The Hero of Sennohe 2

She had wanted to ask Link to spend the night at their house, but didn't quite have the nerve to ask. So he stayed in a room at the inn, and Sky and her brother went home giddy with excitement.
"Gotta say sis, I thought you had lost it a bit earlier, but he was the real deal!"
She beamed back at him,
"I can't believe I got to meet him! I CANT BELIEVE IT!"

That night was sleepless. All the things she could have said, or should have done ran through her mind; much cooler ways of introducing herself, and much more intelligent answers to questions and more interesting questions to ask. It was too late now, but these things kept her awake alongside the pure rush of having met her hero.
There was always tomorrow. She hoped she'd get another chance to speak to him tomorrow, now that she's thought of some less idiotic things to talk about. But what if he left during the night? Famous people are mysterious like that aren't they?
Sky forced these thoughts out of her head and tried to sleep.

Mere moments later it was morning, cold crisp and completely unappealing compared to her warm bed. But today was one of her days of helping out at the local shop. They needed an extra hand since their own daughter had got married and moved away to be with her new husband. The pay wasn't half bad either.
Leggings, tunic, hat, boots... and store apron for the morning. All present and accounted for.
The morning was long and dull. Nobody shopped before lunch in the cold. Sky was nearly finished alphabetizing all the notes on the countertop by the time she was let loose.
Usually, lunch was eaten at home, but not today. Today she wanted to go into the centre of the village, on the off-chance of meeting Hyrule's Hero again.
She peered in the window of the tavern, just in case, but it was empty except the regulars and Mr Mondo. Taking a long route around the outskirts, she could most of the town from a mountainside road. Link didn't seem to be anywhere. Disappointment filled her heart and she pouted like a child on her way back down into the village.
She would come to terms with last night's meeting being a once-in a lifetime event... she told herself. On the third telling, a flash of green caught the corner of her eye. He was still here! In fact, he was just coming from the shop. Sky mentally kicked herself for taking a slightly early lunch break.
"Hello there!" he greeted her, before she'd composed anything to say,
she smiled and was forced to improvise.
She explained once asked that she did work here some mornings, hence the apron. Her stomach flipped a bit when he said that if he'd known that he would have waited until she was working to go in. She told him she was going to get some lunch, and asked him to join her, without even thinking about it. Miraculously, he said that yes, he was quite hungry too and would enjoy the conversation.

Once Sky came back to her senses, she realised she was sitting in the tavern, sharing lunch with the Hero of Hyrule. Not only that, but they were actually getting along!
"and do you know how hard it is to walk in iron boots? I didn't!" they laughed.
"So, I didn't even ask yet, what are you doing out here? I mean, are you staying long?" Sky asked, taking her opportunity.
"Oh, I'm looking for something... actually that's supposed to be a myth around here. Maybe you've heard of it" Link described a pendant, supposedly made by a witch, that would make the wearer immortal. It had to be found, and preferably destroyed, before it fell into the wrong hands. Naturally, the wrong hands were also searching for it as they spoke.
"do you mean The Old Smoke Crystal?" Sky asked, it was a story told to children in the village that sounded very much like the thing Link was looking for.
"Old smoke crystal?"
"Yes, it's kind of a legend... there's a song too that children sing, it goes;
Old as a dragon's eye
Old you get but never die
Smokey she goes up in flames
Old smokey lives again" Sky sang the nursery rhyme to the best of her memory.
"Old Smokey is the dragon that's supposed to live in the mountain to the north, the crystal keeps her alive"
"That sounds like my next stop then" Link stated, writing down some notes on severely crumpled parchment from his bag.
"Any idea how to get there?"
Sky looked at him across the table, terrified that she'd given him a reason to leave, but still happy she'd been useful.
"I could take you there?" she offered, hopefully. Link leaned back and looked at her,
"it's dangerous, you might get hurt. I can't risk..."
she cut him off "I can though. Maybe you can't risk it, but I can if I want. I've been to the mountain base before, you'd be much faster with me guiding you!"
There was a battle of wills across the table before both faces broke into matching smiles.
"I could use the company, and your expertise in the area" he said,
Sky just beamed at him. THIS is what she'd been waiting for her whole life, or so it felt. This is what she'd always wanted, always needed. This, she had never even imagined would really happen to her.

After eating, she drew out a basic map of the area they were going to, just for reference's sake. They went to pay Old Mrs Riima a visit too, for potions and medical wares. Just in case. She didn't question them about where they were going, or ask why they would need such potions. Such was the old woman's way, she seemed to already know. That's why it came as no surprise when she put the fizzing potion from the day before into Sky's bag, took her hand and told her to look after herself.
She leaned down and hugged the old woman.
"I'm not going far, just up to the mountain. I'll be back"
Riima's old face crinkled with smile lines; "a short journey in distance maybe, but shorter journeys have changed many people".
Sky returned the smile, and laughed a little at the drama of it, before returning back outside to meet her hero again.
They had deliberately saved the hard part for last. Without acknowledging it or planning to, they'd done everything they could possibly do to prepare for the trip before Sky had to go and tell her family where she was going.

"You can't be serious?" her Mother was horrified. "You are not nearly strong enough to go so far!"
"I am mother, it's only to the mountain and back! I've been before"
"but that was in a group, and with many more, stronger people! No offence" she tacked on, turning to Link, to apologize for implying he was in any way weak.
"She's only going to the mountain, Ma. And with the best guard you could dream of" her brother piped up. He always had her back in arguments against their parents.
"He's not a guard and I'd be fine anyway" Sky spouted, a little too indignantly that got a snicker out of afore mentioned 'guard'.
"What are you even going to DO up there?" she quizzed her daughter, and was treated to the whole story about the Old Smoke Crystal. "That involves being IN the volcano, and make no mistake young lady, that is a volcano up there not just a mountain, you said you'd only be going to the foot of it"
"Well I will! I'm showing Link the way up there, then he can continue his adventure.."
"So you travel back alone?"
Damn. Her mothering senses were too strong.
"Ma, calm down"
"Ruby, I think we should let her do this"; Sky's father pitched in.
The argument continued for a long time, during which Sky apologized to Link far too many times, but he didn't seem to be put off her tagging along in any way.
"Alright", her mother eventually concieded; "I'm sorry I was overbearing, you need your freedom. Just please, look after yourself" she hugged her daughter tightly, and turned to Link "and you look after her also! I know you're not a guard, but do try."
He nodded mutely.
"Bye sis, see ya in a couple of days. By the way, can I have the rest of those candies...?"
"Look after yourself little one, and have fun!"
Sky grinned at her family, "you'll barely know I'm gone!"
Just as they left the house to get started up the mountain road, Sky stopped and went back into the house.
She snatched the candy box from the table, and split the contents between her and her brother.
"You may have HALF"
And she set out for the second time.