Dreaming of Coffee and Love

by FlowerOwl

It was a nothing but a meeting caused by the aroma of coffee beans, or at least that was what Mipha told herself the first time she saw Zelda smile at her as Mipha accepted her order. But as time passed and something more bloomed from the conversations that accompanied the cups of coffee and warm muffins, Mipha could not deny that perhaps there could be more to it than that.

10. Chapter 10

Over the next week, Mipha almost managed to forget about the text, the keyword being 'almost'. For though she was able to call Zelda once she left the room again, to tell her in a shaking voice that she could honestly not remember what had been on the exam and that she had spent the first half of the two hours they had had to finish the test in a state of blind panic before she was ready to try to focus again, and had let Zelda convince her that she had probably done fine before accepting Zelda's invitation to go out to get lunch, it had been there in the back of her head the entire time. It felt like she was reminded of how there was yet another question she could have answered better—should have answered better, given how all the correct answers seemed to be coming back to her now that she had left the room again—every other second.

But that did not keep her from feeling as surprised as she would have been if she had managed to forget about it completely when she saw that the tests had been graded and sent back out to them the following Friday. Some part of her had known that it would be the day she would get to know how she had done, but even that did not keep her hands from shaking so badly, she had to try several times just to get her cursor to move over to the button to see the results.

She held her breath as she clicked, the result popping up on her screen.

And… she had failed. It did not feel like it could be right, but that was nonetheless what the number on her computer screen told her.

A chocked noise made its way up through her throat as she simply stared at the screen. It couldn't be right. She knew what she was doing, she had not failed anything before, this was one of her favourite subjects, so how had she managed to fail despite all of that? Mipha knew what the answer was, that she had simply not been as focused during the last couple of months as she had been before, that the last couple of weeks leading up to the mock examination had been completely overshadowed by Zelda and the kiss at the bar that had then in turn ended up distracting her through it all, but still. She would have expected herself to, at the very least, pass with a low score. But to fail? That was something new.

She should call Sidon. Mipha knew that it would be the smartest thing to do, both to let her family know that she had gotten the results and to spend just a couple of minutes listening to Sidon's attempts of cheering her up, or to let herself cry about it to her dad, before he would inevitably end up reminding her that this was only one test, that she had done well in so many others that, in the grand scheme of things, this did not matter at all, but she simply couldn't get herself to move, sitting still in the same spot on the couch as she had flopped down onto just a few minutes before.

The results were not the end of the world, and rationally, Mipha knew that, but it did not keep her from feeling like the world should have stopped spinning in that moment just to let her wallow in self-pity for just a little while longer. She was supposed to help people, after all, and Mipha knew that in just a couple of minutes, she would have gained enough strength to pull herself together and get moving, perhaps to go find Revali to ask him about his latest date with Link, but right now, she just needed to sit still and let her brain come up with different ideas about what the consequences of this might be, the scenarios only making her feel even more miserable as she came up with more and more increasingly creative ideas for what the result of it all could end up meaning for her goals of helping the world.

The fact that she did not have the strength to stand up to go see who had entered the flat as the sound of a key unlocking the door reached her ears should perhaps have given her solid indication that what she was doing was not exactly good for her, but she simply continued sitting there as Revali entered the flat, locking the door behind him before he called her name. Mipha did not answer, instead staying in her spot as she saw Revali lean in to check if she was in the kitchen. Finally, he made his way into the living room, casting one glance at her before he walked through the room, a decisive bounce in his step.

The couch dipped as he flopped down next to her, but Mipha still kept her gaze fixed on her computer.

"Hey, are you all right?" Revali's voice was soft in a way she was not used to hear as he leant in to catch a glimpse of what she was looking at. Mipha could tell the moment he figured out exactly why she was sitting there, in the couch in their living room, ignoring the world around her completely, from the way his shoulders tensed as he looked back up at her. It was almost funny how obvious it was what he would say, to the point where she could almost tell what the next word out of his mouth would be before he had even opened his mouth. "Oh. I take it that this is what you are sad about, isn't it?"

Sad. Mipha supposed that it was a fitting word, even if it did not come close to encompass the sense of doubt that had filled her upon seeing the result.

When she still did not respond, Revali slowly reached out to put an arm around her, so slow it felt almost like he was afraid that it would make her start to cry. "Hey, I am sure that you just had a bad day. Please don't think too much about this test." his face lit up, his voice rising a bit as he got an idea about what to say to make her feel better. "You know what is a much better test of your abilities than sitting still in a room and answering a bunch of questions? How you are able to handle a real emergency. Do you want me to remind you of that one time where Link was supposed to cut up a loaf of bread, but the knife slipped?" she still stayed quiet, but Revali seemed to interpret the total lack of a response as an invitation to continue with the story even if she did not necessarily pay attention to him as he did so. "Should I remind you how amazing you were? Just being totally calm while I started panicking about how we had to call an ambulance and Link just stared at the deep cut he had managed to inflict on himself as he had tried to catch the knife when it landed on his arm? Just rattling off information about how to treat the wound as you ordered us all around, instructing Urbosa about what to tell the hospital as you tried to stop the blood?" he nudged her in the side. "Because that was awesome, so even if this exam did not end that well for you, I am not going to let you think that this means that you aren't good at what you are doing. Besides, wasn't this only a mock examination? It doesn't actually mean anything for your chances of being able to graduate, does it?"

It didn't. Revali was right, but even then, it did not help. Yes, Mipha knew that, if she was being honest with herself, she was good at what she was doing, good at applying the theory to her own life, good at remembering and memorising terms and definitions. Most of all, she knew that the worst thing she could do right now was to panic. But it seemed that, despite how much she knew about the theory, when she had to use it to help herself, it was of no use to her.

She moved so quickly that the computer almost fell to the floor before she managed to catch it and place it on the spot on the couch where she had just been seated. Standing up, the room spun around her. She should probably go to lie down to make it stop. Yes, that sounded like a good idea. Not only would it give her a chance to escape from it all for a short time, but it would also make it so that she would not have the chance to make any rash decisions.

"I think I am just going to go to bed now," she announced. Mipha did not even give Revali the chance to protest. She knew what he would say, that it was barely half past seven, but she just did not care about it.

Leaving Revali and his attempts to make her come back and listen to reason behind, Mipha left the living room to instead head into her own bedroom and closing the door behind her.

Her bed was amazingly soft as she threw herself onto it, pulling the blanket up to touch her chin, but Mipha suspected that, with how tired she was feeling, it would not have mattered if it had been made of stone. She would still have fallen asleep only a couple of minutes later.

By the time she woke up, it had grown dark outside, leaving the lamp on her bedside table she had forgotten to turn off before going to bed as the only light source in the room. A quick look at her phone told her it was barely five minutes past midnight, that she would still have to wait for several hours before she would be able to tell herself to get it together for work. But even though she knew she should just turn over and try to go back to sleep again, she was wide awake by the time she had had time to calculate exactly how many hours there were still left until she would have to get up.

The numb feeling had passed and Mipha did not like what it left her with, the realisation that she was the only one who was to blame for how she was currently feeling. After all, who had been the one to prioritise Zelda over her assignments and homework? Mipha. Who had been unable to focus, but still had not asked for advice before the last possible moment? Mipha. It all came back to her in the end.

Before Mipha had even realised what she was doing or how it was still night, she had called Zelda. As the sound of the gentle beep of the sound filled her room, she felt the anxiety curl up in her stomach. She should end the call and hope that she had not already managed to wake up Zelda. She knew that was what she was supposed to do. But her hand felt incredibly heavy, and by the time her thumb was hovering above the button, the sound of someone shifting to press the phone to their ear reached her.

"Hello?" Zelda's sleepy voice, barely audible even in the silence of Mipha's room told her that, yes, she had really just managed to wake her up.

But, figuring that the damage had already been done and that the least she could do now was to explain to her why she was calling her in the middle of the night, Mipha rolled over to lie on her back as she spoke into the phone, keeping her voice down and hoping that it would be enough to keep her from waking up Revali as well. "It's me. Mipha."

"Mipha? What are you doing, are you okay?"

"Yes. I am sorry about calling you, but—" her voice cracked, and Mipha had to clear her throat two times before she was able to continue, "no. No, I am not okay at all."

"Where are you right now?"

Mipha figured that it was a good thing that her brain was still too preoccupied with trying to make sense of how she had managed to fail, for she did not pause to ask why Zelda was asking, simply stating to the empty room that she was at home, currently lying in her bed.

"Okay, I am coming by," Zelda announced, "there's something I have to show you. Be ready in five minutes."

"What?" Mipha asked, finally realising what was going on, that Zelda was about to get out of bed, losing even more sleep than what Mipha had cost her already. "No, just go back to sleep, I am sorry that I called, I was just a bit confused, that's all. Really, don't worry about me."

But her protests went unheard, or at least Zelda cut through them. "No, I can hear that you are not fine. It is cold outside, so make sure to grab a jacket. I will be over to pick you up in just a moment."

The phone beeped as Zelda hung up, leaving Mipha to look at her phone.

Despite the guilt of how she had seemingly just managed to convince Zelda that she had to come over to cheer her up, Mipha could not deny that the warm feeling blooming in her chest felt a lot like happiness. It was bad, she knew that. She should not be happy that she had just managed to sound sad enough to make her friend drop everything to come over to get her, but that was nevertheless how she felt as she pushed herself off the bed, tiptoeing over to her dresser to pull out a sweater. As she pulled it down, trying to smoothen out the lumps, she heard her phone ding. Another text from Zelda, this time telling her that she was on her way and would be over in just a few minutes.

Mipha barely had time to grab her phone and stumble through the hallway in her search for Zelda's jacket before the phone started ringing again.

She tried to convince herself that the reason she answered it before it had even gotten the chance to beep twice was that she did not want the sound to disturb Revali, but by the time she had placed it at her ear, Mipha knew that the truth was that she had already been holding her breath for Zelda to call again.

"I am outside. Are you ready?" Zelda's voice sounded slightly scratchy, but it was still clear enough for Mipha to make out the meaning.

Making a confirmative sound, Mipha tried her best to hide the sound of her muttering a curse word under her breath as she struggled to get her second shoe on. "Yes, but I don't know where you are."

Zelda was silent for a moment before she answered. "Go to a window," she instructed, "I am going to leave my car and wave towards your block of flats."

Doing as she was told, Mipha finally managed to get the shoe on and made her way into the kitchen, leaning towards the window. Just as Zelda had said, she immediately spotted a car parked in the street below. It was quite dark, but Mipha could still spot the faint silhouette of a person standing directly underneath one of the streetlights, waving up at her.

"Do you see me?" Zelda's voice asked in her ear.

"Yeah."

"Good, then come down here."

She all but ran back into her bedroom, grabbing a piece of paper and hastily scribbling a message onto it, telling Revali where she had gone. Hurrying back towards the kitchen to leave it on the table for Revali to find in the morning and then almost jumping down the stairs, moving so quickly that it was nothing but a miracle that kept her from falling over, Mipha could feel her heart beating wildly against her ribs through it all, the combination of excitement and anxiousness being so dizzying that it did not feel like her body should have been able to handle it. But she made her way out to the front door, and moments later, she was outside in the cold night air. Despite how she pulled the sweater closer around her and tried to pull at the sleeves of the jacket to make them cover her hands, she still found herself shivering in just a few seconds.

"Over here!" the sound of Zelda's voice made Mipha turn around to look in the direction she had seen her wave at her from when she had looked out of her window.

There Zelda was, still waving at her as she stood in front of a car. Now that she was closer and with the help of the streetlight directly next to Zelda, Mipha could see that it was a dark shade of blue and how Zelda was still in her pyjamas, looking just as cold as Mipha. For a moment, Mipha was about to reach up to pull off her jacket to hand it to her, but before she got the chance to do anything, Zelda had grabbed her hand and led her over to the car.

"I thought that it was probably going to be quite cold, so I took the time to grab a few things." she said as she opened the door to the passenger seat, letting Mipha climb in, something that was easier said than done given how she had to make her way around the little mountain of blankets that, by the look of it, had been thrown into the seat in a second before Zelda had left to go and pick her up. Her suspicions were only strengthened when Zelda looked over and, upon seeing how Mipha had to move some of the blankets away to be able to sit down, shook her head. "Yeah, it's a bit much, but I wasn't sure exactly where your flat was and I didn't want you to get cold while looking for my car, so—"

"Hey," Mipha said, cutting into the sentence, "it is fine. If anything, I am happy that you brought these along." she pulled at one of the blankets, lifting it up around her before clasping both sides of it in her hand, bringing it up to her chin. "If you hadn't, how would I have been able to do this?"

"I guess you would have had to use your jacket."

"Probably, but that is not as soft as these blankets." realising that she was very much still wearing Zelda's jackets, Mipha wished she had thought before speaking. But she hadn't, so instead, she hoped that Zelda would not feel insulted as she pointed towards herself. "And—speaking of the jacket—it is actually the one you let me borrow at the bar. I guess I just forgot to give it back, but do you want it now?" Mipha had already reached up towards the zip fastener when Zelda waved her hand at her.

"No, I have yet to actually miss it, and from what little I do remember from that night, you need a jacket more than I do."

Her stomach turned. Zelda remembered something? Although Mipha supposed that she should have known better than to believe she would be so lucky that Zelda would completely have forgotten about what had happened, the risk of Zelda remembering took her by surprise. Grateful for the fact that the blanket she had pulled up around her helped with hiding the way her hand twitched and the choked noise that escaped her, Mipha forced herself to take a deep breath and calm down as much as she possibly could.

"Oh," she said in what she hoped was a casual tone, "why? I don't recall giving you a reason to worry about me that much."

"You were trembling like a leaf when I found you outside—and you have admitted that yourself, so you can't argue that that is wrong. And since I don't really feel cold that much, that means that you are the one of us who needs the jacket the most." Mipha wanted to argue with that point, even if it sounded perfectly logical, when Zelda described it that way, but Zelda did not even give her the chance to get started on her protest, putting the car into reverse and letting the sound of the motor drown out any objections to her taking Zelda's jackets as Zelda looked back over at her, a smile forming on her face. "But let's not argue about that anymore. I have something I want to show you."

"What is it?" Mipha asked, leaning in as far as the gear lever between them would allow.

Zelda simply chuckled at her. "Telling you would ruin the surprise, wouldn't it?" although she did not look away from the road in front of them, Mipha still noticed how she winked at her.

Sinking back into her seat and all of the blankets again, Mipha considered whether or not she would ask again. On one hand, she did not doubt that she could make Zelda tell her if she just asked enough times, but on the other hand, that was not what Mipha wanted. If Zelda wanted it to be a surprise, then why should she not be able to wait? Besides, Zelda would also have to get up in the morning, so wherever Zelda wanted to take her for the surprise, it could not be located that far away from where they currently where. With that in mind, Mipha pulled the blankets a little tighter around herself, to combat the chill that was still left in the car despite how Zelda had turned on the air-conditioning system, and watched how her surroundings changed.

There was something eerie about driving at night. Maybe it was simply because Mipha did not have her driving license yet—and didn't even know anyone her age who had a car—but she was used to there always being cars around her and how she had to pay attention to them. But now, the roads were practically deserted, save for the odd car blasting music at the highest volume possible. Granted, it was most likely because almost everyone would be lying in their beds, fast asleep, but there was still something creepy about how all the lighting around them disappeared as soon as they left the city, until they were driving in near pitch-black darkness. However, it did not seem to faze Zelda, and once she was feeling somewhat safe, it did not take long before Mipha's head grew heavier and she leant back in her seat, enjoying the warmth of the blankets around her.

She woke up to see Zelda leaning in over her, gently tapping her shoulder while whispering her name, a blanket tucked under her arm, which Mipha assumed she must have somehow been able to dig out from underneath her. Looking around her, Mipha could see that they were holding still, but she did not know where exactly.

"How long…?" she asked, a yawn bringing a premature end to her question.

It did not seem like it was an issue for Zelda, as she moved back, standing up straight as soon as she was sure it would not lead to her hitting her head against the roof of the car. "Not that long. I don't think you slept for more than five minutes, but since we had arrived at the destination, I hoped that you would not mind me waking you up," she whispered, extending a hand towards Mipha to help her get out of the car without falling over.

Trying her best to ignore the slight ache in her chest when Zelda let go of her hand, Mipha supressed another yawn. "No, I don't mind at all. Is this the surprise?" she tried to pinpoint something in particular, but had to give up. She simply could not see a thing.

"Almost. We need to walk the last couple of metres and then we will be there." in the darkness, Mipha was not entirely sure if she was interpreting Zelda's expression correctly, but she thought she saw an almost fond smile appear for a brief second as Zelda laughed. "Do you think you can do that?"

If she had to be honest with both herself and Zelda, Mipha would have to admit that the answer to that question was no. No, she was tired, she was exhausted after having spent weeks studying for her exam, and most of all, she was disappointed in herself and about how she had done at said exam. But as she felt Zelda reach out, not quite placing her arms around her waist, but still coming close, Mipha found herself leaning into her and the warmth she emitted, suddenly so full of energy that she would surely have been able to run all the way back to her flat if that was where the surprise really was.

Flashing Zelda a smile, Mipha felt better than she had done in days. "Of course I can do that. The real question here is going to be whether or not you can keep up with me."

It was a poor idea to tease someone whose hand was just centimetres away from your stomach. Mipha learnt that the next moment when Zelda simply tickled her side, making her double up with laughter.

"If you aren't careful," Zelda warned through her own fit of laughter as she helped Mipha regain her balance, "I am going to make this a competition between us. But as it is, I am going to instead tell you that it is a good thing you are feeling that sure, because we have to go this way."

With Zelda leading the way, Mipha felt a little better about how dumb what they were doing really was, having gone to leave the city in the middle of the night to instead walk around somewhere in the countryside without being able to see their hands even if they had held them up in front of their faces. But Zelda continued onwards, occasionally reaching back to squeeze Mipha's hand, a silent assurance that she was still right there, and so, Mipha did the same, silencing the feelings of guilt about how she had yet to call her family and let them know about her poor results.

They walked in silence, and perhaps that was why she noticed the moment the sound of the dirt scrunching under her feet was replaced by something softer. They had only walked a couple of metres, her shoes sinking into the surface with each step, before Mipha realised that it was sand. The sound of waves hitting the coast and the faint smell of salt meeting her confirmed her suspicions.

"Are we at the beach?" she asked, looking up at the faint outline of Zelda's back in front of her.

"Yes." Zelda did not sound like she was upset that her surprise was not a surprise anymore. Rather, Mipha heard how she turned around, the sand crunching underneath her boots, and the next moment, Zelda had grabbed both of her hands, leading her over a little slope that disturbed the otherwise even surface. "But that was not the only reason I wanted to show you this place. Just come on, it is not that far ahead."

She was right. Before long, Mipha found herself standing in front of the ocean, the moonlight reflected in the waves casting a faint glow on the beach around her. It was not quite enough for her to be able to see everything, but despite—or perhaps it was because of—that, it still left her with a feeling of being in the middle of a magical place.

Swallowing several times, Mipha still found herself rendered speechless by the sight. She knew that she lived close to the sea; she and Revali had even visited it several times during their summer holidays, but never at night. When she had been there, throwing herself into the waves at the first opportunity she got, Mipha had always had to make space for the tourists, going back to where Revali would have placed their things every other second to reapply her sunblock to protect her from the sun. But now… now they were the only ones there, and Mipha could not tell why she had never thought to go at night before. The silence was glorious. She reached out to take Zelda's hand, to say something. What it would be exactly, Mipha could not tell, but she knew that she had to say something to thank her for bringing her to the beach not, to let her see all of this. But she did not touch anything but the air, and even though it was dark around her, the moon shining down from above, although nowhere near as bright as direct sunlight, was still enough for her to know that Zelda had moved away from her side.

Speaking in a hushed whisper at first, feeling like she could not make any noise and let it disturb the silence around her, Mipha called her name. "Zelda!" waiting a couple of seconds, Mipha pricked up her ears, waiting for a response. When she did not hear anything, she tried again, a little louder. "Zelda!"

"Shh, I am right here." the voice came from the opposite side of where she had last seen Zelda, and Mipha spun around.

Zelda stood there, illuminated by the electric torch she held in her hand. She must have noticed the lost look on Mipha's face, for she reached out to let her take her hand before she nodded back in the direction she had appeared from. "I had just gone to place the blanket on the sand. I guess I should have made sure that you heard me telling you where I was going before I left."

"No, it's fine," Mipha said, the knowledge that Zelda was still there doing a bit to help calm down her frantically beating heart, "I think I was just not really prepared for how little light there would be out here."

Zelda lifted the electric torch, shaking it slightly. "Well, we have this now. Do you want to go over to sit down for a minute? I haven't actually shown you the reason I like to come out here yet."

Mipha nodded and let Zelda lead the way through the sand. The cone of light form the electric torch in Zelda's hand swayed back and forth in front of them, making the sand look almost white in the harsh lighting.

So this was a thing that Zelda did often. Mipha could not help but wonder exactly how many times Zelda had gone to seek out an adventure like this, driving away from the city in the middle of the night to instead walk along a beach, with only a torch to rely on for a source of light. Now that she had learnt it about Zelda, Mipha almost found it hard to understand why she had never thought of it before. After all, Zelda seemed like this was nothing unusual for her.

"Here." Zelda made her snap out of her thoughts for a moment as she handed her the torch, patting the blanket as she sat down. "Do you want to sit down for a while? Tell me about what happened at that exam?"

She really didn't. As Mipha stood there, in front of the ocean that was larger and deeper than she could even imagine, she didn't want to think about how she had failed and how she had let this exact tone that Zelda was using on her now throw her common sense to the side all of the times she had decided that she would rather spend time with Zelda than sit down and study to make sure she would be able to pursue her dreams for the future. But it seemed that, even though she should know better by now, Mipha was still not able to ignore the pull, so she went to sit down. Leaning backwards, digging her elbows into the ground to support herself, she looked up.

Above her, the sky was decorated with the countless, small, shining stars that were really so far away and so big that it made life around her look so coincidental in comparison. And maybe that, the realisation that she was so small and that the universe was so big, was what made her look over at Zelda, careful not to drop the electric torch and explain.

"I failed my exam."

When Zelda did not show any reaction, or at least not something Mipha could see without turning the torch towards her and risk the light hitting her eyes directly, she took it as a silent invitation to continue. "And I know that it shouldn't matter, but…"

"It just does? It does and you know that it shouldn't so you try your best to pretend that you don't mind while the fact that you really do makes you feel even worse for caring so much about a few numbers?" there was something almost bitter in the tone of Zelda's voice.

"A bit. I mean, I don't think I really feel that guilty about the fact that I care, it is more that I am scared about what it might mean for my future, you know? I know that this does not count, but it was supposed to kind of be my chance to try to get an impression of how it would be once it really matters, and if I failed it now, then how can I expect to be able to pass once it is the real deal?" Mipha sighed. "I guess that I am just scared I won't be able to help people."

"And that is what you want?" she heard Zelda rustling next to her, and even in the darkness, Mipha could tell that she had turned around, lying on the side to look over at her. "You are sure that, even if no one had ever introduced you to the idea, you would still be striving towards getting your degree?"

Did she? Ever since she was young, Mipha had loved being able to calm down her friends when they had fallen and scraped their knees, telling them how it would be fine while she gave them colourful plasters to put over the small scrapes. And, granted, university was not the same as that, but when she imagined her future, she could not imagine not being able to continue to do that, so when she looked over at Zelda, Mipha was able to answer the question without any uncertainty in her voice. "Yes. I don't like the exams, but I would not have it any other way."

"Well, then you have your answer right there. You love what you do, so once it really counts, I know that you will be able to do what you have to." Zelda reached out to grab her hand, and, for once, she did not let go, not even after she had turned back over to lie on her back once more. "You know, I usually go here when I am feeling sad. There is just something about being here completely alone and seeing the stars above you that really puts things in perspective, don't you think? It's kind of, well, I can't let one mistake make me lose all hope, because, in the grand scheme of things, it is just a minor inconvenience."

She fell silent, and as Mipha looked back up at the stars, she could not help but wonder what exactly was going through Zelda's head at that moment. With the way she had ended the sentence, her voice becoming lighter before disappearing completely, she had to be talking about more than just Mipha and her failed exam.

Mipha got her answer a couple of minutes later.

"See? That star up there?" Zelda said, pointing towards a spot in the sky. Mipha lifted the electric torch, trying to remember which one of the stars Zelda had pointed at as she lowered it back down onto the ground. "That one is without a doubt my favourite. Do you see how it is located just outside that constellation over there?" this time, Mipha did not bother to lift the torch. She could see exactly what Zelda was talking about, the gentle light of Vah Naboris sitting right next to the star Zelda had pointed at. "I liked to think that it felt isolated, like it had been so close to being a part of Naboris only to be rejected so that the brighter stars could be included instead. I guess it kind of made me feel like we were the same, that star and I." she went silent, but from the sound of the sand moving next to her, Mipha could tell that she was nodding to herself. "I—" Zelda interrupted herself, couching a couple of times, the sound being amplified by the otherwise near total silence around them, "I told my father that the story about me studying theology like he had wanted me to had actually been a lie from the very start. I called him while you were at your exam, because I figured that if you were able to do that, I too could be able to be honest with my family."

"How did he take it?" but even as she asked, Mipha already had a pretty good idea of just what the answer to her question would be and the hollow sound of Zelda's laughter only confirmed it.

"Oh, he actually took that part pretty well, all things considered. He did spend a good five minutes telling me how my mother had studied theology before me and her mother before her, that it was a family tradition, but, in the end, he did calm down enough to tell me that he supposed that I might not totally have ruined my own life completely since there was still a chance that I could become some kind of professor if I only worked hard and that that might be an acceptable alternative. That was when I told him that I had actually managed to get my degree earlier than planned and that I was currently working on a book, on a project that I really loved where I was able to incorporate my love for ancient technology. He did not like that. I can still hear how he yelled something about how I had ruined my life, that he had expected better from me, something about how irresponsible I was, before finally informing me that I should not even bother to call him before I had sorted out my life and gotten everything back on track."

Mipha shuddered despite how she still had Zelda's jacket wrapped around her, making even the cold night a little bit warmer. If it had been her, if her dad or Sidon had told her that her dreams were never going to work out for her and continuing on to insult her before finishing it all off with telling her how they would not talk to her before she had changed herself into someone they wanted her to be rather than who she was… Hylia, she couldn't even begin to imagine that.

"I am sorry to hear about that. I can't imagine how it must feel for you."

"Actually," Zelda said, "I am feeling better than I have done in months. I don't have to worry about someone who knows him seeing me and figuring out that one, I do not study theology, and that two, I don't study anything at all right now since I am working on a project that will hopefully end up becoming a book. Besides, if he did not want to see me happy and cared more about what my mother might have done when she was my age, then I see no reason for feeling sad about not seeing him anymore."

She said it with so much passion that Mipha could almost feel the relief in the air. But despite all of that, her stomach still turned as she tried to envision how the conversation must have been. While she had been at her exam, worrying about something that did not really matter all that much, Zelda had told the truth about her life. While she had looked at a number that told her she had failed, Zelda had been told the exact same thing, but not by some faceless university, no, she had been told by her father.

Next to her, Zelda continued. "So, although I don't think I would have been able to justify going here right now if you had not called me, I would probably still have ended up going sooner rather than later. I just really missed seeing the stars, and although I am sometimes able to spot them while in the city, it is just not really the same thing as being here."

That, Mipha could only agree with. There was no noise, no light contamination to make it so that they could only see the brightest stars. They would most likely not even have been able to see Zelda's favourite star if they had still been in the city.

"I suppose that perhaps I might still have another chance at passing that exam." Mipha said, slowly and unsure if Zelda really wanted to hear her it. Thankfully, Zelda tightened her grip on her hand, a silent encouragement to go ahead. "It wasn't the real one, so I suppose that I should just view it as a wakeup call intended to show me that I have to work harder."

"I don't necessarily think that you have to work that much harder," Zelda said into the darkness, "only that it might be good for you not to worry so much about your future."

"What do you mean?"

"Mipha, it was because of you and everything you told me that I decided that I didn't want to attend one more awkward family dinner where I would have to make up stories about how life is at university or what we are currently studying. If you had not been around, I might have done it at some point in the future, but I doubt that I would have done it anytime soon. So, in a way, I suppose you deserve at least the credit for giving me the courage and the idea to tell him, or at least you are a part of the reason as to why I don't have to listen to him tell me about how my mother studied theology like that somehow makes it so that I have to do the same thing. My point is that even if you fail your real exam, you can still be able to achieve your dream of helping people, it just might not be in the way you had imagined."

Mipha tried to speak, tried to say something about how Zelda had been the one to actually make the decision to tell the truth, to let her father decide if he actually loved her for who she was, but not a single sound came out. The warm feeling in her eyes were tears, she realised, a few of the drops escaping and gliding down her cheeks, others soon following right behind. Goddesses, it was a cheery sight, her sitting there on the beach, on a blanket that would surely never be able to be taken back inside again with how much sand there must be on it now, crying over the news of how Zelda had told her father about what she was actually planning to do with her life.

Next to her, Mipha could see how the light from the electric torch flickered, and she supposed that she should probably be worried about how it meant that the batteries could not have that much energy left before they would not be enough to power it, but she simply could not bring herself to care. Right then, all that mattered was the fact that Zelda had yet to remove her hand, instead edging even closer to her, until their shoulders were only millimetres away from touching.

"I know that you a sad about that exam," Zelda said in a hushed tone, "and I know that I can't take the worry about how you are going to do at the real exam away from you, but I just want you to know that, no matter what, I know that you are going to do great things. You have already helped me, and I am sure that, degree or no degree, you will continue to do so."

"I—" her voice broke, "I, uh… I don't know what I can say."

"Then don't say anything. You don't have to. We can just lie here for a moment and watch the stars."

And that was what they did. The blanket shielded her from the cold sand beneath and the moon and the stars above her sent out a faint light that she could easily block out by closing her eyes. With how Zelda moved over to place her head on her shoulder, throwing her arm over Mipha, it was no wonder that she soon felt the effects of having woken up in the middle of the night after a week of not getting enough sleep and feeling anxious about her exams. Her eyelids felt heavy, but the rest of her body felt lighter than it had done in weeks as Mipha felt her breathing grew even and relaxed as she fell asleep.