Oof, sorry for the delay with this chapter! Life, etc. But here we are, back again, and updates will resume as normal from here! Enjoy :)

Thirty-Five: Farewell, For Now

In Which One Journey Ends and Another Begins

He had been trying so hard. To hold everything in, to convince the world – to convince himself – he was okay. But he wasn't, hadn't been for a while. Might never be again.

And now the dam broke and Link found himself sobbing on the end of a jetty, his arm there but not, cold and shaking and so very, very tired. The world blurred and fractured with tears and he pressed the heel of his palm to his forehead, curling in on himself as his throat ached and his nose ran. He tried to breathe but could only manage stuttering gasps between sobs, a scream building his chest.

Warm weight settled on either side of him. The brush of Zelda's glove was soft as she touched his cheek then rested her hand against the back of his neck, tangling her fingers gently in his hair. Ganondorf snaked an arm around his waist and pulled him close, a steady pressure he leaned into.

They held him tight as the sobs shook through him. Until embarrassment started pricking at his insides and he forced the tears back, holding his breath and shutting his eyes. He let the grief, the anger, drop away, let the numb hollowness in. He swallowed the scream clogging his throat and exhaled slowly, smoothing out his face.

With a hearty sniff, he wiped the tears and snot away and wriggled slightly, suddenly uncomfortably aware of their touch. Ganondorf and Zelda seemed to get the message, disentangling and repositioning themselves so he had a little space.

They sat in silence for a while, and Link watched the sunset's reflection in the lake, forcing himself to breathe slowly and deeply. He felt a little better, he supposed, but that could've been the numbness talking. He felt all hollowed out, like someone had scooped out his heart and taken all feeling with it.

It occurred to him that he was sitting half naked, and with a shiver he felt around for his tunic. When he found it, he paused. How was he supposed to get his arm into the sleeve now that he couldn't move it at all? He tried for a few seconds, but it stayed limp and unresponsive at his side. He didn't think he could muster the energy to mess around with arm and sleeve for who knew how long, so instead he just clutched the tunic to his chest, tucking his scarf around his neck half-heartedly.

More quiet minutes slipped by, until Zelda shifted. 'Why didn't it kill us?' she asked, though it didn't seem like she was asking anyone in particular. 'We were all unconscious but…it just left us.'

'For us, at least,' Ganondorf mused, 'it likely wants or needs us alive to…put the Triforce together. However much it hates you, Zelda, we're useful alive. For now.'

As she sighed, Link thought back. The time under the demon's control was hazy and disjointed, like those hours had been a dream. It had been a little like he was outside his body, watching the demon puppet it, and he'd struggled but it hadn't seemed real. Just a nightmare, one he'd wake up from and be safe from soon enough.

Mostly, though, he remembered fear and icy pain, the helplessness of watching his body move without his say. The last clear memory he had was leaving the fire to find alcohol, and somewhere between there and the purchase the demon had pounced, overpowered him completely.

'It…' He fought to remember, struggling to find the right words. 'It wanted to, but…it needed to save its energy and it knew I would fight harder if I knew it was going to kill you. It needed all its strength to…to reattach this fucking arm.'

He could barely bring himself to say it, the words catching in his throat as it hit him again. His arm, stuck back on and completely in the demon's control. The things it could do now that he couldn't fight back. There was no stopping it – they'd either have to cut it off again or tie it down, though both of those options would probably bring its wrath down on their heads.

At least, at the very least, whatever power it had used to sew his arm back on had exhausted it. Its presence was dimmed, its voice quiet. All he felt from it was the ache in his shoulder where the skin he could still feel had been pierced, but it wasn't a reassuring feeling. Now he just had to wait for it to wake, to live in fear until it did something like strangled one of his friends or stabbed him some more.

Scrubbing at his cheeks – scratchy with drying tears – with a corner of his tunic, Link sighed. It didn't feel like enough, so he sighed again, as if it would shift the weight settling in his chest, the hole where his heart had been that was slowly filling with ice.

'Let us get away from here,' Ganondorf said gently, touching his good shoulder. His fingers were a warm, fleeting comfort before he pulled away and stood, the jetty creaking under his feet.

Zelda stayed where she was for a moment longer before she offered a tiny smile and rose as well, stretching out a hand to him. Taking a deep breath that made his chest ache, Link slung his tunic over his shoulder so he wouldn't have to see those awful, shadowy stitches. Then he steeled himself, took Zelda's hand, and, getting his feet under him, let her help him upright.

Pain splintered through his shoulder, the still unhealed flesh and bone rubbing as the dead weight of his arm swung with his movements, and his breath caught in his throat. Stitches pulled and for a moment he thought his arm was going to fall straight off again, sink into the lake and never be found, but it didn't. The demon's magic held. There was disappointment and relief, then, until he forced them back down into the numbness. Until all he could really feel was the cooling air on his bare back and Zelda's soft, velvet-clad fingers on his.

She brushed her thumb against his knuckles, and for a moment all he wanted to do was cling to her, to be sat on the jetty again with her and Ganondorf's weight on either side of him. Instead, he let his hand drop from hers. He moved it to his upper arm instead, pinning it in place so that it couldn't shift again.

He tried not to dwell on how weird it was to feel his arm under his hand, but not his hand on his arm.

'I hope Eruta and Meridan are okay,' he mumbled, distracting himself with a pang of guilt. 'You guys aren't feeling any…I don't know, side effects, are you?'

Ganondorf shook his head. 'There's a little headache, and slight dizziness, but nothing else.'

'Well that's still…bad,' Link replied, then squeezed his eyes shut and exhaled sharply. 'Who knows how Zora biology responds to fucking sedatives.'

'Then let's go and check on them,' Zelda said, and started up the jetty. 'They're still asleep, as far as I can tell, but doing just fine.'

He wanted to be reassured, he really did, but there wasn't enough room in his hollowed-out chest. He trailed after Zelda, arm held tight to his side, and it seemed to take an age to reach the wagon, the dead fire with the two slumped forms beside it.

It took another age to wake them, and after a few minutes of fretful waiting Link sank onto the wagon steps, resting his head on his knees and rubbing at his shoulder gingerly. He could hear Eruta and Meridan stirring, voices bewildered and slurred. It was tempting to get up and start walking and just never stop, until he never had to face them again, but he had no strength left to stand. Stuck on the wagon steps, he'd just have to take whatever they threw at him.

The rustle of grass under boots caught his attention, but he didn't stir; lolling his head to the side only gave him a glimpse of legs, which stopped just in front of him. When something warm and heavy fell across his shoulders and back, he cringed. Fabric scratched against his bare skin, pooling around his butt and down the steps.

He hauled his torso up a few inches, and as he raised his head Ganondorf leaned forward to fasten the cloak's clasp under his chin. Then he crouched and placed a hand lightly on Link's knee, peering up at him with concern he didn't deserve.

'Thanks,' Link managed, forcing himself up a little further and dragging the cloak more securely over his chest, hiding all evidence of his right arm and its reappearance. If he couldn't see it, he could pretend it wasn't there. Just for a little longer.

'We are going to defeat this,' Ganondorf said. 'You'll be free, very soon.'

Link tightened his grip on the cloak. 'Doesn't feel like it.'

'I understand this,' he replied, and gave Link's knee a gentle squeeze. 'Whatever you need, Zelda and I—'

'I don't want your help or– or your sympathy!' The words came bursting out of him, surprising them both as anger decided to crash its way into the space his heart had left behind. His fingers trembled, knuckles aching as he gripped the cloak with all the force he could muster. 'I don't want you to wrap me up in blankets and make me feel better, okay?!'

Ganondorf regarded him quietly for a moment, as he ground his teeth and squeezed his fingers tighter, a pounding in his head that said maybe his heart was still working after all.

'None of this has been your fault, Link,' Ganondorf said, with princely conviction.

In the back of Link's mind, Shad murmured softly. 'Always so quick to blame yourself.'

Biting the insides of his cheeks, he turned his face away, tucking his chin down towards his good shoulder. The tension ebbed, but he clung to the anger, let it coil in his stomach and fill him with a frantic need to scream or break something. Hurt someone. He dug his fingers into the ragged skin of his right shoulder, the stitches icy against his skin and the burst of pain sweet and hot.

'Link.' Ganondorf's hand found his, the cloak between them, and gently peeled his fingers away. A little pressure had them flat against his shoulder again, harmless and still. 'This is not your fault. You don't deserve more pain, or punishment of any sort.'

'Bet you don't say that when it's using my hands to murder you,' Link replied stiffly, the throbbing in his skull a constant, aching pressure.

To that, Ganondorf didn't have anything to say; he just sighed. Softly, sadly, and for a second or two Link wanted to punch him.

'It won't come to this,' he said, slowly relinquishing his grip on Link's hand. 'We're so close, you cannot lose hope now.'

Letting his arm droop to his side, Link shut his eyes and shook his head. 'I'm so tired.'

'So go to sleep,' Zelda said as she approached, two groggy and unsteady Zora siblings trailing after her. 'When you wake up, we can figure this out. We're not going anywhere.'

Swallowing hard as his throat tightened, he let his gaze drift to Eruta then to Meridan then away. He couldn't meet their eyes. Not that they seemed to even notice he was there; they were still so disorientated. From the poison he had given them.

He could've killed them all. It wouldn't've been hard for the demon, would it, to overpower him completely and kill them all in one fell swoop. Be it by poison or the sword, it wouldn't have been hard. He was weak, pathetic; it was absurd that they weren't all long-dead, rotting on the side of a road somewhere for the monsters and carrion birds to pick over. It was absurd that he had survived as long as he had.

A tired smile pulled at his lips, and he couldn't tell whose it was. He rose slowly to his feet and stepped down from the wagon, clearing the way for Eruta and Meridan.

'Alright, you two. Go sleep it off.' Zelda gestured at the wagon, then chivvied them along when they didn't immediately respond.

'G'night, guys,' Eruta slurred as she made her way up the stairs, nearly falling from them once. 'Don't stay up too late.'

Meridan said nothing, just wobbled after her and, by the clattering and creaking that followed, collapsed face-first onto one of the benches as soon as he was through the canvas opening.

There was quiet for a moment, like the world was waiting for them to fall asleep before it resumed. Sinking onto the prickly grass, Link curled up on his side and stared out at the lake aimlessly. He had nothing left in him. He just wanted to sleep and sleep and sleep, till the end of time.

The last remnants of the sunset played across the surface of the water; he watched it flicker and dance as Zelda and Ganondorf sat down nearby. He didn't want them so close. Who knew when the demon would rally and kill them? Maybe it wanted to keep them alive to reassemble the Triforce, maybe it wanted to take its chances and try to claim all three as soon as it could. Maybe it would be content with the one etched into Link's left hand and kill them anyway.

He shut his eyes. All he wanted was darkness and quiet, forever.

He wasn't sure how long he lay like that, listening to the gentle rush of the lake, as the hollow inside him yawned wider and wider. His nose stung, his eyes prickled. He pressed his face into the crook of his arm and tried to stifle the sounds of his sobs, until the only noise that escaped him was the ragged breaths catching in his throat. Pain sank through him as his shoulders shook, but he couldn't stop.

At some point, he distantly heard someone shuffle closer, and then a foot bumped one of his as someone lay next to him. A hand touched his head, warm and calloused against his scalp as someone stroked his hair. He sobbed, coughed, hiccupped, and eventually managed to wrangle his breathing back under control so it stopped hurting so much, stopped making him feel sick.

'You're going to survive this,' Zelda murmured into the quiet that followed, and squinting through his fingers Link saw she was lying on her back, hands folded on her stomach. She turned her head to face him. 'We all are.'

He shut his eyes, a few more tears slipping free. His lips were salty and his voice hoarse as he replied, 'Cut it off. You have to…you have to cut it off again, okay?'

Ganondorf's fingers stilled on his hair. 'I do not know if that's wise.'

'Why? What can it do if the arm's gone?' Craning his head over his shoulder, Link half-glared at him. 'You'll be safe, then.'

'But you will not be,' he replied, and slowly collapsed back into the grass, so that they were lying in a line at the foot of the wagon steps. 'My fear is that, should we take the arm, the demon will turn its violence onto you. I don't mind it attempting to kill me. I should like to see it try.'

Link rolled onto his back fully, scrubbing at his salt-crusted face. 'And you think leaving it in full control of my arm will be any safer? It'll just as likely stab me as either of you.'

'But at least then it'll have the three of us to choose between,' Zelda said. 'If the arm's gone it's only got you to fuck over.'

'So?'

'So, we don't want you getting needlessly hurt.'

Her tone made it clear she thought he was being dense, and he sighed sharply at her. 'As if I want you to get needlessly hurt? You think I care about what happens to me if it keeps you guys safe?'

'You should care.' She propped herself up on an elbow and looked at him. The darkness hid most of her face, but he could still tell she was frowning. 'We're all getting through this, alive and…well, not well, but…relatively intact. I made you a promise and I'm keeping it, so I'm not going to let you give up now, not when we're so close.' She paused, then lay back down with a thump. 'And in case you'd forgotten, I need you to get my wish. So fuck you and this stupid guilt thing, because I'm getting my wish even if you give up on yours.'

'Stupid guilt thing?' Link replied slowly. 'Fuck you. I know you think you can just peer into my mind and know everything I'm feeling, but I poisoned you all. I tried to kill you two! Or have you somehow managed to forget that?'

Zelda gave a cry of frustration, shooting upright again. 'No, you didn't! For the love of…when are you going to stop acting like this? It wasn't you, it was the demon! And we all know that!'

He sat up as well, the temptation to reach out and shake her almost overwhelming. 'It was! It was me. If I'd fought harder, if I'd just stayed awake…if I'd just done something, I could've stopped it hurting you.'

For a moment she was quiet, as was Ganondorf, before she reached out and put her hands on his shoulders. 'Maybe that's true. Maybe it's not. We'll never know. But what I do know is that all these years, you've been fighting a demon – a full-blooded demon – and you've kept it from doing anything worse. So, you knocked us out and tried to strangle me, we're all still here, aren't we? We're alive, and we're fine.'

'As Zelda said to me,' Ganondorf added, as he stared up at the stars, 'it's our actions that count, not the things we think. Whatever cruel thoughts the demon has had, you've kept it from acting on nearly all of them. This is not weakness.'

He said the word with as much princely disdain as he could apparently muster, and somewhere in his empty chest Link felt the softest glow of…was it pride? It was warm, and lacked the bite of disagreement or denial.

Maybe they were right. Maybe he was being too hard on himself, just like Shad had said. It still sucked that he'd let the demon poison them all, but Ganondorf was right. It had decided not to kill them because it knew how hard he'd fight if it tried.

'They're wrong,' the demon said, voice the barest of whispers. 'You're pathetic. Sooner or later you'll kill them all.'

'Oh, fuck off,' he said, wincing sheepishly when Ganondorf looked at him in offended surprise. 'Not you.'

All it took was the demon telling him he was pathetic, and just like that he knew he wasn't. If it wanted him to feel that way, he'd refuse to. He could fight for a little longer. Just for long enough for them to win. Spite was a surprisingly good motivator.

Its exasperation brushed against his skull, but dissipated quickly; it wouldn't be able to do much more than mutter passive-aggressively at him for a little while yet.

Lying back down, Link followed Ganondorf's example and watched the stars. He couldn't say he felt okay, but he felt a little better. Side by side with his friends, the night calm and the pain in his shoulder minimal, the stars beautiful against their soft, inky blue backdrop. He could almost convince himself that everything was alright.

They lay like that for a little while, until a cold breeze propelled Ganondorf to his feet in search of blankets. As he pottered about in the wagon as quietly as he could, Link pulled off his glove with his teeth and stared at the mark seared into the back of his hand. He could barely make it out in the dark, but it had the faintest golden shine to it that his eyes picked out after a few moments of squinting. He'd seen what Ganondorf's could do, and been told what Zelda's could, so of course he had to wonder what his piece of the Triforce would do for him.

To be honest, all he really wanted it to do was let him blow stuff up. Maybe then he could blow up his arm for good and be done with the threat of the demon stabbing or strangling anyone.

He pictured it for a little while, watching the mark grow a little brighter then dim again, as Ganondorf re-emerged and threw blankets over him and Zelda. Tucking it under his chin, he squirmed until he felt comfortable – as comfortable as he could, with hard, uneven earth digging into his back and grass pricking him even through Ganondorf's cloak – then closed his eyes.

Crickets chirped somewhere nearby, one of the ponies nickered, Ganondorf and Zelda breathed softly and slowly on either side of him. The air smelled of dewy grass and, distantly, the musty remnants of smoke lingering in the dead fire's ashes.

There was still a hole in his chest, and the numbness called to him, but breathing was a little easier and he already felt silly for crying like he had. His cheeks burned at the thought of it, and he grimaced to himself, pressing his hand to his face as if he could push the embarrassment away. It didn't help, so he took a deep breath and let it out slowly, counting to ten in an effort to distract himself.

He took the opportunity, while the demon was exhausted, to picture a world in which they were victorious. They found the stained-glass room, with its pedestal in the middle, and with the sun shining bright and multicoloured they assembled the Triforce. He pictured it shining, singing, showering them in golden light and saving them. The demon gone, obliterated by the goddesses.

It made him smile, just a little, and the images followed him into sleep where they swirled and blurred, turning into a nonsensical performance that he woke up barely able to remember.

For a moment or two, he lay quite still, eyes shut, until he realised that something had woken him up. A…creaking, or a bang. Maybe a yell?

'What, by Nayru's wind, are you three doing?' someone asked, voice crackly and groggy.

Link opened his eyes, squinting into the unexpected sunlight, and saw Eruta stood at the top of the wagon steps. She was squinting too, mouth drawn into a grimace as she rubbed at her head. The morning light turned her fins translucent and her scales glittered, and she looked like she might fall over at any moment.

'You're awake,' Link said, the guilt rushing back like someone had thumped him in the stomach, and he couldn't think of anything to say as they stared at one another.

She groaned and squeezed her eyes shut. 'Barely. I've got a killer headache and to be perfectly honest I wish I wasn't conscious right now.' Cracking one eye open again, she pulled a face at him. 'This is all your fault.'

Abruptly, it was hard to breathe, his insides squeezing as his heart dropped. 'You…you're right,' he managed, clearing his throat when his mouth went dry. 'I'm so, so sorry.'

'You should be,' she replied, tipping her head back to groan briefly. 'That wine you got? Horrendous. Absolute shit. This is the worst hangover I've ever had.'

Link's insides unwound a little as he peered at her in confusion.

'That's what you get for drinking most of a fucking bottle,' Zelda mumbled, and he turned to her in surprise. She lay facing him, curled up on her side, but she was awake and listening, apparently. As if sensing his gaze, she smiled and, in a conspiratorial whisper, said, 'they just think they got very, very drunk. I didn't want to complicate things.'

He smiled back at her, then grimaced when his lips wobbled. Taking a sharp breath as he told himself he would not cry again, he looked back to Eruta in time to see her sink onto the steps and drape herself across them limply with a self-pitying moan. She slung an arm over her eyes as the wagon rattled and shifted and Meridan poked his head out into the sunlight. He, too, scrunched his eyes up in pain as he looked at Eruta, shook his head and, like a turtle, vanished back through the canvas.

'Someone tell the goddesses to postpone the morning,' Link heard him groan as he retreated, and though he knew their suffering was his fault – or the demon's, at least – he still couldn't help a slight smile.

A yawn alerted him to Ganondorf's awakening; he looked rumpled and sleepy as he sat up, a few blades of grass tangled in his hair. The thought that he might have spiders in his prompted Link to haul himself upright, inch by slow inch as the dead weight of his arm shifted and sent pain shooting through his side. Securing his blanket across his shoulders, he brushed at his hair and felt a little dirt shake loose but, hopefully, no spiders.

'Are you two going to be okay?' he asked Eruta, who didn't immediately stir at the question. 'You're still…you're still in trouble 'cause of us, aren't you?'

She groaned then, flopping about on the steps for a moment. 'Don't remind me. Maybe we could just drive away and not come back for a few weeks.'

'Oh yeah, because that will go down well,' Meridan griped, voice muffled as if he was lying face down on one of the benches. 'It'll start with a few weeks, and then what? We'll be in even more trouble and want to come back even less.'

Grimacing, Link plucked at his blanket uncomfortably. 'This is our fault; we shouldn't've got you involved. Maybe we could talk to someone? Is there someone we could straighten things out with?'

'No!' Eruta peeked out from under her arm at his, apparently scandalised at the thought, then cleared her throat and steadied her tone. 'No, we chose to help. We…well, I could've handled things more calmly, but yeah, it was our decision every step of the way. Whatever trouble we're in, it's not your fault.'

'These hangovers, though,' Meridan added, 'those are totally your fault.'

Eruta propped herself up on an indignant elbow. 'Seriously, aren't any of you bothered?'

'I have a headache,' Ganondorf replied, shrugging daintily. 'But it isn't unbearable. Perhaps we…are affected differently?'

'Lucky bastards,' she said, sinking back down.

Climbing unsteadily to his feet, and taking the blanket with him as a makeshift shawl, Link stretched his back and took stock of their surroundings. The lake was as still as ever, and a few streams of pale grey smoke trailed from the cluster of buildings further down the shore.

'Maybe we should get some food in you,' he said. 'See if that helps you feel better.'

He glanced at the skeletal remains of their fire, spending a moment wishing the ashes of his arm were in the pile, slowly scattering with every passing breeze. His shoulder twinged and he turned away, forcing his thoughts in a more pleasant direction: food.

'Got any hangover cures you'd recommend?' Zelda asked as she sat up as well, dragging her fingers through her hair to untangle her braid.

As it turned out, Meridan did, and they spent the next hour or so concocting a stew not so dissimilar to the one they'd eaten their first night together. Link sat and watched, mostly, not sure how to broach the subject of his arm being sewn back on. Not wanting to broach it. He didn't want their questions, or to see their horrified faces. So, he tried to avoid doing anything that would cause Ganondorf's cloak or his makeshift shawl to reveal the truth. This just so happened to include moving, cooking, and most things except sitting quite still, so that's what he did: sat by the freshly built fire and didn't move.

Once he'd wrangled all the fabric into a comfortable – from an obscuring point of view – position, he volunteered to stir, snaking his arm from beneath the folds of cloth to take up Meridan's trusty ladle. He even spooned it into bowls when it was done.

It took some coaxing to get Eruta to eat, but once their bowls were clean, she and Meridan both seemed a little perkier, a little less bothered by their aching heads and sensitive eyes. They exchanged a few meaningful looks and Link knew they couldn't put off the inevitable for much longer.

He brought it up for them, draping the cloak more securely against his right side. 'Listen, I know you said it isn't our fault but I still…I just wanna apologise again for all the trouble we've caused you – especially me.'

'And we should thank you,' Ganondorf chipped in, 'for all the help you have given to us. We wouldn't have succeeded – or survived, most likely – without it.'

'We didn't do that much,' Meridan said. 'Just what any decent creature would do.'

Eruta set her bowl down and smiled grimly. 'And I mean, we caused you problems too, didn't we? How about we just call it even.'

'That's fair,' Zelda said with a slight, sly smile. 'No more unnecessary apologies.'

'I feel the thanks are still necessary, however,' Ganondorf said. 'If there's some way we can show it? Something we could...give?'

Flapping a hand, Eruta shook her head then stopped with a grimace. 'No, really, we don't need…rewards, or anything like that. I'm just glad you're all still alive, and that I could help keep you that way.' She glanced at Link as she said it, and he shifted awkwardly but smiled.

'Though maybe we can help you one last time,' Meridan said as he looked towards the lake and sighed. 'We'll be stuck here a while, no doubt, so why don't you take our wagon?'

Link glanced at Ganondorf and Zelda, whose expressions matched his own surprise. For a moment, they all mulled over the preposition. None of them jumped to turn it down, but Link still felt hesitant to accept. They'd already done so much, and to take their whole wagon…

'Not for good,' Meridan continued with a laugh as he surveyed their faces. 'Just till you finish your…grand quest, or whatever it is you're doing. Then bring it back.'

'We probably won't still be in trouble,' Eruta added, with a smile and a wink. 'And if we are…well, just leave it here for us. We'll pick it up someday.'

Glancing at Ganondorf again, Link exchanged a look with him and shrugged. It wasn't like they couldn't use a faster way to travel than their feet, and he felt better about a loan than a nebulous offer to just take the wagon. It was another reason to succeed, too, otherwise Meridan and Eruta would have to trek all the way to some hidden, sacred grove to collect it.

'No reason not to,' Zelda said after a moment. 'It's…very generous of you.'

'Like I said,' Meridan replied, 'we're not gonna be using it.'

He looked out across the lake, and this time Eruta followed his gaze. Link's chest tightened softly.

Their time was up.

The others seemed to sense the shift in the air – Zelda definitely did, of course – and one by one they all clambered to their feet. Rubbing her hands together, Eruta glanced at the water then shook out her fins. She prodded at her temples for a moment before smiling brightly.

'This is gonna suck,' she said, and Meridan chuckled humourlessly. 'But hey, it was worth it.'

'Yeah,' he agreed, meeting Link's eyes, 'though, no offense, but I'd rather deal with angry elders than this whole demon mess you three are in.'

Link snorted. 'None taken. I agree – you two are wise to get out while you can.'

'Ugh, but it's going to suck,' Eruta groaned, tipping her head back and pulling a face. She tilted her head in his direction. 'Need one last healing session?'

He held out his hand to ward her off. 'No, I'll be alright. No more procrastinating for you.' Smiling gently, he flipped over his hand and offered it to her. 'But thank you, for everything you've done.

Stepping forward, she took his hand and held it tight, then moved closer still. He resisted the urge to step back, shift away before she realised. Anxiety squeezed at his heart as he held his ground and watched her pupils contract and dilate briefly. Then she leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his forehead, patting his cheek as she released him and stepped away again.

'I hope everything goes okay with…all that,' she said, gesturing vaguely at his left hand, then his shoulder.

'Thanks.'

He smiled, she smiled, and then she moved on to the others, shaking Ganondorf's hand and bumping Zelda's shoulder with her fist. Meridan hugged them one by one, and despite Link's fears gave him a gentle, one-armed hug that didn't jostle or even touch his right shoulder.

'Sorry for how I acted last night,' he said, but Link held up a hand and shushed him.

'No more apologies, right? But I get it, and I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys sooner.'

Rolling his eyes, Meridan patted his good shoulder amicably, then stepped back. Eruta followed suit, and they stood side by side with the lake behind them and the sun shining on their scales, nervous but resolute.

'Take care of our wagon,' Eruta commanded, then tacked on a hasty, 'and the ponies.'

Link gave her a thumbs-up. 'Will do.'

'And we'll get it back to you as soon as we can,' Zelda added.

'Good luck with your business,' Ganondorf said. 'I hope the trouble is not as great as you suggest.'

Sharing a glance with his sister, Meridan shrugged good-naturedly. 'Only time will tell. Good luck with your business too, and safe travels.'

They all shared another few smiles, until they couldn't drag it out any longer. With one final glance at one another, Eruta and Meridan turned and walked into the shallows, then slipped beneath the surface entirely. A few heartbeats later they re-emerged further away with soft splashes, both waving.

'See you soon!' he called.

'Wish us luck!' she added.

Cupping his hand to his mouth, Link shouted back, 'Good luck!'

At his side, Zelda and Ganondorf waved. Meridan sank back down, and Eruta followed with one last burst of frantic waving, and then the lake was still.

They stood on the shore, waves rushing gently and the birds singing, and then it was just the three of them once more.