A/N: I'm actually rather amazed at the amount of filler-ish schtuff I've managed to use here. I usually don't do well with non-actiony/ploty stuff. Time lapses, as you can probably see, don't usually agree with me... xP But I think it's worked this time! =D So now I shall desist from a rant and let you all enjoy it. Except for one thing...
-insert beg/plea/request/obeisance for a review here-
Chapter Three: Getting to Know You
With a new-found outlet for his growing energy, Link soon regained his former strength. The next month passed quickly for the trio in the stable; in no time they found themselves outside for whole consecutive days. Epona especially enjoyed the disappearance of the snow—the five-year-old frisked through what drifts remained with the vigor of a yearling.
Myria leaned back against the fence, a tiny smile on her face as she watched the men and horse race around the paddock. The Hylian had been working patiently all through the snowbound days to get Epona to accept a saddle, but as of yet she wasn't having any of that. Daevin had joined the effort with an impatient enthusiasm that Link only barely managed to control. As he had explained to them, horses were very resistant to abrupt changes, especially the older ones. From what Daevin had told him about the mare, he was pretty sure it would take more than two months to get a saddle pad on her—let alone a rider.
But of course, that didn't stop him from trying.
The girl returned her attention to the field as the mare in question trotted toward her. Epona snorted and shook her mane in amusement as the panting humans trailed after her. Laughing, Myria approached the horse and patted her neck amicably.
"Having fun, girl?" she cooed, stroking the mare's velvety muzzle. She huffed in satisfaction and sniffed Myria's hand. Finding nothing there, she turned her questing nose to the Aldean's pocket. She obligingly presented the horse with a sugar cube; the girl giggled when the pink tongue tickled her fingers.
Link came up on her other side as the horse finished the cube. He slapped Epona's neck affectionately, but his demeanor was bemusedly resigned. "You're quite the stubborn one, that's for sure. At this rate I doubt we'll ever get a rider on you."
That sentiment made Myria laugh. Daevin, bent over with his hands on his knees, glared up at her hurtfully. "You just don't know how to treat a girl," she teased them. "All she's looking for is a little respect."
As if to agree with her, the horse in question snorted.
"Well then, why don't you show us how it's done?" her brother retorted.
Link remained silent, arms crossed, but watched her carefully for her reaction.
Myria hesitated, suddenly regretting speaking out. She wasn't much of a horsewoman, but what she did know of this particular horse told her that the boys were going about saddling her the wrong way. The majority of men had a domination complex that didn't go over with some girls, and Epona was one of those girls. What Myria saw in Epona she recognized as a kindred feeling: the desire for respect for who she was—not as a "weak" girl or, in the horse's case, a mode of transportation.
The mare huffed and stepped away from the girl when she tried to stand beside her flank. But instead of immediately chasing her, Myria tentatively began to hum a tuneless melody. Epona's ears flicked back and forth curiously, fixated on the sounds. Inspired, she switched to whistling an old Aldean shepherd's song.
With a happy squeal and a loud whinny, Epona reared and wheeled about on her hind legs before taking off across the pasture again. In her shock Myria's tune wavered for a second, but realizing the effect it had on the horse, she managed to smoothly continue it. The human trio watched in slack-jawed amazement as the mare careened around the field, leaping snow drifts in extravagant bounds and throwing clods of sod into the air. From the look on his face, Myria guessed that even Link had never seen an equine behave in such a manner. Even when she stopped whistling, the horse remained in high spirits. She pranced lively from side to side before them like an excited princess showing off a new outfit.
"Well, I guess we found her song," Link commented, giving Myria a knowing smile. The girl felt a flush creep into her cheeks, which she hid by hugging Epona's neck. She in turn playfully bumped her nose against the Aldean's arm.
Daevin, however, was unimpressed. "Ok, so you whistled some old tune that makes her run around like a maniac. Big deal. That still doesn't get a saddle on her."
Confident with Link's support, Myria just grinned at her brother's bitterness. "Watch," she challenged, moving to the mare's side. Epona huffed and pawed with contained excitement, but didn't shy away. Lightly placing her hands on the tall, strong back, the girl coiled her muscles for the huge leap she would have to make.
Just before she jumped, though, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Link stood behind and to the side of her. "Would you like some help?" he offered quietly, still wearing that half-smile.
The question caught her off-guard, and she hesitated. She was used to the random offers of aid from village boys around her age, but hadn't yet pegged Link as one of that group. He had seemed too quiet, too gentlemanly—not the type which she could joke with and know it was nothing more than friendly banter. Even in four weeks of close association, they hardly knew each other well enough to be called more than acquaintances.
If that was the case, though, then why did she feel as if she had known him for years?
She quickly shook herself out of those thoughts. "Y-yeah," she responded to Link's question a little shakily. "Sure. Thanks."
Seeming not to notice her mood, the knight knelt and cupped his hands. Myria grabbed a fistful of Epona's mane, placed her left foot on his interlaced hands, and hoisted herself onto the horse's back. The mare began to prance in anticipation, but a few hummed notes of the folk song stilled her hooves. The girl leaned forward and casually crossed her arms atop the thick neck. "Where to, partner?" she whispered to the attentive velvet ears.
As if understanding her words, Epona turned and started walking in the direction which Myria knew would take them to Prywyn. When she didn't feel any negative weight from her rider, the horse moved into a slow trot. The girl had never been much of a horse person, and so ended up nervously clutching at Epona's mane when she bounced forward.
Immediately the mare dropped back to a walk. She wanted to run—the girl could feel the contained power rippling through the muscles beneath her—but also didn't want to upset her new friend.
Myria considered the horse's wordless suggestion, but then noticed the sun dipping toward the horizon. She nudged Epona's neck in a gesture to turn back toward the boys by the fence line. "Sorry, girl—not tonight. Tomorrow, though, we can go to town. It's about time I checked in with the boss, anyway."
By the time the pair rode up to the fence, Daevin had lost his expression of skepticism and Link was grinning. Myria returned the sly grin with a shy smile of her own.
"She told you so," Link was saying to Daevin as Epona stopped before them.
"That's still not getting a saddle on her," the boy muttered rebelliously.
Myria rolled her eyes and slid off the mare's back. "Close enough. We can work on that tomorrow. At least I can ride her, right?"
Her brother didn't answer, simply pouted and sulked.
Myria had told him much about Prywyn and her job as a fishing merchant's clerk during the long days stuck in her house, but neither were anything like he had imagined.
Nestled at the foot of the mountains and Peak Pass was a small lake thick with kelp and fish of all varieties, around which Prywyn had been built. The stream that fed it divided the eastern shore of town into two distinct districts: the mercantile and fishery districts. Its north and west sides boasted a predominantly agriculture sector, while most of the in-town housing and inns were situated on the southern shore.
Despite having practically grown up in the hustle and bustle of Castle Town, Link couldn't stop his head from swiveling in all directions as he and Myria made their way through its wide, dusty streets. They could hardly even be called that, he thought, recalling the stone lanes of the Town; these were nothing more than paths when compared with the capitol city's grandeur. Nonetheless, Prywyn had been well-built, and from what his amateur architectural eye told him, the long, wide wooden buildings were maintained regularly. Some gardens, now brown and empty in the midst of winter, had even been built up around public walkways and entrances to businesses and homes alike. Irrepressible ivy snaked up many walls, but it was clearly controlled growth and not the encroachment of wilderness on abandoned structures.
What caught his attention even more than Prywyn's central lake were the villagers. Despite what was proving to be a harsh winter so close to Snowpeak, they retained an infectious air of resilience that Link admired. He couldn't count the number of times he had ridden through the traditionally poorer regions of Hyrule and seen haggard, worn faces pleading for help that he alone could not provide. It had nearly torn his heart into unrecognizable shreds to see those looks on the faces of his own people. And, no matter how much he contributed, he could never seem to reverse that viral feeling of helplessness.
But these people were a proud group, used to the rigors of life in the lowest ranges of the 'Peaks. Well-clothed children laughed and played without a care in the wide courtyards interspersed throughout the maze of tall buildings, a sign of a relaxed community. The youngsters were supervised not by any one person in particular, but by the whole village. As Epona walked carefully through their midst, the older folk did not give the riders mistrusting glares for being the only obvious equestrians in town. Instead they offered warm greetings and well-wishes, both to Myria and him. Some bold children skipped around and alongside them, asking about the strange Hylian or for rides on the huge horse, or just chattering away about matters which Link did not understand.
He studied Myria especially closely as they interacted with the natives, curious as to her relation to these people. It seemed as if she knew everyone and their family members—closely or distantly related—on a first-name basis. At first he thought that might be because she was the daughter of the most-respected healer in the region. Soon, however, he came to the conclusion that the townspeople adored her for her own merits. The ever-present warmth of spirit and gentle demeanor Link had first noted upon meeting her had won the hearts of every man, woman, and child in Prywyn.
The knight commented on this fact when Epona halted by the north shore of the Lake. "The people adore you," he noted matter-of-factly.
Her cheeks flushed even redder than the cold air already made them, but he didn't notice it because he was busy dismounting. "I guess, yeah," she acknowledged shyly, absently playing with a lock of Epona's white mane. "I've probably helped Mother take care of every one of them at some point or another. You really get to know people in such a close community."
"That's true," he agreed, offering a hand to help her down. She took it, swung a leg over the mare's neck, and slid down her side. When she stumbled, his hand steadied hers and the other supported her at the elbow. His strength surprised her.
Suddenly Myria realized her patient was no longer the invalid he had been a month ago.
"Thank you," the girl mumbled self-consciously. He simply smiled and nodded for her to lead the way. Ducking her head, she quickly strode around Epona and up the stairs to her workplace.
The building itself, Link was surprised to note, was elegant in its simplicity and of very sturdy construction. A covered porch wrapped around its front with a slatted railing to prevent accidental falls into the lakeshore that backed up to its edge. Someone had kindly thought to place chairs, rugs, and decorative potted plants on the deck, and simple blue curtains peeked through the open windows. At present the usual shutters that protected the inside from the elements were thrown wide to allow a welcome breeze and sunlight into the stuffy shop.
Myria greeted two older women sitting in adjacent rocking chairs on the porch as the pair passed. They chorused words of welcome in return without looking up from or stopping their work. Being mostly unfamiliar with the fishing profession, Link only saw in their laps tangled threads which he assumed were, in actuality, fishing line.
Once he stepped across the threshold into the large main room, the strong odor of fish assaulted his nose. He could detect various other scents from what he guessed were dozens of smaller bait creatures, but the fish-smell almost drowned them. Shifting his gaze to the back wall, the source of the smell quickly became clear: preserved skins and corpses of monstrous, record-holding fish of all kinds had been nailed to the huge beams. They filled the not-inconsiderable length of wall between two large windows, serving as the obvious focal point of the shop.
Link didn't get more than a glance at the merchandise to his right, however, before a jovial shout caught his attention.
"Myria! Welcome back," the broad-shouldered shop keeper behind a wide countertop to their left greeted loudly.
Link did a double-take as he approached. This man was at least twice as wide and two heads taller than him. The presence he exuded would have made even the trained knight think twice about engaging him in hand-to-hand combat. His warm, twinkling brown eyes, however, negated the intimidating effect and calmed Link's twitching sword hand.
That subconscious reaction startled and shamed him. The shop keeper obviously wasn't a threat—he might not have even known he had that kind of effect on people—yet Link's first instinct had been to go for a sword he didn't have.
'Must be the foreign atmosphere making me jumpy,' he muttered grumpily.
"It's good to be back, Glen," Myria returned with a smile. "One can only play in the snow for so long before it becomes irritatingly tedious."
Glen chuckled, a sound which reminded Link of the brown bears that roamed the Hylian slopes of Snowpeak. "True, true… All th' same, I was worried 'bout you. Livin' up in those isolated hills with only yer poor mother and crazy brother t' look afta ya. And wi' th' crazy weather we been havin', I wasn't sure you'd make it up here anytime soon."
Myria's grin widened and she glanced briefly at the knight beside her. Link felt the sinking feeling in his stomach which, during training, usually meant he was about to be ambushed.
"Well, we did have an…unexpected guest drop in during the storm, but it wasn't so bad as it could have been," she replied casually. "Even though Mother and I had to save him from his own stupidity."
Link shot her a sour glare and opened his mouth to retort, but realized that what he was about to say would only bring a rush of questions. He hadn't yet told anyone exactly why he had been wandering around in that blizzard. If Dwayne had managed to cross the mountains since then, he didn't want to put these people in danger for his sake. His knightly pride wouldn't let him do that to anyone, and especially to someone he hardly knew.
So instead he gave up the verbal counter-attack and let his hostess introduce him to her boss.
The day seemed eerily like the ones he had thought he left behind with Hyrule and squirehood. Myria towed him behind her like a trolling line from a boat as she showed him around, jabbering on and on about Prywyn and the fishing profession about which it was centered. Before then, he had thought there were only one or two ways to fish: with a line and pole, or a reel and lure. His single-day sojourn in Prywyn taught him better, and the overwhelming amount of new information made his mind reel as if he had gone back to the first day of weapons training as a page.
Lunch had been his only break before they dived back in to the daily work of the shop, fixing a hundred different kinds of tangled lines and broken rods and selling bait and other supplies. By the time twilight rolled around, the warrior was thoroughly exhausted in mind if not in body. He had a headache and his feet throbbed inside his suddenly uncomfortable boots. He was certain his eyes would gain a permanent squint if he had to figure through any more knotted fishing line.
But Link would be damned if he went to sleep without doing a little something of his own. A waxing gibbous moon provided plenty of light for his night-adjusted eyes as his picked his way along the smooth, sloping shore of the lake. The cool night breeze tugged gently at his uncovered hair, blowing the refreshing taste of water over him and into the village beyond. He paused a few times to study the gently rippling glass surface that stretched a quarter of a mile away to his left, breathing deeply and simply relishing the quiet.
He hadn't had many chances to do that since he awoke in Myria's house, Link reflected as he finally reached a satisfactory spot and settled himself on the sparse grass. Having gotten comfortable, he set the simple rod and line he carried on the ground beside him and pulled off his boots. His feet thanked him by lessening the nonstop pulsing which had nagged him for the whole short walk.
With a contented sigh the knight reclaimed his rod and flicked the line on its end out into the dark waters. A tiny ripple was the only sign that it had pierced the surface, as Link had forgone both bobber and bait in favor of a plain silver hook. He dug a hole in the sandy earth large enough to hold the pole upright and jammed its end into it, patting down the excess before lying on his back and folding his arms behind his head.
He could almost hear the comments of his fellow squires, memories of times when the boys had taken a day-long trip to the gentler part of Lanayru River. Link had done the same thing there.
"You're not gonna catch anything like that, Kas." Kas had been their nickname for him, as "Link" sounded strange and "Kasiri" too formal for everyday use.
"The point isn't to catch something," the then-fifteen-year-old had retorted lazily, setting his customary and coincidentally non-regulation cap over his eyes. "It's to relax. If you end up snagging something, great—but I just want to take a nap."
"You're not gonna catch anything like that, silly," a completely different voice that originated from right over his head commented teasingly.
Link sat upright, twisting around to look at his uninvited guest. Myria stepped around and sat down beside him, settling her long brown skirt over her legs. He noticed idly that she was barefoot, too, and that she had let her hair down from the bun which kept it out of her face while she worked. The moonlight lit her tanned skin with an eerie pale glow that cast a fey air about her.
"The point isn't to catch something—it's to relax," he returned, barely stifling his chuckle at the irony of his explanation. "If you end up snagging something, great, but most times I just want to relax."
Instead of teasing him like his former comrades would have, however, the girl simply smiled and nodded understandingly. "Fishing really is quite soothing," she agreed, following his half-submerged line with her eyes. Then they shifted to him, a knowing gleam in their earthy depths. "For one who, from what I know, hasn't grown up around fishing people, you seem to enjoy it."
Link chuckled. "I honestly don't see how anyone couldn't. I was raised in the countryside; though my training was based in Castle Town, I've never been able to get used to the crowds and the noise." He gestured at the sleeping village with a wide sweep of one arm. "This quiet reminds me of my childhood."
Myria stared thoughtfully out at the lake for some time before cocking her head at him like a robin. "You haven't said much about Hyrule since you came here," she noted slowly. Her hazel eyes glinted with childish curiosity in the moonlight. "What's it like?"
At that, the knight couldn't resist launching into an enthusiastic lecture about his homeland's varied landscapes. Despite the homesickness that roiled like an incoming tide in his heart, he realized it felt good to talk with an attentive audience about the home he hadn't seen in over a month. An occasional glance at her eyes—wide with awe and glee at the vivid pictures of the vast, half-lit Faron Woods and the sunlit emerald plains of Hyrule Field—filled him with pride and a sense of ease he hadn't felt since his knighting. That such a simple thing could have such an effect surprised him, and he wondered how it had happened.
He decided not to worry about it for the time being, and moved from his explanation of geographical Hyrule to demographical Hyrule. Myria gaped like a schoolchild at Link's descriptions of the graceful, aquatic Zora of Lake Hylia and boulder-like Gorons, rock-men of the western Snowpeak Range and rulers of Death Mountain. His tales of daring exploits and near-fatal encounters in his squirehood when he and a squad of knights were sent to explore the uncharted mountains entranced her. And once again, the Hylian somehow managed to forget his feelings of homesickness as he delved into the vast well of experiences he had accumulated in ten short years of knightly training.
Myria in turn offered a few of her own equally-exciting tales. The few occasions when someone had gone missing near the mouth of the Pass, myths about the dangers of Prywyn's lake, stories from Aldea's history and lore… Link devoured these with the hunger of a bookworm who had read his own tomes three times each and just been handed a new novella for his collection.
Her tales of the Great Marshes of Aldea intrigued him the most. That region consisted almost entirely of scraggly forests of half-sized trees and swampland that few dared traverse. The nearest village was a relatively safe ten miles from the definite edge of the marsh—and even that was too close for some. Link had never heard of such a dark place before; the legends claimed that those who dared venture within and never returned transformed into malevolent spirits.
"Their cries are said to haunt the deep swamps through night and day, never ceasing their miserable and furious wailing," Myria narrated in hushed tones. She looked and sounded nothing short of a soothsayer when she told stories, a fact that didn't get by Link.
"You know quite a lot about lands beyond your home," he commented casually. He turned his head to his right, where she lay on her back beside him and stared up at the stars.
She mirrored him, the beginnings of a knowing smirk on her lips. "It makes for better storytelling to know stuff like this," she told him with a humble air. "Most of what I know comes from the news an occasional merchant or sellsword drops on his way through. Unfortunately, even that's not much; despite being built near the only pass between our countries, Prywyn doesn't get that many visitors."
"Hmm…" Somehow, Link got the impression she both knew more than she was letting on and wasn't being entirely truthful about the origin of that knowledge. He knew better than to pry, however. For one, it wasn't his place; she was his gracious host. If it weren't for her, he'd likely be dead by now. The least he could do was be accommodating—which reminded him…
"Then I suppose, since you don't have company all that often, I should tell you why I'm here," he said softly.
They both rolled to their sides and sat up at almost the same time, though he was a little faster. Myria's eyes glimmered with surprise and confusion at his words. She remained silent as he gathered his thoughts, either through shock or simple discipline to wait for the warrior's explanation.
"Everything I've told your mother already is true," he began. "I am a knight, I was chased out of Hyrule, and I don't know why. I do have suspicions, though, and the senses to gather evidence for them.
"From what I can see, Hyrule is on the brink of devolving into either outright tyranny or rebellion. I think it's going to be the former. Something is wrong with the King; he has locked up—or at least tried to imprison—the Princess, and he isn't paying attention to the issues which really matter to Hyrule.
"I was going to enact an investigation into this unusual behavior once I became a knight," Link admitted, "but that got tossed out the window the day of the ceremony. It all looked normal until Fa—the Knight Captain began the dubbing, but…"
Myria watched him with patient, solemn eyes while he fought back the renewed pain of his father's betrayal. After a moment, he managed to continue, "He tried to kill me, and blamed me for kidnapping the Princess, even though it was her father who had locked her up. She and her bodyguard had escaped a week or so before; none of this, of course, was common knowledge. Her father claimed she was simply taken with a rather harsh bout of flu and had been cloistered for the nurses to attend to her."
Link shook his head and sighed, his free hand clenching into a fist with contained anger and bitterness. "I could do nothing then. Fully twenty knights were on the Captain's side, despite their obvious misgivings. I suspect they, too, were under the same curse, possession, magic, or whatever it was that brainwashed their leader. They followed me into the 'Peaks and caught up after the first blizzard. They would have killed me then and there if Sensei Impa hadn't been nearby to give me a hand." A tiny smile twitched at his lips at the unintended pun. "After that, I only remember running—and straight into a second blizzard, at that.
"And that's how I got here. I didn't want to say anything at first," he confessed contritely, avoiding her gaze, "because I couldn't be entirely certain Dw—the Captain wouldn't find me, and possibly hurt your family to get to me. I'm sorry…"
At a gentle hand on his shoulder, the warrior lifted his eyes to Myria's. "It's alright," she assured. "I understand. I can't imagine what it must be like, so far from home without a single familiar soul nearby. And to have these worries hanging over you, as well…"
Unsure what to say to that, Link simply offered a tentative smile and put his hand over hers in wordless thanks. The pair held the understanding gaze a moment, but soon turned toward the lake at an insistent, unmistakable tug from the ignored fishing pole.
That brought quiet laughter into the melancholy air, and their hearts shed the dark ambience that had gathered about them in such a short time.
"Well, it seems you are going to be catching something tonight," Myria pointed out amusedly.
Link laughed at that sentiment. "I'm not that good a fisherman."
Nonetheless, a second tug had him diving for the fishing pole before his foe could drag it to a watery grave.