Wow, it's been a while! Oh well, this chapter is…fuuuuuuuuuun…^-^. Enjoy!



Chapter 15

Despite Malon's protests that she was fine, she drifted in and out of consciousness from lack of blood all the way the Kakariko. Fortunately, we made good time, although I made it very clear to Link (when Malon wasn't listening) that it was very foolish to leave the horses with the Kokiri. I didn't give him too much grief about it, since he had the nerve to say they had left in a hurry because they were worried about me. After he said that I was silent for a while. It had been a long time since anyone had been worried about me.

It was only about four o' clock when we reached the village for the second time since I had been to Hyrule. It looked almost exactly the same from last time. The doctor's house was a squat little building, with a small garden full of strange herbs and plants in front. I assumed that was what he made the medicine out of. When we entered the building, a strange scent overwhelmed me. It was the same smell as the hospital, which brought back unpleasant memories. A tiny, ancient woman came over from behind a small counter.

"Can I help you?" She asked, staring at Malon in a piercing way.

"Um, yes…my friend got stabbed by…by a…" Link stammared.

"Bring her over here." The woman snapped, going to a small examining table. Link and I gently lay Malon down. The woman looked her over, with Malon eyeing her uncomfortably, but staying silent. After what seemed like an eternity, the doctor turned to us.

"She'll be all right. There's a small infection starting, but you brought her in time. She'll have to stay a few days, but she'll live."

"A few days?" Link cried. "We don't have a few days! We have to-" But he caught himself in time. The woman gave him one of her piercing looks, but said nothing. She then looked at me.

"You might want to take care of that one, sonny. She looks like she's about to fall over." She said to Link. He looked at me.

"Oh. You look white as a ghost, Evalyn." He said.

"I'll-I'll be all right…just need a little fresh air, I think…" I muttered, before running out the door, my hand clamped to my mouth.

Link found me a few minutes later, still throwing up in the bushes.

"You all right?" He asked, unnecessarily.

"I will be, I think," I said weakly, kneeling on the ground.

"It must be hard for you. I remember the first time I killed something." He said, sitting next to me.

"It's not just that…well, it's kind of bad, but…in there…it just reminded me of when…I found out about my parents…" I trailed off, the memory coming back to me.

***

I was sitting in the uncomfortable plastic chairs of the waiting room. I was still shaken up from when the police had told me my parents had been in a car accident. He assured me they were still alive, but the look on his face told me it was bad. I was praying silently to whoever would listen, to let my parents be okay. The strange smells of the hospital seemed more bearable then 15 minutes ago, but it still was a constant reminder of where I was. The door opened-a tall doctor with flaming red hair and a big nose came out. He said something to the nurse at the desk, then came over to where I was.

"Evalyn Corwall?" He asked. I nodded.

"Are they okay?" I said, not needing to say who.

"I'm afraid not. They both just passed away." He said in an apologetic tone. He was saying something else, but a strange roaring was in my ears. It wasn't true…it wasn't true…it wasn't true…

***

"What wasn't true?" Link asked, snapping me back to reality. I blinked-I hadn't realized I was speaking out loud.

"I was just…remembering…" Suddenly, a strange feeling came over me. It was like something was pulling at me. I looked around, and I saw a man walking with a small box in his hand. The pull was coming from the man. Not the man-the box. I stood up quickly, and went up to the man, Link following me.

"Excuse me, sir?" I asked. The man turned around, and smiled at me.

"Hello, hello, good day, salutations!" He cried, beaming. "You two entering in the contest tonight?" He added, winking at Link. I didn't like the look of that wink.

"What competition?" I asked warily, glancing at Link, who shrugged. The man waved his arms expressively. He was one energetic guy.

"The couple's competition, being held at the local Pub! Oh, you must go, the different contests, dancing, trivia, poetry, and-" He winked again "-kissing!" I tried to mask the look of horror on my face. The man looked around, the winked yet again, but this time in a confidential manner. How he managed that one, I don't know.

"Can you keep a secret? I have one of the prizes here! It's the most beautiful engagement ring money could buy!" He said, then he opened the box. Before I even saw it, I knew it was the Ring. The one we were looking for. Seeing it only confirmed it.

"I hope to see you there!" He said cheerily, after closing the box. I looked at Link. He shrugged.

"Why does this village have so many stupid competitions?!" I said angrily, before heading back to talk to Malon.

* * *

"Well, what should we do?" Malon asked, after hearing about everything that had happened.

"Well, what can we do is more the question." I said.

"We could try to explain to the owner what it really is," Link said.

"We can't let anyone find out what we're doing," Malon said.

"And they probably wouldn't believe us." I added.

"We could try to steal it, which would mean we would get caught and probably never allowed back in Kakariko again." Link offered. Malon and I shook our heads.

"We could try to buy it off of whoever wins it," Link tried.

"What if we can't find them? And they probably wouldn't even sell it." Malon said.

"Um…we could just let them keep it…" head shaking.

"Then the only option left is…" He trailed off. We all knew what the last option was.

"Malon can't go…which means…" I said. Link sighed.

"How good an actress can you be?" Link asked me.

"I just hope we don't get the kissing competition…"

* * *

Two hours later, Link and I were at the door of the pub, with three other chattering, grinning couples in front of us in the line to get in.

"Ready?" Link whispered. I nodded, a fake smile plastered onto my face. All too soon, we were in front of the man testing our 'coupliness'.

"Names?" He asked, looking us over. I kept the smile on my face, while hanging on to Link's arm like we had planned.

"Link and Evalyn," Link said, the same forced grin on his face. The man wrote something on his clipboard.

"And what do you like the most about your lover?" He asked. I almost winced at the word 'lover'.

"Well…it would have to be…his…kindness. He is very sweet," I said, thinking quickly.

"M-hm. And you?" The man asked Link.

"Uh…the way she…makes me feel special." Link said quickly. I noticed that he was starting to turn red.

"All right, go on in." The man said, opening the door. Link and I walked in. The whole area was decorated with pieces of paper in the shape of hearts and bright lights. An orchestra played slow, romantic music.

"And the worst part is yet to come…" Link muttered ominously.

"Aren't I making you feel special enough?" I said sarcastically, batting my eyelashes.

"Oh, stop it. Look, there's the prize sheet." He said, walking over to a big sign hanging on a wall. I followed him, but obviously couldn't read the sign because it was in a different alphabet.

"What's it say? What's the ring a prize for?" I asked Link.

"I'm looking…oh no…" He said, turning white.

"I'm guessing the one about how much you know about your significant other," I said dryly.

"Worse."

"You'd better not be saying…"

"I am."

"Kissing?"

"Right on the money."

"You know what we have to do."

"Yeah. I don't like it though."

"I would take offense at that, but I feel the same way." Another couple came up behind us.

"What's with the long faces?" The man said.

"Oh…uh…we're just disappointed we only have time for one competition." Link said quickly. I nodded.

"Oh, that's too bad! Which one are you entering?" The girl chirped. I stifled the urge to throw something at her.

"The Kissing one."

"Oh, wow! So are we!" The girl giggled. She looked Link over. "Hmm, you know, there's a switch-couple dancing competition…" She said, almost licking her lips. I glanced at the man, who reminded me of a football player-and not an attractive one.

"Uh, that's ok, we only can do one, and we like the kissing one better." I said.

"Too bad. Come on, Horrence, let's go sign up!" I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Am I wrong, but are you looking forward to this?" Link asked slyly. I glared at him

"You wish. Let's get this over with. When does the competition start?" Link glanced at the poster.

"In about 10 minutes. I guess we should go officially sign up." He said.

"Where do we do that?" I asked, glancing around the crowded bar.

"I think over there at that table with the big sign that says 'sign ups'."

"Shut up. I can't read Hylian."

"Oh yeah. Come on." We threaded our way through the chattering couples. There was yet another line in front of the small, rickety table. An old man with a pinched mouth and tiny, beady eyes was in charge of the sign-ups. He asked the normal questions, like our names and what competition we were signing up for. The forced grin on my mouth was starting to hurt. When we were done, the old guy directed us to a corner of the building where the contestants were beginning to line up for the competition. There were about ten other couples, including the unpleasant pair we had met before. All too soon the actual competition began. A young man who couldn't have been more then 20 explained the rules to us.

"All right, couples, there are some things you should know about this competition. The rules are stated as the following. No making other couples laugh or uncomfortable, no attempts at bribery, and no tongue." There were a few people laughing and a few people booing at the last rule. "You will be judged on the purity, the sweetness, the length, and how obvious how much you two love each other. Have fun!" The man finished cheerily. The judges walked down the line, watching each couple kiss separately. As fate would have it, Link and I were last.

"I hate my life." I said under my breath.

"Just remember, we're doing this for all of Hyrule. We need the ring." Link said in what was supposed to be a reassuring tone.

"Nice try." We stood in silent foreboding until at last the judges came up to us. There were two of them, a man and woman.

"All right, Link and Evalyn? You're up." We faced each other, similar looks of not very well concealed dread. Awkwardly, Link put his arm around my waist, drawing us closer. I closed my eyes, and I was pretty sure Link did the same. Suddenly our lips met, and I didn't know exactly what I was feeling. The strangest feeling came over me, one I couldn't identify. I couldn't describe it as love or anything like that, but it was strange all the same. Since the judge had said we would also be graded on length, I settled in for a long wait. I tried to think of something else, but when you have a guy on your mouth it's kind of hard. I started thinking about how all this was for the good of Hyrule, and in a quest sacrifices had to be made. I decided that probably no hero in history had to go through this at all. That got me surprised-was I a hero? I didn't feel like one. I would have gone deeper into that thought, but then we broke, for need of air. I suppressed the urge to throw up, as Link and I put the fake grins back on our faces.

"Very nice!" The woman said. The man nodded his agreement.

"It's obvious you two love each other very much." He said. Link and I exchanged glances after the two went off to make their final decisions. I scrubbed my mouth on my sleeve furiously. I noticed Link doing the same.

"Your country better have something very important going for it," I muttered darkly to him. He rolled his eyes.

"I hope it does, or else your likely to destroy it." He whispered back.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I shot back, but then the judges came back to announce the winners. I crossed my fingers.

"Well, it's been some tough competition, but we have the winners! In third place, we have Horrence and Gladys, and they win this lovely crystal rose!" The annoying couple we had talked to smiled politely and received their prize.

"In second place, winning this pair of necklaces, is Anju and Kafei!" As the next couple went up, Link stiffened in surprise.

"I know those two! But what are they doing in Hyrule?" He said to himself.

"What?" I asked, confused, but I didn't get an answer as the judges were announcing the first place winners.

"And finally, in first place, winning this amazing engagement ring, is Evalyn and Link!" I wasn't sure which emotion was bigger, relief or joy.



Well, they didn't win the last one, so they're winning this one. I'm not that heartless. Anju and Kafei? Aren't they supposed to be in Termina? Oh well, please r+r!