and allows the boy to examine the hooves. Link laughs when an idea crosses his mind.

Jose needs to work, and the perfect job for him is being a stablehand.

*How did you come to that conclusion?

He is like a smart canine, if he is not occupied, he engages in destructive behavior. And since he can't work with people due to his defiance, that means he NEEDS to work with animals. He will be devising training schedules, choosing feeds for optimum nutrition, ensuring the horses are shod, wormed, inoculated and provided with timely veterinary care. For doing all that, Jose will have to pay attention to detail, develop empathy and responsibility. In time he will transfer all this to human interactions… THIS IS PERFECT FOR HIM.

Link rushes to where he saw Pepe instigating the carpenter, José had been handing them shovels and pike forks to use as weapons against the guards. Link arrives to the area and notices the carpenters were starting their attack, so he whistles loudly using his fingers.

Silence reins in the garden after that, the Guards in shame drop the sticks, rocks, and what appears to be horse manure. Things they picked up to arm themselves without drawing their spears. Link proceeds to scold the carpenters.

"The castle is still under repair, YOU" Link points at the carpenters "where hired to perform said repairs, why are you not repairing? Why am I even asking… I could care less. GET BACK TO DOING WHAT YOU WERE PAID TO DO" Link reprimands them.

The carpenters stare at Link with wide eyes, and start pointing at the guards but Link squints his eyes at them. Defeated, the carpenters drop the pikes and shovels and run back to the structure they were fixing by the moat. Link now direct his judgment towards the guards.

"And YOU pledged to serve and protect this land and all of its people, those carpenters ARE the people you swore to protect. Go back to your designated positions and expect retaliation for this"

The guards start groaning about this, one of them kicks a rock in the middle of his tantrum and the sound of bones breaking is heard. Link just closes his eyes trying not to mock him and points towards the infirmary, the injured guard is taken there by his peers. Link slowly opens his eyes and freezes Jose with his stare.

"I know it was YOU who started all this, every fiber of my being is shaking with the impulsive need to batter you, you have 10 seconds to tell me why I shouldn't"

Jose chuckled and was about to start mocking Link's bravado, but he stopped himself since it didn't feel right to do so. After all, it was the first time he was allowed to defend himself; he was used to just being punished, nobody care enough to listen. But this time it was asked of him; so, he took the chance.

"I am not evil, I am just angry, why do I have to be the only one who is confused and agonizing? why do THEY get to live a happy life without suffering, even though they are lazy and don't lead and exemplary life" sighs "sounds stupid, I know... but I was just trying to balance this karmic injustice"

Good, he ACTUALLY told me, I really thought he was not going to, that he was going to banter, and I was going to break his jaw. But… he is not that far gone, I am glad. On the other hand, I REALLY need to punch something, but it will be a mistake if I attack José, he is just hurting and trying to communicate his hurt in a very ineffective way.

Link looks at José, smiles and drops to his knees to start punching the ground, Pepe just stares confused, but soon produces half a smile, he understood his Prince is just letting out his harm impulse. After a few seconds Link jumps back to a standing position dusting his hands.

"Come with me to your mom's kitchen" Link says as he starts walking back inside.

"NO, don't get her into this, I am sorry" Pepe says pleading.

"We are not talking to Ivanna; we are meeting someone a little bit more important" Link says giving him a side glance accompanied with a grin.