So far their current course of action was working out well for them. The door had indeed been an actual door that led out of the Guardian Center, as Link had mentally dubbed it, and that was a relief – they had had a small worry about it being decoy or somehow not working due to age, which would have forced them to change their plans after all. Sidon had done a bit of scouting and found no tracks of any kind in the area on that side of the tree, which meant the Vaatians were either good at covering their tracks or had simply never been around. They were both willing to believe it was the latter, especially since it allowed them to keep their current plan. Lastly, they managed to figure out which way the wind was blowing towards, which gave them a clear direction to walk to.
They could only hope their current luck carried them safely to the Korok Forest, and preferably fast.
Turns out, it wasn't going to.
Link felt relatively warm and cozy for the first hour or so, before the permanent mist managed to soak through his clothes and brought the cold and discomfort back. It had been nice while it lasted, but he felt doubly miserable after the brief comfort was taken away again.
Sidon grew hungry roughly an hour later. They had eaten some of Link's food before leaving the Guardian Center, but it did little to keep Sidon's hunger away, especially since he had expended a lot of energy swimming away from the Vaatians earlier.
Link made a mental note to always, always, always keep some Sidon-friendly food in his bag from now on – as soon as he got his hands on some. No matter if they were walking next to a river or camping by a lake, he would have emergency ratios so this particular brand of disaster wouldn't happen again.
As it was, Link gave Sidon a bag of dried spider meat strips to snack on with the hopes that it'd keep the worst hunger at bay by supplementing the insufficient meals they'd have whenever Link got hungry as well.
Eventually it was time for them to camp for the night, according to the clocks in their Sheikah Slates. Sidon went to bed hungry, Link went to bed shivering, both of them slept knowing they didn't actually know where they were and how long it'd take to reach the edge of the Misty Woods.
It was honestly miserable, although neither one said it out loud.
ooooo
It got worse overnight.
Link woke up with a stuffy nose, a somewhat dizzy feeling, and the beginning of a headache.
He didn't know whether it had been the water they had dived in, the air in the Guardian Center, the new old clothes, or the mulch he had handled, but something had given him what was needed to make him sick. The bone-deep coldness and wetness had had an easy job doing the rest.
"Can you walk? Should I carry you?" Sidon asked, hands hovering near Link's forehead. He had been on the constant verge of testing Link's temperature from the moment Link briefed him on the signs that his illness might be getting worse – Hylians and the Zora were different enough that it was necessary to educate Sidon on Hylian flus and the symptoms while Link was still able to, just in case his condition got to the point where he couldn't instruct him anymore.
Considering that his current environment wasn't the kind that promoted healing, Link had no doubt his ailment would get worse if they didn't get out of the forest, stat.
"I'll walk for now", Link said, shouldering his backpack. "You don't have the energy to spare either. My collapsing is probably inevitable and in these conditions it doesn't really make a difference whether or not I walk when I still can. The longer I walk the more of your strength is saved until later."
Zelda was going to yell at him until his ears rang if she ever heard of this, he was aware. That was Future Link's problem.
"That makes sense…" Sidon replied hesitantly, obviously not liking the plan but having nothing better to offer.
Needless to say the next few hours were rough, as what would have been a mild flu had Link gotten immediate warmth and rest steadily got worse. He had trouble breathing through a drippy nose and was thus constantly panting instead, walking felt more like running with how much of a toll it took on him to do it, the bog flippers felt like they weighed a ton, and the headache and dizziness got worse by the minute. Link could barely see where he was going from how hard it was to concentrate on anything except his throbbing head, but he kept on following the large red blob that was his boyfriend.
He just needed to put one foot in front of the other. Keep on walking. He couldn't lag behind and slow them down despite every step feeling heavier. The longer he could walk, the more time he could buy Sidon to move forward without carrying him.
One foot in... front of…
He didn't stay conscious long enough to feel the cold, wet ground hit him when he finally collapsed.
ooooo
When Link briefly came to, everything felt hazy. He was still cold and wet, but somewhat warm on his front side. He was leaning against something solid, but he was also lightly jostled constantly with a steady pattern. Oh, those were probably arms that were under his butt and around his back.
It smelled like fish…
ooooo
The next time he regained an amount of consciousness that could be counted as being awake, he was in a seated position with a pair of strong arms around him. Sidon had shaken him until he was no longer limp, and was currently talking to him about food.
Link swallowed down the pulpy water that was carefully measured into his mouth. His taste buds didn't register a whole lot, but it was vaguely vegetable-y. Cold soup? Cold soup.
He didn't like the business of swallowing the pulps, but he assumed it was for his own good and kept it up for as long as he could tolerate it.
The petting afterwards was nice and lulled him back into full unconsciousness.
It was cold but hot.
ooooo
Link's cheek was pressed against something cold and wet. In fact, his entire left side was wetter than usual. Was he lying on the ground?
There were swishing sounds and Sidon's voice was muttering something in a language Link didn't understand. Probably the Zora language, all things considered. It sounded melodic and pretty.
He cracked his eyes open to the tiniest slits, eyelids too heavy to work properly. Big and red figure was swinging around an orange stick in different patterns and striking different poses.
What…
ooooo
Link felt actually warm. Not the feverish "hot from within" kind, but an outside source kind of warm. He felt half dry too.
...He did still feel feverish, but that wasn't a new development.
"Link?"
Oh, that was Sidon. Link lifted his right hand and nodded sloppily with his fist. He noted that he was leaning against something semi hard and his left hand was loosely curled around a rod of some kind.
"I'm very glad you're awake enough to sign. How do you feel?"
Like crap, honestly. He waggled his palm around in a "so so" gesture, because that was easier than being specific.
He finally wrenched his eyes open, and the first thing he saw was an orange glow. He turned his head a little and squinted at the source.
The Minish Fire Rod.
Sidon got it to work?
"I see you noticed the rod. Your fever got higher last evening and seeing how you told me before that you're not likely to get better if you stay cold and wet, I went and found a shelter and tried everything I could think of until I got the rod to work. I figured it's your best chance out here until we reach the Korok Forest."
Huh. Link would have to ask him about the details later. In the meanwhile he enjoyed the drying warmth bestowed upon him. He wrapped his fingers tighter around the rod and brought it closer to his body.
Warm.
ooooo
Each time Link woke up he was either in Sidon's arms or leaning against something, and he was always warm and mostly dry since the rod's activation. Despite the environment surrounding him, he started getting better. Once his fever broke and he was finally actually lucid, however, he noticed that now Sidon looked horrible instead.
The scales on Sidon's front side were cracking and dryer than made sense in a perpetually damp place, he had dark circles under his eyes, and his posture was flagging. Now that Link thought about it, he was pretty sure they had been taking a lot more breaks lately. In fact, they were having one right that moment, with Link in a make-shift shelter under a large mushroom, his immediate surroundings warmed up by the fire rod, and Sidon sitting just barely outside of the warmth, presumably soaking in the water in the air while he could.
Link's bag was suspiciously light despite his currently fever-weakened strength. A glance inside revealed that almost all of the food was gone.
The trouble they were in kept finding new heights.
"Sidon", he said. Sidon turned to look at him with a sorry excuse for a smile. Thankfully it brightened a little bit when he noticed Link being truly awake and aware.
The fact that he hadn't noticed the change immediately was another item on Link's list of concerns.
"Link!" he said, and crawled under the mushroom to kneel before his boyfriend. "You look better! Oh, thank Hylia, finally! I could no longer tell how your fever was progressing when you got warmer overall, so I had no idea if the rod was doing its job. I'm so glad."
Link gave him a reassuring smile. "I think the fever is gone or at least going away now."
"That's good news. I was honestly starting to think that… that maybe we wouldn't…" Sidon clearly didn't want to conclude his thought, and it would have been unnecessary to put the words out in the open anyway – Link could end the sentence on his own.
That maybe they wouldn't make it out of this forest alive.
It was… a valid concern. Sidon was going without proper food and drying his scales up with the fire rod, all the while wasting what little energy he had carrying Link. Link had been badly ill in a place where his chances of getting better had been slim until the rod had been introduced.
Without the rod, there was a very good chance his illness would have kept getting worse, potentially killing him.
His kinstone that had led them to the Guardian Center had truly turned out to be a blessing beyond measure.
"How much time has passed?" Link asked after a long stretch of silent reflection on their situation.
Sidon looked down, smile dropping.
...Not only did Sidon admit to having started losing hope, but he was behaving meekly? Link had the feeling he wasn't going to like the answer, and his worry for Sidon redoubled.
"Four days", was the answer. "My apologies for the little progress I've made; we should already be in the Korok Forest. But I… haven't had the strength to keep up the pace, and without the map and the landmarks in it I admit to being a little lost. I don't know if I can keep going on like this."
Link very carefully kept his first, despairing thoughts to himself. Same went for the few choice curse words he was tempted to use.
He had to be strong for Sidon now. Sidon was always strong and positive for him, and it was time to return the favour.
He had been lost before, in these selfsame woods too. If they were truly lost, they would have been taken back to the previous city. The fact that they were still surrounded by regular mist meant they were on the correct path.
On that note, they had the standing choice of purposefully walking into the wrong direction and having the Koroks escort them back to where they started. They would fail in their mission to reach Slateri before it was too late – assuming they hadn't already – but they could recuperate, restock, alert the authorities on the location of the Vaatian hideout, and try again.
He was well acquainted with the concept of trying something again after failing at it first.
"Sidon. We can do this", Link said, and laid the hand not holding the fire rod on Sidon's arm. "One more day. If we can't find the way out, we'll get even more lost and start over from the scratch. Can you hold on for one more day?"
Sidon's eyes searched his own for a moment, before he gave a wobbly smile and a chuckle, and laid his palm on top of Link's hand. "For you, Wildberry, I can. Let's do this."