Chapter Text
The snow padded and the ground crunched under Link's boots. The lake was frozen, and snow fell in flakes on the forever-capped Hebra mountain. Under his Rito-approved clothes, his body was warm. Link covered his nose with his gloved hands and puffed into them, but he couldn't do much for his ears.
That's when Link heard it. Through the snow, through his footsteps, through his breathing. A cry. A small cry.
His eyes darted around, but nothing could be seen. Up ahead, he saw a crate. Link put the tip of his torch into the snow to snuff the flame and reached for his sword. Crates meant life, not always good.
The cry stopped as he inched forward. He pushed the top open and gasped—a baby.
No bigger than a newborn, dressed in a tiny dark blue onesie with a Hylain crest and itty bitty socks on its itty bitty feet.
The baby's nose was red and didn't look so good. Its eyes were closed as if it sensed Link- or warmth- it belted a cry louder than Link ever heard.
"Shh, shh," Link whispered.
Link looked around but didn't have the time to ask the snow who left the baby. He opened his shirt and slid the baby in as if he were stealing bananas from the Ygia. He tied the blanket around and under the baby to his body. The baby hadn't stopped crying. It was so cold.
Link held the baby close and wondered who was so evil to leave the baby in the snow. He could cry. It was so small.
Link pulled out his Sheikah Slate. They were going somewhere warm. He looked in his shirt at the baby, calming.
He tapped it and pulled up the map. Thank Hylia for the shrines calling the Slate home. He could protect a baby from weeks of attacking Bokobins and whatever the hell else was out there, but the baby needed medical attention and the warmth of a fire- it needed Zelda's wisdom.
He pressed the recall of the Myahm Agana Shrine, reattached his slate, and held the baby.
Link loved the recall feature. He felt how easy it felt on his joints. It made him feel like he could sleep.
The baby was no longer crying when Link's feet touched the ground, but he was still careful to find the quickest route to home without shaking it.
Link shoved the door to his home open. Zelda hopped up from her desk. The fire made the house toasty.
"Link! I didn't expect you home for another three weeks!"
He pulled off the blanket and shirt with one hand, and the other held the baby. The baby was already looking better.
It.... No, she. She was fast asleep, and the color was evening out. Now that Link could see, he noticed that the baby had tuffs of red hair curling up on the ends and slightly pointed ears. Was she Gerudo?
"Link, where did you find the baby?"
"M-o-u-n-t-a-i-n-s... A-b-a-n-d-o-n-e-d..."
Zelda gasped. "Who could abandon this cutie? Does she have a name?"
Link shrugged and looked the baby over—no bracelet or name tag or anything except on her foot. The Link caught something.
The word, a name, is written in delicate Hylain text on her foot.
"Malon."
It was the night after Link found Malon and brought her home from the mountains. A notice was sent to every village that a baby had been found, but as Link tossed and turned in his bag on the floor next to the bed where Zelda and the baby slept, he wasn't sure if anyone would claim the baby, even if the Hyrule laws on Child Endangerment were lax.
Link looked out the window. The moon was low. Dawn was going to break soon. He wouldn't get sleep, and there wasn't a point in lying here. He got up and made his way downstairs.
He had bought the home for 3,000 rupees, the cheapest house on the market in a long time, but she took it over once Zelda had been rescued. She moved in and made it feel more homely. Though technically they weren't together, it was easier to watch over Zelda while they were living in the same house.
Now, instead of just a bed and weapon cases, there was a large drawing desk, a table, chairs, and a bookshelf. The desk was a mess with paper, books, writing utensils, and a single flower in a pot- a Silent Princess.
Link smiled. This was home. The familiarity was comforting. He stepped outside and waved to the horses as he went into the shed to grab food.
When he returned to the cooking pot, he sat and started to cook. Though a process that didn't take long, he needed to think.
His main thought was, "What was going to happen?" It wasn't like other people; they had nine months to prepare. He had zero time.
This wasn't how Link thought he would become a father, even a temporary one. Wait... What if this were permanent? What if they couldn't find anyone to take Malon? It wasn't like he could knock on everyone's door and ask if they wanted a newborn. If anything had been proved yesterday, Zelda would have already been attached. Could her heart even handle giving Malon up, even to her birth parents? Well, Link thought, she was the princess. She could keep her over official order.
What about him? He had been alive for 18 years; life had never been about him. He couldn't just run away. Zelda needed him; Malon needed him.
Link stared at the eggs cooking. He felt like he was going to cry. Not because he wanted to run away, but because he wasn't one to run away. He was here, scared, like all parents; he knew he would be brave.
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For Hyila's sake, babies were hard. When Malon woke, Link heard her cries from outside. He raced inside and up the stairs to get her, but Zelda was already changing her cloth diaper. "I don't care where you take this, just burn it," were Zelda's only words. She looked tired. Link looked confused because Zelda said," I wasn't sleeping. They are like time bombs. The most gentle of rustles can wake them."
"You… Sleep," Link signed back as he took the baby.
"But I have to see if anyone has claimed her yet."
"I will let you know. Sleep."
Zelda fell back onto the bed and began snoring. Link donned his blue tunic, sword, shield, and baby.
As it had turned out, Link was right so far. Nobody had asked for her return. He sighed but wasn't sure if that was relief or annoyance. This baby was beautiful, and anyone would be lucky to have her. She was quiet, too.
Good baby.
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It was destined thousands, if not millions, of years ago, and it was decreed that every female born into the royal family was named Zelda to carry on the tradition of aiding the hero of Hyrule. Malon was not born to the royal family, but Link couldn't shake the feeling that she was more than just an unclaimed child of the mountains.
Hyrule Castle was in the stages of being rebuilt, but underneath, it held a dark secret. According to the legend, the Temple of Time was where Ganon was sealed, but, like most legends, it was only partly true. The first male of the Guerudo in a hundred years was sealed under Hyrule.
Link didn't like to dwell on that, as another part didn't make sense. It had been over a century. Was the next Ganon to be born soon? Had it already happened?
He couldn't dwell on this. He had his kid to worry about. Malon was growing quickly. Malon was increasing at a record pace. They didn't have a birthday for her, but in two months, she had gone from scrunching up her legs to running around about the size of a toddler. People say that the toddler years shouldn't be that bad if you have a fussy baby. If that was true, Malon should have been the calmest toddler.
He could slow down; he could run for miles. People said family was all you needed, but Link felt like he would have a breakdown. He supposed that just because he could take on the Demon King didn't mean that being a father was easy. It was simpler when his mind was clear, but it was too bad it wasn't. It never was.
Malon was one and a little bit, and Link had more or less become a stay-at-home father. Zelda had duties to do and brought bread home. It was driving him crazy, so when Zelda wanted to explore the castle's basements, he was all in for it.