Link sat on the overhang, dangling his legs lazily and waiting for Lynn to finish dressing.
"You almost done princ-"
"Call me 'Princess' and you'll lose more than just your dignity." She hinted dangerously, tracing the emerald leaf in her palm once more.
It still amazed her how delicate it was, and even though she had slept with it (she had the imprint in her skin to prove it), that it was still cool as the woods themselves.
"Well then what do I call you?" He sighed and layed back, plucking a long blade of grass from the ground and munching on it, staring up at the light blue Hylian sky.
"How about anything but that?"
"...Helga?"
"..."
"Arnold?"
"..." She stayed silent, feeling a laugh struggle to escape.
"Oh I know!" He sat up triumphantly, "How about Alberthinia?"
She felt a giggle escape and and held onto her stomach as she leaned against the wall, laughing helplessly.
"As long I get to call you Thaddeus." She choked out between giggles.
"S-seriously?" He felt a grin on his face and suddenly it seemed as if nothing could go wrong.
The sky was bright, the grass was green, Lynn was laughing so hard she was crying and the birds were singing. The horses where grazing and Tre was sprawled on the ground beside him sniffing the air. And even better, he would get to see her reaction to the lake later on today, and her face was bound to be priceless. Link rolled onto his stomach and peered over the edge of the overhang at Lynn who was tucking the leaf back into her shirt.
"Watcha got there?" He asked, his blade of grass falling from his mouth.
He reached out to snatch it back, losing his grip on the rock and barely staying balanced, half on and half off the ledge.
"Shitshitshitshit!" He grunted.
"But at least you caught your grass..." Lynn covered her mouth to hide her grin and pointed to his clenched fist, the greenery being strangled in his grasp.
"Yeah whatever help me before I fall!" He instructed, face turning pink from the blood to his head.
"Why should I, Thaddeus?" She teased but walked towards the opening, trying to figure out how to get him down, "Can't you just pull yourself up?"
"No because if I do I'll to a fucking flip and land on my back and break something!"
"Who knew you were such a pessimist." She smiled and walked out, jogging up the hill where he had dug his boots into the soil to keep from falling.
The scene was so ridiculous that when she knelt beside him she couldn't help but laugh.
His face was blood red and if he hung there much longer he'd probably get a nosebleed.
Which she soon didn't have to worry about because he fell. Ten solid ground. Head first.
Lynn screamed, the sound of him falling resonating in her ears and his unmoving form making her stomach drop, neck at an unnatural angle.
"Stop your damn screaming and help me up!" He begged, head swimming.
She gulped and grabbed onto his belts, hands shaking miserably as she dug her heels in and pulled him up, watching him flip onto his back and shut his eyes, trying to breath again.
"Now whats wrong? Why'd you scream?" He opened one eye lazily and quickly shut it again, the sun too bright.
She shook her head and pulled her knees up, barely whispering, "It's nothing..."
He sat up and rubbed his head, feeling it pound, "That scream didn't come from 'nothing', Alberthinia."
She smiled lightly and brushed her fingers through the grass, the color contrasting against her black tunic and pale blue leggings, "Don't worry about it."
He frowned and opened his eyes, one knee propped up to support his arm which was cradling his head and blocking the sun from his face.
"You're going to tell me someday you know." He stated, leaving no room for argument.
She just looked at him, an awkward sort of grin on her face, "We'll see if we make it that long."
-.-.-
Rumy totted along the uneven ground like a professional, even though he had never even been across something like it.
It had pits and random patches of grass spotting the field, growing greener and greener the closer they got to the lake, the water literally blinding from the bright sun.
"How much longer?" Lynn asked for the dozenth time.
"About 5 minutes less than the last time you asked." Link replied, rolling his eyes as Tre ran ahead, barking.
Suddenly Lynn stopped her horse, "Wait. Lets go a different way." She felt her face drain.
This landscape was all too familiar.
"Why?It'll take longer." He objected.
"I have a bad feeling about this. Can we please just go another way?" She turned to him, face terse.
"Your just paranoid or something, I've gone this way plenty of times." He tried to reassure, to no avail and rode forwards.
"No! Stop you can't go that way!" She shouted, grabbing onto his tunic and nearly getting yanked off Rumy, her shoulder aching from the sudden step back Epona had taken.
"Your gonna get yourself hurt, Lynn! Stop that!" He shouted, "Whats your problem?"
"Don't go that way or you'll die!" She shouted, throwing her hand over her mouth when she realized what she had said.
"What?" He stopped, confused, "What do you mean?"
"I...I saw these rider things on giant pigs earlier and saw them going this way...It's why I screamed..." She said, flustered and trying to cover up her misstep, "Lets just please go a different way, I have a bad feeling about it..." She looked at him pleadingly.
He grumbled, "Look, I've fought wors-" he was cut off by the hopeless look on her face and sighed, dropping the reigns to rub his face, "By the Gods your insufferable."
She let out a shaky breath, glad to have gotten her way and saved him...for the third time.
The two rode in silence for a while, Lynn chewing on the side of her thumb nervously, waiting for the questions to start.
"You lied about seeing the riders."
She stayed silent and nodded.
"But you were adamant about not going that way because you 'had a bad feeling' and told me it was becouse you saw them riding that way, and you didn't see them."
she nodded again, feeling a pit in her stomach.
"Explain."
"Can't you just trust me?" She muttered.
"Yes, but I would also like you to tell me whats going on." His tone was gentle, but he would get answers.
She squirmed uncomfortably in her seat, thinking of how to explain it.
"I don't know how to explain it myself bu-"
"Look Lynn,you killed that twi-monster into dust , somehow knew that two others were coming to the clearing, there was a mark on your cheek that apparently disappeared after you took care of my side, which by the way, is COMPLETELYhealed, I checked earlier, you nearly had a heart attack and screamed when I was about to fall of the ledge this morning and wouldn't let me go the more direct route to the lake...whats going on?" He rammed ahead, waving his hands in exasperation, "Do you see the future or something? Have some sort of powers?" He laughed, "That's the only thing I can chalk this up to!"
she sat there silently,surprised.
"Well?" He threw his hands up, causing Rumy to jump and shy away, making Lynn's already pounding heart nearly stop as she tried to get him to walk normally.
"I..."she hunched her shoulders and pulled the hood on her tunic up, "Please just don't ask."
He frowned, "Don't play games, Lynn. If this could get me in trouble I need to know whats going on."
"Call it woman's intuition then, Link. And I don't play games. Never have, never will. Just stopasking questions and look behind you." She rubbed her face.
Link frowned, looking behind him in the saddle and feeling his jaw drop.
The landscape behind them was swarmed in the goblin-like riders, the steeds looking more like their riders than either companion would care to admit.
"See? Just lisen to me sometimes, Link...your gonna have to trust me."Lynn tossed her hood over her head and rode foreward, making Link follow aghast.
He shook his head and chuckled, she was one strange bird, no way around it.
Lynn whistled to herself, a far off and distant tune that seemed to make images of the woods dance from behind her closed eyelids.
Link felt a chill, and shivered, unable to shake it. The song made him get cought in a daze and seem to space out, images of greenery, little fey and deku skrubs flash into his mind.
"Link? Hey, are you alright?" Lynn's voice echo'd to him throughout the fog, making him snap back to reality.
"I was thinking. What is it?" He shook his head.
"Is that the lake you were talking about?" She pointed forewards, a smile playing on her lips.
The blonde looked up, still trying to clear his head and nodded.
The water stretched endlessly, arranged almost like an upsidedown wedding cake. There were small islands dotting the surface, bridges connecting them, and water cascading down a fall. It had a tinckling, musical sound and Lynn found it harder and arder to breath the longer she looked at it. Random teirs slashed along the inside of the lake, marking different levels that if the lake was drained,would make it possible to climb up or down.
Rumy charged forwards so fast he was chest deep in the water before it ws hard to walk, snorting and sending water everywhere while Tre barked at the waves, unsure how to handle it. Lynn was thrown off, falling into the water and sinking.
Link shouted, running in after her, panicked.
She opned her eyes under the water, coming to rest in a niche in the wall. The water was cool, and the slight current made her tunic float up around her and chilled her skin. She smiled widely, the feeling of needing air hadn't even crossed her mind untill she saw Link slicing through the water, panic written on his face.
He wrapped his arms around her, lifting her up through the water and gasping when they breached the surface.
"Don't just go under like that! You didn't come up!" He kicked his way back to shore, lying on his back when he got there.
Lynn sat there, rubbing her cheek and untangling herself from him, hair soaked and dripping.
"But I can swim." She looked at him blankly.
(Thank you for sticking with me, and I appologize that my updates are sparratic at best...I'll try harder T.T)