"Come on." She swam up. "Let's go fishing!" She went as fast as she could to the little spot with the fishing person. She pulled herself up there, and then turned around, waiting for Link. He was a bit behind her. When he finally caught up, she ran and opened the door. He caught it from her and held it while she went in. (Aw, so sweet!)
"Hiya!" came the exuberant welcome from the dude, in Hylian. He rushed from behind the counter and stood in front of them, barely inside the room yet. "Are you going to fish?"
"Um…" Meghan said, turning to glance at Link for a translation.
"Yes, we will. She does not speak Hylian, sorry."
"All right! That will be twenty rupees…unless you want two rods, then it's forty…"
"One. Please," Meghan said. He scratched his armpit. Meghan made a face while he wasn't looking, to Link. Ewwwww!
"All right!" He ran back behind the counter and bent down, picking out a rod. He came back up and they walked over. "You guys know how to fish?"
"Yes," Link said.
"Oh, that's right! You caught this fish here! You're my best angler!" he scratched his armpit. Meghan winced. "Well, go fish! What are you waiting for? Catch me another big one!"
"OK! OK! OK!" Meghan said, grabbing the rod from Link and running towards the water. "Go, go fishing rod! I choose you!" She brought it up over her head and then downward, forcefully. The funny part was…nothing happened. She grinned, embarrassed. "Ah…whoops…guess I don't know how to fish."
Link walked over. "I can teach you!"
"Right! Please, teach me!"
She was quite surprised when he went behind her, and put his arms around her to get to the fishing pole. She immediately pulled herself inward, embarrassed and self conscious. Wasn't the guy at the counter watching? He put her hands on the right spots and told her how to do it, moving her hands with his own as he pulled it back and cast it.
"Good job!" he said gently in her ear.
"But I didn't do it!" she said, [suppressing a shudder…]
"Yes, you did. Try it without my help." He let go. Meghan took a moment to get her heartbeat in order, and reeled it back in and did the same thing he did. It was surprisingly easy, now that she knew what she was doing. "Good!" She rested on one foot, leaning to the side while waiting for a fish to come.
Ten Minutes Later in a Different Spot…
"Gaah! Boring! I can't take this anymore!" She thrust the rod back at Link with a smile. "You catch a fish!" She stood back and crossed her arms. She hadn't gotten anything, and was beginning to get impatient. Not that she had been there very long. Yet, it seemed so…long...and boring. She began to regret coming here.
"Fine." He took it, and within a minute, had a small fish.
"Looks like five pounds!" The guy called from his spot behind the counter.
"What? Why can't I ever catch a fish? They hate me!" Not that she really wanted to catch one. If she didn't know that the Hylians just put the fish back and didn't kill them, she wouldn't fish at all. She thought it was inhumane, murder.
"It's probably because they sense that you are impatient. Relax." He threw the fish back into the water and walked over to Meghan, setting the rod on the ground. "You need to let them know you have no intentions of hurting them." She nodded. He put his hand on her shoulder, an odd thing to do, Meghan decided, especially considering what he tried to do before. This was like he was mentoring a little friend. "And you need to be patient. They'll come when they decide to come." She nodded again. He picked up the rod, and handed it to her. "Try again."
"OK." She went to the water's edge, and cast it again. After a few minutes, she groaned. "They still hate me!"
"You have to relax," he said, going behind her again, though she tried to turn to face him, gently putting his hands on her back. "They can sense it…I can too…" he whispered. He traced his hands down her arms, sending shivers and tickles up her. His hands weren't cold—no, they weren't at all. They were actually warm, but…
She still shivered. She half expected him to do something…but this was more what she expected than before. She was freaking out. This was making her uncomfortable. She felt like she was having heart palpitations. Oh goddesses…why is he petting me?
Suddenly, she felt a jerk.
"Aaah! Fish!" She reeled in the thing, pulling, pulling, and pulling…
"Come on!" he cheered, moving to her side.
"Aaaah! Evil fish!" She had it so close…
"Come on! Pull!"
"I am!" She pulled it out of the water!
"Good job!"
"Looks like two pounds!"
Meghan laughed. "All that work for nothing. Oh well." She tossed it back in. "You wouldn't be too horribly displeased if I said that I wanted to go, would you, Link?"
"Not at all."
"Can we go?"
"Sure. Just have to bring this back." Link took the rod from her, and brought it back to the guy.
"What? You're leaving? But I never get any customers!"
She did feel bad…she couldn't imagine too many people came around here to fish. "Here," Meghan said, dumping some rupees onto his desk. "This one is Mr. Bob," she pointed to a red rupee, then to a purple one, "and this is Mrs. Bobbett. These are your most loyal customers now." The guy stared at her. "Bye bye!"
"Uh…bye? Wait!"
Meghan closed the door behind her, and ran outside, doing a cannonball into the water. "Weee!"
-~- Two hours later...
"Guys, I think I should go start to help my mother make dinner." Kazana said to the rest of them. She turned to Mayo. "Hey, Mayo, are you going to be there? Or should I tell mom you have plans?" She snickered a bit.
"Could you do that?" Mayo asked, holding Ruto's hand.
"Mayo, that was sarcasm. But sure anyway." Kazana said, slightly disappointed.
"Come on, Mayo. Let's go…" Ruto said to Mayo, pulling his hand.
"Good bye, Ruto!" Meghan said.
"Bye, girly!" Ruto responded.
Link walked to her. "Good bye, Sage Ruto." Gosh, he never stopped being like that. But it never got old.
Ruto stood tall and straight, looking Link in the eye. "I wish the world of fortune upon you, Link. Our hero."
He nodded solemnly.
"Let's go, Mayo!" Mayo nodded. Ruto used her magic to teleport, and then they were gone, leaving Meghan and Link with Kazana.
"We'll see you, Kazana," Meghan said. Kazana nodded. Meghan really liked Kazana. She felt like Kazana was very similar to herself. She hoped they would have a chance to hang out more.
"Bye!" Link said.
"Bye! I'll see you again soon!"
"I hope so!" Kazana moved into the water. She swam for a bit, then surfaced. "Oh, yeah! Call me Kaz! All my best friends did!" She went under again, and disappeared.
"All my best friends did!" were the words that lingered in Meghan's mind. That's so sad…that means that her friends must…have…
"Meghan, ready to go?"
"Where to?"
"I don't know…wherever."
"I was thinking we could…go…a lot of places. Everywhere…"
He hadn't been able to stop the falling feeling in his heart the entire day. Nothing could break him out of this terrible depression. And this wasn't helping. She wanted to say goodbye to everything. He knew it. She must have seen his feelings in his face, though he tried not to show them.
"Do you…not want to?" she asked
"It's OK. I want to, too. Let's go. I just have to get my things."
"Oh yeah! Me too." She walked across the bridge to the spot over the Water Temple, picking up her backpack and red cardigan. Link picked up his sword. "Wait!"
"What?"
"Meghan wants to see something!" she said, referring to herself in third person.
"What would you like to see?"
"Sword," was her one word answer.
"What do you want to see about my sword?"
"Fun." She hopped over to him, lifting the sword from his hands. "I wanna see how heavy it is."
"Wait, hold on!" he said as she almost fell forward. He grabbed it from her hands. "Why…"
"Because," she said.
She shook her hair from her face, which was dry because it hadn't gone in the water for some time now, and was starting to fall out of its ponytail.
"OK. Now what do I do?"
"Whatever you feel like doing."
"'K."
"What are you doing? Wh-" but she interrupted him by swinging his sword while still in his hands and stopping it by his neck. She had herself close, almost up against him.
"Meghan! You should let go, it's too heavy."
"No I can't. I don't trust you. Do something about it!" She was smiling. Goddesses, how could she still always smile?
"OK." He used his left hand and grabbed her wrist. Then he put his hand around her waist, twisting her around, and her arm, so that her back was to him. He held her arm behind her back, pulling her wrist up, all while holding his own sword in his other hand.
"Hey!" Had he pulled any harder, her arm would start to hurt. Pull enough, and he could have seriously did some damage… "I get it!"
"I didn't expect this to work."
"Hey! What is that supposed to mean?"
"It means that because you tend to favor me and did not intend to hurt me, your threat lost its purpose. You were easy to move and manipulate."
"You sounded actually smart there, for a second." He made a face. "Just getting even. You know I'm kidding."
"Of course. But one day I will be able to use my full strength with you." He finally let go of her.
Even now he seemed strong. She didn't believe that he would ever be able to. She remembered when he'd fought Twinrova, and she did indeed realize that he was full of strength, strength he could release at his own will. He would probably always be like this too. Nothing could really touch him. He remained silent and merely looked at her.
"Hey, Link?"
"Yes?" There was a pause.
Meghan flopped on the ground. "I'm tired." She dropped to the floor and lay on her back.
"OK. Come on…" he sat next to her, dropping his sword on the floor…making a huge clatter sound.
"Clumsy…"
"Sorry." He interlaced his fingers behind his head and lay back beside her on the ground. They stared up into the sky.
"I could stay here forever."
"So could I."
"The sky is so beautiful." And it was true. The sun was off to the side, not too bright, but warm. She could feel its warmth on her face, and a small breeze refreshed her worn out body.
"Yes," he agreed, looking up into it as well.
"Weren't we going to go somewhere?" she asked, loathing moving.
"Does it matter?" he asked with a sigh.
"I guess not." She closed her eyes, breathing in deeply the moist lake air around her. She could feel the grass, hear the birds, and taste the beauty...
It was a wonderful feeling.
Link had also closed his eyes. He couldn't remember the last time he had just sat somewhere and closed his eyes and listened to the birds chirp…feel the wind blow…
What a perfect feeling marred by such terrible feelings.
"We'll get up on the count of three," she said some time later, after she had turned onto her stomach. She said the sun would change the color of her skin, make it darker. He was so confused by this. He wondered if it would really work. Maybe his sun didn't do that, or maybe it was a human thing.
"OK."
"One."
"One."
"Two."
"Two."
"Three!"
"Three." But neither of them got up. Meghan did open her eyes, though, turning her head toward him.
"That was very ineffective," he commented.
"Yeah."
"Three!" But neither of them got up again. Finally, Link had the courage to move. He sat up with difficulty.
"Come on." He held his hand out to Meghan, who had rolled back around, and pulled her into a sitting position. Then they got up.
"That took a lot of effort. But now I feel..." she stopped.
"What? What's the matter?"
"I feel sad," she said quietly, looking up into his eyes.
"Why? No, don't feel sad!" Ugh, she just had to start him on the sadness all over again.
"Because I don't want to go! And it's so sad knowing that that moment will never come again, I can never relive any second."
"Not entirely true!" he said. In our memories?
"For you, maybe. But for me, it's completely true." She sighed deeply. "But I guess…it doesn't matter!" she said, returning to her normal self. "Come on! Do you think Malon will let me see Galaxy? I wanna!"
"Why not? Let's go get him." They ran toward the exit of the lake. Meghan climbed the ladder first, followed by Link.
When they reached the ranch, Meghan ran as fast as she could inside. She first ran to the paddock, to see if Galaxy was there.
"Malon!" Meghan said, seeing Malon grooming a horse in a corner, humming Epona's Song. "Hi!"
"Hello there, Meghan! Hello, Link!"
"Good evening," he said in Hylian. "Malon, we were wondering if we could borrow Galaxy again," Link asked for Meghan in English.
"Of course! You know you can. He's around here somewhere." She looked out to where most of the horses were. "Oh! There he is!" Meghan went forward to get him. Galaxy looked up at her from his grazing position.
"Hi, boy!" she said softly. Galaxy nickered his hello. "How are you?" Galaxy sniffed her outstretched hand. "Hey, do you want to come with me?" Galaxy walked toward her. "I'll take that as a yes."
"Meghan, his tack is in the tack room."
"Thanks, I'll get it!" Meghan walked over to the stables, and entered the side door. Inside were many saddles, each hanging on their own thing. Each saddle was labeled with a silver plaque on the wall near it. She walked until she saw a new, shiny plate with something written on it. Too bad it was in Hylian…but she knew that saddle had to be his because she'd seen it before, and the plate was obviously new. Galaxy had just gotten his name, so it fit. She removed the saddle from its hanging thing and bridle from its hook on the wall right next to it and carried them back outside.
If you've ever carried a saddle, you know it's heavy. But Meghan wasn't really thinking of its weight as she lugged it back to Galaxy. She stopped at Link on the way.
"Hey Link...how can I write Galaxy in Hylian? Does it have a character like this?" She set the saddle on the floor for a sec, drawing the character in the air for him.
He laughed, following her finger. "Yeah, that's 'ga,'" he said in his beautiful Hylian accent.
"OK, good. I was just making sure this was the right saddle. It looked like it anyway. Thanks!" She picked up the saddle and skipped a few feet to Galaxy.
"Hey, boy! Stay still for a sec, OK?" She fit the saddle right on his withers, attaching the girth to one side and then going to the other to attach it to the buckle on the other side. She tightened it really tight. Next, she quickly removed the halter and slipped on the bridle.
Finally she was done. She led the beauty over to Link. Link had gotten Epona while she was getting Galaxy ready, so he was waiting with her.
"Ready?"
"Yup," she answered. She pulled herself onto Galaxy's back, as Link did the same with Epona. "Thank you, Malon! Bye bye! See you soon!"
"Bye! Have fun with him!"
"Where should we go first?" Link asked as they left the ranch atop their horses.
"I don't know…I want to go everywhere, but we really don't have that much time."
"Of course we do. We have plenty of time," he said warmly.
"Let's go…"
"Let's see the Gerudos," he said.
"No!"
"I knew you'd say that. But come on, we can't just skip over them." he sighed. "They'd like to see you. And…well…"
"What?" she asked, wondering why he was struggling to say something. He didn't answer. "Can't we go see the Gorons or something?" She liked the Gerudos as much as the next crazy feminist, but…
"Meghan, you know…tomorrow…we don't know what's going to happen. Maybe we are going to return to being children. And even though all these people will be here, even though I'll still know them, they won't remember us. Things will be different, life will take a different course. When we're this age again, nothing will be like this. Even though you'll be here," he lied, "any decision we make will branch life out on a different course. For example, Goron Link will not be named Link. There might not even be a Goron Link. We will not know those Gerudo girls, or Nabooru. We won't know the Gorons, we won't know Luke. We can meet them again, but nothing will be the same. That's why, in a way, we both have to say goodbye.
"But if that doesn't happen, you might be sent back to your world, and we'll never see each other again, after all this and how close we've grown. You'll never see these places again, while I'll be stuck in a ghost world that won't feel real. That is also why we must say goodbye.
"Or, what cruel destinies these goddesses place upon us, I may kill you with my own hands. My own actions, trying to save this country, they could kill you. In that case, we both have to say good bye because neither of us would live past tomorrow. I couldn't live with myself if I killed an innocent girl. I would never want to hurt you."
At least, that's all what he wanted to say. He didn't actually.
"Let's just go," he said with a sigh. He couldn't upset her…he didn't even want to tell her all the things he was thinking. Did she even realize that if something terrible happened to her, it would be his fault? If she realized, would she hate him? Would she feel bitter because he wasn't do anything to ensure her safety, that he was just going along with what Zelda had told him to do (as usual), even if it might not be the best course of action?
"Fine. Come on Galaxy! Let's not waste any time!"
Meghan and Link pushed their steeds into gallops. Meghan pulled her hair down while riding, sure that it was messy enough from swimming that whatever she did to it wouldn't make a difference anymore.
Sometime later, they arrived at the Valley. They crossed the little bridge thing, which gave Meghan some trouble because Galaxy didn't want to go over it, then the big one.
They arrived in the fortress area and saw Narma on duty right there.
"Hi!" Narma screamed, running over to meet Meghan. "How have you been, dear?"
"I'm fine, how are you, Narma?"
"Oh, I'm doing fine. This is my new post! I used to be up there," she pointed to the top of the fortress, "And hardly got anything to do. But now here, I'm catching people like crazy!"
"You really get that many people here?"
"Yeah, a lot of men thinking they can get us to like them. Ha! Fat chance! So what brings you here?"
"Um…" she said. "Nothing, really. Just saying hi." Narma seemed to notice that Link was there now. Narma smiled at him.
She turned back to Meghan. "Did you come to see Nabooru, Meghan?"
"No..."
"Because I don't think she's here. I think she went to do something important."
"I wasn't exactly looking for her, it's OK. I just wanted to see you guys for a bit."
"I can tell her when she comes back…"
"I really wasn't looking for her, it's OK!"
"All right, then! Hey, do you want to come inside? I can get somebody else to watch my post. I'm in good favor with Nabooru, so I can do practically whatever I want!"
"No, I think we were just saying hi. I'd like to see the other girls."
"Oh, you mean Tamay, Shada, and Kiku? They should be around here. There's Kiku! Maybe all of us can go do something. You don't have anything to do, right? I mean, he can come too. It'll be fun."
"I'm just dropping by. I have to go somewhere, but maybe another time. I'll go see Kiku now, OK?"
"All right...well I'm holding you to that!"
"See you later. Congrats on your promotion, and keep up the good work! You're really great." She started backing away, toward Kiku.
"I know, we should show you how to dance like a Gerudo!" She waggled her hips around a bit. "Sounds fun, yes? How about tomorrow?"
Ugh…tomorrow…
"I'm really sorry Narma, but I definitely have something important to do tomorrow, as well."
"All right, well then Sunday! I'm serious! We'll come find you! Well, I actually don't know where you live. Do you live in Kakariko?"
"Narma, I'll let you know!" She definitely avoided telling her that Sunday was her birthday.
"Yeah, but where do you live?"
"Oh…well I live…in the castle now."
"In the castle! Oh woman! That's too bad. I was too young to learn to steal from the castle, back when it was…not under evil control."
OK, so Narma was one of those friends that won't take your crap and excuses for not hanging out. Oh well. Meghan actually didn't have time to. As terrible as it probably sounded, she wanted to spend as much time with...well…not them, really…
She finally got to Kiku.
"Meghan!" Kiku yelled, running to her, weapon outstretched. She was laughing. "Haha! Caught you! No seriously, how are you? What brings you here?"
And so Meghan had the same conversation with all of the girls, each trying to get her (them) to stay, but Meghan kept having to decline. Shada was the last they got to.
"Yeah, we're going to go."
"Oh, but you only just arrived!" she cried. "Don't make me arrest you!"
"No, we were here for a while, seeing the others. We're so sneaky that you didn't see us, though."
"Darn! No, you're joking. There's no way you could have sneaked past me. Well, I'll see you two!"
"Bye!"
"Bye!" They left. Meghan quickly mounted Galaxy and rode off in the opposite direction. Once they were back in the valley, she turned her head towards Link like something from The Exorcist. "Link. I told you!"
"I know! But..." He wanted to say his reasons, but at the same time had to stick to his unspoken "don't acknowledge tomorrow is going to happen" policy. Maybe if he didn't mention it, today would last forever. "Where to next?"
"Gorons! Or…maybe?"
"Sure, why not?"
"Cool! I really do like the Gorons, they're so nice. Come on Galaxy! WEEE!" They rode all the way across the field, which took about half an hour.
"Wait, don't you think we should look around Kakariko Village first, and then go up there?"
"Right. Yeah." Meghan ran up the steps after leaving Galaxy. Link followed right behind.
"Hi again, Kakariko!" she yelled to nothing. "How are you?"
"Kakariko says its fine," Link answered, with a grin. Meghan giggled.
"Well, Kakariko, what shall I do here?"
"You should let Link buy you that necklace you liked so much." Meghan made a false angry face at him, crossing her arms.
"No. Kakariko. You're wrong. I shouldn't."
"Yes, you should."
"No."
"Yes."
"Never listen to a town, Link! They're evil! Don't know what they're talking about."
"OK. I won't listen to you. Come on Kakariko; let's go buy it. Meghan says not to listen to her."
"No! What? Wait, what? Please don't!" But he kept walking. "Link! Don't! No! Please! Please? Pretty please? No!" She ran after him. She grabbed his arm, pulling him back. "No!"
"Yes," he said, removing her hand with little effort.
She narrowed her eyes. "You're just showing off." He stopped. "You just want me to be impressed by how much money you have. You're no different than those shallow guys from home. Well, I'm not so easily impressed by material things." OK, so maybe she would be, but only if it was really meaningful.
"What?"
"Show. Off."
"No…"
"Yeah. Really. And you know it!"
"You think I'm a show off?"
"Yeah."
"You really think I am?" he said, walking closer to her.
"Yeah," she said, not backing away. He looked over her in that threatening-yet-it's-not-supposed-to-scare-you-eyes-squinty way. They looked into each other's eyes menacingly before breaking into a fit of laughter.
"OK, OK. You got me."
"Yeah, I better have. You weren't going to buy that if it was the last thing I did."
His smile faded as he looked toward her. "Don't say that, come on. It's not that big of a problem, and you know it."
"But I still don't want it."
"OK," he said, in a disbelieving way. She didn't get his hint of disbelieving.
"Good." She sniffed.
"Are you OK?"
"Yeah, my nose is just running a bit."
"Oh."
"I'll see you, Kakariko." Meghan waved to nothing in the middle of the town, halfway up some of the steps. "Before I leak, let's go see the Gorons."
"OK." Link and Meghan ran up the stairs, up more stairs, then through the no longer functional gate to Death Mountain. They joked about their last experience with the Gorons while going up the mountain. Meghan remembered how weird Darunia was when she played Saria's Song, and Link remembered the weird bowling thing.
"Look! Gorons!" Meghan said when they entered Goron City. All the ones who heard her turned her way. She became very unlike herself and shouted to all of them, "Hi! You remember me, right? Well I just wanted to say hi!" Link smiled beside her.
"Hi!" some of them said in their bubbly, Goron voices. Others didn't hear her. She spotted Gordley (she thought).
"Hello!" he said to her, sitting up. "Do you want to hear another joke?" Meghan was about to decline, but changed her mind.
"OK."
"Why did the fairy seek help?"
"I don't know. Why?"
"It needed help! Boy, wasn't that a good one!"
Meghan laughed once. "Eh-heh. That was great! Did you make that one too?"
"Yes! Yes I did."
"Great. It was nice hearing it from you." She tilted her head to the side, smiling fondly at the crazy Goron. "We'll see you, Gordley."
"All right. Bye!"
"Bye, Gordley," Link said.
Meghan and Link quickly walked away.
"That was pretty...bad," she said under her breath to him.
"I agree..."
"Wow. Let's say hi to all the others!" Meghan walked to the first Goron she saw. "Hi! What's your name?" It told her something she didn't quite understand. "That's so cool! Bye!"
"Bye!"
"Hey! What's-oh!" It was Goron Link! "Good to see you Link!"
"Hi Meghan! Hi Link! Oh! Cool! Hi! I didn't expect you to come here!"
"Sorry. We just came unannounced!"
"Oh, well. My dad's not here right now. But you can come play with me! Or do you want me to introduce you to everyone?"
"OK." Meghan and Link said at the same time.
"Awesome! Come on! This is Gordley…"
"We know him."
"Right." Link introduced them to all the Gorons around. "And this is the shop keeper," he said finally.
"Wow. That's a lot of Gorons."
"Yes. But I know them all, because one day I will be their Big Brother!"
"Yes. And you'll…be a good brother!" Meghan said. She wished she could see the day. Hoped she would.
"I hope so! I want to be as respected as my father!"
"I'm sure you will be."
"Yes, Link," Link agreed, "you will be the best. All you have to do is try hard, be fair, and be brave like your father."
"I will be! Thank you, Link. Thank you, Meghan."
"You're welcome," Link said. Goron Link beamed.
"Well…Link…I think we have to go." Both Links nodded. Meghan laughed. "Oh…right. Um, yes we do! Link…um…Brother Link…I hope I see you again soon." Meghan leaned down for a hug. Ouch. Remind me to never do that again…she rubbed herself. Link kneeled down and put his hand on Link's shoulder.
"Take care of yourself. We'll see you." He felt a strange sadness, realizing the chance that this might be the last time he'd see his namesake, or at least his namesake actually being his own namesake. Not that he felt it had been necessary to name the Goron after himself, but he was honored by the gesture and felt like the young Goron would grow to be a great leader.
Link (Goron Link) nodded slowly and solemnly.
"I really hope to see you again," he said, surprisingly. "Father told me what was going to happen. Well, he wasn't sure, but he said it's what all the sages were saying. They think that's what's going to happen." Meghan decided that this would be a good source for accurate information. Goron Link would tell them exactly what his dad said, and might not edit it according to their feelings, because he was so young. He probably wouldn't understand completely (not that Meghan did either, but at least she understood the concept of…death).
"What'd he say?"
"He said that they were not sure, but think Meghan might leave Hyrule. Maybe she'll find the goddesses." Meghan froze, staring into Link's (Hylian Link's) face, her stomach flipping. He averted his eyes and looked down. "It sounds exciting, to find the goddesses!"
"I see," Link said quietly. He forced a smile to the boy. "We'll see you, Link." Meghan didn't move, even as Link turned. He put his left arm around her back, grabbing her right hand with his. He guided her away from Link. When they were out of earshot of Link, Link said, "I'm sure he's just being dramatic. There's nothing to worry about. He's just a kid," he said, this, but he thought about it. Goron Link probably wouldn't tell them something that wasn't true. And the sages were not likely to be wrong.
"That's not what I'm worried about," she said quietly, untangling herself from him. She turned toward him. She was standing on a step higher than him, so their faces were even. "I'm worried about you." Link didn't know what to say. If he said "why?" then it would seem like he was ungrateful, or if he said "Don't be worried about me," he would seem too…wrong to say that. In truth, he wanted someone to be worried about him. He had to go through this too! Sometimes he was sick of trying to be so strong for others. He was glad…
Luckily, he didn't have to say anything. "I'm worried…I know that I'm not the only one who will get hurt. I mean, I'm going to be right there with you, when you put the sword back, but you're the one putting it back. I think I know you well enough to know that you are conflicted about it. And well…I don't know, but I'm here for you too."
He nodded. Finally…
"But please…I don't want to think about it." She turned and started to walk up the steps. "Let's have fun…" she whispered. She pushed her hair behind her ear, and didn't even stop when she got to the top floor of the city. She didn't stop when she exited, either. The whole time, Link was right behind her. She walked quickly
"Meghan," he said finally, when she was walking down the path. "Please, stop for a moment."
She slowed, and then stopped. She didn't turn to look at him, though. He walked to her, then in front of her. She looked down at the ground. "No! We shouldn't think about it. Come on!" She contorted her face in something that mimicked a smile. She stepped to the side to get around him, but he took her by the arm.
At his touch, her heart fell. Her chest heaved with some half sob. Meghan sank to her knees. Link went down with her. She refused to cry, though. She didn't want to. She sniffed and blinked like trying to stop. She looked down at the ground. Link had one of his hands around her wrist, gently, and put the other around her back.
"I don't want to go back."
"You don't have to."
"But what if that's what happens?"
"I don't think it will." Optimism! Optimism!
"You think I'm going to die?"
"No…I think…you're going to…to stay with me, no matter what happens."
"So then where're you going?" she asked quietly. "Where will you go after this whole mess? Link, you don't, like, deserve any of this. I probably do, but you don't. You deserve so much better." She looked at him. "You took this fate and you just let it do what it wanted. I can't let fate do shit to you. Link, you just don't deserve this," she said emotionally. "You don't have to be so strong all the time. You can, like, let me know if you're upset. OK? Link...how do you feel?"
Finally. Finally. He felt a huge weight lifted from him shoulders. Just to know there was someone...
"I don't know," he responded, not used to this. "I...feel scared too."
Scared. The idea of him being scared wasn't comforting, but maybe now she knew how he felt, knowing everyone else was scared. Having to be the brave one, for so many people. God, this was why he had that Triforce. She could barely handle trying to be brave for one person.
"Well, at least we'll know someone in…wherever we're going." He didn't comment, but turned his head away from her.
After a while, Link made a move to go somewhere. Anywhere but here.
"Meghan, do you want to go?" She nodded her head, then she slowly got up. She turned toward him. "Where would you like to go?"
"Um…why can't you choose? I really don't know. I am never that good at making decisions…"
"You're better at it than I will ever be."
"No."
"Yes."
"Really?"
"Yes, you are."
"No, I'm not."
"Yes, you are."
"Really?"
"Yeah, you are."
"No, I'm not."
"Yes, you are."
"Really?"
"Yes, you are."
"No, I'm not."
"Yes, you are."
"Really?" He didn't answer. Instead, he smiled. He tried not to laugh, but it was really hard. Meghan couldn't hold it though. She began laughing hysterically.
"Wow. We sure can have meaningless conversations when we want to."
"Yeah."
"Really. That was stupid." He nodded in agreement. "So, are you going to choose?"
"Maybe."
"Come on."
"Let's just go back to Kakariko for now."
"OK."
"We'll decide what to do from there."
"Yeah."
"Good." They turned and walked down the mountain. Rather, Meghan skipped down and Link walked quickly to keep up with her.
Although a smile lightened her face, and she skipped as happily as a clam, Link could tell there was something oddly artificial about her happiness. It seemed like she was forcing the smile, forcing her cheerful body movements. Still, her change in demeanor was so sudden.
"Meghan?"
"Yeah?" She stopped skipping and turned around, her hair fanning out and landing over her shoulder. She had a large smile across her face. So fake.
"Hey! Lookie lookie! It's Kakariko! We were just there about an hour ago! Do you have your bow?"
"Yes…"
"Let's go to the shooting place!"
"…OK." He followed her to the Shooting Gallery. She threw the door open and ran inside.
"Did you miss me?" She asked the man at the counter. He stared at her with his big, creepy eyes. Meghan hated to admit it, but he sort of smelled. It must be from wearing the same outfit all the time…
"Do you want to play or what?" he asked gruffly.
"Yes! That's why we came here!"
"Pay up," he said, directing his gruff words to Link. He obviously figured out Link was the money cache. And Meghan had spent all her money on giving the fisherman guy friends. Link sighed, not because he was reluctant to give up the money, but because the guy had been a bit rude about it.
"Here," he said, slapping the money down on the counter, but he didn't remove his hand from on top of it. He stared into the huge guy's eyes. The guy frowned.
"What, do you not want to shoot the stupid targets and deprive me of all the money I've ever owned? Move your hand!"
"No."
"Why not?"
Link smiled a very mischievous smile. "Because you are rude and unfair," he said in Hylian.
Meghan's smile faded, but Link retained his own smile. She could tell the huge man was getting angry. Then, she leapt up and *pooed* her pants (this lovely sentence was a contribution by my lovely boyfriend -_-).
"I challenge you to arm wrestling. I'll give you a chance to win your money back." (Of course he says this the way a Hylian would say it, not in that context.)
"What did you say?" Meghan asked.
"That girl does not speak our language?"
"Of course she does. She's just a little hard of hearing at times." Linked laughed deviously. He didn't want the guy to think he had an advantage over them.
"I accept your challenge."
"Link? What did you just say? Was that a joke? That was an evil laugh. I've never really heard you laugh so evilly."
"He said he accepts my challenge."
"What challenge?" Link laughed once (like, "heh"), flipped his hair back, (which Meghan had never seen him do) and removed his hand from the rupees. He moved them to the side and propped his elbow up on the counter.
The other guy did the same, eying the money. His arm was easily two times larger than Link's, but from Meghan's point of view, she couldn't tell if it was muscle, or just fat.
"Link…are you going to…arm wrestle him?" she asked, almost appalled, looking over his shoulder. He looked back at her as the guy grabbed his hand.
"What's arm wrestle?" A smile was on his face.
"Um…why?" Oh my god. Is he going to be a typical guy and try to show off how strong he is, now? He doesn't have to try so hard…it's kinda obvious. First the money, now this.
"Wait and see." Meghan went over to his side.
"Do you want me to say 'start'?" she asked timidly.
"…Sure, go ahead."
"OK. Ready…set…go!" The guy's huge arm immediately flexed. For a second, Link's arm went to the side a bit and it seemed that the shopkeeper had the upper hand. But that only lasted a few seconds. Link immediately turned it around and brought the guy's arm to the other side. He held it at about forty-five degrees, laughed, but with a sudden movement, slammed his hand down onto the counter. Link almost immediately let go. The guy removed his hand and stared at Link, who smiled.
Obviously Meghan was watching. Who could resist showing off? And hell, didn't he have a reason to?
"Yay! Good job, both of you!" she said, even though she knew in the beginning (not that it had lasted long) Link was just teasing him. He could have won in a second, had he wanted to.
"Free…game," he stammered.
"Why thank you, but I'll pay anyway. I just wanted to be fair and give you a chance to get your money back. Sorry." Link pulled out his bow and handed it to Meghan with a grin. "Here."
"Thanks…" She took it and the arrows given to her. Little did she know, the owner was scheming…
He set the pattern of the rupees so they went extra fast, and in all different directions.
"Ready! Go!" He started the game. The first rupee streamed fast by Meghan, and she barely saw it.
"Hey! What was that?"
"Watch, another one!" The man laughed. Meghan glared at him. Another one, red, came by.
"You! What, are you that sore of a loser?" she said, timidly, in a semi-loud voice. OK, she wasn't good at being angry and yelling at random people…
Link looked angry. He turned to face the man, ready to say something, as another one flew by. Meghan watched it go by with a frown on her face. She made a fist and stepped so her feet were shoulder width apart. She slid her arm in the bow, so it stayed around her shoulder.
"No one does this to me and gets away without a hole in their game! I'll show you 'shooting rupees…'"
And as though she only just remembered she could do so, she held out her right hand, palm facing the area where the targets were, and placed her left hand over the back of her right for stability. At that moment, Link turned his head to see what Meghan was doing. He knew that position…
With a flick of her head, she yelled the word, "FURY-!" But Link was obviously quicker than she. He knocked her hand out of the way, also knocking her down accidentally.
"Whoa!" he said, twisting himself around so she wouldn't fall. Instead…it was sort of the other way around…
The blast receded mostly into her hand with her shock, doing no damage to the gallery. Meghan landed right on him, her back to his chest. She quickly rolled off.
"Oh, my gosh! Are you OK?" He had his eyes closed in pain. He slowly opened them.
"Yeah…I just fell on my sheath."
"Ouch," she agreed, helping him up. The first thing Link noticed was the door was open. In their silence, they could hear faint cries,
"THEY'RE NOT HYLIAN!"
"That's right I'm not!" Meghan said, jumping up and making a fist again. "You shouldn't try these things!" She turned back to Link. "Am I the only one who found that oddly strange?" She smiled.
"...I don't know, Meghan. But maybe you shouldn't have…"
"Are you OK?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"You sure?"
"Yes." He just gave her a strange look. He knew she would never have done anything bad. He shouldn't have made a scene trying to stop her, really (he was even almost certain that her fury attack couldn't hurt inanimate objects, either).
"Cool. Come on, then! Let's go see Galaxy!" They walked out of the building and out of Kakariko. It was getting dark, but they didn't care. Meghan ran over to Galaxy.
"Hi GalGal!"
"GalGal?" he asked, laughing.
"Yeah, it's a nickname! Like Mister Hylian!"
"You haven't called me that in a few days," he said, rubbing Epona, who sniffed him. Meghan tended to Galaxy, who snorted in her ear.
"Ow…loud…" she pushed his face away, and then rubbed his velvety nose. "Silly horsy."
"Where do you want to go now?" Link asked quietly.
"I don't know…" she said as she sighed. She leaned her forehead against Galaxy's neck and breathed in his horse scent. It was so relaxing. "How about we just ride? That's fun."
"Whatever you would like to do." She turned to face him and nodded. "All right." She went to Galaxy's side and mounted. Link did the same with Epona. She guided Galaxy over the bridge and to the main part of the field. Epona stayed right in line with Galaxy. Meghan went the direction of the Kokiri forest, and pushed Galaxy into a gallop. They rode side by side in silence, comforting each other without words. They both didn't know what to say; yet they both knew they were saying everything with their actions.
When they were near the Kokiri Forest, Link finally thought of something to say. "What do you want for your birthday?"
"My birthday?"
"Yeah. We'll celebrate it, even if you don't want to."
"I don't want anything." She wanted to say that the perfect birthday gift would be to have a perfect balance, to be able to be in Hyrule with Link or at home with her family whenever she willed. She knew that would never in a million years happen.
"Are you sure?"
"Positive."
He sighed. Meghan turned Galaxy near the forests that lined the field. Meghan had no doubt that they were part of the Lost Woods, so she never went in them. She was also scared to go in. It was always darker in there.
"Link, what is in those woods?"
"It's part of the Lost Woods."
"I thought so."
"But that's just what everyone says. I always thought that there was something beyond them."
"Termina."
"Termina?"
"Yeah. Isn't that what you said that place was called?"
"But Termina is so far away. It's hard to believe that it could ever lead there. I don't know of anyone who has ever been to Termina."
Meghan took a deep breath. "Maybe one day we can go explore?" Link turned his head toward her. She knew why; he was surprised that she admitted that there was a chance that something bad wouldn't happen tomorrow. Then he smiled.
"We can. Definitely."
Meghan led Galaxy again, toward Gerudo Valley. She took the long way around, weaving through trees. "Good boy, GalGal!" Galaxy snorted. "You're welcome! Now, faster! This way!"
"Hey Meghan, how about testing his jumping skills?"
"You mean like over a fence?"
"Yeah. Like that one. Epona usually can do that easily. It'd be good for beginners."
"O…OK…" She was a little scared of jumping, but she trusted Galaxy more than herself and she also trusted Link to guide her and tell her what exactly she was to do. "What do I do?"
"Come over here!" He rode Epona to a little way away from the fence, so they were facing it head on. "Come like this."
"OK." She led Galaxy over. "Hey Galaxy, you ready?" He snorted.
"You need to go pretty quick going to the fence. Once you're close, Galaxy should be able to figure it out."
"I already told him."
"Good, then he won't be clueless." He smiled.
She smiled. "This is his first time with me."
"Well, that's good."
"No it's not! But I do trust him to be a good horsy."
"Trust is one of the first steps. I'll jump with you. Position yourself a little distance away from me." Meghan turned Galaxy around, making a circle and a bigger gap between Epona and Galaxy. "Ready?" he asked.
"Yeah." Her stomach flip-flopped.
"Go!" Epona started a bit before Galaxy. He immediately sped up. The feet between them and the fence quickly diminished…20…18…16…14…12…10…8…6…4…
The fence was right before her now.
"Galaxy, I hope you know what you're doing, 'cause I don't!" She felt Galaxy's stride differ as he prepared to go over…and miraculously, they went over with ease. Meghan was holding the reins so tight that her knuckles were whitish. Galaxy slowed down and halted. Meghan realized she had been leaning forward slightly, and straightened. She saw Link only a little bit away.
"Good job, Gal. You were great." She breathed out and rubbed Galaxy's neck shakily.
"Wow! That was really good for a first jump!"
"I didn't do it! Galaxy completely did everything! I didn't even know what to do, but he did."
"Good someone knew what to do," he teased.
Meghan opened her mouth wide in fake shock/anger. She rode Galaxy as close to Link as possible and said, "I'm going to hijack your ride."
"Hijack?"
"Yeah, hijack." Link just stared at her. "Better start running."
"OK." He turned Epona around and led her off, not very fast.
"Slowpoke!" She pushed Galaxy into a fast canter, easily catching up to him. "I'm going to catch you!"
"You can't catch me!"
"Yes I can!" Link turned his head around and stuck his tongue out. Meghan laughed. "Dork!"
"Dork!" he echoed.
"Hey! Come back here!" He went faster than he was already going, and Meghan was catching up. She stood as best she could, barely lifting her bottom off the saddle. Somehow, she managed to catch up with Link. And yes, somehow, she managed to pull the hat off Link's head, which was beginning to annoy her. Somehow, she actually managed to throw it onto a branch of a nearby tree. You know how that gets him angry.
"Meghan! What was that for?" He stopped Epona and dismounted. Meghan hopped over from Galaxy to Epona while he walked over to where it landed and reached up to pick it up. By the time he had dusted it off and put it back on his head, Meghan was fully mounted on Epona. Epona seemed to be playing along with Meghan. She sidestepped around Galaxy and walked over to Link without Meghan's guiding. "Huh? Meghan!"
"I told you." She smiled. "I didn't lie."
"Well I guess I'll have to take Galaxy, then."
"No you won't!"
"Yes, I will." He walked over to Galaxy. Galaxy walked over to Epona's side. Link followed him and took his reins, but Galaxy resisted.
"That's a good horsy, Gal. Don't let him get on! Come on! Epona! Gal!" She made Epona go, and Galaxy followed, leaving Link behind. She circled around him. He just stared after her. Finally he gave up and just sat where he was.
"Meghan, no one has ever kept me running in circles like you do. Usually I'm the one doing that. I was the one doing that."
"Who did you make run in circles?" He seemed too calm to do that.
"The Kokiri. I was a hyperactive little kid." He fell over backwards and lay down on the grass. She stopped the horses, afraid they'd accidentally step on him, and got off. He didn't seem to worry that they'd trample him.
"Really? What did you do?"
"None of them had as much energy as I did, except Saria. I guess. And most of them didn't want to play with me either." The memories were so fresh to him. To him, these things had happened only a few months ago. How had he been such a kid? How had he become so old? He even couldn't imagine being a kid permanently anymore, like he had once thought. The idea scared him. He didn't know how he had believed that would happen to him in the first place.
"Yes they did. They just didn't want to tell Mido. He would…be mean to them, right?"
Link laughed. "I guess so. But it didn't seem like it." Meghan went and sat next to him. She pulled at the grass. It seemed so preternatural. No weeds grew between the blades of grass, and the dirt underneath was perfectly brown. The grass was so soft. She flopped down on her stomach next to him on his back. She stared at the grass as she pulled blade by blade.
"Well, you have friends now. The past doesn't matter."
"It might not. But we don't know. You could go back there. Back in time. I could go."
"Or we could go back to my world," she said mostly jokingly.
"Or we could stay here."
"Or I could die."
He closed his eyes, pained. Don't say that. That will not happen. "Or you could live and I would die."
"Or we could both die."
"At least we'd know someone…wherever we're going," he quoted.
Meghan let out a snort fueled by the irony of it all. "Yeah. That's good," she said sarcastically.
"If…if we do go back to my past, I promise I'll take care of you."
She looked at him. Take…care…?
"We could be our own family. We won't have to grow up alone," he clarified.
He'd grown up alone, she realized. He didn't want that. She smiled.
"I'd like that."
They lay and talked for a while, with Link trying to steer the conversation away from their inevitable…um…tomorrow.
In a little bit, Meghan got to a conversation about biology and Link got interested in genetics, just as she had been.
"Check it out." She drew a square in the dirt with her finger. Then she split it into four parts. "You put the alleles here," she put a capitol R and a lower case r to the left of the square vertically. Horizontally she put R and R, on the top. "The 'r's stand for round, the dominant and recessive alleles." Link looked at the square carefully. "Now you have to do the cross thing. The capital letter always goes first. Bring the two letters to the square." She traced her finger from the top R and wrote an R in the first square on the left. Then she traced her finger from the left R and put it after the R in the first square. Next she traced the top right R into the top right box, and the first R on the left into the same box. Thirdly, she traced the top left R into the bottom left square, and brought the r on the bottom left to the same box, after the R. Then she brought the top right R to the bottom right box, and the bottom left r to the bottom right box, after the R.
"And that is how you do that part. R stands for round, the dominant allele, and r stands for wrinkled, the recessive allele. We're speaking of pea plants here, some simple Mendelian genetics. Now, the genotype and phenotype. The genotype is what it is genetically speaking, which genes it actually has. The genotype here is fifty percent hybrid, or heterozygous, and fifty percent homozygous dominant. The phenotype is what it looks like, or its other characteristics. It's one hundred percent wrinkled."
"How do you know which is dominant?"
"It depends. You can tell by doing a test cross between one pure kind and another pure, and whichever shows up in the offspring is the dominant. Because they would all be hybrids, right?"
"Um…I guess so."
"Let's try that one." She repeated the process, only on the top was rr and the side was RR. All the results came out Rr. "So what are the phenotypes?"
"That's the…what it looks like, right?"
"Yeah."
He focused on the square. "It's all…so they're all round, right?"
"Yeah! Now, what's the genotype?"
"Well…they're all the same…so one hundred percent…words." He smiled, not remembering the words she'd used.
"Heterozygous. Or, hybrid is easier to remember."
"Hybrid, then."
"Yeah. Now, take a look at this. If you crossed two hybrids, remember, each still has the allele for the recessive. So if you cross them…what will happen?" He looked at the already drawn square.
"Then…" he paused.
She wiped out her square. He filled in the parts, squinting in the faded light.
"Phenotype is seventy-five percent round and twenty-five percent wrinkled. Some are wrinkled again."
"Yeah."
"And genotype. Genotype is…well, there's more here…so I know fifty percent is hybrid…and…twenty five percent is…that other word, hom-e-ozygous?"
"Homozygous. This one," she pointed to the top left square, "is homozygous dominant. Now, this one is exactly the opposite. What would it be?"
"Homozygous recessive?"
"Yup! So, twenty-five percent homozygous dominant, twenty-five percent homozygous recessive, and fifty percent hybrid, or heterozygous."
"Interesting."
"I know, isn't it? It was my favorite subject. Biology, I mean. I miss it. I was taking it before I came here..." Gosh, she'd been so close! Just a month more before the test. She wished she'd finished it, had some kind of evidence that she had a brain. Or maybe she didn't. It'd be nice to know. "Could have gone to college…majored in biology…"
"OK…"
"Yes, I bet you have no idea what I'm talking about. The earthy and/or modernish stuff."
"No, I'm just thinking of how knowledgeable you are," he said, rolling back onto his back and closing his eyes. Meghan stayed in her position on her stomach, idly drawing some genetics things in the dirt.
"I'm not…I wish I was smart. I've done so many stupid things. I just enjoy genetics. I really like learning about DNA repair and stuff, like non-homologous end joining and homologous recombination, base excision repair…"
Link opened the eye closest to her and looked at her. "What did I tell you?"
"So?"
"So? So, that's helping my side, not yours."
She shrugged and didn't say anything.
After a bit of silence, Meghan noticed how dark it was. She could only just see her square in the dirt. "Have you any clue what time it is?"
"No."
"OK." She rolled onto her back next to him. "I don't care anyway."
"You know, I haven't seen Navi the whole day…"
"Yeah…well, that's OK. I guess we survived without her. Where'd she go?"
"I don't know. I think she's enjoying her free time, though. Not having to deal with me." Well, he knew she didn't mind dealing with him, but at least she didn't have to follow him around everywhere.
"I hope she's having fun."
"She is. Even though I wouldn't mind finding her right now. I feel bad because I can...treat her less than she deserves to be treated. But I would have gone insane if I didn't have her. I really love her."
"I do too." Meghan thought about Navi and all the fun things they had done together. Navi was bright and cheery, never down about anything. Quite talkative, but she really was a very good companion.
"Meghan?"
"Oh, sorry. I daydreamed a bit." She let her hand fall from where it was resting on her stomach to the ground. It fell on top of his, and she didn't even know his hand had been there. She quickly and reflexively tried to move it, but his hand grasped hers before it could move. She turned her head, and saw him staring straight at her. She turned it back.
"What's up?" she asked feebly. She was between starting to cry and starting to freak out over the fact that they were, once again, holding hands. She was unsure why sometimes it bothered her and sometimes it felt normal, natural.
"Look at the stars."
She pointed up with her free hand. It was completely dark now, and the stars were visible and bright. "Do you have constellations?"
"Constellations?"
"You know, like people make things out of the stars. Like where I come from, there's the Big Dipper, and like the zodiac ones, and…and lots of other ones. They're just the shape of the stars' formations. I don't really know many."
"Oh, well, there have always been the goddesses in the sky." He pointed to the side, using their hands that were grasped together, pulling her arm up. What Meghan thought he pointed at were a bunch of stars, where if you connected the dots, looked like a stick figure with a ponytail. "That's Din. And that's Nayru." He pointed to the middle of the sky, straight above them. It looked like a stick figure with shoulder length hair.
"Cool!" She was beginning to realize that this moment was like an extremely cliché movie scene. But it was cute nonetheless.
"And Farore, my goddess, is over there." He pointed to the left where a stick figure with two pigtails was, then let their hands fall back to the grass.
"That's cool. Better than my world's stars." She stared up at Nayru above her.
Nayru, what was the point? I came here, but what was the point? Am I going to go back? Will I die? I hope Link is all right. She turned her head and saw him staring up into the sky too. Her hand tingled, as he still held it tightly. She thought he was probably thinking the same thing as her. I hope he'll be OK. That's all I ask for. She wasn't sure if she imagined it, or if it really happened, but she thought that the stars that made up the Nayru constellation glowed a little brighter. She chuckled. Cliché movie. Has to have a happy ending. It just has to…
"What's funny?"
"Nothing." She sat up and put the hand he held on her knee, her legs crossed.
Link sat up too. "What's up? Why'd you get up?"
"I don't know. I just feel weird here." She waggled her free arm.
"Why's that?"
"I don't know. It's getting cold." She shrugged, smiling. "I want to get up!" She let go of his hand and jumped up. She grabbed her backpack, and fished out her red cardigan. She ran over to Galaxy, where he grazed. "See this, see? This! This is a horsy!" Link stood up and stared at her. How can she be like this? One second she'll be one way, the next, another completely! "This horsy is cool!" She hugged Galaxy around the neck and breathed in his musty, horsy scent. "You smell good…" She yawned.
"Maybe it's time to go." Link suggested.
"No! It's only, like, nine o' clock or something! Dude! I don't want to go! No no no! And ugh, I don't want to go back to the castle. Way too annoying, too far." Ugh, she didn't even want to think about going there, even though Shina was hopefully out of her hair. Just the thought of him…ugh!
His breath caught. "Then…don't go back to the castle," he said quietly, barely suppressing a smile. Was that a hint...?
"Where do I go then?" She laughed bitterly, stuffing her nose back into Galaxy's neck.
Isn't it obvious? "We can go back to the Kokiri Forest." They were not far from it.
Then her breathing became shallow, her heart pumping what felt like fire. "That's fine, but I can't go back to Saria's house. I already changed to the castle. I 'live' there now," she said sadly. Haha, live. For like two days. Yeah right.
"Then you can stay at my house. I don't mind." Before she knew what she was doing, she found herself nodding her head. Then she shook it quickly after nodding.
"No, I couldn't," she said, her heart skipping a beat. Did he just…? This isn't something that someone just "doesn't mind" about.
"Really. I don't mind." He stood, held his hand outstretched to her. He gave her a look, one that waited impatiently for an answer.
"…OK…" she said slowly, head spinning. "What about Gal?" She changed the subject.
"We can bring him back, and then go."
"OK." She walked over to Galaxy and mounted. "Come on, boy." Link followed her with Epona. In about ten minutes, they were at the ranch. Malon was nowhere in sight, so Meghan removed Galaxy's tack and put it back in the tack room, just as Link did the same with Epona. None of the other horses were out, so Meghan led him inside the stables. Link brought Epona inside, too.
Meghan put Galaxy in his stall and made sure he had food and water. "I hope I see you again. Maybe tomorrow," she whispered. She gave Galaxy a huge hug, and rubbed him for a while, while Link tended to Epona. She found brushes and brushed him over, and Link did the same with Epona. Then she gave another hug, a kiss on his velvety nose, and a final pat. She closed the door as she left the stall. Galaxy seemed to sense her sadness and whinnied.
"I'll see you," she said. Link patted Epona fondly and left her. Meghan noticed how he didn't close her door. "See you, Epona," she said, her voice crackling. She gave her the same hug and kiss. Tears came to her eyes, but she took deep breaths and refused to let them fall. Kinda. She was realizing more and more that refusing to let tears fall was kinda impossible, something that only existed in novels.
Horses watched them as they left, hoping for a carrot. They walked out of Lon Lon Ranch. Possible for forever, she thought.
A while later, they arrived at the Kokiri forest. A few Kokiri were still out, but not most of them. Meghan didn't feel like talking to them today…she just waved.
They stopped at the Kokiri Shop, which was about to close, and bought some bread, fruit spread, and vegetables to eat for dinner. Link carried them, in a white cloth bag, back to his house.
She climbed the ladder to Link's house. She went and sat on the bed. It was cold tonight, reminding her of the night she had come to Hyrule. Link sat next to her. She removed her backpack leaned back against the wall. He cut the bread at his small table and placed it on small wooden plates, bringing it to the bed where they sat and ate in silence. They wanted to say something, but neither could find what to say. He wanted to bring up a topic, like biology, but didn't know if he should. Maybe she wanted quiet. Sometimes silence was the way to comfort someone, he thought.
"Maybe I'll get to play the piano again soon," she said suddenly. "I miss all the music from my world, not that yours is bad, but mine has electric guitars and stuff. It's a different sound. And acoustic instruments aren't bad, but it loses the artificiality of it all. I like when it's artificial! I used to write—well, never mind."
"What? What were you going to say?"
She laughed a bit. "Nothing…" she said, taking a bite of a green pepper.
He sighed.
"Well, if you really want to know, I was going to say I wrote songs. I don't know if I've told you that, though."
"No, you haven't."
"Oh. Well, I have. A lot of them I didn't get to finish, because there's no piano here for me to play!"
"We'll find you one, one day." He tried to imagine her playing piano, and it was hard, but he wanted to see it.
She laughed. How coy.
They finished eating and put their plates on the table, Link saying he'd wash them later.
"Thanks." As they sat back down on the bed, she scooted close to him. His house didn't have good insulation since all that covered his door was a long white cloth. She shivered, pulling into herself, crossing her arms around herself. He boldly wrapped his arms around her and she leaned back on him. She sighed. She gave up trying to stop the weird insects crawling in her stomach. If they were going to eat her alive, hopefully it'd be before tomorrow.
"So, how many songs have you written?" he asked to keep this light conversation.
"Well…" she counted in her head. "Well, I don't know. Some are unfinished, some aren't good..."
"Will you sing one for me?"
"No!" she said, allowing a small laugh. "That's too embarrassing."
"Please?" he asked into her ear, probably not on purpose, but she shivered a bit anyway.
"I can't just start singing here!"
"Well, what's your favorite of your own songs?"
"Maybe...'Sing Me to Sleep?'"
"Sing Me to Sleep?"
"Yeah… I don't know where it came from. Thought it sounded pretty."
"Will you sing it for me?"
"No! I can't sing!"
"Well…I don't believe that." The way her voice was singsong in normal speech had always led him to believe that she could, and he knew she was musical.
"I can't."
"I just want to hear it. Please?"
"I can't just sing unaccompanied, on demand like this."
"Sure you can."
"Um…oh, fine." She took a deep breath. "I'll sing it."
Sing me to sleep
In that gentle way,
In my mind, in my soul,
Put me to sleep today.
I was all alone, wandering.
And now I'm tired.
So sing me a song
that will let me sleep.
And then…
Cry me to sleep,
my tears, glistening, fall.
When I remember it was but a dream.
Let me cry to sleep,
Let me cry myself to sleep…
Sweet song, sweet tune,
Plays inside my head.
When I remember it was just but a dream.
Do I remember it was a dream?
My tears remind me,
remind me to sleep…
Timid, hesitant, she sang quietly.
Link was surprised. "What…where'd that come from?"
"I guess music is my best…quality. I'm not pretty, I'm not athletic, I'm not very social, I can't handle most of my emotions, and I can't handle anything…"
"But that's not true! You're beautiful! And for only having experience with a sword for a month, you are very good with wielding it! You have so many friends here..."
She felt her body tingle again, the way he was holding her. He had just called her beautiful...did he really mean that? Was he just trying to make her feel better? She had to try hard to keep her heart beating steadily. Not that that was something she could control, so obviously it wasn't working.
"Hylians are nicer than humans. Isn't that why they put me here?" She was put here because humans were destructive…apparently.
Link paused. "I don't think so-"
"They're terrible, really. I was different, they hated me. I had only my closest friends. But I used to feel so sorry for myself, and only when I came here did I realize that I didn't try hard enough. It was my own doing." Link comforted her by rubbing her arm, releasing all her tenseness. She calmed down. "But people here, they see past flaws. You saw past flaws-"
"I saw only your beauty," he said quietly.
"Oh." She realized she had just helped his case rather than her own. I'm doing that a lot tonight…AND WHAT IS THIS "BEAUTY"CRAP?
"But I don't think that matters now. You'll always be with me, in some way. I just know it." And she believed his words. Whether they were a lie or the truth or just speculation, she believed it.
"At least we'll know someone where we're going…" they both said at the same time. Meghan giggled and Link smiled, although she didn't see it. She yawned and crossed her arms, grabbing his hands on either side. He held them tightly. She snuggled into his warmth, leaning her head back onto his muscled pecs. Yep, those insects are definitely going to eat me alive...
These good thoughts were all she needed to fall asleep. She closed her eyes and before she could help it, she was asleep.
Link used the freest hand he had to pull a blanket over her and himself. His thoughts were mostly neutral at that point, her mere company keeping him away from the terrible things hidden in his mind. He listened to her breathing as he himself nodded off to sleep.
Words rang in his mind, strangely amplified in his half-asleep state.
Sweet song, sweet tune,
Plays inside my head.
Hopefully I'll finish the blog post for this some time today. :)