"Mal, we've been over this a lot."

"But you never give me a real answer! We've been together long enough, I think I have a right to know."

Link sighed as he tucked the sheet into the mattress on their bed. "Mal, honey, it's no big deal, really."

Malon pouted. "Come on! I know all the big secrets, why can't you just tell me? I mean, I've gotten you to wear brown pants and white pants and black pants and pants of all sorts. But why green? I mean, every day, for the whole of your life, it's green tunics, green this and green that. What is this obsession?"

Link sat. "Now I wouldn't go that far …"

"I mean, there are plenty of good colors in the world, BLUE, YELLOW, PURPLE! Why not those? they're perfectly fine colors after all."

"Of course they are, now are you going to stop ranting and let me explain myself?" Malon's mouth clapped shut and she sat next to her husband with a bounce. "Well, It's not that I don't like other colors, because I do. Personally, my favorite is red." He ran his fingers through her long fiery tresses, "For obvious reasons." Malon blushed slightly. "But the honest truth, I wear green all day every day bec-"

"Mommy?" Toka appeared in the doorway rubbing his eyes. "Do you have to talk so loud?"

Malon laughed as she stood and took her son in her arms. "I'm sorry precious, I didn't mean to wake you from your nap." She stroked his head caringly as she settled him on her hip. "Daddy and I were just talking about our favorite colors."

The young boy smiled, his eyes glittered green. "I like orange!"

"You do huh? That's your favorite?"

"Uh, huh!" Malon placed him back down and pushed a strawberry lock back from his face.

"Alright honey, why don't you help grandpa round up the cuckoos. I'll start lunch in a little bit."

"Can we have carrots? Carrots are orange!"

"Of course we can have carrots. Now shoo, I have to finish the laundry first." Toka bolted down the stairs, his small voice ringing between his even smaller footsteps.

"Orange is orange! Carrots are orange, flowers are orange, oranges are orange! O is for orange, orange is …" His little voice drifted off into the yard.

"It's hard to believe he's already five and a half."

"Five and three fourths according to him." Link corrected with a smile. They were quiet for a moment before Link spoke again. "Do I really only wear green?"

Malon laughed. "The only time I have seen you wear anything else was on our wedding day, when you wore that white tunic. Otherwise…" Malon opened the wardrobe and displayed for him a dazzling array on completely identical green tunics, shirts, and coats.

"You have a point."

Malon sat on the bed next to him again and quietly folded a towel as she spoke. "Now, you were going to tell me why you wear all those blasted green things."

"Ah, right … well, it's kind of embarrassing, but …" Link coughed. "I'm colmphmblimph."

"Beg your pardon?" Malon leaned in to hear his muffled words.

"I'm colorblind."

Malon fought hard to suppress a giggle. "You are?'

"Yes, as a matter of fact." Link spoke strongly and defensively. "Red and green are the colors I see most clearly, that's why I wear it all the time. It's cause I like to know I'm not being paraded around in … unbecoming colors. I was pranked a lot before I figured out exactly what I can and cannot see."

"So orange?"

"You could show me a carrot and call it purple. I wouldn't know the difference. I can see a bit of what I think may be yellow and even less of what must be blue. That's one of the reasons I find you so attractive, I can see you and know it's the real you, not some bizarre black and white and multicolored wonder of the mind like I see in the sky or other people. You're all reds ad greens. My colors."

"Is that why you started calling me Red all that time ago?"

"Exactly."

"Well, Hero," Malon kissed his forehead tenderly. "I'm going to go downstairs and make up some purple carrots and blue stew for our son. Finish up that bed for me, then later we can talk about what other colors you'll be trying in the near future."

"You mean I-"

"That's right, from now on you're going to have to trust me when I put you in other colors. I personally think you would look quite dashing in a deep blue. You can keep those green abominations, but from now on I'm only making you one a year, so choose wisely what shirts you trash from now on." Malon swished out the door as Link stood and finished making the bed.

"Great goddesses, I haven't just married a woman, I've married the very color …" He looked back at the door Malon had just passed through. "Red."