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The Queen’s body convulses in pain. Her daughter, Hyrule’s heir, will be born soon. It’s been a long time waiting, Her Majesty put off her marriage for far too long and the subjects were getting antsy. They can wait another few hours until the child is born, childbirth cannot be rushed. Her Majesty screeches. Pela has never had a child, nor will she ever, but she is the midwife of the castle and will have the honour of delivering Hyrule’s heir, for the child will never be Her Majesty’s really. The child belongs to Hyrule.
At least her sister-in-law, her dear Alphon’s brother’s wife, has had many children for her to practice on. It is imperative that the royal birth goes smoothly. This is why Her Majesty has been in confinement for the last few months of her pregnancy, with no contact with the outside world apart from Pela and a select few female attendants. Her Majesty and the new Royal Highness must avoid getting ill. None of these attendants are here for the birth as it’s the middle of the night and Her Majesty deserves some privacy at the very least. The castle is silent for now. In five hours, the first servants will be awake and starting their daily chores.
The baby is born covered in blood and crying, as newborns tend to. Pela cleans the baby but stops when she reaches the genitals.
“I’m sorry, Your Majesty. It’s a boy.”
Hyrule doesn’t have princes. It hasn’t for seven hundred years, not since the Imprisoning War, a war well documented in the history books due to its impact on Hyrule. It was a devastating war that shook Hyrule and killed nearly all of its knights and nobles, leaving only a single princess as the surviving royal. Before being imprisoned, the demon known as Ganon had cursed the princess that the next hero would be her descendant.
The Fallen Hero was the one who doomed Hyrule when he lost, causing the destruction seven hundred years ago. The princess made the wise decision to not have all boys born in the royal family killed to avoid this happening again. Hyrule only barely survived the last time.
All of this doesn’t seem to shake the Queen. She reaches out to hold her child, the doomed boy. Pela feels pity for the Queen and her son. Come dawn, the boy will be taken and killed. A fate that has met every son born to the royal family for centuries. She wants to hold her son.
Pela is a loyal servant to her Queen, she has been for years, but now she sees the love that a queen must show her subjects, even to doomed ones. She’s never liked the tradition. It goes against all morality. It’s preventing a mother from holding her son, a son that will soon die.
“I can’t, I can’t…I can’t have him die. I love him. He’s my son,” the Queen stammers. She’s weak and needs rest.
The baby continues to cry and Pela can see the tears welling in Her Majesty’s eyes again. They have a choice. It will be hours before the attendants are awake and take away the baby. Tradition says that they must wait, ignoring the child’s needs, until then when the baby will be discretely gotten rid of. But morality beckons them to save the child, to whisk him away from the harsh environment in which he was born into and into the safe arms of another.
If they choose tradition, life continues as it has for seven hundred years, dozens if not hundreds of more sons will die and Hyrule continues. If they choose morality, the boy will become the hero the legends all spoke about, that the royal family has tried to avoid. Who knows what will happen to Hyrule? They will changing it’s fate.
“Your Majesty?” Pela places her hand on the Queen’s shoulder. She shouldn’t do this, but Her Majesty needs comfort. “What do you want to do?”
Her Majesty must make the decision, he is her child. Her eyes are panicked. She’s just given birth and now she has to change the fate of Hyrule.
She gazes at her son for a few moments and her eyes steel. She has made her decision.
“Do you know someone who will take him?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. My sister-in-law had just had another baby. She and her husband would be willing to take him. They can pass as twins.”
She nods, her voice still shaking, “Take him. Take him to them.”
They must prepare. They have four hours to prepare, to whisk the child away.
Pela slinks out into the hall. The room she shares with Alphon is close, as it must in the eventuality that Her Majesty went into labour in the night. She shakes Alphon awake.
“Alphon, Alphon. Wake up. It’s important.”
Alphon is an early riser and a strategic planner, so he’s ready with a plan within moments. He will take the boy away before dawn breaks to his brother and his wife to pass as their own while Pela stays in the castle and lies her head off to the attendants, and the King if she must, about what happened to the child.
She’ll tell them that child was born dead and had to be disposed of quickly. It’s believable enough. A dead body must not stay with her Majesty whilst she’s recovering.
A basket is easily found. Big enough to hide a baby, but not so big that it would be suspicious. It’s a bread basket stolen from the kitchen. They have so many it would not be missed. This is more important. They are changing fate. Pela is helping to change the fate of Hyrule.
Her Majesty is whispering to her son, “I love you. I’m so sorry that you can’t stay. I want you to live, I’m giving you a chance to live. I love you, so much.” It’s heart-breaking.
The plan is ready and Alphon leaves within an hour. Her Majesty is still whispering, the shock of her decision getting to her.
“I hope to see you again.”
-
A year later, the Queen of Hyrule gives birth to a daughter. They name her Zelda.