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skyloftian-nutcase · 8 months ago

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Chronicles of the Domain Ch 3 (BotW fic)

Summary: When a Hylian delegation is sent to Zora's Domain, no one really expected a child to be part of the group. Nevertheless, little Link steadily finds his place in this new strange world, while politics and worries prevail among the adults.

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Chapter 3 - Baby Link's Adventure!

This place was so big. He knew he wasn’t supposed to leave, but he really wanted to.

Papa had eaten breakfast with him and then the captain said Papa had to go guard some important people, which left Link all alone.

Well. Not all alone. Some other soldiers were here too. Link didn’t remember their names. There was one who shared a room with him and Papa. He had heard his name the most. Was it Nor? Maybe.

Then there were the others. One had freckles and red hair and looked like one of his neighbors back home, so he was Neighbor Soldier. Then there was one whose black hair was kept in braids so tight Link could see the skin on his head. They were in rows. They looked kind of cool. So he was Braids Soldier.

So far Link had noticed that sometimes some people would stay in their big room area and sometimes they would go to protect the important people. He guessed their duties changed every day. Papa seemed to guard a lot. But that was because Papa was really good at fighting. Link would be too someday. He was going to make Papa proud.

Today Neighbor Soldier and Nor were standing in the kind of house they were in. Papa and Braids Soldier were guarding with the captain.

Link missed Papa.

“Hey little guy,” one of the knights said with a smile. “Whatcha up to?”

“There are frogs,” Link said. “I wanna see the frogs.”

“Oh? Where are the frogs?”

“I don’t know, that’s what I want to find out!” Link said. “You can’t know where frogs are if you don’t look.”

Neighbor Soldier giggled in that low way that Papa did sometimes. “I guess you’re right. Maybe there are some hiding in your bedroom?”

“That’s silly,” Link said. “Frogs don’t need beds.”

“Are you sure?” Braids Soldier asked. “I thought I saw one sleeping in a bed the other day.”

Link squinted for a second. That didn’t seem right. But he guessed he should really check to be sure. He ran back to his room, peeking under the bed, on the pillow, under the pillow, and in the blankets. Then he stared at the bed and got a little sad because Papa wasn’t there. But definitely no frogs.

He knew there were frogs here, though! And if there were frogs, what else was here? He had to find stuff, and then he could show Papa! And then they could practice fighting together! Papa loved sword fighting.

Link headed out from his bedroom. Paused and thought about it. Went back to his bedroom to grab Mr. Moo, who had come from home with them. He’d forgotten Mr. Moo the last time he went out and now he felt bad about it. He squeezed the little plushie cow tightly as he peeked around to see the knights standing guard.

Papa said he had to stay here. But Papa had seen him leave before and hadn’t gotten that mad. Except he got mad the other day. But Link wanted to go. But Link didn’t want Papa to get mad.

But Link wanted to go. So he went.

Outside of the area where the knights stayed was big and open and wet. Why was water everywhere? He guessed it was because of the funny fish people. Fish liked water. But they weren’t swimming in it, which was weird. They were supposed to swim in it. They weren’t actually fish people, then. They were just silly looking.

He wondered if the funny looking girl who made his cut go away was somewhere close.

There were lots of people here. He felt a little weird for being the only normal one, as they all looked weird and kept staring at him. But he wanted to find frogs, so he would.

Oh! Something different! It glowed too. But it was much smaller than a frog. It looked like a glowy snail! He’d never seen snails glow! It was weird because when he put it in the sun it was normal but when he put it in the shade it kind of glowed. He wanted to show Papa, so he put the snail in his shirt. It was kind of sticky but he stopped noticing after a while.

“Stop right there!”

Link jumped a little, looking around to see who had yelled at him. He saw another one of the funny looking people, but this one was small, like he was a kid his age. He wasn’t the girl who fixed his cut because he had black skin instead of pink, and his weird skirt thing and arm flap things were different colors too. He ran over to Link.

“You’re a Hylian!” he said, pointing at Link.

Link scrunched his nose.

“You look weird!” the boy continued. “That’s how I know! You don’t look like a normal Zora boy. You… you are a boy, right?”

“Yeah,” Link replied. “Are you?”

The boy stomped his foot. “Yeah!”

“Well you look funny too,” Link pointed out, crossing his arms.

“No, I don’t! I look normal!” the boy argued. “My name’s Bazz. My Dad is a knight and I’m gonna be one too, and I’m patrolling the Domain. You’re supposed to be with the Hylians.”

Link scrunched his face. “Where’s your sword?”

Bazz blinked. “What?”

“You said you’re gonna be a knight and you’re patrolling but you’ve got no sword!”

“We use spears,” Bazz huffed. “I mean. Some of us have swords too, but a lot of us use spears.”

“So where’s your spear?”

“I don’t have one yet!” Bazz answered. “I’m too little. But I can still patrol.”

“I have a sword,” Link said.

“No you don’t!” Bazz argued.

“Yeah I do!” Link argued back. “Look!”

With that, Link motioned for Bazz to follow him, and the two ran back to the home Link was staying in. Nor stared at him as he ran by, asking him a question, but Link ignored him for a second. Mama told him he shouldn’t do that, but this was important. He wanted to show Bazz his sword so he could prove he was a knight because Bazz was being dumb and he didn’t like it.

Link slid under the bed before pulling out the wooden sword. “See?”

Bazz stared, and he suddenly didn’t seem annoyed anymore. “Whoa! You have an actual sword? Well, it’s not actual, but—you have a sword!”

Link smiled, suddenly excited. “Yeah! You wanna see how it works?”

“You swing it, duh.”

“What are you two doing in here?”

The boys gasped, turning to see Neighbor Soldier watching them from the doorway. His freckles moved as he frowned, and then he asked Bazz, “And who might you be, little one? This is the Hylian area, I’m afraid. You should go.”

“But he’s my friend,” Link said quickly.

“Oh?” Neighbor Soldier laughed. “Well, if that’s the case, I guess he can stay a little bit. But listen, kid, I’m going to help you find your parents by noon, okay? No lunch here.”

Bazz nodded a little timidly, watching Neighbor Soldier leave. Link smiled at him. “Don’t worry, he’s nice.”

“Dad’s not so sure,” Bazz said quietly. “He says Hylians can’t be trusted. But you seem kind of okay, I guess.”

“I can show you how to fight with the sword,” Link offered, eager to share.

Bazz immediately smiled and laughed. “That would be great!”

The two ran out of the bedroom so Link could find something for Bazz to fight with. When Neighbor Soldier said Link couldn’t have a real sword, the two huffed and headed outside of the house area again. Link found another snail and put it in his shirt with the others and then when they couldn’t find another sword, Bazz said they could go outside the Domain and look for sticks there because there was grass and trees there. Link agreed, as it sounded like a good idea, but Bazz said he would have to sneak by guards, and Link wasn’t sure that was a good idea because Papa might get upset if he went too far.

But the sword fighting seemed really cool. So Link really thought hard about it.

In the end, though, he told Bazz they could sneak tomorrow. He would ask Papa. He wanted to show Papa his snails too. So instead of fighting today, Link showed Bazz Mr. Moo. Bazz thought Mr. Moo was really cool, and Link liked that. As the two talked about Mr. Moo, Bazz told Link about different things about the funny people (Zora? Bazz said they were called Zora) and Link liked hearing about it. Link asked about the girl from the other day, and Bazz said it sounded like Princess Mipha. Princess seemed like a weird first name, but Link didn’t mention it.

As Link said his goodbye to Bazz for lunchtime, he saw a familiar face, and he ran towards her. “Hey! You fixed my cut.”

Princess Mipha, maybe, looked at him and then smiled, though she kind of hid behind the railing of the stairs. “Yes. I’m glad you’re not hurt today.”

Link stared at her, wondering what he should say next. Then he held out Mr. Moo. “Do you want to see Mr. Moo?”

Princess Mipha walked towards him curiously, and the two sat in the water as Link explained all about Mr. Moo’s life back home. He wouldn’t let her touch Mr. Moo, though. He liked him a lot and didn’t want him to get hurt or wet.

“Link?”

Link gasped, turning. “Papa!”

Papa watched him confusedly, hand resting on his sword hilt, before he relaxed a little. “What are you doing out here?”

Link suddenly felt a little guilty, but he reached into his shirt and pulled out the snails instead. “Look what I found! I couldn’t find any frogs though, and I wanted to find frogs, but these snails glow, Papa! Like if you put them out of the sunlight they glow, they made my hands glow, but they’re not like lanterns because they’re not that warm and they’re kind of slimy.”

Papa looked between Link and Princess Mipha, and he did a strange kind of bow towards Princess Mipha. “Your Highness.”

Link looked at him, confused. Why wasn’t he noticing him? “Papa, look at the snails.”

“I see them, son,” Papa said. “But you shouldn’t be out here. We talked about this.”

“I was showing her the snails and Mr. Moo.”

Papa blinked. Then he blinked again. “Mr. Moo?”

Link showed his plushie. “I brought him from home.”

Papa smiled a little. “Link, that’s a heifer, not a bull.”

“Huh?” Link stared at his plushie and then back at Papa, frowning. “Mr. Moo is a cow.”

“But bulls are boy cows and heifers are girl cows,” Papa explained. “Your cow has udders, she’s a girl and she’s a mama.”

“Udders?”

“For milk, son.”

Link stared thoughtfully at Mr. Moo as Papa spoke to Princess Mipha. Princess Mipha said something about needing to see her father, and Link gasped as he realized something.

“She has boobies?” Link asked, staring at his Papa intensely and shaking his cow plushie.

Papa blinked again, making a funny face. “Link—”

Link gasped again, coming to an even better realization. “She has moobies!”

Papa coughed. “Link, no—”

Link immediately showed Princess Mipha. “I was wrong, this isn’t a mister! She’s a mama and she has moobies!”

“What are moobies?” Princess Mipha asked.

“Goddess Hylia,” Papa muttered, rubbing his face. Why was he talking to the goddess when he wasn’t praying?

“Moobies are for milk for cows, and boobies are for milk for Hylians!” Link explained importantly. Then he grew confused. “Do Zora have boobies?”

“Link,” Papa hissed. “That’s enough.”

Link could tell Papa was getting mad. He closed his mouth, not sure what was wrong, but he hesitantly held Mrs. Moo a little tighter. Papa sighed, telling Princess Mipha he’d take her to lunch. Link felt his eyes sting a little. Why did she get to go to lunch with Papa and not him?

“Papa, I’m hungry,” he said.

Papa paused, watching Link and looking a little sad. “We’ll eat dinner together, son. I promise. But go eat lunch with the other knights, okay? I have guard duty still.”

Oh, that’s why. But what did Princess Mipha have to do with that? Link sighed, hanging his head and going back towards the house place, but he wanted to see where they were going, so he hid behind a wall instead and watched Papa and Princess Mipha leave. Then he followed them, though he didn’t get very far before Bazz stopped him.

“What are you doing?” Bazz asked. “You can’t go to the banquet hall.”

“What’s the banquet hall?” Link asked back.

“That’s where the royal family eats.”

Royal family? Royal family. That sounded familiar. Wasn’t there a Hylian royal family? He remembered they were super important people.

Ooooh. Papa was guarding important people. That made sense. But then why was Princess Mipha there? That seemed silly.

Sighing, Link pouted, but Bazz told him they should explore the Domain together instead, so they did. Link couldn’t believe how big this place was, and the more they looked around, the more he kind of liked it. He was getting hungry, though.

Bazz introduced Link to a friend of his named Rivan, who was a little shorter than Bazz and had brown colored skin where Bazz was black. It looked like all Zora had two skin colors and then flappy fin and skirt things that had colors. But why didn’t they have hair? And why didn’t they wear real clothes? They were all really confused when he asked, and Link told them he’d bring them some shirts to try tomorrow. Bazz said he’d bring Link jewelry, which Link thought was weird because the only jewelry boys usually wore were earrings. He guessed sometimes he saw Grandpapa wear a necklace sometimes. But everything here was shiny jewelry, and that was kind of weird.

Link’s stomach growled, and he flopped in the water sadly. He wanted to eat. He missed Papa. Why did he have to guard important people?

It was his duty. That was why. Link knew that. But he still wished his duty could also include eating lunch with him.

Eventually, Bazz and Rivan said they had to go, and Link dragged his feet back to the Hylian house. Nor watched him and walked to him while Neighbor Soldier kind of didn’t.

“Where’ve you been?” Nor asked. “You know you’re not allowed to wander. Did your father not tell you that?”

“Oh, lay off the kid,” Neighbor Soldier said as he leaned against the wall. “He wants to explore.”

“He could cause problems.”

“He’s making friends,” Neighbor Soldier pointed out. “I’d be more worried about him getting hurt than causing problems. These Zora aren’t exactly the friendliest to Hylians.”

“I made friends,” Link pointed out.

“You sure did, kiddo,” Neighbor Soldier said brightly with a smile. Link smiled back. He liked him. “But Norri does have a point. You shouldn’t wander too much, okay? Not everyone wants to be your friend here.”

“I saw Papa, though.”

“And he didn’t immediately tell you to come back here?” Nor asked, looking annoyed.

Neighbor Soldier rolled his eyes. “Hey Link, why don’t you get some food? Go to the dining area, I’ll bring you a plate.”

Link got excited. He was really hungry. He hurried over to the dining area while the knights started to talk to each other. They sounded kind of angry, and he wasn’t sure why. Was it really that bad that he’d explored the Domain? It had been such a good day, though!

As Neighbor Soldier brought him some food, Link ate it really quickly, excited when he saw Papa come through the door. He was really tired, though, too, but he wanted to tell Papa about his day.

Papa picked him up, kissing him and making him giggle. But before Link could really talk to him, Papa laid him down for a nap, saying he should go to bed early since he didn’t nap earlier in the day. Link pouted at that. He… he just wanted to be with Papa.

Sighing, Link twisted in the blankets. Well. It wasn’t all a bad day. He was maybe kind of starting to like it here. He hoped the letter reached Mama soon so she could come too. And maybe he could talk to Papa tomorrow.

Closing his eyes, he settled in for some sleep, Mrs. Moo clutched firmly in his grasp.

#writing #chronicles of the domain #breath of the wild link #botw link #writing from a 4-year-old's pov was hard but so so fun #Abel will now be forever haunted by the infamous moobies #mrs moo #she gets her own tag #she is a celebrity #mipha #I love zora's domain #legend of zelda #abel #he needs a vacation #with Link #so the poor baby can be with his papa like he wants #and no Abel needs literally no other responsibilities so he can RELAX #will I ever stop torturing this man #skye time travels through the queue

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skyloftian-nutcase · 3 months ago

Note

I kinda like your chronicles of the domain story thing if you wanna do something with that for the prompt event. thx!

(@silvrash-797 this one’s for you ❤️)

Link was sick.

It wasn't anything too alarming, Abel told himself repeatedly. The chidl had a stuffed nose, a bit of a fever, and a wretched cough. Captain Tomall had assigned Abel to guard the Hylian quarters to help him care for his boy, which the young knight greatly appreciated. He spent the morning with Link in his arms, comforting the poor child, who was quite miserable with his situation. Abel's touch wasn't as gentle as Tilieth's, but his soft words of encouragement and love seemed to help either way.

He pointedly ignored the fear in his heart, like a tiny needle trying to undo him. He pointedly didn't think about how Tilieth had been sick before their departure, how Link maybe somehow had it now. But that couldn't be the case - it had been two weeks since they'd left Hateno, after all.

Still, Link coughed and moaned, and Abel worried.

Ekan, Abel's teammate in guard duty today, offered to take care of everything so Abel could just rest with his son. Abel was somewhat annoyed with the offer - Ekan was by far the weakest fighter in the group, and he did not take his duty as seriously, so leaving him in charge would be a disaster. Although the man had a good heart, Abel didn't trust the Zora enough to leave protecting Hylians up to Ekan alone.

It was strange, though. Having spent roughly a week here now, Abel was... not entirely sure what to make of the Zora. He'd heard of them, of course - a mysterious and elegant race of water loving people, with strange appearances, beautiful aesthetic, and strong magic.

When they'd been briefed for this mission, they had all been told briefly of the political landscape, at least enough for them to grasp the importance of protecting their ambassador, Cilda. The Domain and Hyrule had clashed in the past, though not too recently. Nevertheless, tensions remained high, and trust low. The late Zora Queen had not liked Hyrule much, but with her death the Queen of Hyrule saw a new opportunity to establish good relations with the heir apparent, Dorephan.

Dorephan. The man had been kind enough when Abel had met him. But he could also very clearly see distrust and disdain in the upcoming king's advisors, and it made him wary.

He hoped everything would go well, though. If nothing else, for Link's sake. The boy had really started taking a liking to some Zora children, and had even interacted with the little princess, Mipha. Abel wasn't entirely sure how appropriate that was, and tried to keep it to a minimum, but he couldn't control his son while he was on duty, much as he tried.

None of that really mattered now, though. Not with Link being sick.

Speaking of the Zora, however, one of the little Zora children did stop by to ask if Link could play. Rivan, if Abel recalled correctly. The little boy was greatly disappointed when he heard Link was ill, and he asked that Abel pass along message to get better soon because we were gonna go see Ploymous Mountain (to which Abel pointed out that children should not be wandering to random mountains by themselves since he hardly knew the terrain or how dangerous this area was).

As Abel checked on his little boy in the afternoon, having left him in bed to rest, he found the child clutching his cow plushie and sniffling. The knight's heart twisted a little at the sight of it, and he knelt down to be at eye level with the child.

"Feeling any better?" he asked quietly, gently brushing hair away from the boy's face.

"My head hurts," Link whined, voice breaking halfway through the sentence.

Sympathy tugged at the man's heart, and he leaned in to kiss the child before saying, "It'll get better, son. Drink some water and rest, okay? I'll be back with dinner."

He felt a little bad for leaving the child, but to be fair, he'd carried him around with him most of the morning. As much as he loved Link, he didn't need to coddle him too much. The boy would have to learn to become more independent someday. Abel found himself constantly debating how to go about doing that - Tilieth would treat him like a baby all the way up to his adolescence if she could, but Abel didn't agree with that. But he also didn't think it was fair to just throw the boy into the world as he himself had been, forced to parent his little sister, forced to run the house when their mother deteriorated and passed away.

He'd comforted Link plenty today, right? And he would tell him a bedtime story with dinner. He couldn't be with the boy all day. He hadn't been their entire stay here.

But Link was sick. And Abel was worried.

He sighed heavily, returning to his post, ignoring Ekan's gaze. When his teammate tried to start conversation, hand restlessly running over his dark cornrows on his head, Abel tried not to be too snippy in response. There was nothing wrong with Ekan trying to be friendly; Abel simply was too stressed to play along.

The next day, Link's fever finally seemed to break, giving Abel immense relief. Captain Tommell mentioned that there would be some sort of serious meeting between the heir apparent and their diplomat, Cilda, and many Zora officials would be there, meriting tighter security. Abel hadn't really seen the soon-to-be-king since his initial meeting with him - most of Cilda's interactions were with Zora officials beneath him, after all. This was important.

Which meant he would be assigned to guard her. And Link would be alone, sick.

Abel swallowed his remorse on the matter. Duty was duty. He spent breakfast in his room with Link.

"I'm going to be guarding the diplomats today, son," he explained gently. "I asked Sir Ekan to make sure you're okay."

"Braids soldier?"

Abel's mouth twisted a little in amusement. "You have to learn their names, Link. They're our... our friends here."

"But I don't want Braids Soldier," Link whined. "I want you, Papa."

Abel sighed. "Sometimes we can't get what we want, Link. Our duty always has to come first, remember? Others are relying on me, too. You're safe here. Our ambassador is not."

Link hugged Mrs. Moo more tightly, lip wobbling, but he nodded. Abel smiled proudly at it. His little boy would be a good soldier someday, and he told him as much before kissing his forehead and steeling himself for a long day. Link was on the mend, though, so no matter what, it would be fine.

And it was fine. Until the next day, when Abel woke up with a runny nose and a headache.

He groaned. Of course I got it too.

Whatever this obnoxious feverish nightmare was, it was clearly contagious. He prayed it didn't spread to the other soldiers. Goddess, what if he passed it on to the captain, or the ambassador?

Link wiggled in the bed a little, clearly far more energized, jumping up and down in excitement. "Papa! Papa I'm feeling better! Papa, look!"

Abel swallowed, feeling his throat scrape against itself, raw and swollen. He mustered a smile, nodding. "That's good, son. Maybe you can go play with your friends today?"

Link nodded eagerly.

The little one's smile fell, however, when Abel started coughing harshly as he stood.

"Papa?" he asked, beady eyes wide with worry.

"I'm okay," Abel assured him, pointedly ignoring the look from their roommate, Norri.

When he coughed again, though, world spinning slightly as his head pounded, Link immediately shifted uncomfortably. "Papa, you're not okay."

"Link--"

"Papa, you're sick!"

"It's okay, son."

Link's eyes were filled with tears, and Abel was almost baffled at the reaction. Surely he couldn't look that ill, right?

"I made you sick," Link whimpered.

Oh.

"No," Abel hastily tried to appease him. "No, sweet child. It--I got this from--from Norri."

His roommate's expression grew affronted, and the younger knight huffed, freshening up and stepping out of the room.

Link seemed a little less horrified, but no less worried.

"Son," Abel said gently, picking him up and kissing him. "I'm a grown up. When we get sick we're okay. We don't really get all that sick. My body's bigger and stronger, so I can handle it, okay? I'll be fine."

Settling him on the ground, he nudged him along. "Go eat some breakfast. I'll be out shortly."

When he stepped out into the hall, he nearly jumped to the ceiling when Norri materialized beside him, saying, "I am not pretending to be sick just to assuage your child's worries. Unlike you, I am dedicating all my energy into doing my duty."

Abel's patience wasn't what it should have been. Not with as ill as he was feeling. Instead of taking the words with a neutral expression, he snapped, "Don't take my care for my child as shirking my duty. You know nothing of responsibility until you have someone in your care. Some of us aren't self centered brats who wish to climb the ranks."

He really should have held his tongue. Especially since Norri had occasionally tried to look out for him. The man wasn't a bad person, just... immature. He had his opinions about Link's presence, and Abel bristled at it. It wasn't as if he himself weren't aware of the inconvenience having a four-year-old caused; he didn't need it rubbed in.

Before Abel could retract his words, their superior arrived to corral them into the den and hand out their assignments. Abel would be with the ambassador alongside the captain and, of course, Norri.

Great. This was going to be a great day. Abel held back another coughing fit as he said his goodbye to Link and told him they would spar in the evening. Ekan, kindhearted as he was, promised he would keep an eye on Link and told Abel to take care of himself.

Goddess, how obvious was this illness? Abel felt miserable but he thought he was hiding it fairly well.

Well. Until he wasn't.

It wasn't entirely his fault. But he supposed that didn't matter. Lack of food and water mixed with whatever was tearing his body apart, and it turned into the perfect storm.

At least Abel managed to excuse himself from the meeting hall and made it into some innocuous corner before the dark edges of his vision caught up to the rest of him.

He wasn't entirely sure how long he'd passed out, but the sunlight didn't seem to have moved too much when he awoke. His shoulder ached--he must have hit it when he fell--but thankfully his helmet protected his head from any major impact. Now he just needed to find some water and get back to his post.

Shakily, Abel pulled himself to his feet, leaning heavily against the wall, when he realized he was being watched.

He reached for his blade automatically, feeling far too vulnerable, but a strong voice said, "Steady, Hylian. I don't mean you any harm. You're hardly a threat in your state, anyway."

Abel bristled a little at the implication of his ineptitude, but he sheathed his sword nonetheless. He didn't need to cause a diplomatic incident. The Zora in question was a sergeant, Seggin, who was known for his pride and prowess in battle. He was head of all the Zora military as well, which made this particularly unnerving.

Abel was exposing himself as a weak link in the Hylian forces, and he hated it. He wasn't entirely sure how to get himself out of this situation, so he just tried to stand tall and proud and strong, despite having just passed out.

"Hylians are so delicate, aren't they?" Seggin continued, walking towards him with his arms crossed. "Your kind live such short lives. You hardly understand anything of how the world works, and I wouldn't exactly call your people capable. How Hylia favored your race is beyond me."

Abel steeled himself for a fight, face carefully neutral so as not to be the one to start it, but more than willing to end it.

Seggin sighed before reaching for something and holding it out. "Drink. Get back what little strength your feeble Hylian body can muster. I'll not have you dying in my prince's halls and causing a problem."

As much as he wanted to punch the sergeant, Abel opted to just take the offered water flask and drink. He also promised himself to spar somewhere public when he was feeling better so as to prove this sergeant wrong.

With a nod of thanks, he made his way back to the meeting hall, ignoring Seggin's watchful eye as the sergeant also walked there. The two had a silent face off the rest of the day, sizing each other up, though Seggin hardly seemed concerned by Abel.

When the young Hylian knight returned to the barracks, he felt absolutely wretched, but he tried to put it aside as Link eagerly asked about sparring and talked about his day. Abel indulged the boy, wanting to also stretch and fight as well, and the two went at it briefly with wooden training swords. Link's prowess still surprised Abel, and honestly, with as sick as he felt, the child genuinely did almost defeat him.

Honestly, the joy of seeing his boy's abilities really did make him feel better. As he undressed from his armor, he felt his trousers get tugged and looked down to see Link holding a tray of food and what looked like five glasses of water.

"I brought dinner," he said, holding the tray up as proof.

"I... already ate," Abel replied, confused. "Remember? I had dinner with you."

"But it wasn't enough, Papa!" Link argued. "And you need water when you're sick."

Abel sighed heavily. There was little point in arguing with the child, so he nibbled on the offered food, ignoring Norri as he entered the room.

Link watched him uncertainly, holding his plushie tightly. When Abel smiled at him, he held the toy out hesitantly. "Do... do you want Mrs. Moo?"

Abel tried not to choke on his water. "W-why?"

"She helps," Link explained seriously. "When you weren't there she made me feel better because she's from you and Mama."

Abel lost his appetite in a heartbeat, guilt gnawing at his insides. He swallowed, putting the tray down on his lap. "I... sure, Link. Thank you."

Link smiled eagerly, taking the tray and putting it on the nightstand before handing Mrs. Moo to his father. Then he started fussing over Abel, insisting he tuck him in (and pat his cheeks with his grubby little hands, and goddess if it didn't take all of Abel's willpower not to laugh at the silly child). When Abel's pillow was fluffed, blanket pulled up to his chin, and Mrs. Moo secured snugly in his arms, Link was finally satisfied.

Abel smiled as his sweet boy crawled under the blankets to snuggle with him. Mrs. Moo smelled like soggy cloth and spilled food, and he noted he should probably wash the thing in the morning. His headache didn't seem to pound quite as much with some water, and the general ache that had been creeping through his body wasn't enough to keep him from trying to get comfortable.

In the end, Link's care was far more healing than anything else, and Abel felt his heart warm as he fell asleep that night.

#you ask skye answers #lovely anon #chronicles of the domain #breath of the wild link #botw link #abel #ajifeowajfklsajfieow I LOVE BABY LINK #mrs. moo deserves her own tag #mrs. moo #she's an obviously important character #Seggin does not like Hylians in case you didn't notice #but he also isn't gonna just walk by and see a man stumbling and not help #at least he didn't see Abel pass out or Abel would've woken up in a Zora infirmary and had a meltdown #writing

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