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smilesrobotlover · 4 months

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Chapter 2- ten-years-old is a big deal

“There’s been three reports of a missing person in the past week.”

Zelda looked at the captain who was dropping papers on the table, her advisor and husband, Edmund, all stared blankly at the mess.

“That would make twenty-three missing persons this month, I think it’s safe to say that this is alarming, hm?”

The captain glared at Zelda’s advisor, who had been brushing off the disappearances as nothing serious. The advisor would say that disappearances happen all the time, and that there was nothing they could’ve done, but the captain was determined to persuade him. Zelda picked up a paper and skimmed over it. This was a woman who lived in Kakariko village, she just opened up her clothes shop there. She glanced at another paper, this one was about an older man, who was working at Lake Hylia. He worked on carriages, canons, or anything that needed fixing. Zelda hummed as she compared the two reports of the missing people, not finding much similarities between them.

“This is certainly alarming,” Zelda’s advisor said almost mockingly.

“Captain Hoz,” the prince consort of Hyrule started, ignoring the advisor’s rude tone, “are there any connections between these missing people that we can use to find them?”

Captain Hoz sighed and sat down. “The only connection I could find was that these people disappeared when they were traveling across Hyrule. That tailor from Kakariko? She was visiting home in Castle town. The handy man down in Lake Hylia was traveling to Gerudo desert to work on a home. The Goron from Death Mountain was heading to Zora’s domain for a vacation. None of these people were seen again.”

Zelda frowned and Edmund sighed. That sounded about right considering the other twenty reports sitting on her desk.

“This is tragic for sure,” the advisor said rather indifferently, “but what do you expect us to do about it?”

Hoz looked at him with disgust. “We look for these people of course! And find who’s responsible!”

“We do not have the resources to search for these people. We’re busy enough providing food and other necessities for our citizens,” the advisor stated, looking bored.

“If we don’t do something then we won’t have citizens to take care of! We need to save these people!” Captain Hoz rebutted.

“And who will save them? Hm? The hero of Hyrule? He’s been very useful lately,” the advisor said sarcastically, giving Zelda a look that made her skin crawl.

“The knights of Hyrule will save them! That’s why we exist!”

Zelda heard Edmund snort a little and she cringed internally. He was the second prince of Labrynna, a kingdom that was known for its military. Though he didn’t lead the army, he was involved with the battles Labrynna had, until the arranged marriage happened. When he came to Hyrule, he was unimpressed with the cowards that called themselves knights here. Some of the men, like Captain Hoz, took their jobs seriously, but they were so scarce that it didn’t make a difference. Captain Hoz glared at Edmund and stood back up.

“I’ve been training my men vigorously, your highness, I promise you, we can save these people.”

Edmund rolled his eyes. “Have your men faced terrifying monsters and kept their heads on their shoulders? Have your men faced death and walked it off? For a kingdom that is built on courage, there sure are a lot of cowards—“

“Enough!” Zelda stood up and glared at her husband. She turned to Hoz who was red from fury. “Captain, what exactly do you need to find these people?”

“Uh, I’ll need men, of course. Maybe around ten. It might depend on what is causing these disappearances.”

“I can have you take five men with you, but my advisor is right, we are spread thin, so you’ll have to make do.”

Captain Hoz sighed and bowed his head. “Thank you, my queen. I’ll make plans as soon as possible. These people will be found.”

“Thank you captain,” Zelda gave a nod back, “is there anything else that needs to be discussed?”

“No, that is all my queen,” Hoz gave another bow.

“There’s nothing I can think of,” the advisor muttered.

Edmund only shook his head. The queen nodded.

“Then you are all dismissed. Thank you.”

Hoz and the advisor stood up and silently walked out of the room, and Zelda glared at Edmund, who was casually leaning back in the chair. He glanced over at her.

“What?”

“Throwing insults at my kingdom was unnecessary.”

“They’re not insults, they're observations. You can’t deny that your army is nothing special.”

“No, but calling them cowardly and weak is unfair. You don’t know what some of these men went through. Captain Hoz fought hard to get where he is and I trust him. He’s one of our best.”

Her husband rolled his eyes again. “Fine, so the captain is good, that doesn’t say anything about the rest of your army.”

Zelda stared at him for a moment before gathering the papers. “I suppose not,” she muttered, wanting to end the conversation. Edmund sighed and walked over to her, resting his hand on her shoulder which made her freeze.

“Look, I’m sorry that I insulted Hoz. He is without a doubt, one of the best. But this seems like a serious situation and I feel like you’re not taking it as seriously as it sounds.”

Zelda glared daggers into him and he backed up, his hands up defensively.

“Don’t be upset with me dear, I’m just saying that Labrynna would’ve had this problem fixed within a week.”

I don’t care what Labrynna does.” She spat, and she turned back to the papers, trying to get Edmund to leave her alone. He was silent, but he didn’t move.

“Why don’t you send your… hero to do the job? From what I’ve heard, he’s a one man army,” he asked, and Zelda looked up to stare at the double doors in front of her. She has called for Link whenever Hyrule needed help. In fact, she called all of the resistance. They’ve worked together and have helped Hyrule in a way that Zelda couldn’t. But no one knew who Link really was, nor what he looked like thanks to his refusal to be public, so the people, especially the nobles, figured that Link was a fake, or a lazy man. Though she and Link didn’t get along, it made her sick. He suffered so much for Hyrule, and that was how they repaid him?

“Zelda, why don’t you send your famous hero to do the job?” Edmund repeated, and Zelda spun around, her frustration getting the best of her.

“I will consider it. Now get out while I organize this mess.”

Edmund glared at her and left the room, leaving Zelda alone. She collapsed in her chair, already exhausted even though it was morning. There was so much to do, so much to worry about, so much complaining that was done. Even though she was raised to do this work since birth, she still felt like she didn’t know what she was doing. She looked down at the papers on the table and sighed, grabbing some blank paper and a quill. She wouldn’t be able to search for the people herself, and she knew that Hoz would need all the help he could get, so she decided to reach out to the only people that she could trust.

The resistance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Kori! Come up for breakfast!”

The little twilian rubbed his eyes open, looking at his room in the basement. It was dark, and it took him a moment to adjust to the light shining from the door that led upstairs, where his father looked down at him.

“Heeeyyy sleepy head. Come on, it’s time to get up.”

Kori groaned at the light and tried to snuggle up more in his blankets.

“Oh no ya don’t. Get up Kori.”

The twilian groaned again, burying his face more into the blankets. The blankets were so warm… and he was so comfy…

He felt two hands grab him and he squealed as he was thrown over his dad’s shoulder.

“NOOOOO! Let me go! I wanna sleeeeeep!” Kori cried, but his father did not listen as he climbed up the ladder, and Kori hissed as the bright sun assaulted his eyes.

“Oh quit bein’ dramatic.”

His dad set him down near the fire where breakfast was cooking, the desire to sleep more melting away as he grew hungry. He looked at the pan over the fire, staring at the food cooking on top of it.

“What is it?”

“Eggs of course!” his father grabbed a plate and dished up some of the food to give to Kori.

“Eggs! I love eggs! We only ever have them everyday!” Kori joked sarcastically, shoveling his breakfast into his mouth.

“Oh complain about the breakfast all ya want you rascal. But luckily for you I have a great supper planned!”

“What are you making?” Kori asked, his mouth full.

“Only your favorite meal ever! Pumpkin soup!”

Kori gasped. He loved his father’s pumpkin soup. The thought of eating the pumpkin soup suddenly made the eggs tasteless and bland.

“Bleh, if only if it were supper time right now.”

“Hey now, I don’t need to make the soup tonight,” his father waved his utensil around, a teasing smile on his face. “I can just save it for later or give aaaall of it to grandpa Rusl and Colin and—“

“No! Don’t do that! I’m sorry papa thank you for the eggs now please don’t give away my supper!”

His father chuckled and ruffled his boy’s hair. “I’m just teasin’ ya, I would never do that.”

Kori giggled and ate his eggs a little more gratefully.

“Why are you making the soup anyways papa? You only make it for like… holidays and stuff.”

His father raised an eyebrow at Kori. “You don’t know? A little birdie told me that a certain child is turning 10 today.”

Kori chewed for a little bit before the realization hit. His birthday… It was today! How could he not know that?

“My birthday! I’m turning 10!” Kori shouted, waving his fork around.

“Hey now, don’t make a mess!” His father scolded, but he gave a light chuckle after Kori put his fork down, “you’re a full decade old! Isn’t that somethin’? How do you feel?”

Kori giggled and started to focus.

“Not much different really.”

His father chuckled and ruffled his hair.

“Give it a few years, you’ll feel older,” he said with a wink. After they finished Kori’s birthday breakfast, his father slapped his knees and stood up. “Welp, you ready to herd some goats?”

Kori frowned at his father. “It’s my birthday! I don’t wanna herd goats!”

“But farm work doesn't stop for birthday boys, Kori.”

Kori crossed his arms and pouted at his father. They stared each other down for a few moments before his dad started laughing.

“Alright alright. I’ll let you have today.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Go play with the other kids, I don’t care. Happy birthday Kori.”

“YEAH!” Kori shot up and ran outside before his father could say anything else. He practically jumped down the ladder, gave Epona a pat on the snout, and ran into the village where everyone was. He jogged around Fado’s house, ran quickly past Beth’s parent’s house, slowing down to a halt when he saw his grandpa Rusl standing outside his own home, reading something. He crouched down and smiled. Target spotted.

Kori moved around so he would be in his grandpa’s blind spot, then he ran as quietly as he could, ready to jump him, until his grandpa turned around and gave him a stern look, which stopped Kori dead in his tracks.

“And what do you think you’re doing young man?” He asked, his hands on his hips. Kori looked down awkwardly.

“I wasn’t gonna do anything!”

“Really? You weren’t plannin’ on tackling my legs?”

“Noooooooo….”

His grandpa glared at him for a moment, then let out a laugh. “Oh it’s never a dull moment with you Kori. Good morning kid.”

Kori giggled and hugged his grandpa, and he received a tight hug in return.

“So, Kori,” grandpa Rusl knelt down to look him in the eyes, “I hear it’s your birthday yeah? What do you have planned for today?”

“Well papa said that I don’t have to do my chores today! So I was hoping to play with…” His eyes moved over to spot his uncle exiting the house. “UNCLE COLIN!”

His uncle looked over to where Kori was sprinting towards him. “Wooooah hey now slow down or else you’ll—”

Kori tackled him to the ground, hugging him tightly as he laid there. Grandpa Rusl chuckled and walked towards them.

“Uncle Colin! It’s my birthday and I don’t have to do my chores! Wanna play?”

Colin rubbed his head and looked down. “I’d love to Kori, but I do need to do my chores.”

Kori’s smile dropped. “Aw what? Why?”

Colin sat up, with Grandpa Rusl taking Kori off of him and helping him up. “It’s not my birthday,” he explained simply, looking at Grandpa Rusl who nodded.

“What about auntie Rela? Can she play?”

“Sorry Kori, she also has chores to do,” Grandpa explained. “But she’ll be done soon.”

“Aw… but I wanna play now!”

Colin knelt down and put his hand on his shoulder.

“Maybe Beth or Talo could play with you!”

Kori looked down, contemplating this. Beth was fun to play with, but she was taking over the shop and was always busy, not to mention her scary parents who didn’t like him. And Talo was also fun but sometimes he was gone and his dad didn’t like him all that much. Malo was closest to his age but Malo hated everyone so he didn’t want to play with him. But it didn’t hurt to try. “I guess I’ll see if they can play…” he finally said.

Colin smiled, guilt clearly written on his face. “I’m sorry kiddo. I’ll try to get done as soon as possible.”

“Ok.” Kori gave the two of them another hug and ran to Talo’s house. He’d have better luck with him anyways. When he ran to the house with the water wheel he stopped at the smell of something sweet. He saw a pie on a windowsill and gasped. It must’ve been pumpkin pie, which Pergie made occasionally. He ran over to where the pie was and stared at it, mouth watering as the smell got stronger.

“Excuuuuuse me!”

Kori flinched at the sudden entrance of Pergie, who was standing protectively over her pie. Kori put his hands behind his back and shrunk a little, trying to look innocent.

“Were you thinking of eating my pie?” Pergie asked, resting against the windowsill.

“Noooo…”

“You do know I’ve been spending all morning making this right?”

“Yeaaah.”

“So I wouldn’t want someone to mess with it before it’s ready, right?”

Kori looked down, then at Pergie, then at the pie. Drool dropped out of his mouth and he wiped it away, embarrassed. Pergie let out a hearty laugh and patted his head.

“Oh you sweet little stinker. Here, I can give you a slice.”

Pergie cut a small slice of her pie and handed it to Kori on a plate. Kori gasped at the random gift and smiled at her.

“Happy birthday, Kori.”

“You remembered my birthday?”

“Well you never let me forget,” Pergie teased, poking his nose. Kori giggled at the gesture and started to eat the pie with Pergie watching.

“What are you doing here anyways boy?”

“My papa said that I don’t have to do my chores so I was wondering if Talo wanted to play.”

“Oooh…” Pergie tapped the windowsill and clicked her tongue. “Talo left this morning to Kakariko dear.”

“Aw what? What’s he doing there?”

“Delivering our pumpkins to the folks there of course!” Pergie leaned closer to him, a teasing look on her face. “He’s also wantin’ to court the girl there, so he’s there for that as well.”

Kori stared at Pergie and nodded, not at all understanding what she meant.

“If you want, you could play with Malo!” She turned around and called for her youngest son. “MALO! Get over here!”

Kori frowned and put the plate on the windowsill. He did not want to play with Malo, and when Malo showed up, he could tell that he didn’t want to play either.

“Malo! It’s Kori’s birthday! Why don’t you two play games together!” Pergie suggested for the two boys. Malo glared at his mother.

“Mom, I’m taking care of my shop, I don’t have time to play,” he mumbled, annoyed. Kori has heard Malo talk about the three shops he’s opened up several times whenever he tried to hang out with him. He never understood any of it.

“Malo, I know how much you love to play shop, but you should play with the other kids!”

Malo groaned and glared at Kori. Pergie has always tried to push her son to socialize and make friends, but Malo took his job very seriously. Kori smiled at Pergie politely and stepped back.

“I’m actually gonna go see if Beth can play… thanks for the pie!”

“Oh, wait, Malo go with him!” Pergie gestured for Malo to follow him but he just rolled his eyes and walked away. Kori took that as a sign to run towards where Beth lived.

“You have a great birthday sweet boy!” He heard Pergie yell after him, and he turned and waved at her, smiling.

Pergie used to scare Kori when he was younger. She clearly feared him and thought he was strange, not liking it whenever Talo hung out with him. But as Kori got older, he noticed that Pergie got kinder towards him, being sweet and caring towards him whenever he lingered near their house. The same couldn’t be said about Sera though, Beth’s mother.

Everyone was pretty hostile towards Kori, but Sera in particular has been very cruel towards him. Beth was a blast to be around and happily watched Kori when he needed to be watched. But Sera believed that Kori was a demon, here in Ordon to hurt her daughter. His father and grandpa told him that monsters hurt the kids in Ordon, so they were paranoid about anything different, but Kori couldn’t help but be scared of Sera. He was terrified that she would hurt him because of her own fear. Beth’s influence always helped calm her mother down, but Kori still felt her distrust towards him. He stopped in front of Beth’s home and took a deep breath, praying that it was just Beth in there. He opened the door and peeked through the crack, seeing both Beth and Sera behind the counter. He went to quickly leave before he was noticed but Beth called out to him.

“Kori! Is that you?”

He stopped and poked his head further into the home. They seemed to have been deep in conversation; Beth was smiling at him while Sera stared at him coldly.

“It is you! Hi there!” Beth leaned against the counter and gave him a grin. “How are you? Heard you’re turning ten today, right?”

Kori nodded quietly, glancing at Sera who wasn’t moving.

“What’re you doing here? Did Link give you money to buy the famous slingshot?” She gestured to the toy section where a slingshot sat. Kori was tempted, but he had no money.

“I was wondering if you wanted to play,” Kori he started, talking softly while occasionally glancing at Sera, “I don’t have to do my chores today.”

“Oh,” Beth got off the counter and looked at her mother who was scowling. “Sorry dear, I’m working right now. You can go play with the kitties though!”

Kori gasped. Beth and Sera’s cat went and got another cat pregnant, leaving them with adorable kitties. Beth had let him play with them before, but never alone.

“Beth,” her mother spoke up, a dark expression on her face.

“Mom, it’ll be fine, Kori knows to be gentle, right?” Beth gave Kori a look and he nodded.

“How do you know he won’t eat one of the babies?”

“Mom!”

Kori looked down, the words stinging. He hated how she saw him as a monster. Kori had sharp teeth, which was different from everyone else’s, but he’d never want to hurt anyone, let alone any kitties! He started to back away from the two, walking towards the door.

“I—um— wanted to play with someone not with the cats,” he lied, reaching for the handle, “I’m just gonna see if someone else wants to play, bye Beth!”

“Wait Kori—“ Beth called out for him but he snuck out of the room. He heard Beth and Sera erupt into an argument, but he chose to ignore them, nearly ramming into Beth’s father, Hanch.

“Oh, um….” Kori shrunk away from the short man. “Sorry.”

Hanch stared at him for a moment, his expression was always filled with anxiety, but he nervously smiled.

“Hi Kori. Happy birthday,” Hanch said before running into his home. Kori stared ahead very surprised as the nervous man always avoided Kori out of fear. He stared at the entrance to the clearing where his home was, knowing his father wasn’t home. He sighed not knowing what to do or who to hang out with. He glanced at the entrance to the Ordon Ranch and decided to head there to hang out with people he knew liked him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Link ran around on Epona, herding in the goats with Fado keeping any stragglers from running away. On Epona, the goats feared Link due to how big he looked, and they would obey him as he herded them in. Fado however didn’t need a horse since he was so tall. The goats would just see him and run away. Though Fado has always struggled herding in the goats, Link has noticed that with Link’s many absences, he’s gotten much better at doing it all on his own. He almost didn’t need Link anymore.

He sighed when all the goats were finally in the barn. Just like yesterday… and the day before… and the day before…

“Thanks for your help, Link!” Fado called to him and Link waved it off.

“Just doin’ my job.”

“Well you do a good job at it!”

Link smiled at his good friend and got off his horse, giving her a loving pat on the neck. Though Epona was a strong horse, he was worried about overworking her, especially since she was getting much older. He wished that Illia was still here so she could pamper her…

“Hoo boy, we got done in under a minute! Now what do we do?” Fado put his hands on his hips and looked at the ranch from inside the barn. “I feel like we can just lay around right now!”

Link gave a small smile but it quickly disappeared. Though it was a beautiful day, Link was already bored at the idea of sitting around. He walked out of the barn and looked around, noticing a little figure walking towards the ranch.

“Hey, isn’t that your little tot? I thought you said he wasn’t working today?” Fado asked, coming up from behind Link. Link shrugged and walked over to his son, whose head was hanging. When he got closer, Kori looked up and smiled at his father.

“What’s going on Kori? I thought you wanted to play?”

Kori shrugged. “Everyone is doing their chores today! They can’t play.”

Link frowned and patted his head. “Oh, I’m sorry Kori. They won’t be working all day though.”

“Yeah… but still…”

Link frowned and guilt started creeping in. He was hoping that he’d have a fun day, but he didn’t think about everyone else having to do their chores. He gave Kori a slight squeeze.

“Can I hang out with you until someone’s ready to play?” Kori asked.

“Of course, you can just watch me, you don’t need to work.”

“Thanks papa.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rest of the day was fun for Kori. His aunt, Rela, finished her chores relatively quickly, sothey played together until the sun began to set, and everyone started to return to their homes for supper. Kori looked up from the tadpoles he was playing with and saw his father walking to his grandparent’s house, arms full of different ingredients. Kori jumped up and started sprinting towards him.

“We’re eating at gramma’s house?” Kori called out as he nearly rammed into his father’s legs.

“Hey! Kori! The reek fish ain’t easy to get at this time of year!” His father warned, dodging his hyper son. “And yes, we’re eating at gramma’s house this year, she has better cooking supplies than me anyways.”

“Will Midna be here?” Rela came running up to the two of them. Kori’s father gave a nervous smile.

“I guess we’ll see!”

Kori frowned. “Mom should be here!”

His father only shrugged. “I don’t know when she comes kiddo, but I did tell her to try to make it today, so we’ll see.”

Rela looked at Kori who only shrugged. His mother was from a different world, and according to his father, she had to do very important things there, so she couldn’t stay in Ordon. Kori wished that she could stay here though. He missed her everyday that she wasn’t here. What was worse was that he never knew when she was coming, she could be there everyday, or she could be gone for weeks. So it was just a guessing game for them. But he hoped she would be here. She usually was on his birthday.

Kori was bouncing off the walls from excitement when supper came close to being ready. The family were all together inside except for grandpa Rusl, his father and gramma chatting about boring adult stuff while he and Rela were playing, and the smell of the pumpkin soup made him restless. When his father was finally done with the soup, Kori was right by his side, eyeing it as if it were his prey.

“Spirits above, Kori, don’t make me spill this,” his father warned, setting the soup gently on the table while Kori practically hung on him. Gramma Uli set a cake down next to the soup, and Kori began vibrating with excitement even more.

“Sweet Ordona, I think he’s about to explode!” Colin chuckled, walking over to the table to help set things up.

“Yeah, I think so too, and there’s gonna be an accident if he doesn’t calm down.” His father dragged Kori away from the table as he reached for the food, and the little twilian pouted at his father.

“I just wanna look at it,” he said, making his eyes as big as possible.

“Yeah sure ya do. You can’t look at it until everything’s ready though.”

“But whyyyyy,” Kori leaned towards the table while his father nonchalantly held him in place.

“Sweet spirits above kid, I’ve never seen anyone get this excited about food.”

“Oh, Link,” Gramma Uli started, giving Kori a smile, “what’s there not to be excited about? There’s soup and cake! Though I am sorry that the cake has no icing this year, Kori.”

“No, ma it’s a good thing. I think Kori would literally explode if there was.”

“No I wouldn’t!” Kori shouted, and the family all laughed. His father dragged Kori back over to where Rela was playing, and sat him down.

“Just stay there ‘till things are ready, ok Kori?” His father insisted, and Kori pouted again, glaring at his goat plushie Billy. He was ravenous now from the smell of the food, and it was driving him mad. The door opened and Kori saw grandpa Rusl enter the home, and he jumped up and rammed into his grandpa’s legs.

“Ow– good goddesses Kori!” His grandpa yelled out as he nearly stumbled to the ground. Kori only buried his face into his legs and gave him a tight hug.

“Papa isn’t letting me eat my fooooood,” he complained, his voice muffled in grandpa Rusl’s pants.

“Oh?” Rusl quickly recovered from nearly having his legs taken out and gave Link a smirk. “Well that’s not fair, it’s his birthday.”

“Supper is not ready yet, pa!” Kori’s father rebutted. “And the soup is piping hot! It’ll burn his li’l tongue off and he won’t be able to eat anything for the rest of his life!”

Kori gasped and looked up at Rusl in horror.

“Will it really?”

Rusl rolled his eyes. “No. I mean yes your tongue will burn but it’ll be fine after a day. Quit scarin’ your kid Link!”

Kori’s father only shrugged and returned to setting up dinner. Grandpa Rusl began to walk over to the kitchen where gramma Uli was, but Kori stopped him.

“Is my mommy here?” He asked, and Rusl paused, looking away.

“Oh… no I haven’t seen her just yet.”

Kori sighed sadly. “She’s always here for my birthday. Why isn’t she here?”

“Oh, come now kiddo, I’m sure she’s just late or something. I doubt she’ll miss today.”

Kori rested his head against Rusl’s leg. “I hope so.”

Rusl stood there for a moment, playing with Kori’s hair as if to comfort him, but he finally moved towards the table, which Kori found to be completely set up, with a beautiful plate of rolls added to it.

“Supper’s ready,” his father announced, and Kori’s worry over his mother disappeared as he ran to his seat, nearly tipping it over as he sat in it. “Sweet Ordona kid, would it kill you to slow down?”

Kori’s grandparents both chuckled as they sat down, and Rela hopped into her seat next to Kori. Colin sat down next to Link, which left one seat empty for his mother. Kori sighed.

“Well then, let’s give thanks,” Uli said, and the others around the table bowed their heads. “Thank you Goddess Din for the earth you created, so that we may have a warm home together. Thank you Goddess Farore for the life you blessed the earth with, so that we may have this very meal before us. And thank you Goddess Nayru, for the wisdom you gifted to us, so that we may be able to prepare this meal, and so that we may grow stronger everyday. Thank you.”

The others muttered a thanks and Kori quickly grabbed a roll, dunked it in his soup, and shoved it all in his mouth. He chewed happily as the others watched in shock.

“Wha’?” He asked with his mouth full. His father gave him a look.

“Reaching across the table like that is rude, Kori. And so is talking with your mouth full.”

“Oh it’s his birthday, let him be a little feral today,” grandpa Rusl said, grabbing a roll for himself and digging into the meal. Kori’s father rolled his eyes with an amused smile on his face, and Kori couldn’t help but giggle.

“Ok fine, I’ll give you today, Kori,” he said with a smile, and the rest of the family helped themselves to Kori’s birthday supper.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Link stared blankly at the empty seat beside him as everyone else ate. He finished rather quickly, an old habit he developed from his adventure, and all he could do was think about Midna. Her not being here worried him. She was a very stubborn person, and when she wanted to do something, she was going to do it, even if everyone else was against it. So there was no way that she would be missing Kori’s birthday, unless something happened. Link’s gaze was averted to Kori devouring his cake, and he rolled his eyes. Since when did he become such a messy eater?

“Kori, for Din’s sake slow down. I don’t want you to choke.”

Kori stopped for a moment and glared at him, gesturing aggressively at Link’s own bowl and plate.

“Hey, I know how to not choke on my food, alright?”

Kori rolled his eyes and Colin snorted.

“Remember the time you choked on a carrot—“

“Shut up Colin!”

The table erupted into laughter as everyone began making fun of Link.

“I told you to chew your food all the way, Link,” Rusl playfully poked Link’s arm as Link glared ahead, annoyed.

“Yeah, and yet he still couldn’t do that,” Colin joined in. “I had to try to get it outta you.”

Link shot Colin a smirk. “Yes, but if I remember correctly, your weak, noodly arms couldn’t do nothin’!”

“My arms weren’t weak and noodly! You’re just so dang thick!” Colin jabbed at Link’s ribs which caused him to yelp and flinch away, right into Rusl.

“Oi! Watch where you’re jumpin’, Link!” Rusl yelled and shoved Link back into his spot. The three of them erupted into loud laughter as they started to playfully shove and poke at each other, until Uli’s glare caught their eyes.

“Boys, not at the table,” she said in a low voice, and three men quickly calmed down and returned to eating.

“Geez, you guys are so annoying,” Rela grumbled, taking a sip of her water. Kori only giggled.

Link cleared his throat and kept his gaze low, and he glanced at Colin who was hiding his face.

“Colin started it,” he mumbled.

“I did not!”

“You did too.”

“Did not, you liar!”

“Boys!”

The two stopped as Uli glared at them, and they tried to hide their chuckling.

“Goddesses Link, your ten-year-old son is acting more mature than you are!”

Kori sat up straight and beamed at the praise, and Link couldn’t help but laugh. How embarrassing for him. The family returned to their more quiet supper when suddenly there came a knock to the door.

“I’ll get it!” Rela volunteered herself and hopped off her chair, jogging to the door. Link couldn’t help but be hopeful when Rela opened the door, but there was no one on the other side.

“Uh, what?” Colin muttered in a confused tone. Suddenly, a shadow jumped into the room, and Midna appeared in the middle.

“Hope you don’t mind me crashing this party?” She said in her sing-song voice, and Link couldn’t help but smile.

“MOMMY!” Kori yelled and rammed into her legs. Midna picked him up and showered him with kisses while he giggled.

“Midna! You’re here!” Rela exclaimed, and she hugged her legs. The rest of the family got up and greeted her, all happily chatting and giving her small hugs.

“I’m so sorry I’m late, I was… busy,” Midna explained, a strange look on her face when she said “busy”. Link brushed it off and walked up to her, and she pecked him on the lips. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Link smiled and kissed her back. Kori made a gagging sound and started to squirm out of Midna’s hold, and then two parents laughed.

“We saved you a seat, Midna!” Uli gestured to the chair next to Link’s. “I can warm up the soup so it’s nice and hot for you!”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that.”

“Of course I do! You’re a part of our family!”

Kori giggled and started to tug Midna towards the table.

“C’mon mommy! We can eat together!”

“Hold on now, Kori you’ve already eaten!” Link protested, but Uli and Midna gave him a look and he shut his mouth. Rusl chuckled and stood slightly behind Link, resting his hand on his shoulder.

“I was starting to get worried,” he muttered, quiet enough so that the ones at the table didn’t hear him.

“Yeah, me too,” Link sighed as he stared at Midna, a big smile on her face as she spoke with Kori. Rusl nudged him slightly towards the table.

“C’mon, let’s join them.”

#love at twilight #smiles writes #midlink #twilight princess #aaaaah #idk how I feel about this one. cant tell if I’m super tired rn #anyways I hope you like it #cant promise to update next month but I can try

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