Chapter Text
It’s been a long time since you had last even seen Link, but you had accepted that nothing but those last few days together were going to be the only things that tied you to him along with the pains of the aching in your chest each time you would think about him until it inevitably lead you to tears.
You missed him. Dearly so, but he hadn’t come by the village once to visit in the months following his departure, so it wasn’t long after you did the same, opting for adventure and camping when rupees grew scarce. It was a little lonely, each lone night spent waiting for something to happen making you grow weary with the silence of a crackling fire.
You didn’t even care about what the future held, no longer holding onto Link's words about what fate had to bring after that night spent together. You just wanted to see him again… even if only once.
Your condition worsened, your mind and body spiraling into negativity, but when you went to the nearest village to have yourself checked, the news that followed were given with a congratulatory smile from the physician in the warmly candlelit room.
“Seems to me that you’re pregnant.” He goes. “Your body is simply adjusting to the new experience.” Then he pauses to look at you, a little more serious. “If I'm assuming correctly, of course. I only say this as most women who’ve had children already in the past tend to know almost immediately. Is this your first pregnancy?” He questions, but your heart is hammering to the point it’s close to having a new home in your throat.
“Children? I-i’m having…” is this what Link meant about your body making the decision?
The physician smiles, still seated on the highchair adjacent to the bed he asked you to sit on. “That seems to be the case, yes. If I may, do you live somewhere near here or are you traveling with someone? I don’t believe I've ever seen you here before.”
The news still sits heavy on your heart. Children. You could probably burst into tears and laughter all at once, but you let your lips settle themselves in a wide smile, feeling livelier by the minute in comparison to those troubling past few days and weeks alone with your thoughts as you lean forward with newfound eagerness to process the others words. Then, just as quickly, you shake your head.
“I’m alone. I came from a village in the desert before going towards Mount Lanayru. I’ve just- felt more comfortable finding the road to be more hospitable for the night.” You explain, but upon remembering your promise to Link, you don’t breathe a word about him having been with you. Still, that was the direction he said he was going when you first met, and that was where you’d hoped you’d…
The physician perks up, but not the kind that warranted more good news. He looked more worried now. “If that’s the case, I’m afraid I'll have to advise you to pause your journey. Wild terrain and uninhabited spots of forests, deserts, and valleys are dangerous if you plan to carry your child until birth, and also too difficult as your body will continue to grow and change through the term.”
Your shoulders slump just a little at this, the thought of the meeting link becoming slimmer by the second. “A-and how long does that take?”
He gives you a look. “Until your child's birth?” he asks, and you nod your head in affirmation. He stands from his chair before presenting his hands as he bends slightly to the side. “May I?” He asks, assuming you knew what it was he wanted to do, but since this was so new and any information regarding the life of a newborn, you were stumped on what it was he wanted. Still, you nodded with a slight lean back at his close proximity.
He takes this as your cooperation as he urges you to lie down before lifting your shirt and begins pressing onto your stomach. You only watch with rapt attention as your skin is being sinked in and feeling the way it seems to grow firmer from the inside the further down he pressed.
“When was your last flewsa?” he questions and you're surprised at yourself for how you’ve missed such an important part of your life, not expecting it was an effect of pregnancy.
“Three months… maybe.” roughly just before meeting Link.
“In that case, if all goes well, I say you have six or seven more to go before you’ll go into labor.” he retracts his hand and pulls down your shirt back over your stomach. Six months? You look down at your stomach where he was just touching. And… in here?
Placing a hand over it, you feel your mind begin to swim, all of the unknowns almost overpowering your joy of such good news. Almost, so the tears that begin to gather at your wrinkled eyelids flowed freely down your cheeks at the future ahead. It’s all you need to be happy.
The physician puts a hand on your shoulder, comforting, to make you look at him.
“I know this may be a lot, but if you’d like, if your village is too far to travel back in time, I can offer for a place to stay until the birth of the child. My mother would be delighted to have some company, should you accept.” He says, not mentioning the fact that you said you were alone again now that the tears were already on the works. He didn’t want to make it worse.
He didn’t know what your circumstances were, after all, so after a few more moments of conversing of what the future will look like, you agreed to stay until you didn’t need to any longer.
The months leading to the birth of your child were a lot, especially for someone that was a stranger to the pains and changes your body seemed adept to freely go through without rhyme or reason. The woman you stayed with, a mother and an elder with the patience of low tide even in the pull of a full moon, made sure to tell you everything that was going on as you panicked and paced about her house or locked in a frenzy.
When you learned about the possibilities that you might even lose the child, it was all out of desperation of not wanting to have anything go wrong. The physician had been scolded harshly by his mother on that day, but she turned around and told you, in gentler words, that while it was possible, you were doing just fine. You cried hard that day as she consoled you.
You didn’t want to lose the only connection you had left to Link. She wasn’t even here, cradled in your arms yet as she continued to grow in the safety of your warm and able body, but you loved her too much already.
When the day came that you seemed to finally- and quite literally- pop, everything was worth the pain you endured as you pushed. The blood, the tearing, the screams ripped from your chest as you held onto dear life, the moment you heard the familiar cries of a babe, you felt accomplished. You finally, finally had what you’ve been wanting, and you didn’t care that she was covered in blood and slime as you watched the physician clean her red, wrinkly, skin. With baited breath and drooping eyes, you lifted your shaking arms in reach for her, and he passed the babe to you after having cut and tied the umbilical cord that would later scar into a healthy belly button.
“Here.” He whispered among the whines of a squirming baby, and he lowered himself enough to let your child be gently placed in the cradle of your arms and chest, laid bare after being asked to do so for the sake of skinship.
The intimacy of it all was so much different then you would have imagined. It was painful and bloody, your body broken and misshapen as it begged you for rest, not at all like the imagined tales of praying to an almighty god for blessings and receiving them with a halo of golden light. Still,this was one of the best moments of your entire life, and you’re sure there would be more to come.
“He’s beautiful. You did wonderfully, my dear.” The elder woman says, coming to the physicians- her sons- side, but her words bring a slightly confused furrow to your brow.
“He?” you say, and when you go to look down to confirm this, you could only see the babe’s behind. Still, it had to be wrong. Gerudo women only brought home girls.
“Yes. I know you’ve always only mentioned girls' names, but I hope this little one won’t disappoint you.” There's humor in her tone, but you're left staring at the baby, lying on your chest and clutching at whatever his hands seemed to be able to reach and tug with whined protests at the cold.
Wanting to get a better look yourself, you adjust him until he’s lying face up, still covered as best your arms could manage to block the chill of the room, and see for yourself that the woman's words were true. Looking at the babys face, there was no real distinct feature that you could pick apart from a group of babies, still too new for the world to be his own singular existence, but your heart clenched nonetheless.
If you went back to your village, the elders, and even the rest of the inhabitants, would surely take him and raise him a monster for them to kill or banish.
Then, his eyes opened, barely a peek of the eyelids, and your world crumbled to pieces. They were blue, just like Links, and brimming with tears of a life that had yet been lived through already.
“ Oh, Link.” You cried, barely a whisper as it was whisted out of you through the cracks of your heart, but you brought your little boy that much closer to bring your lips to his forehead, soft and warm. Tears dripped onto the baby's skin, and you shook with both joy and longing for a person that seemed so far away, that gave you this precious gift.
You’ll be sure to treasure every moment spent together.