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"Are you sure you're all right?"

"Yes, I'm sure I'm all right," Link growled, easing himself down into the chair. He let the walking stick he was using crash to the floor.

Elia, who had just turned around to attend the fire, jumped right back around.

"It's fine, fine," Link assured her. "You are so jumpy."

"Well, this is the first day you're walking around," she said, going back to the fire. She poked at it a bit before opening up the metal compartment where the bread she was baking was in. With towels on her hands, she gingerly removed it from the rack and set the loaf on the counter.

"That smells good," Link assured her. "Anyway, I'm sorry that my moving around is so stressful for you, but I just got so sick of those leg exercises."

Elia smiled at him.

He could only smile back.

With tender, rose-colored lips she blew on the bread. She could see herself standing in the same position two years ago, her mother watching eagerly over her shoulder, and her sister running around getting ready for a date. Had it been so long ago?

"Is something the matter, Elia?" Link asked.

"Oh, no," Elia said. "It's just that I was remembering the last time I baked fresh bread. I should do it more often."

"You should; it looks awfully nice."

"Thanks." She deposited the insulating clothes on the wooden counter next to her. "It's not just the bread itself, really. It's memories of making it with my family." She closed her eyes, seeing herself serving a big piece of bread with melting butter on it to her father. "My father really loved this stuff."

"I guess," Link said thoughtfully, seeing her eyes gleam with tears, "that maybe having nothing is better than having something and losing it."

Elia shook her head, wiping the tears away with floury hands. "Oh, I don't. Sure, I'm terribly sad that my family changed and abandoned me--sadder than anything. Still…I would hate never to know their warmth and love. When I'm lonely, I can remember how my mother used to be… I can wake up from a nightmare these days and pretend that her loving arms are still around me, keeping the monsters at bay."

"Maybe you're right," Link said softly. "But I've never had that kind of…feeling." Until now, he thought to himself, coloring.

Elia wiped her hands on the green apron she was wearing. She gazed out the big kitchen window at the overcast afternoon. Even with two or more feet of snow covering the ground, more flakes were still raining down from above. Townsfolk, bundled securely in big, bushy coats were hurrying to get home for dinner. Children were tossing snowballs at one another while their drained parents tried to get them to put on fluffy earmuffs and mittens.

"When I'm well enough," Link said, sipping his herbal brew, "I will take you outside and build you a snowman."

"I'm not a little girl!" protested Elia, but she was secretly smiling at the thought. Even now she could see young couples playing in the snow. The girl spun around and looked at him. "And when you go out into the snow, I will beat you in a snowball fight!"

"Don't make promises you can't keep," he chuckled. "You know I would beat you!"

"Would not!"

"Well, we'll see." Link grinned.

"You will see that I will beat you," Elia mumbled to herself, giggling. She gave the spit another turn.

"Roast cucco is something I haven't had for a long time," Link commented, changing the subject. He observed the bird that hung over the fire as Elia turned it. "And it's also expensive."

"I got a big tip from some old man--only he paid in cucco." Elia rolled her eyes. "He said he'd give me one and a half, but I said one was enough." She shuddered. "Think about some man giving away half a cucco!"

"What I want to know is where he kept the things."

"Link! Honestly, he was part of a traveling caravan. Didn't you see their carts?"

"In winter? Seems a bit odd for me."

She shrugged. "Dain looked at the cucco herself, and she gave it the okay."

They sat down to dinner a little later. Link was slow and meticulous, and Elia was embarrassed to finish before him, even though she had politely waited to begin after he started. She often found herself obsessing over such silly things, but she was a girl of manners and unease, especially around guests.

After the dishes were washed and put away, Link hobbled over to sit with Elia on the hearth. He refused to sit in the big easy chair if she was sitting on the floor, even if she did prefer it that way.

"How did your parents afford such a nice house anyway, if I might ask?" Link said after they got settled in. "It's as big as Impa's."

Elia, who had discarded her apron, had her knees under her chin, her bare feet towards the fire. She gazed into the flames. "Father used to own a shop here, and he saved up a lot of money. In reality, we never had much to spend. He claimed it would be better to become a traveling salesman instead. He sold the shop, bought himself a horse, and went on the road. We had about the same amount of money, actually." She half smiled, and a trace of bitterness entering her voice. "It was just an excuse to free himself of Mother. They tried to hide it, but it was obvious. Father would come back from extended trips with small trinkets for my sister and me and a kiss on the cheek for Mother. It was all a farce."

"So your parents tried to hide their troubles from you?"

"Tried."

"They had your best interests in mind, maybe?"

"Heh." Elia hugged her knees tightly. "They loved each other, but neither one of them tried hard enough. And then Mother met up with this other man. She thought I was playing somewhere, but really I just watched over from the windmill. Everyone could see him coming and going." She sighed.

Suddenly, she could feel strong fingers going through her hair, slowly but surely. Link leaned over and looked into her eyes. "Don't you know it's not your fault? Your parents might have had an ill-fated relationship--"

"You don't see," Elia interrupted softly. "It could have worked. But they gave up, on Sis and me as much as on each other. My sister escaped by getting married since she's four years older, but I was stuck."

"So you went up to the windmill to escape?"

She nodded. "You can't imagine what it was like. I would go through town and people would mutter about my family, thinking they knew more about what was going on than I did. I thought I knew it wasn't my fault, but soon the sympathetic looks I was getting turned into disdainful ones. Especially when that man came."

"Do you even know his name?"

She shook her head. "But Mother ran off with him, whoever he was. She left, saying I was old enough to take care of myself…" She buried her face in the folds of her dress.

Link let his arm slide around her shoulder and he held her against him. "It's okay to cry," he murmured, again caressing her long amber tresses. "It's okay…"

"I wish I'd been the dumb girl they thought I was," she sniffed, talking to his chest. "Then I wouldn't have known the truth and I wouldn't have to run away from it!" She clasped her arms tightly around him, wetting the navy tunic with her tears.

Link bit his lip and did his best to ignore the pain. He embraced her gently, stroked her hair, murmured words of comfort. "I wish I could make it go away, Elia. I know how painful the truth can be…"

Elia awoke some hours later. She was still in front of the hearth, but her body was stretched out, a blanket wrapped gently around her. There was even a pillow tucked under her head. She smiled and pulled the blanket tightly around her, realizing that Link must have gone to a lot of effort.

She remembered his strong arms around her. Even though the memories she was thinking about had been painful ones, the situation put her into a strange sort of ecstasy, a warm happiness surrounding her body, coming from her heart.

"Link," she breathed, thinking about him. Ah, he was her hero. He was her best friend now, wasn't he? He was the one she loved…

She gasped. It could never be. Link was too much older, and much more important. His kindness was only in gratitude for her hospitality, perhaps. And he had sympathy for her too, maybe. How she yearned for something more!

"You're so silly, Elia," the girl muttered to herself, starting to get up. No, she wouldn't go back to bed. She would stay here, lying near the crumbling fire. She would at least allow herself to dream.

A few weeks later, just as the old snow was almost gone, another storm came, littering the northern lands of Hyrule with a sparkling white carpet. Elia trudged through the stuff, which came right up to her knees. It was early evening still, but it was already dark and there weren't many travelers these days. The tavern was usually pretty empty, except for the local drunks that Dain herself dealt with.

Elia shivered, pulling her cloak's hood tighter about her head. Link was walking around the house pretty freely, now. Would he dare a trip outside, in the weather?

She didn't have long to wait for an answer. Just as she put her hand on the doorknob, she was assaulted by a large wet ball on her back. She yelped, dropping her things by the door. In the light of the village's torch posts, she could make out a male figure, slightly leaning to one side, grinning at her.

"Link!"

"I told you I would beat you," he chuckled.

"We haven't started yet!" She reached into the snow with both gloved hands, forming a ball easily and quickly. Over it flew to land on the ground, right next to him. Determined, she made another ball and threw it, harder. It brushed against his leg.

"Ha!" he cried as his newest weapon hit her square in the nose.

"Why you!" Elia growled.

"What's that?" Link said, squinting at something behind her.

"What?" Elia turned, looking to see only the wooden door. She felt embarrassment flush her cheeks when another snowball hit her back.

"I told you that you couldn't beat me."

Elia ran at him, but she tripped and fell into the snow, face first.

He limped over and helped her turn over. A bitter frown spread across his face when she tossed a ball up to blind him. Still towering over the girl, Link dropped a pile of snow right onto her.

She screamed in anger, throwing more snow up at him with one hand, while the other worked furiously to make another snowball. She used it to hit his thigh.

Link tripped and fell right on top of her.

She blinked.

"Isn't this a familiar situation?" he grumbled, struggling in the snow. Painfully, he raised himself to his knees. "I'm tired now…let's go inside."

"Didn't want to get beaten any worse, I see," Elia said, triumphant. She crawled out from under him. The girl carefully helped him to his feet. "Where's your walking stick?"

"Inside."

"You came out here without it? You trying to hurt yourself worse?"

"Don't scold me. I'm going in now, aren't I?"

"Only because I beat you." She stuck out her tongue at him.

"Goddesses, you are such a child!" the hero muttered, hobbling back towards the house.

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