"Welcome to day whatever of Linebeck getting the shit beaten out of him," Linebeck sullenly muttered, sitting on a table while he waited for Zelda to return with the medical supplies.

Link sat in a chair near the table. "You have been getting hurt a lot recently. Hopefully this is the last time..."

Linebeck snorted. "According to a few people out in the streets, I'm a good punching bag. But we haven't met them. Bah, she's taking forever."

"Well, you're badly hurt. She's got to get everything to help you." Link stared at Linebeck. He had cuts above his eyes and on his jaw, bruises on his throat and face. He kept his left eye closed, blood still dripping over it. His hair was tousled and messy, even a bit bloodied. Link was worried for the first few minutes, but his curse-laden responses to whatever Zelda said showed Link that he'd be more or less fine. The day he stopped his sarcasm and cursing was the day he neared death.

Linebeck was quiet. They'd walked about a mile to get to Zelda's home, a tower-like building. Link had been quiet most of the way, keeping an eye on Linebeck. Zelda was nearly silent as well but did speak a few times. Now, the two of them were sitting in her kitchen while she retrieved the supplies. It was a bit awkward, but at least Zelda was nice about it.

Zelda returned to her kitchen with the medical supplies, the two orphans talking to each other quietly. She set the kit on the table, Linebeck shifting out of the way. "So, what exactly happened back there?" She opened the kit, waiting for one of the kids to answer.

Finally, Linebeck shrugged. "I dunno. Tetra and her group just cornered us for some reason, we talked, and she attacked me, and kicked her away, and the other kid pinned me to the group and started beating me up, and then you showed up. Simple shit. Your sister has problems." He stared at the med kit. "Oh, right. You're helping us. Do we owe you anything?"

Zelda sighed. "Just leave my sister alone."

"Riiiight." Linebeck muttered. "What are your questions? I don't really care what they are right now. Just ask them." He shifted, then added, "All of this hurts like hell."

Zelda sighed. "Just be quiet for a second. It's hard to think with you talking." He went silent, and Zelda glanced between the battered urchin and her items, deciding what she would need. She'd helped a few orphans before, just not one that had been recently notable. Bit of a coincidence. She pulled out a few items to stop infection and asked, "What do you remember about your dad?"

Linebeck shrugged. "Not much, really. I have a hard time remember my parents. I can recall small, uh, scenes, but nothing too detailed. Why do you give a single shit?" He flinched away from Zelda with a cotton ball soaked in disinfectant. "That shit smells that crap. What the hell is it?"

"Disinfecting stuff. It'll help you not get sick. It might burn, but it'll help." Linebeck scowled at it for a moment longer, and relaxed. Zelda nodded slightly, glancing at Link for a fraction of a moment before cleaning off Linebeck's cuts. "Why is my sister hunting you down?" She kept an eye on the kid while she wet the cotton ball with more disinfectant.

He exchanged a glance with Link. "She said that we've been getting in her way. Starting to piss me off, and Link's clearly not happy with her and her group's bullshit. Why don't you let her come back home? It'll be better for everyone, anyways. She's just being a little bitch out on the streets." Linebeck saw Zelda's venomous glare and averted his gaze. "Sorry if my calling out your sister pisses you off, but she's a little shit."

Zelda contemplated arguing with him, but her conversation with Bellum earlier that day tired her out. She cleaned off the last cut. "Didn't you dislocate your arm earlier this week?" She raised an eyebrow at him, ignoring Link sitting on the table next to Linebeck. "You've had a rough week. Both of you."

Linebeck frowned. "How'd you hear about that?" He watched Zelda pull out a small band-aid, and muttered, "That tiny little thing isn't going to last long."

Zelda scowled. "Well, you'd better make it last long. And Bellum's my co-worker. He tells me about his work, even if he hates me." She paused. "We talked today, but I really wouldn't call it a talk considering the moment I approached him in the bar, he ordered the strongest thing they hand, so I made sure to leave before he started a fight. He told me about your encounter. Why do you think he went out of his way to fix your arm?"

Linebeck gritted his teeth, flinching slightly as Zelda placed a band-aid over one of his cuts. "He said that it would be more annoying if he had to deal with his team seeing us there as well. They'd think we were hostages, and Bellum didn't want to deal with that. He didn't want to do any more work. Simple. Why do you give a shit?"

Accidentally applying the next one with too much force, Zelda apologized between gritted teeth to an angry Linebeck. "I'm just curious. Hey, Link." The younger orphan looked up. "What do you think about Linebeck? You two have been travelling around together for a while."

Link smiled brightly. "I'm glad that I met him. We're good friends. No, we're brothers! I said so, and Linebeck said so. We're brothers. You're not allowed to say otherwise. I don't like seeing him get hurt. Thanks for helping us." He glanced over at Linebeck, who still looked unhappy with their current situation.

"That's nice," Zelda murmured. She glared sternly at Linebeck when he flinched away from the next band-aid. "Look, kid, relax."

"I'm not going to relax; I've spent the last four years in a place where I can't relax if I want to properly survive. Old habits are hard to kill. Deal with it, asshole. I'm not going to be nice to you." Linebeck stubbornly met Zelda's stony glare with his own and let out a small squeak as she roughly shoved the last band-aid on the third cut. "Are we done?" he asked, rubbing his bruised throat.

Zelda squinted at him for a moment. "You should be good, but rest. I'd give you an ice pack for the bruises, but it's snowing. You can leave if you wish." The two kids nodded, and Zelda closed her med kit. "I'd like it if you left soon, I have to get back to work." They didn't leave while she put her stuff away, and she glared at them while looking through her work bag. "You can leave. Leave."

Link hopped off the table. "Ok. You don't have any more questions?"

Zelda paused, walking away from her bag. "I guess I've got a few more. Have you retrieved Bellum's heirloom knife from Tetra? That seems to be her problem with you."

"Nah, we don't have it," Linebeck answered with a shrug. "She just sees us as obstacles and shit. A little stupid, really." He hopped off the table with Link, looking around. "Do you have a mirror somewhere?"

Zelda nodded while Linebeck wrapped his scarf back around his neck. "In the bathroom, yeah. I'll show you where it is." She led them out of that small kitchen and into the dark hallway, leading them to a closed door. "There. Don't be long. Like I said, I need to get back to work, and you're wasting my time." Linebeck rolled his eyes for a moment and walked in, peering in the mirror.

Keeping an eye on Link, Zelda leaned against the wall with a sigh. This kid was crazy. Not Link, Link was the reasonable one. It seemed like he was the only thing keeping Linebeck from doing whatever he wanted. Link looked up at Zelda. "Is it true that you won't let Tetra come home? Isn't she your sister?"

Why was everyone so concerned about that now? Zelda scowled. "Yeah, she's my sister, but she's doing fine on the streets. I've just got too much work to deal with her. She left of her own accord in the first place." She crossed her arms over her chest. "Do me a favor and don't get into another fight with my sister."

Link nodded. "I'll try and keep him from making them mad again. Sorry for bothering you and making you take us in for a bit."

"You're a good kid," Zelda mumbled. Linebeck left the bathroom rubbing at his face and glanced up at Zelda. "Done? Can you two leave now?"

Linebeck stuck his tongue out at her but nodded. "Yeah. You can lead us to the door."

Zelda scrutinized him for a moment, and sighed. "Yeah, sure. It's through the kitchen, c'mon." She turned and walked down the hall, making sure the two of them were following. Link was silent, but Linebeck was eyeing everything they passed. If she was lucky, he wouldn't take anything, but that was unlikely, and she'd been unlucky for the past few days.

She practically had to shove them out of the house. Link kept wanting to look around. "This place is cool. Did you have it made for only you? It's cool." Zelda ignored him and slammed the door once they were out of sight in an alleyway.

Finally. Zelda leaned against the door for a bit, thinking about her encounter. It was strange. The two of them seemed to be running into her and Bellum more often than she would've expected. Most kids avoided them- but they were running into them by accident.

But that wasn't an awful encounter. Sure, Linebeck was a bit rude and such, but Link was a bit more pleasant. The kid seemed to be very soft-spoken, with a bit more of a grip on the language, while Linebeck had the vocabulary of a sailor. She doubted she'd ever met a kid at his age that cursed as much as he did.

On the subject, that had felt like talking to Bellum again. With a tad bit more cursing, of course, but it felt like dealing with him again. She had the choice to stay at home. It wasn't like she needed to the rest of her work. She could go around and check on the post offices another day. Yeah.

On the other hand, she was tempted to track Bellum back down. They'd talked about their work, and Zelda brought up the strange rain. The ended up agreeing that Ganondorf was probably screwing around, as he was a bit better with magic than the two of them.

Zelda rubbed her face and walked back over to her bag. She dug through it, looking for her papers-

"What the hell-"

That little prick stole her wallet!

"We're close to the castle now. We might be able to reach it in the afternoon."

Link nodded, constantly glancing to and away from Linebeck. "Uh, are you alright? How long do you think it'll take for all of that to heal?"

"Day or two. We've got that healing ointment, now. Might use it when we stop for the night. How are you feeling?"

Link shrugged. He kicked up a bit of the snow. "She was nice."

"Bit nosy. I don't really wanna meet her again." Linebeck smiled to himself. "At least that was relatively profitable."

Bemused, Link peered up at Linebeck. "Profitable? What do you mean?"

Linebeck dug through the messenger bag for a moment and pulled out a sizable pouch. "This. Hopefully, we can make whatever's in this last."

"W-when'd you get that?!"

Linebeck smirked triumphantly. "I stole it- from Zelda. Right out of her bag. Should have a nice sum in it. I'll look later, though." He opened it slightly, then closed it, shoving back in the bag. "Anyways. To the castle. We've got a few miles to go, but I should check the map..." He stopped in his tracks, pulling out an unfolding the map. Link peered at it with him, trying to pinpoint their location before Linebeck put it back away.

"Yeah, a few more miles," he muttered.

Link nodded. "Ok. Let's keep going." He took Linebeck hand and dragged him through the alleyway until Linebeck tugged his arm away. "Sorry." Linebeck shrugged and went back to leading the way. He still looked a mess, but the bandages made him look a bit better.

"I think we're near my stash with the camera," Linebeck muttered. "I want to check on that and develop the pictures it took with this small thing." He glanced around; half tempted to take out the map again. "It's near the middle of the city, I know that."

Link nodded. "Yeah, you showed it to me before breaking into the house you stole the key to. Remember that?"

"That was around a month and a half ago, yes, I remember it." Linebeck stopped at the crossroad and jogged down the left. "What are the chances we can make it without looking at the map? I'm, uh, cardinally aware? I know which way north and south and shit are without needing a map or compass." He squinted up at the dark sky for a moment, almost tripping in the snow. "Yeah, pretty sure we're going the right way."

Link kept his gaze on the older orphan's back, contemplating the honesty in his claims. "Sometimes, I can't tell if you're lying or not."

"Same. I lie to myself a lot, too."

Link tilted his head to the side. "How do you lie at yourself?"

"Dunno, it's a psychological thing. I think." Linebeck shrugged, glancing at a few trashcans that they passed. "I don't know. It's like thinking of something as true, even if it's not true, for so long that you convince yourself." He paused, clearly deep in thought for a moment. "I should try and reverse some of the lies I've told myself."

"That's a good idea," Link responded. "Also, why do you curse so much?"

"Uh, habit. I started and then it kept on becoming more habitual and now there no point in stopping me because it's pretty fun and it feels like a way to, uh, ward off people and act as a testament to the fact that I'm not afraid to use whatever means I'll need to survive."

"Then why aren't you letting me curse?"

Linebeck glanced over his shoulder at the kid. "Because. I feel like you would gain nothing from it. I also feel like you wouldn't do it anyways. No more questions. We need to keep moving." Linebeck looked through their messenger bag and took out their canteen, drinking the rest of the water.

Done, Linebeck tossed the water bottle back at Link. Link caught it in his hands and stared at it with a look of confusion. "What-"

"Fill it with some snow. No yellow snow. Yellow snow is bad. Just fill it with snow and give it back."

Link nodded obediently, stopping and kneeling in the snow. Linebeck watched him. Link carefully shoveled snow into the canteen, ignoring the biting cold. "Will this work?" Link quietly asked, glancing meekly up at Linebeck. "I dunno if this'll work."

"I've done this before; it melts in the bag. It'll be fine." Linebeck let Link shove some more snow in, then said, "Ok, that's good. Put the cap back on and give it back." Link nodded, doing as he said and handing the freezing canteen back to Linebeck. "Wonderful, let's keep going." He helped haul Link to his feet, and they continued down the alleyway.

Even though she wanted to stay home, Zelda planned to leave anyways. Not for work, but she decided to talk to Bellum a bit more. Despite her friendliness and status, she didn't have many friends, and considered her volatile co-worker to be a friend. Her theory still stood, and she felt like she was getting closer to the answer she was seeking. But, then again, she could've just been suspicious based off of a few situations and actions. There wasn't much basis to her curiosity.

But she could still try and track Bellum down, and sincerely hoped he wasn't drunk. He was smart, though. He worked nearly every day of the week and knew that he needed to be able to actually go along his routes.

She had a list of his routes, and his Thursday routes were always close to the middle rings of the city. Zelda paused, reading through the papers she had lined up on her table. There wasn't much of a chance she'd actually run into him. She could wait for him at his house, but that would only piss him off like before. Zelda sighed, collapsing in her chair. No point.

At least this allowed her to think about what she saw in his house. The main reason that people had pictures facing down was because they brought up bad memories, or if a person in the picture was dead. If Bellum was honest, and that picture she'd seen was really a younger him with his non-biological family, then it was perhaps facedown since his father was dead. But that was different. Getting rid of pictures of deceased parents seemed irrational.

And what about the rest? Also pictures of his dead family? She'd only seen it for a split-second, but the man in the picture she'd seen looked a lot like Bellum. Or it was a coincidence. Another sigh escaped her mouth, and she leaned back.

She was being nosy and insensitive. It was probably nothing, she could've just been overthinking. It seemed to be a sensitive subject to Bellum, and the guy seemed to value his privacy very much. Zelda knew that she valued her privacy as well. But she couldn't shove the theory from her mind.

Whatever. Zelda gathered up the papers again, tossed them uncaringly in her desk drawer once she got to her bedroom. She should just stick to her own job. Bellum was the one that dealt with orphans and their dead or not dead families and made note of dead people in general. Zelda just ran the city. It was none of her business.

On a separate note, she needed to try and get some more work time in tomorrow. She needed to get back the money Linebeck had stolen. Perhaps she could ask Ganondorf for a raise- he was in charge of the city's currency, after all.