AN: Long time no see! Have a chapter :D I have a slight buffer, so there WILL be a chapter next week as well.

Happy summer days off!


Chapter 33 (I KNOW HOW TO SIGN THIS NUMBER IN ASL! WOW!)

"That's very good, Shadow. Just keep that speed and I'll check up on you in a few minutes."

Shadow sighed as he continued the snail's pace on the treadmill. He was at the Hylia Royal Hospital for his regular physical therapy. He felt like a cyborg with wires and sensors attached to his various body parts, checking his vital signs and monitoring his heart.

It was so boring here. He hated having to be here two hours three times a week. It was annoying. Can't I just walk at home? This isn't even exercise!

He hung his head, arms limp by his side as his feet fump, fump, fumped along.

A nurse's voice interrupted his thoughts. "This way, that's it." Shadow turned his head to the left—to the left. The nurse was helping a teenage girl onto the adjacent treadmill to his own. The girl was about Shadow's age, he guessed. She had pale skin, but freckles dotted her cheeks and nose. She had wide, full lips and wide blue eyes. Tangles of red hair haloed her face and fell down her back. Her right leg was wrapped up and also had one of those knee support things strapped to it. The girl gripped the arms of the treadmill tightly, putting only the slightest amount of weight on her injured leg. After setting up the machine, the nurse left them alone.

"What happened?" Shadow asked.

The girl looked up and gave a friendly—although a little pained—smile, and replied, "Fell off my horse." She had a farmer's accent, one of those cool country ones.

"Jeez!" Shadow grinned. "Why'd you do that?"

She chuckled. It was kind of like a mix between a little girl's laugh and a grown up giggle. "What makes you think I did it on purpose?"

"You look too smart to have done it by accident."

"Well, I must have a death wish, then."

"Haha!"

"You're not wrong, though. Dunno why I'm so set on training that darned filly. It's obvious she ain't meant to be rode."

"What's her name?"

"Epona. Had her since I was in middle school, but she won't let anyone ride her. Not my pa, not my ma . . ."

"So you're family's a bunch of ranchers, then?"

"Yup. We got cows and horses. And chickens, although those are just for us. We don't sell 'em or anything."

The two chatted for a while. Shadow learned the girl's name was Malon. Talking to her provided a good distraction. A few minutes later the conversation turned awkward. For Shadow anyway.

"You heard about that big tycoon that went to jail? Ganondorf Dragmire what'sit?"

"Yeah," Shadow replied reluctantly.

"My daddy used to work for him."

Shadow's ears perked up. "Really?"

She shrugged. "At least, before he went to jail for tax evasion."

Now Shadow's ears perked all the way up. He almost fell off his treadmill. "Your dad's in jail, too?!"

"Huh?" She looked at him in surprise. Then grinned and laughed. "Your dad's also in jail? Well how 'bout that. What's he in for?"

"Uh . . . you know that big business tycoon?"

"Yeah?"

"And that kid they keep trying to talk to but is surrounded by lawyers?"

"Yeah, I heard about him."

"That's me."

Malon did a double take. "No!" She shook her head and paused on her treadmill and stared at him. "What in tarnation?! WhaddYER doin' here?" She paused and looked around. "What'm I doin' here? Where are all them lawyers?" She shook her head. "But whaddYER doin' here?!"

"I sort of had a heart attack, so now I can't even walk without a doctor's note." Shadow rolled his eyes.

"Whoa nelly! That's awful. And yer dad's in . . ."

"Yeah."

"Well darn it, I'm sorry, Shadow. It's no fun."

"I'm sorry your dad's in jail, too."

They chatted more, until finally Malon said, "Hey, do . . . do you wanna get coffee sometime and . . . talk about it?"

Unexpected relief filled Shadow. He hadn't really been able to relate to his family (who had literally no experience with a family member in jail), or Sheik (who he was still mad at anyways). "That would be great. When?"


"I'M SOOOOOO STREEEEEEESSED!" Sheik had his elbows on the cafeteria table, hands gripping his hair, which was all askew in every direction.

Nabooru patted him on the back. "What's wrong, Z-Sheik?"

"Shadow hasn't spoken to me in DAYS. I don't know what to do!"

Nabooru frowned, biting the inside of her cheek. Shadow had canceled this week's guitar lesson since . . . well obviously, he wasn't exactly in the mind for that sort of thing.

Midna took a monstrous bite of her spinach burger (they made literally everyone else gag) and chomped noisily, tearing up the lettuce with her fangs. "Yeah this kinda sucks. I mean we had to do it, but now the whole Twilight Community is up in roars about me superseding the council and going straight to the queen, and—gulp!—I mean I'm fine. I'll be fine. I'm totally fine!"

"You're stress eating," Sheik noted.

GULP. "No I'm not!"

"Is it really that bad?" Nabooru asked, curious. She had her own reasons for being upset. With such a big figure as Ganondorf being arrested, life for Gerudos everywhere just got a lot more . . . complicated. She didn't even like walking home alone anymore. Her grannies picked her up in the family car. They only had one, and couldn't even pay the gas, but what were they supposed to do? Nabooru had to go to school.

Midna sat back and sighed contentedly. Then she let out a huge burp. "They're saying the only way to retain the Royal Family's name and power is to marry me off to Zant, which is what they wanted anyway."

Sheik and Nabooru both freaked out. "But you're only fourteen!"

Midna rolled her eyes. "Well, yeah, they're gonna wait until I'm eighteen, but still. There's no way in HECK I'm getting betrothed to that freakazoid!"

"I won't allow it!" Sheik shouted, sitting up straight. "I cannot as a royal of this country allow this travesty TO EXIST! NO! No marriages shall happen without my approval! NOT EVER!"

Midna patted his arm. "Whoa, there, calm down Shakespeare. This isn't a drama, and you're not its queen."

Sheik sighed and deflated. "You're right. BUT STILL!"

"Don't worry. I have a plan."

"Oh?"

She smirked jokingly. "Gonna ask Vio to marry me so he can use Twili magic and piss the council off at the same time! It's not like we'll ever sleep together anyway."

"Why's that?"

"He's gay. Obvs. He has SUCH a thing for Shadow, I can't even tell you. And there's no way I'm ever finding VIO attractive! I'll find some hot . . . you know . . . hot waitress or whatever."

"Waitress?!"

Midna blinked several times. Then she waved and grinned. "Hi guys! I'm gay. So anyway, I heard there be pudding." She got off her seat and hurried back to the lunch line.

Nabooru and Sheik were left staring at the place she left. Then Nabooru remarked, "Makes sense."

Sheik nodded. "Yep," and shoved another potato chip in his mouth.


Aryll and Romani were working on colors again. Aryll had a hard time getting them straight because of her vision problems. They mixed together like a watercolor painting . . . or a crayola drawing, depending on the day. Aryll felt it was a good thing, really. She knew when she was focusing well when the colors stood still.

"Brown!"

"No, try again."

"Ummmm . . . B-brown!" She was certain of it.

"No, it's not brown." The tiniest of annoyance was in her voice. Romani didn't like to give up, but they'd been working on this for a long time. Feeling guilty for letting her down, Aryll grabbed her hair tightly and thought harder. "Let go of your hair, Aryll."

"N-no . . . it's . . . BROWN!"

"Let go of your hair, Aryll."

"BROWN!"

Link was having a hard time of it, himself. He couldn't focus on his homework, the words were all scribbles and each letter he wrote he traced over seventy times until the ink made the paper so soggy his pencil broke it. He kept glancing at Aryll on her knees, struggling so hard just to function normally. He'd watched how Romani worked with her for months now and knew that without her help, Aryll wouldn't be progressing so well. She was talking more, getting more physical, able to be around strangers for longer without being so frightened, not having meltdowns as often.

His forehead tightened as he frowned. He passed a hand over it, trying to work out the muscles. It felt like he hadn't smiled in ages. He hadn't felt like that since his parents died.

The front door opened and Shadow came in. Like had happened since his dad went to prison, Shadow went straight up the stairs into their room and shut the door. Link let out a rough breath, then slammed a fist on the coffee table.

"Link!" Granny scolded from the kitchen.

HOW did she HEAR that? The kitchen's on the other side of the house! "Sorry, Grandma." He went back to his homework. Or tried to. He knew what Granny was doing in the kitchen—counting dollars. They'd received an anonymous note from Aryll's mysterious benefactor, the one who had donated $10,000 for her care and promised more every year for an indefinite amount of time. The anonymous note had reversed everything.

They had just a few short months to either come up with thousands of dollars, or else lose Romani as Aryll's caretaker. Granny likely would had hidden the note, but Link had gotten the mail and recognized the envelope and opened it right away.

He and Granny had already had their huge fight about Link ditching school next year to take care of Aryll. Granny had stated that as long as he stayed under her roof, he would stay in school. Link had spent the next several hours figuring out HOW to leave home . . . but it was impossible. He couldn't get a job, pay rent, and . . . and . . . it was impossible. He was fourteen!

And anyways he ran out of steam. He loved Granny, and Aryll, and Shadow . . . he could never run away. He knew Granny was right. There was no way he could do half as good of a job as Romani, either. I should have spent more time with her. At least then I'd be BETTER than I am at helping her . . .

He felt helpless. He crumpled up his homework in frustration and got up from the floor. He carefully opened the door and shut it behind him as he left the house. Then he focused on the soccer ball that he'd left in the grass. He yelled loudly and kicked it as hard as he possibly could. It went flying across a couple houses and landed in somebody's back yard.

Meh. I'll get it later.

He grabbed his skateboard from the fence and tossed it ahead, landing on it and skating off down the sidewalk, feeling much calmer.


"Can't I get a summer internship?" Link asked Darunia, who sat opposite him in the Rock Diner.

Darunia crushed a small boulder in his hand to get at the crystals inside. He began picking the gems out and popping them into his mouth like sunflower seeds. "I'm sorry, Link. I only get funding for the school year. In the summer I have to return to my homeland to help my people."

"Can't I help out there, then?"

Darunia grinned. "I would love the help, but I don't think your grandma would let you go without a fight, and if there's one thing I've learned as tribe leader, it's that you do not fight with grandmas."

"Whoa! You're the tribe leader?"

Darunia nodded. "I am now. And if after you graduate you ever want a job in Death Mountain, or need anything, you hit me up. Until then . . ."

Links spirits dropped. "You're coming back next year, aren't you, Big Brother?"

A smile crossed Darunia's features as he reached over to slap Link's back.

Link took that as a no. He stared at the top of his table despondently. "What am I gonna do?"

Suddenly Darunia laughed. "Don't look so sad, brother! There are many jobs in Hyrule, and you're almost fifteen. I'd say that's old enough to work, and with my stamp of approval, you'll be able to get into any labor intensive work easy. You just send me the contact info of any potential bosses and I'll make you sound so good they won't DARE say no. Cheer up, okay?"

"Thanks, Darunia . . ."

"Anytime, Link. Anytime."

"Well I'd better get started then!" Link jumped up and hurried to the door.

And came back.

"How . . . how do I apply for a job exactly?"

Darunia laughed again.


This job required too much speed for a skateboard. Link went careening down the streets of Castle Town on a bike, stopping in at every business he came across, even deli and dessert shops, dropping off resumes and trying to talk to bosses. He was out until after dark, that day and for the rest of the week. He had never biked so much in his life!

Nobody seemed to want to hire a fourteen year old, even though he said he'd be fifteen once the summer came around. He dropped Darunia's name as often as possible, to the point that he had to think hard before answering every question with the name. He made a list on his phone of every employer he thought seemed slightly interested to hand to Darunia, especially the ones who did cool stuff like mechanic shops or heavy lifting.