Forged in Malice

Chapter 11

A pot in the royal kitchen was busy cooking rice as Link descaled the fish he snagged. A staminoka bass, its red scales and green fins making it unmistakable. Despite Prince Sidon's insistence on having the palace staff take care of his needs, Link preferred to do things himself. It kept him from getting stir-crazy since the Hylian was staying in the Domain for longer than a night's stay. In fact it's been several nights thanks to the generosity of the Zora prince. "Anything for my most treasured friend!" if Link recalled correctly as he fought the urge to hug the shark-like Zora.

Staying in the Domain had been rather nice ever since he found a better use for the monster extract. The citizens weren't overly "friendly" like in Hateno, so he was more comfortable walking around the marketplace, even when he wasn't able to make his horns and wings vanish. The elders made strange looks at him, causing him to have a heart attack for a second, but they never commented on anything as Link passed by. Regardless of a close call on a particularly windy day, the Hylian Champion spent most of his days helping out the Zora populace with odd tasks before foraging and fishing in the surrounding lands.

The only issue Link is starting to run into is the limited supply of monster extract, the only thing keeping his pheromones in check. At some point he should really get that under control on his own, but he doesn't have anyone that he feels comfortable testing on. Purah and Zelda were immune completely, Symin wasn't into men, and the koroks weren't affected either. Probably because they were little forest spirits, they had no need to reproduce. Anybody else was out of the question, he would have to explain everything to them and that's another risk of this secret slipping out. Paya was the only risk in this whole situation, but Link doubted that she would tell anyone...she was also not someone he wanted to test on, based on her embarrassing letter.

For now, he would need to stick to his routine of monster extract, which means he needs to find Kilton. The monster merchant was the only one who makes the vials of the stuff, and he hardly has a whole lot of them when Link previously checked his wares. Maybe he can work out a deal to persuade Kilton to make more, and it's possible he has more information than what Symin has on Link's condition. When it comes to anything monstrous, Kilton was the man to ask. Hopefully the Fang and Bone will be set up near Zora's Domain tonight, Link didn't have much of the extract left.

A set of footsteps snap Link out of his thoughts, causing him to look up from his cutting to see none other than the prince. "I was told I could find you here. Still not letting the royal chefs cook for you? They're awfully disappointed about it." Prince Sidon chuckles as Link focuses on prepping the fish.

"I actually like cooking, so I prefer to do it myself." Link says, his hands busy with separating the flesh from the bones with careful cuts. "It's one of the few things that relaxes me."

"You certainly seem to be in your element, my friend. Perhaps the cooks here could learn a lesson or two from you." The prince replies, taking a curious look in the pot of rice.

"Save that till you actually taste my cooking, you might think differently." Link then shoos the Zora prince out of the way to check on the rice, deeming it almost done as he returns to cut the staminoka filets into more manageable pieces for the seafood rice balls. All that is left is to cook the smaller pieces and stuff them into the rice.

"I find it hard to believe that the Hero of Hyrule is a terrible cook if he likes cooking so much." Prince Sidon says with a smug grin on his face.

"I never said I was a terrible cook, but I doubt I'm any better than your staff." The Hylian corrects him, grabbing a frying pan, some oil, and a little goat butter to cook the fish. "I bet they never had to eat their awful attempts in order to survive."

"No, I cannot say they have..." The Zora trails off for a moment, causing Link to glance back at him. "But I can certainly say how we can solve this little disagreement about your cooking skills."