After the Battles are Done
Ch.4
Two days after our second time to the market together, Link and I had the day off. This was our first day off together so I wanted to make it special. I had spent the night before cooking and packing the perfect picnic. I also washed my favorite outfit to make sure it was spotless, along with the picnic blanket. After I was sure everything was ready, I hid the picnic basket in a small icebox under my bed to make sure my dad didn't ruin it. Then I fell asleep praying for good weather. I woke up early the next morning and got dressed. I grabbed the basket and as quietly as possible snuck out of the house, making sure to leave a note of where I was going for my father. I began to walk towards the barn and glanced up at the sky. I smiled when I didn't see a single cloud in the sky. For a minute I stood there, enjoying the feel of the sun on my face. As I stood there, a familiar melody reached my ears. Half consciously, I began to hum my mother's song, transported back to my childhood. I looked around to see where the song was coming from and saw that Link was sitting on the fence of the corral, playing my mother's song I had taught him years ago for the horses. His hair was stirring in the breeze, the sun shining on it. His eyes were filled with kindness and love. The site of him sitting there made my heart, as usual, melt. Slowly I walked up to him. By the time I reached him he had noticed me and stopped playing. He was giving me his easy smile, still sitting on the fence.
"Morning Malon," he greeted me.
"Morning Link," I said breathlessly.
He gestured to my basket. "You going somewhere?" he asked.
Finally something in my brain clicked back into place. "Y-yeah, actually I was wondering..." I stopped, lost into the depths of his eyes.
"Yes?" he urged on.
I shook my head, regaining my senses. "I was wondering if you would like to join me for a picnic at the lake," I held my breath.
Link raised his eyebrow. "A picnic?" I nodded. He was silent for a moment. "Well, I guess we could, seeing as this is our first day off and I had no idea you were taking me on a picnic," he said this slowly staring me straight in the eyes. It confused me for a minute. Then I got it. He was worried about angering my father. He was telling me that he wanted no responsibility in planning this and that, to my father's kinowledge this was defenitly not a date or anything of the sort.
"Of course," I said smiling.
"All right then," he said hopping from the fence. "Let's saddle up Epona and go,"
My eyes widened. "Epona?" I said raising my eyebrow now. "Will the "princess" let us ride her?" I said with a small smirk.
Link laughed. "She should seeing as we're just riding her, not making her pull a lowly cart," he said jokingly.
I laughed too. This was already a great day and could only get better from here. We strapped on the picnic basket, then, because both of us were riding her, just put a blanket on her back so that we could both sit on her comfortably. We did this quickly, so that we could be long gone before my father woke up. Ever since we had learned my father's plan to marry me off to Sethe, the lowest of low- lives, we had decided to be careful of how we acted around him so that he wouldn't be suspicious of our friendship, much less our ( in my opinion) slight possibility of dating. I wasn't sure, but I think that Link liked me back the same way I liked him, but he could be very hard to read.
Soon we were on our way to Lake Hylia. The wind was blowing through our hair, the ground rushing by below us. There was nothing like riding, it was a wonderful unique experience. Link was very experienced, as he had been riding for years all over the world. I was holding on tight behind him, enjoying the fact that I got to hug him this close the whole way to the lake. Not that I had a choice. As I was riding in the side saddle position and there was no bridle, if I hadn't been holding on to him I probably would have fallen off. After a couple of hours, a bit before noon, we arrived to the lake. We were greeted by lush grass and sparkling water. We rode Epona over a recently built bridge that led to an island right in the middle of the lake. There we set up the picnic right under the boughs of a tree.
"This is really pretty, I'm glad we came," I said.
"Yeah," nodded Link in agreement.
"Well, are you hungry?" I asked.
"Starving!" said a beaming Link. "What did you pack?"
I began to unpack the basket. " Let's see," I said. " There are two canteens filled with a mixture of honey and milk, a few tomato, ham, cheese and lettuce sandwiches, a bowl of fresh fruit and for dessert a chocolate cake with walnuts," I beamed up at him as I presented him with my feast.
Link looked at the feast with appraising eyes. "Wow, this all looks so good!" he exclaimed. Quickly he attacked the food, trying everything I had made. Soon we were both eating and laughing, talking about old times and his adventures away from Hyrule. I told him that he played the ocarina beautifully, even after all these years and how surprised I was to hear my mother's song, being sure that he had forgotten it. He seemed surprised by this.
"I never forgot anything to do with you, Malon!" Link exclaimed. "I made sure I treasured every single memory of you, everyday!"
"Wow Link," I said. "That's really touching," I felt myself fill up with warmth at what Link had just said.
He smiled at me. "Well it's the truth,". With that he pulled out his ocarina and began to play my mother's song. I closed my eyes and leaned in close to him and began to hum the melody. After my mother's song he played a few more well known songs and the whole world seemed to be in harmony. I didn't ever want this moment to end. Link eventually stopped playing and we just sat there for a few minutes, staring out at the lake.
"I'm really glad I went with you to the lake today Malon," Link said quietly.
"I'm glad too," I replied.
Link sighed. "There's only one thing wrong with this day," he said, looking away from me to the sky.
I instantly became worried. "W-what?" I said thinking, was it the food? The conversation? The fact that he was here with me and not somebody else?
Link turned to me with a devious smile. "It's too hot," he said.
"Huh?" I said confused, then gave a yelp of surprised as Link picked me up in his arms and began running. Instantly I understood what he was going to do. "Wait Link don't - !" And with a small dramatic yell and a scream from me, he plunged into the lake. I kicked up and surfaced, glad that my favorite outfit was lightweight. "Link," I complained as he surface, a huge smile on his face, soaked hair in his eyes.
"There, much better," he said laughing. I rolled my eyes and splashed him with water. Of course this started a huge water war, each of us trying to splash each other. I was losing badly, as Link could dive and hold his breath for quite some time, so I was never really sure where he would pop up. The Zoras in the lake that were swimming around looked at us from a distance with a bemused expression. Some of the younger Zoras decided to get in on the fun and began to help me out against Link. Then it was Link losing as Zoras could stay underwater just as long as he could. They would catch Link, bring him to the surface, where me and two other Zoras would splash him mercilessly. Eventually we heaved ourselves out of the lake and lied in the sun for awhile, drying off. I noticed the position of the sun and knew we had to be going soon. We waved good-bye to our new Zora friends, packed up the picnic and headed off for home.
"Well that was fun," I said to Link on the way home.
"The best day off I ever had!" He replied.
We got home just after dark. Link put Epona in the corral and we said good night to each other. I went in and got ready for bed. As I fell asleep, I thought back to our day at the lake and was glad as always that Link had come back into my life.
I couldn't wait to see what the future would bring.
