Hello! Thank you for all your lovely reviews! Hope you enjoy this chapter-it may surprise some of you. Oh, and you should know, someone is going to die, but not until chapter...lemme think...nine or ten. Sorry to keep you waiting! And let me add that this death has a lot to do with who Link ends up with...that's all I'm saying...
Chapter 7: A Meeting of the Sages
The aroma of roast chicken drifted slowly through the room as Link walked in the door of Malon's house, and he smiled at the scent. He went upstairs and found Malon placing two plates full of chicken, mashed potatoes and dumplings on the table.
"Malon," he said, smiling, "if the chicken tastes even half as good as it smells, it'll be delicious." Malon smiled at him and sat down, motioning for him to sit in the other seat. He happily obliged.
For a few moments there was an awkward pause, and then Link asked, "Malon? I was going to ask you something about the chickens."
"Yes, Link?"
"Well, I think they should have a more proper place to stay-a chicken coop, or something like that. Then we could collect their eggs instead of having to search the grass, and make some more money."
Malon's face lit up. "Link, that's a wonderful idea! But...where would we build it?"
"That's what I wanted to ask you. I have two main ideas. Since the chickens already stay downstairs at night, I was thinking I could just add some things down there. That wouldn't take a lot of time. But the other idea would be to turn that add a second floor to that tall stable on the other side of the ranch. That would take longer, but we could put the kitchen table down there and we would have more space." Link stopped, and then suddenly started again. "Sorry-I don't mean to make it sound like I'm in charge now that I'm going to live here...it's just I thought it was a good idea..."
Malon smiled gently. "No, it's no problem. I like the second idea better. If we're going to have a family, we should get some more space."
After this statement, both Malon and Link could feel the tension in the room increasing by the minute. Finally, Link put his fork down and said, "Malon, that was wonderful. I'll just be going now..."
Malon grabbed his arm. "Link, why are you leaving? I thought you were going to live here."
Link said, "I am. But I'm going to sleep in the southwestern stable like I always do."
"Oh, you couldn't! You can sleep here now."
Link eyes the beds and, noticing there were two, said, "Well all right then."
He pulled off his sword, put all of his weapons in a drawer Malon had reserved "specially for him", and crawled into bed. He had never slept with a blanket before, and it was an odd but pleasant experience to him. He closed his eyes, envisioning Ruto and Brandon in his mind, and then he felt Malon's body against his as she got into bed with him. Panicking, he sat up abruptly and got out of bed.
"Link, what are you doing?" asked Malon, looking slightly annoyed.
"Malon, I thought we were going to sleep in separate beds! We're not married yet!"
"Yes, but we are engaged, and we'll hopefully be married soon...and it's not like I can get pregnant," she added, winking at him.
Sighing, Link said, "Look, Malon, I've already told you. I don't know what I was thinking then. But we should wait until we're married before we do anything again."
Malon was looking extremely disappointed. "But...nothing will happen! I can't get pregnant! Why can't we just sleep together?!"
Link said, "Because it's wrong, Malon. Because it's wrong."
Sighing loudly, Malon moved to the other bed, and Link lied back down. But before he fell asleep, he could have sworn he heard Malon murmur, "He'll have to give in sometime."
~~~
Ruto smiled at her reflection in the pool of water, admiring her lacy black dress and shining new shoes. Brandon had invited her to dine with him at a restaurant in Hyrule Clock Town, and she was so excited she could barely breathe. It seemed like only yesterday she had been constantly avoiding him, and now they were so close...
"Ruto? Are you ready?" Brandon's head appeared around the corner of the throne room, and Ruto smiled. "Yes, Brandon. I'm ready. Let's go!" She grabbed his arm and, before he could speak, transformed them both into light molecules. Then they were off.
When they got to the restaurant, a waiter asked them if they would like some drinks, and Brandon asked for a bottle of their best wine. Ruto stared at him as the waiter went away and said, "Brandon! Aren't we a little young to drink? You have to be seventeen!"
Brandon winked at her. "Well then that shouldn't be a problem for you, Ruto. You look at least twenty." Blushing, Ruto excused herself and went into the bathroom, nervous. She added another coat of purplish-blue lip gloss (it looks good on Zoras, okay?) and then walked slowly back to the table. She felt as though something either horrible or marvelous was about to happen, and the feeling grew even stronger when the waiter brought their drinks.
After the waiter had poured the wine, Brandon suddenly dropped something, and it landed by Ruto's feet. Smiling awkwardly, Brandon asked, "Ruto? Could you get that for me?" She reached down to get it, and noticed it was an odd-shaped sort of sphere.
"Brandon, what is this?" asked, curious. He smiled.
"It's a good luck charm," he explained. "I think I'm going to need it soon."
"Why's that?" asked Ruto, but then she picked up her wine glass and noticed something at the bottom of her glass...it was a ring. A diamond ring, actually. She pulled it in awe out of the glass and said, "Did...did the waiter drop this or something?" But she knew very well what it was.
Brandon grinned in his charming way. "Ruto, will you marry me?"
She smiled at him and, leaping up out of her chair to hug him, whispered excitedly, "Yes! Of course I will!"
~~~
He was gone. Vanished. Well, not really. But he was out of her range of vision, anyhow, and that was more than enough for her.
She sighed and was surprised to find a tear rolling down her cheek. She had never really cried over anybody in her entire life before, not even Link when she thought he was in love with Malon. That was odd. Perhaps some sand had gotten in her eye, or something...
No, that wasn't it. Nabooru was beginning to realize just how much she had enjoyed Michael's company. It wasn't so much that he was the most gorgeous person she had ever seen (because he certainly wasn't), but he was nice and smart and cute and the first person who had ever really been her friend. Living a secluded life in a temple hadn't exactly boosted Nabooru's social life, and now she felt depressed as ever.
She knew she shouldn't have let him go, but he would have just hated her more if she had forced him to stay. She had the made the right decision.
Hadn't she?
~~~
"Link? Link, I have to tell you something! Where are you?" Zelda yelled Link's name over and over until he finally appeared in the doorway of the ranch house, looking extremely sleepy and annoyed.
"Zel, what are you doing here this time of morning? The sun is hardly up!"
"I have to tell you something! And why are you here, anyway?"
"How did you know I was here?"
"Saria told me."
"Since when do you talk to Saria?" asked Link, incredulous.
"We Sages have to keep in touch. It's just the way of things."
"Oh, I get it. Checking up on the evil villains and keeping down the evil creature population. In other words, the mundane, everyday stuff, right?" Link grinned at her.
Zelda laughed. "I guess so. Where's Malon?"
"She's inside. Why don't we go over there so we won't wake her? You're lucky she's such a deep sleeper like her father. You could have awakened the dead with that racket."
They walked leisurely over to the corral, and Link leaned casually against it. "So, what's up?"
"Father wants me to be married by my seventeenth birthday, and you won't believe who he's forcing me to marry!"
"Who? He can't be that bad."
"He is! Rauru!"
"Rauru's not bad..."
"I know! He's a very nice person, but I've always looked up to him like my second father, not my husband! And he actually agreed to marry me! He's over twice my age!"
"I guess that is a problem..."
"Link! Be serious! But anyway, you can fix this."
Link looked surprised. "Me? How?"
"If you agree to marry me, I won't have to marry Rauru! You have to, Link! You can't just let me marry him!"
Link looked fixedly into her eyes for a moment, and then away.
"Link...you have to...you can't...Link..." Zelda was speechless. Something was wrong.
"Zelda," said Link slowly, "I'm already engaged."
"You've already told me about your accidental engagement to Ruto, Link! At least a thousand times! Honestly! You two don't seem to be getting married anytime soon to me..."
"No," said Link, "I mean I'm already engaged to someone else."
"Who?!" And then it suddenly hit her. "Ma...Malon?"
So softly she could barely hear him, Link whispered, "Yes."
"Why?!" Zelda half expected tears to come to her eyes, but she was beyond crying. This was too much. "I thought...I thought you said you weren't in love with her..."
"I'm not."
"Then why, Link? Why?" Zelda half-yelled, hysterical.
"Zelda," said Link bluntly, "Malon's pregnant."
"What?" And then, "Oh my god..." And then, "But Link, that's not your fault! That guard raped her! What does that have to do with you?"
Link swallowed visibly. "After she was raped, we were talking in the barn and I was trying to comfort her and..." His voice trailed off, stating the obvious without actually saying anything at all.
Zelda stared at Link for a moment, as though transfixed by him. And then she smacked him as hard as she could across the face.
~~~
"Quiet, everyone, quiet! The meeting is almost over! But before we adjourn, does anybody have news in their lives they'd like to tell everyone?" Zelda smiled at almost everyone who was the meeting, carefully avoiding Link's eyes. He didn't always come to meetings, but Zelda had insisted he come. He didn't know this, but she wanted to tell everyone about him getting Malon pregant...though she certainly wouldn't say it like that. She could be discreet.
"I have some news," said Impa. "Zelda and Rauru are to be married, everyone!" She smiled as though this were a good thing, making Zelda's heart beat faster from anger. She had told Impa not to say anything!
"That's great, Zelda!" said Ruto, smiling. "And guess what? I'm getting married too!" Link perked up at this and stared at her, his mouth in a little O of surprise, and Zelda asked her who she was marrying. "His name is Brandon," explained Ruto, "and he's wonderful. I love him so much!" She couldn't resist a little peek at Link as she said this, and she smiled at the look of pain on his face.
"Anyway else?" asked Zelda. Everyone shook their heads. "Well, I do! Link and Malon are getting married!"
"What?" asked Ruto, looking as shocked as Link had only moments before. She wasn't jealous, but she now Link wouldn't be all that envious of her and Brandon. Oh, well. She would live.
"Yeah," said Zelda, smiling in a fakely sweet way at Link as she continued, "they're going to get married very soon, aren't you, Link? Why is that again?"
Link looked away and down. Finally, he said, "Well, we were engaged, but now Malon's pregant, so we're just speeding up the date of the wedding. No big deal." Zelda glared at him. She knew that wasn't true, but then, she shouldn't have put him on the spot like that. She tried to mouth, "I'm sorry," to him, but he wouldn't look at her.
After the meeting, she apologized quietly. Link turned and looked at her and said, "It's all right. I don't care. It's not my reputation I'm worried about. It's Malon's. Would you like to be known as someone who does things like that before you're married?"
Feeling even more ashamed now, Zelda said, "I'm sorry. It's just-"
But Link cut her off. "I said it's okay. I'm sorry you have to marry Rauru. I would marry you otherwise, if it meant letting you escape that. But we can't have everything we want, can we?" Link sounded so down and depressed that Zelda almost asked him if he was feeling all right, and wondered who he was saying couldn't have everything, him or her. Maybe it was both. After all, it must have been one of the worst moments of his life, realizing that at the age of fifteen he would have to settle down and get married to someone he wasn't even in love with.
~~~
Saria appeared suddenly in the upstairs room of Malon's house, carrying with her a little pouch full of crushed moredania leaves. She looked around the room and spotted a chest full of tea, and noticed that one kind had been used far more than the others. She opened it up, poured the moredania leaves inside, and stirred it all around a bit, then carefully replaced the tea leaves.
Moredania leaves caused pregnancy and labor problems-the kind that could kill the unborn baby. With a bit of luck, Malon's baby would die, and Link wouldn't have to marry her after all. With a blur of green light, Saria disappeared just as Malon opened the door to her bedroom to have a nice cup of tea.
~~~
Chapter 7: A Meeting of the Sages
The aroma of roast chicken drifted slowly through the room as Link walked in the door of Malon's house, and he smiled at the scent. He went upstairs and found Malon placing two plates full of chicken, mashed potatoes and dumplings on the table.
"Malon," he said, smiling, "if the chicken tastes even half as good as it smells, it'll be delicious." Malon smiled at him and sat down, motioning for him to sit in the other seat. He happily obliged.
For a few moments there was an awkward pause, and then Link asked, "Malon? I was going to ask you something about the chickens."
"Yes, Link?"
"Well, I think they should have a more proper place to stay-a chicken coop, or something like that. Then we could collect their eggs instead of having to search the grass, and make some more money."
Malon's face lit up. "Link, that's a wonderful idea! But...where would we build it?"
"That's what I wanted to ask you. I have two main ideas. Since the chickens already stay downstairs at night, I was thinking I could just add some things down there. That wouldn't take a lot of time. But the other idea would be to turn that add a second floor to that tall stable on the other side of the ranch. That would take longer, but we could put the kitchen table down there and we would have more space." Link stopped, and then suddenly started again. "Sorry-I don't mean to make it sound like I'm in charge now that I'm going to live here...it's just I thought it was a good idea..."
Malon smiled gently. "No, it's no problem. I like the second idea better. If we're going to have a family, we should get some more space."
After this statement, both Malon and Link could feel the tension in the room increasing by the minute. Finally, Link put his fork down and said, "Malon, that was wonderful. I'll just be going now..."
Malon grabbed his arm. "Link, why are you leaving? I thought you were going to live here."
Link said, "I am. But I'm going to sleep in the southwestern stable like I always do."
"Oh, you couldn't! You can sleep here now."
Link eyes the beds and, noticing there were two, said, "Well all right then."
He pulled off his sword, put all of his weapons in a drawer Malon had reserved "specially for him", and crawled into bed. He had never slept with a blanket before, and it was an odd but pleasant experience to him. He closed his eyes, envisioning Ruto and Brandon in his mind, and then he felt Malon's body against his as she got into bed with him. Panicking, he sat up abruptly and got out of bed.
"Link, what are you doing?" asked Malon, looking slightly annoyed.
"Malon, I thought we were going to sleep in separate beds! We're not married yet!"
"Yes, but we are engaged, and we'll hopefully be married soon...and it's not like I can get pregnant," she added, winking at him.
Sighing, Link said, "Look, Malon, I've already told you. I don't know what I was thinking then. But we should wait until we're married before we do anything again."
Malon was looking extremely disappointed. "But...nothing will happen! I can't get pregnant! Why can't we just sleep together?!"
Link said, "Because it's wrong, Malon. Because it's wrong."
Sighing loudly, Malon moved to the other bed, and Link lied back down. But before he fell asleep, he could have sworn he heard Malon murmur, "He'll have to give in sometime."
~~~
Ruto smiled at her reflection in the pool of water, admiring her lacy black dress and shining new shoes. Brandon had invited her to dine with him at a restaurant in Hyrule Clock Town, and she was so excited she could barely breathe. It seemed like only yesterday she had been constantly avoiding him, and now they were so close...
"Ruto? Are you ready?" Brandon's head appeared around the corner of the throne room, and Ruto smiled. "Yes, Brandon. I'm ready. Let's go!" She grabbed his arm and, before he could speak, transformed them both into light molecules. Then they were off.
When they got to the restaurant, a waiter asked them if they would like some drinks, and Brandon asked for a bottle of their best wine. Ruto stared at him as the waiter went away and said, "Brandon! Aren't we a little young to drink? You have to be seventeen!"
Brandon winked at her. "Well then that shouldn't be a problem for you, Ruto. You look at least twenty." Blushing, Ruto excused herself and went into the bathroom, nervous. She added another coat of purplish-blue lip gloss (it looks good on Zoras, okay?) and then walked slowly back to the table. She felt as though something either horrible or marvelous was about to happen, and the feeling grew even stronger when the waiter brought their drinks.
After the waiter had poured the wine, Brandon suddenly dropped something, and it landed by Ruto's feet. Smiling awkwardly, Brandon asked, "Ruto? Could you get that for me?" She reached down to get it, and noticed it was an odd-shaped sort of sphere.
"Brandon, what is this?" asked, curious. He smiled.
"It's a good luck charm," he explained. "I think I'm going to need it soon."
"Why's that?" asked Ruto, but then she picked up her wine glass and noticed something at the bottom of her glass...it was a ring. A diamond ring, actually. She pulled it in awe out of the glass and said, "Did...did the waiter drop this or something?" But she knew very well what it was.
Brandon grinned in his charming way. "Ruto, will you marry me?"
She smiled at him and, leaping up out of her chair to hug him, whispered excitedly, "Yes! Of course I will!"
~~~
He was gone. Vanished. Well, not really. But he was out of her range of vision, anyhow, and that was more than enough for her.
She sighed and was surprised to find a tear rolling down her cheek. She had never really cried over anybody in her entire life before, not even Link when she thought he was in love with Malon. That was odd. Perhaps some sand had gotten in her eye, or something...
No, that wasn't it. Nabooru was beginning to realize just how much she had enjoyed Michael's company. It wasn't so much that he was the most gorgeous person she had ever seen (because he certainly wasn't), but he was nice and smart and cute and the first person who had ever really been her friend. Living a secluded life in a temple hadn't exactly boosted Nabooru's social life, and now she felt depressed as ever.
She knew she shouldn't have let him go, but he would have just hated her more if she had forced him to stay. She had the made the right decision.
Hadn't she?
~~~
"Link? Link, I have to tell you something! Where are you?" Zelda yelled Link's name over and over until he finally appeared in the doorway of the ranch house, looking extremely sleepy and annoyed.
"Zel, what are you doing here this time of morning? The sun is hardly up!"
"I have to tell you something! And why are you here, anyway?"
"How did you know I was here?"
"Saria told me."
"Since when do you talk to Saria?" asked Link, incredulous.
"We Sages have to keep in touch. It's just the way of things."
"Oh, I get it. Checking up on the evil villains and keeping down the evil creature population. In other words, the mundane, everyday stuff, right?" Link grinned at her.
Zelda laughed. "I guess so. Where's Malon?"
"She's inside. Why don't we go over there so we won't wake her? You're lucky she's such a deep sleeper like her father. You could have awakened the dead with that racket."
They walked leisurely over to the corral, and Link leaned casually against it. "So, what's up?"
"Father wants me to be married by my seventeenth birthday, and you won't believe who he's forcing me to marry!"
"Who? He can't be that bad."
"He is! Rauru!"
"Rauru's not bad..."
"I know! He's a very nice person, but I've always looked up to him like my second father, not my husband! And he actually agreed to marry me! He's over twice my age!"
"I guess that is a problem..."
"Link! Be serious! But anyway, you can fix this."
Link looked surprised. "Me? How?"
"If you agree to marry me, I won't have to marry Rauru! You have to, Link! You can't just let me marry him!"
Link looked fixedly into her eyes for a moment, and then away.
"Link...you have to...you can't...Link..." Zelda was speechless. Something was wrong.
"Zelda," said Link slowly, "I'm already engaged."
"You've already told me about your accidental engagement to Ruto, Link! At least a thousand times! Honestly! You two don't seem to be getting married anytime soon to me..."
"No," said Link, "I mean I'm already engaged to someone else."
"Who?!" And then it suddenly hit her. "Ma...Malon?"
So softly she could barely hear him, Link whispered, "Yes."
"Why?!" Zelda half expected tears to come to her eyes, but she was beyond crying. This was too much. "I thought...I thought you said you weren't in love with her..."
"I'm not."
"Then why, Link? Why?" Zelda half-yelled, hysterical.
"Zelda," said Link bluntly, "Malon's pregnant."
"What?" And then, "Oh my god..." And then, "But Link, that's not your fault! That guard raped her! What does that have to do with you?"
Link swallowed visibly. "After she was raped, we were talking in the barn and I was trying to comfort her and..." His voice trailed off, stating the obvious without actually saying anything at all.
Zelda stared at Link for a moment, as though transfixed by him. And then she smacked him as hard as she could across the face.
~~~
"Quiet, everyone, quiet! The meeting is almost over! But before we adjourn, does anybody have news in their lives they'd like to tell everyone?" Zelda smiled at almost everyone who was the meeting, carefully avoiding Link's eyes. He didn't always come to meetings, but Zelda had insisted he come. He didn't know this, but she wanted to tell everyone about him getting Malon pregant...though she certainly wouldn't say it like that. She could be discreet.
"I have some news," said Impa. "Zelda and Rauru are to be married, everyone!" She smiled as though this were a good thing, making Zelda's heart beat faster from anger. She had told Impa not to say anything!
"That's great, Zelda!" said Ruto, smiling. "And guess what? I'm getting married too!" Link perked up at this and stared at her, his mouth in a little O of surprise, and Zelda asked her who she was marrying. "His name is Brandon," explained Ruto, "and he's wonderful. I love him so much!" She couldn't resist a little peek at Link as she said this, and she smiled at the look of pain on his face.
"Anyway else?" asked Zelda. Everyone shook their heads. "Well, I do! Link and Malon are getting married!"
"What?" asked Ruto, looking as shocked as Link had only moments before. She wasn't jealous, but she now Link wouldn't be all that envious of her and Brandon. Oh, well. She would live.
"Yeah," said Zelda, smiling in a fakely sweet way at Link as she continued, "they're going to get married very soon, aren't you, Link? Why is that again?"
Link looked away and down. Finally, he said, "Well, we were engaged, but now Malon's pregant, so we're just speeding up the date of the wedding. No big deal." Zelda glared at him. She knew that wasn't true, but then, she shouldn't have put him on the spot like that. She tried to mouth, "I'm sorry," to him, but he wouldn't look at her.
After the meeting, she apologized quietly. Link turned and looked at her and said, "It's all right. I don't care. It's not my reputation I'm worried about. It's Malon's. Would you like to be known as someone who does things like that before you're married?"
Feeling even more ashamed now, Zelda said, "I'm sorry. It's just-"
But Link cut her off. "I said it's okay. I'm sorry you have to marry Rauru. I would marry you otherwise, if it meant letting you escape that. But we can't have everything we want, can we?" Link sounded so down and depressed that Zelda almost asked him if he was feeling all right, and wondered who he was saying couldn't have everything, him or her. Maybe it was both. After all, it must have been one of the worst moments of his life, realizing that at the age of fifteen he would have to settle down and get married to someone he wasn't even in love with.
~~~
Saria appeared suddenly in the upstairs room of Malon's house, carrying with her a little pouch full of crushed moredania leaves. She looked around the room and spotted a chest full of tea, and noticed that one kind had been used far more than the others. She opened it up, poured the moredania leaves inside, and stirred it all around a bit, then carefully replaced the tea leaves.
Moredania leaves caused pregnancy and labor problems-the kind that could kill the unborn baby. With a bit of luck, Malon's baby would die, and Link wouldn't have to marry her after all. With a blur of green light, Saria disappeared just as Malon opened the door to her bedroom to have a nice cup of tea.
~~~
