"Maple! Maple wake up!" crackled Witch Syrup, banging on the ceiling with her broomstick. On the floor above, Maple stirred in her bed.
She didn't want to wake up. She was dreaming. It was such a nice dream. It was of the boy from the other day… that cute boy, with his pointy ears and long hair, his smile… she was dreaming that they were lying in each other's arms, hopelessly in love. They would kiss and cuddle, and then fall asleep under the eyes of…
"NOW, MAPLE!"
Maple jolted awake and rubbed her eyes. She wanted Link to still be there, to kiss her good morning… but then she shook her head. She was being ridiculous. She had only spoken to him for a minute or two. But then she remembered hearing that feeling true love on sight is a sure sign that it's meant to be… but then she caught herself again. "True love?" What was she thinking? True love took a long time to be recognized. She was being totally nonsensical.
Slipping on her work tunic, she walked down the rickety wooden steps to the potion shop where she worked with her grandmother.
"Why the delay?" Witch Syrup asked. "You are never late!"
"I was dreaming, granny." She said, smiling at the memory.
Syrup coughed. "Dreaming my broom! Now, go out and get me three mushrooms from Mt. Cucco and report back!"
Maple nodded. "Okay, Grandma." Slipping a coat on, she zoomed out the door of their Sunken City shop and took off towards Mt. Cucco.
The sun was rising into the sky as she zoomed on the wind towards the northern mountain range. She smiled as she felt her hair being yanked back by the westerly breeze that nipped her ears. She dove close to the ground and rose again, dove and rose again, happy to be so free. She swooped low to the ground, and then… BAM!!! She was on the ground, her face throbbing in pain.
When her senses finally came back to her, she looked up, and gasped. It was him! That boy had knocked into her again, and their items had mixed and scattered all over the place.
"Are you all right?" he asked, getting to his feet and kneeling over her. She found herself smiling as he looked upon her, but quickly caught herself.
"Yes, I'm fine." She said, rising. "Um, I think some of my stuff got mixed with yours."
"Take it."
Her eyes widened. "What? No, some of this stuff belongs to you…"
"It's customary. The lady gets everything." He said with a wry smile. "Take it all."
She blushed furiously, but slowly gathered all the items into her bag.
"See you again, I hope!" she called, mounting her broom and zooming off.
Link waved. "Bye!"
5 Days Later…
"Holy shmata…" Link groaned, pulling himself out of the Unicorn's Cave. "I gotta find a Great Fairy… FAST!"
Suddenly, there was a shadow over the ground, and Maple came swooshing down from the sky again and flew into him.
"Owww! Again!" he cried as his pouch opened and all his items flew everywhere.
"You again?" she said with a nervous laugh as she picked herself up. "You'd think we should just make appointments for this to happen."
Link chuckled. "Maybe we should."
She was startled. "What?"
"Well, I dunno… maybe we should just make a time to hang out one day… it'd be a helluva lot easier than just bumping into each other at random."
"You mean like a date?" she asked, her voice quavering.
"Yeah, I guess."
She smiled and took his hand. "I'd love to. How's tomorrow at the peak of the sun?"
"Okay."
They went their separate ways, their minds in turmoil, thinking of the epic that was rapidly unfolding.
That night, Link had nightmares. Nightmares of having something come so close to him, then be snatched away by evil feelings and bad hearts. He woke up screaming, only to fall asleep and have another similar vision. It was not an easy night for our young hero from Hyrule.