The time has come. Here it is, the Epilogue.

I can honestly say that this has been really, really fun. And a bit overwhelming/consuming, because I have been literally writing this for days/weeks/months on end. But it was fun, it was an utter delight to hear that you guys enjoyed it, and I hope you enjoy this (probably almost definitely) the final chapter of Touch.

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Epilogue

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"Fi?" her brother asked her with sickly sweetness, holding her shoulders with kind hands, "Why does mother think I'm marrying Lin?"

Her first instinct would have been to ask back why he would think such a thing, but then the night she escaped some kidnappers came to mind, the lies she'd told to seem small and heartbroken to them, and who else had been listening to those lies.

Ciela, who couldn't keep silent for more than minutes at a time.

"...Ah. Well, I might have said something-"

But already he was shaking her. "Are you insane!?"

The goats lifted their heads, but went back to eating. The herd was surrounded by their clan, tents raised for a more permanent stay, cooking fires brewing every few yards to make sure the goats didn't stray from their assigned grazing site. Fi and her brother were standing a ways away from the stone structure that was their Sanctuary, one of many trades-posts the Sheikah congregated at during their yearly migrations.

Fi protested despite the shaking. "It wasn't me! I mean, I didn't say anything directly to her, it's just a rumour-"

"A rumour!? There's a- Light I don't believe this. Why is there a rumour in the first place!? How, how many people think that...?"

He'd stopped, and hesitantly, she replied. "I don't… know? I mean, for the rumour to spread all the way to Swordhorn, maybe at least fifty-"

"That was not," he growled, giving her one last shake, "A request for a specific numerical estimate. Din's hand in ice," he finished in a whimper, kneading his scar as he stepped away, "I have to warn her before she arrives."

"You mean mother? But-"

"No, I need to warn Lin, because if mother thinks we're getting married she'll just-"

Green light blossomed out of his chest and exploded in a bright cascade, and a panicked looking Hylian landed in front of them. A few goats started and trotted away, braying with alarm.

The immaculately dressed woman rose from her crouch, eyes wild, hair dishevelled. "Am I late?"

"...Quite the opposite," Tharlaigh replied weakly, frozen in place, "Weren't you riding in on Epona?"

"I was, but stuff, sort of. Fell apart. I, oh Fi," Lin stammered, unshouldering her bag and rummaging through it, "Here, I found more riddles you might like. I even made one. Might be a bit easy, but."

"Oh, thank you," Fi replied as she took the sheaf of papers, eyeing her brother's heart-mate with concern, "Are you alright? You seem, restless."

"I um. I'm fine. Just scared. Well not scared, nervous, I."

Fi went to touch her shoulder but stopped herself when Lin tensed. "What do you mean, fell apart?"

"I, I thought pink fairies, but I gave them to you once so I, I thought something else, food? But people don't, so fruit, and I went to my tree but. Then I went to Saria, which took time so I had none left so, Touched over."

Fi blinked, barely understanding a word spoken. Tharlaigh sighed.

"I told you you didn't have to bring anything."

Lin looked down, gripping her bag tightly. "I wanted to."

"Well there's this rumour that's been floating around recently, which has rendered you impossible to be disliked by mother, so. There's no concern about that."

She looked at him, waiting for an elaboration of his rather sarcastic comment.

Tharlaigh sighed, deeply. "She thinks we're getting married."

"...Married…?"

"Promised unto each other till death do us part? Settle down either with the clan or at the Castle, raise children, live a safe life, all that?"

Fi had never seen something look so deathly pale.

"Why?"

Tharlaigh looked to Fi, arcing a brow. Lin turned on her and Fi immediately raised her hands, explaining the situation as fast as she could because she really didn't want Lin to think this was another ploy at trying to break the two apart. She was still quiet when the explanation ended, but it was the stillness of a rabbit caught in a wolf's gaze.

"Lin, relax. We just have to tell her it's a mistake."

"Halloo?" cried a voice from the tents, sealing their fate, "Tharlaigh? Fi?"

"Ah, hell."

"You'll be fine! Honestly, you'll be fine," Fi insisted, even as somehow Lin managed to look sick on top of threatened and scared, "You look lovely, you're a lovely person, everything will be just lovely."

"You were scared of me."

"Mother doesn't have the Sight. She's just… she can be overly religious, but."

Lin's expression said that that was not reassuring in the slightest.

Tharlaigh had tried to forestall her, tell her that the rumour was false, but she had barrelled on in a soft motherly way with raised hands of greeting and welcome.

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"What are you all doing here? Are goats better company than I am?" the woman laughed, deflecting Tharlaigh's words and facing me, raising hands of welcome. "You must be Lin. Oh, let me take a look at you, my child. It's so good to finally meet you."

My heart thundered in my chest as she held my arms, not flinching just as Zelda and I practiced. I reminded myself that this woman had raised Tharlaigh and Fi as she looked me up and down, smiling ever so softly. She looked… really gentle, and kind, a mother out of picture-books that I borrowed from Zelda sometimes. Her hair was short, a bob that curled inwards, a light green that matched her eyes. It reminded me of Saria, a little.

"My name is Seres," she said, taking my hand and shaking it, "And welcome to the Swordhorn Clan."

"...Hello," I managed, as she let my hand go, "I, brought these."

Tharlaigh held my bag for me as I took out the pouches of nuts and fruits, handing them to her. "Pikori berries and Korok nuts."

"My! I've never heard of them."

"The nuts are best roasted in their shells. They pop. Berries, are well. Berries."

"Goodness me, I can't wait to give them a try," she chuckled, clucking at Tharlaigh to carry it back for them, being such a strong man and all that.

I could honestly say that I have never wanted more to be liked by another person. This was Tharlaigh's mom. I don't think I've ever met a friend's mother before, since… I have no idea. They all seemed to be dead for some reason, honestly, why? Unless they just weren't around or I hadn't looked hard enough? I should meet everybody's moms. Why not. Why was I still thinking about this.

I really hoped Seres would like them. That she would like me.

"Come along, come along," she ushered us all, and she linked her arm with mine, "There's tea, and cakes, and lunch all prepared. Tell me about yourself, Lin, my son hasn't told me nearly enough. How did you two meet?"

I bit back the urge to snatch my arm back, reminding myself that the left arm, my sword arm, was still free. Tharlaigh made a noise behind us but I waved said arm at him. I could do this.

As for how we met? Not well. I was still mostly going as Link at the time and I'd only come back to the Castle because I hadn't known what else to do after spending two years searching for the people responsible for Navi's death and dealing with my grief. Zelda had welcomed me, offered me errands to run to fill my time, around the Castle and country.

"Zelda introduced us."

Tharlaigh snorted close by.

"Why, Princess Zelda herself? How did you come to know her?"

This question I'd practiced with her. "My guardian sent me to her when I was little, to be her confidant."

Tharlaigh snorted for longer. If I could kick him I would.

"So did you grow up in the Castle?"

"Oh, no." I said, thanking Zelda for all these prompts we'd rehearsed through, "Because of her exile, and Ganondorf's attack, I was sent home."

Seres nodded, understanding and concern in her gestures. "Of course, that horrid man from the Western Territories. I hope your home wasn't too badly affected by his invasion. You couldn't have been much older than ten at the time..."

"It only really affected me when I turned thirteen, but. It's, not something I can talk about."

I'd come home from Termina with Navi, and we'd visited Holodrum and Labrynna together before passing through Castletown, which we hadn't realised was under Ganondorf's control. We hadn't even known that he was still around, thought he'd been trapped somewhere mystical and magical and he had been, that was the weird part, because of some strange trick of time there were two Ganondorfs, one from the future we'd erased with the Triforce of Power (still gone and locked up thank everything sacred), and one from this timestream, still wreaking havoc.

Nothing so bad as last time, since no Triforce of Power, but. When we'd escaped into the Temple of Time and Rauru had explained the situation, oh, how Navi had shouted.

Embarrassing and heartwarming in equal parts, but still, embarrassing.

And it hadn't been that bad, really. Just clean up the Temples before they got too awful, remind Sages that they were actually Sages, I hadn't even needed the Master Sword. Aside from the monster hunting, it'd been pretty fun; I renewed friendships, called off engagements (Ruto was kind of relieved since she'd been crushing on another Zora at the time), learned more about bordering countries and peoples and languages, big learning curve overall. The Hylian Army had dealt with Pig-Face's horde of monsters, so I hadn't had to fight that again.

So, to be honest, it was something I liked talking about, if asked. I just couldn't.

Seres nodded, and I felt a little guilty. I mean, she thought I was traumatized by a monster-army invasion led by a tyrannical lone wolf of a madman that had cost countless lives, when I'd sort of enjoyed it. Definitely completely messed up, for sure.

"So when did you return to the Castle?"

"Four years ago."

There was a long stretch of silence, and the goats brayed.

"And, what do you do?"

"I'm the Civil Liaison," I chirped, and Goddesses I hoped I didn't sound as rehearsed as it felt, "I report on the condition of the people to the Princess and do her work in her honour."

Which was Politician for 'I kill monsters and let Zelda know so she doesn't worry'.

"My, that sounds exciting."

I nodded. "It let's me travel."

"Tharlaigh had mentioned that you enjoyed travelling," Seres chuckled, giving her son a wink, "And that you joined him on his latest trip with the Redspears."

Where the rumour that he and I were getting married had spread. Of all the rumours that could have spread, it had to be that one, didn't it. "Yes. It was interesting."

"I'm so sorry that you were involved with the sordid kidnapping business," she said, patting my arm, "I heard you aided in Fi's rescue?"

I smiled ruefully. "I think I got in the way."

"Your efforts are still appreciated, dear."

"Mother?" Fi said, because we'd arrived at the stone structure where there was a table set for us, "Can you show me where to put these?"

"In a moment dear. Now, Lin, take a seat, make yourself comfortable."

And finally my arm was free and Fi and Seres had left and I let the shudders consume me.

He was immediately by my side. "Are you alright? I told her, but,"

"It's fine. I'm fine." I took a deep breath, let it out. I smiled. "That's normal, right?"

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"Mother," Fi sighed, setting the berries and nuts away, "We told you, Lin doesn't like being touched!"

Seres stopped setting the tray with her best tea set, touching her lips with her fingertips. "Oh, dear, I'd completely forgotten. But she seemed to be alright…? No of course she would, she seems very polite. Oh dear me, I," she fretted, nervousness over making someone uncomfortable flustering her. She then frowned. "But, what about Tharlaigh?"

Fi had wondered that too, at first. "I don't know, it's none of my business."

Seres eyed her daughter, genuine confusion crossing her eyes. "But it's your brother."

"It's his happiness."

"Why are you taking that tone with me, young lady?"

Fi bit her lip, looking down. "I… I just don't think we should interfere. They're working it out, so we should respect that."

"But if they're marrying-"

"They're not getting married, mother, that rumour's silly."

A frowned puckered Seres' brow. "You call everything you can't analyse silly."

And they were back to their usual argument again. Fi nearly fisted her hair out of frustration.

It was true, Fi didn't believe in the Goddesses, not really. She just didn't think there was a paradise once you died, or a mad realm to descend into if you were morally inept. The criteria was simply illogical. Philosophy aside, the question of good and evil and the meaning of life aside, there was no quantifiable proof that the Goddesses existed. Considering prophecy existed one could argue that there was a storyteller on high that enjoyed giving her own characters spoilers to the tale of life, but that didn't mean the Goddesses existed as written in scripture.

Besides, scripture was penned by mortal hands, prophecies were spoken by mortal mouths. Prophets could have, for all anybody knew, been very, very good analysts.

Obviously, being the caretaker of the clan's spiritual and moral needs, the Majut'wahsodh matriarch found this somewhat deplorable.

"I started that rumour, so I know for a fact that it's silly."

Seres rolled her eyes. "Oh really, Fi."

"I did! It was an accident, I didn't mean for it to be that way, but the point is, it's simply not true."

"...Why would you lie about such a thing?"

Fi looked down again, the disappointment in Seres' tone stinging a little. "I didn't even mean it as a lie, just… it was an advantageous thing to say, at the time."

Seres gave a matronly pout. "Then why didn't he say something?"

"He didn't know the rumour was going around either, it was that ridiculous. He only realised because you said something before."

A strange sort of worry crossed her mother's eyes. "She's not one of his…?"

Fi had known that his rather promiscuous past was going to bite him in the back, but really. "She doesn't, like, being touched, mom!"

"Oh, yes, of course, the concept is just so… unique." Seres sighed again, but nodded to herself. "Well, I'll just have to be more careful. And they're still together, aren't they?"

"...Yes."

"Then I'll just treat her as I would have before. But less touching, as you said. Come now, we can't keep them waiting for long!"

And perking back up again, Seres lifted the tray of tea things and glided back outside.

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As disappointing as it was to know that her son was not, in fact, planning to marry soon, the fact that he had brought Lin here to be properly introduced was absolutely thrilling. He'd never done that before. She had to be special, very special, for him to have even considered it.

She seemed a painfully shy and sombre girl, which was an unusual choice in her son, but she seemed sweet if the gifts were any indication. She stood from her seat as Seres set the tray on the table, helping without a word, and the woman's estimation of Tharlaigh's possibly future-fiance rose again.

She was certainly well-dressed. Boots of good quality with perhaps copper buckles, reaching just above her kneecaps. Above the cream flash of leggings was her long, flaring, high collared tunic of clay red and yellow, though the fit and design made Seres think of faulds instead of skirts, spaulders instead of sleeves. Her hands and forearms were wrapped in leather fingerless gauntlets, and her hair was as short as a boy's and ruffled into violent spikes, finishing the over all militant look.

"So how do you like your tea, Lin?"

"Uh, well. I'm not sure."

"I find the Hylian kind rather bitter, myself, so would you care to try my Calatian blend? It's made of dried fruit and tree roots. Much milder, with a hint of spiciness."

She hesitated, but nodded. "Yes please, thank you."

Seres chatted about silly things, hoping the inanities would lull her nerves. She talked of Calatia, the warmer climate there, her work as the Sanctuary's matron, Tharlaigh not visiting her often enough and Fi's growing piles of books about maths and machines. It seemed to work; she was sitting less rigidly by the time tea was ready to serve, and she seemed to like it, for which Seres was relieved.

She showed a true smile for the first time, and my, what a childish grin it was.

And the way Tharlaigh smiled at her, well. It took Seres back to her own youth.

"So have you known each other long?"

Lin choked on her tea and her son barked a laugh. Seres blinked.

"We've known each other since she arrived at the Castle four years ago," Tharlaigh provided, sipping his tea and reaching for the bread and spreads, "But, not very well. It's only these last few months that we've gotten really close. Isn't that right?"

Lin nodded, tapping her chest.

Seres' eyebrows rose. Only a few months? "What brought you together?"

"Work," he waved off, "You know how it is."

"I wouldn't be asking if I did, young man," she tutted, reaching to pat Lin's hand but catching herself, instead reaching for the pot of goats cream, "Feel free to tell him to quiet down whenever you like, dear, I know he loves the sound of his own voice."

Lin's mouth quirked. "I like his voice too."

Fi burst into a fit of giggles as Tharlaigh froze in surprise. She shrugged at his look, as if to say that it was an insignificant truth, and added, "Saves me the trouble of talking."

"Oh? As a Civil Liaison, wouldn't you have to discuss matters with all sorts of dignitaries and the like?"

"I mostly listen," she said, shifting her weight on her seat, "From the corner of an inn, or a tavern. Caravan drivers, traders, people on the street. Commoners. Dignitaries are more Tharlaigh's business."

"That doesn't sound very official."

"It's not," Lin agreed, a little sheepishly, "But it gets things done."

"What sort of issues do you deal with?" Seres questioned curiously, finding that this girl required many prompts, hardly speaking unless spoken to. Her sentences often had a finality, as if she'd said her full despite hardly speaking at all. She was reminded oddly of a wind-up music box, quickly losing traction as it sung for little spurts.

"Um," she hesitated, eyes flicking towards her children, "It depends on the town. For Lake Hylia, um, water quality? I'm sometimes called in by the Gorons for, uh, domestic maintenance, and cut it out!"

"Oh Tharlaigh really," Seres sighed irritably as her son degenerated into a mass of giggles, "What on earth is so funny?"

"Her," he claimed, pointing at Lin, "I just, domestic maintenance?"

"What else should I call it?"

"For what it is," he suggested, grinning at Fi, who was also smiling ruefully, "We are talking to a Calatian noblewoman that left her house to marry a daring Sheikah Clans head."

Lin blinked, and twitched as though remembering a sudden factoid. "Of course, you're related to Zelda. Which means,"

And everybody was suddenly looking at her, her son in particular grinning wickedly.

"You tell it best, mother," he added, waving her on. "Regale us."

Feeling as if he'd manipulated her into this, Seres gave an exasperated smile and told her own tales of youthful romance. How Kasuto had been accused of a crime on her father's estate, arrogant and defiant and insistent on his innocence. How she had helped him prove it, as it had been her locket that was taken from her, and no matter how she had insisted to her father that the culprit was not the Sheikah, the patriarch would not listen.

So she had snuck him out of the estate's jail and into the night, he using his Sight and she her magic to figure out where the thief had gone. It had actually been a bit of a nightmare, because as soon as she'd freed him he'd trotted into the nearest tavern to do some gambling and she, being surrounded by strange men that kept leering at her, had caused pots and flagons to burst in their hands and on their tables, creating such a riotous bar-brawl that Kasuto had had to rescue her.

The night had continued on in a series of hijinks, aided by tea vendors, coffee vendors, and ale houses. Seres recalled fondly how she had grabbed him by his ear to clear his name, because the Sheikah had simply planned on skipping town. They had ridden to the village her father presided over, tracked down the serial burglar through the night markets full of hot fried sunflower seeds and silly games, asking questions of street urchins and drunkards and ladies of unsavoury professions.

They'd knocked out the thief, taken him back to her manor over a pony like a sack of potatoes, and Seres had knocked on her own front door with the criminal roped up beside her like a dog.

"And Kasuto?"

He'd locked himself back into his cell, letting Seres have all the credit, and on his release had been showered with Seres' father's apologies and a sack of gold. He'd offered to turn down the gold for Seres' hand, and of course he'd been kicked out, laughing all the while. A total ruffian, positively wicked, a storm of mischief.

Lin was eyeing Tharlaigh sidelong, he grinning widely in turn.

At their guest's prompting Seres found herself going on about their letters, exchanged in secret, he coming to her window every time his clan was near her family's lands. After weeks of letters and windowsills and meanders in the village, she had eloped with him, leaving a note for her family to find.

Which in turn had led to many months dodging the authorities in the name of love, but those were stories for another time.

Seres found herself feeling rather flattered, as Lin had been absolutely enthralled by the tales. Fi had been dutifully refilling Lin's tea cup and scooting along the food in her direction, and now most of the lunch was eaten.

"Oh but enough about me, this lunch was my chance to get to know you, my dear," Seres insisted as Lin asked for more stories, "Surely you and my son have a story of your own, by now."

"Preferably something embarrassing about him," Fi added, smirking at her brother over her teacup.

Lin scratched her hair, pursing her lips. She laughed nervously. "Plenty of embarrassing stories, just, mostly about me."

"You're easy to embarrass," Tharlaigh teased, finishing his food. "Any ale, mother?"

"Oh Tharlaigh, it's barely past noon!"

"Which usually means I would have finished half a decanter of wine for some meeting-"

"He tried to throw me out a window, once?"

The Majut'wahsodh ladies stared at Lin, then Tharlaigh, whose smug expression had dropped.

"Brother!"

"SON!?"

"I," he said calmly, raising his hands as he shrunk under the two murderous glares of his female family members, "Honestly don't know what she's talking about."

"When we first met," she added, making things worse, "Remember?"

"When we-oh come on! You were trespassing!"

"Zelda said I could be there, so you're wrong."

"So you did try to throw her out of a window?" Seres thundered, Lin grinning at his quailing, "I didn't raise you to be such a… such a dishonourable man!"

"She was in Zelda's bedroom! Eating her snacks, going through her drawers and her cosmetic pots, she was dressed as a man at the time! Context, Lin!"

"Still embarrassed you," she chuckled, leaning back in her chair, "Zelda gave you an earful. You couldn't lay a hand on me. And the poor, poor desk."

Tharlaigh's face was red, which apparently was all Lin wanted. She continued to chuckle, sipping at her last dregs of Calatian tea, and Fi asked the question Seres was finding herself a tad too apprehensive to ask:

"Why were you in Princess Zelda's bedroom, dressed as a man?"

"I was bored," she shrugged, smiling easily.

"You're going to have to elaborate a lot more than that," her son grumbled, relieving Seres of that duty.

"Well," Lin considered, tapping her knee, "I'd come back from the Gerudo Valley, delivering a box. Wasn't allowed to look. They said I needed to take it straight to her, so I let myself in."

"Through the window, might I add," her son butted in, and Seres glared at him since it was her story. And finally talking of her own volition, too!

Fi was leaning over the table, eyes wide. "Why the window?"

"I didn't know how to get there through the Castle. I'd never been inside. And Nabooru said it was urgent, so..."

Seres lost the rest of Lin's story, finding that last statement odd. Never been inside? Then what of the days as the Princess's confidant? Perhaps she'd simply forgotten? But if she was running an errand on the Princess's behalf, how could she not know the way? Why the need to sneak through a window like a forlorn lover seeking his unrequited partner?

Fi burst out laughing and Tharlaigh was fisting his hair, glaring daggers at their guest, and Lin was chuckling too. Seres forced some levity into her next words, folding her hands on her skirts. "My goodness, what an adventure. How did you manage to get past the guards?"

Lin snorted, rolling her eyes. "This was before Captain Auru was promoted so sneaking was really easy, not," and she caught herself, realising what she was saying, "Not, that I needed to sneak past anyone, I, it was more for the fun of it. I liked surprising her."

"Sure surprised me," Tharlaigh butted in again, perhaps with a too wide smile, "Adding insult to injury, I had to pay for that desk from my salary."

Lin chuckled again, but nervously, back to the rigid stance she'd had when she'd first arrived. Seres exchanged a glance with Fi, who also must have caught her slip, and Lin carried on, "It didn't help that I was dressed as a boy, and I was, scruffy and dirty, so, going through the front door, making a mess, I couldn't…"

"So that's how Zelda introduced me to Lin," Tharlaigh finished, wrestling with the potential silence and yammering on about the missions they went on together, ones of diplomacy, how he dealt with dignitaries as she listened to the servants, the petty plots that they uncovered or the shenanigans the gentry pulled that they had to slap their wrists over. Lin was silent most of the tale, nodding, adding a word or correction between sentences.

Seres had learned to figure out when she was being told half-truths. She was being told them now. "How did you return to the Castle? Did your guardian send you back, or…?"

At this Lin seemed to relax a little, drawing in a breath. "The Castle allows the public to work on the grounds during harvests, or for general maintenance. I was mending a fence when Princess Zelda recognised me. She was advised against allowing me so close, but, she pushed the issue. I was honoured."

Seres was decidedly confused, and a touch suspicious. Lin must have been a lady of middling to high lineage if she had been sent to Princess Zelda herself as a playmate, yet, only four years ago she was with the common folk, mending fences? What had happened in those intermittent years?

And Princess Zelda had recognised her, amidst them all?

"You must have been a great friend to her, as a child."

"We had a lot of trust in each other, before we were separated."

A strange way of putting it, to be sure. "Who was your guardian? He must be well regarded, if he were able to send you to the Princess."

"He wasn't a Lord, but a protector of sacred grounds, which essentially gave him authority equivalent of," she said, or was it recite? "And uh, well. His name was Deku. He was… very kind."

"Deku? That is an unusual name." and a name she had not heard before. You hear many names when you live with a migrating people; names were sometimes the most vital things for survival.

"It's very old, of the Kokiri Regions. It's where I grew up."

"Near the Lost Woods?"

"Very close, yes," she said, her hands fisting, "Practically next door."

"Shall I clean this up?" Fi said, standing, breaking the sudden chill that had befallen the table, "And mother, I can show you the number riddles she's been collecting for me, I-"

"I think it's your brother's turn," Seres said, collecting the crockery, eyeing her son, "Tharlaigh, dear, won't you help me? We still have cake to go through."

"Sure," he replied easily enough, smiling at Lin when she made to stand, "We'll be right back."

Their guest nodded, and Fi picked at the remaining bits of food and started making a riddle, to which Lin was inexplicably drawn.

Gathering the empty plates mother and son returned to the Sanctuary and settled in the kitchens, where he glared at her.

"Since when did this introduction become an interrogation, mother?"

She turned to him and crossed her arms, a concerned frown adorning the corners of her mouth. "Since when was it appropriate for any of your friends to lie to me, son?"

"She hasn't lied to you once!"

"She hasn't been telling me the whole truth, and neither have you."

"As if you reveal your deepest darkest innermost thoughts to a stranger. It's the first time she's met you, she has the right to be nervous."

"Nervousness has nothing to do with this. What aren't you telling me?" she reached for his elbow but he drew back, and her hands dropped by her sides. "If how you two met wasn't an exaggeration, I'm sure you would have told me. But you hadn't. And what was this mission that brought you together?"

He gritted his teeth, clamping them shut.

"I'm just trying to understand, dear," Seres implored, showing him the palms of her hands, "You've always been the one to tell me things out of all of you, so I'm just worried. You obviously care about Lin, and that's wonderful, but, you know how love makes us blind."

"I am well aware of her flaws, if that's what you're concerned about."

"That's not," Seres sighed, shaking her head, "I'm just worried for you, Tharlaigh."

He snorted. "There's nothing to worry about. She's saved my life at least once, she's saved Fi's life, essentially, and I love her. How isn't that a resounding recommendation to her character?"

"Then why did I only know about her barely two weeks ago, from a rumour?"

"Because," his indignant anger deflated at seeing how that had hurt her, her son keeping things so important from her, and he sighed, running his fingers over the rivets of his scar, "Because I still don't really know how she feels about me."

Seres' heart trembled, at that. "Oh, Tharlaigh,"

"It's complicated. The whole, no touching thing's almost the least of it. But she is important to me, mom, and I wanted you to know her because… I don't think she could be my best friend, not like Zelda, but I would place my life in her hands without a second thought. I owe her more than I can say."

"Owe?"

He gave a self-deprecating smirk and pulled back his fringe, baring his mutilated half. "This."

She flinched, the shame of having subjected him to those flames, inadvertent as her involvement had been, stinging her anew. "I don't understand."

"She aided in the capture and imprisonment of Vhighew Marius Zant, and helped to convict him of treason against the Hylian Throne. That was the mission that brought us together, and that was why I didn't tell you."

Seres couldn't help but gasp, as his fringe settled over his eye once more. She remembered that night, the staff of the Zant estate turning into mind-warped creatures born of nightmares, Kasuto cutting through them like puppets made of meat, she running beside him with little Tharlaigh in her arms, unconscious and yet trembling, half his precious face melted.

And that shy girl at her table had overcome all that, and placed him under arrest?

"He's still your brother," Tharlaigh sighed, looking away. "I just, wanted to spare you."

-\-\-\-\-

Oh Farore, Farore, I shouldn't have told that story, I shouldn't have broken off from the script Zelda and I had worked out, everything was falling apart and did she hate me? Goddesses I hoped she didn't hate me. Sneaking, sneaking, I shouldn't have used that word even if that was exactly what I'd been doing, because Zelda still hadn't technically employed me then, if employment was what I had with her, but it had seemed like such a good harmless story to tell…

Fi's puzzle was nonsense, we both knew it, and as soon as Seres and Tharlaigh were out of earshot I hid under my arms, pressing my face to the table. "She hates me."

"She doesn't hate you. She doesn't have anything to hate you for."

"Not yet," I whimpered, peering up at Fi, "When did I go wrong? Was it the window thing?"

"...Probably, yes."

I groaned.

"It was a very good story, though."

"It was the only story I could tell. The rest is just, killing monsters and getting myself hurt, or…"

Or it was tell in very painstaking detail the actual relationship with Zelda and I shared, and that was too freaking unbelievable for words. When I'd agreed to this, and talked to Zelda about it, we had come to the horrible, horrible realisation that our lives were insane.

Well, she had known this already. I had not.

We knew each other, we trusted each other, I considered her a friend and almost-sister and an inspiration, but that kind of trust usually came out of knowing someone for years, of actually spending time with them, getting to know their quirks and habits and particularities.

I had never felt closer to anyone in the world when Navi had died, even if our acquaintance stacked up to barely hours, over two timestreams and a war. I actually knew her less than all my other friends, Malon, Ruto, Nabooru and Darunia, but I trusted her most because of who and what she was.

How weird and lonely was that?

How do you explain that kind of relationship to someone who knew nothing of our destiny? We'd never had to justify ourselves, because she was the Princess and I just didn't care, but now, now?

I cared about Tharlaigh, and he cared about this. I had to do this right.

So I had begged Zelda to help me try to figure out a series of events that weren't lies, just, reconstructed truths. The Deku Tree was a protector of Sacred grounds, we would just omit that he was a tree. We would omit that Navi was a fairy, unless Tharlaigh or Fi had already told her so. Confidant or playmate or Civil Liaison instead of Hero. No mention of violence, of my killings or my scars, just a palatable sanitized front that I could ease off over time. Which led to another problem entirely.

"I have nothing normal to share."

The confession made me hollow and I wondered what Fi would say.

"What is normal?"

I slowly looked up from the table-top, Fi fiddling with a small spoon like a feather-pen.

"Rhetorically? Or actually?"

"Actually."

We fell into silence. I sighed. I was not in the mood. "...You should talk to Zelda. She would know."

"But you're the one worrying about normal, so."

I snorted.

"I have been contemplating it, though. And I think it really depends on our environment."

I pillowed my chin on my crossed arms and watched her talk.

"You wouldn't water a cactus as you would water a pine. I would consider migration normal, yet most of the country is rooted. My normal is that I see things that others do not, and yours is experiencing what others do not."

I grunted.

"We are what we experience, and what we experience ninety-five percent of the time is the mundane, the normal. So, your experience and my experience differing by at least fifty percent, though we share an unusual trait that we're of the ten percent of the population who travel regularly, the likelihood of our perception of normal eclipsing is close to twenty-percent, or less."

I grunted with a question mark at the end.

"You also have to consider," Fi added, "That mother is not a 'normal' Calatian noblewoman. She married into the Clan, which is considered absurd over there, and lives primarily in Hyrule, which makes her an outsider. Coupled by the fact that brother was attacked as a child, her perception of normalcy should lie in the outliers of the societal psyche expected of a normal mother."

"...Are you really only thirteen?"

"The point is, I think your worries about being abnormal is overblown."

Says the person that was scared of me and wanted to break me up from her brother. I sighed and grunted and squirmed and cradled my head in my hands and wished that I hadn't agreed to this in the first place. People were absolutely exhausting. I wanted to go home.

But where do you go, if you didn't have a home? My home had died six years back, and I had tried to find another in Zelda, but it was more of a stop-over, an inn. Comfortable, warm, welcoming, but not somewhere I could stay forever. On the road, Epona was home, but for how long? I thought of her dying and part of me just stopped, because her not existing would equate to losing my legs and heart and I would have nothing else, nobody else, I would be alone again-

"Lin."

I breathed. I coughed, and gasped, and I startled everyone including myself and for how long had I zoned out?

"Um."

Tharlaigh knelt next to me. "What happened?"

Of course I had to do this when I was dealing with civilised company. "I'm sorry. I'm fine. Just, thinking too much."

His mouth quirked. "You do that."

I nodded, swallowing back nerves. "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologise." and his voice lowered to a whisper, so that only I could hear. "It's one of the reasons I love you."

My hands turned to fists.

"That's what you get for trying one of Fi's riddles," he added more loudly, plonking the cake in the middle of the table. "You break your brain."

Fi dutifully made protesting noises, and I did my best to gather my nerves. Seres was acting a little strange compared to before, and that made my stomach do stupid things.

And my mouth do even do stupider things.

"I, when I was sent to, the Princess. It wasn't official. It was nothing formal. It was just a dying wish, and I went to appease him, me and my mother."

They all looked at me, and I looked at Seres.

"We snuck past the guards, we, we broke in through the moat's grates and we found her in a small courtyard. Of course, she had no idea who I was, who my Guardian was, but my mother convinced her, to give us something to do.

"So we ran errands. It was never official, we were escorted out like criminals, but we ran the errands anyway, and Ganondorf attacked. We ran. My mother and I travelled, after that. We went to Termina, to Holodrum and Labrynna, just, running errands for people, bartering goods. We, I, I learned to fight. I always knew how to fight. I was a very, very good monster hunter, and still am. It's what I mostly do, even as Civil Liaison, which, actually I'm pretty sure Zelda made up so I could stay without sneaking around all the time. I only really came back because I had nowhere else to go.

"I shouldn't, I shouldn't really be there, probably, she doesn't really need me and your son and I, goddesses we really didn't even trust each other till, till, I…"

"Lin, stop. You don't have to say any of this."

"I do, because, this is who I am, what I am, I eat insects I hunt monsters I, can't sleep without a weapon in my hand I don't even wear things like this usually, I… I just, wanted to try, to try being likable. To be normal. But I can't, because it is all I have, and I'm sorry. I didn't mean to trick you."

"Oh my child," Seres said, tears slipping down her face, shocking me solid, "Oh, my dear child."

-\-\-\-\-

It was another hour, maybe two, of eating cake and feeling less like a farce before Seres said I looked exhausted and that I should be allowed a nap. I opted instead to go, though I thanked her, and I shook her hand.

"You're always welcome here," she told me, and I thanked her for that too.

Tharlaigh walked me out, and I patted a goat between its horns as we passed through the herd. It was strange how well it had gone after that, even if it had been gutwrenchingly embarrassing, making his mom cry. Also, nobody had called me a child in years.

"Thank you for coming," Tharlaigh said, smiling a little guiltily at me, "And sorry for the stress. You look shattered."

"People," I shrugged, "It's always tiring, talking to people."

"Thank you."

I shrugged again, not sure what else to say to such sincerity, and we continued to walk, and we entered the ring of tents. There were people walking around, kids chasing each other squealing, and we dodged around them and past them, and when there was a lull in the noise, I offered this to him: "She's nice."

He nodded, grinning. "She likes you."

I snorted. "The way Fi liked me?"

He winced. "Okay, yes, I deserve that. But she's changed her mind, hasn't she?"

"I'll ask again when your mom gets kidnapped and I rescue her too. Seriously do all of your family members get kidnapped?"

"It's just been me and Fi, so far."

"Keep it that way."

"Yes sir."

I snorted.

"...Does your mom still think we're getting married?"

"Oh, no, Fi cleared that up."

"Thank Din."

"Is marrying me such an abhorrent idea?" he sighed, sounding a little hurt.

"I can't promise to take care of someone when I can barely take care of myself."

Because that was what marriage was, wasn't it? Committing to another person, promising to stay by their side, to provide comfort, safety, security? Didn't you need money, as well? I could provide none of those. I didn't even really have a home.

But to have someone, anyone, waiting for you to come back…

He stopped, I stopped, and we were already out of the perimeter of the clan, and he looked at me, and I at him, and I finally found the courage to say it. "I've thought about it."

"Oh? About what?"

"You."

Except I hadn't really needed to think, because it had been brewing in the back of my mind since the moment he had said he loved me, a seething pot of terror and hope. I touched the hollow of his throat, casting Farore's Touch.

"The way your mother talked about love, your father, and romance and things… it's not how I feel. At least, I don't, I don't know. I don't know how other people love. How you love me. I don't know if I love you the way you do me."

I dared not look at his expression.

"But when I think of going home, I think of you. I can sleep without a weapon when you keep watch. And I don't want to die knowing I'd leave you behind. So, I want to try."

I held him, pressing my forehead to his throat, breathing him in. "I can't promise to be around. Sometimes I need to leave just, just to breathe. Part of me really doesn't want this, because it seems stupidly hard, harder than being the Hero of Time. But I want to come home to you. I want, want to see what it's like, to, to be held, and… if you can let me come home to you when I need to, I think I can do this."

He held me back, tightly, tightly, crushing my body against his and his whole frame was trembling. "Keep going and I just might kiss you, Lin."

"...Better start somewhere, I guess."

He burst out laughing, and he kissed my hair, firm and strong, then my ear, a flicker of affection, then my cheek, softly and kindly. He cupped my face in his hand, tilting my face up towards him and his breath ghosted over my mouth, and stopped.

I kissed the lips that kept saying he loved me, chapped and warm, a brief touch that somehow made me weak in the knees especially when they stretched out in a brilliant smile.

"Oh," I whispered, and he kissed me back. He tasted like fire.

As requested, the long-awaited kiss.

Thank you thank you thank you thank you. To everyone who reviewed, to everyone who favourited, alerted, or just read the fic. Thank you and thank you again.

Regards,

S.S.