25 Family is a heavy concept

LINK POV

"That was all" Link says exhausted by Nana's interrogation.

And I thought I had her under control, I did yell at her, just to stop her from punishing herself against the floor. Who bangs the head against the floor seeking redemption? I yelled at her and I don't regret it, she can't be doing that, besides NONE OF WHAT HAPPENED was her fault. Luckily, she did manage to grasp and accept the notion that she was guilt free. But now rises back with renewed strength like a phoenix seeking vengeance, and I am the target.

"I… don't believe you, I know you are leaving big chunks out" Nana states as she finishes preparing a red sauce.

Of course I am leaving details out of my narrative, there are some rather gory things you should not know about, it does not benefit you or me… besides it's not only my story. I don't want to betray the Princess's trust by revealing something about her.

"But I will leave this matter to rest, I want to eat at pea-FUCK!!!" Nana yells

She rushes to turn off the stove before the contents boil out of the casserole. Once everything is back under control, she pours the contents in the sauce and mixes everything.

Nana sighs. "You know what the sad thing is? I REALLY wanted my surprise to be a casserole, a BIG clay casserole. Don't get me wrong, keeping my life IS a very good present, I am not complaining"

Link lifts one eyebrow and smirks "But what good does it do to keep on living if my job drains it out of me?" Link finishes the statement for her.

"I DID NOT SAID THAT!!!... gosh, I must have sounded like such an ungrateful bitch" Nana says mumbling the last part.

"Yes, you did. But I forgive you… I get it actually, you need proper cooking utensils, your current ones are too small, and your job demands LARGE quantities. That keeps you tied to the stove all day, having to cook the same dish again and again, just to meet the daily food demands of your boys."

"YES, wow, you understand" Nana says as she serves Link a dish.

"I am still giving you a new casserole, just clarifying" Link reminds Nana.

Zelda enters the kitchen in kind of a rush, she looks around and when her gaze falls on Link she slowly approaches.

"The Queen and I are going to the market, is there anything from there that you need? Vendanges, soap, anything? And WHAT IS THAT?" She asks pointing at Link's food.

"Beef entrails in red sauce" Link says smiling and spinning a fork in his hand.

Nana lowers her head trying to hide herself in shame, she knows the food she cooks is not good enough for a royal, it does not smell that good, or look appetizing, her eyes start to tear up a little.

"That sounds ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING" Zelda says looking around the table.

Link half smiles and hands her his fork, she takes it and digs in his plate for a bite. Link turns to Nana and notices she is staring in disbelief; her mouth is wide open. He signals for Ivanna to close it. She immediately shuts her mouth and turns to wash something, her cheeks turning red.

"Damn, this is A LOT BETTER than what I did… she is cheating though" Link looks at her with a questioning glance "seasoning everything to perfection IS cheating" the Princess tells Link who is laughing at this point, he stretches his hand to reclaim the fork.

"Ivanna, right? would you save a small portion for me? I will eat it once I get back from the market" Zelda says as she hands Link the fork and exits the kitchen.

As the princes leaves Link starts eating like nothing happened, the room is in complete silence, if a needle was accidentally dropped, it would be heard.

I wonder how much longer will it take for Nana to start yelling at me for no fucking reason, because it's going to be my fault obviously. Nothing bad happened with Zelda's appearance, but I am to blame of course.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO HER?" Nana yells at him.

*Right on point there*

"I showed her the way" Link answers winking.

"WHY? we are not close in anyway but I CARE for her, I don't want her eating what the nobles consider ¨poor people's food¨ I don't want her circle to be mocking her in anyway"

"And of course, you don't care if they mock me, right?" Link retorts.

"What? NO!!! I care, but you are a man, and completely capable of defending yourself." Nana answers.

"And so is she… still needs to practice a little, but she is more than capable of standing up for herself and what she believes in, I have seen it. She just needs support; you want to help her? Start by trusting her and saving her a portion of your food, she liked it and THAT should be enough" Lind states reprimanding Ivanna.

Nana just glares at Link uncapable of giving a comeback, she serves Zelda a small portion and stores it in a bag that she decorates with a pretty bow. Ivanna does all this while maintaining eye contact with Link, he is eating slowly and REALLY trying to not bust out laughing while he holds her gaze.

Eventually Nana sighs and approaches Link to hug him while he is seated, his face ends up kind of buried in her big chest, surely making it hard to breathe, but she doesn't seem to care ¨he will find a way to breathe if he really needs oxygen¨ she thought to herself.

"You know" Nana starts saying "We don't know each other for that long, and we kind of fight all the time, but I really care about you, I feel that getting to know you was a blessing, I would probably have died like many others if you had not fooled me out of here… JUST DON'T DO THAT AGAIN, if there is something going on TELL ME, DON'T DECIEVE ME, I don't deserve that kind of treatment"

I can try, not making any formal promise here though. Not that I don't care, fuck I care a LOT about you Ivanna. And it was not planned, it just happened you lovable bear woman. You are going to suffocate me by the way…

"I need to breathe" Link says

Nana pulls away from the hug and draws a chocolate from her apron, she wiggles it in front of Link; he reaches for it but she pulls it back looking at him.

"This is not for you" Nana says pointing in the direction of the east tower "it's dangerous to go alone, so take this" she hands him the chocolate bar "give it to Chacha once you go to your room, SHE IS THERE WAITING… I am sure, this will stop her from pulling your head out"

This feels familiar somehow… 

Link takes the chocolate and sighs.

"Wish me luck then, I am heading there right now… she has been waiting for too long, and I don't want to face her wrath on top of her ill feelings towards me"

Link stands from the table and heads for his room, as he is walking, he notices the decorative jars that used to be there are now missing, probably got broken. But were replaced by paintings of Hyrule field during winter, and so where the windows. The paintings were beautiful, but Link took his time to inspect the new glassware and smiled.

Wow, the King did fix as much as he could, the glass used to replace the windows IS of very good quality, he may not have replaced everything, but he made sure the castle was structurally secure before we got here. I hope tonight he can give us good news, because we WILL be summoned for dinner today… Or that is what I believe, but I could be wrong.

The reality is that I don't trust my ability to read my King anymore… I thought there was hatred behind his actions, but apparently it was shame.

*Just don't tell anyone from SWORD we misjudged Daphnes… unless you want them forcing us through character judgment training, AGAIN*

Link slowly walks pass Zelda's door and heads to his dorm, he was about to walk in loudly, that way Chacha will be able to hear him approaching and not be caught off guard, but then decides otherwise, if he catches her off guard, he can use that distraction to draw the chocolate and bribe her with it. He reaches the door to hell and slowly opens it, the room is in darkness as expected, nothing seems out of the ordinaire, he then hears a gasp coming from his bed.

Link calmly walks to open his curtains to let the light in. Once he does, he breaths in deeply and turns to look at his bed. He finds Chacha there crying, she slowly lifts her face to look directly at him.

Is this my life now? having to walk on a thread, minding everything I do and say because, it could potentially hurt someone I care about? Family may be TOO HEAVY OF A CONCEPT for me, too exhausting… and why do I even care about these people? Just because they talked nicely to me? Because they did something for me once? or maybe because they treated me like a human being? 

 *NO, because you matter to them too… stop your fuckery and DO SOMETHING*

"Are you ok? I thought I told you to smile more often, do I need to make that an order?" Link asks lifting an eyebrow.

Chacha glares at him "Shut up and hug me you piece of sh-"

Link shushes her "A pretty lady, like yourself, should NEVER use foul language, too bulgar, if you are going to insult me do it with class. How about manure? FECAL MATTER, yes that suits me better"

Chacha looks at Link with a frown, but a smile slowly sets on her face, and suddenly she starts laughing, Link sighs and pull out the chocolate bar, she shuts up and follows the treat with her eyes making Link laugh, he hands it to her.

Cute, just like a puppy. I wonder if this is her only weakness.

"This was Nana's idea, was it not?" Chacha asks in a demanding tone.

"She told me it could save me from you ripping my head off, but I think she was exaggerating… or was she not?" Link asks with genuine curiosity.

Chacha bluntly answers "Not at all, you just took too fucking long to heal. I had time to think things through… so I repented from the idea of dismembering you"

She is joking right?... No, I think she is not. WOW, she is brutally honest. She just admitted planning on committing a felony against me. It not like I am going to tell on her or anything, and SHE KNOWS IT… she must really trusts me.

"Yes, I hated you for not being upfront with me about what was going on… but then again, I am just a maid, what could I do about any of it? I should just be grateful you got me out."

Link half smiles and sits on his bed next to her "You are welcome, you don't hate me anymore, do you?"

 Chacha frowns at him "no, I can't hate you" she answers pouting.

Link smiles and gives her a side hug; she smiles and after a few seconds starts pushing him away.

"You should choose a suit for dinner tonight, or do I choose it?" Chacha asks him rising from the bed.

"Where you informed or how do you know about that?" Link asks with curiosity.

"Not officially informed, but yesterday my King was pacing around talking to himself, he said he wanted to celebrate your arrival with a GOOD dinner, if I am not mistaken you will dine lasagna"

AND this just shows the importance of befriending the staff, it's like having eyes and ears EVERYWHERE.

"Hahaha, was that the only time you overheard my King? Or are there more funny anecdotes you can share?" Link asks preparing himself to build ammunition against the King, he may need it.

"OH, THERE IS MORE. Funny to tell now, but scary to witness at the moment. When he first got here, he threw bottles of wine around clamming he was going to make you wish you had died. The next day he was cleaning the walls he stained, but still angry at you for disrespecting him. The next day he was pacing around ashamed of himself for what he had unjustly thought of you, he started pleading to the goddesses for forgiveness and for your recovery. Then he went back to angry because you were taking your sweet time healing."

MOTHER OF… I was not wrong at all about him, I didn't misjudge him; he DID put distance between us to restrain from hurting me. That was thoughtful and responsible, but he is still a dangerous animal, a caged lion. In the throne room earlier, he presented himself as a penitent ruler and loving father… but now I know my King is a cunning man. He only allowed me to see and know the end product, but went through his self-imposed purgatory to get there. I respect this man a lot.

And I thought I may be able to convince him to take Zelda out of Hyrule with me... doesn't change what I have to do, but. At least, now I know he is going to bite HARD.

"You pick a suit and leave it on my bed, I am going to take a bath"

"All right, do you need help undressing or bathing?" Chacha asks him with genuine disposition to help. Yet she deviates her eyes, her cheeks tinting a little red thinking about what she just offered.

"I am a big boy, I can handle, thank you" he winks at her.