Chapter 3: I Want to Protect You

Thankfully the road back to Romani Ranch was uneventful for Cremia, but she couldn't help to have her senses on overload, looking for any sign of unnatural disturbance in her surroundings, keeping the sword that Gabora gave her close at hand. Occasionally she found her hand feeling at the shallow cut in her neck, which had already begun to coagulate and heal, and every time she realized she felt it her entire body went into spasms of shivers. She eventually made it home and approached the two teenagers and put on a façade smile. "Well how did the day go you two love birds?" she joked as usual. Link and Romani's faces went red ever so slightly. Romani opened her mouth to begin an argument but Cremia raised her hand and waved off the argument before it could start. "I know, I know, you two are doubting your relationship but believe me when I say that I can see you two sticking together for the remainder of your lives." She said warmly to the teens. Her raised hand somehow mindlessly moved to the cut again. "Which I hope will be very long ones." She said, trying her best to keep the smile on her face. Romani began to walk away when Link noticed the cut on Cremia.

"Hey Cremia, where the cut come from?" he asked giving a serious look. Cremia's eyes went wide in surprise.

"Oh this, I tripped on a rock…" she lied, trying to not let the young man worry, but he just gave a skeptical look as he walked over and tried to examine the cut, which Cremia tried to hide. If anyone could recognize a cut from any type of blade he could. His eyes darted to her face. Cremia was taken back as she realized on how much Link had grown. He was only 16 and he was already taller than she was now. His stern yet caring eyes stared at her for a very awkward moment. "I-is something wrong Link?" she asked.

"No…" he said simply. "Just be careful next time when you go up to the mountain. I remember tripping up a lot on the way." He said in a caring voice as he took the locks for the barn and began to walk away.

Did he really buy that excuse? Cremia thought as he began to open the door and install the lock in. Suddenly he spoke so quietly that Cremia at first had difficulty knowing he was talking to her.

"I want to talk to you about that cut… later." He commanded in whisper, making sure Romani wasn't within earshot. Cremia nodded in agreement and walked away, going to install the other lock on the door of the house

The last hours of the day passed by, and soon the three went to bed, Link never saying a word about the cut to Cremia at all. It wasn't till the middle of the night when Cremia was awoken by Link who had an incredibly stern look on his face. Cremia groggily looked at the clock and gave a small groan in protest to being woken up. "Link, its quarter-past one in the morning… you want to talk now?" she asked, completely annoyed. Link silently nodded and motioned a hand, telling her to come along as he then left the room and went down stairs. When she arrived downstairs Link was sitting patiently at the round table besides a weak fire. He threw a single log into the fire, making sure not to brighten the room too much or cause too much noise.

"Sorry about this, Cremia." He apologized as he motioned a hand towards an open chair that was already pulled out for her. Cremia sat down, rubbing some sleep out of her eyes.

"You just better have something worth saying. You know how cranky I can get in the morning." She warned with a smile. Link gave a small smile back as he leaned forward.

"Believe me; it is." He said, the smile disappearing quickly. "Cremia, you know you're a horrible liar right?" he said. Cremia smiled at first, half-thinking it was his attempt so late at night to be funny, but she noticed he was actually quite serious; she couldn't find any words to say. "I didn't believe that little fib of falling on a rock. As soon as I saw that cut I knew that was from a knife. If it was a sword you wouldn't be here, and Romani and I would be searching the mountains desperately on foot looking for you." He explained.

Cremia continued to say nothing, but she knew that he was right. For Romani, she was her older sister and the only family she's ever had. For Link, she was a good friend that gave advice whenever he needed it, and someone that he could talk to as an adult; there may have been a 5 year gap in their ages but Cremia knew he was far more mature when than the innocent-looking crest of a child that she had met 4 years ago. She has never pried or dug into what made such a caring but strong child so mature, all she could get from his eyes was that he'd seen and fought things she's only dreamed of in nightmares. Sometimes she thought she was looking at the eyes of a beast when she looked at him… sometimes she even wondered if she too had fallen for this boy… Cremia shook the idea out of her mind. She knew that deep-down that Romani was meant for him and vice-versa. She has accepted this gut feeling as the honest truth, and would be damned before she let anyone get in the way of that… including herself.

"Now… what happened at the mountain smithy?" Link asked, as he tried figuring out what could have caused the cut and Cremia's odd behavior. Dozens—no, hundreds of possible scenarios flew through his mind's eye. One came to his mind just a minute after he asked his question, and he decided to make the next move. "You were attacked… by the Gorman brothers?" he suddenly asked. Cremia's head shot up to the young man's piercing gaze.

How did he guess that? She questioned in her mind. Really… just who is this young boy? She continued to question. She then realized he was awaiting an answer and he probably knew her answer before it would escape her lips. "Yes." She sighed. The gig's up. She thought as a smile crossed her face. She then explained what happened at the Mountain Smithy, as Link sat there absorbing it with the greatest poker face she'd ever seen. She may not have understood as much as she would like of Link but if she had learned anything he was the type to take another's pain and feel it himself. He seemed to always understand the problems of others even if he really didn't. And even more so she knew that behind that poker face he was holding a deep regret of not being there to protect her or just going himself in the first place. A silence passed between them as the only thing the two of them could hear was the crackling of the fire. Link finally placed a hand unto his face, and wiped it.

"I am sorry, Cremia." He said, trying to keep his composure in his voice, but it was far too obvious to her; he was crying now. She reached out a hand in comfort, placing it upon his broad shoulder.

"I'm fine, Link. I'll"- she began but he interrupted nearly shouting out, just barely controlling the volume of his voice.

"DON'T LIE; YOUR NOT!" he very nearly screamed. He sighed and spoke again, more calmly. "Cremia, you were attacked today! You're only alive right now out of sheer luck! Gorman would have slit your throat if Zubora and Gabora hadn't just been passing by. We can't just sweep this under the rug like all those other times with those Gormans attacking our Milk deliveries. I'm going to report this to Mayor Dutor, my friend." He announced as he stood back up, easily towering Cremia by several inches. "The Gorman Brothers can't continue to get away with this. They must be stopped, one way or another. What would happen if they attacked Romani next? Or if they succeeded in killing you? I can protect myself, Cremia; but you and Romani don't know the first thing about fighting. And even if you did know how to defend yourself could you possibly kill a man? Could you really do it?" he pointed out to her face. She was actually scared of that thought of killing someone, anyone… he was right; neither Romani nor herself could defend or have the will to kill another human being.

Link suddenly embraced the elder ranch girl and placed his head on hers. She felt her heart skip a beat as she felt his heart beats against her chest. "Please, Cremia… let me deal with this. You and Romani are the only family I have… You two have accepted me into this family without a thought if you actually could afford to. I can't lose this one family I've ever known. I never got to know my parents because they died before I could know them, but this is different. I must protect both of you…" he whispered to her. She just stood there being embraced by him, her heart beating like crazy; and she didn't want this to end. Maybe I am falling for him… she thought to herself, totally content in his strong arms. If only things were different. She sighed as they broke the embrace.

"Thank you, Link…" she said, tears starting to fill her vision. She looked up at his face and noticed rings under his caring eyes. "You look tired… go to bed… now." She ordered with a smile, now realizing just how tired she was too. Link yawned loudly and nodded silently as he then walked up the stairs to bed. Cremia watched him go up and began to follow him, but she instead sat back down at the table and watched the fire burn out, thinking in the near-darkness. If only things were different, Link…