The interior of the statue wasn't nearly as magnificent as the outside. She expected that, of course. It was dark, and something about the inside made her uncomfortable. But even if it wasn't matched in aesthetic beauty outside, something was really appealing about the fact that the ceiling was such a ways above their head. It looked tiered, and across the way there was a weird little switch of a sort. Link tilted his head from one way to the other quite dramatically before starting across over to it. She figured that was a good next step, but a few attempts to pull it, push it, and lift it suggested that they were not able to.

This left Link to look over the edge, up and then down, then circle around until he noticed that below them there was a barred door. He pointed down to it and without a word the two pulled out their damp sailcloths to descend without a problem.

They touched onto the ground, and Link started toward the barred door with clear intent, but it didn't really matter much- there weren't any levers or switches, but there was a sound that made even her hot blood run a little cold.

She froze, grabbing roughly at Link as she shifted around to see the assembling bones. The moment he turned to see it, he pushed her back behind him, drawing his blade and his shield, and readying for the fight.

"Stay back," he ordered her. "Try to dry off."

Somehow it had slipped her mind that she was wet. Even if she wanted to be of assistance right now, she couldn't, and that thought was even more terrifying. Defenseless in the face of something she feared-and as she watched it assemble, she realized there was something even worse.

It wasn't like the others she had seen. Others were normal- others looked as if they'd been human at this point, but as this one put together it's parts, they were… mismatched. Difficult to tell with a set of bones, but the connection of some was off. Bones were knicked and discolored with age, brittle, jagged, and repeating in some places, differing in length. Yet the body, shambling, still functioned. And the blades it held- they weren't dull. That was clear.

It's eyes ignited with a burst of that glowing pink, jaw falling open as a breathy sound left it- not quite a hiss, more so a warning. Ethereal, displaced, and enough to force her to once more hold her breath. Both hands drew up and clasped over her mouth, eyes closing tight as she backed against the wall.

She heard the first strike of the battle, but didn't know from which side it came. They were fast- faster than any of the other stalfos they'd encountered had been, and the metal clashing made that clear.

It wasn't until there was a heavier sound that she finally reopened her eyes, looking up with worry to see what had happened. Link's shield lay on the floor a few feet from him, face down with the leather strap snapped. Meanwhile, he'd barely made any damage to the actual foe it seemed. It's bones, while brittle, had armor in some places, making it more difficult to actually land an effective blow.

And once again, she wasn't even trying to help…

She had to do something, with Link unable to shield himself it was only a matter of time before he got really hit. Finally, she kicked into motion to try once again the method she'd been hoping for the times she'd been wet. Shaking hands hurriedly cast off her gauntlets, tossing them carelessly onto the floor and she started to try and heat her hands. She'd dried significantly, meaning she was able to ignite with ease, so long as she kept her arms raised so the water couldn't drip into the fire. Pulling one hand back, she scooted to an angle that allowed her to better see the foe, though that really wasn't something she wanted. She could barely even breath in it's presence, terrified that something would enter her body the same way it did that things, though seeing the oddly assembled skeleton made her wonder if that was even a possibility. It seemed like they'd been meticulously collected to put this together, but she couldn't think on that.

She charged her fire, drawing it back and letting it swirl into a tight ball so she could cast it forward toward the enemy. It hit, to her surprise, sending it stumbling over a step, and to her pleasure, it didn't turn it's attention up on her. It was successfully stunned, allowing Link to get his bearings and get in an effective hit that shattered one of it's four weapon wielding arms. The blade it had fell to the floor with a sound that echoed up the tears of the interior, and then the stalmaster continued with it's mission to eliminate the Knight.

Link dodged another of its with the broad part of his blade, pushing it back and taking that moment to strike back. There was no room for a sword strike, and so he aimed to kick in its leg. Unfortunately his blow was a bit too low, not hitting the joint but instead hitting a tarnished gold grieve. It's foot slid back with the impact, causing it's knee to bend slightly, but it got it's footing again and brought one of the lower swords up to catch Link's arm. His reaction was to force down on the bend of its arm to stop the blow, and it did mostly work. It lessened it significantly enough that when it actually made contact, it cut through the fabric of his own gauntlet as well as a small slit in his skin, but that was manageable.

What he couldn't manage though, was an incoming diagonal blow from the remaining upper blade as well as a horizontal one from the lower.

A weak flame mustered and as it did, she just called "bottom!" in a panicked voice. Her flame hit the top blade, and Link's dodged the bottom. He fell back a step as the creature rebounded once again. This time, despite his shield being broken, he moved to sweep it up and hold tight to the bar so it wouldn't fall forward. It would give him some defense to the sides he couldn't cover, he figured, but he was quick to find that it, instead, got him on the ground.

Trying to knock the shield out of his hands once more, the stalmaster crossed it's remaining three blades and set forward a powerful hit that actually got him off his footing. A quiet whine left him as he stumbled back and ultimately fell onto the floor.

With him down, their skeletal foe saw his chance to take out the stronger half of the problem.

All Tya could do was ready a flame, but she knew it wouldn't be enough.

No uselessness, no uselessness, no uselessness, she needed to ACT. She couldn't be useless- she swore she would have his back and that fucking thing was about to kill him- he was going to die. Please, he was a trained knight, he should have been able to handle this, why couldn't he handle this?

He was tired, he was carrying the burden of so many lives, he was terrified- no amount of training could make him ready for that weight and now he was going to die and so was everyone else because she wouldn't fucking move-

Pain shot through her arm, one hidden beneath the chainmail and the other beneath her gauntlet. Or would have been beneath her gauntlet if the weakened leather hadn't split under the pressure and sharpness of the stalmaster's blade.

When did she even get so close?

Her mind hadn't even comprehended the movement her body took until the blow was struck.

She looked down to her arm, the blood pouring out over it, and her brain not even comprehending the pain to the extent it was really given. You cut yourself cooking and think this is probably the worst a sharpened blade can do to you, but no. The incomprehensible pain to a woman that hadn't ever faced real injury, matched with the experience of seeing not only this amount of blood, but acknowledging that it was coming out of her body, it was…

Her gaze turned up, realizing that time hadn't in fact halted for her to take in the damage done to her body. The stalfos had reeled back an arm in preparation to finish her off, caring little for what the target was so long as it was eliminated.

Without thinking she reached her good arm up and swiftly grabbed hold of the one coming down on her, sparks instinctively reacting but no ignition coming as her blood and concentration were too strewn to focus on it.

Adrenaline slowed the blade about to come down on her, but really, that wouldn't have been effective enough to keep the strike from being fatal. She didn't have a lot to grab onto; her armor was practical so it wouldn't get snagged on random things, but she did have a braid. Her hair was yanked back roughly, the force sending her unceremoniously onto her ass, a pained gasp leaving her at that impact as well as the fact that she tried to catch herself on her bad side as she fell.

She looked up to see what had ripped her back only to find that she hadn't even correctly been paying attention to two of the three arms on her foe. The blades crossed at what would have been her middle if she had'nt've been forced out of the grasp.

The count was off, she noticed as she looked, stunned, up to the stalfos. She raised her good hand to realize she still held the arm that had been initially aiming for her upper half, and she didn't even think to drop it. Her already weak train of thought came to a quick halt at the sound of metal on metal, then a blunt crack of Link's sword in the Stalmaster's skull.

The pink glow faded out, and before the bones even fell, the Goddess Blade was on the ground and Link was on his knees in front of her, one hand on the back of her neck and the other grabbing much too roughly at her injured arm.

"Fuck-" his voice cracked as he looked at the deep wound, eyes blinking with uncertainty and his nose wrinkling with an emotion she couldn't identify. It wasn't disgust. His brows furrowed, hands shook, and lips tugged into a prominent, horrified, distressed frown.

"Its okay-" she choked instinctively, knowing well that it wouldn't be. It was just her arm, survivable, but blood loss was definitely an aspect to be concerned about.

"Shut up-" he ordered pleadingly, only to straighten and crawl the short ways to the pack. He drug it back, wiping her blood off his hands and onto his tunic and opening the bag to rummage through and grab bandages as well as half a bottle of a healing potion they still had.

He hurried to uncap it, taking hold of her jaw and pressing the edge to her lips with a shaking hand. She didn't really get a lot of choice in the matter of drinking it, so she did, and he tossed the bottle back at the pack. The clink of the glass said he missed but he didn't even look at it before pulling off her gauntlet and pulling the bandages which he started at her wrist with.

With the immediate danger now vanquished, the pain was starting to sink in, and she clenched her jaw hard enough she should have feared she was going to break her teeth as Link put pressure to the wound in his own mild panic. He proceeded to wrap the bandages, though that really shouldn't have been the next move.

When it was wrapped, he pulled up the chain to examine the other, lesser one. The brunt of it has been taken by the protective metal, meaning it hadn't split the fabric, but there were trickles of it on her sleeve. The focused force of the blade's fine edge still split some skin. That wouldn't kill her, so Link thought little of bandaging it. He proceeded to wrap a thick, tight line around her arm over where he guessed the scratch was. He wasn't able to get to it, with her shirt on, and wasn't about to just rip it off her since the more serious injury was easily accessible and this tourniquet should do.

After they were on, he let out a breath before scooting to her side and pulling at her. He shifted into a position on one knee, his weight next to her while the other leg was bent behind her, and she leaned over against him. He guided her close, arm wrapped protectively around her shoulder, and slowly settled behind her.

The hand of the arm around her neck set on the cheek not pressed against his chest, fingers hovering meticulously as if trying to block the light from her eyes. His other arm moved lower, across her chest and around her upper arm, just above the lesser wound.

He bowed his head, lips partially pressed to her forehead. "It hurts, huh?"

"It could have been worse," she chuckled a little. Her voice waved with uncertainty.

"It could have," he agreed, but squeezed her softly. "Doesn't- does-doesn't mean this doesn't suck."

"I'll be fine," she insisted once more, causing a soft, uncertain laugh to leave him.

"S-seriously? You don't-don't h-have the upper body st-strength to pull yourself onto a le-ledge and you have a mel-meltdown, but s-something nearly kills you and gives you a cut th-that would need st-stitches and you're fine?"

Chuckling, she just shrugged her good side, but said nothing else. Instead, she curled in his lap her knees pulling up to her chest as her other hand moved to her still bleeding arm. She could feel the bandages already getting wet with it, but she figured that the tightness of top bandage would somewhat cut off the flow of blood to the second, allowing that to calm down and the healing potion to start to take effect.

"I'm so sorry," he muttered softly, one leg straightening beneath her knees while the other pressed at her back to help keep her up. His arms remained around her, his entire body pretty much protectively cradling her at that point.

"It's fine, this… this is too dramatic of a response."

He relaxed a bit on his hold on her, glancing back at the door that had opened upon defeat of the stalmaster.

"Do you-do you want to go out of here then? If you're al-alright?"

Though a bit unsure, she nodded her head and pulled off him, pulling herself up on the arm that wasn't throbbing. As she stood again, the dizziness hit her, and she closed her eyes tight. Really, she hadn't lost that much blood, but she'd also never had an injury this bad. She'd never broken a bone, never needed stitches, never seen her bone- that thought made her shudder. A bandage wasn't going to suffice with this.

"Link," she started somewhat breathlessly, keeping as still as she could manage. "Is this bandaging really going to help?"

He stood, swallowing and looking at her arm, pulling up the chainmail a little and looking at the bandaging he'd done over her sleeve and letting out a breath as he did.

"It's tight up here," he tapped the bandaging.

"Yes, but is it going to be enough? Should we-" she took in a breath, the fear of the air around them finally melting away in the concern over her wound.

"Do you wa-want m-me to reapply it?"

She nodded slowly, leaning over on him again as if that would steady her head. He nodded, lowering her back onto the ground and pursing his lips lightly.

Once she was settled again, he drew back and she sat on her knees. "Can you.. Can you t-take off your shirt so I can s-see the other one?" He motioned to the bottom of the chainmail, leaning forward to begin undoing the tight bandaging he'd done over her sleeve. She hummed to say yes, waiting until it was removed to comply with the request made. The two items were pulled off together, the fabric keeping the metal from catching in her hair as it had done numerous times, to her displeasure. He helped as she got it to her bad arm, slowly pulling it off her and setting it aside so he could examine the upper injury. As he had expected, it wasn't bad. It was going to bruise up terribly all around the small split, but it was definitely not going to make her die of bloodloss unless she had some disorder that would cause it. He examined it carefully, then picked up the clean bandages he had just removed and began to apply the tourniquet once again, closer to her skin.

Tightly wrapped, he moved down to the other injury, pressing his lips together as he examined the splotches of blood that had already shown through. He grabbed for the roll and dropped it in his lap before beginning to unwrap the hastily applied ones from moments before.

"It'll-It'll hurt," he glanced up to her.

"It already does," she dismissed with a faint smile which, if she were paying attention to, she would have noticed struck guilt into him. He focused his attention back on the wound and once it was uncovered, he took hold of her wrist to press the sides of the split skin closer together. This wasn't a sound practice at all, and it was painful, but she understood the way the healing potions worked. They did speed up the process of cell regeneration to fix the damaged skin, but as it did this, it also helped with other things that pulled together the flesh itself to reclose it, ultimately leaving a very thin layer of flesh overtop that could easily break. It acted almost as a scab, but worked on a larger degree, and was significantly more fragile.

This meant that if Link was to push the skin together, and secure it, the potion could start that process easier, so that was what he did. He pressed the two sides together, which she whimpered at, but tried to bite back as much as she could. He proceeded to try and bandage again, and she offered what assistance she could until it was all secured well enough.

With the bandaging tied off, he let out a breath of relief, his eyes remaining on her arm. "There." he stated under his breath, giving a concerned smile up to her. Seeing the smile prompted her to return one of his own with hope of reassuring him toward what had happened.

As much as she hated the feeling, she knew there would have been a chance of him being badly injured or even killed if she wouldn't have done this. Her eyes studied his expression of concern and guilt carefully, and as she did, that familiar urge from the night before rose again. There was the flicker of that thought again- she was terrible at avoiding that infatuation, but she pushed it out easily. Infatuation didn't put a person in this situation- in any of this, actually. "Owing someone" wasn't cause for her to drop into an unfamiliar, incredibly dangerous world- yes, she needed to repay Zelda for all she'd done to help her, but even if she despised the admission, she loved her. And similarly, basic attraction didn't put her in front of a blade…

It especially didn't mean she'd be willing to do it again.