You're Not Two (And Other Things Abusers Say)

The sippy cup flew through the open window. "You're not two, stop acting as if you are! You're to be the Queen of Hyrule when I'm gone, you're better than this!" Rhoam shouted.

Zelda was backed up against a wall, praying he wouldn't search her room and very much still regressed. She didn't say a word, knowing it would come out like a little kid's voice if she tried.

"I'm having Amelia search your room. With myself present."

Zelda didn't notice the name of who he'd decided was to search her room. Amelia was the member of staff who spent the most time around Zelda, (with the possible exception of Link,) and had been since Zelda was four. She often took care of Zelda when she was regressed, and was more than willing to lie for her sake.

But Zelda didn't realize it was Amelia searching her room. What if Father found Chichi's hiding spot between the bed and the wall? (Chichi was the stuffed rabbit she'd received for her third birthday, and her comfort item.)

Rhoam exited the room, slamming the door on the way out.

Link rushed over to Zelda as soon as the door closed. She knew it was both pointless and physically dangerous to make any attempt at defending Zelda to the king's face. But she could at least do this.

Asking if she was alright would be redundant, but there was nothing else to say. Revali had gone through with his blackmail of threatening to tell the king Zelda was an age regressor.

Her crime? Refusing to pull a horrible "prank" on Link. Even when she had hated Link, she still would have found the "joke" (involving telling Link her sister had drowned) to be far too much.

"It'll be okay. It's Amelia searching your room, so I think she 'won't find' anything." Link was doing her best to be reassuring, despite the awful situation they were currently in.

Zelda stared, not making eye contact and still processing Link's signs. Eventually the words registered, and Zelda seemed a little relieved.

"Awe you swure?" The princess couldn't have been older than two or three.

Link nodded, praying to all four goddesses that she wouldn't be asked to join the search. Even though she'd trained her motor skills well enough that she could fight, she was still useless at tasks involving delicate movements of the fingers. Which pretending to "not find" little gear might involve.

When they heard two sets of footsteps coming (Zelda heard them first, being the one who didn't need hearing aids,) Link retreated to the corner she had been occupying earlier.

Rhoam burst in, Amelia following behind. Both girls could tell Amelia was not happy to be here, given the looks she was giving Rhoam. But when she caught Zelda's eye, she smiled, making the girl relax a bit.

"You have my permission to look anywhere you suspect there might be "regression" items. Get anything childlike out of her room. That includes stuffed animals."

Amelia nodded and started pretending to look. They had already discussed this. There was one badly hidden little kid coloring book- one that Zelda didn't like much- that Amelia would "find" to satisfy Rhoam's abusive nosiness. Everything else she'd pretend wasn't there.

She carefully dug around in drawers, being extra careful in the drawers that contained rattles, crinkle blankets or baby cubes. It would be bad enough when he found her coloring book, he'd go absolutely bonkers if he found outright baby items.

She was almost to the coloring book. She shot Zelda a warning look- she was too little to notice- and opened the drawer with the coloring book. "I found this, Your Majesty. I think that's all. I've looked through almost all her drawers."