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Chapter 7
I don't know how long I stood there, staring at the sunlight streaming through the windows, realizing that, at least for now, I had been reprieved. At some point I figured I should at least try to pay back the debt I had to him (though I still wasn't sure if I didn't hate him, for it really was all his fault), I cleaned the dishes and then hunted down his hamper of dirty clothes and a washboard. The mechanical work of the chores I did every day back home gave me a calm I thought I would never feel again, and I happily threw myself into the work. His clothesline was hung up inside, but I thought it such a shame to drip all over the floor that I untied it and took my first step outside into the sun with it wrapped about my shoulder.
A memory of a warm summer day came to my mind. I had been sunbathing after a cold bath with mother and had found the perfect spot to watch the wild horses in the plain before us. I could remember the smell of the breeze, a mix of sandstone and grass, but mostly just the smell of pure expanse.
And every time I had smelled that pure open air, I had spread out my wings, dreaming of the day when they'd be big enough to carry me out over the horses.
It took me a moment to realize I had stood there stupidly on Link's front porch with my wings half opened. Shaking the memory away, I climbed down the ladder and almost instantly found two trees at just the right distance. I had just tied the last knot when a gray muzzle poked over my shoulder. I smiled and ran a hand up the stallion's whiskery nose.
"Hey there, Gramps. Been enjoying yourself?"
The horse snorted, as though to answer back, and I found myself laughing. I had almost forgotten how to. But I was going to live now.
I was going to live.
Eyes burning, I turned and threw my arms around his neck.
"Thank you for bringing me here."
Gramps, as I decided to call him, nickered softly in my ear.
"Hanna?"
My stomach jumped a bit and I looked over Gramps's shoulder. Standing in the middle of the clearing stood Ilia, green eyes wide and jaw dropped. She had a hamper tucked under her hand.
"It's you, isn't it." she said.
"Who else could it be?" I tried to make it sound light, and at the same time I squeezed my wings in as tight as I could.
She just stood there, staring. Just as I was starting to really get uncomfortable, she closed her mouth with an audible snap of teeth and beamed.
"For the love of Farore, I've been so worried about you! I thought we made it clear that you could stay with us, we have that extra bed and everything, it really isn't a trouble! You can't honestly tell me you want to sleep on Link's floor, do you? He's such a pig!"
"Of course not!" I said. "I'm sorry for leaving like that, I just, um, yeah..."
There just wasn't any clean cut way to say you ran off due to a nightmare and pain to burst out your wings somewhere in private. Yeah...
"It's okay, Link explained some of it to me." she walked towards me, a hand on the hamper and her smile in place. "He told me to bring you by some clothes and that he's been assigned to watch over you from now on, though honestly, I don't care who's assigned him what, a guy who makes a girl sleep on the floor is no man at all. You look a lot better now, though, how do you feel?"
"All right." I said. I couldn't shake off this vague sense of awkwardness. Wasn't she going to say anything? I wasn't human, after all. "Um, Ilia...you don't have to pretend not to be freaked out. It's okay, really."
"Freaked out?" she looked up from where she had been digging out pants and a long shirt from her hamper. "Why would I be freaked out?"
In answer I lifted out my wings a bit from my back so she could see the gleam of my black feathers in the sunlight. She eyed them, a blush rising to her face.
"They're just wings," she said. "It's not like you grew claws or fangs over night."
Just to be sure, I ran my tongue over my teeth. I had suddenly remembered a particular smirk Mother would give father that flashed her lengthened fangs. My teeth, however, were as normal as ever. Maybe it's something you inherit.
Ilia felt no guilt in commandeering Link's house to help me get dressed. Having no clothes that were designed to go around wings, Ilia did some quick thinking and cut the shirt in such a way that she could then lace leather strings through the top to tie the shirt up around my black wings. The whole time she worked on it I allowed her to run her fingers through my feathers.
"This is so weird! But they're so soft! Can you fly? Oh, could you take me?"
How comfortable she had gotten with my freakishness just took on a whole new level of disturbance for me. "Woa, hold on, I don't even know if I can fly yet."
"Have you even tried?"
"Not really."
"Well, I know what I'm doing today! Hand me that comb over there, we got to get this mane of yours out of the way."
Next thing I knew I was out in the clearing wondering when I had agreed to this and if I was excited or terrified. Ilia stood in front of me with a reed whistle on a string around her throat.
"Okay, on my whistle, you're going to jump and flap, got that?"
"Sorry, but what qualifications do you have to give flying lessons? And what about my laundry? It'll get moldy if I just leave it in the hamper."
"Forget all that and just get your wings out!" She gave a shrill toot of the whistle.
So I jumped, but having had my wings closed in most of the morning, having them fully extended startled me and I ended up tipping over onto my face. I hadn't realized just how long they were.
"That's okay, you weren't ready that time. Let's try again."
Feeling faintly annoyed at her bossiness, I got back to my feet. This time I spread out my wings on either side of me, spreading out my shaking legs in an attempt to keep my balance.
This time with the whistle tooted, I managed to flap, but had had no idea of my own strength. A gust of wind billowed out, picking up twigs and leaves in a twisting whirlwind.
And once more I found myself on my face. The bandaged fingers on my hand throbbed and I thought I could taste blood in my mouth. Once she verified that I was okay, she helped me to my feet and tried to give me some half-thought out ideas on how I could better to keep my balance.
"Maybe I should just try learning how to walk with them out before I try flying." I said dryly.
"But don't you want to fly?"
"Well, yeah, but-"
"Then let's do it one more time!"
The novelty of Ilia not treating me like the inhuman freak I was had worn out by then, and when I felt myself tipping over, wings pumping madly, I found myself almost wishing she had run away and ostracized me.
"This isn't working."
"No! You actually went up a few inches that time!"
"Forget it, I have laundry to finish."
"Why are you doing his laundry anyways?"
"Because I owe him, I'm bored, and housework is sort of a hobby of mine. I can help you out with yours when I'm done, if you want."
"Nah, I just think it's weird." she blinked. "Wait, you don't like him, do you?"
My insides squirmed uncomfortably, but I scowled. "Please don't joke about that."
"I'm not joking. And it'd be okay," her cheeks reddened prettily. "I mean, I wouldn't blame you. I had a crush on him myself when I was younger, but I think that's before I realized there are other men outside of Ordon."
Then, as though to distract herself from her embarrassment, she jabbered something about having to meet up with someone, begged me to let her pet my wings one more time, then trotted off and left me to fetch my basket of laundry.
Gramps, who had been watching from a small padlock next to Link's house, ambled through the open gate and watched me idly as I flopped wet fabric over the clothesline. Occasionally he'd lean down and tear up a mouthful of grass, dirt and all, to munch on. This was the life he was suppose to have, not running for his life across the plains.
As I clipped up each shirt and whatever else, I didn't pay much attention, I let my thoughts wander to the memory the warmth of the sun had given me. How I had spread out my wings every day, wondering when the day would come that I could fly. I had planned on flying low and racing the horses across the field. Could that be where I had learned to ride? But hadn't those horses been wild?
I hummed a nonsense tune under my breath as I hung up a pair of pants. As I counted the pieces I had left, I wondered what I should do next, then laughed at the strangeness of it all. Fearing for my life one day, hanging up laundry the next.
"There you are."
I looked up towards the voice. It didn't sound like Link. At first, I saw nothing but leaves and branches. Besides me, Gramps had stiffened and looked up as I did.
"I've been looking for you everywhere."
"Who are you?"
"Come now, you should recognize the sound of my voice. All those before you did."
Then, I saw him. I hadn't seen him before due to the perfect camouflage of the feathers that ran down his back and under his woodsy colored clothing. He had bright, maple brown eyes that gleamed like a pair of acorns through the underbrush. Over his shoulder, I thought I could see green wings tucked against his back, much like mine.
I felt my heart leap so high I swore all the rest of my organs followed after it. "Are you...?"
"Unfortunately, no, little fledgeling, you really are the last of your kind."
Just as he said that, I realized just how much smaller than me he was-roughly the size of a ten year old child, even if the rest of his build was that of a full grown man.
The disappointed hurt nonetheless.
"Oh, don't look at me like that. I'm here for you and only you. Those who created you and your kind sent me to you to guide you back home to them, to safety."
I frowned. "Those who created me? But they're dead."
"Gods are immortal, you know."
Yesterday, that might've made me leap with joy. But today, after what Link had saved me, I could only feel a squirm of discomfort at the strange little green man's words.
"I'm already safe." I said. "Following you would just get me in trouble."
"Whatever gave you that idea?"
"It's the conditions I was given to live. I can't go after my gods or something, I don't see why I have to explain myself to you." With that, I started wondering when he'd go away and leaned down to get another wet shirt from the basket. I could feel sweat on the back of my neck. Why was I so nervous? If my gods really were alive, then why hadn't they saved my father or the rest of my kin? Why seek me out now?
But he had said something about those before me. They'd probably all died following him around, which was even more reason to ignore him.
"Don't be like that, little fledgling," his voice had an odd, purr-like quality that sent the hairs on my arms on end. "Don't you want to go home? Be with those of your own kind? Find a place where you and your dear mother can live out in peace?"
I slapped the shirt on the clothesline a little more vigorously than I had intended. "How do you know about my mother?"
"Where do you think she got the knowledge to cast that nifty spell over you and herself? You don't just figure those sorts of things out at your convenience."
"In that case, why didn't you take her back to the gods? In fact, why didn't you come to her before my father was killed? We could have all used a little safety then."
The green man seemed unfazed by the obvious tinge of anger in my voice and just kept smiling that strange, creamy smile at me. It was the one part of his body that wasn't covered in green feathers or clothes, and his skin was the color of light sand.
"Because they hadn't the power you have. As the last of your kind, only you have all the keys and gifts of your people. Your parents had but half. It is your privilege to bring about the salvation of your species."
"Sure." I said, lifting up my now empty basket. "And I'm suppose to risk my life and trust the word of some green stranger just because he says he knows my mother, no thank you."
"Fledgling, this isn't a matter where you have much of a choice."
I swiveled around. "What do you-"
But he had vanished. I squinted into the foliage, just in case I had missed him like I had the first time. When I could make out nothing, I frowned to myself and headed back towards the ladder to Link's house.
