And it is now the end.

Thank you for sticking around till the end, and I hope you enjoy this chapter too. It's gone back to first-person perspective (Lin's) because you know, full circle.

Hope you enjoy!

Touch - Epilogue

"Lin." A hand briefly touched my shoulder, warm and familiar. "I'm going to get breakfast, from the orchards. Any fruits you particularly care for? Lin?"

I rolled over, pulling the blanket over my head. "Chestnuts."

"...They won't be in season for at least another four months."

"Shows what you know," I grumbled back, curling up.

His footsteps faded away, though for a moment there might have been two pairs. But it was too early for anybody to be around, so assuming that was just me being paranoid, I waited till there was silence except the morning birds, the occasional breeze, the final hum of insects.

I looked around. Sheik was gone. Nobody else around either. I crawled out of my blanket, hobbled over to the fire, and threw up in it.

Goddesses, my stomach. It felt like the angriest, most abusive tektite would hatch out of it. My throat burned, and my head forecasted a bad, bad storm of aches and agonies. And my hands were already shaking, these stupid, stupid limbs.

Forcing my legs to move, I limped over to a fountain nearby, taking two bottles with me. I ducked my head in and drank like an animal until my stomach practically bloated with water, and yet it didn't drown the tektite in it and my throat still stung with heat.

My reflection stared painfully back, looking horrific. I'd known that I was going to pay for drinking so much Blue Potion, but this? This was unexpectedly bad.

I ducked away from the fountain and wretched up water, purging the my stomach. Goddesses be damned, I couldn't be sick. Not yet. There was the mess I'd left in Kakariko, I had to fix Bastard's face and hands, I had to set up a focal point for Farore's Wind so Zelda's soldiers could finally arrest Midnasia or whatever the hell her name was, I had to get back to the campsite so Sheik won't find me gone, and how was he even awake, it was only a little past dawn, there was no way he'd had enough sleep, and Din make this stomachache stop, please.

I knelt at the lip of the fountain, gripping my torso, gasping. I wondered if the wetness on my face was just the water from the fountain, or the beginnings of a cold sweat.

Right. Right. I needed to get back to camp. Bury my most recent mess, set it on fire, and keep that fire going for chestnuts. And warm up, try to keep the cold sweats at bay. Make sure Sheik was alright. I could be ill after Sheik gets looked at by Healers. I could probably leave the crystal for the transport spell with him, or something, to deal with Midnasia. Then I can go to Kakariko, crash at the inn for a day or two, and then do whatever needed to be done over there.

The thought of facing Zelda after I nearly/possibly blew her up was not pleasant. I mean, I knew she would be fine. She had to be. Bearer of Wisdom and awesomely powerful magician and all that, there was no way a little explosion from a collapsing gate would hurt her.

True, it left me with bad burns on both of my legs, but it was fine. It was fine. Everything's fine.

So. Eat chestnuts. Deliver Sheik to infirmary. Don't get caught by Zel. Go to Kakariko. Then crash.

I got him home. I can do this.

Refilling the bottles and taking a moment to stand up straight, I hobbled back, buried the sick, used the last few embers from last night to start the fire again. I think I would have either passed out or set the castle ablaze if I'd tried Din's Fire. Or both. It was hard to say.

Chucking a few more leaves on the growing fire, I heard footsteps, and I looked up and smiled.

"Hey She-"

Zelda was right behind him. She didn't look all that happy.

"Uh." It was probably at this moment that I should apologize. "...We're back?"

She crossed her arms. "You're grounded."

I slouched. "Oh, fine. Um," I glanced at Sheik, kneeling uncomfortably close and glaring at my face. "What did I do?"

He snarled. "Six bottles of blue potion. Six."

How is that a reason to be mad at me? "I was looking for you!"

"Do you promise to go to the healer for potion poisoning? Now?"

"But I just got this fire ready for the chestnu-"

"You could have died." the two cousins yelled at the same time.

Is this how the world works now? I rescue someone as fast as I can and I get yelled at for it?

I drop the stick in the fire and hold back tears. "...See if I ever rescue you again."

-.-'-.-'-.-

Agitha was probably my best friend in the whole Castle.

Nobody was allowed near her Greenhouse, much less in it. Not even the Princess. Yet here I was, lying in its Home tree, sunning with the leaves, sharing some honey with her Golden Insects.

It would've been a perfect day for napping, if it weren't for my constant irritating headache. Which apparently I deserved.

See if I rescue that gargoyle ever again.

Oh, saving you isn't good enough? I have to do it a certain way, do I? Well excuse me mister rescue expert, I was genuinely concerned about you and your physical and mental safety, so I found it reasonable to do whatever I could to get you out of wherever you were as fast as mortally possible. So what if accidentally overdosed on potion and practically poisoned myself? Sorry for putting your well-being above my own.

Did Tharlaigh even thank me? I actually don't remember.

I sighed, kneading my forehead. Just have to ruin my nice afternoon in a nice tree surrounded by nice forest noises with my own thoughts, don't I. Ugh.

I nudge a Golden Mantis and it obligingly moves aside, letting me pick a cube of honeycomb from the wooden communal bowl. Chewing it I flip the wet cloth on my forehead over, the cooler side easing this ridiculously persistent headache. It was already two days since getting back; I would've hoped that it would clear by now.

And the thought drifts into my head: potion would ease it. But just wanting it for a headache just proved the healers' and Zelda's point. The point being that I was on the slippery slope of substance dependence, and the very idea makes me shudder. Being dependent on anything except food and water to function was viscerally appalling. And I've heard stories.

So, water, water, water. I was finishing my second bottle. It didn't taste as good as the streams of the Lost Woods, but you deal with what you're dealt. Chewing honeycomb also helped.

There was a rustle at the aviary entrance, a flurry of songbirds taking flight in response. I uncorked my third and last bottle, taking a quick swig and wetting my cloth as well, hoping it wasn't a loving couple or some other equally obnoxious set of people.

The door to the Greenhouse opened. Ah.

"Hey Agitha."

"Sorry to disappoint," said a voice that by all rights should not be in here, "But I'm not insect royalty."

I peered between the branches, and it really was Sheik, in a place that only Agitha or on really special occasions and with much bargaining I can enter, squinting up from the ground, shading his eyes from the sun.

I glowered and spat out the remaining beeswax in my mouth. "I didn't know you were friends with her."

"She's outside, giving me ten minutes to talk to you."

"That doesn't sound like her."

"She also has a scorpion perched on my back in case I step on anything."

"Nevermind, then." I lay back down amongst the boughs of the Home, sighing peevishly. "So?"

"Do you think I can climb up without setting off the scorpion?"

I grunted loudly back.

"I'll just pretend it's not real, then," he sighed, climbing up. I hoped then that his shirt was thick and the scorpion was huge; the smaller the deadlier the venom, though Sheik, I mean, Tharlaigh must know that. And considering how much he advocates safety (stupid gargoyle) I doubted he would allow something so potentially dangerous even near him.

But as he came into view I saw the creature's wicked-looking tail hovering over his shoulder, and that was a very, very small stinger.

No, no, don't worry about him, he'll only tell you how to do even that.

"Shouldn't you be in the infirmary?"

Ugh. I dragged the cloth over my eyes. "It stinks of sick people. I'm best off here."

He sighed. "Will you be able to get down alright?"

"Oh don't patronize me. What do you want?"

"Well," he grunted, shifting his weight against the trunk of the tree, "I just wanted to know where you were. And, I wasn't sure whether I'd thanked you for rescuing me. So thank you."

I snorted. "Took you long enough."

"I take it you're annoyed with me."

"I'm annoyed with everything. But yes, you too. You're welcome."

Some songbirds resumed their chirping and a breeze swept through the roofless ceiling of the Greenhouse. Home, the tree that we were hanging out in, swayed her branches in rhythm, the Golden Insects clinging a little tighter to her bark. It was the closest to my home that I could experience in Castletown, surrounded by the clean breath of plants, life reaching for the sky in slow, luxurious stretches.

"So this place is pretty neat."

I peeked under the cloth. "You're still here?"

"I've still got a few minutes." And he had the nerve to smile. "How are you feeling? Anything I can do?"

I put the cloth back in its place. "My head still hurts. And no."

"Are you sure?"

"Unless you can take me home to Kokiri then no."

"I could," he offered, "I'm heading in that direction today, or maybe tomorrow if you're joining me. That is, if you're feeling well enough to ride…?"

I thought of the galloping involved and just imagining it made me nauseous. "No."

"Ah. Well, if there's anything I could bring back for you, feel free to let me-"

"For Din's sake if you're so interested in running errands get me some mallowroot, swordmint, firevines, mewberry bushes and a gohma orchid, would you? Alive. All potted and watered. Now leave me alone!"

"...I get the feeling that they're in the Lost Woods."

I swear, if he keeps on like this I will slap him out of the tree and let the scorpion do its job. "Where else?"

"It may take me a few days, is all. Are you alright with that?"

That, that wasn't an answer I'd expected. I sat up, letting the cloth fall onto my lap. The look on his face seemed genuine. "You're actually going?"

His smile twisted a little. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Because most people treat the Lost Woods like it's Suicide Valley." And aside from that, he looked terrible. He'd refused to sleep in a proper bed for the last two days, if he agreed to sleep at all, and it showed in the bruised bags under his bloodshot eyes. He still asked questions that nobody else would know the answers to, out of the blue, looking deathly scared. I glanced at his wrist, peeking out of his sleeve; they were still chafed from his ordeal.

"Considering what you put yourself through to rescue me," he shrugged, climbing down the tree, "I think a walk through the Lost Woods is the least I can do. I'll ask Agitha what the plants look like. Get better soon, Lin."

"Wait." I pack my bottles of water and pop a few more honeycombs in my mouth (careful to avoid a Golden Pillbug) and swing my way down. As soon as I land the world goes black and starts tipping to the side and the first thing I grab to stop toppling over happens to be Sheik's knee. I nearly pull him out of the tree and he swears viciously. I groaned, bile climbing my neck."Oh, o-oh hell,"

He stops swearing and hisses instead: "I think you nearly made this scorpion sting me."

"Has it?" I grab the tree instead, still finding my legs. The world stopped being black, but goddesses the headache was back with friends.

"You'll know once I collapse and start frothing at the mouth," he sighed with much sarcasm, taking my arm. "Can you walk?"

"I'm fine." I snatch my arm back and shoulder my bag, bottles clinking. My head pounds. "Agitha won't know what the plants look like."

"Ah."

I trip a little as we head out; it's a wonder that I haven't choked on the honeycomb I was chewing. The ground stabilizes, and Agitha's at her own door, looking nervous.

"Are you alright, Lady Knightly?"

I was wearing a man's uniform with two knives strapped to me, and still Agitha calls me Lady. I suck out the rest of the honey from the combs and spit it neatly into my hand, since talking to such a precious person with my mouth full would be too rude. "I'm fine, Agitha. Thank you."

She was gripping her emerald and amethyst skirts, looking up at me with wide violet eyes. "You don't have to get me those plants, you know. You've invited so many guests here, I couldn't…"

"It's fine. He's getting them now, apparently," I stick my thumb out at Sheik.

"Oh." she blinked up at him. "Are you a botanist?"

He shook his head, shifting his fringe over his scars. "Just an errand boy for Lady Knightly."

"Hm. I see." she squints at him and smiles. "Well, if you can brave a little scorpion, you can brave anything, I say. Come now, Mister Score," she added, and the segmented nightmare happily hopped onto Agitha's gloved hand. She drifted into her greenhouse, singing, "Lil' scorpion, lil' scorpion, how thrilling I find your sting…"

We left her in her paradise, walking side by side, and Sheik started the conversation again. "She's something."

I frowned at him from the corner of my eye. I was to his right, so it was mostly obscured by fringe. "She has excellent taste in gardening."

"And friends." he said this cheekily, gesturing at me. "But what did she mean you invited guests over? I thought you were the only one allowed in there."

I shrugged. "Golden Bugs. I find them in the wild sometimes, and she collects them. I think they help make that garden so… big."

"Sounds about right. I could see the magic in them."

"Of course you could." I take a swig of water, wincing. Goddesses, substance poisoning was a tedious kind of low.

He cleared his throat, hiding his face some more with his cowl as we got closer to the rest of the Castle. He didn't like people staring. "So, these plants. What do they look like? Are there specific terrains I could find them in?"

I hesitated, kneading my forehead. Finding them myself was one thing, sending an amateur was completely another. Especially a recovering tortured rescuee. "Don't bother. I only said that because you were being annoying."

"I'm always annoying. And I want to go."

"They're fairly impossible to find if you don't know where to go. That or dangerous. Gohma orchids grow in fields that, funnily enough, gohmas like to lay their eggs at. Firevines like dry bedrock, so they're tough, and digging them out will be a nightmare. Mewberry bushes are fairly common in the Lost Woods, but they have a poisonous identical twin. You'll only get yourself hurt."

Instead of being discouraged, he nodded. "I'll be careful, then. What about the other ones? Swordmint, and a root?"

I winced. "They're not for the greenhouse. It doesn't matter."

Of course he picked up on it. He blocked my path, peering into my face. "You mentioned them first."

"They're not urgent."

"You want them, then, right?"

"Well…" Stupid gargoyle with that stupid puppy eye. I should be mad at him. If only the headache would let me. "Saria used to make me tea with them, when I was still a kid. It helped with headaches."

He nodded, and we started walking again. "Alright, then. What do they look like?"

I sighed. "Swordmint grows like a weed, it'll be everywhere. Longer leaves, like knives. Serrated knives. More silver green compared to normal mint. Mallowroots like water, so by rivers and lakes. They're fairly common too. Their flowers are like tulips, but more crazy, like they curled their petals and stretched them out. Their bulbs look like big onions, but they smell like, sort of old cheese. But pleasant."

"I'll write it all down before I go."

Don't thank him, don't thank him, don't thank him. "...Fine."

"Lin?"

I grunted.

"I'm sorry."

I stopped. He stopped. His gaze matched mine, and I waited, wondering where this was going. If he apologized for the wrong reasons…

"For?"

"For not speaking your language."

I blinked. Twice. "...Eh?"

He sighed. "We have different ways of showing we care, and for you it just happens to be putting yourself on the line. I hate the idea that you hurt yourself because of me, and that's why I've been on your case about it. But it's the way you do things. It's your language. So I'm sorry I didn't understand."

I bit my lip. "So?"

"This is me trying to speak your language." he shrugged, beckoning onwards. "I can walk the Lost Woods for you. I'll try to be back with your herbs for your tea in a day or two, and then I can take my time with the others."

I felt a jitter of fear. Two trips into the Lost Woods by an amateur. "But-"

He raised his hands, shushing me. "You don't want to use Agitha's garden without giving something back, right? If you're worried that I won't make it out the second time, fine, I'll accompany you once you're healed, but let me get you your tea ingredients this round. Like I said, I'm heading in that direction anyway."

I sighed, caught up with him, and we kept going back to the main courtyards, entering the outer corridors. "What for?"

"I… I'm going to see my sister. The caravan she's apprenticing with is in that area this month, and I thought I might bring her to the Castle. Her name is Fi."

"Fi," I repeated, testing that name. I kept my line of sight firmly away from him. "Easier to pronounce than yours."

He hesitated again, adding, "I heard Zelda told you about her."

I shrugged, stiffly. "Just that she exists."

I didn't say how much that hurt. I also didn't mention how I hated his cowl in situations like this, when I couldn't read his expression. How was it fair that I was laid bare, when he had a veritable fortress around his face? So much for that promise about no more disguises...

"Well, I think she'd like you. She's not fond of people in general, but I think she'd like you regardless. You have that effect."

I admit I blushed a little. Flattery was still a tactic I found difficult to guard against. "Sure."

"That is, if you want to meet her."

I did. Of course I did. Sheik had a sister, just like Zelda had parents, like Darunia had a son, Ruto had a father, like everyone else had a family. People who worried about each other and waited for their return.

What kind of worrier was Fi?

"Sure. Don't know how long I'll be grounded for anyway."

He chuckled, sounding a little relieved. "It amazes me that you actually listen to that."

"Yeah, well. She worries about me."

He seemed to think about that. "I worry about you, too."

I snorted.

"I do. Another reason why I was on your case the whole time."

"Oh you just think I'm stupid," I snapped, no matter that it really made my head pound. "Do you honestly think I pull stunts like that all the time? I'd be dead more times over than any number of pink faeries can save me if that was my usual method."

"So you're saying this was a special case?"

"I…" shit. Shit. "I might have paced myself better for anybody else. Maybe."

We walked to the stables in silence. It was a very, very long walk.

"Besides," I added, a lot too late, "I'd promised her I'd be back in a week. I took twice that long."

He gave a soft chuckle. "Thank you."

...Was he insane? "For taking two weeks?"

He pulled down his cowl, putting it away in his black mare's saddle bag, and combed his hair back. "For rescuing me when you did. Thank you."

I glanced at his right cheek, the small patch of scar that looked like a fairy wing, the place I'd kissed as he'd slept that night. "...Don't scare me like that ever again."

He grinned. "I'll do my best."

For the first time in a while, I smiled for him. "Good."

"So," and he mounted his black (what was her name again?), the sleepy mare wuffling protest. "Swordmint and mallowroot. Anything else?"

"Actually rest if you're serious about going into the Lost Woods; it's called that for a reason. And don't get bloody kidnapped."

"Fair enough. Oh, one more thing." he cleared his throat, scratching at that fairy-wing, "I love you, Lin Knightly."

I stared at him.

He shrugged, taking the reins and clopping his horse beside me, Puppy licking my arm as she passed (yes, Puppy, I remember now, that horse liked to lick people like a freaking dog and had no regard for my issues just like her rider). "My language is usually physical affection, but you seem to have trouble with that so I figured I'd try a different tact."

"U-um, I. I?"

"Look, I don't expect an answer right away. Just wanted to say it."

I watched him go, not sure whether I should follow him. "...Okay?"

He stopped at the entrance, briefly looking back. "But if you could think on it, great. And I'll go now. Take care of yourself, Lin."

And he really did gallop away, and I wondered if this was as painfully embarrassing as it was for him as it was for me. Especially since, if what he said is true… I must've hurt his feelings so many times...

Oh Farore, he loved me? He was going to the Lost Woods for me?

I thought of all the ways he could die in those woods as so many Hylians in the past had and shuddered. Right, maybe I should ease back on the adventures if this is how he feels every time I do something risky.

Also…

I knocked on Zelda's door, and I let myself in when she said I could.

There was no way this wasn't going to sound weird. "Can I practice hugging and kissing you?"

She looked up from her paperwork, slowly. "...Excuse me?"

I raised my hands. "Sorry. I mean. With you."

She stood up, unsheathing the blade she hid under her desk. "Who are you and what have you done to my friend? Or have you been mind-warped? Have I been mind-warped? Is this some kind of test?"

"No. Just," I suddenly wished I was being sent somewhere, anywhere, that involved maybe a dragon or a cursed tomb. Or even Kakariko. "I'm just, trying to speak Sheik's language to his face? I've been getting away with it in his sleep but I might have to up my game soon and-"

"You are making absolutely no sense!"

"It's what he said!"

"Goddesses above, why must you be so absurd!?"

And that is the end.

Inadvertently exasperating Zelda is probably this Hero of Time's calling. Aside from being a hero.

Thanks again to anyone and everyone who's read all the way, and that is all, the story is over, good night. :D

See you in the reviews!

S.S.