He blinked his eyes groggily. A few red and gold beams of light were coming in through the window next to the bed. *Wow,* Link thought. *That was the freakiest nightmare yet.* He tried to sit up, but a sharp pain stopped him.

"You shouldn't try to get up so soon, you know."

"Oh. Hi, Saria," he said. "What are you doing here? You're usually in the forest somewhere." Saria tucked a stray strand of green hair behind her ear and sat cross-legged on the foot of the bed.

"She told me to watch you and make sure you were okay," she explained.

"Who did? Millerna?"

"Yeah. She was really upset when you got hurt by that Wolfos."

"I wouldn't have gotten hurt if I hadn't been paying so much attention as to whether or not she was okay," he informed. Saria frowned.

"I'd be more grateful if I were you. You would have died if it weren't for her. She's been taking care of you."

"Oh, come on, Saria, you deserve some of the credit," Millerna said as she entered the house. "You found the herbs I needed."

"Yeah, but you knew how to use them, and I didn't," Saria reminded. Link grinned.

"That's kind of sad, considering the whole Sage thing, Saria," he teased. Saria pouted. Millerna rolled her eyes.

"Well enough to be mean, I see," she said, gently placing a hand on his forehead. "At least you're not cold as death anymore."

"You scared us all really bad," Saria added. "You just about bled to death. It's a good thing raeyuka leaves work fast."

"Um...never heard of them."

"They look like this," Millerna informed, holding up a green, purple, and gold leaf with lacy edges. "They stop bleeding almost instantly, if you have enough."

"Okay, I have to get back to the temple," Saria said quickly. "Bye!"

"Why's she in such a hurry?" Link asked, watching his friend scurry out of the house. Millerna studied her hands as a pale pink blush lit her cheeks. "And what's that look for?"

"I...believe Saria has her own idea of exactly what our relationship is," she said.

"And, exactly what is her idea of it?"

"Take a wild guess, and you'll probably be right."

"...Oh, hell. Why does everyone think that?"

"Oh, and I'm supposed to know? Damn, Link, I'm not psychic."

"What did you say?"

"I said, I'm not psychic."

"No. What did you call me?"

"I called you Link, moron, it's your name, isn't it?"

"But you never call me Link," he reminded.

"So?"

"So, does that mean you love me?" he asked, grinning mischievously. Millerna went bright red.

"All that blood loss made you woozy," she insisted. "Anyway, do you want anything to eat or drink?"

"Fine, I'll let you off for the time being," he surrendered, giving her a dissapointed look. "But food would be nice. I feel like I haven't eaten in two days."

"Actually, you haven't eaten in a week and two days."

"WHAT?! I have to get back to the castle!" he yelped, trying to get up.

"Don't you dare, you'll open your wounds!" she said sternly, pushing him back down. "I'm dead serious, those big old gashes in your chest just closed a few days ago, and I'll be damned if I'm letting you go anywhere until I'm absolutely certain that they won't open again! Trust me, Zelda will understand if she's a decent person. Just relax, and I'll get you something to eat, okay? Stay in that bed."

***

It was good to see him back to normal. Well, considering what the circumstances had been, it was good to just see him alive. It made me feel cold inside to know that I'd almost lost him. Losing my best friend had broken my heart, but to lose Link... Oh shit, I was getting all teary-eyed again. Damn feminine emotions...

I wiped my eyes violently as I went outside to the big old pot the forest kids had set up (they had this habit of always setting that pot outside to cook in). I was surrounded almost instantaneously by people half my height.

"Miss Millerna, is Link okay?" Jacob asked anxiously.

"Can we see him?" a little girl named Kalli added, clasping her hands and staring up at me with big blue eyes.

"He's fine," I assured. Cue collective sigh of relief from all forest- dwellers. "He's just going to need to rest for a while."

"Don't you have any other magic plants that'll make him get better faster?" Marianne begged. I thought about this for a minute.

"As a matter of fact," I began, pulling out my medicine bag again, and removing a green stem with shiny blue flowers sticking out at odd angles, "if you could find me some more of this-"

"'Kay!" Ilana shouted, plucking one of the flowers - for reference, most likely - off the stem and yanking Marianne off into the forest with her. Several of the others followed suit, and pretty soon I had a whole legion off in the Lost Woods to find more kinokiva flowers for me.

"I love these guys," I decided as I ladled some of the soup from the pot into a bowl and made my reentry to Link's little house. He looked at me.

"It got quiet all of a sudden," he stated.

"And I told you not to strain yourself," I reminded, giving him a look similar to the one Aunt Miranda gave me when I did something she'd expressly told me not to.

"Sitting up in bed is not going to kill me," he said, all but snatching the bowl out of my hands.

"And don't eat so fast, it's not healthy," I scolded, sitting down on the foot of the bed.

"What are you, my mother?" he mumbled through a mouthful of food.

"Well, someone has to take care of you, and no one else seems to be offering to take the job."

"That's sweet, Millerna, I didn't know you cared so much."

"Oh, shut up and eat your damn food," I snapped, blushing. He continued to wolf down the contents of the bowl. I shook my head. He was such a typical guy sometimes.

"So, where'd they all go?" he asked after he'd finished.

"The Kokiri? Out into the forest to fetch me some herbs to make you better, so that you can get to the damn castle."

"Will they work fast?"

"You'll be fine by tomorrow morning if I've got enough."

"In that case, may I pose a question? Why didn't you give them to me earlier?"

"Because they happen to be very painful when they are taking affect, and if I'd used them on you while you were asleep, you might have woken up and jerked around, thus reopening your wounds and defeating the purpose. That would be bad."

"Yeah, and putting me through excrutiating pain while I'm awake is good," he grumbled.

"It's not my fault men can't handle pain," I informed, smirking.

"We'll see about that."