Author's Note: Heres another short chapter. Lol, sorry gaiz.

Just in case any of you are wondering, I guess I sort of

described Link's seven year absence as like a taboo.

I don't know why, I guess it just seems natural that he

be told not to tell anybody.

Forgive

I could not comprehend that fact that the plain young boy that had plagued my thoughts for so many years had grown into this man.

All I could make out through the rays of the rising sun was the soft arch of his back and strong arms that reached for the heavens in a stretch. His hat was of, leaving the curve of his neck exposed, the only obstruction the small stub of a pony-tail at the nape. I was too caught up to notice that the voice that had been female was in fact a small blue fairy.

I ravenously craved something more than just his back. I wanted to put a face to the voice.

I ran my tongue over cracked lips, readying them for speech . . . or maybe even something more.

Before I could even utter a sing word, he stopped mid-stretch. My heart beat erratically. In one lithe movement his sword was pulled from its sheathe and lay gripped tightly in his leather-clad hand.

He is going to turn around. He is going to see me. This is everything. This is my moment.

He turned around.

Everything that had happened in my life up until this point now seemed superannuate. Every good thing that had brightened my day at one point or another was now dull compared to the feelings that enveloped me at this moment. Every hope, every fear; Gone.

It cannot be put into words, the raw emotions that filled me. For so long I had continually lost everything and gained nothing. For once in my life, I was allowed to live.

His face and body had matured into that of a seven-teen year old; tall build, broad shoulders, what I would suppose to be a thin stomach . . . small hips. But how would I know? The only other males that I had closely inspected were Ingo and my father and they lacked the fitness and age of this boy.

All I knew was that I wanted him.

We locked eyes.

A thud rang out in the empty field, reverberating off each wall as his sword fell from his slack hand.

Not one thing, not even his fairy companion dared make a noise as he strode towards me. I felt so vulnerable and unshielded as I watched his long steps quicken into a jog, and then a sprint. My eyes involuntary squeezed shut as the lump that had been continually forming in my throat turned into a sob.

The first thing I felt were his hands enfolding me; the rough, gilded metal of his gauntlets pressing into my lower back, pulling me closer into him.

His momentum lifted me off the ground on impact, spinning me in a small circle that nudged me into the smooth wall behind me. His cool skin pressed against my bare neck; his eyelashes brushing against my collarbone.

Breathing suddenly became an impossible task.

I could feel his smiling lips resting at the hollow of my throat, his voice a pleasant vibration that traveled though my chest.

"Malon . . ."

So much sadness in that one word, so much pain and relief together as one. It was no longer a name, but a sigh that shook sobs through my body. My trembling fingers grasped at the fabric of his tunic, my other hand rising to pull his bowed neck closer. The ridged fabric of his wool shirt irritated my already sensitive hands as I gripped him. If only I could hold him closer, I could make him stay; if my hands held onto him tighter, her would never leave.

"I waited for you!"

The sound of my own exasperated but heavily muffled voice surprised me. The tears that I had promised myself would never show ran freely down my flushed cheeks. Frustration bubbled up from the pit of my stomach.

"Why did you not come once during those long years? Why did you desert me?" My hands were on fire as I shook him roughly, my face burying itself in his chest. "How could you just forget about Epona and my father and this ranch? . . . You said you would come back . . ."

For an agonizing second he pulled away.

His eyes, just the same as I remembered them, were full of desire. Desire to share the heavy burden he carried; to lessen the weight of his troubles. A secret that needed telling.

But his lips stayed closed, his voice silent. My only answer was the want in his eyes, the sorrow that no man should have to bear. His eyes were filled with appetence, burned with the hope of forgiveness.

And I forgave.

If only I had known that my lust for you was not one sided.