Darunia carrying little Link enter Goron City followed by Link. As they walked to Darunia's room, Link told the Goron Patriarch why he needed to know about the ¨Sworn Brothers Ritual¨. Darunia sighed and began to share how the ritual is performed.
LINK POV
*This dangerously reassembles the beginning of a cheap cult movie*
It kind of does… I mean, you have to fill a cup with your blood for the other person to drink it, and I have to drink his blood too. It DOES sound like a cult ritual. But that is ok, I don't mind turning into a vampire for them.
*That is you, but what about them? the 3 of you have to discuss this first just in case*
I will tell them, but I don't think they would mind either.
"Up until now, everything sounds doable. But I would like to perform the ritual between 3 people… could it be done? Or does it strictly have to be between 2 people"
Darunia contemplates the question rubbing his chin. "It could be done, just not at different times, it would have to be the three of you at the same time… but why would you want to do that?"
"What do you mean?... what are you not telling me?"
Darunia sighs "Look, the ritual is not a joy ride, it must be performed with someone who you absolutely trust. By Hylian law, if your sworn brother where to commit a crime, he has to pay the price for the crime, and so will you. If he dies, the upkeep of his state is now YOUR responsibility, along with supporting his family if any. If he did something heinous and is condemned to die for it…"
"I would have to die too…" Link says with an air of doom.
Darunia opens his mouth wide and frowns at Link "WHAT NO, OF COURSE NOT, that is where we draw the line… Well, kind of. If your delinquent brother ran away and we could not find him within a week, its expected of you to honorably offer to die in his place. Since somebody has to die you know"
What the… HAHAHAHAHAHA. I wonder what situation made my King perform this ritual with Darunia. What where these two trying to get away with?
The Goron Patriarch grunts before folding his arms "I understand if you still want to do this, but with two people? That only doubles the risk for you"
Link smiles "And I am ok with that, I will tell them too but I assure you, they won't mind. This is going to happen Darunia... So, where is it performed?"
Darunia exhales deeply "You trust them that much?"
"With my life… you just need to meet them to understand Patriarch, both of them are just like me"
"I will have to take your word on that… The ritual is performed on the entrance of the Fire Temple, you tell me the day you want it to be performed. Volvagia and myself will clear the place of nuisances for that occasion"
"Thank you"
ZELDA POV
The Princess left hell, her mind repeating again and again what Link wrote. Her brothers may be able to come and even live here in Hyrule. But they needed the Kingdom's approval first. She reached the stairs and turned back, then screamed to empower herself and rushed down the stairs.
I fucking need to speak with my King, but what do I tell him? ¨Daddy please let two unknown boys from the Quantum world enter Hyrule?¨
I can´t tell him that, he will rip me to pieces… I would rip myself to pieces. I should start explaining from the beginning, but which beginning?
Zelda approaches the throne room, but nervously stops in front of it. She was about to turn back, but then she starts hearing in her mind Link's confident voice saying: [If anyone can convince him, it's you]. So, the Princess breaths in deeply as she pushes the doors open.
Claire raises her head to get a glimpse of the newcomer "Zelda? I… we were not expecting you." the Queen states a little confused.
What is mom doing here? I thought she had something important to do early in the morning… it's not early right now, is it? Well, she was going to find out eventually so…
"Hi, I… needed to talk to my King, but I am glad you are also here" Zelda says referring to Claire "Saves time and energy." Sighs "Could we seal the doors close? We need privacy for what I want to say… it may also take some time, if you rather do this another day just-"
"Nonsense" Daphnes states and motions for the knights inside the room to exit, and to not allow entrance from anyone.
Well, here goes nothing.
"I wanted to talk about my experience out of Hyrule with Raziel. Not going to complain at all, it was amazing... we had to find and confirm possible blood donors for him"
"Blood donors, for Link? Don't they HAVE to be family for that?" asks the Queen.
Zelda smirks "Actually no, the Quantum world is full of technological advances, they have developed microscopes" the Princess tries to remember that one class she had where they examined an onion skin "That instrument works using powerful magnifying lenses… turns out, the blood needs to match on certain things for de body to accept the donation, and they use the microscope to ensure the procedure is a success. It could be performed by family members or not." She giggles "certainly is more provable for family members to be a match but a complete stranger could also be a match"
Both royals stare at the Princess socked, as they start digesting the information. The King's semblance turns to amazement, but the Queen remained doubtful.
"So… did my son found a match?" the King asks.
Zelda smiles "We actually found 2"
Claire lifting an eyebrow "WE?"
"YES… I played an important role on this, all three of them smell alike, I found them before Link did himself." Zelda giggles.
And this is when we start lowering his defenses.
Zelda clears her throat before continuing "Link told me to ask you once again, is there medical certainty that I am not your daughter?" she asks pointing at her nose and then at the King's wrinkling her own.
Daphnes understood what the Princess just implied... that she has to be his daughter since she inherited his powerful sense of smell. His eyes started glistening before he erupted in a thunderous laughter, accompanied by Claire's giggles.
First shot landed perfectly, now let's throw the bomb.
"Before I continue, I must ask… why don't you use the name Derrick anymore?"
The King freezes and peels his eyes wide at Zelda's statement. "How do you know my name?"
"Oh, you were hiding it? Why? It sounds cool… Daphnes Derrick Nohansen. I LOVE IT"
The King lowers his gaze, his cheeks tuning red. "I… find my name to be disgracefully similar to Bardick, I don't want any of you to associate me with that man"
Zelda rolls her eyes "Bardick is Bardick, and Derrick is Derrick. And I LOVE DERRICK… I hope he loves me too." The Princess looks away in shame.
THERE… it's all I have; I only wish for this to be enough.
Derrick hides his face between his hands, exhales loudly and starts to bring both of his hands down "I may start using my second name then"
Zelda smiles at him, the Queen is overjoyed by the playout of this. The Princess clears her throat and continues.
"Getting back on track. Once I found the donors, I got to meet them, both of them are strong, astute and dependable young men. If you like Raziel you are going to love these boys."
Queen Claire suddenly stands up "Hold it girl, we are NOT going to meet them… how could we?"
"If you allowed them entrance you could" Zelda says tilting her head.
"But of course we won't do something so stupid" The Queen says rolling her eyes.
"I wouldn't call it stupid mom… the blood similarity they share with Link is such, that if they lied and claim to be brothers, no medical exam would be able to prove them wrong. So, they took the liberty to bond with me as if I were their sister. You know, since I am Link's sister by adoption, that makes me their sister too. They immediately jumped on the brother train and adopted me"
The Queen rolling her eyes "And?"
"We fought, we laughed, we did mischief, and we put our heads together to solve problems… It was the best time of my life" she pauses before staring directly at the Queen "Don't take that away from me" Zelda pleads.
The Queen sighs and starts rubbing her temples "COME ON, you played with them a little but THAT IS IT. They are not your brothers"
Zelda looks at the Queen irate, flashes a quick glance at the King before speaking "Don't force me to say something that you really don't want me to say"
The Queen stared back at her daughter puzzled. But the King immediately understood the Princess. He knows that you don't have to share blood with someone to form a deep bond with them. Like the one he formed with Zelda and Raziel. If he found it easy to love and respect both of them, of course his daughter and son could forge a brotherly bond with these complete strangers.
And the best part was, that these lads somehow shared Link's blood… a blessing he unfortunately won't ever have, but Raziel was lucky enough to have it. Knowing that, and seeing the Princess fighting for them made the King a little jealous. The Princess caring for someone else was a miracle in itself, Daphnes wanted to comply with her demands but… how?
"I can't adopt them" the King exclaimed.
For Nayru's love, I fucking got him.
The Princess giggles "You don't have to… just recognize them as Hylians" she proceeds to clear her throat "let me suggest how… allow them at the border to perform a blood transfusion with your son"
"Are you suggesting...? Raziel could die" The Queen exclaims exasperated.
"Link is more than willing to bleed for this cause, allow his sacrifice. Once my brothers save him with a blood donation, nobody would dare to claim they are not family, and since they will be recognized as such, they will become Hylian by default"
The King produces half a smile "It's not that simple… even with witnesses, my people would still not trust them. Don't underestimate how hard the Hylians can make your life just because of lack of trust"
"But... to kind of solve that, they could perform the Sworn Brother's Ritual, that would immediately place the blame on the Prince if these lads where to act against us…" adds Claire still pissed.
And I though my mother was my most fierce adversary… I mean, she has been all my life. But apparently, she is also very reasonable. And if the data suggest that she may be wrong, she can perfectly shift her view point… I think I kind of admire her for that.
"But that would make YOUR SON" Claire says directly at Derrick "responsible if these lads ever misbehave… but I shouldn't worry about that, right?" The Queen says now staring at Zelda "You claim to completely trust them, or am I putting words in your mouth?" Claire says defiant glaring at her daughter.
She is giving in… but she is letting me know that she is not completely on board. That is ok, I am sure my brothers will win her over somehow.
"I stand by what I said… and I can assure that if Raziel is not here with me this moment, is because he is already preparing the ground with Darunia for the ritual… I just need your signed permission to start with all this" Zelda says that last part looking up at Daphnes with puppy eyes.
The King retains his stoic semblance "Give me a few days to think about this, I will like to verify the data you are confidently exposing here before making a decision."
Damn. But I guess this is reasonable… a few days he said, THAT IS TOO INACURATE, IT COULD MEAN 2 days, OR A MONTH. I must be demanding and shorten the time.
"3 days, if by the 3rd day I have not been informed about your decision on this, I will come back" Zelda warns them.
The King grants her half a smile and nods.
LINK POV
I think I will leave this here with a note.
The Prince places a big enough cage for a squirrel in Nana's kitchen, the cage came with a nice pouch for said squirrel to sleep in and to travel. He chooses to leave it in Nana's kitchen for now, since he didn't want to enter the maids quarters. Nana looks at the cage puzzled.
"What is that for? I can't fit it here or with me, it would be unsanitary"
"Don't worry, it's a present for Chacha, I am guessing she knows where she can place it"
"I hope since she can't use the maids quarters either, the other girls would not be pleased with making the area more crowded."
They all sleep together? she doesn't have a room of her own? then, how was she planning to keep the rodent?
Chacha enters the kitchen and stares at Link then at the cage "Oh, A PRESENT FROM THE PRINCE!!!" she yells.
The maid rushes to examine the cage smiling. The sound of heels is heard approaching fast.
That is got to be Zelda, I hope she has an idea on how to approach the subject of my brothers with her father.
Zelda enters the kitchen and notices the cage immediately, she gazes at it in awe and merriment, but then turns to look at Ziel in anger.
She starts whispering "Not fair, I obviously have not had the time to look for the…"
The Princess goes quiet as she sees Link pull out of his tunic a sleepy rodent and hands it to her with a paper slip that read: 50 rupees. He winking at her as she gets rid of the paper mouthing ¨Thank you, I will pay you back¨. Then turns to Chacha.
"Hey… I think somebody wants to meet you" the Princess says holding the already awake squirrel.
"This is no joke, right?" the maid asks already holding the rodent "THANK YOU… you have to name it, What is it? A boy or a girl?" Chacha asks.
Zelda stares briefly at Link, he mouths ¨BOY¨
"Its a male squirrel… I am not sure about me giving it a name though, I am not the owner"
The Prince chuckles "Why not? It would not be the first name you have given, I believe you are good at it" Link says crossing his arms and mouthing ¨Choir voice, Ziel, Zid, Milkshake¨ Zelda smiles sheepishly at that.
Ziel then speaks to Chacha "Where are you going to keep it?"
Chacha sighs "Pepe is going to keep it since he does have a room, I will have to go every day to play with it and feed it. José claims to not mind my presence every day come sunset. It will be awkward at first but… I trust him. He has changed a lot" turns back to Zelda "still waiting for a name"
Wow… José has changed that much already? that is so fucking good, he just needed to feel trusted and depended on.
Zelda looks down at the floor, then at Nana who smiles at her supportively. And finally looks at the squirrel being feed a nut by Link.
"Nuthaniel…"
Nana laughs loudly at the name, Chacha smiles and nods happily as she starts chanting the name over and over. Link smiles.
You didn't disappoint my Princess; the name is PERFECT.