_-_|_-_
"You
don't!" Link screamed furiously.
Elia
dropped to her knees, sobbing into her hands.
"I do! How can I not?"
"Elia--we--you--we
can't!" Link's voice was
full of reluctance. He was scared,
unsure. In disgust at himself and the
whole uneasiness of the situation, he turned his head aside. He looked at the dying flames.
"I'm
sorry!" cried Elia, putting her own arms around herself. Her whole body was shaking. "I'm sorry, but I love you! I can't help it!"
"No
one can help it," sighed Link. In
the flames he could see everyone he thought he had loved. He first saw Saria, then Zelda, then Malon,
then Ruto… All of them had meant
something to him at one time or another.
But they had never truly loved him back. They couldn't. But Elia…
"I
want to be yours!" sobbed Elia, completely crumbling now. Tears were staining the carpet beneath her,
and the girl herself was curled up in a ball.
"I'm not just a child--I love you!"
Link
didn't know what to do. Finally, he
took a few slow steps over to her. He
got on his knees, too, and gently pulled his strong fingers through her
hair. "Calm down," he
murmured tenderly.
Elia
finally began to breathe more slowly.
Taking a deep breath, she looked up at him. She was scared and yet impatient to see what he was doing. She saw his focused sapphire eyes upon
her. It seemed as though in all of
Hyrule there was just the two of them.
Not another thing or person mattered at that moment.
Link
raised his hand to her eyes and gently wiped away her tears. "Don't cry, little princess. Please don't cry."
She
took his hand in both of hers and pressed the back of it against her cheek,
closing her eyes.
They
sat there for another few moments, the two of them on their knees.
And
then Link stood up.
"Link?"
"I
still leave today," Link said somberly.
"So
this…is goodbye?"
Link
looked down at his packed satchel, and then at Elia's unwavering gaze. He gave the slightest of nods, only
something that Elia could notice. And then
he gave her a warm smile. "The
Mask Salesman once told me that when two people meet, a parting is sure to
follow."
"Does
it have to be forever?"
"Not
if you don't want it to be."
"I
don't!"
"Elia,"
Link said earnestly, looking down with his sapphire eyes. She blinked back at him, completely
trusting, gazing into the pools of blue.
He said, "I would stay if I thought it right, you know that."
"Yes…"
"Elia,
you are only fifteen now. You are not a
woman yet, and it would be ungentlemanly of me to stay here. After I kissed you, I realized that I could
no longer control myself. I do not want
to take advantage of you. Can you see
that I am leaving so that I don't hurt you?"
She
gulped and nodded. Smiling weakly, she
asked, "Then why does it pain me so to see you leave, Link?"
"In
a few years you will be a woman. You
have already grown very much since I first met you, especially…in your
heart."
She
blushed at him. "A few years? How long is that?"
"Too
long, I assure you. But I would say in
no more than three years you will be a woman, and you will be the one I
want."
"Three
years," she repeated slowly.
"I will be waiting, Link. I
will be ready if you still want me."
Link
reached back into his bag. "Give
me your hand."
Elia
held out her hand to him, brandishing her long pale fingers. She gasped when he revealed he was holding a
small ring, a thin, plain band of silver.
He took her small hand in his own, which was big and calloused again
since he'd again picked up his sword.
Link raised the ring to his lips and kissed it, then slid it gently onto
Elia's ring finger.
"Three
years…I will wait, Link. I will wait
forever."
He
pulled her up into a kiss. His arms
were around her waist, hers around his neck.
Again she shed a tear, and this one of sadness. But he kissed her deeply, longingly--even
more passionately than before.
"I
love you," they said together.
~The
End~
