Guilty as Ganon

She couldn't figure it out fast enough to save her own face, or Link's for that matter.

Rhoam wanted her to confess, in front of all these people, what she had done. He wanted her to submit herself for a public condemnation provided by her own father.

And what a father he had been to her.

Had Rhoam actually been what he needed to be, Zelda determined after her witch trial was all over, none of this wouldn't have happened.

She was upset. Okay, upset was an understatement.

She was downright, undeniably, worthy of all the Gerudo profanity she knew, furious. And in her mind, she had every right to be. She knew what she had done, and the Goddess whom she had gotten ill for time and time again (yet still had somehow ignored her dedication) egged her on to do such a thing as if it was the last piece to finally unlocking the power that she'd lost everything for. And if it were that last step, then condemn the Golden Goddesses above she was going to do it!

Did Father seek to gain anything by making me look more unworthy for the throne that no one else is able to inherit? By Naryu's name, what could it ever be? By defacing her, a descendant of Hylia and Link, Hylia's hero chosen over and over again, Rhoam was only asking for his kingdom to burn.

The armor grabbed tight at her waist, worse than that cursed formal dress, but she feared about as much as she fumed.

"And why is that?" Zelda's fists grew tense as the sound of his voice in her mind. "What is more important than training to awaken the power to save all of Hyrule? Do you, Zelda, want Hyrule to burn to ashes along with all its people?"

She wanted to bash that head in over and over again, screaming profanities that matched or exceeded the ones he and the court used to describe her.

These feelings weren't hers, she tried to convince herself at the beginning. But they were, oh so real , as real as the persistent enduring ache deep in her stomach, belonging solely to her scarred and tattered soul.

It had been so long, if ever, since she had smoldered with such fury. She wanted to let it all out on the person who had deserved it most over these past ten years.

Urbosa had taught her ways to cope with such turbulent emotions, but the one that worked the best was unusable. Whenever she got debilitated by the feelings harbored in her soul, she would always head down to the Noble Canteen for a drink known as a Valiant Cause, which was the exact same thing as the famous Noble Pursuit but minus the alcohol. It didn't exist on the menu, but the bartender began to serve it when Urbosa took Zelda in following her mother's untimely death. Now, with the small but undeniable round in her stomach, she was instantly denied access from the bar without a second glance or eloquent argument.

"Gerudo law prohibits pregnant vai from any form of access to adult beverages or establishments." That same bartender nearly snapped at her, not even rising from the main desk. "I think of all vai, you should know that, hmm? Come back after you've finished nursing."

The words didn't frustrate her as much as the fact that Zelda's coping mechanisms were vanishing into thin air. She needed something material to work through, whether that was an ancient robot or a nearly frozen fruit punch. She used these material things because she felt like it was unfair that Link was always having to fix her problems, and without them it seemed like he was having to stop more meltdowns than ever before. Most were from her raging hormones, which caused mood swings so bizarre that the emotions came and went before she could even realize their presence.

She missed Link...

The poor boy was in the Lockup until Hylia-knows-when.

Rhoam had sentenced him there until proof of his legal marriage to Zelda was provided. If it became clear that Zelda was pregnant outside of a marriage bond, he'd be sent to the Castle Town Prison for the rest of his days. If the records showed that he was married to her, then no punishment could be done. A member of the Royal Family is above the law after all.