Chapter Three

The Letter and the Squirrel

Ilia

I could barely believe it. A girlfriend. Zelda. She was actually his girlfriend. I didn't know why I was so angry; it just was how it was. I walked out to the lake, and sat on the edge of the dock, wondering why. Why had he decided to like Zelda? Maybe it was because she was the princess of Hyrule. Maybe it was because she was completely beautiful and everyone loved her, and she liked him too.

And why, oh why hadn't he told me? I would rather he had said that long ago than acting all normal and concealing things. Maybe he was embarrassed or something. But I was still furious. At Link? No. I was mad… at Zelda. I heard footsteps behind me, and knew that it was Link. I didn't want him to see the angry tears in my eyes, so I turned away from him. "Go away." I said.

"I don't want to," he replied, and sat down next to me. I had a sudden urge to push him in the lake.

"Link, go away," I said, my face still turned from him. He rested his hand on my back.

"Ilia," he said, and I finally looked at him. He was startled by how angry and hurt I looked, I could tell. "What's this all about?"

"Oh, nothing but that letter from your girlfriend Zelda that you never said a word about!" I raged at him. He sighed.

"It's not like that," he said. "She likes me, but I really don't care for her. Ilia, please listen!" I turned away again. He continued to talk, even though I pretended not to care. "Well why in all Hyrule do you think I started my journey? It was because you got captured, and I was bound and determined to save you." I continued to stare off into the distance, but shifted myself so that his hand slid off my shoulder. "Ilia, why don't you believe me!?" he asked.

"Because. I can tell. You're making this up. No one would be that determined to save me," I said.

"I could and I was," he said. "And if you refuse to believe even that, just look into my eyes and listen to this." I turned. His blue eyes were filling with tears. Somehow I wasn't so angry anymore. "I love you," he whispered, and kissed me on the cheek for the second time that day before leaving me alone there. It was only a matter of seconds before I got up and ran to hug him. He smiled again.

"Thank you," I said. "Thanks for saving me, and for… everything."

"No problem," he replied. "I was planning on doing it anyway."

I followed him back to his house, looking around at all of the stars. The village was beautiful at night, especially from the window at the very top of Link's house. Actually, the first night after I'd gotten back home, I had gone upstairs and looked out that window, and eventually fallen asleep on his bed.

We climbed up the ladder and walked inside. Link grinned. "Gosh I'm glad to be back," he said. He then noticed the book lying open on the table, and knew that it belonged to me. "Have you been in here since you got back?" he asked. I looked at the floor sheepishly.

"Well, yes," I said. He rolled his eyes.

"Why you do these things, I will never understand."

"Trust me, you'll understand someday."

He looked skeptical, but smiled all the same. "I'm impossibly glad to be home," he said. "Hyrule is kind of… lonely."

"What do you mean?" I asked. "Aren't there a ton of people around there?"

"Yes, but I feel much more at home with people whom I've known my entire life," he replied. "Like you."

What he'd said was entirely true. Even though I loved my new friends from Hyrule and Kakariko, it didn't replace being with the people who I'd always known, namely Link. There was just something about spending time with my best friend that wasn't like anything else. I really, really liked him.

Eventually I left his house and wandered home, taking much longer than usual, due to my overpowering thoughts. Was there something more than friendship when it came to Link? True, I knew that every other girl in Hyrule was practically in love with Link, but there was something different than just being attracted to him because he was a hero. Still, I couldn't keep myself from thinking about how handsome he was. I blushed, glad it was dark out.

I opened the door slowly and tried to sneak past my father's bed and upstairs to my room without him noticing, as it was near midnight. Unfortunately, he was standing in the room, wide awake. "Ilia, where have you been?" he demanded as soon as he saw me.

"Um… with Link," I admitted, deciding to tell the truth. If I didn't, my father would know. I was a bad liar. I continued, proceeding to explain why. "We… had something that we needed to talk about." I was referring to the matter involving Zelda.

"You've been away from him for a long time now, haven't you," he noticed.

"Yes, I have," I replied.

"You've both changed a bit," said my father. "I suppose… is anything going on that I should know about?"

"No," I said quickly. At least, there was nothing that I wanted him to know about. True, I tried to be completely honest with my father, but it was difficult to do so when my thoughts about Link weren't entirely sorted out in my head. He seemed to know that I didn't want to talk, and left me alone. I went upstairs, and fell asleep, still wondering exactly why I felt like this.

Link

I finally decided to actually read Zelda's letter long after I'd gotten it. Well, I had attempted to read it earlier, but with Talon shouting, it was impossible. I opened the letter and sat down on my bed, a little annoyed with its contents.

Link,

I know that you have not been gone long, yet I miss you already. It is incredibly difficult to think that you shall never return, and I hope you will rather soon. Yet sometimes I wonder whether or not we were meant to be. I should like you to respond to this letter, as I worry about you sometimes.

Love,

Zelda

I did not particularly want to respond to the letter, for fear that it would be extremely awkward, and so I set it on the table until I could think of the proper words to say. I sighed, and stood there for a moment, listening. I heard a faint tapping coming from somewhere near my window.

I followed the noise to its source, a little squirrel sitting in the window, beckoning at me. The squirrels and rabbits and cats all knew that I was a human sometimes and a wolf sometimes. It was only a matter of time before the more dangerous animals found out. I walked outside, and took on my wolf form, staring down at the little squirrel that was still leaping around frantically.

"What is it, Amok?" I asked, knowing perfectly well who my hyper little friend was.

"It's-it's-it's… I smelled something funny, Link, I really did, come smell it, come smell it and tell me what-it-is!" Amok said, speaking very fast as squirrels did when they were worried.

"I doubt I'll be able to smell it anymore, with all the rain we've been having," I pointed out, but followed the squirrel regardless. It led me to a little hollow in a tree where I had spent many a night in the times when it was impossible for me to return to being a human.

"It's right here, Link, right here!" Amok squeaked. "I smelled it, I really did, come tell me what it is! It smelled like a wolf, I think, does it smell like a wolf to you?" I couldn't smell anything except the scent of a wolf in that spot. But telling which wolf it smelled like was a little more difficult, especially since more than one had been there.

"You nut-brain, it smells like me," I said. "Then again, I don't smell like a wolf… there have been other wolves here, though. I think they're trying to find me, so you have nothing to worry about," I said. The little rodent nodded, and we returned to my house, only to find a problem awaiting us.

Ilia was staring right at us. Amok jumped forward, looking at her curiously.

"Stay out of this, Amok!" I growled. But I didn't sound quite the same to Ilia.