"I won't kill you, Link. I'll leave you to taste all different levels of suffering. Your consciousness fades away slowly, and but painfully. Doesn't that sound exciting?" Mari looks down on the barely conscious Link, he smug look on her face isn't fading away by any means. However, she herself felt her own consciousness slipping away bit by bit, and engulfed by a ray of sunlight.
Slowly, Mari opens her eyes while focusing on her breathing. "Mm... That was a weird dream." She thought to herself, while steadily getting up to change and wash up for the day.
After going through with the mandatory morning routine, she scuffed her way through to the kitchen and got ready a few pieces of bread and some butter. Putting them all in a nice little box, the set was completed with an aromatic roast of Hyrule's most popular coffee with milk from Ordon Ranch. Wrapping all of it in a nice brown cloth, Mari held the sack in her arm as she skipped lightheartedly towards a little brown cottage.
"Delivery for Mr Liiiiink!" Mari's playful voice soared through the entire cottage. The strange nightmare she's had earlier didn't seem to affect her at all.
Shuffling noises could be heard as a dirty blonde, well, shuffled his way into the hallway. "Link! I made some extra toast for both of us, so you don't have to worry about what to eat early in the morning!" Mari's smile as bright as the ray of sun that has emerged from Link's window. "Sure, thank you Mari. Didn't ask for it but okay, it's free food."
"Quit being a little snob." Mari laughed as she sat down and unpacked the box.
"On a serious note though, Link. Have you heard of... Dreams that make you foresee the future?" She asked out of curiosity, but her subconscious obviously questioning her earlier encounter with dreams. "Heard of it, but never had any special dreams. What was it, did you dream of kissing me or anything of that sort?" Link joked, causing Mari's cheeks to burn a little. Ignoring his teasing, she quickly stuffed the last piece of bread in her mouth. "Hey, I'll leave the box here. It'll be you making the breakfast the next morning alright."
Not waiting for Link to finish his serving of the breakfast, Mari walks back to her house with light footsteps. The pair has decided to practice combat skills in the open field after having breakfast. Quickly preparing her potions and dummy targets, Mari was off to the meeting point in less than seconds.
Link on the other hand, took his time polishing his new blade. After adding the final shine to his sword, he was off to the rendezvous point. Mari was already done setting up her targets on several stumps nearby, and was already on to shoot different magic beams that either sliced or manipulated the different targets.
"Wow, great skills displayed there, Mari." Link praised her as he walked towards a short stump to put his items on. "Thanks, but let me help you regain your freshness before anything." Mari concentrated some healing magic in the palm of her hands and in slight movement, Link felt as if all the fatigue from last week's training were gone.
A few hours passed by, and the sounds of a sword being wielded around slowly stopped. You too, were getting tired as time went by and decided to call it a day. "Good work, Mari." Link exchanged high fives with Mari.
The young pair sat down on the field for a moment before moving off to somewhere else. "Hey Mari, why don't you heal me after all of these? I'm tired you see, and there's something in town I want to bring you to see." Mari blinked in curiosity. "Alright, just once. I'm almost exhausted," she paused, unknowingly stuttering after that sentence. "W-what is it?""You'll know later on. Oh and yes, let's bring Ilia over too. My treat, Mari."
Mari thought it'd be a great idea for Ilia to come with the both of them too, since she's always around in the village helping with chores instead of out having fun.
Link greeted in a hug. Mari froze for a moment, feeling a pang of jealousy flowing through her. She and Link, despite being very close, have never hugged before. Ilia wheeled her bead around and pulled Mari into her embrace too. "Well what's new, we are off!" Link cheered. In no time, the trio was headed for the town in their horses. Except, Link and Ilia shared one horseback ride on Epona while Mari had her own horse. Mari couldn't help but take a glance at Ilia holding onto Link's waist. Somehow, in some way, it made Mari a little moody. However, she did understand they were very close since they were young and Link's horse call was handmade by Ilia too. Thinking of this made Mari uncomfortable, so she dismissed the thought somewhat nonchalantly.
During the entire duration where Mari's internal conflict happened, she had no idea how much time passed and the trio's already reached the gate of the castle. Link offered to pay the rupees required for two rental spaces at the castle town ranch for horseback travellers.
During the meal, the three of them talked about everything under the sun. It was a little catch up session for Ilia and the other two, since they haven't seen each other too often. Only small gestures were exchanged each time they met since either party were always busy at different timings. That day was one of those rare days where they were all free to have a meal together.
"Link... What is it that-" Mari got cut off by Link just as she was about to ask him the question. He quickly paid the meal for three, and tugged Mari by her hand. "Mari, Ilia, come follow me!" They have rarely seen Link this excited; it was as if they were looking at a little boy being thrilled by the idea of sweets and chocolates.
They arrived at a beautifully decorated shop with different jewellery styles on display. Link gestured for Mari and Ilia to join his side as he fixated his eyes on a charm. "Oh yes, young man? This is our shop's most popular item! Valentine's day is around the corner too, want to get something for these fine ladies?" The over-friendly shop owner made her way towards them as she introduced the item Link's blue orbs were fixed on. Mari, standing to the right of Link, felt a blush on her cheeks as the shop owner winked at her. She tried to avoid eye contact just as Link spoke. "I'll have this and this. Two for the ladies." Link smiled playfully as he took out several red rupees to pay for the unknowns he bought. "Wow they sure are expensive, huh." Ilia remarked.
"Here's Mari's and here's Ilia's." Link handed them both the "cool thing" he just got. Out of curiosity, Mari asked "Can we open them?" Link nodded as he looked away into the sea of people thriving the castle town at this hour. Slowly, he was trailing behind both girls, as if deep in thoughts.
"Wow, yours glows under the sunlight! Mine is just a little stone." Ilia exclaimed. "He certainly has the hots for you, huh, Mari." She teased as she poked at Mari's already flushing cheeks. "What? N-no! Can't be." Mari retorted, even with her heart singing a little song of joy.
Very soon, dusk arrived and it was time for them to go back to the village. Upon arriving the village, Mari got off her horse with the same internal conflict she was having while travelling to town. Link and Mari walked their horses back to the stable while Ilia returned to her little house, at which the trio exchanged gestures and waved goodbye.
"Link, what was so special about the necklace?" Mari questioned, not holding back her inquisition. "Let's watch the sunset while it lasts, Mari." Link totally ignored her question, pulled her by her hand and sat down with her at the back of his house. "Hand me the necklace for a sec," Link ordered as be gestured for Mari to turn around. His arms circles around in front of her and he clasped the two ends of the necklace together. Mari's cheeks now a faint shade of pink, turns around and tilted her head. "When I saw this crystal between the wings, it somehow reminded me of you, Mari. The white sparkly nature of it, yes, that reminds me of your eyes." Mari has never heard anything so romantic coming from Link. After some silent time, the both of them felt tiny droplets on their skin: a sign that it is raining soon. Whenever Ordon rained, it has had to be stormy. Both teenagers hurries to take shelter in the boy's home as the drizzling became bigger.
Since it was raining, Mari had no choice but to shower in Link's house first before heading back. Thinking that would pass the time, she gladly made herself feel at home and used his water supply.
To their dismay, the rain did not subside. In fact, it got even bigger and roars of soft thunder could be heard. "Uh oh... I guess you will have to sleep in my house afterall. You can't go under this huge storm you see." Link offered Mari a solution to the rainy situation. "Well I only have one bed in the entire house... Fine the girl gets the bed and I will sleep on the floor, okay?" Mari would oblige, but she just couldn't bear the guilt. "It's okay, really. Look, there's a couch here and I cou-" Link abruptly cut her off by getting just an inch's distance from Mari's face. "No. You'll sleep inside. A guy is supposed to do that, you see." Mari smiled sheepishly and nodded slowly to express her gratitude.
Since there was still an hour or more to bedtime, the pair decided to hang around in the living room. Both of them sat on the couch, talking about their past adventure of saving Hyrule and about meeting Midna. As Link babbled on about how he first transformed into a wolf, Mari felt heavier and heavier each word he said and finally, she fell asleep in the calmest of ways.
Link looked down and saw Mari's eyes closed, her head bobbing up and down. He made the move of putting her head onto his shoulder. He blushed as he subconsciously stroked her hair and just savouring the moment. "It must have been a tiring day for her, I almost forgot she healed me but not herself after our self-training..." Link thought to himself.
After some time, the boy also felt his own consciousness slipping away from him and decided it was time to go to bed, after the entire day of events. He carefully carried Mari onto his bed and laid some sheets over her, after which he plopped onto the floor and fell asleep almost immediately.
"To kill, or not to kill? Link, you ask me, huh. All these years I've waited, and I found this wonderful vessel! I WILL get you killed." Amidst all the nightmare, the sky shone through the night and the loudest thunder was heard. "Ah!" Mari woke up abruptly, shrieking. Her face was as pale as a sheet of paper, and the first thing she did was to look down onto the floor where Link was heavily asleep. With a gentle tug, she managed to wake Link. He, with as expression of concern quickly stood up and sat on the edge of the bed. "What happened? Are you okay?" Concern written all over his face, he looked at Mari and questioning her. "No, I-I mean yes I'm fine, just some nightmare combined with loud thunder storms..." Mari answered with a shaking voice. "Well you've always been afraid of thunder, haven't you?" Link chuckled, trying to lighten the mood. With Mari still frowning, he tried his best to offer his help. "Um... Is it fine if you come up and sleep beside me?" Mari asked. As if caught off guard, Link tripped over his words. "W-wait what? W-well if you're fine with it..."
Link slowly lay down beside Mari. As much as he didn't want to feel awkward, he was conscious of how hot his cheeks were at the time. As if taking the first step, Mari hugged his left arm and proceeded on with dozing off like it didn't matter at all. In fact, she was smiling inside like she has never before. Link was shocked by her brave action. He turned a little towards Mari and placed his free hand onto hers. With that, the pair dozed off to a faraway land while the soft drumming of distant thunder could still be heard.