The walk to the crossroad was filled with awkward silence. Awkward on Link's part anyway; Sidon just seemed silently angry, judging from the occasional twitch his tail did.
Link wanted to bash his stupid head against something. He still believed he had been within his rights to get angry at Sidon, but he had definitely screwed up at the end. True, having Sidon act as the spokesperson had been the main reason he hadn't insisted harder on Sidon staying behind, but it wasn't like they had made some kind of a deal where Sidon only got to come along on the condition that he acted as Link's translator. He more or less just volunteered to do that on the side of being the one asking for directions and such. Yes, it was thoughtless and dismissive of Sidon to suddenly withdraw his crucial help like that, but it was awful of Link to hurl an old and practically unrelated argument at him in response. They could have and should have discussed the actual problem at hand civilly without it.
Link supposed that when you got right down to it, he had reached a boiling point and Sidon had happened to be the trigger. The situation simply wasn't fair to anyone.
He sighed and jogged up to Sidon.
"Sidon?" he whispered. He wasn't sure if Sidon would even look at his signing now, but he also didn't want to be heard by others by accident. He didn't need the added problems that would come from him completely clamping up for days out of anxiety.
Sidon stopped walking and took a deep breath. "I know we need to talk about this, but I need a clearer head for that. Let's find the inn and have a bite. Then we'll talk."
Link nodded and tried to swallow his misery silently.
Sidon didn't resume walking.
"I… For the record, I truly meant that apology."
Link nodded again, only this time his heart felt just a bit lighter and the following silence in their resumed walk a little less awkward.
ooooo
The middle path began similarly to the left path, but the ceiling quickly started getting higher and the path wider as they approached the brightly lit cavern that was the town center. Soon enough Sidon could straighten his back and make attempts at getting rid of the kinks caused by the earlier hunching. He still couldn't stretch properly – the cavern wasn't high enough – but not having to stay hunched was loads better than nothing.
As for the town center itself, the sight of it was completely worth wandering in the cramped tunnels, at least in Link's opinion.
There were Chuchu jelly lanterns everywhere, bathing the Minish made cavern in warm light and illuminating the wondrous sculptures that were all over the place. Every shop wall had carved reliefs indicating what was being sold: what was obviously furniture shop had chairs, tables and shelves pictured around the door, while the food store had mushrooms, seeds and flowers. There wasn't a patch of wall that didn't have at least some decorative pattern on it, even if it didn't have intricate reliefs. There were occasional pillars that doubled as statues of probably famous Minish people on the more open areas of the cavern; they probably helped keep the ceiling from collapsing. And there were absolutely random clay sculptures of various sizes and subjects on every spot that someone had probably deemed too empty at some point.
It was as chaotic as it was beautiful.
"I miss Zora's Domain", Sidon muttered, staring wide-eyed at… everything, really.
Link could see where that thought came from: the Domain invested more in elegance and order than this place, but just like the cavern it had barely any undecorated spots. Of course statues and carvings reminded Sidon of home.
"I wish my father could see this", Sidon said after a moment. "Muzu would likely appreciate foreign art, too."
Now that was very easily solved. Link smiled and tapped Sidon's arm to get his attention. 'Sheikah Slate.'
Sidon stared at him uncomprehendingly for a moment, then brightened. "You're right! The camera rune!"
Link leaned against a less impressively decorated spot on a wall and watched Sidon photograph everything with a fond smile. Maybe this would make up for his earlier words a little.
Speaking of their earlier conversation, Link supposed he could locate the inn they were looking for since he was idle. It should be very easy in this particular instance: the decorated wall should give the inn away the instance he saw it. With that thought, he looked around at the shop fronts. Furniture, food, cookware, clothing, miscellaneous stuff… There. That one was obviously the inn: the wall around the door had reliefs of beds and food tables.
He tapped Sidon's arm and pointed.
"Oh, you found the inn", Sidon said with a smile and put the Slate away. "Splendid. I'll take pictures later. Let's eat."
Sidon took an enthusiastic step towards the door, but then stopped cold and looked at Link, his smile dropping. The atmosphere got tense, at least in Link's opinion.
And talk, was what Sidon left unsaid.
Link nodded warily, and together they entered the inn.
Whereas the tunnels and the cavern had been empty, the inn was buzzing with Minish. All the tables were full of Minish eating their lunches; thankfully about finished for the most part. A confused looking waiter walked up to them.
"How unusual for people to arrive late for lunch", they said. "You're obviously visitors. Here people take their meals like clockwork, so the tables are currently full. If you'll wait a bit, the fastest eaters should be done soon."
They didn't comment on Sidon's looks in any way, which at least was nice.
"Thank you", Sidon said with a polite smile. "Would you mind taking our orders while we wait so that our food will arrive quickly once were seated? We unfortunately cannot read Minish, so we would also appreciate you telling us the options."
The waiter hesitated for a moment, but eventually agreed to the unorthodox proposition. Fish was not an option, unsurprisingly, so in the end both Link and Sidon ordered frog thigh. Sidon wagered that it might actually satisfy his hunger to some extent, since frogs were occasionally part of the Zora diet – probably for a reason. It should be better than mushrooms or nuts in any case. Link simply wanted to try it to see if it tasted better than the frog-based elixirs he had drank on his travels. They were kind of gross.
A curious thing about the food selection here was that most things were glazed or marinated or outright made out of honey. It reminded Link that Hiveri supposedly lived in this town, so chances were he supplied everyone with plenty of the honey he mysteriously obtained. Finding him was the first thing Link wanted to do once they were done here.
Before that, however, came eating, renting a room, and… talking.
Unfortunately, not likely in that order.
They waited in anxious silence until a table was freed and cleaned, and they got seated.
The silence stretched on and started to get downright unbearable until finally their meals arrived and the tension got momentarily broken as both tucked in hungrily. The frog leg was actually delicious when marinated in honey and properly cooked. Maybe it was the monster parts that made elixirs so gross?
Link waited until the both of them had had a few bites before he set down his fork and looked at Sidon in resignation.
'Talk now?'
Sidon chewed and swallowed what was in his mouth before nodding. "Yes. Let's do that."
Link didn't want to be the lesser man this time, so he started whipping up signs right away before Sidon could get a word in edgewise.
'I'm really sorry for bringing up the Stable Inn earlier', he signed. 'It was unnecessary and stemmed up from my frustration with my communication situation as a whole. I shouldn't use our earlier disagreement as a leverage to have my way. Not then, and not in the future. I'm sorry.'
Sidon digested the words for a moment, much to Link's anxiety. Waiting for an answer was simply nerve-wrecking; it made him second-guess his word choices and wonder if he somehow managed to stuff his foot in his mouth again. It wouldn't have surprised him in the least.
"Does this mean you've reconsidered your original stance on the matter?" Sidon asked slowly. Link gave him a questioning look. "About keeping me around, I mean. If you didn't need a translator any longer, would you leave me behind for my own good? Oh! Apology accepted."
That was a tough question. Link was immensely relieved to be back on Sidon's good graces, but he could have done without another debate.
'Not sure', he signed honestly. 'You're doing fine now, but what of when the fish rations are gone? I worry. I can't make you go back against your will, though.'
Sidon chuckled and shook his head. "I see. I haven't changed my mind either. We have to agree to disagree, then."
The Zora sobered. "I do, however, want to come to a consensus about your communication situation, as you put it. You were absolutely right to get angry at me earlier, and I can't apologize enough for it. I'm very sorry for silencing you against your will. You were right that it doesn't matter what my opinion about a situation is; as your only means of communication, it is my duty to deliver your words for you. Even if I think you're being rude or disagree with your words, you still have the right to say them."
Link stared. It was… strange to be validated like that. No conditions about manners or anything else, no demands for him to get a grip and start talking to strangers, no anything. Just simple acceptance and apology. Even Zelda hadn't managed that; though, to be fair, she was working hard on unlearning the bad example her father been to her but still had ways to go.
His eyes may or may not have felt just a little moist, but as long as no tears were actually shed he could merrily deny it happening in order to keep his composure.
'Thank you', Link signed with a brittle smile, 'And apology accepted.'
Sidon's smile was soft and Link could have stared into his gentle eyes forever. "I'm glad. I have to admit that when you explained your selective mutism to me way back when, I didn't truly grasp it. I simply thought I was special to hear your voice but failed to understand how much your condition affects your life. Everyone in the Domain understanding sign language made it seem like a non-issue. This trip has opened my eyes. I swear I will never use your silence against you or dismiss it again."
Link ducked his head and blinked furiously, trying his hardest to not cry, damn it. He didn't want to cry in the middle of a full inn. Not even when he was on the receiving end of such pure understanding and acceptance.
Sidon was silent for a moment, then spoke very softly: "Thank you for trusting me enough to vocalize to me so often lately. If you never talk to anyone else, that's fine. I'll be your voice for as long as you want me to be."
Yeah, okay, nope, now he was definitely crying. He buried his face in a napkin and just stayed like that, now concentrating on not sobbing or hiccupping or making any other "this person is obviously crying" -noises. He may be doing happy-emotional-possibly-overwhelmed tears in public, but he was damn sure not going to draw any more attention to it than he had to!
"Do you want me to pretend that… nothing out of the ordinary is going on?" Sidon asked, sounding deliberately casual. Link signed 'yes' immediately, not lifting his face.
"All right. The food is truly quite delicious. You should try the honey mead as soon as you're able. Ah, and the place is starting to empty out. I think the tunnels will be a lot busier by the time we're done here."
If Link wasn't already madly in love with Sidon, he would be falling right now for the sweet, supportive, and possibly unintentionally romantic Prince. As it was, he was simply falling harder.