Hi, I know it's been awhile. Senior year is pretty much just as busy as I thought it would be. In fact, I finished editing this like, two days ago? And I didn't even find the time to post it after I decided it was too late to post the first night. But it's here so woooo.
Thank you to my beta reader, especially for bearing with me about the recent timing of updates. Also thank you guys for being patient! I don't want to go on for too long so just
Enjoy
The bed creaked under my weight. Across the room, Midna lifted back the tattered curtains, gazing out at the sky. I adjusted the lamp on the table and lied back against my pillow, shutting my eyes.
Minutes ticked by aimlessly. After what seemed like two hours, a knock clacked on the door, raising me from a loose sleep. Link called from the other side, yelling about dinner. As I opened it for him, he slipped in and shut it.
He wasted no time with formalities, "I'll wake you up tomorrow and we'll head for the Lakebed Temple."
"Did Queen Rutel-"
"Zant's probably already been there, we need to hurry." Midna asserted.
Link waved her off somewhat, "Yes, I know."
"Li-"
"And no, I haven't heard from her. Should I have?"
My tongue stuttered for a moment, caught up in my mouth from being disrupted, "By the end of the night, she should try to talk to you."
"Okay, okay, I gotta go." Link set the food down on a table and jogged to the door.
"Bright and early tomorrow!" Midna waved.
He smirked and skidded into the hallway. His voice mingled with Renados' as his footsteps faded and my heart steadied itself. A small meow prodded from the silence. I lifted Creota up and sat back down on the bed, picking at the bland food on the plate.
You should be charging it while you aren't distracted.
"Vox…" I groaned, setting my fork down.
Okay, hurt Link, it's obviously not a problem for you.
Sucking in a breath, I gripped the Leiyn and focused my energy. The light of the gem fought with the glow of the lamp, a deep blue against a gentle orange hue. Midna scowled at me from across the room, but turned to the wall and ignored it. Blue continued to paint the walls, coaxing her from her stupor enough to speak lightly, "His name is Vox?"
"Huh?" I stopped charging it for a moment until her question caught up to me, "Oh, yeah."
Midna shook her head, "Vinderendetta...they came in and destroyed everything I'd built. They separated all the districts from the mainland, threw out the children, turned my people into beasts." she spat, a snarl curling her darkened lips. Her composure was tight, but at her next thought, she relaxed, "It was so cold." With slumped shoulders, she drew back where shadow danced on the wall.
Crickets chirped from their hiding places outside, filling the space where no one uttered a word. Vox pulled himself from the obscurity and spoke, Tell her that I'm sorry I didn't do anything sooner.
"You really want me to?" I rotated the Leiyn in my fingers, anxiously counting the heartbeats from the kitten in my lap.
Of course.
"Midna...Vox says…" her one eye drilled into me like a knife at my throat and I hitched, "He says he's sorry. That he didn't try to help."
I ran away instead.
"He ran away..."
Midna looked to the window, tapping her small thighs with her impish fingers. Then she sighed, "He's the only goddamn one with half a mind to resist Zant."
Without another word, she moved from the other bed and dropped into my shadow. I finished my food and took the opportunity to get an early sleep. Later in the night I awoke to clambering footsteps and the door squeaking open to the neighboring room. Colin's voice rose in earnest, then Link's soothed him into silence.
"Did you really see his mother?!" Colin piped up.
"Shh," Link pleaded.
They talked below a whisper, but it was hard not to try to listen in rather than shut my eyes again. Ilia got brought up a few times, leading to bittersweet remarks. I rolled over and placed my ear to the wood, enchanted by their dreamy speak.
"I have to leave tomorrow," Link muttered.
Colin shifted on the bed where he sat, "You'll be back soon?"
"I don't know, but I'll try. In the mean time, just stay strong." The night silence caressed my eyes, but I refused to sleep.
"You're always so strong. I wish I could be like you."
Link's muffled voice was full of pride, "You don't have to be like me. Colin, you're strong in your own way. You stand up for others. It takes something else to stand up rather than immediately fight back."
"Isn't that the same thing?"
"Well, I think standing up is more defensive and fighting back is offensive."
"Link?"
"What."
"You lost me."
Their voices became muddled and at some point they were gone. When I woke up near dawn it was quiet and I thought back to their little conversation with a solemn smile on my lips. After some time a knock clacked on the door and Link entered, carrying a long cloth that he threw onto my lap.
"What's this?" I mused softly, sitting up to turn it over on the sheets. Creota sauntered up and sniffed it.
He pulled out one of his own, "I fixed it from the armour the queen gave me. Unfortunately the headpiece didn't really make it through." A golden helmet enlarged in his palm. He set it down on the table where it became evident the elongated tail had been hacked off and sewn up. Link set down the rest of the set and stood back. "Do I need to wear all of it?"
I pushed aside the covers and set my feet on the floor, "It depends, also you didn't tell me what this was." Holding up the cloth, I yawned.
"Breathing," Link offered, "Like, underwater."
"Ah, of course."
Hearing him chuckle shook my drowsiness further, but I couldn't find the same energy he had. As he picked up the helmet he asked me again, "Do I need to?"
"It'll help you navigate in the water, and there's a lot of water underwater so I would sure hope you wear it." I shrugged, "But who listens to a psychic nowadays." Creota pawed at my side and I brought her up to my shoulder.
"A lot of people," he admitted, slipping off his boots. As he undid belt buckles and scattered equipment about the room, he told me he would meet me outside the inn. My body stayed still for a moment, drowsy and fatigued, but as he started taking his tunic off, it suddenly clicked and I stood up. At the door, I glanced back, catching a glimpse of his scar before I slid down the hall with a flush.
The street was alive for once with Gorons who roamed to buildings and talked to one another with crossed arms. Their anger had diminished since we visited the mines, many of them with wide soft smiles on their faces. Link eventually came out in the armour, picking at the scales lining the torso. He wasn't wearing the helmet or flippers, stepping onto the dirt road with bare feet. The dull blue hue on the leather brought out his eyes as he got closer, but he didn't meet mine as he walked, adjusting his gauntlets.
When he stopped next to me, I noticed a lock of hair sticking up. While I still wasn't look, I reached over to smooth it out but before I could get close, his hand shot out and gripped my wrist. "What are you doing?"
I tried to pull back, stammering, "Y-your hair is sticking up."
"Just leave it alone." He threw my arm back at me and crossed his.
"You tried to fix my hair yesterday."
Link rolled his eyes, "Fine, do whatever if it bothers you so much."
My face suddenly felt hot, "I mean I just," I huffed, "You toss me all over the place so much, I don't see why you're upset."
"I'm not upset," he laughed, "You caught me off guard."
I pointed my finger at his nose, "Well you have no sense of personal space."
"Does it bother you?"
"Huh?" my hand lowered.
"Does it bother you?" he insisted, cocking his head to the side.
I tried to see through the flurry of adrenaline running around my brain. The twinkle in his eyes as he smiled widely, ready to laugh again at whatever I said next, it sent me into a fit. Fumbling with my Leiyn, I tried to order all of my emotions together, yet, somehow, all I could focus on was him, Link.
"I don't know."
His armour turned and rustled with his movements as he started to untie Epona. Hesitantly, I reached up and smoothed out the lock of hair when he was looking away. He didn't make mention of it, merely climbed onto the mare's back and offered a hand out to me. I took it, mounting with no more ease than last time. As he gave her a kick, we kissed good bye the solemn day behind us. I held Creota to my chest, shutting my eyes until something tickled at the back of my mind. Focusing a little energy, I held her closer until my hand fell through her and all that was left was a faint glow in my Leiyn. For the first time in days I found myself physically alone with Link and I hugged him close against the heat of the day.
The little town fell behind our dust, obscured by the hills and cliffsides. Link tried to get me to talk, asking how I was, if my arm hurt. When I told him it didn't, he started on an anecdote from his childhood about a wolf who jumped and bit him in the shoulder on a forest road. He said his mother ran over and killed it before it could get him again. Just passed the treeline he said he could of sworn he saw three wolf cubs, but his mother was too quick to pick him up and run home. Sometimes he wondered if the wolves that sometimes got into town were one of the three. He stopped wanting to think about it when his uncle killed two.
"That's just war," he concluded.
That was war...the way he talked about his mom as if she was an angel made me realize what he meant and I held him tighter.
"Maybe being a wolf is a punishment," he shrugged slowly, "maybe I'll die protecting what I love too..."
I leaned into him, "What do you love?"
Link started a small noise as if he was going to talk, but he stopped. Under my fingers I could almost feel him sewing himself back up. I pushed passed my nerves and went again.
"Link?"
The needle stopped.
A sigh tumbled out of his chapped lips, "A lot of things, Maizy...a lot of things…"
He sank back and pulled the thread taught, closing up the tear in his skin.
I went on in his stead, "I love the way summer has to be introduced by spring, that it's too shy to tell winter that it's their turn. I love screwing around when school's out, pretending life begins and ends with happiness. I love coming home on summer nights to cats asking about my day and family faces telling me to go to sleep. I miss the look my mom gives me when I stay up too late playing stupid games like this dumbass one I'm stuck in. I miss watching my brothers beat the dungeons that I haven't yet, but they aren't here to do that anymore. I learned a long time ago to figure them out myself, but I didn't think…" Tears fell off my cheeks, "Nevermind, I told you too much."
My two story house towered high above me, vivid despite the bright green of the fields. A staircase lead to a door through which my childhood played out in giggles and tantrums. I'd never been bitten by a wolf, never been a cub left behind. In Link I saw teeth clenched over flesh, the last cub in the woods, grown up and not willing to let anyone hurt what he had spent so long loving.
The sun shone impossibly large in the sky, framed by clouds and an expanse of blue. We talked endlessly with each other, about the people we knew and things we did. He asked me about where I was from, and I told him it was nothing like Hyrule, that I couldn't explain it. Suddenly he recalled my necklace and inquired about it.
"Oh," I blinked, "oh, I'm sorry. It's called a Leiyn. Vox said I can store magic in. This way when I attack, you won't be hurt. Unless I get surprised."
Link stretched his arms, talking through a yawn, "As if that never happens."
"Hey!"
I don't mean to interject, but he's right.
"Vox, shut up."
Lake Hylia's beach came into view, its water bright with reflections of the sun. Link veered sideways to it, stopping at a stable and paying the young man who worked there. Walking back to the lake, we stood together on the beach, our feet warm in the sand.
"Why is Zant finding places to screw around in that I've never heard of?" Link held his hand up, trying to take in the size of the lake against glimmers of light.
Midna jumped out, "We may not have seen Hyrule before, but the Twili don't slouch on their history. Did you decide not to pay attention in school?"
He dropped his arm, "There's never been a school in Ordon, at least not since the mayor's wife died…" his voice hitched, but he carried right on, "Queen Rutela said the source of the dark magic was deep in the Lakebed Temple, right?"
"Right." Midna echoed.
"Then let's go."
Link pulled out the strip of cloth he'd shown me earlier. I realized then that I'd forgotten it and reached out only for him to hold it back. "Hey-"
"Turn around." he motioned.
"Why?"
His expression softened, "I'm gonna tie it for you."
It registered like a shock, "Oh." I turned, gazing out towards the desert. As he brushed my hair aside, I held the stump where my arm was but a numb memory, still vivid in my pupils. When he finished, I pulled up the cloth a bit and faced him.
Link fished out another stip and fixed it across his face. In a muffled mumble, he asked, "Anything you have to tell me before we go down?"
I shook my head, then shrugged, "Well, I guess just make sure you get some water bombs. There's a Zora who sells them down there."
Link gave me a nod then stretched his arms upward. I pressed my lips together, passively fretting over the look in his eyes as he gazed out at the water while he stretched. His expressions always felt like little mysteries waiting to be solved.
We walked chest deep into the languid waves, bumping shoulders and feet. With my arm tight across his torso, we dove under the surface. The bed was largely rock witch pools of loose sand here and there. Close to the waterfall, a trench cut deep below into shade. At the shallow end, a curling and sculpted rock poked out where ten pillars reached up like eels lining to the structure. Link and I ventured deeper, scaring fish in all directions as we went. When we came close enough, it became evident that in the stone was carved patterns of fish fins and eyes. A rock covered an opening inside the cliff.
I outstretched my arm for a moment, pointing to it. Link nodded and twisted around in the water until his eyes fell upon a Zora floating erect nearby. He swam over and made several large gestures. They started to grow bigger, but the Zora quickly put their hands up and exchanged a large bag for some rupees.
Vox interrupted my attention. You think you can talk with those on?
"I don't know-" I attempted. The sound of my voice projected as if I had a hand over my mouth. My face contorted and I reserved myself to silence.
Alright, nevermind.
Link came over, holding one of the ugly bombs he'd bought, a fish whose maw clamped over a black sac. Ignoring the red eye staring back at us, we continued to the entrance. I stood back as he threw the fish into the rock, counting the seconds until it finally hit. As the fish bumped into the stone, it panicked and bit down on the sac.
The explosion caused the rock to loose and crumble enough that we could push it aside. Behind, a long, dark tunnel glew with dim blue crystals that poked from the walls. As we slipped through, the bomb-fish wiggled by, then away into the lake, deflated like a pufferfish. Link looked at me for a moment then let go and searched through his pouch. Taking out the flippers, he shoved them on and we went ahead.
Further along, luminous foliage started to peek out from behind the rock like fluorescent green and red corals and bright white barnacles the size of sharks. Neon fish swam by in small schools, displaying pastel rainbows in their wake. When the tunnel went vertical, the aquatic creatures disappeared into darkness. Above the surface of the water, a bright light penetrated through. We broke up to the sights and sounds of a circular room, fire crackling and water dripping from the ceiling. Link lifted himself out onto the tiled ring around the pool then pulled me up beside him.
Ripping down our breathing cloths, we scrambled to make in the first words, stumbling into each other's sentences until I closed my lips and listened to him.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah."
"Talking doesn't work."
"I know, I tried."
"It was beautiful down there," he marveled, laughing between pants.
I played with the edge of my makeshift skirt, smiling lightly, "I know…"
He cast his eyes to the door, then leaned back on his hands, "Let's take a break."
Midna appeared next to us, crossing her arms, but rather than complain, she sighed and laid her head into her hand. Link lied into the ground and shut his eyes, kicking his feet back and forth in the water. Left to the buzz in my head, I got up and wrang out my hair. When I looked back, he was staring up at the stalactites, cheeks glistening wet. Midna yawned and stretched, not budging from her perch. Although I enjoyed the peace, it was much too short lived.
We have to get going.
"Vox-" I whispered.
Tell them to get off their lazy asses!
