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Link woke up pretty late the next morning. Sitting on the table next to his chair was a steaming bowl of porridge. Outside he could see snowflakes wandering down from the Heavens. And Elia was nowhere in sight.

He ate the porridge slowly, savoring the tangy spices Elia had added for his benefit. There was no use in hurrying; it would not make the day progress any faster. Elia would have been at work by now, leaving him to his guilty conscience.

Why in all of Hyrule would she get upset over him yelling one or two sentences? He'd yelled at people plenty of times before, and he never thought he lacked a good reason. Why should he feeling guilty, then?

She really cares for you.

Dain's words haunted him. Because they were true, maybe. Maybe he had yelled at Elia before because what she said was true? Was he scared of the truth?

Nonsense! He was Link, the Hero of Time. What did he have to be scared of?

"Are you sure you are well enough to work?"

"Mmhm," Elia mumbled.

Dain sighed. "Alright then. Fine. But if you get sicker, you'll only have yourself to blame."

"I know, Dain," the girl said complacently. She picked up her pad and went to attend the first customer.

"You're still not talking to me, I see," Link noted that evening when Elia served him dinner.

Elia showed no outward response, instead handing him a napkin and silverware.

"Won't you at least eat in the same room with me?" Link asked.

Elia was already out the door.

"Elia!"

Startled, the young woman dropped the clean bandages onto the floor. She bent to pick them up, but Link's hand was grasping tightly onto her sleeve. She glared at him, indignant.

"You haven't spoken a word to me in over a week, Elia! I'm sick of it!"

She wrenched free of his grasp and picked up the bandages. Great, she would have to wash them again. She sighed and placed them in the bucket of hot soapy water and pulled out another one.

"Will nothing make you talk?"

Elia picked up the sponge and began carefully cleaning his arm. She said not a word.

"Did you forget how?"

She picked up a towel and started drying.

"I'm not a dish, you know," he growled.

Dishes don't yell, she thought.

"Did you say something?"

She began wrapping the thin cloth around his arm.

"I swear, sometimes I can hear your thoughts."

She jumped.

"At least I know you're listening to me."

Elia took a very deep breath. She pulled the bandage especially hard.

"Oww!" he howled. "Fine, I know. It serves me right." He took her arms and pulled her a little, making her look at him. "Elia, I am sorry, okay? I am sorry I lost my temper and yelled at you."

Now, she sort of wanted to talk. But she couldn't think of anything to say.

"I give up!" Link cried, frustrated. He released her. "Elia, I am a fully grown man for Heaven's sake!"

Doesn't mean you're mature, Elia thought, picking up her things.

"Wait. Please."

She stopped. Part of her was screaming to keep walking, the other part equally zealous about rushing back and apologizing for everything. She compromised by standing at the door, her back to the hero.

"Elia, I said I was sorry. What more do you want?" Link realized his voice was loud again, and he tried to compensate by murmuring, "I thought we were friends. We agreed to be friends, didn't we?"

Elia fidgeted. Finally, she looked back over her shoulder to nod at him, gazing with her big brown eyes.

"You're still not going to talk?" he asked, a bit hopefully.

"I guess not."

They both giggled.

"Are you almost done?" Elia asked anxiously from her position against the bathroom door.

"Look, I haven't bathed in a while, okay?" Link's voice was muffled.

"I could have helped you!" Elia opened the door just a crack.

"Shut that door now!" yelped the man from the tub. "Besides, these cuts make it hard to wash quickly. And the water is so hot!"

"Better than cold," the girl replied, giggling. She still left the door open a bit in order to hear him better. "It's a few weeks into winter; you should be glad you get to spend your days in a warm house with nice warm food and hot water."

"It's not like you don't," Link replied. "You have the week off since Dain's on vacation, remember?"

"Oh, sorry, I forgot," she said, rolling her eyes.

Link chuckled, gently rubbing the bath suds over his weakened legs. It had been quite and ordeal for him to get to the bathtub, but the doctor had said that he should start moving around or his legs might be in danger. Besides being clawed up pretty badly, his legs were beginning to lose their mass from not being used.

At least the bathroom was right across from Elia's parents' former room. Link would be sleeping there now. The bed was bigger, the room larger, and there was even a fireplace in it.

Elia had spent a few minutes preparing the room, even stacking Link's favorite books on the bedside table. Link had gone through her family's whole collection of literature several times over, but there were a few books he didn't mind reading over and over.

Link cleared his throat. "I'm, er, finished."

"Your clothes aren't ready yet, though," Elia said hurriedly, her mind racing. "They won't dry very quickly after the soaking I gave them."

"Don't I have any other clothes?" The apprehension was rising in Link's voice.

"You can borrow some things from my father, but I'll have to search for them. Best get you on the bed first."

"Elia!"

"Look, it's okay." Elia pushed the door open, forcing both it and herself in.

They both turned a dark shade of crimson.

Link was already halfway out of the big porcelain tub. The gashes across his body still exposed a lot of raw flesh to the air, but, amazingly enough, he was in a lot better shape than he had been two months ago.

"I've seen most of you before," Elia said, gulping. She got a big towel in her hands and came towards him. "Besides, my sister used to baby-sit this little boy. He got into all sorts of trouble, and we had to bathe him all the time. He'd run naked around the house, screaming, you know?"

"H-How dare you compare me to a little boy!" stuttered Link.

"Do you want me to take off my clothes too?"

"What?" he nearly screamed. "Of course not!"

"Good."

"What exactly do you intend to do?" Link did his best to crouch in the tub. Suddenly, his legs gave out and he plunged face first into the suds.

Elia yelped and ran over, slipping on the wet floor. Soon her upper half was underwater too. They both came up sputtering curses and apologies, for apparently they'd bumped into each other in the depths of soap and water.

"This day," sighed Link, "just gets more and more ridiculous."

"Let's just get you to bed." Elia slid and slipped to her feet, leaning on the edge of the bathtub for support. "Here," she said, motioning for him to stand. "Lean on me, okay?"

He did so, putting his hands on her shoulders. Link carefully took one leg out of the water and placed it on the soaking wet bathmat. "Okay," he said, blushing terribly, "put that towel on me now."

"Get your other leg out first," instructed Elia.

"Elia," he groaned. But he did it, pushing on her a lot harder than he meant to. She almost buckled under his weight, which would have put Link in a very painful position, but she didn't, mustering all her strength to keep him up.

Elia reached around with her wet arms and hugged his waist. She pulled the damp towel around him, and began to tie its ends into a firm knot. She waddled her way to the wall. "I'm going to turn around so I don't have to go backwards."

Understanding, Link leaned against the wall for a moment while she turned about. He then laced his arms gently around her neck.

"If I were a bit bigger and you were a bit smaller," Elia said, "I would give you a piggyback ride." She giggled.

"You're cute when you do that," Link said softly into her ear.

"Good for you," Elia told him, stepping carefully across the small, wet bathroom floor. "You have a cute friend."

"Indeed I do," he said, lumbering along, a bit helplessly, after her.

They arrived at the bedroom. The trip had seemed a thousand times longer than any other time Elia remembered taking it. She stopped in front of the big bed, admiring the quilt that adorned it. She remembered fondly sewing that quilt with her mother and sister.

"It's a nice quilt," Link said, reminding Elia of his presence practically atop her.

"Yeah," Elia murmured softly, reaching out to touch it.

"Hey--watch out!" Link's legs suddenly gave out on him, and he fell straight forward, pushing her down.

Elia struggled a bit to collect herself. She was lying on the bed, with the Hero of Time lying on top of her? She could have screamed.

Link felt the same awkwardness, if not more so, and rolled over. Unfortunately, his arms were still tight around the girl, and he took her with him. Now he was lying on the bed, with the girl on top of him. She still could have screamed.

"Enough of these games," Link said finally, out of breath. His cheeks were flushed with hot embarrassment, and he was in a lot of pain.

"I'll go…find you something to wear," Elia said, carefully getting up. She hurried first to the bathroom, returning to throw a few dry towels on top of the man. The girl then threw herself into looking through her parents' wardrobes for a decent tunic--Goddesses, any clothes would have done after the state she'd just seen Link in.

"Hey, aren't I supposed to let my skin dry naturally? I mean, didn't the doctor say something about that being good once I finally bathed?"

Elia remembered. "He did. I guess you should let your skin breathe now. But I'll get some clothes anyway." She removed an old brown tunic and some black pants with a hole in the knee. Father had taken all his usable clothes with him, hadn't he?

Link arranged the fluffy white towels so that he was lying on them, his head on the pillows and a single towel draped over to spare him and Elia further embarrassment.

Even with the scars, he was still a sight to behold. Even though he'd gone through two months of lethargy, his muscle was still lean. Even with his cheeks a deep pink, his features were still handsome.

Elia was still soaking, though. She let herself out of the room to leave him to his privacy, having seen quite enough of the Hero of Time that day.

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