Title: Her Wolf, His Imp
Author: jordannamorgan
Fandom: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Characters: Midna/Link, with OC child.
Setting: Post-canon (and I'm guessing divergent from canon).
Rating: G.
Length: 717 words.
Summary: Midna and Link have made a new life together, but some things will never change.
Note: Never played a Zelda game in my life, but after picking up a sampler for it on Free Comic Book Day, I fell hard for the gorgeous manga adaptation of Twilight Princess. I expect the canon denies my 'ship (if not other things too), but with the manga still ongoing, I haven't spoilered myself on the game storyline. ...In any case, I write what I want. :)



In all her life, Midna had seen nothing more precious than Link sitting at the kitchen table with their infant daughter on his lap—the faces and clothes of them both liberally spattered with applesauce.

“Oh, come on,” Link chuckled, wiping the little one’s face with a damp rag. “You’re supposed to eat it, not wear it!”

“Agoo,” the child replied sagely, reaching out to grasp the rag with chubby fingers.

Midna giggled. “You know, as a wolf, you could give her a much better bath with your tongue.”

Beneath the unruly golden hair that fell over his eyes, she saw Link’s cheeks turn scarlet as he shook his head.

After all these months, Link still declined to take his wolf form in front of their daughter. Midna did not quite understand why. No reason she shouldn’t become familiar with that side of her father immediately, the mother thought—and the image of her crawling all over his powerful lupine frame, tugging at his fur and falling asleep between his paws, was something Midna would have dearly loved to see. However, Link expressed concern about frightening the baby. He insisted that he wanted to wait until she was “old enough to understand”—as if words would make more sense to a child than just seeing it for herself from the start.

In any case, Midna let him have his way in the matter. As much as she had ordered him around from the day they met, he deserved at least one chance to have his own say in their daughter’s upbringing.

Besides, it made for something to look forward to. Whenever Link finally decided their little girl was worldly-wise enough to lay eyes on the Sacred Beast, it would be more shocking than if she had been allowed to see him that way all along; but a child could still accept such a thing far more easily than an adult. Especially because she would know the heart that beat underneath the fur was that of the father who cherished her.

It would be delightful, then, to watch the child’s exploration of that magnificent part of Link’s being. To see her play with him, for Link as a wolf could be playful—and gentle—in ways even his sweet human personality could not. To see her ride on his back, feeling the comfort of soft fur and the security of strong muscles beneath her: the things Midna herself had felt so often in their long hard journey, and clung to in her heart as the one refuge she had left in the world.

For now, Link was more than endearing enough as a purely human parent. Midna stifled a laugh as the little one, clearly intent on doing anything besides eating, reached up her waving hand to latch onto one of his earrings and pull. Link’s eyes opened wide as he choked on a pained whine, and he scrambled to disengage her tiny, stubborn fingers from the small hoop.

Just maybe he wouldn’t have been able to handle that attack so gracefully as a wolf, Midna conceded, belatedly deigning to step forward and help him.

Perhaps it was just as well. If he was the one who needed a little more time before he trusted that part of himself around their daughter—the part with fangs and claws and more than a few animal instincts—then he probably knew best, after all.

In the meantime, when Link and Midna were alone together… In their long walks under the stars, and the blissful afterglows when she snuggled against warm fur as he softly panted…

Oh, yes. He was still very much her wolf.

And in spite of everything, she was still his imp.

That was why, as she bent down to lift the child from his arms, she casually turned her head to score an affectionate bite on the irresistible point of his ear.

Link made a startled noise in his throat. Their gazes locked above the baby’s head.

And from the way he looked at her with his glittering blue eyes, his jaws parting in a slow grin that was just a little more than figuratively wolfish—

Midna had a feeling that it wouldn’t be long before their daughter had a little brother or sister to play with.

---

2017 Jordanna Morgan