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One sick Link is manageable. Two sick Links is a bit of a hassle but still manageable. Three sick Links is troublesome. Four sick Links is a travesty. Five sick Links is the Gods playing some kind of joke on the heroes.
Legend, Four, Wind, Warriors, and Twilight were all sick. Some kind of cold or flu that they picked up probably from being in stranded on some snowy mountains from some in-between era to being shoved into East Necluda of Wild's Hyrule during monsoon season. Honestly, it's more impressive that not all the heroes got sick, nor that they were stopped or slowed by any sudden attacks while searching for a safe place for the ill heroes to rest. No one voiced this aloud, of course, because the Gods are probably still having a laugh and saying anything would only make them want to take the joke further.
It wasn't a great shelter, the run down, abandoned shack they found in some field in some Hyrule (not his own anymore, which the other Links had cheered about before collapsing in a heap of sickness), but it had a roof and enough space for everyone to lie out their bedrolls, and that was more than they've had in a while so no complaints there. And it allowed for the sick to all rest semi-peacefully with little risk of monsters or bad weather making them feel even worse.
The first thing that Wild did after they set up camp was pull out his pot, the deeper one specifically used for soup, and set up his cooking station outside. He dug through his slate, pulling out a whole bird from it, and placed it in the pot, followed by peppercorns, a pinch of salt, a laurel leaf, and a couple of sunshrooms. He dumps all the water from his waterskin, luckily just covering the bird meat all the way, which he then hands to Sky and asks him to refill it for him. While Sky is away, Wild places the pot over the fire, then pulls out ginger, two heads of garlic, and three onion bulbs from his slate, starting to peel and chop them and tossing most of the scraps inside the pot with the bird. He pours about a quarter more water into the pot when Sky returns with his newly-filled waterskin.
"Making dinner already, Champion?" Time asks as he walked out of the shack. "It's quite early, isn't it?"
The Old Man wasn't wrong (of course he wasn't. It was Time for Hylia's sake) as they had lunch not that long ago, and the sun wasn't anywhere near setting. But he had a reason for what he was doing.
"I'm just making a stock for the soup later, but it'll take a while. Plus, I'm making a different dish for the sick so I'll need more cooking time."
Time simply hummed in understanding, walking off to stretch his legs or something, allowing Wild to return to his chopping and peeling, skimming off the scum every so often to keep the broth as clean as possible (difficult, given he was only using a spoon, but whatever).
An hour later, the broth was finished, and Wild fished out another pot and a strainer to separate the stock from the solids, letting them drip out as much as possible. He pulls the bird from the strainer and carefully plops it onto his cutting board, waving his arms out right after to cool his burnt fingers, then does the same with the sun shrooms. He takes the strainer and steps away for a minute to dump out the waste into the grass, hoping that it will help the grass to grow just a little greener in the future. Upon his return, he could see Hyrule picking up the spoon and taking a taste of the stock, grimacing slightly at the flavor. Or, lack-thereof
"Wild, I think there's something wrong with the soup…" He says shyly, as if he was saying something that would get him in trouble. Which, fair. If a cook suddenly made something horrendously bland and unappetizing, even by Hyrule's standards, he'd probably think they were sick too. He expressed the same concern when he first learned about stocks from one of his neighbors in Hateno.
"It's not finished yet. The stock is just for a base so that the soup has more flavor," Wild explains, quoting what his neighbor had said to him when she was teaching him. "I'll add more stuff as I cook. But, uh, we'll have to wait for a sec, if that's okay. I wanna make the food for everyone else first." He says this to all the healthy Links hanging outside the shack, who all give different gestures of acknowledgement.
Wild eyeballs a few tablespoons of oil into the empty pot that used to hold the stock, letting it heat up as he scrapes the remaining residue on the sides of the pot and flicks it into the grass in front, careful to aim away from his teammates. Once heated, he tosses in half of the onions into the pot, letting them sizzle and become translucent. While that happened, he tore into the boiled bird meat, shredding about half of it and tossing it into the pan each time the chopping board became full, stirring it to make sure everything tastes and is covered in oil. After shredding the one portion of meat, he throws in most of the garlic stirs it around to soften, before then putting in all of the ginger, tossing it around one more time before leaving it to roast a little. While that was happening, he took the sunshrooms he had boiled previously, along with an extra sunshroom and a few red peppers he got from his slate, and chopped them into quarters before dumping those into the pot as well. And with a little bit of salt and black pepper, he placed the lid on the pot and waited for everything to sweat and soften.
Sky walked out of the shed carrying the bowl of water that they used to refresh and clean the towels placed on the sick Links' foreheads, sniffing the air as he passed by the pot. A faint grimace followed by a strained smile covers his features as he turns his attention to Wild.
"Are you… making something spicy again?"
"Not for us. Just for the sick."
"Wouldn't that just make them even sicker, though?"
"Nah, they'll be fine. Besides, spicy food is good for fighting illness." He would know. It's how he hardly gets sick anymore. "It clears the sinuses and all that."
Sky only gave him a look that seemed like combination of disgust and perturbedness before continuing to do whatever it was he was doing. Wild returns to his slate, looking over his ingredients and figuring out what else he could put in the soup. Perhaps some egg for extra protein and to make the spiciness less painful? Yeah, probably. Oh, and Goron Spice to make sure that the sickness gets eliminated even faster. He also finds lemon (something which he found in Four's Hyrule a long time ago) and decides that yes, some citrus would be good, especially with the way Wind is always going on and on about them getting scurvy. And maybe some apple to increase the sweetness just a bit, especially since he was out of cane sugar for the time being.
Wild cracks four eggs into a bowl before gently scrambling it and then setting it aside to add near the end. He then returns to the chopping board, peeling and cutting two apples before adding them to the pot, then peeling the skin off the lemon and carefully scraping off the bitter white pith, nearly slicing off the tip of his finger as he did (but luckily he didn't. Hooray!), throwing the now-cleaned peels into the pot and allowing it to boil, then squeezing the juice out of the lemon, careful to catch the seeds (and then storing them in his slate to bring to his Hyrule for potential cultivation). He looked through his slate one last time for any last-minute ingredients and decided that just a splash of milk would help balance out the spiciness for the other heroes. He sprinkles in just a bit of the Goron spice and lets everything boil, waiting until everything is completely and totally cooked before adding the milk so that it doesn't curdle. He takes it off the flame it with the lid on to let the flavors settle, taking the time to prepare the ingredients for the other soup. He remembers that Sky doesn't eat bird meat, so it should just be a topping. He chops up garlic and onion as well as a carrot and some hylian shrooms. Afterwards, began sauteeing the onions and garlic before throwing in the carrots and shrooms to soften. He takes a spoonful of the finished soup and takes a taste, smacking his lips before deciding that, yes, this is exactly how he wanted it to taste.
"First batch of soup is ready!" Wild called out to the healthy Links. "Can someone start dishing it up and feeding the sick?"
Hyrule and Time were quick to grab bowls and move to the pot. Sky, however, was hesitant. And upon removing the pot lid and taking a look at the food inside, Time and Hyrule grimaced and hesitated the same.
"Wild, uh… Is the soup… okay?" Hyrule asked the Champion, his face though normally rare to show any sort of discomfort or disgust had his emotions laid out clear as day.
"Yeah, of course it is. I would never cook something (for you guys) that wasn't one-hundred percent safe for consumption."
"… it's blood red." Time muttered at the same time that Sky asked "What in the Goddess' name did you even put in here?"
Wild counts the ingredients on his fingers. "Ginger, onion, garlic, uhhh, goron spice, and red peppers and, uh, some egg, three apples, uh, lemon juice and peel… Oh, and some bird meat and a bit of milk to reduce the spiciness. Ah, and sunshrooms!"
Time's face is the most expressive he's ever seen it. "Champion, this pot smells… dangerous."
"It's unsick soup! It's perfectly safe and it'll eliminate sickness in a flash!" Wild snaps his fingers at the end for emphasis. "Now go feed them. I'll finish up our dinner in a bit."
"It's… it's not also spicy, is it?" Hyrule asks cautiously, shakily pouring a couple ladlefuls of soup into bowls.
"Nah, it's not. We're not fighting any illnesses or anything so there's no point."
Some of the tension hanging over the group loosens a bit, though it noticeably returns the moment they start carrying the bowls into the shack.
"Let me know if they want extras!"
"Should we really be feeding this to them? It looks toxic." Hyrule questioned as he carried two bowls of the spicy concoction towards Four and Legend. Time made his way to Twilight and Warriors' sides while Sky took a seat beside Wind.
"I mean, if the Champion says it's alright…" Time replies with uncertainty.
"Well, it's not like he used unhealthy ingredients? Ginger to reduce nausea, lemons for vitamin C… It… might help?"
"Let's just… get the sick fed so that they can get better."
Hyrule carefully sat beside Four and Legend's bedrolls where they lay, placing their bowls of soup (should it even be called that?) on the ground before shaking the two of them awake.
"Vet, Smith. We got dinner." It didn't take long for the two to rouse from their slumber, Four giving a crunchy, phlegm filled cough as he did so, Hyrule needing to help him sit up, and Legend sniffling and rubbing at his nose, weakly pushing himself to a sitting position.
"Are you both okay to feed yourselves or should I spoon-feed you?"
"G'mme my b'wl. 'c'n feed m'self…" Legend muttered out grumpily, his voice hoarse and quieter than usual. Hyrule carefully picks up the bowls and hands one to Legend. Four doesn't speak, instead sticking his hands out and accepting the bowl and spoon. He sniffles and then his face suddenly goes from mildly uncomfortable to confused.
"'Rule, wh's th' soup smell like fire?"
"Um… Well, Wild called it 'unsick soup'?" Hyrule explained sheepishly, knowing exactly what the two of them must be thinking. "He said it's supposed to 'eliminate sickness in a flash!'" Hyrule copied the snapping motion that Wild made earlier in describing the soup to the group of healthy Links.
Four and Legend shared a look, as if daring the other to take the first sip. After a few moments of contemplation, they simultaneously lifted the spoon to their mouth and took a sip.
"Captain, Pup, wake up. The Cook just finished dinner for you." The two men grumbled, before pushing themselves upright with weak arms. The captain took a moment to rub at his eyes and nose, trying to will himself awake. Twilight, on the other hand, sniffles, grimaces, and continues to sniff the air, suddenly more awake than he was before.
"Old man, what the in Hylia's name is that smell?" He said before letting out a loud sneeze, which caused Wind to startle awake and Sky having to calm him down.
"It's… soup. Wild made it so that you all can get better faster."
Warriors picks up the bowl from where Time left it, sniffing it and then coughing.
"Sprite, this smells like the fires of death mountain. What the hell did the cook put in this?" Wars asked the old man, disgust clear on his sickly features.
"Healthy things. Things to help you recover quickly." He couldn't remember what exactly the Champion had put in the soup, distracted by the deep red color of the broth. "Just eat it. It… should help you feel better."
"I'm not eating this." Twilight declared, staring at the bowl by his feet as if it personally offended him. Honestly, Time wouldn't blame him if he thought it did. Sadly, he needed to get them to eat.
"The cub would be very sad to hear that."
Twilight frowned at the obvious attempt at guilt tripping. His eyes darted between the bowl and Time's somewhat uncomfortable expression once, twice, before sighing and taking the spoon to his lips. Grumbling, Wars decided to do the same.
"Sailor, c'mon. Wake up now," Sky said gently as he shook Wind awake. Or, at least tried to, 'cause the kid only curled up into a tighter ball the more Sky tried to get him up. He specifically chose to take care of Wind because the sailor is extremely snippish when he was sick, and Sky knew he was the only one between the three of them to have the patience for that.
A loud sneeze echoes through the shack and Sky swears that the fragile building actually shook a bit. Wind bolted upright in surprise at the sudden loud sound, and the Chosen hero was quick to coo and shush Wind to calm him down.
"Stop coddlin' me! I'm 'lright!" Wind exclaimed in a hoarse voice before breaking into a string of coughs. "I-I just got startled."
"Okay, Okay. I'm sorry." Sky placates, patting Wind on the back to help get all his coughs out. "Wild made soup. You-"
"I can feed myself fine, thank you."
Actually, Sky had a lot less patience than he thought he did. However, he just smiles and gives Wind the bowl of Wild's soup. The sailor eyed the soup suspicously and sniffed at it, letting out
"What in Ganon's bloody asshole is this shit? It looks like the damn lava in Death Mountain or something. Hylia, it smells like it too."
Wind went on and on and on about the soup, complaining about the spiciness, the color, the smell - anything he could nitpick. And all Sky could now think of was how the kid was sick, so he needed to eat, and the cook sitting outside slaving away at the stove to make another batch of food so that the healthy could have something to eat as well.
And sky realized that, no, he actually didn't have the patience he thought he did.
"Wind, eat the damn soup."
The Sailor froze, shocked at the sudden sternness in Sky's voice, looking up at him with a hint of fear in his eyes. The Skyloftian simply smiled politely, further urging the kid to just fucking eat.
Wind audibly gulps before looking down at the soup in his hands and shakily lifting the spoon to his mouth.
Wild removed the lid from the pot, allowing for the steam to escape, wafting a hand to smell the soup so far. His mouth watered, and he set the lid aside, ready to add in a few more spices and seasonings before adding the milk. He salted and added a moderate amount of pepper to the pot (he's definitely adding more to his own bowl later) stirring it around before sprinkling a bit of nutmeg and then measuring a small amount of cinnamon into his hands. However, a loud cacophony of coughs and curses caused him to jump and dump a bit too much cinnamon into the pot. He stirs it and takes a taste, grimacing before trying to dilute the flavor with more water and milk.
"What in Hylia's name is this?" He hears a screechy, rough voice that sounded a lot like the Sailor cry out from the shack, followed by another round of coughing, and now gagging as well.
"It burns! Holy shit it burns!"
"C-Cub, what did you do?"
"What did we do to deserve this!?"
"My throat-!"
It seems that the rest of them have started eating the soup. And the reactions were… pretty much what he expected, he won't lie. Luckily, it seems the others are making sure that they finish their bowls at the very least based on the clammoring and arguing.
"Rancher, don't you dare spit that out! Captain, don't think I can't see you trying to dump out your bowl!"
"You guys need to finish the whole thing, it'll make you get better faster!"
"Wind, Goddesses above, I will tie you down and spoon-feed you if you don't feed yourself."
Wild decides to let the others handle feeding the sick and returns his attention to the pot in front of him. He takes a taste, adding just a small hint of extra salt before deciding that it was good enough and covering it and taking it off the heat to prevent it from over-boiling.
… The others will probably take a while, won't they? Wild was hungry though, so he decides to start serving himself a bit of the unsick soup. Steam wafts from the bowl and he takes a deep inhale, mouth watering at the spicy, savory scent. He lifts a spoonful to his mouth and chews on a large chunk of ginger.
Hm… Could use more spice…
Much to everyone's chagrin, Wild's "unsick soup"… actually worked. Within a day, all five sick Links were no longer sick, ready once again to return to their adventures. The rest of the Chain, barring Wild, were already trying to find new ways to prevent getting sick so that Wild wouldn't ever feed them that soup again.
Wild, however, was debating between finishing the leftovers stored in his slate now or saving them just in case someone gets sick again.