Previous disclaimers apply in this and in future chapters.

A/N: Special thanks to gamegirl07 for beta-reading this chapter. You totally rock!

Long chapter ahead. Hope you like it despite the lenght, but I like it that way ;)

The Ghost Beside Me

Chapter 5: "Come Back Home"

It was another sunny day in Ordona Province. The sun heated the mountains as the winds from the east flew over the green pastures that covered most of the land. The butterflies and dragonflies jumped from flower to flower in search of food and pollen. Flocks of birds flied and whistled their songs throughout the vast skies. The workmen woke up early for their everyday jobs and their women went to the province's spring to do the laundry and teach letters to their children. It was a good day so far.

However, it was not a good day for Link.

Link suppressed a soundly groan as he rubbed the nape of his sore neck. His neck muscles resented the action as he tried to focus on his work. Last night was a long one. After recovering from his nightmare, sleep eluded him for the rest of the night. He kept tossing and turning in his bed, feeling terribly uncomfortable. The bed felt damp and hard. He could not shake the idea that his bed was plastered with dirt. Giving up, he stood up from his bed, searched for a clean blanket and curled on an armchair placed on the wall opposite to his bed. It would never be as cozy as his bed was, but he was exhausted and needed to sleep, no matter where. And so he closed his eyes and tried to catch some sleep, with his unmade, nightmare-inducing bed staring at him.

It indeed brought him some needed rest, but he did not think about the consequences of sleeping in a rather small armchair. He fell asleep in an awkward position, and when he woke up, his neck was paralyzed; he could not move it. It took him precious minutes to get his neck back to its original position. He worked his neck slowly and carefully; small movements to one side, then to another, and lastly, slow rotations. As he moved it, he heard his muscles crackling and popping into place. It hurt immensely and it still hurt, but he could not let a lousy bad night get into his life. After he was sure his neck was not restraining his movements, he headed to Ordon Ranch like any other day.

Link thought that once he got back on his daily routine, all his pains would go away. Work was his therapy; it cleared his mind and allowed him to think about anything. And to have his mind busy most of the time was what he wanted that day, away from everything that reminded him of the day before. The story of his mo…– erm, that woman – and his argument with Ilia was still etched under his skin. It gave him goose bumps every time he remembered it. He thought that if he kept his mind focused on his job, his mood would not take a staggering turn again and he could make it through the end of the day.

His mind, however, could not stop thinking about the apology he owed to Ilia. He felt so much guilt that he planned to stop by Ilia's house after work to officially offer her an apology; it was the least she deserved.

Past midday, the last of the goats were finally inside the stable along with the rest. Now he just needed to check if the goats were inside the stable and he could finally go and see Ilia.

All of the sudden, a strong and cold wind blew over Ordon Ranch. It swept cacophonously through the tree branches and tall grass, and also sent Link's loose hair strands over his eyes. It was immediately followed by the loud sound of thunder behind the mountains. The earth under Link's feet rumbled when a set of noisy thunders struck again. Epona neighed, shaking her head nervously. Link looked up, ignoring his aching neck. Dark gray clouds were rapidly blocking the rays of the sun, turning the bright, warm afternoon into almost dusk and announcing that rain was coming forth. Lightning strikes were beginning to crack the sky in different sections; all that in less than a minute.

"Whoa," exclaimed Fado as he looked up, who was by Link's side at the moment. "Weather is really unpredictable; it is sunny one moment and in the other it turns all the way around. It is strange, though."

The wing blew again, stronger and prolonged than before; the sky was getting darker and gathering with clouds. A drop fell from the darkening sky and found home on Link's shoulder. He wiped it off, but the action was futile as more drops kept falling from above. A second later, a strong rain began to fall over the two men and the horse in the middle of the ranch. The rain caught them unprepared. It did not start like any squall; it hit them hard and heavy instantly. The fat drops were like tiny punches over their bodies.

Another blow from the wind hit them. The brunt of the wind caused the men to loose their balance and they stumbled on their feet. In addition to that, it was causing the heavy rain to fall sideways. Link was perturbed and rather confused; he'd never witnessed the weather being so erratic in so little time.

"It's a storm! Link, we have to get back to the village, now!" Fado said, almost shouting; the sound of the angry weather was swallowing his words. If they continued to stay outside with the rain as it was another minute, they would be blown away for sure.

He did not need to be told twice; he grabbed Epona's reins and ran to the village along with Fado. They were already soaking wet from head to toe, but the faster they got away from there, they would have less possibilities to catch a cold.

An even louder sound was heard from behind them. The clatter made both men turn their heads to the direction of the new sound. One of the stable's wood panels started to peel off from the roof. One end of the big panel was still nailed to the rest of the paneling, but more than the other half was floating in the air like a floating flag. As the weather worsened, the panel – along with the rest of the roof – was going to fall off soon.

"Oh no, the stable is falling down!" Fado yelled. "We are going to lose the goats inside!"

Fado was right, the wind was getting stronger by the second and it was threatening to tear the roof paneling apart. The walls were sturdy and he was sure that they could endure the tempest, but Link was not so sure about the roof anymore. If the roof was gone, the goats were surely going to be killed by the storm. And it was something that he would not allow to happen if he was able to prevent it.

He took Fado's hand and gave him Epona's reins. He had a plan in mind. "Fado, take Epona to the village with you!" Link said to Fado. Then he turned and ran toward the stable without further explanation.

"Wait… Wha-what…" Fado watched the reins incredulously before watching Link running away to the opposite side of the ranch's exit. "Where are you going?" Fado asked.

"I am going to fix the roof!" Link answered in the distance, still running.

"Fix it? No! You cannot do it by yourself! The storm will blow you away!" Fado tried to reason with him, but Link did not turn around.

"I will be alright, I promise!" Link yelled back, but the storm muffled his voice as he got farther away from Fado and his horse.

"But Link, it is too dangerous! Come back, now!" Fado called, but Link was already entering the stable, too far for him to hear him. "Link!" He called again, but to no avail.

He had no doubt that Link was completely able to take care of himself, but sometimes his actions were too risky. But what intrigued him the most about his pupil was that the riskier the task at hands, the more he seemed to enjoy it. And that moment was no exception.

Epona shook his head furiously as she neighed; the water of her horsehair splashed Fado on his face. He did not know Epona as much as her master, but that much he understood very well. She wanted to get to a safe place right away.

"I hope your master knows what he is doing," Fado said to Epona. He turned and headed to the village with Epona by his side.

Link was running fast, as fast as his legs allowed him. But he did not feel that he was advancing at the desired pace. He was running against the wind and the rain. The heavy drops splashed on his face and inside his eyes, mouth and ears. He felt like he was drowning. The sky was completely gray and there was no sign that the sudden storm was going to dissipate anytime soon. He had to hurry.

He stumbled inside the stable, and immediately spotted the rectangular hole in the ceiling. Water dripped inside the stable and was damping the soil and hay; the wind entered the place with a ghostly howl. The goats, clearly scared by the storm, were bleating loudly. Some of them looked agitated in their own pens.

He went directly to the tools table and searched for a hammer. Slightly shivering from the cold, he practically trashed the table when he couldn't find the steel nails. Once he found them, he picked up a handful of nails and put it in his pocket. Then, he grabbed a ladder that was placed in a corner, and headed back outside. The goats continued to bleat nervously, as if asking the human nearby to calm them down.

The weather outside the stable hit him again with great force; it threatened again to take his balance away. It took a lot of his strength to resist the wind's push. He felt like it would pull the skin off his bones. Against it all, he battled the wind and managed to nail the wooden ladder on the wet dirt. The climb to the roof was slow, and he prayed that the wind would not knock the ladder down.

Finally reaching the roof, Link clawed his way onto the wooden roof with his right hand and both knees. He was gripping the heavy hammer in his left hand. He barely advanced half a meter when he heard the ladder falling down. Its precarious anchorage was no match for the wind.

"Oh no," he muttered. Now he had no idea how he was going climb down the roof. "I'm in trouble…"

He shook his head; it was too soon to jump to conclusions. First he must fix the stable's roof; he would think about everything else later.

He began to crawl toward the half-flying panel. Both the storm and the roof's inclination were making the way to the damaged part difficult. Little by little, he reached the hole. With one hand, he grabbed the peeling panel side and tried pulled it back to its place. It did not yielded immediately; he used his entire body as leverage so the panel could finally give. Once lowered, he held the panel with one knee. He then took a nail from his pocket and began hammering. He could hear the anxious goats inside.

It took him five nails to fix the panel. The cold rain made the bones of his hand go somewhat numb, so the constant hammering was not provoking him any palpable pain. He just finished hammering down the panel, another wood panel in front of him started to peel off. He looked in dismay as the wind lifted the nailed spots on the wood. He crawled to the new damaged spot on the roof, held a nail with one hand and hammered it down into the wood. The storm raged on, but Link was not intimidated by it. He felt how the leaves and dirt were carried away by the strong wind, but as long they did not get into his eyes or the wind did not carried other bigger things (such as rocks or tree branches), he could manage. Link raised his head and took a second to watch the ranch from the roof. He could barely see the ranch through the rain; everything looked blurry and out of place no matter how hard he looked.

His eyes drifted unconsciously toward the ranch's only entrance and exit. He was about to resume his repairing work when his eyes caught on something there. Someone was standing under the ranch's entrance arch. It had a light green cloak over the body with its hood off the head. At first, Link could not recognize who the figure was. He quickly blinked once and watched again; maybe the weather was making him see things that were not there. But no, the figure remained there, apparently unaffected by the unforgiving storm.

Curious, Link tried to look further. The person did not appear to be very tall or very strong. Even cloaked almost from head to toe, it was a slender frame. He then realized that the person in the distance was a woman, and she was looking in his direction.

Uli? It was the first name that came to his mind. Perhaps she saw Fado and Epona running back to the village and she was worried about him for not coming along with them. But what was she doing there? The wind almost made him to fall down a couple of times, but that woman's stance seemed unaltered by it. He forced his eyes again, and she looked like she was some meters away from her original spot; in fact, close enough to see her face. His jaw quivered when the woman that he thought was Uli was not her. The woman lacked all the facial features that distinguished her. She did not look like Pergie in any way or to any woman Link knew. He then realized that he did not know who that woman was.

Then where did she come from? Is she stranded?

Link saw movement from the unknown woman from afar. Leaning forward, he looked harder, and saw her only a little clearer. She was waving her hands furiously towards him in a motion he recognized, as if she was calling him, urging him to go to where she was. And her mouth seemed like it was moving. She was talking, but he could not make out what she was saying. He was not even sure if she was talking to him. He kept looking, completely ignoring the rain falling over him. Upon further observation he tried to read her lips through the long raindrops. It was not easy, but still he tried.

Call… Ca-Col… No, that did not make sense. He kept trying. Come… come bed-Come beck… No! It was frustrating, but at least he was able to put the bits together. She seemed to be saying the same phrase over and over again. She looked quite serious and worried.

Come beck… Come be-Come back… hon… home… Come… back… home…

"Come back home," he whispered, echoing the lady's words.

A woman that came out of nowhere was waving at him, mutely saying, screaming the phrase "come back home" as if there was no tomorrow.

There was something hypnotizing about her. He felt attracted to her. It was not a sexual attraction or anything related to it. He felt like he was in some sort of distant and blissful trance. The roaring wind turned into a mellow whistle deep inside his ears. The sound of the rain faded slowly until it was no more; the cold no longer made him shiver. His eyes saw nothing more than her. Everything was white around her; a mass of cotton balls covered the nature and seemed to envelope the delicate frame beyond. Her invisible aura radiated confidence and safety.

Come back home… Come back home… Come back home…

The wind kept blowing over the ranch with fury, catching Link off balance. In the moment of mental emptiness, he put his hands on the wood roof to support himself from rolling over and falling from the roof. Once his anchorage to the roof was strong enough he looked at the woman once more. She was still there, waving her hands, calling him.

"Come back home. Come back home. Come back home." They were soundless words, but Link could listen to them; he could read them as they were said.

As much as he wanted to go back to his house, he could not do it. He had to fix the roof before anything else; the goats could not die. He was sure that both Fado and Mayor Bo were counting on him. Clenching his teeth, he repositioned himself near the damaged panel and hammered it down at a faster pace; he started to feel cold again.

He looked at the woman again. Her position did not change, and her pleadings continued.

"Come back home."

"I… I'm coming!" Link yelled at her, ignoring if the lady heard him or not through the storm.

With one more nail, the roof panel was fixed. He eyed the rest of the roof quickly; none of the panels seemed to be in immediate danger, and he finally knew that his task there was completed. He quickly crawled to the edge of the roof and looked down. He saw the fallen ladder in the ground, and the height between the roof edge and the ground looked pretty high. But a storm was practically squashing him, and his desire to come down for once was bigger than anything else.

He sat over the edge of the roof and looked down one more time. He breathed deeply; he had to do it, there was no other way. Without hesitation, he jumped down the edge, letting gravity to do its work. He landed on his feet and hands in a patch of mud, getting dirty instantly. He felt a small pressure in his ankles the moment he reached the floor, but nothing else in his body felt bruised or broken by the fall.

He stood up quickly, staggering a little. He entered the stable and looked around. He noted that the goats were less agitated and less scared than before, and no water was filtrating through the fixed wood panels. Despite the raging storm outside, he had not seen that the rest of the roof was going to fall apart. Reassured, he exited the stable and closed the door. Now he could go.

He ran to the exit, but halted immediately. He frowned; the figure, the woman that pleaded him to get down of the roof and go back to safety, was no longer there.

Fighting both the rain and the freezing wind, he ran to the center of the ranch. He stood there and looked around the place wildly. There was no sign of anybody in the ranch.

"Hey!" He called aloud. He looked around. The rain kept falling over him.

He frowned; not a minute passed since the last time he saw her, and now she was gone.

Where did she go? Did she go to the village with the others?

"How- But how did…?" He muttered. The mere effort of moving and maintaining balance was taking a lot of energy. How had that woman managed stay so calm and steady in the middle of such tempest? It was intriguing.

Concluding that standing under the rain looking for an apparent mirage was completely senseless, he ran out of the ranch. Upon reaching the arch, he stopped there and took a look to the ranch one more time. Link was not convinced yet that he was entirely alone in the ranch. He had to be sure.

She was here, right here. And she was calling me. I could not have imagined it…

He shook his head. He rubbed his eyes to wipe away the water excess and – hopefully – improve his sight. It was fruitless; the ranch was deserted and more water kept entering his eyes. Nobody was there. Defeated, he turned to leave Ordon Ranch, feeling like a fool.

He entered the familiar ground of Ordon Village. Although the mountains and nearby cliffs protected the village from most of the wind, the rain was still falling heavily over the wooden houses. The small river that ran across the village was already out of its bed. The rain that had not make it to the water body remained stagnant in small puddles everywhere.

"Link!"

The young man halted on his tracks. His gut jumped at the mention of his name. He looked around furiously when he could not identify the voice that called him. He quickly thought of the mysterious woman he saw back in the ranch. Her image was still etched in his mind. Was she really calling him now?

"Link, over here!"

Someone called him again. It sounded loud even under the falling rain. It was a man's voice this time, and the calling came from behind him.

He turned around, and saw Mayor Bo calling him from his house porch. He was waving at him. "Come inside Link!"

Link hesitated at first. He did not want to spend such bad weather in another person's house. He wanted to go home; he wanted to change into dry clothes and rest and, hopefully, clear his mind and convince himself that his mind was making him see things that did not exist at all. But Mayor Bo kept calling him to come inside his house and he could not endure another second under the storm. At that point, the rain felt like hammers pounding over his body.

Link could not decline Mayor Bo's offer. He ran to his house. Upon entering he almost fell on the floor, but he felt so relieved that the rain was finally behind him. He bent over and put his hands on his knees, forcing him to keep his balance and not to fall down. He was exhausted, his breathing was fast and somehow uneven. He was shivering from head to toe. He closed his eyes and winced when he began to feel pain on his extremities. His damp hair covered most of his face.

"Oh Link, look at you." Mayor Bo said as he approached the young man's bent form. His voice sounded full of concern. He put his hand on Link's back. "Why did you do such a thing, repairing the stable in the middle of a storm?" He said in a comforting way.

"Th-the woman…" Link managed to say between gasps of air. He felt like drowning with no water around him.

"What?"

"Th-the woman… in-in the ran-nch…" Link could not control his shivering as he tried to speak. "Out-t-side…"

"A woman?" Mayor Bo asked curiously.

Unable to articulate any word, he nodded.

The heavy man frowned. "Link, there was no one outside besides you." Mayor Bo said to him. "Everybody is safe. Nobody has come outside their houses since the storm struck the village. You do not need to worry about anyone."

No, you do not understand. That's what he wanted to say, but his body refused to obey his commands. The cold was engulfing him slowly. He opened his mouth to talk but instead a soft groan escaped his lips.

"Take it easy. It's going to be alright now. The storm will eventually go away. It will not last forever." Mayor Bo assured him.

Link did not hear that last statement. His legs could not hold his weight any longer. His knees buckled as they finally gave in. He fell in the puddle of water that formed from his own dripping hair and clothes.

The village's Mayor acted fast. He knelt beside Link and noted how paled he was. He was trembling and he unconsciously began to curl on the floor. His eyes were closed.

"Link?" Mayor Bo called while shaking his shoulder softly. He refused to open his eyes. It seemed like he was in pain. "Ilia!"

Ilia came out of the basement when her father called her. "Father, what is it?"

She gasped at the scene in front of her. Link laid crumbled on the flood, dripping wet and his feet dirty with mud. Her father was kneeled by his side, inspecting him.

"Father, what happened?" He was ready to run towards them when his father stopped her.

"Ilia, go find some blankets, now!" Mayor Bo ordered his daughter. If he did not warm Link soon, it was sure that he was going to catch a cold. Or perhaps something worst.

Ilia turned and left to search for the blankets.

Mayor Bo then turned to Link once more, who was still shivering but remained unmoving.

"Come on, boy, hang in there." He encouraged him. "Can you hear me Link? If you do, open your eyes."

Wake up Link.

Huh? He heard her again. It was barely a whisper, but he was able to hear it. The woman was there, and he wanted to see her.

It took him some seconds to do so, but he fought against the weariness and was able to open his eyes. He found the concerned and mustached face of Mayor Bo staring at him. Again, no woman beside him; his mind was playing with him again. He clenched his fist against his confusion. He blinked twice to focus on his surroundings, on the real voices around him.

"Can you move?" Mayor Bo asked.

"Ye-ye-yes." He muttered. He swallowed the lump in his throat. "I-I can move."

Mayor Bo helped him to sit on his knees first while he recovered from the storm. His movements were slow and lethargic, but at least he was responding and moving. He was sure there would not be major consequences from his exposure to the rain.

By that time, Ilia returned with a couple of blankets which he handed to his father immediately. He quickly placed the blankets over Link's shoulders. He saw how the intensity of his shivering lowered substantially. Link sighed in relief as the warm blankets hugged him like tender arms around him.

He was enveloped by a warm, soft blanket that covered almost all his small frame…

…The movements which surrounded him and made him feel calmer…

Link brought a hand to his forehead in an attempt to lessen the mounting headache he was feeling and with that, to sweep away any memory of his weird dreams that kept invading his head. He could hear the storm raging outside the Mayor's house.

"Don't worry, you will be alright. You are just a little shaken up, but everything would fall into place in no time, I promise." Mayor Bo said as he rubbed Link's back in a comforting way.

"Yeah," Link muttered absently. He wanted to believe him; if it was so easy, he would not be feeling so confused at that time. Then he remembered something. "Oh no."

"What's wrong?"

"Fado… Where is Fado?" He began to panic and looked around wildly. "And Epona…?

"They are safe." Ilia said to him

Link lifted his head and looked at his friend's face.

"On his way back to the village, he managed to tell me that you were going to repair the stable's roof." Mayor Bo explained. "Epona was with him, I am sure she is fine with him."

A big weight was lifted from Link's shoulders; that much he believed. Besides Ilia, if somebody could take care of his beloved horse was him. He knew his job depended in part on Epona, so he must take care of her too. At least Fado and Epona were alright.

"Sorry about…" Link said after a moment of silence, looking at the growing puddle of water under his knees.

"Oh, forget about it. There is nothing to be sorry about." The older man said modestly. "Now, let me help you up."

Mayor Bo wrapped an arm around Link's shoulders and helped him to stand up from the floor. His legs were a little weak and the cold in his bones was not helping him. But he used all his available strength to keep his legs from crumbling. Some steps later, he was next to the living room's couch. As soon as he sat there, he felt extremely sleepy. His eyelids felt heavy and his head weighted even more over his shoulders. He never imagined that spending half and hour under a storm could drain so much energy off his body.

He let his head to fall back in the couch and closed his eyes. What he did was rather rash. Sacrificing himself to save the goats from a possible stable collapse; he could have ended hurt if he fell down into the room. He should have listened to Fado when he ordered him to come back to the village. But as stubborn as he was, he did not listen. If the stable collapsed, it would have killed the goats inside. And if they escaped, there was no way they were going to survive under the violent storm. For him, all the risks he took were worth it. He did not regret doing what he did.

And yet, that person…

"That was crazy."

Link lifted his head to see Ilia coming with a cup in her hand. He sat beside him in the couch. He felt so disoriented that it was evident that he had passed out on the couch for a minute without noticing. "Huh?"

"What you did in the ranch. Repairing the stable all by yourself; it was very courageous of you, but you could have ended hurt." Ilia said as she offered the cup of steaming tea to Link.

"Someone had to do it." Link said softly. He looked at the cup's greenish concoction before sipping. The tea acted immediately. It tasted sweet and it brought some warmth to his inner organs like magic. Even his shivering diminished considerably. "You did this?"

Ilia nodded, smiling shyly.

"It tastes good," Link said as he sipped his tea.

"That's good to know. Being as bad a cook as I am, that is definitely a step forward." She said.

"Your cooking is not bad," Link offered. "Well, at least not the ones that I've eaten."

"Oh Link you don't have to lie," She chuckled. He could have sworn she was starting to blush. She looked comical.

"I'm not lying," he replied. "I would never lie to you."

They laughed together as the good friends they had been since the very beginning or their lives. A thunder struck outside the house, reminder that the storm was still raging outside. Ilia almost jumped out of her sit, startled.

"Gods, it's still raining hard outside." Ilia said.

"It surely is. Just look at me." Link grinned. She eyed him from head to toe and noted hat he was still dripping wet from his "shower" outside.

"Yes, I can see." She pointed. "And I also see that you need some dry clothes or you will catch a cold by tomorrow." Ilia proceeded to get off the couch. "I'll see if Father has some old-"

"I am sorry," the young man said suddenly and out of the blue, cutting her off mid-sentence. He was still hugging the blanket around him. His eyes were fixed on the floor.

"What?"

"I am sorry…" His voice threatened to trail off. "…for what I said to you yesterday."

Ilia looked at him sympathetically. It was funny that he brought the topic at that moment, a whole day after their argument… when she had almost forgotten about that.

"I really want to apologize for what I said to you. I did not mean it."

Ilia sat back by his side. She could see some kind of sorrow in his eyes. "Oh Link, I understand you were not in a very good mood, but believe me, it was not your fault."

"Well, it was not your fault either." Link said. He looked at her straight into her eyes. "And I don't want you to blame yourself either." At that point he sounded very apologetic toward her. "No matter what we were arguing about, I treated you disrespectfully. And I want you to know that I am very sorry about that."

Ilia was shaken by his friend's confession.

She chuckled nervously. "Um, you are forgiven. In fact, you were forgiven long before that."

"Really?" Link's face shined.

"Of course, don't worry about it." She smiled at him, and it brought the warmth his body thrived for at the moment "And I promise," she added. "I won't talk about that again. If talking about that tears your happiness away, I won't bring it back into our conversations again." She said with a stern face.

That. It was certainly the detonator of their rant. What she stated was double-edged blade. On the good side, she seemed to finally understand what he thought about his past and everything around it, unknown people included. But on the bad side, that would compromise the trust they both had for each other. Ilia was his best friend, and best friends should be free to talk about everything without any bonds. Even secrets were allowed to be shared between friends. He didn't want to compromise the freedom of speech of anyone. But he also thought that the less the topic about his past was mentioned, the better.

"Um…" He did not know what to say. She wanted him to be happy, and he could not deny her that. "That's… fair enough." He said shyly.

Ilia threw herself toward Link and embraced him in a hug. That did not need an explanation. For him, it was the proof that he was officially forgiven.

"Um, Ilia. I'm wet…"

The young girl broke the embrace immediately. She forgot that he was still wet from the storm outside. "Oh yes, I forgot."

She stood off from the couch.

"Now like I said before, let's find some dry clothes for you." Ilia said. "There must be some that Father doesn't use any more."

"Okay," he leaned his head back again, more relaxed than before. Even the hypnotizing sound of the rain outside could not wash Link's thoughts away. There were so many things in his mind, yet he didn't have the required energy to organize them. He was very exhausted. He wanted to explain to someone what he'd been through in the past days; what he'd been hearing, what he'd been seeing. Maybe if he spoke about what was stressing him so much even in his privacy, he would feel better.

"Ilia?" Link called.

"Yes, Link?" She turned to look at him from the stairs to the second story.

He was going to speak, but changed his mind immediately. Something made him stop.

Whispering voices in my ears… Weird experiences in my house's cellar… A woman waving at me… How juvenile and unreal would that sound?

"Link, do you want to tell me something?" Ilia asked.

He sighed. "Nothing. It is nothing." He offered a smile to assure her that everything was okay, although he knew very well that was not entirely true.

Ilia looked at him somewhat confused, but did not press him again. She turned again to search for dry clothes.

Secrets can be shared among friends, but Link thought he could make an exception this time, no matter how bad that sounded. It was his problem and his visions and before he could talk about them, first he must deal with them, alone.

TBC...

A/N: For those who are following the story: I don't intend to make a pairing out of the Link and Ilia interaction here or in future chapters. It's just intended to be a LinkxIlia friendship bond. I'm not a 'shipper of any kind in any fandom and I can't stand romantic fics. But if you want to imagine some sugary fluffiness between them as you read, I'm not going to stop you.

As usual, be kind and review. Let me know what you think. Thank you :)