A/N: Hey guys! It is really late ugh I'm so tired. Hope you like it :) Still haven't fixed up those chapters, sorry, but it's practically midnight right now and I haven't slept well for the last few days so i'm super tired and it will have to wait. It will be done soon though! Thanks for waiting and being patient! This chapter is nice and long as an apology!
Progress was much faster now that Aries was able to hold onto Epona by herself. The rate at which they moved was still slower than they could have travelled if she was not injured, but it only took them half a day to reach Kakariko. Aries has been weary for most of the journey; pain laced through her body with every rise, and she had not ridden in years - her skills were a little rusty.
Aries looked around in wonder as they entered the village - in her eyes, it was more like a town than a village. In Ashra, a village was cluster of small wooden or stone huts - the only places you could find multi-level buildings like the ones she saw before her were in towns, owned by the upperclassmen and the rich. Because of her heritage, her tribe were naturally turned away from the richer areas, so thy had lived in tiny villages and lived off of hard labor and their own abilities.
Another thing that was strange about this place was the scenery - it was dry and rocky, and it was strange to her. She knew forests and fields, she had seen a desert once, but she hadn't ever seen this climate before. The village was surrounded by rock walls, not as high as those surrounding Lake Hylia, but still pretty damn tall. There was a spring of sorts down near the end of the buildings, the patterns carved into the rocks reminiscent of those in Lanayru's Spring. Could this be one if the spirit springs that the Light Spirit spoke of?
In the distance, she could see a huge mountain, bare of greenery as the village. There was a black cloud surrounding the peak, flecked through with oranges and reds. Since when did mountains smoke?
Epona raced forward with an excited whinny that echoed around the canyon. Alerted by the noise (probably), a small figure burst out the doors of a two story 'shack' (which looked a bit like the inns she'd seen when she once snuck into a town). The child ran towards the horse, skidding to a halt in front of Epona with a bright smile.
"Link!" He called quietly, "you're back!"
Link dismounted with a smile, sliding down Epona's side. He crouched down in from of the child, ruffling his his hair.
"Colin, could you let Renado know he's needed?" Link asked, standing up and turning to Aries. Colin followed his gaze and saw the pale girl, and instantly noticed the scratches on her face and her bloodied clothing. He nodded quickly, and raced back into the building from whence he came. Link sighed, glad that only Colin had come out - had the other children accompanied him, they would have asked endless questions. He loved them all, but sometimes they didn't understand when something was urgent and it was hard to calm them down.
Link helped Aries off Epona, she murmured a small thanks to him as he bent down and hooked an arm under her shoulder to support her. At least be was kind of short, Aries mused, he made a good crutch. They limped over to the inn (she could see now that that's what it really was) together, Epona wandering over to the spring to drink.
Reaching the inn, Link halted, Aries stopping with him as she couldn't really go anywhere on her own with her injured ankle. Setting her against the railing so that she could have something to cling to, Link stepped forward to open the door. He turned the handle, yanking it open. He walked back over to her to help her up from her spot, but stopped when he noticed that her focus was off, blankly staring to the side.
"Hey, you okay?" he asked, concern flooding his voice. He could see the sadness in her posture. She straightened, shaking her head to clear it.
"I'm fine," She murmured, "Just a lot on my mind."
"I know the feeling," he smiled softly, "Your foot bothering you?"
"What do you think?" She snapped, and he chuckled.
Their banter was cut off as a tall, dark haired man appeared in the doorway – 'Which I left open,' Link thought sheepishly. Well, they had intended on going through it, he had just gotten a little distracted. Link nodded to the man, looking between him and Aries. "Renado this is Aries. Aries, Renado," Link gestured between them by way of introduction.
Renado took a secont to look Aries over, a frown forming on his face as he noticed her haphazardly bandaged ankle. "You are injured, young one - " he said calmly, his voice deep and even. 'No shit', Aries thought to herself. "I can help heal you," Renado turned to Link, "I will go and get my supplies, can you help her upstairs?" Link nodded, "We got this far, we can make it up some stairs."
Renado left the scene, and Link helped Aries up again and inside. It was warm and cosy, a fire lit in the back, a rug on the floor and tables and chairs spread evenly on the floor. A staircase ran up the wall to the left, and there was a balcony above. Peering through the railing were four small children, including the boy she had met before, Colin. Link noticed the direction of her gaze and laughed, calling to them to come down.
They ran down the stairs sheepishly, but that was soon forgotten in their excitement at seeing their older brother figure once more. They diverted their diverted to her, staring at her owlishly. "Aries, this is Malo, Talo, Beth, and Colin, who you already met – sort of," He smiled, motioning toward the smallest boy of the three, then one who seemed older, then a girl who seemed about Colin's age, and then Colin himself. "This is Aries. Be nice to her, okay?"
They crowded around her, staring at her in awe. "Woah! Why are your clothes all dirty? Why is your hair white? Are you like really old or something?" The boy named Talo squeaked excitedly, only to be smacked over the head by the only female in the group. "Talo! You can't just ask a lady's age, it's rude! And she's clearly not old!" Beth exclaimed in frustration, she didn't want to make a bad impression on someone who they'd only just met. "Beth, leave me alone!" he looked back to Aries, "And why are your eyes red? That's really cool!" Aries smiled faintly at their antics. The youngest child, Malo, muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like 'What a waste of time' as he turned and walked off. Rude.
"Are you okay, Miss?" Beth asked, putting on her best manners, "Please don't mind him, he's just tired." "It's fine." Aries answered quietly, wincing as she put too much weight on her ankle. This seemed to cue Link to speak up.
"We can talk later – for now, we need to get Aries all healed up," He spoke, and Aries sighed in relief. It wasn't that she didn't like kids, but her ankle hurt like a bitch and she really needed to sit down. "Go help Luda with dinner," He told them, ignoring their whines. As they scampered off, he looked towards the stairs. "Reckon' you'll make it or do you want me to carry you?" He questioned. "I can make it," She answered quickly. If she couldn't even climb stairs with help, she would be more than useless. It was bad enough that she needed help to walk, weakness was bad, she shouldn't have needed to rely on someone so much. Her parents had always taught her to rely on herself, but now she was failing them goddammit.
With a deep breath, she placed her uninjured foot on the first stair, pushing herself up and biting back a moan of pain when her injured foot hit the ground. Pushing on (with Link's help), she finally made it to the top of the stairwell where she nearly collapsed against him. With the worst part over, the short trip down the hall wasn't too bad. They entered a small room and Aries gratefully collapsed onto the bed with a sigh. The Hero stayed in the room, distracting her with idle chatter until Renado made his entrance, which was when he abandoned her in favour of not interrupting the shaman from his work. "I'll be downstairs if you need me," were his last words before he left the room.
Renado unwrapped her ankle, ignoring her hisses of pain as he examined it. It was blotchy purple and blue in colour, and there were multiple sets of teeth marks around the area that were slowly oozing blood. It also didn't help that it was on an odd angle. "That's a bad break," he mused, "How did you manage to bash it up that badly?"
"Got attacked by… I think Link called them Stal…hounds? Something like that, they were skeleton mutts."
Renado raised an eyebrow at her, "You're lucky then. It could have been much worse; you're lucky to have survived. Stalhounds move in a pack and can be very dangerous."
"Tell me about it," Aries grimaced.
"I'll have to set it properly so it can heal," Renado frowned, "It will hurt but it is a necessary evil."
"Great," She hissed sarcastically.
Renado put his hands on her ankle and she bit her lip, wincing in pain. He pressed lightly at different points along her ankle to find the break site, and once he did, without a warning, he quickly popped it back into place. It took every ounce of Aries's restraint to not scream bloody murder. The pain – shit it hurt. Violent oaths streamed out of her mouth as she squeezed her eyes shut, hands balling up in the sheets beneath her. Renado smiled apologetically, reaching into his bag for a bandage roll and a bottle that held something that was glowing pink? He carefully uncorked the bottle and emptied the luminescent thing onto her ankle and she stared at it intently, curiosity taking over pain. "A fairy – it will accelerate the healing process by a significant amount." He stated by way of explanation. The 'Fairy' (she had heard tell of them in the old fae tales in Ashra – but she had never seen one and never really been a big believer of their existence) hovered over her injured ankle, flitting about daintily and touching her swollen appendage with butterfly light touches. The pain was receding quickly – still there, but nowhere near as bad as it had been. The swelling seemed to also be going down, the skin around the bite marks scabbing over. The bruising had faded a little, but not much. It didn't look like as much of a mess as it did though.
"It has not fully healed – still minimally fractured but not broken. You will have to be careful not to put too much pressure on it or exert yourself, but it should be healed to an acceptable point within a few days," He informed her, tying her leg in a splint to keep it stable, "Keep the walking to a minimum and try to keep off it for as long as possible."
"Thanks," Aries murmured, "Is there any way I can pay you back for this?"
"It is fine, young one. A friend of Link's is a friend of mine, and he has done so much for this village that I owe him to help a friend. And even if I did not, it is my duty to help those in need," Renado smiled. "I will fetch you some clothes, I doubt your current ones will serve you for much longer." With that, he left the room. Aries blushed, checking the condition of her garb which she had neglected to even think about up to this point. For all she knew she could have been walking around showing a lot more skin than she intended. Once satisfied that she was not showing anything and that her kimono like outfit was covering her well enough, she relaxed. It was a shame that it was so ruined, rips and tears everywhere. Her inner robe could be salvageable, but barely, and only by an extremely experienced hand. Her outer robe – nope. It was completely shredded. She sighed sadly, brushing her fingers against the floral red and white pattern that stretched across the once soft, beautiful fabric. It was ruined. That was a shame; it had been one of her favourites.
Renado dropped a folded pile of fabric on the foot of the bed where Aries waited. "This was all I could find for now. One of the women who stayed here previously was presumably killed in the attack, and this was left behind. I hope you do not mind wearing the clothes of a dead woman. It won't fit you perfectly, but it should do for now until I can find you something better suited for travel, I assume you will be journeying with Link?" He asked. Aries mused silently for a minute, "I've thought about it, and I probably will travel with him for a while. I'll have to ask him about it, I do not wish to burden him but going with him for now seems like the best bet."
"Ask and I am sure he will allow you to follow. He may resist out of worry for your safety, but push it if you really wish to go with him."
Renado left the room once more, giving her privacy to change her clothes.
Aries sighed in comfort as the soft fabric slid against her skin. She was not used to the style of clothing that they wore here, the dresses looked quite different to those in Ashra – rather than wrapping around and being tied in place, they were just one closed shift that could be slipped on and off. There were no layers either. It was comfortable though – inconvenient were she to get into a fight but comfortable. The gown was simple –cream in colour, with a thick strip of baby blue encircling the hem and the bottoms of the sleeves. It had a rounded neckline and it was long enough to brush the ground. The sleeves did not bell out at the bottom like those she was used to, instead clinging to her arms until they reached her wrists. It suited her and she quite liked it, however impractical it was.
Quietly leaving the room, she limped down the hall and down the stairs, lured by the smell of food. It was dark out, and her stomach was rumbling. She quietly made her way over to an empty table and sat down on a stool with a sigh. She looked up at the sound of footsteps and shuffled her stool over as Link plonked down on the stool next to hers, pushing a bowl of stew in front of her. "Eat up, you'll feel better. Luda makes a mean stew," He smiled, slurping at his own contentedly. Aries picked up the metal spoon and daintily dipped it into the bowl, sipping at the broth and sighing in contentment. It tasted brilliant, warming her to the core. She made a mental note to thank this 'Luda' character when she met her – it was a real lifesaver.
"So? Where do you plan on going next?" Link asked, wiping drips from his chin. "I'm not sure, I might stick around. I really just want to find my way home though…" Aries replied, keeping her voice low. "Where are you from, anyway?" He asked curiously. "A place far away. Not Hyrule, that's for sure. I don't even know how I got here." She murmured back, "I want to find a way home but I really don't know how to get back." She looked quite solemn. "What about you?"
"Ah… I have places to be, I guess. I've been travelling lately, looking for important stuff…"
Aries coughed awkwardly, "Would it… Would I… Um… Would it be okay if I like went with you or something? If you're travelling and all I might come across some way to get myself home and I don't want to burden you or anything but I don't really have anywhere else to go…" She trailed off hopefully.
Link's expression was contemplative. "I wouldn't mind, but I'm going to some pretty dangerous places."
"I can defend myself! Usually." She added, "I was just really weak and confused last time, I can take care of myself now that I know kinda where I am and all…"
Link sighed. "Fine. I'm gonna stick around for another few days to rest then I'm gonna go to Castle Town to pick up some supplies, If Renado gives you the all good then you can come. It's pretty dangerous though, so if you decide to change your mind in the next few days go ahead. Once we leave it's kinda hard to turn back, just remember that."
"I will!" She trilled happily. 'I might find a way home' she thought warmly.
A/N: And I can barely see right now my eyes are so blurry from lack of sleep xD As usual, please R&R - every little bit of feedback helps!