“This is where you got cursed?”
The trio were gathered around a small cavern- although it might have been easier to describe as a literal hole in the wall... From the outside it was a bare rock face: save for a small crawlspace that Zelda eyed apprehensively- having expected something grander for the source that had turned her hero into a useless butterball.
The very next day after Zelda's arrival, following a good night's sleep, the princess was insistent on retracing the steps for how Link got transformed. Luckily, for both her, and the heavyset blonde, there were very few steps to take. The location, as the two noted, was a cave- one with no particularly special properties save for the magical trap inside, and one so close to the village that it was a surprise nobody had stumbled onto it earlier.
“Well, down inside it, obviously.” Link clarified, as her mind wandered briefly to thinking about how she was shirking on her daily routine. The early morning rays were already brightly beaming across Ordon.
“And you've never went to inspect it since?” The royal incredulously asked. "Surely you must understand that of course you wouldn't have anywhere to start if you haven't returned to where you started?"
“You think she could fit if she wanted to?” The question was punctured by small, pointy gray fingers, sinking into the doughy waistline of the Hero(?) of Twilight, as Midna came from the shadows to offer some wisdom.
“Midna!” Link weakly cried, as the poke made her curl inward slightly- not to mention turn her sun-kissed skin ripe as one of the tomatoes on the adjacent farms.
“It'd be for her own good not to try, really. I've seen that one storybook the k1ds in town have. With the bear who gets stuck in a hole, and has their butt-”
“MIDNA!” Link had to prevent herself from wailing, just in case somebody like Fado came within earshot.
“She makes a good point. Actually the first point between you two that seems practical. But still, is there a reason you've not tried to get one of your village friends to go in? Surely they aren't the type to object to dirtying themselves?” Zelda asked with crossed arms. Normally, Zelda would have been more diplomatic, but after the runaround Link had given her, and having to spend her afternoon cleaning out goat stalls, she had less than kind words to say about the sophistication of this quaint village.
“I don't think 'types' like Uli would much enjoy crawling around in the dirt.” Link countered defensively. “It's just... This town... This village. They're my friends. I wouldn't want them to get... 'changed,' like me.”
Quick to see the sadness growing in Link's features, Midna was also quick to try and quiet her doubt. “Hey! You don't think there's been any improvements? There are a few I appreciate~.” The smaller twili teased: circling a figure-eight around the soft fat covered by Link's blouse. That earned another blush from her 'friend.' A blush that implied she didn't want their status together to be so outwardly... out. Hylians and imps weren't exactly a common pairing.
Zelda however picked up no double entendre. “So it would seem I'm the one who has to go cave spelunking?”
The haughty attitude in that question permeated through the air, as no one had a better answer other than a blunt, 'well, yes.'
“At least you're not in those heels anymore!” Though Midna did have a quip as always.
After a bit of grumbling, Zelda proceeded forward. Down, and under, and into the small hole from whence all this trouble started. “It's rather dark in here.” She said astutely: though there was still enough ambient light to tell that it really was just... a hole in the ground. “You said it was a gem that did it? I certainly don't see one lying around.” Her voice echoed, as she ignited a lantern to give even more visual clarity. But there wasn't much to clarify. No secret, ancient architecture. No runes, or information inscribed on the wall. Nothing. Just an empty, wooden treasure chest, with no jewelry abound. And it wasn't even a special wooden box! It was one that was fashioned cheaply and could have been found lying around any corner of Hyrule.
“Princess? Are you okay down there?” Link's softer voice called out. She'd allowed time to pass, and it'd been several minutes now, but she hadn't heard a word further. She expected Zelda to practically shout if she found the slightest clue, and yet there was silence save for distant shuffling.
“I'm... fine.” Said 'princess' replied: doing her best to try and think up a way to describe 'standing around and doing nothing' as being productive. But that's what it was! Just... a pit! “I'm simply combing for details.”
“Oh.” Link answered intelligently. “Well, I kind of have to get to my chores. Do you need any help with anything?”
“Do you truly think preparing your morning breakfast is more important than this?!” Zelda chided, gobsmacked.
“Well... Have you combed any details?” Link inquired hesitantly.
“Not. Yet...” Zelda answered. Hesitantly.
“I really don't think there's anything in there, Princess.” Link's words carried with them the tone of a mother whose ch1ld couldn't find the toy they wanted.
“I'll know that once I peruse every inch!”
Midna came out to interject. “Well once you've 'perused every inch,' and are satisfied, can you bring that empty chest up, your highness?”
"For further study?" Zelda said perhaps a little too hopefully.
One could actually feel the strained grin Link was offering just then. “We could use it for storage. There's been a surplus of produce recently, and we're running out of room.”
0o0o0o0o0
“Oooouuu...”
Princess Zelda, heir to the entire kingdom of Hyrule, was not in the proudest of states. Sitting tiredly at the table of Link's humble abode, looking defeated, with dirt scuff marks, and cow-licked hair. After digging her heels into that cave for longer than she really ought to have, she allowed Link to take her leave and 'get to work,' while she scoured the surrounding area for whatever clues may have come. But no clues came! Not a single one! It was as if this was a puzzle, and she was stuck!
“If it is a puzzle, it's a terribly designed one...”
“What was that, Princess?” Link asked, as she placed a rice bowl in front of her new roommate: packed to the brim with grains, and topped with savory beef, that was already making the young royal salivate. She'd skipped out on breakfast, after all. “My... That looks quite...”
She didn't even take the opportunity to finish her sentence: merely dug in. Like with what she had yesterday, it was intoxicatingly good. What Link lacked in physical prowess anymore, she'd certainly replaced it with a fine set of culinary skills. Bite after bite, she scarfed it down. Inhaled it. It was barely two minutes in her hands before there was but one or two flecks left for her to gleam: momentarily forgetting her years of castle-instructed etiquette.
“By the Goddess, I needed that.” Her voice sighed, as she placed the empty offering down: a smile of contentment forming on her face.
In her focus however, she failed to see how Link had arrayed a practical feast across the rest of the table for them to eat! Freshly chopped fruits and vegetables from the farms, warm baked bread, bought from the village that morning. Milk straight from the goats that she (thankfully) had managed to skip out on dealing with. Plus meat! Juicy, savory, dripping beef, that Link herself had grilled, and was now steaming at the centerpiece of the table. What scraps were in her rice paled in comparison girth of the cow on display!
And it was not even dinner yet- this was a lunch!
“Well there's plenty more where that came from! Feel free to have as much as you like, Princess! I made sure to accommodate!” The other cow, the heifer of a heroine, chipperly beamed, as she forked a morsel of steak: quite content in appreciating her own 'hard work.'
Someone else seemed content in it too, as Midna popped out soon afterward. Was she she there just to watch? Oh no! The small, mischievous little... thing was actively buttering Link's toast and putting honey on it! “Open up~.” She actually cooed, as she pressed it against her companion's lips, mere seconds after she heard her swallow. “Hanch's new bee-keeping hobby has been getting great results~.”
“That's it!” Zelda firmly yelled: hands slamming against the hardwood. Unbelievable. Unbelievable! Midna wasn't even going to eat, was she? Every bit of food here was made solely for the two of them! “This is your problem, Link! More so than any silly curse! All this... All this food! All this eating! This gluttony is keeping you from achieving your true purpose!”
Link stared doe-eyed, as rounded cheeks, full of awaiting calories, gulped. This would probably have been an opportune time to defend her actions, but truthfully... She didn't have much to justify her sloth. She looked to Midna, who took the silence as a chance to clog her mouth with the last bit of pastry.
Mm~.
“And you!” Zelda barked, pointing towards Midna. “This whole living arrangement between you two has gone on so long, that you've become complacent! No! A downright unwitting enabler to our savior's very, very notable weight problem!”
“Very notable?...” Link weakly trilled.
“Very notable.” Midna affirmed: mood curiously positive around that fact, which earned another cherry blush from blonde. The twili wasn't exactly being subtle in regards to her feelings, but Link had no plans on being the one to break the ice that, 'no, my partner's not an “unwitting enabler.” She's just a chubby chaser.' Goodness, they hadn't even talked about the 'partner' part!
“Yes. I can see it now. I thought yesterday I'd be coming to seek your aid, but in reality, you both are in desperate need of my help!” Zelda was standing: holding herself proud, and confident, as the fattened heroine looked on bashfully. “In the current absence of any means to undo your curse, Link, we must take it upon ourselves to fix what we can! Starting tomorrow, we simply have to get you into shape! Dieting! Exercising! A whole regimen so we can be off to save Hyrule!”
Zelda was huffing now. Energized. Electrified. She had her goal set in mind, and was set to do it!
“Ah. Well... Tomorrow, right?” Link asked in clarification.
“Hm? Yes. Tomorrow.” The princess verified: still holding herself confident, but in a slightly more strained manner. “It's soon to be night, so we should go for a fresh start.” Not to mention she was still tired after her ordeal in the cave.
“Oh!” Link's demeanor turned brighter. “So we can finish eating this, right?”
“I... Well...” Zelda's stance slouched, as she came of her high, and exhaled. “R- right. Obviously! It'd be a shame to have all this go to waste, after all.” More wisdom, as she sat herself down, to reach for a spoonful of some red, jiggling, gooey substance. “What's this?...”
“Oh! That's chu jelly! Try it, it's quite good!” Link hummed excitedly.
“Mm~!” Was Zelda's pleasant reply, as she took a bite.
“There's some yellow flavored here too! I'm not sure which I prefer!”
And just like that, the bluster of Link's training quieted down, as the two young women, and one very diligently observing imp, chatted, and partook in a feast fit for half a dozen or more. But that was fine.
The diet started tomorrow.
0o0o0o0o0
Tomorrow came.
And tomorrow came in a way that maybe, probably, wasn't what Princess Zelda would have preferred it to come as. In her mind, she'd have been up, bright and early, to awake that lazy Heifer of Twilight, but after lunch... And the even larger dinner that soon followed it, the heir to Hyrule found herself lodged into a very deep food coma: only exacerbated by the fact that she really did take Link's bed. So it was rather awkward to have her fluttering her eyes open, to see her new roommate putting the finishing touches on donning her work clothes.
“Oh! Good morning your highness!” Link chirped, as if nothing in the world was wrong. “You can go back to sleep if you like! I was just going to get to my chores.”
“W- w- wait!” Zelda however distinctly felt this was wrong, as she tried to rub the sleep from her eyes, and properly awaken herself up. “What about the training we spoke about? If you just give me a few minutes to get out of these pajamas you loaned me, I'll-”
“It's no issue, Princess, really! I need to do this anyway. The goats won't tend to themselves, unfortunately.” Link smiled, as she moved closer to the exit. “You rest easy for now. I won't be long. Then we can get to breakfast!” By this point, she was already taking several (cautious) steps down the ladder.
From the side of her ear, the heroine heard a whisper: “You're really trying to dodge the 'diet' conversation, aren't you?” Teased Midna. It earned her a poker-faced 'hush,' as the two reached ground. “It's about the only thing you're capable of dodging anymore anyway~.”
Back in the tree though, Zelda fell defeatedly onto her mattress, as it seems her morning wasn't going as smoothly as she would have preferred. But she wasn't going to allow that to deter her! Not at all! “In fact, this gives me some time to think! I wasn't quite sure what would be the best 'training regimen' for Link, but now I can get dressed, and sort it out!”
Well. She certainly got dressed. But sorting out Link's 'training regimen' somehow got pushed to the wayside, when said girl came back, and began preparing breakfast. A breakfast that in no way shape or form could be described as 'diet-worthy.' Eggs, bacon, waffles, the works of the works and then some to fill the table for the duo between them that were actually capable of eating.
Conveniently, betwixt the nibbles and bites, chatter grew about the rest of the day. Zelda argued that some form of cardio for the other girl would do her good, but Link interjected that she had set plans to visit Uli which she shouldn't renege on. Walking to the village would be some form of exercise, though! This type of worming around the subject-matter persisted on, as Zelda arguing they could practice after Uli was followed up on how she needed to go fishing with Colin.
Along with these matters, lunch, dinner, and how Ilia seemingly needed something or another, an entire further day passed with neither any of them making headway in Link's curse, or physical... flabbiness.
This started a somewhat... worrisome trend of where Zelda hoped to get Link doing some blubber burning extra activity, but an excuse, or a reason always seemed to be just right at hand. To Zelda's credit, she did manage to begin regularly waking up on time, but it seemed to more result in her doing farm work with Link than anything else. Caring for the animals. Going to town. The name 'Hilda' increasingly seemed to be on people's lips, including her own, whenever she had to introduce herself to anyone.
Time just seemed to move differently in Ordon. The quiet, easy living, made it so days could turn into weeks in under a blink of the eyes. Away from the troubles of Hyrule, it was almost as if Zelda herself was on a small vacation. Scarily, there also seemed to be people taking an interest in 'Hilda' beyond just being an acquaintance of Link. Ilia, that girl who supposedly had some sort of memory trouble, kept on chatting with her. Wanting to know more of Hyrule. Its fashion, the sights and sounds of Castle Town. But beyond that, just more of her too. Like she considered Hilda a... friend.
This cyclical rut persisted for about a month to the day of which Zelda arrived, and the day would've likely gone on as 'normal' too, had not one bubble-popping factor come into play, as Zelda dressed herself out of her PJs, and just so happened to glance in the cottage's nearby mirror.
“Aiiieeeeee~!”
Came the cry of her voice, as, donned in nothing but basic lingerie, Zelda came to the earth-shattering realization of what all those heavy breakfasts, lunches, dinners, snacks, brunches, and 'treats,' were doing on top of her now relatively sedentary lifestyle. Bare before the mirror, there was no way around it.
She was getting fat.
“By the Goddess! How unsightly!” Her words were shocked and appalled, as her hands clasped to her cheeks. Cheeks, that, if she paid just enough attention, she'd note were rounder than before. Softer. More Cherubic. That could be said about every other inch of her figure as well, now. She wasn't obese. Not yet, per se. Under the right clothes, she could even be thought of as... 'normal' sized. But underneath, the truth was exposed. The model-like trim and toned tummy she once possessed- once possessed, even while trapped under Zant, was gone. Washed away, and replaced with a padding of fluff, like someone poured her over from head to toe in thick cake batter.
No dainty, elegant legs, capable of walking on runways. These jiggled, and swayed, much like the growing rear of hers that jiggled and swayed. And the growing arms of hers that jiggled, and swayed. Every bit and inch of her showed the signs of a woman who enjoyed a good meal- and that very much wasn't incorrect, really. Especially not with the way she'd been acting around Link, every time she cooked. Or brought food from someone else who cooked. Or had her come over to someone else, and enjoy their cooking...
“Goodness... How many? 40? 50 pounds?! By all means, at least more than a pound a day!” She was absolutely, positively mortified!
“Princess, are you okay?... I heard a scream!” It was Link! And there wasn't much time to put her clothes back on...
“It’s nothing!” Zelda squeaked as she hurried to cover herself with something, anything, before she revealed to Link that she was herself a poor role model. It seemed that this battle wasn’t just with Link, but with herself.
“Are you sure? It didn’t sound like nothing.” Link stuck her head in as Zelda pulled her dress over head as quickly as possible.
“If I said it’s nothing, then it’s nothing!” Zelda insisted, hearing the now familiar snickering of Midna.
“She probably just saw a mouse or something. You know how princesses are.” Midna gave Zelda an undignifying out. “I bet so much as an ant couldn’t sneak his way into her castle before Zant broke in.”
“Well it’s a problem for me if mice are getting in.” Link said as she left, leaving Zelda at a humiliating boiling point. That was it, Zelda decided, that was the final straw! This flabby body of hers had to go! And to do so, she’d have to cut the problem off at the root. It was time for her to put her foot down, and… Zelda was distracted by the waft of freshly cooked breakfast, her stomach vetoing the decisions her brain was trying to make. Well, she’d have to do it at lunch, Zelda reluctantly decided. It would be a waste to just throw out this food in an attempt to force Link to diet, and she didn’t want Link to resent her by being unreasonable. And it wasn’t like the two could exercise right after eating either… no, it would have to wait until lunch… or maybe dinner… or maybe the next morning...
Sun Jul 04 08:46:45 2021
Linking Enabled
7 comments Last updated: Thu Jul 8 09:28:02 2021