It was morning, early enough that the first rays of the sun were just filtering through the window in the front of the house that Link shared with Ravio. Beams of light crept across the rug that stretched from wall to wall, then spread across the man sleeping in the front room. It was not the light that woke Ravio, however. A thin, faint melody sung by a masculine voice tickled his long ears, accompanied by the delightful smell of bacon frying. He sat up and stretched, adjusting the large purple bunny hood that covered his head.
"Hey there, Mr. Hero! A good morning to you! I didn't hear you last night; it must have been pretty late when you came in!"
Link turned around from the frying pan in the fireplace and addressed the merchant with a twinkle in his eye. "Yep. It was, but I wanted to come back as soon as I defeated the dungeon. I had to tell you, that bow you lent me, wow, it helped so much, I know I would not have gotten through without it!" Ravio had never seen him so excited. He hadn't known the hero for long, a few days really, and they'd only shared a few conversations since their first fortuitous meeting, but up till now the guy had a somber air about him. It was probably the task of saving that lady weighing him down, he reckoned. Responsibility changes a person, sometimes. "Anyway, since you lent it to me for free, I thought I'd return the favor by cooking you a meal. Looks like you get breakfast on the house."
How fortunate was he to have crossed paths with this man! Handsome and generous in one heroic package!
"Do you like eggs? I only know how to scramble them if that's ok," he said as he whipped at the air with his spatula.
"Eggs are great, and do I smell bacon?"
"You sure do. Coming right up!"
It wasn't long before Link had two plates full of hot food in his hands. He walked over to the middle of the rug where Ravio was sitting. "Since the tables are full, I guess we can have an indoor picnic," he said, handing over a plate laden with fluffy golden eggs and crisp bacon, then setting two bottles of milk on the floor between them. The smell was heavenly. Ravio couldn't wait to dig in. Fork poised over the plate, he looked down at his meal and froze.
"Um, Mr. Hero, don't you think those eggs are a little...pale?"
"What do you mean?" he asked from around a mouthful of food.
"I mean, the eggs. Were the cucoos sick? How long have your eggs been hanging out in the kitchen? Not to rag on your cooking before I've even eaten any, but these aren't the right color!" He poked at them experimentally with his fork.
Link swallowed carefully and said with a frown, "What color are they supposed to be?"
"Green, of course!"
He blinked, taken aback. "What?"
"What do you mean, 'what'? Cucoo eggs are green inside, everyone knows that!"
"Green, like the grass?" Pure confusion was written all over the Hylian's face.
"No!" Was this so-called hero being deliberately obtuse? Grass wasn't green, not generally. Grass was brown, or dusty tan, and eggs were a delicious light green, not this foreign jaundiced yellow...oh goddesses, he'd slipped up. His eyes went wide with sudden realization, and he was once again grateful for the hood that covered his reaction. The grass was green here. Not brown. Everything was slightly different in Hyrule, how could he possibly forget? Of course eggs would be a different color, though with any luck they'd taste the way he was used to. Tipping his hood back a smidgen, he speared a bite with his fork, brought the eggs to his mouth, and stopped short of tasting them. "Green like all the rupees I'm going to make today! Gonna need a lot of energy to work in the shop all day long! And you'll need to eat up if you want to fight hard!" He filled his mouth quickly with savory bites, preventing himself from saying something he really wouldn't be able to explain away.
Link squinted skeptically. "Oh, I get it now, you're joking. Good one, Ravio." But he wasn't laughing, and his face remained impassive. Did he buy it? Ravio wasn't sure, but he didn't know what else to say to convince him otherwise. They ate in silence for awhile, broken only by the clatter of forks on plates as they finished.
Ravio stood up and stretched out his hand. "That was a great breakfast! Best" -yellow- "eggs I've ever eaten!" he said truthfully. "I'll take your plate and do the washing up," he offered.
"Thanks." A tiny smile, no bigger than a twitch, let him know that everything was back to normal.
"Hey, you wanna tell me about your adventure? You seemed pretty excited about it earlier."
"Oh, sure. I'll give you the highlights. Some of it was really scary." He weaved through the tables, looking gingerly at the items on display, to lean against the wall close to the wash bucket.
An involuntary shudder coursed through Ravio's body. "Yeah, I can imagine."
Link talked while Ravio washed. When he finished his retelling, he straightened up and said, "Well, I need to go run some errands. The life of a hero is a busy one!" He gave an awkward half-hearted laugh and walked toward the door.
"Take care, Mr. Hero! My shop is always open for you!" He stopped drying dishes to watch him leave, and gave him a jaunty wave.
Link's hand was on the doorknob when he suddenly turned around. "So, how many weapon rentals is a green egg worth, then? Two? Five? I'll keep my eye out for one if it's worth my time." The door closed before Ravio could even come up with a reply.