I'm glad to be back into writing. This chapter is what I would call, "filler," but I think taking a break from the main plot for a moment just to focus on character can be a nice thing to have in a story. I hope you're all doing well and that you

Enjoy

(PS thank you to my beta reader for one of the ideas in this chapter. 3)


Link's house was bigger than in the game. There was an actual bedroom, and the second floor was expanded, but only about halfway across the length of the house. He gave me a quaint tour, wiping dust off the dormant surfaces of bookcases and tables as he went. It was all very wooden. Wooden floors, wooden walls, wooden furniture. Nonetheless, it still felt impossibly snug and warm.

Link finally stopped at the bedroom door, stating simply, "This was my parents' room. You can sleep here or my bed, your choice. I don't mind either way."

I reeled at the thought of even stepping foot into that room and immediately reassured him that his room would be fine. Link raised his eyebrow for a moment then quickly continued on.

"I'll wake you up before dinner so you can bathe...which reminds me I should wash our clothes too." He started walking away to the ladder leading up to the second floor. I followed him hesitantly. "You can wear some of my clothes for now, they'd probably fit."

We climbed to the loft where his bed was, a mattress on the floor next to a side table. There was a dresser against the railing on the ledge. On the top of the dresser were drawings and paintings of Epona, Ilia and Colin. People he held dear. Some were propped up while others sat in stacks of paper. At the very edge I spotted a face not so familiar as the others and not nearly as precisely painted. Its strokes were sloppy, but it was undeniably a woman with blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Here," Link held out a wrinkled shirt and pants. I had barely noticed him sifting through the drawers, but now as I glanced down, I noticed that nothing was folded.

A small chuckle escaped my lips as I took the clothes from him.

"What?"

"Nothing," I uttered softly, shaking my head.

He smiled and shut the drawer. "Just throw your clothes down, I'll come back later." Turning to me, he gave me a quick hug then headed down. I watched him go and listened for the door to shut before getting changed.

I neglected to notice how dirty my outfit was until then. The bits of dirt and odd stains in the fabric were everywhere and in places I didn't expect them to be. Blotches of gold and red alike had soaked into the surface, but there certainly wasn't much to do about that. I put on Link's clothes, a white sleeveless shirt and tan, almost orange, pants that cinched right below the knee, and tossed mine over the railing.

Sitting down on his mattress, I plunged my feet under the sheets. The sun streaked in through a few gaps in the shuttered window, but I was too tired to care. I summoned Creota from my Leiyn who yawned and curled up at my feet. As I went to sleep, my head rolled into a lump that, upon quick inspection, was just a small stuffed horse. "Vox?"

Just sleep, Maizy.

"But, what is this?"

Don't act dumb, haven't you ever left something under your pillow and forgotten about it?

I sighed, grumbling, "Mostly my phone…" Shoving the stuffed animal off to the side, I threw myself back down and fell asleep beneath the thin green sheets.

Hours later, the door creaked loudly and slammed shut. I startled awake, nearly ripping off the sheets in dread. My heart steadied, realizing it was probably just Link and I curled back up waiting for him to leave. After a moment I heard the light shuffling of clothes then the door once again. I scrunched my eyebrows together, not able to get the slam of the door out of my head.

Carefully, I stood up and opened the window part way. Outside, bright streaks of orange blanketed the sky above purple clouds. Link walked towards town, his bare back to me. I closed the shutter and turned to the dresser again, eyeing the painting of the woman. Taking it in my hand, I flipped it over where small messy handwriting spelled out words in Hylian that I couldn't read.

Defeated, I replaced the painting and started down the ladder, watching Creota stir on the mattress but ultimately fall back asleep. Tossing open the door into the warm evening air, I took a deep breath and walked into town after Link. There were several people around, chatting away about the weather and crops, mostly animals. A few stared at me as I went by on my search, gawking at the air under my left shoulder. I had no cover, no one beside me, I felt like the girl running away from Destrian again.

The stream running across town leads to a grand lake stretching out almost as wide as Lake Hylia. On one of the docks sat a small figure, unmoving against the light pulsing waves along the surface. I walked further into town then found a path to get to them, swinging around trees to catch the shade. It led out into the sun again behind the dock, right behind the figure.

"Link?"

He turned, his face riddled with distress until he recognized me and it all faded like steam on a glass pane. "Maizy? What are you doing awake?" he muttered.

I gave a weak laugh and walked up beside him. "Well, maybe don't slam the door if you want me to stay asleep." As I sat down, he looked away onto the lake.

"Sorry…"

My feet sunk low into the water, scaring away fish deep down below. I shook my head and assured him, "It's alright. I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

Link went silent, squinting against the sunlight and resting his chin on his knee.

"So what'd you talk to everyone about?" I asked calmly.

"Stuff."

Nice.

My fingers gripped the fabric of my pants as I tried to slow the pounding of my heart. "Link."

"I don't want to talk about it."

"You do."

"I don't."

I took another deep breath and started again, "Link."

His chest shuddered, but with a rasp he explained, "Ilia's dad was devastated. I couldn't get myself to stay, I just left… I told the other parents about how their kids were doing and I felt better for a while but I can't get his face out of my head. Do you think I should've stayed to comfort him?" He looked back at me, our eyes locked.

I shrugged under his gaze. "I'm sure he's not going to be angry at you if that's what you're worried about. You and Ilia were close, he should understand that it's hard for you too."

Link stirred his foot in the water, accidentally bumping mine from time to time. For a moment we sat like that on the dock, staring out on the lake into the rolling plains, ankles colliding like children in a game of tag. He spoke up quietly, "It feels like everyone I love is getting picked off one by one. I know it's just two people-"

I stopped him quickly, "'Just two people.' Link, if you love them they're obviously not just 'people.' You don't have to make excuses to me. I might not understand because I've never lost someone that close, but I won't judge you."

He hugged his leg closer and didn't reply.

"Just keep talking, I'll listen until the sunrises if I have to."

His lips allowed a small smile to creep up his cheeks and he finally opened his mouth to let it all go. "Ilia and I have been friends since we were little. I knew a few other people my age, but most of them thought I was cursed and wouldn't talk to me. My dad was best friends with the mayor so Ilia was pretty much welcome at my house even when that fuck was around. After he stopped coming back, she didn't show up as much. My mom found out it was because her dad thought it would make him look bad… I've never seen my mom angrier."

I slouched. "You two seem fine now."

"He acts like it never happened. Kind of just started over, never apologized but I don't let that get in the way." Sighing loudly, he continued, "People started calling my mom crazy after that… I don't know if it was them or something else, but she did start getting sick. I tried to hide it, the times she stood over my bed with a knife mumbling about people coming to take me. The times she thought I was dead when I was standing right in front of her. My uncle noticed something was wrong and sent her away to live with my dad's sister. A few months later she's dead, no one knew why or how, just that she went to sleep and never woke up."

I thought hesitantly about what the Shade said, wondering if she really passed in her sleep if she had a dying wish. Seeing his face, I found it better not to mention it and stayed silent.

"Ilia showed up again and she didn't let me stay upset when she was around. She started being a pushover about things, but she was always still her sweet self. As a fifteen year old she confused me more than chess...and I'm really bad at chess. A few months ago we were in the spring and she told me she loved me and I didn't know what to say. After six years without my mom nothing ever felt right. But then I went out of town, I finally felt I was where I belonged. After getting turned into a wolf and running through sewers of course…"

I let out a weak chuckle as I stared at my hand in my lap. "So what did you say to her?"

Link's eyes were soft and he had a solemn smile on his cheeks as he remembered. "I kissed her. I thought it felt right at the time, but after traveling, I don't know, I don't think we were the perfect match people thought us to be. She even kind of let me go nicely at one point, but it was more on and off if anything, she was too emotional to give a definite answer."

I could see the last words almost drain out of his mouth and I figured it was time he caught a break. The sun slid lower on the horizon as I sighed. "I've never kissed anyone."

Our feet bumped as he looked at me with subtle shock. "Really? You seem the type."

"The type?" I scooched away.

He laid a hand on my thigh and stammered, "No, I meant you're pretty."

"What, so you think I kiss any guy who calls me pretty?"

His cheeks went pink. "No, I just thought-"

"Mm?"

"Nevermind."

I smirked and looked away at the beach. Its sands were practically orange in the dying light. Figures in the distance danced as black silhouettes passing along the horizon. Before I could turn back around, I felt the slap of water hit my side. I spun back to see Link laughing like a kid as I fumed. "What was that for?!" Sticking my hand in the water I splashed him back.

"Didn't want you getting an ego." He lightly elbowed my side.

"Yeah, well now my clothes are wet." I rolled my eyes playfully and stood, feeling the wood under my sodden feet. Next to Link, I saw the basket with all of our clothes in it, sitting perched near the edge.

My attention shifted back to him as he started getting up and a sinister thought crossed my mind. Without much more pondering, I rammed my side into his back and he quickly started slipping forward. Before I could watch him hit the water, his arm swung around and grabbed my bicep, plunging the both of us into the lake below.

We surfaced, laughing into each other, throwing splashes back and forth until Link finally gripped my hand in his. My limbs froze, caught in his gaze. For a moment we just sat there, panting between giggles. I broke his hold and threw my arm around him. He embraced me back, squeezing me tightly to his chest. Closing my eyes, I drank in the moment, his warmth, his closeness, him. My heart leapt in my chest, quickening with every second. I smiled in his arms.

Eventually he loosened his hold and left for the shore. "I should clean our clothes, I told my aunt I'd have dinner with her." His cheeks flushed and he hesitated, "She's excited to meet you."

I wrung out my hair as I came up behind him, suddenly flustered. "You told her about me?"

"I-well what was I supposed to say? 'Make dinner for two,' and then show up with a third person?" he laughed. Getting back up onto the dock, he sat next to the basket and took out the first garment. I slid down beside him and sat cross legged, watching him work. After a moment I looked back at the sleepy town and wondered.

"Why not wash them in town, wouldn't that be easier with the stream?"

Pausing, he glanced at the simple skyline and shrugged. "It's way too busy, I'd rather no one bother me and ask any questions I don't want to answer."

The sky was turning to twilight, the orange of sunset dying lower under the hills. I recalled passively the little village in the game, the young kids, their parents. "This place was smaller in the stories. There were barely any townsfolk at all."

"Like who?" Link prodded.

"Uh...Uli and Rusl and Colin...then the...Talo, Malo, and whoever their parents were. The...Beth's mom. Then there was what's his face that works at the ranch."

He smiled. "Fado?"

"Fado! That was it I think."

"Mm...so what'd you do other than read my stories?"

I sighed, unfolding my legs into the water as I tried to remember my hobbies. "I used to play flute." My hand felt at the place where my left arm used to be. "...can't really do that anymore- and volleyball but I can't really do that now either."

His eyebrows drew in as he remarked, "Volleyba-nevermind continue."

"Believe me, I wasn't good at volleyball. Well I guess I was kind of good. I don't know but I also did pretty well in math. That's not a hobby though, uh…"

As I tried to come up with more to say, Link moved on to the conversation, asking, "You mentioned school once, what's it like with everyone going?"

"Well, there's a lot of idiots and people who don't try. It's lost on a lot of them, but it's just a part of life where I'm from."

We continued on like that for a while, discussing small things back and forth. Nightfall was just about to overtake the sky when he finished and we made our way back to his house. Link said Uli would probably be cooking by now and told me to go wash my face before we went out. I asked for a hairbrush too, but he had no clue where to find one.

The air of dusk sat heavy on the earth, a warm blanket over the small town. Link and I stepped out into it in dry clothes, breathing in its sweet summer taste. We went through town to a cottage up on a hill. A small porch reached out from its front, filled with a few chairs and a table. Its boards creaked a little under my steps as we came up to the door and Link knocked.

I stared anxiously at the doorknob, watching it turn and pull back into the house. In its place stood a woman whose blue eyes smiled into Link's face. She wasn't very tall and her small face was accentuated by her blonde hair which was cut into a bob. Her hand rested over her large stomach as she waved with the other and beckoned us inside. Link filtered in first, leaving me in tow behind him.

As she shut the door, she turned to me and crooned, "My aren't you lovely."

My cheeks felt hot as Link started to introduce us. "Aunt Uli, this is Maizy, Maizy, my aunt."

Uli tilted her head and smiled. "Nice to meet you."

I tried to say something back, but only ended up muttering a small, "Hi," before she looked away from me towards Link.

"Do you mind finishing dinner? I'm having back pains again."

Link didn't hesitate to do the favor and he went off to the kitchen at the other end of the room. Uli lead me over to the dining table and we sat on the side closest to Link. The house was cozy, all the furniture rather close together in the small space. The couch hugged close to the hallway, a low table in front of it. Everything matched, the humble tapestry on the wall, the rug, the wood. It reminded me of the rooms at home, decorated by my mom as microcosms.

Uli picked up a small steaming cup from the table. "So, where are you two off to next?"

I hesitated, but when Link didn't answer, I found Uli's gaze set on me and my lips parted. "Um...the desert…"

"The desert?!" Uli remarked, "Goodness, what's out there?"

Link looked just as confused as he stirred something in a pot. I quickly clarified as vaguely as I could, "It's one of the sources of all the monsters that have been showing up recently. Someone gave us a tip about it."

"Mm," Uli hummed, "well good luck. If you need any supplies before you head out there's probably some lying around. Rusl left a few bags before he left."

Link spoke up, "Yeah, you said he was in Castle Town right?"

She took a sip and nodded, "He got a letter from an old friend. He's staying at a tavern in town for now. You should go see him before you set off, I'm sure he'd love that."

Link added something to the pot and turned around to a cupboard, sifting through until he found three bowls. He set them down and stirred the food again.

"Since when could you cook?" I wondered aloud.

Uli leaned back in her chair. "Oh, his mother loved to cook. Always told her she could be a chef. Link's a far second, but that's fine."

"I make what I like," Link scoffed.

She chimed back, "Mm, but a teenage boy doesn't really have good taste in food."

"Tastes fine to me…"

"Maizy, have you been subjected to my nephew's cooking yet?"

I shook my head. "No he just feeds me whatever he found in the marketplace which never tastes good."

Link shot me a glare, but as he turned back to the food and started pouring what looked like noodles into the bowls, I could see a small smile on his lips.

"That's no way to treat a lady," Uli chuckled, "Does she always wear your clothes too?"

His cheeks were growing red as he came over to the table with two bowls and set them down. "No...I just…"

"And your hair," Uli looked towards me, examining the mess around my face, "Do you need a hairbrush? I can give you one."

I could see my brown hair in tangles in my peripherals. A good brush would be good, I thought to put it up too, that way it might stay out of my eyes. "That'd be nice, thank you."

Link sat down and we started at the meal, chatting like that the whole while. Uli was pleasant and teasing, poking fun at the both of us. She reminded me a lot of my mom, a younger version of my mom but it undoubtedly made me homesick.

When we were done, Uli broke off into one of the two rooms in the hallway and came back out with a small brush. I thanked her as I took it and we headed to the door. She gave us both hugs, wishing us safe travels as we were ushered outside. The sky lit up with a million stars stretching as far as I could see. Its magnificence was short lived as we quickly got back to the house and stumbled inside.

Link set up some candles and pulled out a map as Midna jumped out and laid herself on a cushion. He flattened it over a low table next to his kitchen and sat on one of the other cushions, peering down at the landforms. I dropped beside him and made an attempt to brush my hair, but without my other arm to hold the rest steady, it just wound up escaping me.

Link glanced my way, looking back at the map, then checking me again. With a sigh, he took the brush out of my hand and motioned for me to turn around.

"What?"

"I'm gonna brush it for you."

"I can do it myself."

He frowned. "No you can't."

I drew my knees to my chest and conceded, "Fine."

Link started slowly, but that didn't stop my scalp from getting yanked left and right. I tried not to complain, biting my tongue with every tug. Midna, however, spoke up. "You're ripping her scalp off, let me do it!" She grabbed the brush from him and came at my hair gently. It took longer to get all of the tangles out, but my head was happier for it.

When she was done she laid the brush down lied back on the cushion. I reached forward to get the brush, but something had gripped at my hair once again. Before I could ask what was happening, I felt a familiar pull and realized Link was braiding it.

"You know how to braid?" Midna remarked.

"It's not that hard…" Link mumbled.

"I mean, you're right I'm just surprised." Midna rolled over in my peripheral. "Never really took you to be such a softy at heart."

"I'm not a softy. I'm just...nice."

Midna laughed, "'Nice,' is that it?"

"Nevermind."

As he finished he gave me the end of the braid while he looked for a tie. As he came back and tied it off, I pulled it to the front, feeling its bumps, familiar like an old friend. Somehow I had missed having my hair in a braid.

Link picked up a stray pencil from the table and marked a few spots on the map. Midna gestured to a structure in the desert where she thought the mirror should sit. She suggested we find some guide otherwise we'd probably get lost. I suggested asking Telma if she knew anybody and they agreed to that.

After he put his map away, Link asked where I wanted to sleep. I hesitated to wonder where he would go, but he quickly clarified he'd sleep wherever I wasn't. It seemed selfish to choose his bed, but he didn't make any twitch of the muscle or drop of his lip to indicate that he felt bothered.

We separated after a snack, Midna sticking to her cushion as Link and I took to the beds. Creota was waiting where I left her, but she was going to town on the blankets. Her tiny meow echoed off the wallsI lied on top of the sheets staring up at the bits of moonlight streaming through the cracks in the window. It was then, staring up into the wooden ceiling, that I realized Vox hadn't spoken a single word to me since the dock.

"Vox," I whispered.

What.

"Why have you been so quiet?"

Vox was silent for a moment. I just felt it wasn't the time and place to interject. It was a conversation between the two of you. Plus I feel just as tired as you do and didn't want to talk.

"Do you always feel what I do?" I rolled onto my side.

Usually it's dull, but the more connected our souls are, the more I find that I know exactly what you're feeling. It's on and off. Perhaps someday you'll feel what I feel as well.

"We're becoming the same person," I thought aloud.

For better or for worse.

A chill ran up my spine and I dug my feet under the sheets. Not wanting to continue the discussion, I mumbled, "Goodnight," and shut my eyes.

Goodnight.

Creota kept me up, my mind full of thoughts and ponderings. Minutes ticked by like hours, my brain still alert to every shift in the room. Eventually the sound of wolves in the forest faded into a dull cry. The darkness behind my eyelids became truly black and I lost sight of time altogether.