"LIBRARI, GUESS WHAT?!" Histori yelled, as she enthusiastically kicked the door to the library open.
Link and Sidon were dragged in, not really having had much of a choice in anything ever since they left the Magic Academy. Histori had pulled them down the hallways in a hurry and led them to the library without any hesitation or manners whatsoever. Really, maybe her name was actually Hysteri and Link had just misheard it.
"Histori, don't yell in the library!" A voice sounded from somewhere further in. Also yelling. Link snorted.
"COME HERE AND I'LL STOP!" Histori kept on shouting, and started pulling them in the direction of the earlier voice.
"Why are you like this?" the same voice asked, right before their group went around a book shelf and came face to face with the source.
Link knew she had to be Histori's sister, Librari. Both because of the yelling, and because Histori immediately let go of him and Sidon in order to tackle-hug her. She was wearing a green cloth tunic, a blue cape, and a ridiculously tall blue cap that was currently on the floor thanks to Histori's antics.
"Hey, sis!" Histori said with a laugh, and got a much suffering sigh in return. Librari did return the hug, though, before pushing at Histori to get her off of her.
"Yes, hi, Histori", she said, and clambered up. Histori handed her her cap, which she gingerly put back on. "So what's up with the ruckus? Did you manage to capture and interrogate Vaati or- whoa!"
She noticed Link and Sidon at that point, and her eyes went wide.
Histori let out an excited noise. "Surprise! I have the famous big people! The tall, red, and handsome one is Prince Sidon of the Zora. The more manageable sized and hella cute one is Link of the Hylians. You'll want to have a chat with him later. But guess what? Sidon is going to be Mageri's apprentice! The first ever Zora apprentice for a Minish mage!"
Link was more than a little flustered after that introduction. He certainly agreed on Sidon's behalf, and was getting used to everyone finding his boyfriend handsome, but being complimented like that himself was less common. Histori hadn't given any indication of finding him good looking before now.
He exchanged glances with Sidon, who was giving him a ridiculously pleased look. Apparently he also approved of Histori's assessment. Link blushed a little.
Histori proceeded to fill her sister in on Sidon's magical training, as well as the other news, so Link took his time to finally properly look around.
The library seemed huge from the limited vantage point Link had. Not only were there countless bookshelves, both carved into the stone walls and separate wooden ones in the middle, there was a kind of a second floor, too. It looked like a giant balcony with tables near the railing, and had floor to ceiling bookshelves on the walls. Link couldn't really see the details from his position on the lower floor, but he was pretty sure all the bookshelves on the second floor were carved on the walls. He also couldn't see the stairs, but he assumed there'd be at least one set somewhere.
Sidon had wandered over to the nearest bookshelf and was eagerly browsing the books, despite his inability to read Minish. Link idly wondered if Sidon's magical training would include Mageri teaching him to read the local language. Sidon would definitely love that.
There was a tap on his shoulder, and he turned around to see Librari smiling widely at him.
"Hello, Mister Link", she said very slowly, kind of loudly, and with exaggerated mouth movements.
Sweet Hylia in her Domain, what had he done to deserve this? Because he knew exactly what was going on and he resented it.
"I'm Librari", she continued, and then signed the same thing. It was a little clumsy and slow, but most certainly understandable. She continued signing as she spoke. "My sister told me you speak sign language and that you have agreed to help me learn it better."
Some of her signs were… strangely off, even though Link could see what they were supposed to mean. Hearing her say the same thing out loud helped in that, too.
'Hi', he signed back, and her eyes widened. 'I did agree to help. For the record, I'm not deaf, and if I was, speaking louder wouldn't help.'
She looked bewildered and clearly a little lost, so Link repeated himself, this time slower. Her eyes widened again, and she blushed scarlet.
"I'm sorry!" she said, and kind of wiggled her arms around in agitation. It was cute, so he forgave her faux pas. "I didn't mean to assume! And, oh no, of course speaking louder wouldn't work; I don't know why I did that. I'm so sorry!"
Link waved his hand at her with a smile. 'Apology accepted. Get back to signing.'
She froze, blushed some more, and then brought her hands back into place. 'Yes, sorry. Is my signing okay?'
'It's fine. Some words were off earlier. Not sure if it's you doing it wrong or if it's a Minish dialect.'
They continued talking, and it turned out that there was, indeed, a Minish dialect. It made sense, since the big people and the Minish had been separate from each other for centuries. Sidon joined their conversation after a while, which was very helpful whenever Librari didn't know a sign Link used as Sidon could say it out loud for her and save Link the effort of spelling it, and his Zora style signing kept her on her toes. Histori disappeared at some point and returned with a boxed dinner, which they relocated to eat at one of the tables. Then she fetched the Minish sign language books and a blank book so that she could record the differences whenever they occurred.
It was fun and Link felt proud of himself for being so useful with a talent that had mostly been a pain in the ass during this trip. But the whole endeavor was also horribly exhausting, and he was more than ready to book a room at an inn and retire for the night by the time Librari realized she should close the library for the night.
Sweet Hylia, they had been at it for hours.
'Thank you so much for the help', Librari said with so much sincerity that Link was sure it added a few years into his lifespan. 'You don't understand how important this is to me.'
'Happy to help', Link signed with a pleased grin. 'Anything for the kids.'
'How can I ever repay this?' she asked, and while it was clearly rhetorical, Link did actually have an answer to it.
They had, after all, accidentally skipped one part of their plan for the day when they got completely swept away with the signing lesson.
'Show us the Hero Museum tomorrow morning', he said, and Sidon gasped with stars in his eyes.
"Yes, please!" Sidon chorused, and looked like a kid presented with a whole bag of honey candy.
That was largely the reason Link didn't simply suggest to skip it in favour of leaving nice and early; Sidon was just too precious when he was excited.
Librari looked a little taken aback with Sidon's happiness, but then she laughed and nodded. 'I'd be happy to! I'll open the library and the museum at eight. Come whenever you're ready.'
"We will!"
ooooo
Finally! Sweet quiet and blessed peace!
Link flopped on their family sized bed and stretched languidly. Their room was the largest and the most luxurious one available, and a comfortable height for even Sidon. There was a large bathroom with a pool sized tub in it, which their host had filled with hot water while the two of them had eaten a light supper at the nearby restaurant.
Link had had a baked caterpillar with the side of sunflower seeds and wild violet petals, and it had been amazing. Sidon had eaten an expensive dish of boiled newt tail and acorn mash, with a side of ant eggs. He had enjoyed it, but was guiltily digging out some frogspawn from his bag to fill his stomach properly. There hadn't been anything aquatic or semi-aquatic or any kind of water-related dishes on the menu that could have even theoretically done the job for Sidon – the newt had been the most promising sounding option, but obviously it had been a miss. Figuring out what worked for Sidon besides fish was tricky.
Link hoped there would be something in the market square they had spotted on their way back. It would be a fine mess if Sidon ran out of proper food and starved again.
Link relaxed while Sidon ate, and was then brought out of his reverie by the sound of Sidon's jewelry clinking as he removed them. He sat up on the bed.
"May I join you in the bath?" he asked, and wiggled his eyebrows. Damn, this was going to be the first bath they had together as boyfriends, which meant Link no longer had to worry about making things weird; he was simply allowed to look and touch as much as he wanted to. Excellent!
Sidon looked at him and chuckled.
"Of course, Wildberry", he answered, and walked over to drop a kiss on Link's lips. Link had taught him well.
He was sure he had a dopey smile on his face as he peeled off his Minish issue leafwear and jogged after Sidon, who was already headed to the bath.
They slid into the water that was equally slightly displeasing for them both: Sidon thought it too warm and Link too cool. It was a decent compromise.
Sidon submerged completely for a while to give his entire body the soaking it required, and then settled on laying on his back with his head tail hanging over the edge of the tub. The tub wasn't as big as Link knew he preferred, but it was adequate by the standards he had while they were tiny. At least he fit in properly.
Link climbed on Sidon's lap and got to scratching loose scales off his chest. There weren't nearly as many of them as there had been back at the Stable Town, as Sidon had done a better job of staying hydrated lately. That, and Link was snuggling up to him and rubbing at his scales on a nightly basis.
Mind, Link scratching at Sidon's chest had actually a lot less to do with the scales and more to do with touching his ripped muscles, but it was the end results that mattered. Sidon certainly wasn't complaining or calling him out on it.
"Mmm… Do my shoulders", Sidon said, sounding very relaxed and content. Link was more than happy to oblige; he did love his boyfriend's broad shoulders just as much as his chest.
Content silence punctured only by the softly lapping water reigned for a good few minutes, until Sidon wanted to turn around and have Link focus on his back. Which just, sweet Hylia, yes please.
Such a nice, vast, muscular back, and Link got to touch it as much as he wanted to.
"Hmm, Link?" Sidon asked. Link made a generally questioning noise to show he was listening. "It was really thoughtful of you to ask Librari to show us the museum tomorrow. I know you wanted to leave as soon as we awoke and I had agreed to it, so I truly appreciate you changing the plans."
Link kissed the back of Sidon's neck.
"You matter more than a few hours do", he said matter-of-factly.
Sidon gave a laugh that sounded both pleased and surprised, and was one of the best sounds Link had ever heard.
"I will add 'very romantic' to the long list of your good qualities, my Wildberry", Sidon said with a very fond sounding voice and damn it, why did his face have to be unavailable at this angle because that tone really made Link want to kiss him silly!
Also, apparently that had been romantic. Huh. Well, he could certainly do romance in that case, which was something of a relief.
He wrapped his arms snuggly around Sidon's shoulders and pressed his face against Sidon's head tail, smiling widely with a heart so full it could burst.