Link opened the door and stepped into the golden light of the Sanctuary. Ilia was not too far away, cleaning the floor with broom in hand, and Renado was circling around the room while lighting the lamps on the wall with a thin candle. The wooden statue of Eldin at the center of the room gleamed, like it had just been oiled and polished. Gor Coron stood by the hole that the statue had covered, and was peering down into it. The three of them turned their attention away from what they were doing to look at him as he entered.
"Hey. We're back." he said by way of greeting. Midna appeared next to him and gave a small wave, but she was not smiling. She seemed distracted.
"Welcome back!" Ilia said, hurriedly walking up to the two of them. She was wearing one of the Kakariko-style outfits that she had made, a yellow top with green leggings. It reminded him of a daffodil. "How did it go?"
"Pretty well." he said, smiling broadly. He did have a reason to be pleased, and he knew that he shouldn't be humble about it. "The people are free, and are now in good hands. There's a friend of Ashei's that's taking care of things there for now. He's a good guy, so I know he'll figure out how to get them all home."
"For the record, that good guy is Link's cousin, Max. As in, the guy who punched him in the mouth." Midna attempted a joke and it probably fooled Ilia and Coron, but he knew that Renado would see through it just as well as he could.
"Hey, I said he's a good guy. I'm sure there are plenty of other good people that would jump at the opportunity to punch me in the mouth." He gestured at his gray and black companion. "You, for example."
"I think that the verbal beatings I give you daily are more than sufficient." the Twili said loftily, and the exchange made Ilia laugh. It was easy for Midna to fall into their regular routine of bantering, which was good. Maybe it would keep her mind off what was troubling her. "Are you almost done in here? It doesn't really look like the place needs to be cleaned."
"Almost." said Renado. "I plan on letting some people in here to pray later in the evening, but for now we are mostly killing time while Shad spends his time underground with Ooccoo."
"If he doesn't come out of that hole soon, I'm going to drag him out by his ear." Ilia said, huffing slightly in frustration. Telma's comment about Ilia babysitting Shad was spot-on. It occurred to Link that perhaps Shad was one of those men who needed to get married so their wife could take care of them, almost like a second mother. Then again, the man managed a large work load at the castle, all while continuing to do things for Zelda. If anything he earned the right to forget himself in something he enjoyed.
Forgetting. That's right. Maybe he should do what he came here to do.
"Renado?" he asked as he thought about Bo's theory. The shaman blew out his candle and turned to him when Link spoke his name. "I think I learned something that might help Ilia remember everything else."
"Have you?" Renado's face lit up with a smile. After trying to help Ilia recall her memories for weeks, he was clearly interested in seeing her fully recover.
Link put a hand over his chest, where the flute was safely nestled beneath his tunic. "I do, but I can't exactly talk about it much. Her father had a theory, and the only way to put it to the test is to just do it. It's for the best if I don't explain anything to Ilia before that." He glanced over at Ilia, who looked a little apprehensive after what he said. She wasn't sure what he had in store for her, and while she no longer was afraid of having an episode, she still did feel a certain anxiety around him at times. "If you're okay with that, Ilia."
"I trust you, but you seem kind of nervous. That's making me nervous." She held the broom in both hands in front of her, as if it was a barrier between them. It reminded him of the lantern she had held between them when he was drunk.
"It will be all right. We are all here with you, you know." Renado said as he stepped up to her.
"Actually...I'd prefer if it was just the two of us." Link took in Ilia's nervous expression, hoping that she was fine with it. "You've been fine when it's just me before, right?"
She nodded. "Right. Renado, I didn't tell you, but I've had two more episodes when I was with him recently. He made sure I was comfortable both times until I woke up." He was thankful she mentioned nothing about him holding her on his lap. "There were some things I wanted to talk to him about anyway. I guess they'll be answered if whatever he plans on trying works, but still." She shrugged lightly and smiled just a bit. "I know I'll be fine with him."
The tall man nodded. "Since this is your mind, then we will do it however you feel is best. If you two make any progress, no matter how small, please be sure to tell me later." He gently lay a hand on Ilia's shoulder. "And if nothing comes of it, please do not be discouraged. Think of all that you have gained up until now."
Ilia lowered her eyes at that shyly. What had she been telling Renado? He hoped too much of his personal life hadn't been revealed without his permission. The shaman turned and walked to the hole in the floor that Gor Coron was peering down. "Shad!" he called. There was no response, and the normally patient man made an impatient face. Apparently this was something that had happened before. Coron chuckled at Renado's reaction. "Shad! Get up here!" Now the shaman's voice was losing its patience as well.
The man down the hole ignored him at first, but then after a moment Link could hear his voice faintly. "Can't it wait?"
Gor Coron stood there with his hands on his bent knees and looked up from the hole at Renado. "I'm going to have to get him again."
"Let me try." Midna said, floating over. "Shad!" she called down the hole. "Stop stalling and get up here!"
"Is that Midna?" The scholar's voice wafted up, sounding a bit closer.
She put her hands on her hips and glared down the hole in the floor. "No, it's Princess Zelda. Now get up here before I turn you into a frog!" Her pseudo-threat to Shad made the others chuckle a bit, Link included.
There was a pause. "Can you really do that?" asked Shad's disembodied voice.
"Do you want to find out?"
Shad immediately climbed out of the hole. Ooccoo was sitting in a satchel that was slung over one of his shoulders, and she winked one of her avian eyes at Midna once the scholar had climbed out. "Ah, so it is Midna, and Link too." Shad said, brushing a bit of dirt from his knees, still holding a lantern in his other hand. "I take it you were successful?"
"Yeah, but we can talk about it later." Not that he really wanted to brush Shad off, but he was starting to feel impatient about Ilia and her gift. "Right now you'd better go to dinner before Ilia picks you up and carries you there."
"Don't think I wouldn't do it." she threatened.
The man slumped his shoulders. "Yes, I should be on my way, shouldn't I? I lost track of time. I'm keeping Ooccoo from her dinner, aren't I?"
"I think I need to teach you some skills in time management, my dear." the bird-woman said kindly. "I am getting hungry, and I'm sure poor Junior would like to see his mother."
"Of course. I'm sorry." Shad walked out of the Sanctuary without another word, looking guilty and remorseful. He acted like a little boy that had just been scolded for staying up too late, and not like a grown man that had forgotten it was dinnertime.
Renado walked back to Ilia, whose face was a mix of emotions, and her body language was nervous again. Shad had temporarily distracted her, but the prospect of her regaining her memories had caused an anxiety to settle in. The shaman put his arms around her and spoke in his quiet, soothing voice. "You will be fine. Link is with you, and I can think of no one better to help you. If things become difficult, remember what I have taught you." He had never seen Renado actually hug anyone, but he figured that he had to after caring for a group of children, and then for Ilia. She was a physical person and took comfort from contact, just like Link did.
Midna moved to hover next to Ilia, and once Renado stepped back, she put one of her small hands on the young woman's cheek. "He's right. I trust Link more than anyone, so I think you're in good hands. Good luck, okay?" The Twili turned towards Renado. "Mind if I hitch a ride back to the inn? I don't think I should be in Link's shadow right now."
Renado smiled at Midna kindly. "Yes, that would be all-" he began, and then suddenly stopped as she merged with his shadows, most likely the ones between his robe and his normal clothes. His eyes went a bit wide, and he patted around his body. "Oh. I expected that to feel strange. You cannot actually feel shadows, can you?" Link hoped that he didn't find out the truth, but at the same time didn't expect Midna to lurk on the inside of Renado's clothing as she did his.
The Goron began walking after Renado as the man left the Sanctuary, but Link called over to him. "Gor Coron? Darbus wanted me to tell you that he went back home tonight."
The old Goron stopped and put his hands on his hips. "Hmph. Just like that boy to not say hello to his old man." Link had a hard time picturing Darbus as a "boy". "Oh well. Good luck, Ilia." He stepped out of the Sanctuary into the darkened streets of Kakariko and closed the door behind him, leaving the two young people alone.
Ilia looked over at him nervously, her brow slightly furrowed in worry. He took the broom from her and walked over to the curved wall to lean it there. "You know, you don't need to be nervous." he told her.
"I think anxious is the right word. I don't think I can be nervous around you anymore." She clasped her hands together at her waist. "Not after the other night."
He came back over to her and put a hand on both of hers. "We can talk about that. I certainly want to talk about that, but at the same time...I'm anxious too. I want to go ahead and do this." He smirked slightly. "No promises I won't get emotional if you have an episode."
"No promises I won't…" she trailed off and sighed. "I'm so worked up I can't even think of a joke. I think the two of us are feeding off each other's mood right now. You're right, we should go ahead and get this over with."
Link reached down into the neck of his tunic and wrapped his hand around the flute, and let out a short sigh. "All right. Let's do this." He took in and let out a breath, and looked into her green eyes. "I'm going to show you something, all right? If anything goes wrong, I'll put it away."
Her eyes flickered down to where he had his hand, and then back up to his. "All right."
He pulled the pendant out of his tunic, and lifted the loop of leather thong up and from around his neck. Then he held it out to her, his hand open so she could see it. "Look at it. Tell me if you know what it is."
She froze and stared at the horseshoe-shaped flute. He was about to say something to see if she had already begun having an episode, but she tentatively reached out and picked it up. Her hand trembled as she removed the flute from his, and she held it in her fingers while gently touching the small holes drilled into the curved piece of wood. She was silent as she turned it over in her fingers for a moment, and then she aligned them on the small holes and slowly raised the mouthpiece to her lips. She blew into it, and her fingers moved as she played three notes that repeated three times, the third time having two additional notes on the end.
His heart jumped in his chest. It was the song he sang for Epona.
Ilia lowered the small wooden flute from her mouth and stared at it in wonder. "This…" She stopped after the single word, and shut her eyes as she tried to remember. "Hay. There was a barn, and I remember the smell of hay. A horse...no, Epona. I was putting something into her bags. It was for some reason, something important was happening."
Link's heart was in his throat and he was scarcely breathing, afraid of moving or saying anything that would interrupt her. Ilia breathed in a shuddering breath and a tear escaped from beneath her eyelashes. "I had made this for him. There was something I needed to…"
Her eyes opened slightly as the tear rolled down her cheek. "...I can see his face. Blue eyes. It was you." She looked up at him, her green eyes not hurt or afraid, but full of recognition. "It was for you!" The dam broke and suddenly there was a flood of memories, and her eyes widened as her mind processed them all. She spoke rapidly with a look of wonder on her face, surprised at the sudden return of memories and the things she had been missing. "How could I forget? How could I forget that? It was you, Link! You were always with me, ever since we were young. Ever since you came to Ordon. Father didn't want me with you most of the time, but I didn't care. I needed you nearby. I made this for your birthday because I wanted to talk to you…" She trailed off and lowered her eyes.
Link put his hands on her shoulders, unsure of what to say. She had remembered him. She remembered him! His heart thudded in his chest, and he could feel the start of tears in his eyes. Ilia had finally remembered him, after all this time. He was torn between elation for her restored memories of him, and pain for seeing her in tears.
She took a breath and continued talking. "I took Epona to the spring. I remember that now." Ilia closed her eyes again, sorting through the memories that had suddenly surfaced. "You were leaving soon, and I was unhappy. Colin found me at the spring and told me that some of the kids had run off. Then you were there, and we talked...but I couldn't say what I wanted to say." Another tear slipped from beneath her closed eyelids and slid down her cheek. "Then they came. I ran. I tried to get away, but then there was...I was in pain, and I fell."
Her voice hitched and she opened her tear-filled eyes to look at him. "You tried to stop them but...but they hit you on the head." She could scarcely get the words out though her tears. "They hit you, and there was blood, and...you were looking right at me." Ilia let out a sob, her eyes crinkling in pain. "Your eyes were looking right at me, and then they hit you and I saw all the life go out of them. You were dead. They killed you, Link! I saw it! You died, and I loved you so much, I didn't know how I could live without you…" She could barely finish the sentence as she broke down into racking sobs. She squeezed her eyes shut and trembled from recalling the painful memory that had erased him from her mind.
His chest burned with emotion after hearing her recollection of what happened at the spring. It wasn't her own injury that had caused the memory block, or even their collective injuries as he had suspected. It was because she thought she saw him die. She thought she had lost him forever.
Link brought his hands up to put them on the sides of her face, and she opened her eyes to look into his, unable to stop crying. He leaned forward and covered her mouth with his own in a kiss, cutting off a sob. She whimpered and dropped the flute and it bounced on the floor with a hollow sound, but neither one of them paid it any mind. Her hands clutched at the front of his tunic and she let herself be kissed, the sounds of her tears fading away. Her mouth was warm and tasted of tears, and of something that was uniquely Ilia.
He broke the kiss to press his forehead against hers. "I'm alive." he said, his own voice thick with emotion. "We made it. We're both okay." She made a small sound and he kissed her again and again, on the cheeks, on the nose, on her mouth, his tears mingling with hers. Ilia slid her hands up his chest and moved her arms around his neck, and he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, pressing his mouth against hers in a deeper kiss. She remembered him, and loved him. She remembered that she couldn't live without him, and that she needed him just as much as he needed her. And now he was finally here with her. Ilia. His Ilia, the Ilia that had been with him for the past five years.
He had no idea how long they were like that, her warm body close to his as she kissed him back. She eventually pulled away ever so slightly, her arms still around his neck. She didn't want to let go, and neither did he. "I can't believe I forgot you. You, of all people." Ilia said, her tears gone.
Link looked into her beautiful green eyes, so close to his, and smiled. "Now that the anxious memory thing is all done with, let's have that talk. I know this might come as a shock, but I think I'm in love with you."
She laughed, the breath of it on his face. "No kidding. I think I figured it out already, but thanks for telling me." She moved her face closer and her lips barely touched his. "You always did make me laugh." Then she kissed him and he lost track of time again. He wanted to tell her how much he needed her, how she was somehow able to quell his anger, his grief, everything that held him back by simply being Ilia. He needed to tell her about Kasuto, who his family really was, who he really was, but she wasn't letting him speak. This wasn't such a bad way of communicating, though. He certainly could get used to this.
It couldn't last forever, so she moved her face away from his to rest her head on his shoulder. She put her face against his neck, and pulled her arms free to wrap them around his torso. He wished that he wasn't wearing chain mail so he could feel her warmth better. "They're probably wondering what's taking so long." she said.
"So what? It's none of their business." Link sighed happily, his heart full. He rested his cheek against the side of her head. "There's a lot I want to talk to you about, you know. Where I came from, what happened there before I came to Ordon…"
"The words to the song you sing to your horse that you never wanted me to hear." Ilia said, and he could hear the smile in her voice. "You never would sing it to me, no matter how much I pestered. You were always shy about that." She laughed a little. "That's why I made you the flute, so you could call to Epona without having to sing in front of people."
"Oh, I've gotten over that. I've had to sing in front of people a bunch of times by now. Each time it got easier, and when I did it yesterday it didn't make me feel uncomfortable at all."
"What, really?" She sounded amused. "Excuse me if I'm skeptical after years of you being shy about it."
He didn't respond, trying to focus to make sure that he wasn't channeling magic this time. This time, he only wanted to sing for her, for Ilia. He took a breath, and while still holding her close, began to sing softly:
Epona, Epona, please come here to me
When you are here with me I am not lonely
Epona, Epona, please be here with me
When we are together I feel safe and free
I felt afraid by myself on that cold morn
Without you here I was alone
But then my dear, the day came and you were born
And now sweet horse, you are my sun
Epona, Epona, please stay here with me
When you are you close to me I can be happy
Epona, Epona, please never leave me
I'm here with you my dear, I will always be
She didn't pull back to look at him, or respond in any way that indicated he was casting a spell on her. Ilia kept her head on his shoulder and simply listened with her arms wrapped around his waist. The closeness of her as he sang was similar as it was with Ashei, except this time he wanted it to be intimate. He wanted Ilia to both hear and feel his voice, and the song he learned as a child that was the one link he had to his father.
Once he was done, he felt her arms tighten around him. "I love your voice." she said warmly. "You've improved since the last time I heard you."
"Hold on. You've heard me before?" He never intentionally sang for her.
Ilia laughed and moved her face to plant a kiss on his neck. It made him shiver a bit. "Of course I have. You'd sing when you thought you were all alone in your house, but I was outside a few times."
"That's not fair. That was 'me' time." He snorted, making a face she couldn't see. "All right, that was usually when I was doing chores, and singing made them go faster."
She made a small, happy sound. "I liked it then, and I like it now. You have a nice voice. The words to the song are pretty simple, though."
"It's a song for a child, passed down through my family...and so is the story behind it. Many generations ago, one of my ancestors was dying while she was still young. She had a little girl, so she wrote the song for her daughter; it was so she would always remember her mother after she was gone. She wrote it about the horse that the girl loved, so it wouldn't be a sad song. That horse was named Epona, obviously. My father named my horse after the song, and trained her to respond to it while she was a filly." He was so comfortable standing there with Ilia, with her head on his shoulder. Everything felt like it was as it should be.
"Ah, that makes sense. That's kind of a sad story, but it's sweet too. So is that song is from your father's side of the family?"
He didn't answer. There were still so many things she didn't know about him, and he had never been able to tell her. Bo had warned him to not ever mention anything about his past, so the people of Ordon wouldn't be afraid of the one Hylian that lived among them. As a result he never told Ilia, as much as he wanted to. "Ilia…?"
"Link?" she responded. Even though she had spoken his name many times before, his heart gave a little jump. It felt different now when she said it.
"There are a lot of things about me that you don't know, and it will take some time to tell you. It'll explain a lot of things that have happened, and why I act certain ways. But...I don't think we should talk about it right now. Renado said that eventually people were coming in here to pray." He turned his head and kissed near her hairline. "As nice as this is, and as much as I don't want to move, we're going to have to leave before somebody catches us."
Ilia sighed. "You're right. We still need to show up to dinner, too. It's not fair to get Shad in trouble but not be there ourselves." She started to move away, but he pulled her close to him again.
"Not so fast. One more." He tipped her face up to his and gave her another long kiss. Link thought he could feel her shiver, and his heart fluttered. He realized that he made her feel the same way that she made him feel. It was exhilarating. He kept his face close to hers when he was done. "No jokes this time." he said softly. "I really do love you."
"I know. I could tell." She smiled at touched the end of her nose to his. "But it's nice to hear it."
Link let her step back from him this time. "Was I really that obvious? I was doing my best to hide it, especially when I first found you again. I know I did let it slip a few times, like when I had you on my lap, or when I didn't control myself and kissed your hand."
Ilia stooped to pick up the flute she had made and put it around his neck. "At first I wasn't sure, because I was attracted to you and completely overwhelmed by it. I had no idea why I was drawn to this guy I knew nothing about. I knew it wasn't only because you're gorgeous." His chest felt warm hearing her say that. "For a while, I didn't know what was going through my mind or yours. Eventually I could tell by looking at your eyes. Even though you were trying to hide it, I could still tell." It wasn't surprising to hear her say that, not after so many other people had told him how easily it was to read him.
"It was hard. I could tell that you were attracted to me, and both me and Midna overheard you say so to Telma once. I didn't want to lead you on before you had your own self sorted out, but eventually you began to remember things. Then I couldn't help but be myself around you."
"I think it's good that you did that. I could feel something when I would look at you, but I didn't understand until I stopped being afraid of regaining memories. By then I was more than happy to be your friend, but I suspected that there might be more you weren't telling me. That's why I asked if we were dating." She laughed. "Not one of my best moments. I did have that anxiety when I'd look at you sometimes, but now I know it was because of what happened at the spring." She put her hand to the side of his face. "We've got it all sorted out. You love me, I love you, and we both need to go eat dinner before we get in trouble."
He could have said a dozen things in response to that. Instead he took her hand in his, turned his head and kissed the inside of her wrist. It made her giggle. He kept her hand in his and walked with her to the door, unable to stop smiling. Link opened the door to the Sanctuary and stepped out into the night, still holding her hand. Even that small amount of physical contact made him giddy, only because what it now meant. They began walking towards the Eld Inn, but found Gor Coron waiting for them in the road, his two strong fists holding onto the arms of Talo and Malo.
"Good, there they are." Coron said in the stern tone used by parents everywhere. "Boys, what do you say?"
"Uh…" Talo looked as if he he wanted to be anywhere else but here, and avoided looking at them.
"We saw you kissing." Malo said bluntly.
Link was glad it was dark, because he didn't want the children to see his face change color.
"It's not what you think!" Talo said in a hurry. "You guys never came to dinner, so we came out here to get you! It's not like we meant to watch!"
How long was he making out with Ilia? They weren't in there all that long...were they? "It was none of your business, and you shouldn't have been spying." Link crossed his arms, trying to look stern and not embarrassed.
"Was it nice?" Malo asked. It was an innocent question, but it was still irritating. The boy couldn't have meant to be annoying on purpose. He was only six.
"Malo!" Ilia said sharply. Her tone made the normally-indifferent child look guilty.
"I'm really sorry." Talo said. He sounded genuine.
"Sorry." his brother said with a lot less enthusiasm.
"All right, it's done." Gor Coron said. "You two go back, and don't you dare tell anyone what you saw. Link's right; it's none of your business." He released the two children and they ran to the inn without looking back. After they went inside, the Goron gave Link and Ilia a little knowing smile. "The next time you two decide to do that, try to pick someplace that doesn't have the windows open, hmm?" He turned and walked through the town, over to where a group of Goron merchants had stalls still open on the side of the road.
"He makes it sound like we planned that." It wasn't like he had intended to stand around and kiss her for a while. Things had just kind of happened.
Ilia growled. "Those boys...I'm going to make them take a bath tonight. I'm steamed!" She started stalking towards the inn, and Link walked a few paces behind her. She was a bit intimidating when she was angry, so he was glad she wasn't angry with him.
"If you're going to do that, let me know when, because I was hoping to take a bath tonight." His temporary cleaning at Impaz's house didn't feel sufficient. Even though he had washed away the blood from his clothes, it still felt like it clung to his skin and hair. And he had been kissing Ilia that way. It was any wonder she didn't say something about it.
"Well then, maybe you can give them a bath." Ilia said sourly while yanking the door to the inn open. She fixed her green eyes on him and he recoiled just a bit, even though he knew he wasn't the cause of her ire. "Sorry. I'm not mad at you." She turned and walked in.
"And I'm not taking them up there with me." Link said as he followed her inside and pulled the door shut behind them. "I'd rather have some peace and quiet, thanks."
"Fun with the boys?" Ashei asked. She wasn't standing near the fire, but instead was sitting the wrong way on the long bench, stretching her legs out in front of her. She had removed her armor and held a glass mug, and it looked like there was some kind of beer or ale in it.
"I don't want to talk about it." Ilia muttered before he could even respond. "I just want to eat dinner."
There weren't many people left in the common room, and Telma was clearing things away from the long table. Other than Ashei, Shad and Renado sat at the table, and Ooccoo sat on a knitted trivet near the shaman. Shad was writing in a book and drinking whatever Ashei was having, but Renado had tea. So did Ooccoo, who was drinking hers out of a small whiskey glass.
Telma looked up as she was about to bring a covered dish from the table to kitchen. "Oh, sure. Now you two get here, when I'm busy taking it all away."
"Sorry we're late." Link apologized. "Memory stuff, and then we had to talk about the memory stuff."
"Did you have any success?" Renado asked.
Ilia's sour mood evaporated and she smiled widely, suddenly excited. "Renado, it worked! I have to tell you about it!" She yanked on Link's arm and pulled him closer to the table. Ilia put her hand behind the flute that hung around his neck and lifted it slightly. "This is a gift I made for Link for his birthday. He showed it to me, and then I started to remember things, all the things about him I had forgotten. Everything came back!" She turned to Telma, who had wandered over to the two of them. "We've been best friends since we were children. I can't believe that out of everything I had forgotten, he was the one thing that I couldn't remember." She smiled fondly at Link. "As it turns out, he's been the most important person in my life for years." He couldn't help but smile back at that after hearing her say it, as sappy as it sounded.
Telma came and wrapped the two young people in a hug, one arm around each of them, and she kissed them each on the cheek. "I'm happy that you both got that sorted out. My heart was breaking from watching you two bumble through all this amnesia stuff, when I knew you were close before it all happened." She leaned in close to Ilia's ear, but he could still hear her talk. "You've got him, honey. You've finally got him."
Renado stood up, smoothing out his robe. "Now that you two are finally back, I can open the Sanctuary to the people who wish to pray to Hylia." It was technically a place of worship for Eldin, but the Light Spirits were servants of Hylia. The shaman perked a brow at them. "You were in there for quite a while." Did he know?
Link untangled himself from from Telma and Ilia. "After she started to remember, she had to talk her way through the thing that had caused her memory block. And then after that, there was a lot to talk about." Heh, "talk". "I hope we didn't hold anyone up."
The shaman shook his head, and started to move around the table to walk to the door. "Please do not worry about it. Ilia's memory was important. You two will have to go into a little more detail, once we have the time. This is the first time I have run into a memory block like that, and I want to know exactly what caused it."
"I thought I saw Link die." Ilia said, her voice bland and emotionless. She tried to say it quickly so she wouldn't dwell on it too much, but he saw tears form in her eyes.
Even though Telma still had a hand on her shoulder, he put an arm around Ilia. "Hey." he said quietly. "We made it, remember? I'm with you. Don't cry, or you'll make me start." That made her laugh, and she wiped at her eyes with her fingers.
"Is that really what caused it?" Renado put a hand to his chin. "Hmm, yes. That actually makes a lot of sense. Watching a loved one die in front of your eyes is quite the traumatic experience."
Telma fixed him with a hard stare. "Well way to blab about it, Renado."
He blinked, and then averted his dark eyes in embarrassment. "Ah—that is...even I make mistakes sometimes, all right?" Renado said, actually flustered. It was strange to see him that way, but then again he was only human like anyone else. "I was talking to myself more than any of you."
"You weren't supposed to tell anyone." Ilia frowned at the shaman. "And here you had to go and say that." So she had been telling Renado certain personal things.
"We all knew anyway." Ashei said, still staring into the fire.
Ooccoo raised one of her clawed hands. "I didn't know."
"You weren't exactly subtle about it." Shad said as he looked up from what he was working on. "You do recall how cute the two of you were up in the apple orchard the other evening, right? And then the two of you would sit next to one another all the time and pretend that it was completely normal and natural, and there was no other reason behind it."
"See? Even Shad thought it was a date." Ilia gave Link a pointed look.
He threw up his hands. "You know what? Sure. We went on a date even though we weren't dating. Whatever. I'm going to eat dinner now."
Link and Ilia ate together as he told Shad, Telma and Ooccoo how the trip to Old Kakariko had gone. Renado came back before too long, and sat back down at his now-cool mug of tea. Link had considered not telling them how he had lost himself to the beast and killed so much of the Bulblin occupation by himself, but he knew he had to leave it in. He was about to get to that part when he mentioned that Auren was shot.
Shad stood up suddenly. "Auren's hurt?"
"Relax, she's fine. Sit down, she isn't off dying in her father's arms or anything." He waved at the other man to indicate that he should sit down. "Just let me tell the story all right? If you're really worried, you can go talk to her when I'm done." Once Shad settled, Link continued with his story. "She was right at the edge of the canyon wall, and she fell forward. I knew I couldn't get there in time, but Midna did. She shot over there faster than an arrow and caught her. That's when I saw Auren was bleeding, and I lost it."
"I would have lost it too, if I had seen that." Shad admitted, still sounding concerned even though he had been told that Auren was fine.
"Not like this. There's this terrible anger in me that comes out when the people I care about are in trouble. Telma's seen it, and I think Ilia's seen a little of it too. I know it's frightening to watch. Even Midna's admitted that, and she knows I would never hurt anyone when I'm like that." He stared down at his half-empty plate, unsure if he wanted to finish his second helping. Talking about the beast bothered him, and he had lost his appetite. "Because I was in that rage, and because I let myself use my piece of the Triforce while in that rage, I was able to kill many Bulblins and Shadow Beasts. Far more than the others did."
"How many, if I may ask?" Ooccoo asked.
He looked across the table at the bird-woman, and then lowered his eyes again, feeling uncomfortable admitting it. "About a third of the Bulblins, and all of the Shadow Beasts." His voice grew quiet, since he had a better idea of what the numbers actually were after speaking to Darbus about it. "Somewhere around eighty, and then around fifty."
"He's not exaggerating." Ashei said. "I watched him until he ran off to fight the Shadow Beasts, and I know that he took care of every last one of those since he can't be transformed. I saw some of that fight and I've never seen anything like it."
"I believe it, after watching him use his power to fight a phantom. It was both stronger and just as fast as he was, and so he used the Triforce of Courage to make himself even stronger and even faster." Ooccoo set down her empty glass, finished with her tea. "He wasn't remorseful about it then, but I can see that he is now. Are you all right, dear?"
"I'm better than I was. I'm still not happy about it. Being able to do something like that scares me. I'm good at killing, but I hate to kill." He felt Ilia's hand slip into his own beneath the table. She had already told him that she wasn't afraid of him, and that he was the same person. Most of his friends had said that. "I talked to Auren, Ashei and Midna about it, and they're not worried. They said that I'm the same guy to them."
"You'll always be the idiot with the sock hat to me." Ashei said before taking a drink of her beer. She looked over at him with a smirk, and it faded. "You keep finding new reasons to mope, Link. So what if you have a special anger that makes you efficient? It isn't an actual warrior's rage, so we're safe with you."
"It doesn't sound like one." Shad looked into his mostly-empty mug of dark beer, considering it, and then looked up at Link. "I've heard of the warrior's rage, but it doesn't have something that triggers it other than battle itself. People simply start going berserk. In Old Kakariko, Auren being hurt was the trigger. What about the other times?"
"Two times it was Ilia. The first time it was when we were attacked by Bulblins in Ordon. I saw her get wounded, and even though I didn't have a weapon I couldn't stop myself from fighting." He shook his head, and snorted. "Do you have any idea how stupid it is to run at mounted warriors with nothing but your fists? It didn't matter to me, and well...what happened after that did things to poor Ilia here." He felt her grip on his hand tighten, and he put an arm around her shoulders. She edged closer to him and put an arm around his waist, but didn't say anything.
"The second time I had weapons, but still not a lot of common sense. Telma had Ralis and Ilia in the back of her wagon, and the Bulblins started to shoot fire arrows at it. When it started on fire, I heard Ilia scream, and then it happened. This time I was focused even though I was still out of control. I know that sounds weird...but I knew what I needed to do and did it without worrying about how. It was just how it was in Old Kakariko, actually. It ended about the same way too. When Telma came to check on me, I looked back at her and frightened her. I wasn't going to hurt her, but she didn't know that. I was actually listening to check if any more Bulblins were coming, and I hadn't been able to calm down yet."
"That's what that was? I really did think you were going to attack me. You had this look that made me think of a wild animal." She shook her head. "You couldn't blame me for my reaction."
"No, I really couldn't. I wasn't mad about it, and later Ilia said that she wasn't afraid, so it was fine." He was enjoying having her close, even though she had remained quiet through the discussion. "Darbus said it was fine too, although I actually was going to attack him. Telma said my name so I knew it was her. Darbus reached out and touched me without saying anything." He looked at his food again. Maybe he ought to eat it even if it was cold. Of course he had a story to tell.
"The one time it happened and I was completely out of control was when the Bulblin king hurt Colin and then used him as bait to lure me out of Kakariko and all the way north to the Eldin Bridge. That's not to say I didn't have moments where my mind was clear; it was a long ride after all. But I started out screaming at them and shooting every single arrow I had." He sighed. "I wish the one time I hit King Fathead, it didn't bounce off his armor and actually had hit him in the neck. That would have saved us a lot of grief. In any case, that time I really didn't keep track of how many Bulblins I killed. All I knew is I needed to get Colin back here so Renado could help him."
"So loved ones are your trigger." Shad said. He quickly held his hands up in a defensive manner. "Not that I'm saying you love Auren."
"There are lots of different kinds of love, yeah?" Ashei said, staring into her empty mug with a frown.
"Yes, and you experience none of them." the scholar shot back, not missing a beat.
"It isn't just loved ones. I was pretty angry in the Arbiter's Grounds. I needed to be, if I was going to get through that place." He wasn't really enjoying talking about the beast, but at the same time he understood that his friends wanted to learn more about him. He had learned a lot about them so far, so it only seemed fair. "Shad, you remember what you said about the people who were rounded up by the army because of the magic law, right?"
"Of course, but I'll repeat it since not everyone here knows. They were sent into that prison in the desert, the one known as the Arbiter's Grounds." The young scholar looked grim. "I take it you found them?"
"Yeah, when I went there with Auru and Auren. They weren't people anymore. They became undead." He shivered at the memory, at how his mind had tricked him into believing that he was in Kasuto again. Ilia's arm around his waist tightened. He'd have to talk to her about his return to Kasuto too. "I'm terrified of them. I had a different experience with them not too long ago and it did something to me. I panicked to the point where I didn't know where I was or what I was doing. It was their screams."
"You don't have to talk about this." Ilia said softly when he shivered again. "It's enough that we know your rage happened again in that prison."
"No, I should tell them. I wanted to tell Shad about this anyway. So far, the only other people who know are Auru, Auren and Renado." He looked across the table at the other young man again. "Midna was able to get me to snap out of it. She and the other two kept talking to me to try to distract me, and I did my best to use the Master Sword to kill every last one of them. I kept trying to think of things to keep my mind off what I was doing, and then I thought of the number I had killed so far, and about how many might be left." He stared at his half-eaten plate of food again. "It was at least three hundred."
"Three hundred? You killed three hundred undead on your own, even though you were afraid of them?" Telma seemed surprised, which she shouldn't have been, not after he told her of what happened in Old Kakariko.
"I had to. Those poor people needed to rest, and I couldn't leave them there to wander in a dark ruin until they turned to dust. Since I have the Master Sword, I was the only one who was able to do it. Anyway, once Midna did the math to figure out how many people had been left there to die, the rage kicked in. It wasn't as strong as it was before, and because of that I was able to control it and let it push me forward. It wasn't a loved one but more of an abstract concept that made me rage. The thing I was angry at this time was King Adelbert himself, and what he did to Hyrule and his people. It became a lot easier after I was angry, since I wasn't afraid anymore." He shrugged. "And that's it. In order, it was: the spring, Colin's capture, Telma's wagon being attacked, the undead, and then Auren getting shot." Story done, he picked up his fork again. May as well finish his meal.
"Five moments of rage with five triggers." Renado said, folding his hands in front of him. "Did you ever have problems with anger that put you out of control before?"
Ilia laughed, and answered for him since he was chewing. "He did. Link used to pick fights with the other boys, or even young men in Ordon. Sometimes he wouldn't stop until I quite literally put myself in the way." She stopped smiling, and glanced at him for a second before continuing. "I think I understand why he was like that, but it's not my place to say. I will say that he got better over time. That's probably due to Rusl keeping an eye on him."
"You and Rusl." Link said, in-between bites. "I was doing pretty well because of you two, until the gods gave me a new profession and a set of clothes to go along with it. I think that's why it's been coming out again. Ashei's father did tell me that my father had the similar problems with anger, but I'm not sure it's the same since Brent never saw me in a true rage, just normal anger. I know that I have a temper, and so did my father. Apparently he was only able to get it under control through years of training."
"Then may I suggest you attempt the same training? I do not know very much about your parents, but if your father found a way to control his anger, perhaps you will be able to do the same." It was a good idea, but Renado had no idea that Gwyn was a knight, and didn't understand what he was suggesting.
"That might get a bit complicated, but I honestly don't want to talk about this anymore. I don't really want to sit here and monologue about myself all night, especially since it's just going to make me moody. I'll tell you more another time." He put chunk of goose in his mouth as an indicator that he really was done talking about it.
"I want to see Auren if she was injured, even if she's fine." Shad said, rising to his feet.
"Ask her to come back here with you. I opened that cask of dark ale and the three of us aren't going to finish it." Telma told him, and then she looked over at Link. "Unless you want some?"
"I'm not getting drunk with you ever again." he said pointedly. "I learned my lesson."
"Yes, because I had to put him to bed and I wasn't happy about it." Ilia said, standing. "Speaking of putting to bed, I should hunt down the children. I didn't need to be in here to know that those boys ran out the back door."
"Leave it to Everybody's Momma to know what the bad kids are up to. They did exactly what you said, and I'll bet they're off with those Goron kids." Ashei stood as well, glass in hand. "I'm having more of that beer, since Link's a baby who can't handle his alcohol and isn't going to help us drink it."
"Fine, I'm a baby. A baby who is smarter than you." He called after the other warrior as she walked into the kitchen. When he turned back to his empty plate to pick it up, he saw that Ilia was already doing so. "You really don't need to do that. I am capable of taking care of myself, you know."
"She's Everybody's Momma. Let her do her job." Shad said with a smirk, and then he walked out of the front door to search for Auren.
"I'll wash your plate, you go wash you." the young woman said, clearing away Link's dishes. "This is another night when you came back here smelling of things that aren't yourself. I don't even know what it is on you tonight."
He felt his ears turn hot at that. Of course he'd notice he smelled like old blood on top of smelling like horse. Not only that, but he had held her close for a long time while smelling like that. "Blood. I'm going."
"Blood? What, from the Bulblins? Now I have questions, but they can wait until later." She turned to Renado. "Once I get the kids to bed, we can talk for a few minutes and I can tell you what happened."
Link left them behind and went up to his room. Midna was there, as he had exected, but sitting in complete darkness. She had been reading while seated on the bed, and in the light coming from the doorway he could see her look up when he entered the room. "Oh, hey. There you are." The aqua runes on her body and ears glowed in the low light.
"Why don't you light a lamp or something?"
"Why would I do that? I don't need it to see." She had a point. Sometimes he forgot that she could see in complete darkness. "So...how did it go? You were were gone for quite a while before I could hear your voice downstairs."
He lit the lamp, since he actually did need it to see, and shut the door. Link couldn't keep the elation out of his voice. "She remembers me, Midna. She remembered everything."
"Everything? Did you figure out what caused her memory block? Was it the spring?" The Twili put a scrap of paper she had taken from somewhere in between the pages of the book and shut it.
He began to remove his vambrace, preparing to go up to the bath. "I thought it was because she was injured, or maybe because the two of us were injured together. That wasn't it all. She thought that I died. Even though she saw me alive later, the fact that she had saw me die in front of her locked up any memories of me."
"But she remembered you once she talked to Impaz. She had that attack and started screaming your name before blacking out, just like some of her attacks while she as here." Midna drummed her little fingers on the cover of her book. "And she said something about remembering riding a boar to Old Kakariko. So the spring wasn't when she forgot things."
He stopped in the act of pulling off his gloves to look at her. "Huh. Yeah, that's right." He resumed removing his gloves. "If she still remembered me in Old Kakariko, then it was the combination of that attack and of her thinking I died at the spring." Link shook his head. "When I talked to her about the spring, she started to cry when she told me she watched me die. That's how she phrased it: 'I saw you die. You were dead.'. Then she couldn't stop crying. I don't know if I've ever seen her cry that hard, other than when her mother died." He stopped in the act of removing his belt, and looked at the piece of leather in his hands. "Even though I was happy she remembered me, it broke my heart to see her that upset."
"Poor girl. Well, at least it was you with here there. Then what happened?"
"Uh." He tossed the belt on the chair here he had tossed his gloves and bracers. "I kissed her. A lot."
Midna rolled her eyes. "I assumed that part, considering how long you were gone. I mean, what did you say?"
"I told her that it was all right now, since we were both alive. That we made it through in the end." He removed the pendant that Ilia had made and carefully set it on the bedside table. "I don't think that's what made her stop crying, but it helped. She stopped eventually."
"Eventually? Did she cry herself out?"
"No, that's not what stopped her. The kissing did." He reached down and pulled the green tunic over his head.
Midna laughed. "I'm not surprised. I saw how you can kiss the other night. I have to admit that I was a little jealous."
He blinked at her. "What, jealous of Ilia? Did you want a kiss or something? Because that's kind of weird." Where the heck was this conversation going? Did he even want to be having it?
She laughed again. "That's not it. I already told you I wouldn't kiss you if you were the last man left alive." The Twili shook her head. "No, the reason is I'm jealous of Ilia is because she has somebody who loves her as much as you do. I never had anybody like that. I've been watching how you act around her, and how everything built up to tonight." She sighed and looked down at the cover of her book. "It must be nice to have somebody like that."
Link stopped and stared at her. He had removed his armor, and stood there with the coppery-colored chain shirt in his hand. What did he say to that? He knelt to roll up the shirt on the floor. "Midna? Are you lonely?"
"No. Not anymore. I have you, and I've made a lot of other friends while I've been in the light world."
"You know what I mean." Once the chain was away, he stood and removed his gambeson.
Midna sat there and watched him, and then hugged her book to her chest. "A little. It wasn't important to me before because I was concentrating on what we were doing, but...I guess now it is."
"I'm sorry." What kind of life did she have in the Twilight Realm? If she was his counterpart, she could be all alone due to nobody being able to grow close to her. He knew that he made friends easily, but Midna only seemed to make them because he was around. She had said "not anymore". Did that mean that she was alone back home, not just in the romantic sense?
"Don't be. It's nothing you can do anything about." She opened her book again, probably in an attempt to dismiss the subject.
He thought about picking her up and holding her close, but decided not to. If she wanted a hug, she'd simply come and get one. "All right. But if you need to talk about anything, I'm here. Okay?"
"You worry about me too much. I'm made of tougher stuff than you." While she wasn't wrong, Midna did have her vulnerable moments. He thought of her needing to be near his heart, and how she had almost sounded like she was in tears when she admitted it. "Are you going to bed already? I can move." The little imp stood up.
"No, go ahead and relax for a while longer. I'm going to wash. I feel like there's still blood in my hair." He went to the top drawer of the dresser to retrieve the outfit Ilia had made for him, and stopped when he saw that there was a second set of clothes. He pulled out the shirt, which was cut the same way as the first, but in sky blue. A set of black leggings were folded beneath it. Ilia had made them while he was gone, in just over a day and a half. "When she's stressed, she sews…"
"What?"
"Ilia made me more clothes. She told me that when she's stressed, she sews." He buried his face in the blue fabric. It faintly smelled like her. "I understand why she was stressed. She tells me she knows that I'll come out of everything okay...but it's a lie. She was worried." He lowered the shirt and looked at himself in the mirror, and his injuries. There was still the large bruise across his chest, and even though the old ones were starting to fade, they weren't gone entirely. He had also gained a round bruise near his navel, and a faint line on his cheek where the ice had cut him. "When I come back looking like this, I can't blame her."
"It's still better than coming back in a coffin." There was a faint papery sound as Midna turned the page behind him, still able to read and have a conversation at the same time. "You'd be worried sick if the situation was reversed."
The battered young man in the mirror stared back at him, his blue eyes tired. "Yeah." He stopped looking at his reflection and gathered up the new clothes. If he kept looking at himself, he'd see how different he looked now, something he didn't want to think about too much. Or at least think about without Ilia to talk to about it. Link stepped out of the room and went to bathe.
He did it quickly, although it felt as if there wasn't enough soap to wash himself this time. He knew that most of the blood he had coated himself with yesterday was not from the Bulblins, but from the Shadow Beasts. After seeing the mutilated bodies as he walked with Impaz to her home, he knew that he had let the beast go too far, and used Courage too much while fighting what were the former people of Hyrule. Even if killing them was a mercy, the way he had gone about it was cruel. He never had the chance to mention that part to Renado and the others, and it was the part that actually bothered him. Perhaps he could speak to Ilia about it.
He could hear Ashei's laughter as he came back inside from the rear stairs. The woman probably had been drinking the entire time he was gone, since she sounded drunk. Telma's and Shad's voices were a tad on the loud side too, and he could hear Auren as well. It was probably wise that he decided to not have any.
There was laughing coming from his room as well. He opened the door and stepped inside to find Ilia sitting next to Midna on the bed, the two of them looking at the pages of a book with open mirth on their faces. He felt a small wave of relief; he had thought they were laughing about him.
"You need to look at this." Midna told him. "This is a Gerudo book about animals that the queen owned. I'm not sure why she had it, but the pictures in it are really funny." She flipped the book around and held it up for him to see, and while he couldn't read Gerudo, he could certainly see the pictures. There was an illustration of a weird brown dog thing with what looked like sticks poking up from its head. It wasn't that the illustration was badly-drawn, but it was more that the animal itself seemed wrong.
"What's that supposed to be, some mythical monster? A horned fox?" he guessed.
"No, a deer!" Ilia giggled, the kind of giddy laughter somebody makes when they've been laughing about something for a while.
"Huh. I guess they don't know how to draw animals they've never seen. There aren't a lot of deer in the desert." He took from the book from Midna and sat next to Ilia, and placed it on his lap. After flipping the pages, he came to an illustration of a Lizalfos. "Yeah, see? When the artist drew Lizalfos, it looks like a real monster." Link flipped back several pages and landed on something that looked like it was part cucco and part snake, its neck long and scaled. "Is this is supposed to be a swan or goose?" Now he had to laugh too.
"It says 'goose'." Midna informed him. She watched as he flipped ahead past the Lizalfos illustration with a smile, and her smile faded when he stopped at a page with a familiar green-skinned creature with horns. Both Link and Ilia stopped smiling as well. "I don't think I need to tell you what that one is supposed to be."
The illustrations of the Bulblins were spot on, except they didn't have masks on. Their faces were ugly and rounded with very little chin, and the larger of the two had long, curved horns pointing up, while the smaller had short horns pointing down. A male and a female. That made sense, because the odd deer did have a version without badly-drawn horns, so the species that had differences between the sexes had both of them shown. Link looked at the Gerudo script on the page, and wished he could read the language. "What does it say?"
"I need to paraphrase, but…" Midna moved to the other side of him so she could see better, and quickly scanned the words before translating them out loud. "Bulblins are a goblinoid race from the savannas of Holodrum. It is believed that they are a distant cousin to Moblins, but are far more evolved. Bulblins have communities, farms and domesticated animals, unlike Moblins. They have a caste system based off strength and horn size, and usually the males are in the higher castes. The weaker warriors are punished with cruelty, and the elderly and children kept separate from the others due to their inability to fight. There are records of their society not being like this generations ago, but it is unknown what changed. Currently, Bulblins have a tendency to follow the orders of stronger, more intelligent races."
"That makes a lot of sense. No wonder they're such jerks and decided to do what Zant wanted." he said.
Midna pointed at the next page, at a picture of one of the giant gray boars. "It says that those are dire boars, and they're domesticated warthogs. What's a warthog? A wild pig?"
He actually had an answer to that, having his own collection of books on animals at home. "It's a big, mean pig with nasty tusks." Link flipped the page and there was a terrifying illustration there drawn in detail. It was a large six-limbed monster with the body of a horse, the torso and arms of a humanoid, and the head of a lion. Its red-maned head was crowned with a pair of curling horns like a ram's. The creature held two swords, one in each hand, and wore a few mismatched pieces of armor. "Okay, I don't know what this is, but I'm going to guess it doesn't live in Hyrule." He certainly hoped it didn't live in Hyrule.
"It says it's a Lynel. Hey, didn't General Scot mention these things?" Midna scanned the Gerudo text. "Let's see...Lynels are the apex predators in Holodrum. While they mostly live on the savannas, they have been found on the western plains and even in the mountains. They are strong, fast, territorial, and intelligent. Lynels can run as fast as a horse, are strong enough to lift and throw their own weight, and can breathe fire."
"That sounds frightening." Ilia said, looking at the illustration with a worried expression.
"Ah, I see. This is why it's after the Bulblin page. Lynels tend to enslave lesser creatures like Bokoblins and Bulblins, and force them to fight and help them maintain their territory." the Twili continued. "Luckily, they are usually busy fighting one another, and tend to not breed often due to their aggressive nature. Only mated pairs of Lynels have ever been seen to work together. It is recommended that they are avoided at all times." She sat back, folding her small hands on her little lap. "Wow. I thought some of the monsters in the Twilight Realm were scary, but this guy takes the cake. They're so mean they can't even breed often?"
"Link, please tell me you're never going to Holodrum." Ilia said, putting her hands on his arm.
He hated to do it, but he knew he had to lie to her. "I wouldn't worry about it. There's no reason for me to travel past the desert, and I doubt there's any reason for those things to come here, otherwise they'd be here already. If they were here, we'd certainly know about it." He handed the book back to Midna, who had to know he was lying, yet hadn't said anything about it. "Your book stopped being funny. I don't want to look at it anymore." He hated to think of what else lived to the west.
"Yeah, I don't blame you." She took the book, closed it, and tucked it under one thorny arm. "I'm going to let you two talk without me lurking. Besides, I heard Auru down there. I'm curious about some of the things in this book, and I'm sure he knows about them." Midna rose into the air to hover in front of them. "You two behave, now. I don't want to come back later to find anything indecent happening."
Ilia turned pink. "Midna, you should know that we're responsible. We're Ordonians. You can trust us." Link knew that his face was probably a similar shade of pink.
"Oh, I won't deny that most of the time you're good. But that night Link came back drunk, you two got very close to making a mistake." She smiled at Ilia's response, which was to turn redder and cover her mouth with her hands. "You're just as much of a good girl as he's a good boy, but you were having problems being a good girl that night, weren't you? I learned how to read somebody's body pretty well by hanging out on Link, and I jumped into your shadows for a bit to see how you were doing. Your hormones were just as out of control as his usually are." The little imp laughed at the two of them. "Behave, kids. I'll see you later." Midna opened the door and left, shutting it behind her.
"I'd lock her out if it did any good." Link grumbled. "Sometimes I think it would be nice to wake up by myself, without all the commentary on everything."
Ilia groaned, still embarrassed. "She could tell? Like, actually tell? I was doing my best to not let on."
"I'm sure she could tell. She listens to my breathing and heart, and can tell when I'm tired, nervous or um, excited. It bothers me." He put a hand to his chest. "She lurks beneath my clothes so she can read me like that. I don't think she started out that way, but now she's usually there, right up against my heart. It's why I had that fight with her the other night. She doesn't seem to understand why I don't want her right up against my bare chest like that. Or maybe she does, and doesn't care." He sighed. "She insists she's doing it because I'm important, and she wants to protect me. I can get that, but I swear she has ulterior motives."
"Does she?" Ilia scooted closer to him so she could slide an arm around his waist. He certainly could get used to her touching him all the time.
Link lowered his voice and moved his face close to Ilia's ear, just in case Midna wasn't far. "I think she's in love with me."
She turned her face to look at him, so very close. If they weren't having this discussion he would have kissed her. "You're probably right. It sounds like she is." Her voice was quiet too. "But she's this little monster thing."
"She's a woman." he corrected her, starting to feel distracted by how close she was. "You've talked to her and can't deny that she's a person. She's been cursed into that form, but her mind hasn't changed." She was so close he could hear her breathing, and even this close her green eyes looked into his. "I've been ignoring it. So far it's been working. I don't want to make things awkward…" He stopped talking, a little too distracted at this point.
"Keep doing your best." Her eyes moved a bit to examine his face, and it seemed he wasn't the only one who was distracted. "You know, I can't blame her. I've had a hard time holding my own self back, not just the night you got drunk. Do you have any idea how attractive you are?"
He chose to answer without words and leaned down to kiss her. She let out a big sigh that could either have been pleasure or frustration due to him interrupting their conversation. Maybe a bit of both. It wasn't too long before she pulled back, although she didn't move far. "Link…" Even though she protested, she sounded amused. He ignored her mild complaint and kissed at her jawline, and then down along her neck. He could hear her breathing grow faster, which only egged him on. "Link." she said again, although it was still a weak protest, and so he didn't stop. "Gods, you're distracting."
"I certainly hope so." he said in-between kisses. After hearing her reaction he most certainly wanted to keep being a distraction.
"While I'm enjoying this, I do have questions that I've been waiting for years to ask you."
"And I've been waiting for years to kiss you." He sat up with a sigh and ran a hand through his hair. "But all right. To be continued." He could see that her face was flushed, and she was breathing a bit fast. She had really gotten riled up, even though she insisted she needed to talk to him. He was pleased at how easily he could put her in that state. "So what did you want to ask?"
Ilia cleared her throat and took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. "I want to know where you came from. I know that your mother was sick and died after you got to Ordon, but other than that I don't know anything."
Link looked away from her, not sure if this was the time for them to discuss it. Yes, they were alone, but he was tired and already emotionally worn down from talking about the beast earlier. "I want to tell you, but not right now."
"Why not? You told me that there was a lot I don't know about you." She put a hand on his knee. "You didn't change your mind, did you?"
"No, that's not it. I still want to tell you, but if I tell you tonight I'm going to turn into a blubbering mess." He was currently content with being near her, and didn't want to ruin that feeling, at least for tonight.
Ilia's tone was dry. "Link, after how much I cried a few hours ago, I doubt it's going to matter if you do."
"Please, I really don't want to right now." He took her hand in his and met her eyes again. "I'll tell you tomorrow, okay? It's not a light subject, and I'm really screwy in the head because of it. I know it'll be hard for me to talk about, even to you."
Her expression softened and she pushed some of his messy hair out of his eyes. "All right. I understand. We can go for a walk away from everyone else tomorrow. Does that sound okay?"
"Yeah, that should be okay." He sighed and rested his face on her shoulder. "Right now I'm enjoying being near you. I don't have to hide who I am anymore."
"Me either. It's kind of funny, how we kind of were together yet weren't before the invasion, and then it happened to us again here in Kakariko." She ran a hand through his hair, which made him sigh again. "That wasn't just me, right? Back in Ordon there were times when you'd look at me a certain way and I'd start hoping, but then it would go nowhere."
"The night before the Bulblins attacked, I actually considered going for it and kissing you. I thought that maybe you'd get mad and hit me, but I also thought it would be worth it. In the end I decided I didn't want to make you angry." He knew she was touching his hair again because he liked it, and wished he could think of something he could do for her.
She laughed. "Really? I wouldn't have hit you. In fact, if you had done that while we were all alone like that, I would have been able to talk to you about how I felt." She paused. "If we had done that, then the attack at the spring wouldn't have happened."
"You might have been safe, although then the children wouldn't have been." He would have looked her in the eye again, but he was more than content to sit there and let her pet his head. "They would have been dead…" That made him think of some things he wanted to talk to her about, and they weren't about him. "Hey, can I ask you...do you remember saving them from the Bulblins?" Her hand stopped on the back of his head. She didn't say anything in response, and so he lifted his head to look at her. "Ilia? You okay?"
Her eyes we staring ahead, but they weren't blank. She wasn't having one of her attacks; she was remembering. "I...I do now that you said something. I remember being taken by the big Bulblin with the long horns and blue boar." Ilia's eyes stopped staring and she blinked. "You called him King Fathead. That's a pretty good name for him."
"I can think of cruder names, but nothing I'd want to say in front of you or the others." He was glad that she wasn't having an attack, although she did look uncomfortable. "You don't feel like you're going to faint or anything, right?"
"I don't think so." She put her hands in her lap and he sat up straight again. "The ride hurt my shoulder, and I remember crying...but I wasn't crying about being hurt. I was crying about you. He broke off the arrow and...and then I don't remember much. I think I blacked out because it hurt a lot. When I woke up again I was on the ground in a field somewhere, with a bunch of other people, including the children. There was a tall man that hid his face behind this weird metal helmet, and he was not happy with the head Bulblin. I guess the Bulblins couldn't tell the difference between Hylians and round-eared humans."
"It took me a while to realize that most of the Bulblins I was fighting were female, so I'm not surprised that the Bulblins weren't aware of the one small difference between our two races. I doubt they were looking at our ears." He traced the outside of the top of her ear with one finger, and saw the hairs on her arm stand up. Here he had wondered if she had ever noticed what her touch did to him, and he had never realized what his did to her. "The man in the mask was Zant."
"I had wondered why the Bulblins were listening to a human. Anyway, Zant told them to take us to "the village", and then he just...disappeared. I know that's teleportation now that I've met Midna. I knew we were in Central Hyrule and I could still see the forests not too far to the south, so I thought that maybe I could help the children get back to Faron before we got too far away. They know about Coro's place, so if I could get them there, they'd be safe." She frowned and rubbed at her arm, not because of the goose bumps he had given her, but because she was uneasy. "There were screams. Some of the people were fighting back, and the Bulblins were shooting them. They didn't live through being shot like I did. I don't know if they were from Ordon."
That meant that she had seen people being killed. He had hoped she hadn't seen anything, that she had been taken to Old Kakariko without incident, but that was not the case. She wasn't in tears, but that didn't matter to him. He reached over and pulled her into his lap, just like he had when she blacked out from an attack days ago, but this time he wasn't doing it because he was being a big baby.
Ilia sighed and rested her head on his chest. "Thank you." she said quietly.
"You said that it made you feel safe." He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead. "I'm sorry you saw those things."
She sat there and let herself be held, and continued. "I was more worried about the children seeing them. It gave me an opportunity, though...and I wasn't the only one with an idea. People started to run and the Bulblins had to scramble to catch them. There was chaos, so I took advantage of that and helped the children get away. There were a lot of groups of trees nearby, so I got them to one. There was a tree that had fell and still had part of its roots in the ground, so I had them hide beneath it. There wasn't room for me to hide with them, so I told them to wait until sunset and then to go south towards the forests. Then I left them there and started to run to an overturned cart so I could hide. Unfortunately that's when the Bulblin in charge found me."
She shook a little, even though her voice had been steady so far. "I'm glad you're with me. Being close to you makes this easier to talk about." After breathing a deep breath, she continued. "When he caught me, I did my best to fight back. I wasn't going to let this jerk take me away again, even if I was hurt. All he did was laugh, and then he hit me a bunch. I don't know how much or for how long, only that I could barely stay awake as he pulled me back onto his boar."
"That bastard." Link felt a small fire of anger ignite in his gut, but he couldn't worry about what King Bulblin had done now. He certainly had hurt the brute enough to make up for whatever he did to Ilia. "I almost killed him when you were in that wagon with Ralis. I stuffed a bomb into his armor."
"Good." She was still trembling a bit. "I'm trying to not be upset. I know the children got away and Renado found them. But for some reason, remembering that scares me."
"You're a sweet girl who spent her life surrounded by people who were kind. You went from that to watching somebody you cared about die and then getting dragged off, only to watch more people get killed and then get beaten when you tried to escape." He heard her sniffle and he kissed her forehead again. "I'm sorry, I don't want to make you cry. I'd never want to make you cry."
"It's okay. Even though we both made it, I think what happened is going to bother me for a while. I didn't used to cry this much."
"Me either. We're both different now. What happened changed us." He rested his cheek on top of her head. "But I still want to go home with you when this is all done. We can get past it and try to have a normal life together."
"That's all that I want. That's why I refused to go back to Ordon until I could remember you." She moved her hand to either wipe or rub at her face, but he couldn't see which. "I guess since I'm already upset, I should try to remember the rest."
"You don't have to. I know that you were at Old Kakariko and that you left the flute you made me there." He never managed to tell that part of the story earlier, having been derailed by talking about his rage.
"No, I should. I think the more I talk about it, the easier it will get." She sighed. "Let's see...it's kind of hazy. I was in pain. I probably was black and blue like you are, and the place I was shot just kind of...ached, constantly. Like somebody was jabbing me with a hot fireplace poker. I remember being tied down to a boar with another woman, and riding all night without rest, and then into the day after that. Those stupid pigs can run forever, and the only reason we stopped was to let the Bulblins sleep." Ilia paused. "We traveled for days. I remember going straight across Eldin. There were these ghost towns, and we rode right through one." His breath caught in this throat upon hearing her say that. She didn't ride through Kasuto, did she? It had to have been another town. Ilia didn't know what he was thinking, but she suddenly sounded concerned. "Are you okay? Your heart suddenly started beating fast."
He realized that she had her ear against his chest. "Yeah, I'm okay. Just remembering something. It's not anything we'll talk about tonight. You keep telling your story."
She lightly patted his chest and continued. "We eventually went over a big bridge and into the area with the red rocks. It wasn't long before we were in the town. There were others there already. They made us go int an old house and we were finally allowed to rest. That's when the old Sheikah woman came in to see us. Inaz...no." She grumbled, trying to remember the name. "Impaz! Impaz was her name. Some of the other people were injured by the Bulblins when they tried to escape, like me. She said she was a medic and she'd help us, but I was too tired to say anything. No, I wasn't just tired. I knew there was something terrible that happened, but for some reason I couldn't remember it."
That sounded in-line with what Impaz had told him. Ilia had been out of sorts and didn't speak much when she first came to Old Kakariko. "Do you think that's when you started to forget?"
"I'm not sure. She saw that my clothes were all bloody and dirty, so she brought me inside her house." She gave a weak-sounding giggle. "I'm actually wearing some of her old undergarments. Do you know how weird it is to wear someone else's underwear?"
Link chuckled. "I can understand your top, but I'm not sure I want to know why you needed new underwear."
"Look, they didn't stop to let us pee. The other woman on the boar did it too." She huffed a breath. "And I was on my monthlies too, so there was no saving my pants either." He felt her pat his chest. "I'm not grossing you out and ruining your image of me, am I?"
"Nah. I'm afraid I still love you and you're not getting rid of me."
"Good, because you're not getting rid of me either." Ilia sighed. "I don't know why, but telling this story is exhausting. Do you get tired telling us your stories?"
"Sometimes, like tonight. It's a stressful story, and that's why you're tired." He kissed the top of her head, and her soft hair tickled his nose a bit. "It's up to you if you keep going."
"I should talk about Impaz. She fixed up my shoulder first before getting me clean clothes. I know she was trying to be nice, but I had problems answering the questions she was asking me. She gave up until after I had washed myself out back and changed into the outfit you found me in. She...she asked me something. I don't…" Her hand clutched at his shirt. "I'm trying to remember, but I can't. All I remember is I was crying, and then I woke up in the middle of the night with a blanket on me. I felt like I needed to run. I almost got out without being noticed, but then these other two people started following me and the Bulblins saw them. I think the only reason I got out and they didn't was because I could run faster. There was a Bulblin with a bunch of bombs, and it started throwing them at us. It was noisy, and I heard the woman behind me scream." She sniffled, in tears again. "I could hear the rocks falling but I didn't want to look back. I knew that if I went back I could help those people, but I kept running."
That explained the rocks wedged in the canyon. That meant that the two people beneath all those rocks had been dead for weeks. "It's all right. You're not wrong for getting away. Ralis wouldn't have lived if you hadn't kept running that night. Two lives were lost, but two lives were saved."
"I know." Ilia said weakly. "That doesn't mean I don't feel guilty."
"I understand how you feel." He almost told her that he'd tell her about that tomorrow, but he didn't want to talk about himself when she was doing her best to remember.
"I wish I could remember that one part." Her voice was quiet and distant. "It's important. It's what made me forget."
"I know what happened. Impaz told me." Link looked down at her, but she still was curled up with her head on his chest. "I'm going to tell you, okay?"
"Okay."
He took a deep breath and calmly told her what he knew would hurt her. "She saw the gift you made me, since you were still wearing it around your neck after you changed your clothes. She could tell it was important, so she asked you what it was. You told her 'This is for Link'. Then you started to scream and took the flute off, and threw it. She said that you started to call my name and cried. Then suddenly, you blacked out."
Ilia started to breathe more quickly, and he could feel her start to tremble. She clutched at his shirt and buried her face in his chest. "I remember it. I remember. That's when my mind told me you were dead, that it was real." Her voice was muffled, but it sounded tearful. "I know you're alive. You're here, you're warm, you smell like you always did, but even then...for a while, I lost you."
"But I found you. I brought you here to the safest place I could think of, where the children are. Ever since I did that, I've been trying to take care of you, even though I know that I should focus on taking care of Hyrule. I only wish I could have been here for you more." He waited for her to say something, but she didn't move or speak. He couldn't tell if she was weeping or not, but her breathing was even. "Hey, you're going to be all right."
Her voice was quiet, and he could barely hear her. "I'll still remember it. I'll remember that horrible sound when they hit you, the blood, your eyes…"
"I know you will. I'll always remember seeing you shot, and the last thing I saw before nearly dying was how frightened you were. And...it ties in with other things I remember that changed me. That's how I know that you're changed now, and how hard it is to come back from something like that. But just how you helped me get better for years, I'm here to help you get better for however long you need me to."
She lifted her head and sat up straight to look at him. Even though she had been quiet, her face was wet. He reached up and put his hand to the side of her face. "Years ago, we were like this. You had lost your mother and were crying. I told you that I would take care of you no matter what, and I still mean it. I'll still mean it once I put Hyrule back in order, and I'll still mean it when we're old and gray."
Ilia smiled and put her hand on his, right over the mark for Courage. "What you just said was really sweet, but also very sappy. I've fallen in love with a dork. You're the biggest dork ever, Link."
"Yeah, but I'm your dork." he said, happy that she could smile about things. Maybe she was doing better, and she would get better just like he hoped.
She laughed softly and wiped at her face. "I wouldn't have you any other way."
"Psst."
The sound was soft and close to his face. He opened his eyes and saw Midna hovering close above him. He was momentarily confused, but then he felt movement against his left side, and saw the pale blonde head that was resting on his shoulder move. He didn't remember laying down with Ilia, but then again he didn't pay attention to much once she decided she was done talking and would much rather kiss him. Either the lamp had burned out or Midna had extinguished it, and gray light filtered through the window, the summer sky starting to brighten in preparation for the dawn.
"Are you awake?" Midna asked softly.
"I didn't mean to fall asleep here." Ilia said, sounding worried. She hadn't sat up yet and lay next to him with her head still on his shoulder, and an arm draped across his chest.
"It's all right. Nobody's up yet, I checked. I let you two sleep as long as I could, but you should go back to your room before people start waking." The Twili grinned, revealing her sharp fangs. "I know you were responsible, but others will get the wrong idea."
Ilia sat up and turned to look at the light coming from the window. Then she turned back to Midna, who moved out of her way. "Thanks, Midna."
The little gray and black creature reached out with a small hand and put it on the side of the blonde woman's face. "I'm already taking care of him, so it's not a stretch for me to take care of you too."
This made him chuckle, and Ilia turned to look at him. "I guess we lost track of time." he said to her.
"I guess we were both exhausted from telling our stories. At least I know I was. Even then you fell asleep first, and I didn't want to leave." she admitted with a smile.
"Oh. Didn't mean to fall asleep, sorry." It wasn't just telling the group his story, but hearing Ilia's was difficult, and this was all after riding all day, and using a lot of magical and physical energy the day before. It wasn't as if he had slept well on the floor of Impaz's home, either. He sat up next to Ilia. "I plan on spending a whole day here to rest, so we can have a bit more time together. You did want to take a walk, after all." He moved his eyes to Midna. "If that's fine with you. A day of rest?"
"I'm not going to argue, Link." the Twili said. "I already told you that you need to slow down a little, even if we need that last mirror shard. You used a lot of magic in Old Kakariko, and you really do need some rest."
"Now I have even more questions, but they can wait until tomorrow." Ilia leaned over to give him a quick kiss. She didn't seem shy about kissing him in front of Midna. Then again, she probably figured out that Midna had seen it before. "Until later."
"Yeah, later." He watched her as she stood up and crept out of the room, quietly shutting the door behind her. He couldn't even hear her as she tiptoed down the hall and snuck into her own room. Hopefully nobody else would. Link lay back down, not caring if he was on top of the blankets, or in his clothes for that matter. He was still sleepy. "Thanks." he said around a yawn.
"You have no idea what I did for you two. I hung out in Ilia's room just in case, and I'm glad I did. Ashei banged on the door much later in the night. She was drunk and asked if Ilia would like to go take a bath. I used that spell to disguise my voice as Ilia's, and told Ashei that I had been sleeping, and she should go do the same."
Link recalled the spell she spoke of, when Midna had assumed a deeper voice to deter his would-be suitors to go away. Shadow magic tended to be used for trickery like that. "Clever. And also wise. Ashei shouldn't sit in the bath when she's drunk." He felt his eyes close, and didn't bother to open them again.
Midna didn't reply, and was silent for a moment. Then he heard the sound of bare hands on the leather cover of a book from over in the corner of the room. When she spoke, her voice was distant as he drifted off to sleep. "You'd better be careful next time. I can't always save your butts."
