Chapter Four: A Gift Worth Receiving
"Happy birthday Link!" Malon shouted and jumped up to kiss him on the cheek. Link blushed and hugged her back.
"Awe, thanks Malon," Link beamed, "you didn't have to--"
"Oh yes I did!" She cut him off and excitedly shoved a present into his hands. Link looked it over, trying to figure out what was in it first. "Stop it! Just open it!" Malon laughed. Link slowly tore it open little by little, enjoying the look on Malon's face as he did so. When it was all unwrapped before him, he found a handsomely made new rust iron colored tunic, complete with embroidered stitching on the collar and fine, soft leather strips to lace it. Link stared at it as Malon beamed proudly and Link knew she must have made it herself. "Well?" She urged, "what do you think?"
"I think," said Link slowly to tease her and Malon hung onto every word, bracing herself for his judgement. "I think that it's my new favorite tunic! Look at this, it must have taken you weeks to sew the embroidery alone on this!" He examined the fine stitching carefully and Malon just shined.
"Oh, not that long," she said casually, "I'm glad you like it, I knew your old green one has just about had it."
"Yeah, that thing could be mistaken for a rag by now," Link laughed in agreement and hugged her again. "Malon you're the greatest, you know that right?"
"Oh of course, you're lucky I let you even hang out with me," she giggled in return and hugged him back. "Happy birthday Link."
"Thanks Malon."
His shoulder was almost healed completely now, all of the battles he had fought taught his body to recover quickly. It was still sore, but nothing that would bother him and especially on his nineteenth birthday. King Harkinian had wanted to throw a big party for his birthday, saying that the Hero of Time's birthday should be celebrated above all, but Link insisted that he should not for he didn't want to make a big deal out of it. King Harkinian had laughed and said that he would not let him get away so easily for his twentieth. All Link wanted to do today was enjoy the time he had to himself and his friends. He had awoke to the lovely surprise that the Kokiri, even Mido which surprised him a bit despite they usually got along fine now, had prepared a big breakfast for him at the Deku Tree's Meadow. It was a great surprise and Link thanked them all repeatedly for making his day start off so well. And what was even better was that Saria had contacted him through telepathy to wish him a happy birthday too. Saria would never be replaced by anyone in his heart. Now he and Malon were to go and get Rook at the Castle and have a picnic up at Death Mountain before he had plans to meet with Misa and his family for dinner. Yes, it was going to be a full day. He did tell himself that he would go and see if Loraefin had recovered soon though, it had been a week and three days since then, and no doubt she would be up and about now. And now, after the message that he had gotten from the Sheikah, he no longer had to worry about sacrificing Loraefin. It was, and was truly going to be the best day he had had in a long time.
***
After the day had come and gone, Link slept comfortably in his home in Kokiri. He could hear Navi's faint breathing from atop the bookshelf and he smiled happily. I've lived to nineteen, who would have thought? He mused. Malon's gift was sitting on the chair near his bed, ready and waiting for him to wear it again tomorrow when he went to go see how Loraefin was doing. He thought again of what she had whispered, rather moaned actually, to him when she was on the table, and immediately felt ashamed of doing so. She was ranting with her fever; he shouldn't have even given it a second thought. Angry with himself, he rolled over and fell asleep again.
***
"Hey," Megeara spoke in a humdrum tone of voice as she attacked some weeds in her herb garden. "I'm guessing you're here to see Fin eh? She's up at the mill with Berg and Lycus. I think they're still trying to have her take it easy. Everybody is out of sorts about the whole thing. Things are really tense right now, so don't be surprised if people are…less friendly than usual."
Link nodded and made his way to the mill at the top part of town. While he was walking he got some dark stares as he passed and he wondered if the people here blamed him for what had happened. After all, since he had first come here to take Loraefin away, this all started. Was he really to blame for breaking up their protection and peace? A large lump formed in Link's throat that he had difficulty swallowing it down.
The mill was looking old and weather beaten from years of battles with the elements, but the blades still turned softly and he could hear the steady grinding of the stone inside. Two dogs greeted him excitedly as he opened the door and peeked his head in to see the two boys busily working away cleaning the giant stone of dirt and grime that had gathered over the winter and Loraefin sitting quietly on a few crates against the wall. They all looked up when the door opened and smiled.
"Hey Link," Berg grinned, "come to check on our warrior here?" He chuckled as Loraefin glared at him evilly, scratching Laelaps's and Styx's heads as their tails wagged profusely. "She's not going to say much, her voice is sore from all of that yelling and the herbs Reamari shoved down her throat."
"Oh stop it," snapped Lycus, "you've been picking on her all morning, leave her alone."
"Well now she can't argue back with me, besides, I wasn't the one that went poking my nose into things I wasn't supposed to," Berg shot back and turned slowly to glance at Loraefin. "You know I love and care about her Lycus, she's like my sister, but that still doesn't mean I have to agree with what she did. It was dangerous and now the whole village is in an uproar."
"Stop talking about me like I'm not here," Loraefin's hoarse, dry voice sounded. "I don't care either way what you think about it or not, it was my decision, no one else's." The two quieted down under her cold stare. She turned to Link and smiled weakly. "You haven't come here to argue with me too have you? I have to say I'm not much in the mood for it."
"No, and I doubt it would have done much good anyway," Navi piped up. "How are you feeling?"
"Like I've just sat through a dust storm," Loraefin's voice crackled as she tried to laugh. "My throat hurts a lot, but I'll live."
"I'm glad," Link smiled and moved out of the way as Berg brushed past. Lycus and Loraefin stared after him and Lycus sighed downheartedly and cupped Loraefin's shoulder with his large hand.
"He's just worried about you Finnie, we all are. Give him time and he'll come around," he smiled at her and she squeezed his hand affectionately. Link raised an eyebrow as Lycus let his hand linger there.
"I know some people are afraid of me now, but I haven't changed," her voice was weak and sorrowful as she leaned back on Lycus's strong chest and he hugged her with one arm to comfort her, rocking her gently. Laelaps brushed up against her leg and licked her hand sympathetically, whining a bit sensing that her pack-sister was upset.
"It's okay, it's okay," he soothed, looking at Link with worried eyes. "No ones afraid of you, you're still Loraefin just like you were before this happened and just like you are now. Shh, it's okay Fin, don't get upset." Link watched the two of them silently as Lycus comforted her, and unknowingly a small pang of jealously arose in him. He quickly pushed it away, not knowing why it had surfaced in the first place, but it was hard to ignore. Loraefin wiped her eyes and tried to smile.
"Well hey wait a minute!" She tried to speak normally, but always found it feudal. "Your birthday was yesterday! I've got something for you at the house! Come on, Lycus, Navi you come too." And with that she took both of their hands and led them out of the mill with Styx and Laelaps scampering in front of them and Navi close behind. Link glanced over at Lycus, unable to completely suppress that feeling of jealousy. He scolded himself; he had no claim on Loraefin, nor was he even interested in her that way, so what was he jealous about? If anything he wanted her to be happy and she seemed very happy with Lycus.
Loraefin ran up the stairs and came down a few moments later with a package wrapped in soft well-worn brown leather tied with long pieces of twine. Link eyed the limp, oddly shaped package over as he lifted back the flaps that made up the wrapping to reveal a patchwork blanket made up of different pieces of cloth. Loraefin grinned at him as he took it out and ran his hands over the smooth fabric.
"I know it's not much, but I remember you saying once that all your blankets are getting old. I had some old fabric saved up that I was going to make some new clothes out of, but this seemed to suit them better," she waited for Link to say something. The stitching was well done and tight and it looked very warm. For some reason, perhaps a result of his good mood, or perhaps a subconscious gesture done to spite Lycus, Link leaned forward and caught Loraefin off guard in an embrace.
"Kenata Fin, this is great," he laughed and held her for a moment. "Just what I needed."