Sidon stared at Link uncomprehendingly until slowly a look of betrayal started to form on his face. Link winced in guilt.

"You're going to leave me behind?" Sidon asked incredulously, and then frowned in anger. "Excuse me, but who gave you the authority to decide that on your own?"

Link shook his head with a grimace. He had known this wouldn't go over well, but there were good reasons for his decision. Surely Sidon would come around.

'This is for the best', Link signed, 'You said it yourself, we can't carry around enough fish to last you the two weeks of travel. Probably not enough for two days, even. You'll be much better off here. I can just take your slate with me, have both devices fixed and then return here to get you. Then we can get back to our planned travels.'

Sidon looked angry but he waited quietly for the whole speech to be finished, much more patient than Link would have been in his situation. It was likely a skill he had learned in order to survive meetings with a lot of different people with varying opinions that he didn't necessarily agree with but had to hear out. Princely manners.

"Are you finished?" Sidon asked after a beat, and Link nodded warily. "Good. I disagree with every point of your plan."

Link gave Sidon an incredulous look. Sure, he hadn't expected this to be easy, but really, every point?

"I am perfectly capable of enduring a bit of hunger and other possible hardship", Sidon said levelly. "I accepted that as a possibility the day we set out to travel, and I'm not planning on balking the moment something goes awry. You said we would travel together, not that we would only travel together when it's convenient."

Link gritted his teeth together. Yes, Sidon had a point. No, he didn't care, he only wanted Sidon's best and starving him was the exact opposite of that. Besides, Sidon clearly didn't see the bigger picture.

'There won't be much water on the route either', Link signed stubbornly, 'You'd be hungry and dry and only slow me down when that starts to become an actual problem. This whole thing will be over with much quicker if I go alone.'

Sidon paused, looking hurt. But then he steeled his expression and leaned over the table menacingly, giving Link a flinty look.

"I see you're not picky about your methods to make me stay", he said with a low voice, which would have sent a much different chill down Link's spine any other time, "Alright then. I didn't want to use this against you, but you're leaving me no choice, you stubborn Hylian."

Link would have liked to say something about pots and kettles, but he was busy being half wary of what was going to happen next, and half enamored at Sidon's rare assertiveness.

"Tell me, Link. How exactly are you planning on communicating with the Minish?" Sidon asked, and leaned back so he could cross his arms over his impressive chest while giving Link a cool glare.

Link's impromptu daydreams about his best friend came to a screeching halt. His jaw dropped at Sidon's sheer nerve. How dare he.

'Ex-fucking-cuse you?' he signed, taking his time to spell the first word letter by letter just so he could add in the middle part.

Sidon looked guilty for a moment before he took a deep breath and adopted an unimpressed look that looked very out of place on him.

"I am completely serious", Sidon said, "You've been unable to converse with any of the Minish we've met so far. Are you trusting that Slateri the First just so happens to understand sign, or that you will meet someone else to translate for you? Or do you expect to be able to vocalize to one of the strangers here? It took you how long to say anything out loud to me? Was it half a year?"

Link seethed with anger, made worse by the fact that Sidon had a very valid point. But there was something Sidon was forgetting.

'Think me completely handicapped without you, do you?' Link signed with a glare, 'Think again. I have struggled with my silence for a long while now, so I've learned how to cope. I don't know if the Zora are familiar with them, but Hylians at least have these things called pencil and paper. You know, things that make it possible to write words even if you're unable to say them.'

Sidon looked a combination of livid and triumphant, which was… unexpected and worrisome.

"Is that so? I had no idea of such advanced technology existing", Sidon said with rare sarcasm, then picked up the menu that the waiter had left at their table in case they wanted to browse desserts after all. He opened it up to a random page and then carefully placed it on the table in front of Link. "Would you be so kind as to enlighten me on what the meal selection on this page is, then?"

Link glared at Sidon, but eventually his gaze dropped to the booklet before him.

He stared, his anger melting into utter confusion.

The words on the page made no sense. In fact, the letters were strange scribble that didn't even look like writing. He grabbed the menu and turned the pages in disbelief but was met with more nonsense.

"Do you suppose the Minish are better at reading Hylian than they are at speaking it?" Sidon asked conversationally, bringing Link's attention back to him.

…Shit.

He struggled to come up with something to say to that, whether it was to stubbornly insist on being right, to apologize, or to somehow change the subject, but he had nothing. Sidon's expression was slowly shifting from angry triumph to sadness, and that hurt more than the anger had.

Then the waiter arrived with their drinks. Link grabbed his beer as soon as the waiter let go of the cup, and took a long drink. Once he had swallowed, he heard Sidon clear his throat awkwardly.

"Link. I'm sorry I was that harsh", Sidon said quietly, "I acted in anger and ended up being tactless. I didn't mean to imply that you can't manage on your own, I merely don't want to be left behind and I think that we're better off staying together in this. I understand your concern, but I assure you I can manage."

Link looked down at his beer, feeling even more wretched than before. Of course Sidon couldn't stop at being right – he also had to go and be the bigger person by apologizing first. He sighed.

'I'm sorry too', he signed, then looked up at his friend, 'I still think it's a bad idea, but you're right that I… probably can't communicate with the Minish. Looks like we're going together.'

Sidon's expression was unreadable for a moment, then he chuckled and shook his head.

"That was probably the worst apology I've ever received, my friend", he said, but looked mollified and amused regardless, "But I accept it on the condition that you won't again try to do things for my own good without consulting me first. You're terrible at it."

Link blew a raspberry at him, but nodded with a relieved smile. If he was being honest he still hurt a little from Sidon using his muteness against him, but he was pretty sure Sidon felt the same about his attempt to leave him behind so they'd just have to deal with their hurts privately. And hopefully never bring this up again.

It didn't take long for their meals to arrive after that, which Link was very happy about for multiple reasons. Not the least of them being that he was starving. He could put aside his hurt for the time being and concentrate on the now.

They dug into their foods with gusto, Sidon gushing about how good his meal was after practically every bite (after he finished chewing and swallowed, because he had actual manners). Link couldn't blame him, and was so satisfied with his own food that he probably would have done the same if he didn't need his hands for the eating. He wasn't actually able to tell what meat his food was made of, but he frankly didn't care when it was as savory as it was. There was actual rice on the side, too. The grains were huge and he only recognized them as rice because of the familiar taste.

After they finished with the main course, their desserts arrived. Link had never had wildberry curd before and he mentally declared it the best thing he had ever eaten. Although, to be fair, he said that about every dessert he ate, old or new, so maybe it didn't count for all that much. It was too bad he wasn't likely to be given the recipe, since restaurants almost never gave them to him no matter how much he tried to butter them up. He would just have to experiment when he had the opportunity and the ingredients to do so.

They paid for their food, gave the waiter praises to pass to the chef, and then went to the vendors to see about buying fish to go. Neither of them brought up the earlier conversation, and instead carried on like it hadn't happened and their plan had been aligned all along.

Turned out there was plenty of fish available, as one of the big people had brought in a good haul earlier that day. Sidon got very excited at the sight and wanted to buy all of it, but Link stopped him.

'We can't carry that much. We only have two bags with limited space', Link signed, and Sidon looked crestfallen. Link tapped the Zora's bicep comfortingly before continuing. 'However, I know how to smoke what we buy so it won't spoil for a good few days. Have you ever eaten smoked fish jerky?'

Sidon pondered his answer for a moment, then grimaced. "I recall trying it in my youth and hating it. I haven't tried it since, so I can't accurately judge it."

That was enough of an answer for Link. Sidon would just have to tough it out, but it would likely still be easier than constantly starving because of a wrong diet. Maybe it'd keep him from eating more than he absolutely had to and thus make the rations last longer. He signed the sentiment to Sidon, who gave a rueful chuckle.

"That's a silver lining, I suppose."

They bought as much fish as they estimated they could fit in their bags, then went to book a bed space for the night, and to borrow one of the makeshift ovens. The smoking process would take a few hours, so they had no choice but to stay for the night. Granted, it was late and the route back to the town was long, so it was for the best anyway.

'Are you okay sleeping in a place this hot?' Link asked while setting the fish up in his improvised smoking hut with the help of a couple of Minish cooks. They were likely helping him half out of genuine desire to help and half because they wanted to learn his foreign cooking technique, but Link didn't care as long as he got this done faster.

Sidon grimaced slightly. "To be honest, I'll probably sleep fitfully and get up to drink and pour water on myself multiple times, but I'll try to get some rest."

Link hummed in thought, trying to come up with a solution. They had already asked if the Minish had bathtubs or water barrels or something they could use, but turned out they didn't, at least not any to spare or any big enough for Sidon. They did kindly provide Sidon with a couple of bowls of water so that he at least had a decent amount nearby for his use.

"Perhaps I could soak the beddings?" Sidon mused, which made Link look at him questioningly. "It may not keep me properly damp, but it should logically slow the dehydration and certainly keep some of the heat away."

Link smiled, partly amused but mostly just agreeing with the unorthodox solution. He nodded and got back to his work. They would just have to wait and see how things turned out in the morning.