Chapter Text
"..."
When Link woke up, he felt absolutely horrible, Goddess, he really ended up drinking himself to an early grave, didn't he? His head hurt like hell, his stomach churned as if multiple chemical reactions were all going off at the same time, in his fatigue and dizzy state, his eyes scanned the room for something, anything to throw his guts out into and not stress out Sidon more than he already is.
Immediately he spotted a bucket nearby, quickly crawling over to the container and began letting loose into it, barfing out the toxins in his system in hopes of eliviating the nausating sensation.
It worked. Somewhat.
"Gghhh..."
Sidon was the one who probably left the bucket for him bless his soul and yet, where was he? Usually the big red man himself was the one to help wake him up for their responsibilities of the day had Link accidentally slept in.
But where the Hell was he?
Did he smelled too much like beer? Link gave himself a sniff before immediately regretting it, he smelled like a dead Bokkoblin. Once more the disheveled hero of hyrule looked around to see any signs of Sidon, but nothing caught his sight. Perhaps the oh so important Zora King was needed elsewhere. Getting up, the Hylian leaned onto the walls for balance from the acidic residue pain in his stomach towards the bathroom, feeling absolutely disgusting and in desperate need to clean off all the grim on his body right about now. Afterwards, he'll probably be needed for the on-going millitary joint training-
OH FUCKING HELL IT'S TODAY ISN'T IT.
...
Sidon was already looking over the training conducted on both the Tethysian armies as well as his own, seeing the differences in their size, attack patterns as well as their strengths/weaknesses. A smile formed on his face, he could see the florishing military training within Triton's men, in battle they were incredibly disciplined and ready to act without hesitation. Scars littered their body, no different than the ones on his dearly beloved Hylian- er, not now.
He could tell these soldiers were incredibly skilled in combat, though he pride himself that his own soldiers were no pushovers, having trained them both himself before his eventual coronation. Since then, it was up to both Bazz and the love of his life Link to help train the next generation of soldiers. Speaking of Link...
The Zoran King turned his head when his ears picked up the familiar light boots footsteps coming over, Link running past him in order to get in position besides Captain Bazz' side to help watch over the soldiers. All he needed was a toast in his mouth to really complete the look.
Sighing, the Zora King figured it was time for Link to wake up early on his own, he's been getting too used to Sidon waking him up. Not that the Zoran minded before.
Though right now he needed some time away from the Hylian to clear his mind. Hopefully by then he will be able to keep up appearance for the last day of their military join training tomorrow.
...
*Clang*
*Shing*
*Slash*
Grunts, hollers of pain and shouts filled the air. Many soldiers were giving it their all when it came to showcasing their full prowess, both captains of the guards, Bazz and Link looked over the fruits of their labor, pride filling their heart while also both amazement and intrigue filled their minds following the different fighting styles the Tethysian Zoras specialized in.
Some fight with speed, some with honor, a few fight a tad dirty for Link's liking...
"Mmh, Con- I mean, Captain Link, what do you make of this?" Inquired Bazz, having to correct himself, remembering how much the Hylian hated being called that.
Though guilt did hit Link from the back, he appreciated the control but annoyed at himself for feeling as though people had to be careful when properly addressing him.
"It's fine, calling me Consort Link is... alright. And, I have to be honest, some of these styles are quite useful agaisnt monsters. Though honor is probably the last thing these guys might think about when out in a life-or-death situation."
"I agree, though I could see my Father's reaction had he trained these soldiers personally." Bazz chuckled, already imagining the angry expression his old man's face. "The pride of a Zora warrior is essential, something like that." The black Zoran tried speaking in a strict tone, looking over to Link's side who was letting out a joyous exhale. Seggin really was a piece of work, Link heard way too much stories regarding the ex-sergent of Zora Domain.
If he remembered correctly, he was given the nickname of 'the Demon Sergent', only Goddess Hylia would know how harsh that man was if not to his soldiers, let alone his own son.
"He may be ruthless in his disciplining, but he would taught us the basics and strict guidelines as soldiers of the domain, I did remembered the look of utter disdain on his face when he caught someone throwing sucker punches. How that sort of act would give us Zoras a bad nam-"
Bazz reminisced the times he had trained under his father's fin, looking over the other soldiers fighting with incredible precision before all of a sudden, he took notice of a Tethysian Zoran soldier overpowering an orange Hyrulean Zoran with relative ease, the other was not letting up. Link recognized that Zora, it was the one who was overtly excited to train with him.
"Juke's not doing too good..."
Both captains marched over to see the fight go down, Juke, despite being a newbie soldier was trying to keep up but the Tethysian soldier was simply too skilled and absolutely punched him down. Despite the bruising, the foolish young Zoran still did not tapped out.
"Juke! You're in no shape to fight anymore! Stand down!" Bazz barked out his order, only to fall on deaf ears by the young Zoran. Once again Juke tried to parry an attack from the Tethysian only to have done it too little too late, causing Juke to get smacked right in the jaw by his opponent, making Bazz see red.
That was playing dirty!
Before the Tethysian could do anymore damage, Bazz blocked his path by holding out his spear, protecting the badly injured Juke. Link immediately rushed over to grab the orange soldier and called out to one of the healers.
"Pathetic, in our culture, a REAL training match is only over once the other opponent blacks out."
Upon hearing such utter nonsense, Bazz calmed himself down internally before he looked dead in the eye upon the very Zoran who almost beat the life out of his men, readying his own spear.
"What you did was anything BUT training, what you did was a breach to our code."
The arrogant Zoran simply gave his neck a few cracks before spitting on the ground, as if to show defiance.
"Just because I'm training here doesn't mean I have to answer to YOUR laws." The Zoran then readied his weapon, a giant Zoran styled Greatsword.
"Mmh, then allow me to be your next opponent." Bazz took the battlefield agaisnt the Zoran, thought unsbeknowing to him, a few soldiers saw the scuffle and immediately came over to watch.
The two Zoran soldiers, one from Tethysia and the other, the Guard Captain of Zora Domain, both were preparing to strike.
The first to make a move was none other than the Tethysian Zora, striking down his greatsword with great ease, thankfully Bazz was quick enough to dodge the incoming attack, he then followed it up with smacking the side of the Tethysian with the back of his spear. Grunting, the bigger Zora came swinging his weapon like a top, trying to slash right through Bazz's armor.
Remembering his own training, Bazz was able to parry the weapon exactly on time with his spear with quick precision, side-stepping from the moving top of doom before using his own spear to pole jump over the Zoran, hitting the side of his spear up agaisnt the Tethysian's helmet, forcing him to stop and become dazed.
"Ghh, you little-" trying to shake off the daze, the Tethysian tried to slam down his greatsword onto Bazz but due to his focus being greatly affected, the black Zoran easily disarmed the Tethysian Zora, his greatsword falling onto the hard ground, clattering as the Zora Captain was crowned the victor, the crowd of Zoras who gathered around to see the fight erupted in a loud cheer, with some Tethysian Zoras acknowledging Bazz's skills while some were in disbelief that one of their own was defeated by the more 'peace-loving' Zorans.
The Tethysian Zora who lost to Bazz was in disbelief, unable to comprehend that HE lost to someone more smaller and weaker than him. Has his strength failed him? He could not recall if ANY of his attacks even hit the man. Walking calmly over to the Tethysian, Bazz spoke. "In the future, we will fight side-by-side agaisnt a common foe, so do not forget that we are allies at the end of the day." The Zoran Captain then turned his back, returning to position.
Frustrated, humiliated and utterly disgusted by Bazz' words, as if he was talked down upon like a weakling, the Tethysian immediately rushed forward to Bazz from behind, readying his claws to strike him with a sneak attack.
Though before Bazz could react, Link came in at the last minute, parrying the Tethysian's claw attack with his Hylian Shield, protecting the Zoran Captain from the attack.
"Piece of fucking SHIT! You're not even a Zora, get the Hell out of the way-" The enraged Tethysian was subdued by his own fellow men as they dragged him away with one profusely apologizing to both Link and Bazz before running off to keep an eye on the arrogant Tethysian.
"Phew, thanks, Link. You saved my hide... oh!" Upon closer inspection, Bazz noticed Link had a particularly nasty gnash left on his shoulder, blood slowly trinkling before he quickly covered it up with one hand.
"I'll heal it off with an elixir. It's fine, really. " When Link looked over towards Sidon's direction, he saw Sidon with his back turned talking over to Triton, seemingly amicably, thankfully he did not saw. The last thing the Hylian wanted was to cause more worry for the Zoran.
Oh, now that he thought about it... during his drunken stupor sleeping on bed, he did remembered feeling held tightly, almost crushing him. When he tried calling out, the man did not answer at all. It did felt strange, usually the Zoran King would gladly reply whenever Link called out, and it was just the two of them so... what else could have taken space within his mind that night? Sighing, the Hylian made his way over to the public kitchen, hopefully able to do so without drawing too much attention.
...
Gulping down to the last drop, Link grimaced, he never did got used to the taste of these elixirs. The monster parts do have that bitter aftertaste. At the very least he felt the healing effects already so that problem was done with. Slumped in his sear, the Hylian pinched the bridge of his nose as his mind wandered back to the training incident.
Honestly, despite the dangerous event that took place, Link was just glad Juke was saved and Bazz is fine. That Tethysian really was a dangerous fellow, and then, his last words lingered. Were the cultures of their warrior lifestyle truly that merciless? Or perhaps it was simply that one particular Zora's only. Even then Link knew he cannot chalk it all up to a whole kingdom, for all he knows there could be different tribes, different beliefs and customs where different Tethysians, if they even wish to be called so would practice different kinds of methods when it came to the art of fighting.
Of course, it would be best to clear things up regarding these with General Triton should Link meet up with him again, if going by the track record so far of their frequent run ins with one another, he doubts it'd take that long.
Though the last time he remembered was getting absolutely hammered with the general... Goddess, hopefully he had not made a mockery of himself.
... now then, what is Link to do? Oh! Since the training session is having their own little break, Link could ask Sidon if the both of them could talk and hopefully hash things out finally.
"My apologies, Consort Link, but the King is busy having a discussion with General Triton."
Well shit.
Link begged Laflat if perhaps he could at least stand by his side as his support but the Royal Advisor had repeatedly declined, stating how important this meeting was and how King Sidon's words were law. Well, so much for that plan, perhaps he could at the very least ask around if Sidon is doing fine.
Link went to Bazz first and foremost, being a close friend of Sidon and all. However, the soldier simply stated that he himself was simply far too busy keeping track of the training to notice anything off with the King. This is going absolutely swimmingly.
Finally the Hylian decided to go and ask with the Queen herself. In all honesty, a pit had started to form within his stomach, causing the usual gluttonous hero to not feel hungry at all. Hell, did he even ate breakfast that day? How could he when there is a chance Sidon is hiding something from him and he could not help with his dilemma at all? Should he wait until the Tethysians return home back to their kingfom for him to finally confront his partner?
No, he needs to do it now or else it will no doubt trickle forth a domino affect of problems in the future. Running back into the castle with a semi healed shoulder wound, Link went straight towards Yona's room and knocked on her door.
*Knock knock*
... no answer, if not in her room then where could she possibly be? Yona wasn't at the throne room either, he had made sure of that beforehand. If he remembered correctly, when she first arrived to the domain, she was accompanied by two of her helpers. And so he bolted across the castle hallways. No doubt if he could find one of them then surely he could find her and then ask the Queen if Sidon had told her anything that he had not told Link or even worst, kept it away from him.
*step, step, step, step *
*step, step*
.
.
*step*
Slowing down, Link stopped in his tracks. All of this felt like a pointless endeavor. Everyone... everyone at this very moment must be in an immense amount of stress and not to mention busy in keeping the strengthening ties of both Zora Domain and a whole foreign kingdom strong and here Link was running around to even get a sliver of intel regarding his own lover's thoughts from everyone else BUT the actual one who matters. Goddess. Even so, some hints would have been helpful... no, he cannot outside parties into this.
He has to handle it all himself.