Chapter Seven: Crossing the Line

I floated in the frigid water until the sun began to rise and the Stalchildren retreated

underground. I wasn't pleased with the way things had gone so far. Nathan seemed to feel a little bad about that, and promised me a great day in town. The first thing he did was run into a shop and bring out some new clothes for them. I quickly found a safe place to change and ran back out to him.

He smiled. "You look nice. Hey, do you like bowling?" he asked, gesturing towards the Bombchu Bowling place. I nodded excitedly.

Inside there was a purple-haired teenager. She was wearing too much eye makeup, and was probing every male who came through the doors. She look especially pleased with Nathan, and offered him a discount because of the "company's policy for non-humans." He politely declined the offer.

After an hour in the place, Nathan seemed a little worn out so we left. He showed me around town, even though I'd already seen it enough that it wasn't so exciting anymore. When the sun went down, we finally went to the potion shop. The owner brought out a table and some stools from a room in the back after we purchased a few red potions.

"Nice man," I commented airily, taking a swig of the potion to try and clear my head.

"Yes, very kind," Nathan sipped some potion and made a face. "This is gross. How can you drink this? And it's so strong..." he added, shaking his head.

"Haven't you ever drank this before?"

"No, I just sell it. Never had a reason to drink any."

"Ah. Well, it grows on you."

"Is that so."

We were silent until I somehow managed to knock my bottle onto the ground. I groaned. Nathan quickly leaned down and picked it up. I stared embarrassedly at the table until Nathan said "Hey, at least it's not glass..."

"Nathan, I'd like you to clear something up for me."

"You mean there's something you don't know?" he asked, only a tad sarcastically.

"That's part of my problem! How come you're so mean to me? You find endless fun in insulting me, but when you think I might be suffering even a little bit, you act like some sort of gentleman!"

He averted his eyes. Or maybe I averted mine, at this point I wasn't sure. All I knew was that the next moment he was kissing me. All sorts of signals went through my head which would have made sense if everything wasn't so fuzzy.

He must have realized I wasn't kissing him back, because he moved away. "I'm so sorry."

"For... for that. I shouldn't have... I mean, I'm not even human. This must be really awkward for you... I'm so sorry-"

"No, it's not that... can we try this when my head is a little clearer?"

His face brightened. "It's late, do you want to go back to Zora's Domain?"

"Sure, but... in the morning."

Nathan had the shopkeeper show me to an inn, and headed off to Lake Hylia to give me some privacy. I fell asleep, weary but finally happy.