Divertimento of Scent
A/N: Takes place directly after recovering the wooden statue to restore Ilia's memory. Rated T.
Link rubbed woefully at his nose, trying to get the stink of medicine out of it. Having retrieved the wooden statue for Ilia, he would have been feeling quite proud of himself, were it not for the pain his nostrils were in. The smell was frankly disgusting. He whimpered, wondering if dunking his nose in water would get rid of it, or even if turning back into a human would.
"What's the matter, Wolfy?" Midna asked, bouncing up and down on his back. He turned around to give her an irritable look and sneezed instead. The acrid smell of the medicine went up his nostrils and into his mouth, and he tried to spit, but couldn't manage it with his wolf's anatomy. "Oh, the medicine smelled pretty bad, didn't it?" Midna gave him an impish grin.
He growled at her briefly, then gave her his, "all right, now turn me back into a human," look.
Midna smiled brightly. "Do you want something, Link?" she asked. He glared at her, tail lashing in irritation. "Aw, doggy, you're wagging your tail! You must be happy!"
He whined. Midna smirked. Link pawed desperately at his nose, and finally turned around to sniff Midna herself, on the grounds that she deserved it for refusing to turn him back. She squeaked in surprise as he pushed his nose into her stomach and began to sniff. At first smelling anything but the medicine was a relief, but then he became interested as the wolf's instinctual need to define by scent bubbled up in his brain.
Smells from the day's travels lingered on her—dirt, sweat, leaves, the peculiar acrid tang of the warp—but beneath that was a scent that was entirely her own. Link realized he'd noticed it before, but he had never focused on it. It was impossible for him to put words to it, or describe it even to himself, but it gave him the faint impression of sunset and insects singing, as mischievous shadows crept across the world, turning it oddly colorless and tantalizingly liminal.
Link was faintly aware that the odor was becoming slightly muskier as he continued to investigate, but he saw no need to stop, until Midna shrieked in what sounded like indignation and jumped off his back. "Bad Wolfy!" she snapped.
Link blinked at her in confusion and noticed that she was trembling slightly. He snuffled apologetically, still unsure as to what he'd done. Midna's cheeks were flushed, and there was a bead of sweat making its way down the corner of her temple. She bit her lip at him, then giggled. "Or did you do that on purpose?" she asked archly. "You should really give a lady a little warning, though!" Link stared at her, and Midna huffed out an irritated breath. "You are really stupid, you know that?" she said, before turning him human again and fleeing into his shadow.
Link scratched his head in bewilderment, before realizing that turning him human had done nothing to his nose whatsoever. But the scent of Midna lingered in his nostrils, driving out the unpleasantness of the medicine.