-Chapter 2-
Ashei was of the same age as Shad, and was three inches shorter. While she was short, she did not allow that to overshadow her spirit in protecting the things she cared about. A silver like body armor protected here, while general black garments was her fare underneath it. Black bangs curled in an odd way over her forehead, shadowing her dark brown eyes. Since she was in the white snows of the mountains, the black makeup which usually helped her to find better camouflage among the fields was not something she had worn for the trip. She removed her warm, white overcoat, and hung it next to Shad's coat.
Shad gestured with his hand towards the other armchair near the fireplace, asking, "Sit down?" "Yes, thank you", was Ashei's reply. They both seated themselves in the armchairs. Shad sank heavily into his, his exhaustion doing all it could to get the best of him. Sighing quietly, he propped his elbow onto an arm of it, and his chin on his knuckles. The chair faced Ashei's, which sat a few feet away on the other side of the fire. Ashei placed a few more logs on the fire, after making her intentions known to Shad, who nodded his approval. A few uncomfortable shifts of Ashei in her own armchair a few moments later, Ashei broke the silence with an attempt of small talk.
"So this is your Dad's place, yeah? Not much of a cabin is it?" Mentally, Ashei gave herself a smack. REALLY? That's what you ask after you haven't seen him in months. A sharp blade, that's what you are.
Chuckling slightly, Shad replied, "No, quite the contrary, but that's what my father took it upon himself to call it. It's really more of a mansion."
"That it is." Attempting to regain control of her faltering conversational skills, Ashei attempted to question on a less obvious subject. Gathering some well hidden courage, something Ashei was not used to having to do, she managed to ask him something she'd been wondering for a while.
"What exactly have you been doing all this time? Especially here, of all places."
"Just...studying." "The Oocca?" "Yes, actually. With Ganon's creatures gone, It's much easier for me to reach my research locations." Ashei couldn't help but feel that he wasn't exactly telling her the whole truth, but decided to let it go by stating with a smile, "Link made things better for everyone then didn't he?" "I suppose so" was his halfhearted answer.
All except for me, he bitterly amended. Shad had been infatuated with the Princess Zelda since they were children. Since Shad's father had been a nobleman, the King's advisor even, they had made frequent trips to North Castle, during which times he would always see the young heir to Hyrule. During each of the visits, his father would allow him to wander off within sight, during which time he and the princess would play together. He'd always thought her beautiful, exhibiting his affections by bringing her small things like flowers or the odd mythological books she enjoyed so thoroughly. However, she always seemed to be oblivious to his affections.
Now, his chances with her were an absolute zero, the reason for that being because of Link, the Hero of Twilight, as was his proper title. It wasn't that he hated Link, because he considered him to be his friends. Though being a man of few words, Link had been one of the very few people to take him seriously outside of the little Resistance group which gathered in Telma's Bar, a group that Ashei was a part of. It was that fact that since Zelda had witnessed Link destroy Ganondorf and loved him, and that they were now dating, and were engaged even. He couldn't help but having always thought of himself as quite useless. Experiences such as when the Resistance had helped Link, all he had been able to do was follow the others in. Most of the time he believed that the only reason Rusl, Auru, and Ashei had allowed him to join was because the had felt sorry for him. The only thing he was formidable in was in the reading of books, and he seriously doubted that he could defeat a Moblin through the power of a large vocabulary. To be honest, the only helpful thing he'd done was show Link the locations of the owl statues. He also hated that fact that the person he cared for could be so shallow in her reasons for loving Link when she'd only met him three times, and he'd exerted his entire being into his feelings for her. But he had given up on that distant hope three years ago.
He suddenly noticed that someone was calling his name. "Shad...Hello, anyone in there?" Startled, Shad looked up to see a very amused Ashei, her arms crossed over the edge of the armchair while facing him. Blushing softly, he let out a small "Dreadfully sorry, I didn't quite to hear what you said." She allowed him a small smile to show that there were no hard feelings, and, after weakly returning the gesture of a smile, he redirected his attention towards the crackling warmth of the fire. Ashei frowned, and decided that yes, Shad wasn't telling her the whole truth - she would find out what it was he was keeping from her.
Ashei had allowed the warmth of the fire to lull her to sleep, and awoke three hours later to the sight of an empty armchair next to her. She scanned the room, and still not seeing any sight of Shad, decided that he must just be in another room.
Upon seeing that it was 3 am, as judged by the nearby mantel clock, she heard that which sounded like a racking, painful coughing. Blearily, she pushed herself out of the armchair to search for the origin of the noise. She nearly tripped over what appeared to be a hastily pushed aside lantern, which she supposed had been on the small table next to Shad's armchair. Furnishings were not something she had been terribly inclined to notice, given her excitement in finally finding her friend. She furrowed her brow, wondering what could have given Shad reason to break it when she heard the coughing again.
Resuming her search, Ashei followed the sound of wet coughing to what she believed to be the door of the bathroom, tightly shut. As the sounds were now much louder outside the door, she determined the room beyond to be the source. "Shad?" she asked tentatively, knocking on the door.
With a wet washcloth over his mouth, Shad looked up at himself in the mirror. 'Oh goddesses', he thought in a panic, nearly losing his grip on it in the process. What the hell was he going to do now? "Are you all right?" Ashei's voice drifted through the door, much to his dismay. Doing his best to clean up any evidence of blood in the sink, and rinsing out the washcloth afterward, he slowly turned towards the door and tried to think of a decent excuse aside from the truth. Taking a moment to grip the edge of the sink, he took a few deep breaths to compose himself.
Shad opened the door to a worried Ashei. "What was going on in there?" "I just felt like I had something in my throat, that's all" he replied, twirling his tie nervously around his finger. It was something that he was wont to do when lying, and Ashei knew the gesture well enough. One eyebrow raised, she countered "Sounded like a lot of something to me." He averted his eyes and opened his mouth to reply, but found to his misfortune that his usually astute mind could think of nothing.
'Damn', he thought, 'what am I going to do now?'
Shad nervously twirled his tie around a finger as he tried to avoid facing her penetrating stare. He opened his mouth once again to say something, but to his dismay he was unable to do so. His pointed ears drooped a minuscule amount with dismay as he stared at his feet. Wetness he refused to call tears rolled down his face. He couldn't cry - his father would curse him from beyond the mortal coil for that. He had to be strong.
To bad that the definition of strong varies from person to person. "Hey.." he heard, and felt gentle hands on his shoulders. "Just tell me, alright? Take as long as you need." When he nodded in reply, Ashei gave him a comforting hug. Shad returned it, burying his face in her shoulder. As she rubbed his back, he managed to tell her, "I'm sick Ashei."
Slightly jolted by having heard him say her name, she replied, "How sick Shad?"
There was nothing but silence until she heard him say, very quietly, "I'm dying."
