"Link! Link, where are you?"
A young Ilia ran around excitedly, looking for that boy who loved to go every which way seeking adventure... or a quiet place to nap. In fact, by the time Ilia found him, young Link was napping in a small bushel. Ilia giggled and went really close to Link's ear screaming,
"WAKE UP SILLY!"
Link sat up so quickly, that he stumbled a bit, causing him to plop right on his back and head. Link finally stood up rubbing his head.
"What... what is it Ilia?"
What could possibly be so important that she had to wake him up from his nice small nap?
"You won't ever believe what it is that I found! Come follow me!"
Ilia started to run, and Link followed after. Passing through the village, the young'uns were greeted with "hellos" and "well aren't you in high spirits this morning!" from the older folk that lived in Ordon Village. The two finally arrived at the wooden dock right behind Jaggle's house. Ilia started to undress to her undergarments, and jumped into the water. A bit baffled, Link just stared at her until she called out to him.
"Link! What are you waiting for?"
Snapping out of his trance Link quickly stripped to his shorts and jumped in after her. The two swam into this small opening with a rock in the middle, and a small ledge to the side. Ilia and Link pulled themselves up onto the ledge, and Link noticed that it seemed to be a bit far from the village.
"Look! Down there!"
Ilia's voice brought Link's attention to something that was shining down below the water. Rupees! They seemed to have been spilling out from a small bag that still had several of them inside.
"I can't swim all the way down there myself, but maybe you can?"
Link made a gesture that was just like a "Leave it to me!" and proceeded to try and swim down. But his arms and legs weren't strong enough, so he only got about two thirds of the way down before he needed to get air. Once back up on the ledge, Link spotted a couple of rocks. Then he got an idea.
"We can use those!"
He pointed to them before running to pick one up. With his small stature, it was a bit difficult, but even more of the reason why they were so perfect. Still gripping the rock, Link plunged into the water, and the rock was able to do what he hoped it would. The next thing he knew, Link was at the bottom of the water, grabbing quick to the small wallet and rupees. He used his legs to push from the ground to make his ascend easier. Once he was above the water, Link put the wallet onto the edge before pulling himself up. As soon as he could, Link was laying down on the small amount of grass that the ledge had to offer. He was out of breath.
"Oh no Link! You missed a rupee! And it's a purple one!" Ilia looked from the edge of the small bluff they were on, and to Link. Seeing how tired he looked, Ilia thought maybe she could get it.
"It's okay! I can try myself if I do what you did!"
"But!.. you... you can't hold your breath as long as I can! Plus, you have to swim back up!" Ilia huffed at Link's remark. She was a little sad that he doubted her.
"Yes I can! Look!"
At that, Ilia held her breath for as long as she could, but it was only a matter of seconds until she needed to breathe again.
"See! You can't do it! We'll come back tomorrow Ilia..." Link breathed out, and then closed his eyes.
He heard some small footsteps, and then a loud splash. Link quickly got right to his feet, and saw what wasn't there that should be there. The last rock on the ledge he was on was gone, as well as Ilia. He ran to the edge to Ilia at the bottom, but the pressure must have knocked the wind out of her because she wasn't moving, and her shirt was caught underneath the rock. What was Link supposed to do? There were no more rocks for him to use to get to the bottom, and he wouldn't be able to swim fast enough to get an adult from the village. Yelling for help was of course out of the option, since they were quite far from the nearest house. Then Link remembered about what he had seen Rusl do so many times, and that was diving. He went as far away from the edge as he could, and then mustering whatever force he could, Link ran straight to the water, jumped and and quickly put his arms into form to make a perfect dive. It helped him get more than halfway to Ilia, since she floated a bit, Link only needed to swim a little more to reach her arm. Once he had a hold of it, Link used all his might to push her up to the top of the water. He barely made it up himself. Link was a bit surprised that he was able to push Ilia up onto the ledge, while he just held onto it.
There was some coughing. Link lifted his head from resting on the ledge and saw Ilia awake, sputtering out water from her mouth. She rolled onto her side, slightly opening her eyes. Once she spotted Link, still barely hanging onto the ledge and in the water, her eyes opened wide and she stumbled over to him. She used whatever strength she still had to lift Link up, holding fast to his arm.
Once Link was out of the water, both kids were breathing hard.
"I'm... s-sorry... Link..." Ilia somehow managed to get out some words, and then held Link in her arms repeating "I'm so, so sorry..." over and over again.
. . .
The next morning, Link found himself woozy and out of sorts. When Ilia found him in his house, still in bed later that day, she had her dad come and see him.
"Link is usually so healthy, I wonder what could have caused this?" The mayor said while comparing Link's body temperature to his own. Ilia and Link exchanged glances.
"We probably shouldn't tell the other adults what happened today... they might get mad. Okay, Ilia?" Link was hoping that Ilia was listening, or in fact, that she could at least hear him through her heavy sobbing. Ilia felt really bad that she put Link in that situation that could have been bad, for both of them.
"hic... o... okay..."
Link tried to comfort the girl somehow, but the only thing he could think of was to pat her on the head while she continued to rub at her eyes.
"I... I don't know..." Ilia said, as she remembered what they agreed on the day before.
"Will Link be okay?"
The mayor rubbed at his bald head.
"Hmm..." He looked at his daughter who refused to leave Link's side. He gave her a pat on the back.
"I think he will be so long as you nurse him back to health, my girl!" The mayor gave a hearty laugh as he left the two kids alone.
Ilia looked back to Link, only to see that the boy had fallen asleep. She crawled in beside him on his bed and whispered to him before joining him in his slumber.
"Silly Link... get better"