19th Entry: The Day of Gift-Giving, part II

December 26th, the 7th year in the reign of King Ganondorf I

Dear Diary,

Well, I'm just going to start right into it.

After dad sent me to bed that night, truth be told I didn't sleep very well. I knew Link would be all right, still, I just wanted to make sure he was okay.

By the time five in the morning rolled around, I was sick and tired of just lying there. I finally decided to get up, get dressed, and go check on Link. It was still dark outside, so I found my lantern and lit it for a little light. I made my way as quietly down the hall to his bedroom.

I stuck my head around the corner of the doorway, just to see if dad was still there. Just as I had guessed, he wasn't. He must have decided that Link would be all right, and went back to bed. I walked up to the bed to check on him. I noticed that dad had dressed all of Link's wounds; he looked much better than he had just a few hours ago. He seemed to be sleeping peacefully, so I decided that I wouldn't wake him. I turned around to leave the room, however, I forgot that I had left that blasted chair sitting beside the bed last night. I walked right into it, knocking it over and almost falling over it myself.

"Uhn...Malon?" I heard behind me. Stupid! You woke him up! I turned around to him.

"Shh, I'm really, really sorry. It's okay. You can go back to sleep." I whispered.

He sat up, rubbing his eyes. "What time is it?"

"It's five in the morning, but it doesn't matter! Just go back to sleep." I said pleadingly.

He gave me a small smile. "Five in the morning? I'm usually awake and on the move by this time of the day."

I crossed my arms and tried my best to give him a glare. "You're hurt. Go back to sleep."

"Do I look like I'm still in a lot of pain? Here, you can even check my neck." he turned around to show me his neck. I felt my face turn red-It had been so dark that I hadn't realized that he didn't have his shirt on.

"Yeah, yeah, okay, whatever." I said trying to sound as normal as possible. The last thing I needed was for him to see my face. "I need to make breakfast for dad and Ingo, you can come downstairs if you want." I got out of the room as fast as I could and closed the door, breathing a sigh of relief. About a minute later he came out (fully clothed). I knew my face was still red, and I knew he could tell why; he had that mischievous smile on his face.

I motioned for him to be quiet as we walked down the hallway, so we wouldn't wake up the others. He whispered, "Hey, you're the one who trips over chairs and wakes people up."

I glared at him and started down the stairs. Once we were down in the kitchen he sat down at the table and I started making eggs.

"Can I help you do anything?" he asked.

"So you've decided to be nice now?" I said, doing my best to sound mad.

He stood up and came over to the stove. "I can be a nice guy, you know." he said, smiling

"Yeah, I'm sure you can be." I teased. "Still, I thought that you weren't very good at cooking."

"Well maybe, but I think I can make a scrambled egg." he said smiling.

And so he helped me make breakfast. Or at least he tried. It was very entertaining watching him try and cook an egg for (what I later found out to be) the first time. On the first try, he tried to crack the egg, and shell bits ended up everywhere. On the second try, the egg ended up so burnt, I think it would have been umm...unwise...to eat it. By the time one of his eggs actually ended up edible, the sun had long past risen.

"Aren't you proud of me?" he said to me once we sat down at the table.

"Yes, I'm very proud of you Fairy Boy." I said with a smile. He gave me that look, but even still, the name just sounded appropriate for this moment in time.

"So," he said inbetween bites, "why is the house all decorated in red and green? Is this some Hylian festival that I missed out on?"

I laughed. "No, this is my family's own little holiday. We call it gift-giving day." I said with a smile. "My family goes and gives gifts to all of our friends and family on this day once a year."

"So you're not going to be here most of the day?" he said, sounding a little disappointed.

"Well, no..." Then I got an idea. "Hey, you could come with me!" He looked up in surprise. "That is, if you don't mind helping me deliver presents to everyone in Kakariko."

He smiled. "I guess I wouldn't mind..."

Dad and Ingo were more than pleased to hear that Link would be helping us. We decided that Link and I would go to Kakariko Village, and Dad and Ingo would go to the Hylian Countryside. Dad and Ingo left around eight, they had a longer way to travel than Link and I did.

Around eight-thirty, Link and I got ready to go.

"So how did this whole holiday of yours start?" Link asked, while hooking Epona up to the cart we used to carry all the presents.

"It's in honor of my mom." I answered. "She was extremely giving, and it's my family's way of remembering her." I was working on loading all the presents into the cart.

"So are you sure it's okay for me to be helping?" he asked.

I smiled. "Of course it is! I'm sure she'd be happy to know that you're helping." I said reassuringly.

"Okay." he said. "Ready?"

I nodded. "Yep! Let's go!"

I could probably bore you to death if I wanted to; I could tell you about every house, every person, every present we passed out. But I guess I'll be nice and keep it short. Kakariko was beautiful, completely covered in snow. All the kids were outside playing, it was so fun to watch. We got all the gifts passed out to everyone, though a few people were rather hard to find.. We even got a few gifts in return! While I was there I kept an eye out for a present for Link. Even with all the shops in Kakariko, I couldn't find anything. It made me angry, here was my best friend, and I couldn't find a gift for him. We finished around six in the evening, packed up, and left.

By the time we got home, it was late, around nine or ten. We walked into the living room, and listened for dad and Ingo. We didn't hear anything, so we figured they had already gone to their rooms and were probably asleep.

"So did you have a good time?" I asked him.

"You know I did." he said with a smile. He let out a yawn. "I think I better go to bed. I need to set off in the morning." he started toward the stairs.

"Wait, Link." he turned around.

"What?" he asked.

"Umm, it's nothing." I answered.

"Alright." he said with a smile. "See you in the morning."

I felt so bad. Why couldn't I think of a gift for him? I went up to my room, trying to find something that would tell Link how much he meant to me. But nothing I found seemed to work. Finally I gave up and went to sleep.

The next morning I got up and got dressed. Truth be told, I was still disappointed that I hadn't been able to find him a gift the night before. I headed downstairs and went through the front door. Link already had Epona ready and looked like he was just waiting for me to come out.

"Sorry that it took so long." I said to him.

"Don't worry about it." he said with a smile. He gave me a hug, then stepped back, looking at me in the eyes. "Are you okay?" he asked, concerned. "What's wrong?"

"I'm okay. I'm just mad at myself." I said to him.

"Why?" he asked.

"I tried to find you a gift, I even looked in Kakariko while we were there...but I just couldn't find anything. But I didn't forget about you, I promise I'm just, really sorry."

He gave a smile. "You know I don't need a gift."

"Still, I got a gift for everyone else, I should of gotten a gift-"

He leaned down and gave me a short kiss on the lips. I stood there speechless, feeling my cheeks getting very red. He smiled. "I don't need a gift. I have you, right?"

I was still speechless, but I forced a smile. He let out a small laugh, and mounted Epona.

"I'll see you in about a month, okay?"

I managed to nod and wave bye. He waved, and was off.

And that was that. All I can say is that Link and my relationship has just become...interesting. I'll write back later.

Malon Astira