Author's Notes: This was originally posted as "The Deception of El-Abar". Unfortunately, the inspiration for this story didn't last, so I changed the name and summary and left it up as a one-shot.
"Where will you go?" She watched him saddle Epona with a sense of sadness and loss that kept growing and left her feeling like a leaf tossed about in the river's rapids.
He shrugged. He didn't speak, but she could read his answer in his face: When I find out, I'll let you know.
She swallowed, trying to force the lump in her throat to go away. "When will you be back?" Her voice was hopeful, even though she already knew the answer.
Again, he shrugged. His gaze was fixed on Epona and his face was void of any emotion.
She knew him better than anyone else, even after everything. A short laugh—full of sorrow, of bitterness, of acceptance—made its way out of her.
Still, he didn't look at her.
"Colin will miss you." She hoped that he would hear everything she wasn't saying, everything she couldn't say. She desperately needed to hear him say that everything would be alright, that he would be back in a couple of days—far too short a time for anyone to miss him.
"Colin will be fine."
She wanted to throw something at him, to hit him, to cry, to blurt out everything she'd been holding in for years. He was an idiot, he was oblivious, he was…
He was the only boy she'd ever loved.
And so, for the sake of all her hidden desires and girlish daydreams, she tried again.
"We've only just all gotten back. My father was talking about throwing a party in a few weeks, and it wouldn't be the same without you. And Fado will need help with the birthing of the goat kids. Surely you could wait a little longer to leave home."
He let out a sigh. Dropping the cinch, he turned to face her for the first time. "I've already waited a month. I sit awake at night wondering what I'm missing, I can't sleep because the mattress is too soft, and then, in the morning, I milk goats." He ran a hand through his unruly blond hair, more out of frustration than an attempt to tame it. "I've been out there, and now it's way too quiet here."
She was surprised by the force, the yearning, the passion his voice carried. But she still pressed on. "I've been out there, too, and it scared me. The village is safe and familiar. You used to think so, too."
His eyes flickered to the path leading away from the village, away from his old life, away from her.
She saw the movement and panic gripped her. "Can't we just go back to the way things were before? Can't we pretend that nothing has changed?" She felt tears well up in her eyes with her outburst, but she was too scared to feel any embarrassment.
He looked at her again. "No, we can't. Because things have changed and to pretend that they haven't would kill me." He paused and that faraway look that she'd come to recognize settled on his face. "We're too different. We always have been. I saw a world full of wonder and mystery, and it's calling to me. I can't stand being trapped here for much longer. It's like… It's like when Epona wants to gallop and she's forced to walk."
She crossed her arms over her chest and looked over toward the practice targets he had built so many years ago. She swallowed again, forcing the tears back and fighting to keep her voice even. "Where will you go?" She echoed her first question, but he didn't seem to mind.
"I don't know. Whichever way the wind takes me."
She still refused to look at him—what she wanted to say next would be hard enough without his brilliant blue eyes staring into her soul.
"I… I always kind of thought that you'd settle down here, maybe take over the ranch, and we'd…" She froze for a second, not wanting to voice her most secret dreams and give them life. She forced the words out anyway, but they came out in a whisper. "…we'd end up getting married."
She heard him sigh—the sound of her dreams shattering and disappearing, with her helpless to do anything about it. "I always thought that, too." His voice was filled with regret, a wordless apology.
She nodded once as one tear escaped and made its way down her cheek. She was grateful that he couldn't see it.
"I think… Perhaps I've spent too long in my wolf form."
If she wasn't ready to burst into tears, she would have laughed. He could be so oblivious sometimes. "No," she said with a shake of her head, "I think your twilight form came from traits that were already there. You've always been a loner."
Silence fell over the clearing.
Thinking that he had returned to securing Epona's saddle, she glanced over.
He stared back at her, taking in her watery eyes and the one lone offender that had broken loose and was now a dried trail on her cheek. He took a breath, started to speak, but changed his mind. Instead, he turned back to Epona. As he finished cinching the saddle straps, he said, "Tell Colin I'll take him to the Hyrule Festival for his tenth birthday."
The beginnings of a smile formed on her face. A year and a half. It was much longer than she'd have chosen, but it was a promise.
He mounted Epona and started down the pathway, away from Ordon, away from Colin, away from her.
For a moment, she was frozen, watching her love ride away. Then, with a tinge of desperation, she ran several feet up the pathway and called after him, "I'll be waiting for you, so you'd better come back!"
He waved, the only indication that he had heard her, as he nudged Epona into a gallop.
And then the Hero of Light was gone, a cloud of dust and an empty house the only indication that he'd ever been there at all.
Ilia stood, staring down the path until the sun disappeared behind the trees.
Waiting.