Link had been back at skyloft for a day now, and was happily greeting every face he hadn't seen in a while. He shook hands with Horwell, he shared some stories with knights in the Lumpy Pumpkin, and was steadily going through the cafateria's food when he ran into Karane and Pipit.
"Link!" Karane shouted, from the doorway. She ran across the floor to where he was sitting, and hugged him. A little taken aback by this gesture, Link hugged her back, before seeing Pipit over her shoulder.
He wanted to go over and say hi, but it seemed Karane had other plans. She sat him down, sat next to him, and punched him on the arm.
"Ow! What's with the punches?" He rubbed his arm again, remembering Zelda had hit him in the exact same place already.
Zelda...
'Damn! Don't think about her!' He thought to himself, and shook his head slightly. He had been trying to keep off the topic of Zelda for the whole day, and even thinking about her annoyed him a little. Unfortunally, it seemed Karane wanted to torture him a little first.
"You were gone to long, you deserved it. Anyway, we heard you were back, and we couldn't believe it! Why were you gone? What's been happening on the surface? Have you talked to-"
Link cut her off before she could get onto the topic of Zelda. "Yeah, I seem to be back. And I was asleep, after falling... Against some monsters, in battle on the surface." Pipit sat oppoiste them both with an uncerimonious "Hi."
Karane's lips were pouted. "We found your sailcloth in your room. What really happened?"
He sighed. It was bad enough taking flak from Zelda, but from Karane it was just embarrising.
Zelda.
"Fine. I dived off my loftwing and died again, but a couple of Kwekis saved me. Happy?" He said, a bit irritated.
"Oh... Well, that was stupid of you. Have you seen what Zel-"
"So what have you two been up to?" He asked, perhaps a little bit to loud. He was not going to break down over her, and especially not in front of Karane.
Pipit shrugged. "Mostly nothing, really. Just the usual rubbish... Although there is ONE thing..." He smiled sideways at Karane, then continued. "Guess what's happened to Karane?" He asked, clearly happy about the news. A smile also appeared on Karane's face, and she turned to face him with her arms crossed.
"Ummm..." Link really didn't know what could happen between the couple that already hadn't happened. From a couple of Pipit's stories, they had 'done' everything... "Your... Really a lion?" He asked, clearly oblivious to the truth.
"Oh, at least try! Look at me! Do I look different?" Complained Karane. She stood up amd faced him, with both Link and Pipit staring at her.
'Well... Her chest has gotten bigger, but I'll be damned if I say that in front of Pipit... She does look slightly fatter, but again, I would be murdered. Unless...' He took a shot in the dark: "Are you pregnant?" He winced, in case he had made a fatal mistake.
Instead of shouting at him, Karane happily sat down again. "I'm glad you got it so fast. It took Pipit nearly a week..." She looked over lovingly at Pipit, who smiled back.
"Wait, are you serious? Your actually pregnant?" Link couldn't believe what he was hearing. Even though he knew they were at it, he didn't expect THIS.
"Yeah-huh. It's been confirmed by that old lady. You know, the one with the wierd eyes?" She went on and on about baby planning and the likes, powder this and house that, till eventually both Link and Pipit had zoned out, dead to the world until she stopped talking.
"I thought a deku plant would be a good pet. It could eat his food before anything malnutricious slept him." Stated a clearly out of it Pipit, who earned a slap to the face.
"Pipit! Your suppost to care about this stuff! Your his father, for Goddess's sake! Both of you, wake up!" She nudged Link, who had rested his head on his hands and stayed there for a bit to long. A light snore came from him; that was, until he was elbowed.
"Yeah yeah... I'm listening..." He said, sleepily. He hadn't had a proper sleep in... 10 months and a day? The coma wasn't REALLY sleeping now, was it? Safe in this knowledge, he difted off to the sounds of Karane talking and Pipit half-heartedly contributing.
"Baby... Important to... Mobile buggy... Father figure... Swings and roundabouts... Houses for sale... Groose's house... Zelda... Babymaking..."
'Wait, what?'
He sat bolt upright, making both his friends jump. "Huh?" He said grogilly.
"Oh... Haven't you spoken to her yet? She hasn't told you about..." She trailed off, not wanting to be the one to break the news to Link.
"Yes, she has told me. What did you say just now?" He asked, trying to repress hurtful memories. Maybe, if he didn't think about her ever again, there wouldn't be a problem...
"Well, after the cerimony, they bought a little house together. They didn't want to be treated like little kids, having to visit each other when they wanted to be together. But there MAY be something wrong..." She trailed off again, as if reluctant to tell Link.
"What's wrong?" He tried to mimic casual concern, but he knew they both saw through his disguise. However, she still carried on.
"Well, you hear creaking coming from there every night, if you know what I mean..." Link somehow managed to stop himself flying into a fit of rage, but couldn't hide the fact he died a little inside.
"But there is something wrong. Pipit never sees Groose at the 'protection' store, but Zelda still isn't pregnant. We think there is something wrong with one of them... Probably Groose." She said hurredly, seeing the look on Link's face when she saw how worried he was for Zelda.
"Oh... That's strange... Do you know why?" He asked, wanting to know more.
"Why yes, I know everything about Groose's sexual nature." She looked sarcastically at Link, who nodded.
"Huh?" Said a surprised Pipit, whose eyes widened in confusion.
"Oh, come on Pip! We are having a baby! Can you really not tell when I'm being sarcastic?" She scalded, and Link left them arguing whilst going into his own little world again.
'Zelda can't get pregnant? That's strange... She's always been healthy. Must be something with Groose. Maybe I should talk to her... I can't be the only one who is hurting...' He made a mental decision to go see her, the moment he was able to. Speaking of which...
"Hey, do you know where Zelda lives?" He asked, interupting their conversation.
"Oh... It's a new house built for just her by her father. It's red, near the waterfall." She told him, eyeing him suspisciously.
"Might go over there and say hi. Haven't seen Groose either..." And with that, leaving an extremly suspisious and confused Pipit and Karane behind him, he went to the happy couple's house.
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Their home was at the end of a long, twisting path, which went around a few large rocks. The house was on a rocky outcrop overlooking the waterfall, and in all honesty it looked beautiful. He went up to the door and used the knocker, the sound echoing off the rocks. He wondered how close Karane had had to be to hear the creaking of the bed - considering it's out-of-place nature, he guessed she snuck up on them.
'What am I even planning to say? Why am I even here?' He asked himself, but he already knew the answers. He was there to talk to Zelda.
Because he had to.
The door opened and a figure stood in the doorway. "Hi." Link said.
"Dude! Where the hell have you been!" Shouted the figure.
'Damn, it's Groose. Just play along, for all he knows your visiting everyone.' He thought to himself.
"Oh, just asleep. You know how I am, never can wake up. Is Zelda in?"
Groose's smile froze. Link guessed he was considering what he thought about their recent marrige, but in truth he really didn't care about Groose's opinions on the matter.
"Uhhh... No, she's not in right now. Is there anything you wanted to say to her?" He asked.
'How about "Why did you choose him"? How about "Is your brain addled?" How about "Did you just forget about me?"'
"No, not really. I just wanted to speak to her, that's all..." He said plainly.
"Oh..." He paused for a bit, before saying, "Do you want to come in? She's only down at the Bazaar, and she only goes down there to buy basic essentials."
'Does she now? She used to go down there once a week, just looking for dresses... What's changed here Groose?'
"Sure, I'd love to." Groose stepped to one side and let Link walk inside. He was unimpressed with the small number of decorations or furnishings or anything around the house. Apart from a couple of things, such as a table and chair, there wasn't much in the house at all.
"Please, have a seat. I'll get some coffee." Groose disappeared into a doorway, and left Link to have a look around the house.
All in all, the house was generally well built, but the fact that Link was able to see the brick walls displeased him. 'What's happened here... No furnishings, and no wallpaper, probably no luxuries...' He thought to himself, as he sat down on the uncomfortable chair.
Groose came in with two cups of coffee, placing them on the table in front of him, then sitting opposite him. Link felt they had to make conversation, so he stated the obvious: "Pretty bare house you have here..." He left an implyed question hanging at the end: why was the house so decrepit?
"Ah, well, when we got married I spent most of my money on the wedding, and Zelda spent most of hers on this house, along with her father's money. It didn't leave us with much left, in the end. But I'm working there..." He trailed off, like there was something he was holding back, but Link didn't pry.
"So what is your job, then? I assume you have become a knight, so I guess you are doing work for the academy?" He asked, trying to get him talking.
"Ah... About that. You see, even though I went to the surface and saved Zelda," 'I saved Zelda, you prick", "It still doesn't make me a knight. And, when the final testing came, I didn't make the cut... So now, in between doing odd jobs and the like, I fix old bits of forgotten machinery. For instance, we get water from the waterfall, and it's heated using a stove underneath us..."
"So what you're really trying to say is, you don't have a proper job?" He asked, with a slight menacing tone. He hadn't touched his tea, and it was left on the small table in front of him, slowly turning cold.
"Well..." He squirmed under Link's gaze. "I don't have a job parsay... I am making some money off my inventions. It's just I'm still working everything out, you know?" He tried to sound athorative, but it didn't work on Link.
"Groose... Look at this house. Look at these seats. Look at this mug, for Goddess' sake! You can't even afford a mug that hasn't been scratched all over!" He knocked over the mug, which spilled over the floor, and stood up, looming over Groose. " Your suppost to be supplying for a family, for a wife and future child, not just making silly inventions that bring in 'just enough'! Get a job Groose..." He brought out all his fustration on Groose, and by the time he was done, Groose looked scared.
"I'm not telling you to do it for me or you Groose. Do it for her. She deserves better than this..." He waved his hand in the direction of the wall, which had a crack mark on it.
"Go now, Groose. I hope I don't have to tell you again..." He sat down, and Groose stood up, walking towards the doorway, perhaps slightly quicker than a man should be inside his own home. He opened the door and brushed past someone, who mildly complained before entering the house.
Zelda closed the door behind her, and walked up to the table, putting down a depressingly small shopping bag. She looked around and saw Link sitting on the chair.
"Oh... Hey."
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So this is going to be in two parts, so don't worry yourself about me just leaving out the next part and starting the next chapter with 'He woke up.' Also, I'm wrapping this up within the next 5-6 chapters, (but I'm not exactly predictable, even to myself), and I wondered what you readers would like me to do next. Please get back to me! Even you anon people. That's right, I'm talking to you. You with the hair and the nose, who is reading this thinking: 'These are my thoughts, but I don't want to review.' That's right, if you don't review I'll... Write angry letters to random people, hoping somehow I find you. And when I do... I'll send you strongly worded letters, good sir, yes indeed!
You have been warned!