Chapter Three
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Link was, or at least Ilia thought, pondering something about the sumo wrestling match that they saw Bo carry on. "Hey Link, what's up?" she asked, expecting to hear a Wow. Rather than that, Link stupidly replied "Nothing.". It was at that Nothing that Ilia realized that Link was thinking about something that had to do with the royals that made an appearance. "Hey, let's go over and rent a room in that Inn, it's starting to get dark..." she said, trying to get his attention. Link nodded and they went to a nearby Inn called the 'Stock Pot Inn'. Link snapped out of his semitrance and again paid with his money for a single room hoping for Ilia to rage at him. Oddly, she didn't mind at all. "You can arrange your room in any way you like! Feeling lucky? You could even get a poster of the Princess naked! But don't tell anyone I said that!" The desk manager handed Link the keys to room 2A and Link mentally noted "Watch out for that guy...".
Once inside the room, Link rearranged the room so that it was halved, Link had the side closest to the door, Ilia had the window view. "There you go, all of the expenses from food to clothes and beyond are on me." Link said, trying to get good standing with his childhood friend. "Link, you're doing too much, you're not letting me help you out!" Ilia replied, saddened a little that she couldn't do for him what he was doing for her. Link started to smile, then said "You can't spend on me Ilia, a wife doesn't spend for her husband!". Ilia instantly blushed deep red, and Link laughed boisterously as his friend continued to blush. When he was done laughing, he noticed that a tear dropped to the ground. "Uh...you okay?" he asked, sincerely concerned for her. Link walked up to Ilia and surprisingly, she whirled around and hugged him as tightly as she could manage. "Oh, I love you Link..." she said, all the while wondering what she was doing and what she had just said.
After around five minutes (it was nearly 8PM by the time they were done) of hugging, the two returned to their sides of the room. Ilia's stomach rumbled, but she decided to keep quiet so she could enjoy Link's company. At just the wrong time though, Link had asked if she was hungry. It was hard for Ilia to lie to Link, back as children they trusted each other with all the secrets they could remember, and even now they had secrets they would share and of course Link had bought that beautiful dress for her. "J-just a little bit..." She said, hoping that would make him worry less. "Well, knowing you Ilia, I wouldn't want to let you stay hungry. You ARE my best friend, after all. And a gentleman like myself...well, that wouldn't be very gentleman like, now would it?" Ilia smiled, made clear that she wasn't really hungry, and the two eventually fell asleep.
The next morning, Ilia woke up to find Link still out cold. Nudging him just a little, Ilia found herself within an inch of blatantly laying on top of Link, the idea of it made her nearly pee in her night gown. Link woke up in a flash though, remembered that they didn't rent the room for the morning, and decided upon leaving just then. No breakfast, no nothing. Just heading back to Ordon Village. As they began to pack their things, Ilia noticed on the balcony that there was some instrument blaring across the town, with a red carpet rolling across from what appeared to be the Hyrule Castle gates. "Link...look at this!" she exclaimed, realizing that the Royal Family was to make some sort of return appearance. As Link whirled around seeing what was to transpire, he spotted among the royal figures a lady who was the most beautiful lady she had ever seen. She had long, brown hair and a slender face whose radiance spoke how pure she was. He instantly recognized her as Princess Zelda, despite never seeing her before. Somehow or another, the Princess eyed him directly and she smiled a sweet smile. And likewise, Link may have fallen in love. Ilia took note of Link's somewhat dozy look, as well she took note of the woman he was looking at. After the display, they left the Inn, thanking the desk manager for his services, and headed back to Central Hyrule Castle Town, to get a better view of the event. Unfortunately, the Royal Family left, leaving Ilia and Link to do only one thing: head back home.
As they left Hyrule Castle Town, the cheer on the two's faces began to fade. However, they still felt the happiness inside, and trekked back to Ordon. Once they made it there, the most unsightly thing had happened...
