Thank you for being patient with this next update! Here is Chapter 3 of MRMR.
The bar was as crowded as ever that evening.
Shad appeared downstairs around nine o' clock PM. He struggled to squeeze through the dense crowd that had accumulated there, who were currently in the middle of a lively drinking song. He had left his book on the other side of the bar and the last thing that he wanted was for it to be soiled by a drunken man.
The crowd had a terrible odor, which combined sweat, ale, and tobacco. Shad couldn't take it—he had to get out of here as soon as possible.
He spotted the field journal that he'd been studying from all morning and snatched it up instantly, cradling it to his chest in a possessive manner. Now, to tackle the matter of getting back upstairs in one piece…
The door opened behind him and Link appeared by himself. He caught Shad's eye and was at his side in seconds.
"Where have you been?" asked Shad.
Link gulped. "Talking with Auru."
"Ah, so you found the devil… you look shaken. Something eating at you?"
"…Sort of..." Link glanced around the room as if nervous. Shad's eyebrow's jammed together.
"Well? What is it?"
Link looked back at Shad. "It's nothing… can't talk about it here… why don't we leave this lot to themselves and—"
"Is it something Auru said?" Shad now questioned. "Did he tell you something and that's why you're acting all freaky?"
"What—freaky?"
Shad shrugged.
"Listen," Link sighed, "it's like I said. I can't talk about it here." He gave Shad a weak pat on the shoulder. "I'm off to get a drink." And with that, he sauntered off.
Shad watched him curiously. "Now that's as peculiar as anything."
…
"I don't spend anybody's damn money but my own!" came Ashei's voice from the other side of the bedroom wall. Shad exhaled audibly. Not again.
"Oh, sure! Tell me, who else would take thirty rupees from my wallet without me noticing?" Link accused, his face pressed right up against the wall. Ashei gave a muffled groan.
"You," Ashei shot back, "when you're drunk!"
Although Ashei was on the other side of the bedroom wall, Shad could very clearly envision steam erupting from her ears. With a sigh, he slid out of bed and pulled on his housecoat.
"I see you two are back to normal," he proclaimed, pulling his glasses on and bringing things into focus. His slippers were on the other side of the room.
Link rolled his eyes. "I don't need your sarcasm, too, okay?" he mumbled. He followed this up with a loud cry of, "I wasn't that drunk! I was sober enough to know that you took my money!"
There was no immediate answer.
Shad yawned. "Three… two… one…"
The door burst open and Ashei marched in.
"You'd better restrain me, Shad, or I'll kill him!"
"TELMA!"
The sound of footsteps echoed down the hall. Telma's tall form came to a halt at the door in her nightgown and slippers.
"What is it this time?"
"Ashei used the K word," Shad recited dully, pushing past Telma and making his way toward the bar. "Do we have any coffee? I'm tired like the dickens…"
When he appeared downstairs, he found a half opened letter left on the bar. It was addressed to Telma, and had been left by… Renado? Again?
He glanced over his shoulder. Nobody was around. As quietly as he could, he retrieved the note from its envelope and read it over.
"Telma
Telma's Bar
Southern Thoroughfare
Castle Town, Lanayru Province
Salutations, Miss Telma:
I am writing this message concerning the conversation we had when you visited Kakariko a little over six months ago. I know that you have received my other letters—Hyrule's postman told me so—and I am still awaiting your answer.
I am sure that you remember that conversation of ours as well as I do. Please write back quickly with your response; we are running out of time.
-Renado
Sanctuary
Main Road
Kakariko Village, Eldin province"
Shad had to read Renado's message several times before deciding that, yes, he was thoroughly befuddled.
He'd had no initial desire to muddle in Telma's business, but it was becoming more apparent that maybe something would have to be done after all. It seemed that something important was at stake here—something that Renado had foreseen, and it affected the both of them.
How had Telma brushed this off so easily? What had she said yesterday? That Renado had written, asking her to visit?
Something fishy was definitely going on, and Telma no doubt wanted to keep it secret.
Somebody's heavy footsteps started descending down the staircase. He started to panic, shoving the letter back into the envelope haphazardly and slapping it back onto the bar where he had found it.
"Honey," Telma said sternly, appearing behind Shad. The scholar froze.
"Y-yes?" he asked, turning around and looking Telma in the face.
Her expression suddenly softened. "Coffee's on the counter. Help yourself."
She snatched up the letter quickly after that, and Shad noticed one last thing on the envelope before Telma hid it in her pocket.
The upper right-hand corner of the envelope had been marked with a blue arrow, a symbol that was the indicator for two words: urgent delivery.
…
When Shad returned upstairs, Link and Ashei's shouting had subsided. Figuring that one of them had probably killed the other, he entered his room.
What he found surprised him.
Link and Ashei were sitting next to each other on Link's bed, leaning up against the headboard. Link was speaking to her in a low voice.
"…just afraid to feel, sometimes, you know?" he was saying. "It's like you have to board up your heart, because every time you turn around someone's gone again—" he stopped, noticing that Shad had entered the room.
"Don't mind me," Shad said. "I was just getting ready to plan a funeral. But seeing that neither of you have killed each other, carry on."
"No," Ashei said suddenly. "I should go." She slid off of the bed and made a line for the door. "Sorry I threatened to kill you," she said to Link.
Link shrugged. "No big deal," he answered. "Not the first time."
Ashei shut the door quietly, and Shad just looked at Link with an expression akin to somebody who'd been slapped.
"What?" asked the hero, seemingly puzzled.
"Nothing. I was downstairs for five minutes, and in those five minutes you went from arguing to bonding. That's a hell of a transition, Link."
"We weren't bonding," Link said. "You wouldn't understand."
Link said that a lot. It was like a tagline. 'You wouldn't understand.' He usually said it after somebody mentioned the dark days as a way of changing the subject or taking the focus off of himself. The only person that he never really said it to was Ashei, and sometimes Shad wondered whether that was what kept them so close despite their differences—a mutual understanding of what it meant to fight, and—furthermore—the conception of what it meant to lose something.
Shad squirmed nervously. "So," he said, "uh, a few nights ago... you said there was something you couldn't talk about there… can you talk about it here?"
Link glanced up. "Shad. I'm tired and hung over. Now is a bad time."
"But you were talking to Ashei!"
"That's different," Link said, leaning back against the headboard. "Ashei's hung over, too."
Shad sighed. "Does Ashei know about Telma's letters?" he asked, knowing that this would get to Link. Link sat up too quickly, having heard this, and grabbed his head in pain.
"Yes," he grunted, screwing his eyes shut. "She knows." He waited for a few moments for the pain to go away, and then leaned back again. "But I thought you wanted to leave Telma's business to Telma."
"I did, but… I'm starting to think something's wrong. Like, really wrong, not just stupid wrong."
"Oh?"
Shad scrutinized Link for a second. The strange expression, the closed eyes, the tense shoulders…
"You know something," Shad accused suddenly. His face lit up. "You know something about this, Link of Ordon, and you're not saying anything!"
Link's eyes opened. "You have me there."
Shad jumped up. "What? What is it?"
"Auru told me. About the letters… about what they mean."
Now the scholar's face lit up. "What? What is it? Tell me!"
Link exhaled and shook his head, shutting his eyes again. Shad grew suddenly angry.
"What's that face for? Now you're keeping secrets?"
"The matter is private," Link said. "When Auru told me, he was all, mum's the word, Link!"
Something akin to anger started to boil in the pit of the scholar's stomach.
"But you know! Does Ashei know?"
"Nope. Just me, Auru, and Telma."
"And it's some big secret, right? Between the three of you?"
Link was starting to look annoyed. His eyes opened again. "Telma doesn't know I know, and neither should you!" he turned to face Shad. "Listen, it's like you said, it's Telma's business. We're not a part of it. We're staying out of it all. Now please, drop the topic. It's… uncomfortable." He settled back into his position, closing his eyes again. Shad tried to speak, but Link cut him off immediately.
After that, Shad fell silent.
That is, until an idea popped into his head.
He dressed quickly, having been the last one still in a nightgown. Then he left the room and ventured next door, barging into Ashei's room without bothering to knock.
Ashei looked irritated when he entered. "What?" she asked, shutting a small box and setting it aside.
"You know about Telma's letters, right?"
Ashei looked irritated. "Of course I know."
"Link knows what they mean."
Ashei's eyes narrowed. "What? Why should I care?" But it was apparent that she actually cared very much.
"You want to know. I can tell."
The girl stood up and paced toward Shad. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Hey," said Shad, lifting his hands up in surrender, "if you would rather not hear my proposition, then that's fine by me. I guess we'll never know what Telma's up to after all…" he began to pace away.
Ashei had a fraction of a second to make a decision.
"Fine, then. Let's hear it."
Shad smiled to himself and turned back around. "Telma keeps taking those letters into her room when she's through with them. I say we search her room, if we want to know what's going on. I know it sounds like snooping, but really… it's for Telma's own well being."
Ashei's eyes widened. "That's what I told Link!"
Shad grinned. "I take it you are accepting my offer."
The girl only smiled back.
And it was a devilish smile indeed.
…
"Shad! Get down here, honey!"
It was late afternoon at this point. Shad shuffled down the staircase with Ashei in tow.
"I'm going out to town," Telma announced, who had been waiting at the bar after summoning Shad. "Auru is out, too, so you're the only one who'll be able to manage this place."
Link mumbled something from the other side of the bar. Telma looked startled.
"How long have you been down here?" she asked, having not noticed Link at all.
Link shrugged. "Dunno." His face fell into his arms at the table.
"Well, anyway, I'll be back in an hour and a half… no, two hours…" Telma gave a swift smile. "I'll see you three later!" And with a wink, she departed through the door.
Shad caught Ashei's eye.
Now? he mouthed, not wanting to catch Link's attention.
Ashei nodded and they stole upstairs, approaching Telma's room. Ashei pulled a pin out from her hair and inserted it into the keyhole on Telma's door. As quietly as she could, she opened the door and slipped inside, dragging Shad along and shutting it behind her.
The room was—despite their expectations—completely and utterly plain. The bedspread, the curtains—none of it was extravagant. A cushion that Louise slept on was placed on the side of the room, next to the nightstand.
"I don't get it," Ashei said dully. "It's so…"
"…Empty."
Ashei sighed. "She's hiding something," Ashei decided. "Let's start searching." She made a beeline for the nightstand and pulled the drawer open, starting to rummage through a variety of seemingly regular items—makeup, notebooks, money, and jewelry.
Shad turned on his side and pressed his face into the carpet, examining the underside of the bed. Shoes, stacks of books, notebooks, a small box…
"This will take ages," Shad declared. "The room is chock-full of hidden items."
"No kidding," Ashei grumbled. "Figures."
Shad pulled out what appeared to be some type of album. He flipped through the pages, hoping that he might find a letter hidden there.
Nothing.
"Look what I found," Ashei said suddenly. Shad backed out from under the bed and glanced up. Ashei was holding a cluster of long, thin papers. "Receipts," she declared. Shad's brow furrowed as he took the papers and read them through.
It was a hand-written record of customers—their names were written next to what they had ordered. A date was also provided.
What struck Shad as strange was how much Link's name had appeared starting around six months ago and ending no more than six weeks ago.
"Did you realize Link was drinking so much?" Ashei asked quietly. Shad shook his head in disbelief.
"No…"
They looked at each other.
"I mean…" Ashei continued, tripping over her words, "I mean, I knew he was having some emotional trouble, but Goddesses… alcohol?" She bit her lip and hesitated. "I mean, the dark days kind of took their toll on all of us. And we all noticed he was hurting. We all saw the tension… but I didn't realize he was hurting himself."
"He's been better, though," Shad added suddenly. "I mean, hasn't he?" He shrugged. "Link's been talking a lot. And making jokes. And he's been animated."
"Yes," said Ashei, more to herself than to Shad, "he's definitely been healing." She pulled a face as she remembered how Link had been those first few months after Ganondorf had fallen and Zelda had been restored to the throne…
Link had been friendly with them all. But those smiles, they had all been fake for awhile there. Polite smiles, where he forced his lips into a shape that he didn't mean for the fear of being offensive. The group, they'd all discussed it. They'd noticed the strange way he held himself, the droop in his shoulders, the awkwardness of his gait. Behind his back, of course, but still… had he been hurting himself?
Okay, Ashei decided, so yeah, Link was funny, kind of a pain in the ass, but funny. He was friendly. He always acted happy.
Was there more to this than he was letting on?
For the first time, it seemed plausible.
He'd been in a bad mood this morning, Ashei remembered. They'd been fighting again, and suddenly during their argument, Link had seemed weak. He had given in. He'd decided that Ashei was right. And suddenly he was telling her that he wasn't really angry with her, he was just pushing her away because he was afraid of becoming too close.
Ashei just sat there and talked to him, blaming his attitude on his hangover. It had made sense at the time.
Suddenly, things were coming into a new light.
Our arguments… is he pushing me away for a reason? Ashei wondered. Is he really afraid of becoming too close?
"Shad," she suddenly said, "I was wondering... did Link ever… was there ever anybody… where Link felt really close to them and then lost them?"
Shad shrugged.
"Oh."
Ashei suddenly remembered what she was in Telma's room for. "Keep searching," she instructed Shad. "We need to find those letters."
"And what do you mean by that?"
Ashei nearly jumped out of her skin, whirling around. Telma was in the doorway, tapping her foot.
"I—I—" Ashei turned to Shad, who was obviously starting to panic.
Keep your cool, she prayed, eyeing Shad sternly. Dammit, Shad, keep your cool—
"RUN!" cried Shad, obviously deciding to be a complete and utter idiot. He dashed from the room, startling Telma on his way out. Ashei took off after him. She lumbered down the staircase after Shad, realizing a second too late that he had stopped moving. She slammed into him suddenly, and he slammed into Link, who had been waiting for both of them at the bottom of the staircase.
They fell onto the floor in a pile.
"Well, this is romantic," Shad decided, sandwiched in between Link and Ashei.
Telma appeared seconds later.
"If by romantic," Ashei said, "you mean the reason we're going to die, then you've got it spot on."
Telma grabbed Ashei and Shad by the collars and wrenched them up. (Some people forgot how strong Telma was at times…)
"What were you doing in my room?" she demanded, having transformed from sweet, loveable Telma into something of a less-sweet, still-loveable, terribly-dangerous woman.
Ashei gulped. "What were you doing in there?" she asked. "I thought you were going to be gone for two hours."
"I left for town and realized I'd forgotten… something."
"Forgotten what?"
"Never you mind. Now, what I want to know is… what did you mean, letters?"
"We're just worried, okay?" Ashei finally cried. "You keep getting these letters from Renado, and nobody will tell us what they mean, and Link is acting like it's some big secret—"
Telma released Shad and Ashei and turned to Link. "What do they mean by that, Link?"
Link glared at Ashei. Then, he turned back to Telma with a guilty look on his face. "A few days ago… Auru and I were… talking."
"What about?" asked Telma. Shad almost laughed. Not even a minute ago, Link had been in the clear. Now, Telma was victimizing him, too.
"I think you know what about," he answered, and suddenly his tone turned fierce. "And I'm starting to think that they should, too! Telma, they have a right to know!"
Telma looked taken aback. "Well, then, if that's what this is about—"
"Face it, Telma, it's not something that should be hidden! I've been doing it for you, but I think you should tell them—"
"Tell us what?" Ashei cried, unable to control herself any longer. "Just tell us! If something's wrong, let us help!"
"Nothing's wrong!" Telma countered.
"Everything's wrong!" Link insisted in retaliation. "You keep all of these things to yourself until everything's about to fall apart—"
"Oh, real cute, Ordonian!" Ashei shouted. "You're such a hypocrite! It's not like you're perfect! You're hiding something, too!"
Link looked up in shock. "Oh, so now this is about me?"
"Maybe!" Ashei declared. "We found all these records of customers—you were drinking so much, Link—only a few months ago!"
Everyone grew quiet at once.
It was incredible, the atmosphere. Just another movement from any one of them, and everything would explode. The tension was thick; all it would take was just the tiniest movement, and they'd be ready to kill each other—
The door opened without warning and Rusl cantered inside with a broad grin on his face.
"Hello, friends!" he greeted with a smile. "It's great to see you all again!" he dropped a suitcase on the ground.
The next to enter was Ilia, who was dragging a suitcase behind her. She was laughing at something, wearing a floppy sunhat.
"Link!" she cried, dropping her suitcase and running to her friend, her hat flying off in the process. She found Link and locked her arms around him. He stumbled backwards in surprise, blinked a few times, and then smiled suddenly, hugging her back.
"Ilia," he said. "It's great to see you." And then he gave a genuine grin.
Ilia's arrival had broken the tension like the sun breaking through clouds. Link buried his face into Ilia's hair for a second, taking in the woodland scent and rocking her back and forth happily. What had just happened? All of his anger had just melted away.
Goddesses, she was his best friend. He'd forgotten how happy she made him.
Telma's anger had washed away, too. She looked at the two and then just smiled, shaking her head.
Link opened his eyes, glancing over Ilia's shoulder. He looked at Shad, who seemed befuddled, and then at Telma, who seemed pleased.
Then he looked at Ashei.
They locked eyes for a fraction of a second. And then Ashei turned on her heel and marched swiftly up the stairs, not bothering to look back.
There was a pang in Link's chest that only lasted for a few seconds.
And then Ilia said, "Link, I have to tell you the best story about Colin… you'll be so proud of him…"
And the pang went away instantly, replaced with a warm feeling that Link hadn't felt in a long time.
I'm sorry that this update took so long! I know this chapter only created questions and didn't answer any. I promise things will make starting sense at one point!
Oh, and happy 4th to all you 'mericans out there! I don't know about you, but the heat's gotten the better of me here. I play the bagpipes, so of course I was MELTING in the parades all morning.
(Also, thank you for all your wonderful feedback! It means a lot and it's great to see what you all look for in a story. I hope you'll continue to let me know what you want out of MRMR!)
