Bomb Flowers and Lace

by saiyuri-dahlia

Essentially, this is a two-part writing exercise in genderbending. At first, I was only going to write Link as a girl and then I started wondering how I would write Shad as a girl and here we are. The first story is Link's and the second story, once it is completed and posted on a later date, will be Shad's. Either way it's Shad/Link and how they happily wind up together. Enjoy.

Series Title: Bomb Flowers and Lace

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight Princess.

Author's Notes: Over on AO3, a reviewer asked me on "Step and Turn" how a female Link would respond to Shad's dance lessons. I replied that I wouldn't have written Link any differently as a girl but the more I thought about it, the more I wondered if I really would write him the same way.

I admit gender-bending is not my cup of tea. Perhaps I've read too many bad ones where the character undergoing the shift acts more like a poorly stereotypical teenage girl than their core character. That's something I never quite understood when a character seems to have a different characterization altogether simply because of a gender change. Personally, I wouldn't alter a character's personality at all if possible and only their privates and pronouns would change.

But I was curious to see if anything would change so I decided to write a story each for Link and Shad and I'll go into detail on my findings before each story later on. Link's story is first and hopefully doesn't feel like it rambles on and on. I had my worries that it was running too long. Admittedly I might be taking a break before I return to finish Shad's story. I have started on it and it does have a different feel from Link's story but I've focused a lot on Zelda stories of lately and I'm missing other pairings.

As always, thanks for reading.

-o-

Female Link: My initial thought was that female Link would be a lot like writing Ashei but I tried not to make her an Ashei-clone, in part due to respect for Ashei's individuality. To avert that, I generally tried to stick to my core personality for TP Link—brave, honest, direct, humble, stubborn, helpful, generally good-natured and easy-going but quick tempered.

In comparison to TP Link, I wound up writing Lady Link as a bit more innocent and carefree, perky even. Her innate curiosity is more prominent and she expresses/vocalizes her feelings a bit more than her male counterpart. In some respects, she's a lot like Ilia and the two are very much sisters. Unlike Ilia, Lady Link has a feral streak, a tendency to be mischievous and lithe as a monkey, still wrestles goats, and hunts and spars with Rusl, who still considers her his little brother.

She's at home in the forest equally in her hunting gear or her bare feet but in Castle Town, she stands out, both because she's from Ordon—a province considered not a part of Hyrule proper, therefore backwoods—but also because she's a soldier, which also clashes with (this version of) Castle Town's view of 'proper' ladies. As to be expected and typical of fem!Link stories, her heroics are often belittled because she's a woman and her gender is regularly put into question, which generally doesn't bother her but naturally can press on her last nerve at times. No matter what people say of her or whether or not they appreciate her, she still fights for Hyrule regardless like any Hero would.

-o-

Story One: The Lovebirds

-o-

This was a fine kettle Shad was in and he possessed no viable solution to freeing himself from it without tracking down the young swordswoman and apologizing to her forthright. It was not that he had meant to affront her—she had simply misunderstood him. Matters were not helped that Ashei had taken his words as an affront to all female warriors and exacerbated the souring situation and before Shad could adequately explain himself, the Ordon-raised swordswoman had circled around and stormed out of Telma's bar, with what Shad first believed was an exquisite replica of the Master Sword secured to her back but now indubitably believed was indeed the real article.

The scholar had wanted to clarify himself but had not found the opportunity or loudness of voice to be heard. Frankly, Ashei's abrupt invasion into his personal space and the young swordswoman's ever-sharpening glare had cut the scholar's nerve before he ever possessed the chance to speak. If Ashei had not taken offense and impeded his explanation, perhaps he could have assuaged matters and not gained the swordswoman's resentment.

After Shad had explained to Ashei what he had intended to say and earned her grumbled apology, Rusl did inform Shad that Link was as hardheaded as an Ordon goat, both in a literal and figurative sense, but promised that if he gave her time, she would calm down and be willing to listen. Shad had waited and searched but never did see her about Castle Town—in fact, a soldier informed him that he had seen her rush off out of town soon after leaving the bar in an incensed huff.

So for the next week, Shad plodded about Castle Town miserably as he waited for any news or sign of the young swordswoman's return so he could offer her a proper apology and remove the weight of their poor introduction off his mind and slumped shoulders. At long and welcomed last, he finally caught sight of her in the market alternating between two stands of apples, seemingly trying to decide between which to purchase from.

As he eagerly made his way toward her, he realized he had no idea how to bridge a conversation with her. After all, their first meeting had not ended on the best of terms and he did not know if she still harbored any resentment from his misunderstood words.

"Excuse me, Miss Link, and good afternoon to you," Shad said, clearing his throat as he stepped up beside her and offered her a short polite bow in greeting. "If I may offer my knowledge in assistance, I would suggest purchasing from the other stall for the sweeter apples of the two."

"So you're a know-it-all about apples too?" Link said, her tone hard and brusque. So it seemed she had not forgotten or felt any less slighted. "I'll take this one then." She handed the greengrocer a rupee.

As she briskly walked off into the crowd, Shad hurried to follow her, apologizing profusely to her and to the townsfolk he jostled by. "A-Ah, pardon me, please, Miss Link! Allow me to apologize for my words the other day," he said, temporarily gaining her interest as she paused in the mouth of an alleyway and turned toward him. She posed a listening ear and took a hard, crisp bite out of her apple.

Red-faced in embarrassment and from sprinting, Shad went on, bowing generously to her, and spoke quickly, fearing she would turn and run at the first press of any perceived further insult. "It was not my intention to undervalue the heroics of your deeds or dismiss your physical skill on the basis of your gender at all. What I meant to explain was that history has never recorded the existence of a Heroine, only Heroes, but that is not to say that there were not, though the word 'hero' typically denotes males—"

"But there could have been," she interrupted. "Historians don't know everything. There's still stuff you could find out about."

"Er…yes, that is true," he said, nodding in agreement readily. "And even if we do not discover one in past record, I believe I would not be incorrect in stating that we possess one in our present age. Because if there is anyone on this Goddess-blessed land that is worthy of embodying the Hero's Spirit, it is you."

Blinking in surprise and embarrassed at his honest praise, Link looked away and grinned. "You're only saying that because I can knock you out."

"Please, do not," Shad said, eyes wide in alarm, his hands up in surrender. "I truly did not intend to disrespect you in any manner whatsoever."

"Relax. I'm kidding." She smacked him playfully against the arm. Except it really did hurt and Shad winced and grabbed the aching spot protectively.

"I generally take all threats against my well-being with a measure of seriousness," he said, rubbing the twinge on his arm. "Especially since you indeed are capable of executing said action."

With a bit of laughter and a brighter, wider smile, Link at long last said, "…All right. I forgive you." As if to punctuate and prove her new amicability toward him, she slapped his back and sent him pitching forward, nearly toppling him over onto the cobblestone road.

"Ah, t-thank you," he said, smiling feebly, as he recovered his balance, assisted by Link. "I say, you possess no idea of how relieved I am to hear you say that. Indeed I have fretted over our poor introduction since you departed, so much so I have been unable to focus properly on my research of the sky beings."

"Sky beings?" Link asked, mid-bite, as they proceeded to walk together. Shad was not entirely sure if they were actually walking together or if Link was simply guiding them along to where she needed to be while he followed her and provided conversation.

"Yes, sky beings indeed. Since I was a boy, my father, rest his soul, and I have researched the existence of a race of sky beings said to be even closer to the gods than we Hylians. Legend states they built a capital in the heavens and I have been pursuing every lead in order to locate it."

"Are you close to finding it?" Link asked. Shad blinked. Not only had she listened to his ramblings, she seemed keenly interested.

"I say…umm…well…I am not entirely positive that I am…" Shad said, rather embarrassed at his uncertainty and inability to answer her. The truth was that he could be very close or far from it and he would never even know. He would only know how close he had been once he discovered the City in the Sky for himself.

"Ah, I'm sure you'll find it," Link said, waving the apple in her hand as she talked. "I've seen way too much crazy stuff in this world for there not to be folks living in the sky."

"If you do not mind and can spare the time," Shad said, looking down and touching the tips of his fingertips together nervously. "I would like to hear about the so-called crazy stuff you have seen. And if you would like to know in return, I would be happy to show you what I have uncovered in my research so far."

"Well, I was planning on heading out," Link said as she looked down at her shadow and considered. Shad could not help but frown in disappointment. It was not often anyone expressed even a droplet of curiosity in his findings. "But I could probably use a break. …Yea, I would like hear more."

"Y-You w-would?" Shad said, brightening considerably. Trembling with eagerness, he rushed to grab his father's journal from its belt bindings. "Ah, well, where to begin? Umm…"

As he walked with her and frantically thumbed through his pages in search of a proper place to divulge into his research in greater detail, Shad failed to notice, what with his attentions solely on the book before him, that he was drifting into other passing townsfolks' paths and was generally not looking where he was going. More than once, Link pulled him out of the way of a particularly nasty potential collision in the central town square.

"Come on, let's get you somewhere safe," Link said, grinning through her bubbly laughter, as she wrapped her arms around the crook of his arm and guided him through the foot traffic.

Shad's cheeks were pink in his oversight. "Ah, if you would, please proceed toward the western gate, as there is something I wish to show you beyond there."

Still connected to him, Link turned around, making Shad totter in his steps as he sharply turned in tow and headed toward the western gate.

With all the eyes directed toward them, Shad was positive they looked rather peculiar with their arms interlocked together. Rather like a couple might, he realized. He glanced over and realized Link was innocently unaware of the implications her gesture was casting. …Unless she was aware and did not mind.

His blush deepened, no doubt promoting the portrait of intimacy in the gossip-searching eyes of the townsfolk. He could have easily put a stop on their growing presumptions by unhooking and removing his arm post haste from Link's hold, but he rather…well, it would have been rude to do so.

Shad laughed to himself. Surely, no one suspected there was any romance between them anyway, as they hardly appeared to have anything in common. For anyone to seriously consider that she would be interested in him was a fool's patron.

She was cute, like a perky little pixie or what a matured Kokiri would appear like. Her short sandy-blonde hair fell just an inch or two past her pointed ears. Her eyes were sharp in both shape and alertness, fierce and bright as well and blue. A very remarkable, noble shade of blue, they were, in fact. She was short—Shad being a whole head taller than her—and she was slight but by no means was she waif-like. Despite her small build, every inch of her appeared to be muscle. How curious might she look in an evening dress, her toned and sun-warmed arms and shoulders exposed, next to a pale, soft, sheltered lass of Castle Town…

By Castle Town standards, Link was far from proper. In fact, she was quite bizarre. Her every appearance in town sparked one gossip or another. After all, proper Hylian ladies of virtue took up needlepoint or husbands, not swords. Girls who expressed interest in fighting were far too unladylike, even scandalous, if they were considered ladies at all—current whispers stated that Miss Link was some form of a hermaphrodite, neither, nor, and simultaneously both. His mother would have considered her too spirited, too bold, uncouth, and unbecoming, and her Ordon upbringing would certainly not have gathered her any grace in his mother's eyes. Not that he would ever possess the opportunity to bring her before his mother by any means, though he knew already what she would think of her.

For all her inspiring deeds, Shad still heard disparaging whispers about Link. Many did not believe a young lady had the capability of climbing Death Mountain and defeating the Gorons in a test of physical strength or that she had freed the Zora from the ice—it was no wonder to him now how quick she had been to take offense to his poorly-phrased words after most likely overhearing time and time again how she couldn't have been the Hero.

"What a shame… Surely he could have found a real lady… His mother was always so particular how she raised him, then again she did marry that mad butler in the first place, and y'know what they say about apples and the trees…" a boyhood neighbor of Shad's murmured not at all quietly to her fellow housewives.

As insulted as he was on several fronts, Shad almost verbally corrected the pug woman but merely responded with a harsh stare in reprimand. They were not romantically-involved, true, but no one had to be so blasted rude. Besides, different as she was, Link was still a remarkable young lady of particular charm and beauty... That was to say, she didn't deserve the unflattering disapproval of Castle Town's so-called 'polite' society.

"A real lady, what a preposterous notion!" Shad said, peering back over his shoulder at the gossipmongers whispering away, no doubt sparked by the scholar's glare. "What constitutes as the definitive qualities and traits of a lady is subjective evaluation, differing from one person's perception to another's. You are as much a real lady as that is a real fruit stall or that is a real packhorse or that I am a real man. It all depends on what one defines as real."

"There are people that don't think you're a real man?" Link asked innocently.

"Er…well, I am positive there are, though accusations against my manhood have dwindled in recent years," Shad said, averting his eyes in discomfort. "Mostly I am known by society as the crackpot son of the mad butler. I am told by colleagues and my mother alike that I should remove my head from the clouds and focus on the so-called reality. But studying what is already known is both uninteresting and meaningless to me."

"So are you mad like your father? Are they right?" Link said, grinning in such an impish manner the scholar knew she was not seriously asking if he was barmy.

"Just because one believes something is true does not make it true. For anything to be true, we must have proof," he said, as Link nodded readily in agreement, as they exited the western gate and headed out across the drawbridge. "That, good miss, is the cardinal rule of discovery, be it scientific or historical. With proof, truth will out. I say, you will soon see what I mean."

-o-

By the ruins in view of the Great Bridge of Hylia, Shad made his way down the stone steps as he explained to Link about the Oocca's written language of Sky Writing.

"When most children are just barely learning how to write in one language, I was learning how to write in three and could read in several more than that," the scholar explained, with a rare measure of pride in his voice. "As the existence of the sky beings are doubted within my academic community, as it stands, I am presently the only person who can read Sky Writing. Fascinatingly, complex langu—"

Missing a step, he pitched and tottered forward, squeaking in panic until Link snatched him up and helped him stand. Shad was positive it was the shock of potentially falling that reddened his cheeks, not the feel of Link's natural physical warmth spreading across his chest as she slid her arms around him and pressed against him to support his weight. Nor was it the close proximity of her face to his and the fact that her lips were but a sharp tilt upward away from meeting his—certainly neither had anything to do with his red cheeks and hastened heartbeat. No, they were clearly coincidences.

"All that writing and reading," Link teased gently as she made sure he was steady, "and yet they forgot to teach you how to walk." She giggled playfully through her grin.

"Er…well…thank you," he said, canting his stare further down in embarrassment and bashfulness as she peered up at him, her face so very cheery.

"You'll be okay if I let you go?" she asked without losing an inch of her smile. "I can give you a piggyback ride if you like."

Shad blinked, both at the peculiarity of her offer and her sincerity. "I will be fine from here, I assure you. There are only a few steps anyway," he replied, proceeding down said stairs.

I say, quite an odd but considerate suggestion to make…he thought as he looked toward the owl statue. Oh, blast!

The scholar groaned as he noticed three crowing guay perched atop the owl statue. The positively diseased black birds twisted their scrawny necks toward one another and screeched in obvious agreement to a vile plan.

"Oh, bother…" Shad murmured as he contemplated how to shoo away the notoriously persistent and territorial winged pests.

"Ugh, these guys…" Link said dully, wrinkling her nose in disgust, as she nocked an arrow to her bow.

One of the guay looked at Link and squawked at her as if it had understood her. Not much academic study was ever performed on the guay, particularly in regards to their intelligence but before Shad could speculate the possibility of the birds possessing learning and comprehension capability, Link shot an arrow through the affronted bird. Its vengeful kin shrieked and took flight, calling the rest of its murder into battle.

The flock of twenty or so birds circled the sky, coordinated their orders through rough squawks, and dive-bombed their intruders, who had already proven deadly to their kind. Shad pinned himself against the pedestal elevating the owl statue as Link sent arrow after arrow through the bellicose birds.

The focus in her eyes was startling. The same bright-eyed, bouncy, beaming girl was suddenly stone-faced, scowling, and fiercely determined as she effortlessly and fluidly weaved through and evaded attacks without slowing her counterassault and never missing her mark. Dull, dark feathers fluttered morosely down like confetti fit for a funeral procession as the guays' numbers dwindled.

"Ow! You little…" Clutching the back of her head, Link bared her teeth at the laughing guay as the bird, the last of its flock, rose into the sky. It had used the sun as a blinder and snuck up behind her, delivering a spiteful peck to the back of her head.

"Oh, you're gonna get something special…" she promised, making a bomb arrow. Black smoke and smoldering feathers was all that remained of her target as Link laughed and stuck her tongue out at the falling char.

"Serves you right, you flying rats!" she shouted at the empty sky. And then rubbing the back of her head, she turned around to face Shad and said much more calmly, "Goddesses, that smarts…"

"That was absolutely, positively outstanding," Shad said in awe as he stepped out from the pedestal's shadow. "I say, you are far more superior than our soldiers."

"I've had a lot of practice recently…" she said sheepishly, unaccustomed to such immediate praise, and peered away from him in embarrassment. "And not having much up here helps." She patted her small chest lightly.

"I…er…w-well, I-I s-suppose that w-would be beneficial…" Shad replied, a bead of sweat dribbling down the side of his face. Still standing ramrod straight, the scholar turned around to face the pedestal with the yield and ease the very statues he researched would have if they could walk about. Ah, for Nayru's love if she saw the heat flushing across his cheeks…

"Ah, yes, the owl statue!" he said much too enthusiastically. "So named because they are statues carved into the shape of owls…"

Heavens…quite open and candid, is she not? My, I know well that directness is a trait of Rusl and perhaps of Ordon upbringing in of itself, however, young ladies in Castle Town do not make reference to nor draw attention to their…maternals in such a direct fashion. …I say, certainly not in the presence of a male, they do not.

Inward and outward composure scrambled together and flimsily restored, Shad remembered he had asked her to come out here to view the owl statue. After all, it would be an adequate start to informing her of his research. "T-This statue you see here, a-as you might have noticed throughout your travels, is one of many scattered about our blessed land. Their exact purpose is not yet known but my father speculated they are somehow connected to the Oocca, based on Sky Writing found on a few of the statues' bases."

Sitting atop the last high stone step, Link listened with a surprising measure of alertness the scholar was not used to possessing. Most people, particularly his colleagues, his professors, his mother, actually about every person he ever met, usually pretended to listen to his ramblings, as his research was reduced to. He would sometimes gain the rapt interest of a band of children, who would presume and insist it was a funny story but never once believe him that it was highly-potentially historical fact.

"According to my father's notes, the Oocca are said to be older in creation than the Hylians and according to Sky Writing, after the Golden Goddesses left the Triforce and ascended to the Sacred Realm, it was the sky beings, the Oocca that created Hyrule and then took residence in a capital within the heavens."

There were so many theories and speculations of his father's and his own that he wished to divulge into that he struggled to remain on the basic subject. He had already ran off topic and shown her his conjectured sketches of what a sky being may look like, which at the present moment he believed involved bird people—that is people with bird faces. He had drawn several different varieties of bird people that were half sparrow, hawk, quetzal, cucco, or shoebill. He had even accidentally shown her a drawing he had made of the Group, including himself, in their respected half-bird forms.

As pink-faced as he was to inadvertently show her his forgotten silly little speculative scribbles, Link was downright overjoyed and smiled and giggled profusely as she looked over his drawings. She insisted he add her bird form to the Group drawing soon and that he show her as soon as he was done.

"Y'know, when you've found out all that you want about the Oocca and if you don't want to study something else, you might want to think about drawing instead. You could travel across Hyrule, sketch the Oocca's capital, go and draw whatever you wanted. Or just make up stuff like this. These are amazing," she said, pausing on a colored drawing of a multi-winged purple great horned owl priestess in ornate, flowing ceremonial robes.

"Your praise is far too kind, though I appreciate the thought," Shad said, peering down idly into his father's open journal resting between them. "However, I cannot see that the products of my boredom, my purposeless scrawls would ever attract the eye of any critic, noteworthy or ill reputed, or draw any of Castle Town's upper society to hire me or purchase my work. Besides, I am positive my mother would be thrilled to hear that I have decided to toss aside all my higher education and proceed to fund my livelihood as a wandering artist. I am sure I am enough of a disappointment as is—"

"Don't say that!" she said so abruptly Shad flinched in shock. Catching herself, Link looked away, back down at the journal, and said much quieter, "…You're not. You're doing what you want to do. You're following your dream and keeping your promise to your dad, working toward your goals no matter the obstacle or wayward step that knocks you down. You're smart and talented and you take that and think of things that no one else would and you make them real on paper…" She smiled softly as she pulled back a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "…I don't see how that's a disappointment at all."

Mouth slightly ajar, Shad looked at her in surprise. It was not often the scholar was ever made speechless and most of those times involved deadly creatures breathing on his neck. His friends and allies, which pretty much consisted of the Group, tossed him an encouraging word now and again when his research leads dried up or the academic ridicule weighed too heavily on his depressed shoulders but it had been very long since someone he barely knew had said something so kind to him.

I say, she is a member of our little Group now, is she not? Shad thought.

Link darted her gaze to and from him as her nervousness grew with his prolonged silence. "I spat out a bunch of nothing, didn't I?" she said.

Realizing his staring, Shad quickly corrected himself and peered back down at his father's journal. "…Actually, I believe I needed to hear that more than you realize, good miss."

"Your drawings are really, really good," Link said, sporting a tiny smile as she stared down at her dangling, swinging legs as she absently kicked the high stone steps behind her to amuse herself. "Give it a shot at least, y'know?"

"Perhaps I am far too keen to concede defeat before I have endeavored at an opportunity properly," Shad said, picking up and putting away his father's journal. "I first see the possible routes of failure before I ever properly contemplate and assess the avenues of victory."

"Yeah, don't give up before you even try," Link chimed in chipperly.

Shad blinked in confusion. "That is what I just said."

Her legs fell still as Link stared wide-eyed in surprise back at him. "…You did? I didn't realize…" She swiftly looked away and pressed her lips tightly together in a self-conscious smile. "But we did say the same thing just in a different way, right?"

Shad nodded readily. "Yes, yes, of course! And though our manner of conveyance differed, one could say that our thoughts were as one."

He was positive her broadening, brightening smile was not a put-on at all.

"Well," Link said as she peered up into sunset warming the horizon just beyond the mountains and tapped her heels into the stairs once more. "Yours took a lot longer to say but it sounded a lot nicer."

"But yours was far more to the point and would have made for a rousing encouragement," he replied. "I am afraid that if I gave an inspirational speech to anyone they would never complete their task, as they would all be standing around trying to decode my words."

Link tried not to laugh but her bouncing shoulders gave her giggling away.

"When you draw me," she said, head held high and her smile just as proud, "I should be a parrot and I'll repeat everything you say only in smaller, easier words."

As Link cawed and whistled like a parrot beside him, Shad's spirits and grin lifted. "In that case, you should be my translator."

Much to his amazement and mental tizzy, Link leaned over and laid her head on his shoulder. "Not a lot of room here to perch. A parrot's got to have a shoulder," she said, smiling as she trilled softly.

Ever forward and…friendly, to say the least… His thoughts ricocheted, blindly and erratically, into one another as his heartbeat leapt all the way up to his ears. I say, quite a dazzling smile she possess…

"Y-You would be hard-pressed to find any place on me to comfortably roost, my perky Pollyanna, though I will readily offer my shoulder, should you ever require it."

"…No one's ever given me their shoulder befo—" she said until a gurgling, grumbling growl rumbled from her stomach. Eyes wide in stunned surprise, she clutched her stomach as if to quiet it in embarrassment.

"Oh dear." Shad smiled in amusement. "Seems Polly wants a cracker."

"One cracker, my butt," she scoffed as she rose to standing, hooking her arms around Shad's arm and pulling him up to standing as well. "I wonder what Telma's got on menu today. You know? Nope? Let's find out!"

Shad rushed and stumbled to his feet, hunched over and tripping over himself (and his words) in a figurative and literal sense, as Link dragged him along up the stairs, a little confused by his clumsiness as he hurried behind her.

They found Telma tolerating the knight academy's latest graduating class as the rowdy upstarts chanted "Dragon Knight!" and battered their fists and pint glasses against her bar. The scholar groaned and fought the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose in irritation.

While he was not unaccustomed to the cacophony of a raucous night, he knew well what the dragon knight chant signified—someone was foolhardily…no, downright idiotically attempting to consume the equal approximation to lava and super effective torture implementation that was Telma's Din's Fire chili. It was made primarily from the merciless, scorching Volga chili peppers and most aspiring dragon knights found themselves weeping and coated in snot from their first deep inhale. The most any fellow ever consumed of it was five spoonfuls before passing out and rumor had it that he suffered from chronic stomach pains and lacked the ability to taste now. The Gorons, however, lapped it up readily the sole day Telma had it on her menu.

To no surprise, after Telma said hello and hugged them both and explained what the commotion was about, Link eagerly requested a bowl. Shad and Telma tried to dissuade her against eating the technically edible, super spicy chili, which could very possibly slay even a chosen Hero, but the challenge was made and sealed once the soldiers butted in and jeered at the thought of a 'boy-girl' championing the Dragon Knight Challenge.

With commendable composure and determination to silence their smug laughter, Link simply stared hard back at the puerile men at arms while Telma swiftly cuffed each one on the back of the head and threatened to clobber and toss the lot of them out herself if they ever called Link a boy-girl or any insult ever again—after all, the girl had proven herself braver and stronger and more use to Hyrule than the whole army put together.

The new soldiers hunkered down into their tunics and grumbled an apology to Telma, though Shad noted their words should have gone to Link. The scholar, in fact, had some stern words for the would-be knights but believed Telma had efficiently cleared matters well and simply frowned at the upstarts in solidarity as he walked with Link to the Group's meeting table in the lit backroom.

Telma served both Link and three of the 'brave' soldiers at the same time. It wasn't a race but eager to prove their superior manhood, the soldiers picked up their bowls and shoveled spoonfuls into their gaping jaws. One almost immediately spewed his first spoonful out across the bar and begged the Goddesses to end his hell. The other two made it another spoonful and half before joining their comrade. And Link ate her bowlful with grins and gusto and went on to eat twenty more, stopping only because Telma had no more chili to fill her bowl with.

"That chili wasn't that hot," Link said as she stepped out of Telma's bar through Shad's held open door. "I can already feel my lips again."

Shad shot his eyes up to the night sky in disbelief. "I say, your constitution is a remarkable and terrifying sight to behold."

"Too bad I didn't actually breathe fire," she said, smirking. Shad did not exactly agree that burping out loud deserved such pride but he had to admit there was something impressive in either her or the chili for a burp to cause a tray of beer mugs to spontaneously alight.

After admitting after gentle press that she was planning on spending the night in the barns on the western road sleeping next to the Ordon goats, Shad felt compelled to offer her a more comfortable and no doubt more pleasant-smelling sleeping arrangements. While at first she reassured him that she was very much at home sleeping beside goats, she nonetheless accepted his offer, clearly touched by his concern and insistence that it was 'only proper and more than likely a respite on one's back'. She wrapped her arm around the crook of his arm, much to Shad's pleasant surprise and pink cheeks, and they proceeded together to his apartment.

All grins and eager squeaks, Link looked about his living room at his father's prototypes and tinkerings Shad was attempting to improve or complete. The scholar readily answered her inquisitive questions and was overjoyed to watch her fervent excitement and marvel for learning. Rarely had anyone taken so much interest in his academics or saw and understood that the unknown was simply the truth waiting to be uncovered.

Despite her lack of a formal education and a difficulty wording her thoughts as clearly and quickly as she would have wished, she was certainly capable of matching wits with any of his colleagues, providing Shad with far more stimulating conversation tonight than most of his colleagues had offered him his entire academic career. He was not sure her avid imagination of utilizing his father's steam engine to power Ordon Village's waterwheel was plausible but he welcomed the opportunity to speculate more upon the unexplored potential with her. Her ideas were remarkable, fantastic even.

When peace is restored, I wonder if she would be partial to assisting me. I cannot expect her to be beside me full time but we could make arrangements…he thought. Even if she could only spare a day or two from time to time, it would be most appreciated and delightful.

"What's the brass flower for?" Link asked, rising from his plush sofa and scampering over to the small table with drawers holding his phonograph and briskly investigated it like a gawking monkey.

"That, good miss, is a phonograph," he explained as he made his way over in a much calmer manner to stand beside her. "Would you like a demonstration?"

She nodded eagerly. Shad wound up the phonograph and placed the tip of the stylus on the revolving record. Through the initial crackling static, soft music began to play. Link cupped her hands around her ears and listened in wonder.

"Where's the tiny people?" she asked as leaned forward and peered into the brass horn, nearly sticking her face inside. "And the tiny instruments?"

"There is no miniaturized orchestra. There are grooves on the record and as the disk turns, the stylus runs along these grooves and vibrates, reproducing the music we hear now. Fascinating invention, is it not?" Shad explained with a smile. "Father also made a machine that records sounds and etches them onto records but alas, the device suffered a bit of fire damage and I have been unable to repair it. I say, if only I could locate my father's notes on the device…"

"What song it is?" she asked, her face scrunched up at the unfamiliar sound. "It sounds stuffy and uptight. Like something you'd hear at a royal ball."

"That is because it has been played many a royal ceremonial ball. It is a very formal song, though personally I consider it relaxing."

Link stared back at him skeptically. "People dance to this?"

"Yes, indeed, they do," Shad replied. "It is, after all, a waltz."

Her disbelief persisted. "A what?"

"A waltz, good miss, a type of formal dance performed in ballrooms." Understandably, Ordon did not possess nor had any requirement for ballrooms so the concept of ballroom dancing was rather foreign to Link. She explained that dancing in Ordon was of the free-flowing, 'move as the spirit takes you' variety and they did not possess any structured, formal steps.

"Very well then," Shad said as he scooted his coffee table to the side. "Stand over here and I shall demonstrate."

"F-First, let me have your h-hand," he said, an unsettling tremble agitating his voice and hands. The shake came upon him so swiftly and suddenly, whether it was from nervousness or excitement the scholar could not tell.

As she laid her hand on his shoulder, Shad bowed his head and smiled bashfully (and somewhat apologetically) as he placed his hand on her waist, hesitating for a moment or two before doing so. To his delight, Link did not outright reject his close proximity.

It was quite the pleasantly peculiar sensation dancing with Link. As Shad kept tempo and instructed her on the next step, they glided about his living room, with very little stumbling or watching of one's feet. Indeed, Link was remarkable young lady of profound poise and charm. And warmth of heart and hand. And brilliance of mind and smile.

By Din, did she have a brilliant smile, the scholar remarked.

When the phonograph wound fully down for the fifth time, Link and Shad decided it was time to rest and sat down on the scholar's sofa—sitting side by side one another, he had to note. His owlish eyes grew ever more wider as she leaned over, her eyes closed, and laid her head on his shoulder once more. He was slightly winded from their long impromptu dance lesson but his heartbeat suddenly raced double time.

"That kind of dancing is still stuffy and uptight," Link said without opening her eyes. "But it was pretty fun dancing with you."

"I-I say, indeed, it w-was," he said, blushing as he gazed down at her peaceful, smiling face and wondered if it would be too forward of him to wrap his arm around her.

"Y'know, this is better than sleeping in a barn," Link said, as she snuggled up closer. "I could fall asleep right here, I think." She lay practically nuzzling his neck.

"I-In that case, I believe it is time I brought you some bedding," Shad said, standing quickly and jarring Link. "Pardon me for just a moment."

You are being foolish, Shad scolded himself as he hastened to his hallway linen closet. There is no possibility that a young lady of extraordinary fortitude, wit, and valor such as her would ever notice, much less consider a bumbling, bookish milksop as yourself as a potential suitor. You are simply imagining things, or in the very least misinterpreting her innocence.

Shad returned with an armload of pillows and blankets and an old nightshirt of his for Link to try on. It would suffice adequately for a nightgown, though it was more than a size or two too big for her. Not that Link minded. She rather liked her flappy sleeves.

-o-

Out from the dream haze, the scholar awoke in the early morning realizing a presence from the warm breath on his neck but could not see what it was without his spectacles. It was light enough in his room for him to differentiate some shapes and shadows and he could discern the shape of a person and feel their weight sitting on top of him. Shad shouted in alarm. He fretted for Link's safety and then his own if this attacker was able to get past her and already had him pinned. He then realized as the person leaned in, mouth stretched out in a childish monster face, that his attacker was Link.

"What in the Goddesses' true names are you doing?" he asked, quite unamused as he rummaged for his spectacles on the nearby nightstand.

"Scaring you," Link said through her playful giggles. "Ilia and I wake each other up like this all the time."

"Bizarre manner of waking," Shad said, sweeping his hand across the nightstand and still was not able to find his spectacles. "If you would be so kind, please hand me my spectacles. I seem to be unable to locate them."

Link leaned over and picked them up. "You look…different without your glasses."

"In which manner of different do you mean?" Shad said. "As a boy, I was often told my countenance would be improved if I did not possess my spectacles, though now that I have aged I am told I look strange, abnormal even without them."

"Neither. Just different," Link said as she gingerly laid Shad's spectacles over his eyes, her fingertips brushing his face. Focus and form was restored to his sight as Link's blurry outline cleared and her bright expression came into view. Her hands cupped his face as her thumbs stroked his cheeks. Her touches were soft and cautious, as if she was uncertain her affections would be wanted.

The scholar reeled in disbelief as he trembled in astonishment. Never had he been the object of a young lady's attention. Anytime he did manage to capture a pretty girl's notice, he quickly lost her. Castle Town ladies paid him no heed and he certainly never believed he could draw the charms and affections of a Heroine.

"A-Ah heavens…" he stuttered, red rising to his cheeks as he tossed his stare to the ceiling, "…er…um…Miss Link, it has become apparent to me that the front of my nightshirt is hanging rather low on you."

"Shad, you can look down," Link said, slightly smirking. "You don't have to look away. I don't mind. I know there's not a lot there to look at."

"T-There is far more of you exposed than you should allow me to view," the scholar replied, eyes fixated on his ceiling. His eyes had gone no farther than the dip of her collarbone—though he had noticed the tan lines on her arms after she had first changed—and, by and for her honor, his eyes would travel no farther down.

"Than I should?" she grinned as she leaned down and whispered in his ear. "What if I want to?"

"T-That would be indecent for a p-proper lady."

"But I'm not a proper lady," she said softly. "I'm a her-math-a-diet."

Hearing her call herself by a common insult toward her, a pang of outrage arced through the scholar. It was not toward Link but to all the conceited, ignorant dullards that had dared to speak ill of her. Even were she not the hope of Hyrule, the sweet girl did not deserve to be spit on for simply not epitomizing a strict and particular view of femininity.

"Hermaphrodite, good miss, and that you are not," Shad said. "You are a remarkable young lady with whom our society cannot place neatly into our harsh, categorical views of gender. You are beyond anything our world has ever seen before."

Link peered down shyly and smiled gently at Shad's admiration. "At home, I'm a girl that hunts, fishes, swims and no one minds. Here, I walk into town and everyone looks at me like they don't know what I am. To them, I'm not a girl but not a boy, not proper and not right. I'm the boy-girl," she said, her honest sadness and confusion at Castle Town's perception of her slipping into her voice. "Is that what that herma-word means?"

"Pay no heed to the stares and slurs, good miss. They matter not," Shad replied as he delicately readjusted his nightshirt on her shoulders and restored her modesty. "Shamefully, our society chooses to shun and disgrace the aberration to our decided social norms. Believe what I say with absolute sincerity that you are an extraordinarily kind, brave, and loving person and you will do amazing things for our world. You are remarkably bright and perky, the sun personified. Never worry. There is much about you that is quite attractive, in many senses of the word."

"I'm a sun person?" She cheered up considerably. "I like that better than being a boy-girl."

By heaven, you have no idea how radiant you are. Shad gazed up at her in awe, captivated like a sunflower to the sun. "…If it is any comfort, my colleagues and townsfolk often ridicule me for my research. Though we may not exactly be of an identical species, we are both considered odd birds."

Link trilled happily, her whistling breaking into laughter, as Shad followed suit soon after.

She crawled away from him and then, much to the scholar's owlish eyes and startled sputtering, he watched her slide under his covers and curl up beside him. "I know the sun's up, and it's breakfast time and all," she said as she poked her head out from his blankets and rested her cheek on his shoulder, "but let's sleep in. I haven't done that in so long."

"My lady hero, I will be delighted to oblige," Shad said. He could feel her smiling as she wrapped her arm over his chest, nuzzling his shoulder before finding her comfy nest and closing her eyes.

He felt her warmth and presence beside him and once again he could not believe she was here, more so that she was nestled against him. It was a bit…indecent on many counts—his mother would be appalled to discover a young lady that was neither his wife nor a lifelong friend laying with him in bed, even if it was innocuously—but Miss Link was so sociable and open he felt quite familiar with her already, despite having only spoken with her for a day.

Slowly and with a measure of hesitation, he laid his arm around her waist. And as he realized there was nothing improper and everything was quite right, he breathed a quiet sigh and basked in the ray of sun peeking out from the gap between his window curtains.

-o-

In the afternoon sun, Shad stood holding a supply pack as Link checked over her horse's saddle bindings and secured her packs. She was heading out to meet up with Ashei on Snowpeak and assist her with her investigation of a yeti, of all things, disturbing the Zora's Domain. As thrilled as he was to have her in the Group (and were it not for the Group, he never would have met her), there was a part of him that selfishly wished she would stay.

"I recognize this is a poor timing to ask, on account there are much more important tasks taking prominence of your time and focus, for you to trifle a thought toward my words," Shad said, eyes flitting nervously from her to the ground, "however I was wondering if after balance is once restored if you would permit me the honor and privilege of properly courting you."

Pausing as she tightened a strap, Link turned around and stared hard at him in confusion. "You want to have me thrown in jail?"

"No, no, heavens, no," Shad asserted, holding his hands up and shaking his head vigorously. "I simply sincerely desire to spend more time with you in an effort to understand you better and more comprehensively and with the intent of obtaining your lifelong affection."

"That sounds…exhausting," Link said with a groan in her voice. His shoulders slumped, Shad was crestfallen. He liked her so much and he had thought from all her warmth and cheer toward him that she had liked him too. "Why don't we just go out on dates?"

Shad looked up and blinked. "That is what I said…"

Her grin was much too broad to not be called mischievous. "I'm not sure what you said," she said, tossing her eyes up to the sky as she playfully reconsidered his words. "I got the whole spending more time with me part so I think you were asking me out."

"Yes, I was!" Shad said much too readily and realizing the squeaky panic in his voice, he asked much more composed and quietly, "So…will you?"

Link did not answer him immediately as he hoped. She held her cheeky grin as she tightened her last pack and climbed into her saddle. She was not going to say yes, Shad was convinced. If she was going to say yes, she would have said it already. She did not like him, at least not in the way he liked her. She was simply trying to figure out a kind way to reject him.

"It might be a while, before the world's okay…" Link said, face and voice exuding a quiet gentleness, "…will you wait for me?"

"Happily, my dear," he said as he took hold of her hand and kissed it. "I will wait for you and in the long pause without you, I will worry and fret and pray for your safety."

"Be careful around stairs for me, okay?" she said with a smile.

Shad laughed at the mild tease and nodded yes. "Do take care, brave miss, and if you have any need for me, you need merely to ask."

As she took up her reins, the scholar realized he was already missing her. Confident in her Goddess-blessed strength and knowing Ashei would guard her back well, he told himself not to worry, though he would—it was impossible for him to not think and over-think of all possibilities, wonderful and devastating.

With one last clasp and kiss of her hand, he stepped back onto the stone stairs leading to Castle Town's western gate and watched in silent sadness as his sunny songbird headed west.