Waking up groggy was fine. That tended to happen whenever a temple was involved, with or without Zelda. Waking up wet however, was something new to him. He opened his eyes and they lazily as he glanced the white and blue room. A groan escaped him as he sat up, catching the attention of the girl next to him.
"Oh, Link, you finally woke up." she was smiling at him to his surprise. He felt refreshed as it were, guessing it because of the fairies flying about the air. She giggled as the pink firelight nuzzled her cheek. Letting it float about her hands she nuzzled it back with the end of her nose, making it twitter happily. So, that's why she was smiling when he woke up.
He stretched, standing up and cracking a few bones into a more comfortable place. Goddess he didn't do that enough. He also noticed that his legs were a bit stiff but ignored that for now. Seeing as that was how it was, getting in touch with a certain friend was in order. He yawned before holding a hand out to her. The place he wanted to go was midland so it wouldn't be too far. That's when he blinked. Where exactly were they...
"Aww, we have to go, really?" she whined, clutching the little ball of fluff closer. He couldn't help but smile at that. Although it would seem odd with what he was about to do and she would be sure to fuss at him, he located his pack and got out a bottle. With a quick swipe he gathered up the fairy quickly and topped it with a holed cork. "Link!"
And there goes the fuss. He handed her the bottle, the little creature jingling inside to let her know nothing was wrong. Sighing in relief, she stood after finally taking his hand. He began walking out and to his surprise, being blasted by a wave of heat. Well, at least now he knew where they were. Taking the long hall back they stepped into Darunia's room, the owner not there, and he looked to his travel bag along with his tunic. He quickly went to change back into his original one. Although this one had an ability and was a bit more efficient, his was classic and just for him but he'd make sure to keep this one along for a laundry day or something. Just as he began changing...
"And there you go again..." she sighed. He looked at her a bit odd. All he was changing was the tunic and nothing else, what was the problem with that? She really could be such a prude sometimes... Ignoring her for the moment, he lifted off the red tunic and replaced it with it's complimentary color not soon after, a contented smile as he re-hooked his belt around his waist to make it comfortably snug. He then looked to her for mock approval, seeing what she would do. "I guess since it was only that, it's fine. Now turn around..."
He rolled his eyes at her wariness of him. As much as he'd grabbed onto her for various reasons didn't count. The fact that he slept apart from her didn't count. The fact that even though she would be laying halfway on him in the mornings and he did nothing to her didn't count. He still couldn't figure why she was so paranoid to do a thing around him. Well, paranoid wasn't the right word for it. She'd still do it but she'd make sure he couldn't see anything, not that he'd be looking anyway. He heard the rustling of cloth behind him, a clear sign that the girl had finally started to change back into her purple hooded tunic.
"So, even though you won't answer me out loud, do you have any plans for where we're going to go since we're done with this temple?" he did nothing. How could he? He wasn't allowed to face her to see if she was paying attention. "I'm looking at you. You can nod or shake your head." the princess laughed while fixing her collar. He nodded then went to sit on the edge of the table away from her. "Is it a temple?" he shook his head. "Is it a town?" he shook his head again. She gave off a confused noise. If it wasn't either then what was it?
And true it was neither but he had to guess that she didn't even have a clue that there was a ranch in Hyrule. In a way, it was being mean but that's all she knew to go on so he couldn't really help it. He could hear the confused look on her face.
"So if we aren't going anywhere usual, then...are we going to see a friend of yours? Wherever they may be?" He had to hand it to her, she always caught on quick. Whether that was good or bad was another thing entirely. He nodded and a bit of a grin graced her face as she flipped out the hood on her purple shirt. All of a sudden, something occurred to her. "Is this friend a boy?"
Well, that threw him off and he had to catch himself as he was about to turn around. He didn't know if she was finished and didn't feel like getting a lashing so he just shook his head no. she made a noise, something that sounded a bit of disapproval but it was actually something else. She soon stepped in his line of vision, a half lidded stare aimed directly at him.
"Why is it that you have more girl friends than boy friends? And why do I have a feeling that more are just on the way?" his brow raised with nothing less than a smirk on his face. "What's that look for? You implying something, Link?" he simply tilted his head, expression unchanging. She looked away with a bit of a pout. "Forget I asked...well...we can go now..." as she walked out she swore she heard chuckling, but when she turned to check, he was just looking off with nothing less then a smile on his face. "Jerk..."
.-+Z.e.L.d.A+-.
They were on the field and she was looking around curiously. Thinking about it, there wasn't any place that made sense to think of. But then again, she figured since she'd been thinking about it so much, the answer was probably simple and it just wasn't occurring to her. She was so far gone in her mind, she didn't even notice them approaching a gate of sorts until he caught her attention.
"Oh...that's it?" she looked to the sign in front of the place and it finally made sense. Not a town, not a temple. "Lon Lon Ranch... that does sound familiar... Then again, there's so much crap in Castle Town it's hard to keep up with everything... But what was it that they did..." he pretended to drink something and then looked to her. Seeing as she still didn't get it, he pointed to the ranch and then did the motion again. "Something to drink from a ranch...oh! Milk!" a curt nod from him let her know that she was right. The further they got into the place though, the more his expression changed. He wasn't looking uncomfortable but it was something along that line... "Why do you look like that?"
"Fairy boy!" a sudden voice called out. They both turned around just to have Link intercepted- correction – tackled down out of nowhere. No matter how long it had been since he'd first been there, no matter how his reactions improved it was all useless. He could never stop her from doing that. He groaned as the mystery girl lay on top of him, hugging and snuggling him as it were. "I just thought daddy was just spoutin' sleepy nonsense but sure enough when I looked out the window, it was you! We missed ya 'round here Link!"
Finally looking at the girl, he huffed, catching her attention. She leaned up but she didn't get off, simply smiling at him in the end. It wasn't that long before the brunette behind them cleared her throat, looking off at the horse corral.
"Oh! I'm sorry. Hello there!" she smiled, finally standing up, allowing the other up as well. "I'm Malon, and you are?" the redhead questioned, holding her hand out to the other female.
"Ah, I'm Zelda." she stated, offering her hand to the farm girl. Instead of taking it, the girl stood there, blinking blankly for a moment before mumbling.
"Link...did you bring the princess of the whole entire kingdom to my farm and not let me realize until just now?" he did nothing but continue to be indifferent. "Link!" He sighed, causing her to frown at him. "Anyway, Mr. Rude... I am Malon! Me and my daddy run this place with the help of Ingo and Link here whenever he comes by." she finally took the offered hand, smiling at the girl then turning her sights to the male among them. "Speaking of that though...you mind? Epona's been so mean lately..."
"Epona?" the princess questioned, noticing Link's eyes widening the first time the name was mentioned. The swordsman ran over to the barn, slipping inside just for them to hear a horse's whinny not soon later. "That doesn't sound good..." and the brunette followed after, redhead in tow.
"It's fine. She's just mad at him. He hasn't been here in forever or called her out to him." Zelda glanced back at her statement as she opened the barn. What she saw inside was, to her, a bit surprising. He had the reigns of a auburn and white horse, pulling against the bucking steed. As it came crashing down near him, he let go and reached out to the muzzle of the animal. It responded with ramming its head against his own, causing him to freeze in place.
"...Link?" the princess called lowly. He hadn't moved since he got hit. That was odd for him to do in her eyes. His head was down from the impact, but his hands remained in place. The princess turned to the farm girl to see nothing less than a smile on her face. Turning back, she saw the horse was relatively calm now and even nipped at his hair and moved to nuzzle her flank against him. He finally moved, petting her slowly and returning the gesture. If the girl was imagining things she swore it looked like he was saying something...
"And now he's forgiven. Since you cheered her up, let me check you..." Malon walked over to him, pulling him away from the steed and moving his head around. "She really got you good this time. Kinda serves you right, I would say. You did abandon the poor girl this time, honestly..." she pushed his bangs around as well as checked through his hair. "Well, you don't look too bad. Just stings, doesn't it?" he nodded, rubbing his forehead where the hit had landed.
"So...I'm guessing the horse is Epona?"
"Exactly! So Link, you ready for a full day's schedule?" she declared smiling, holding her fist out to him. The expression was returned as he waited for the details. "Alright! Gotta feed the pigs, rustle the cuccos, exercise the horses, milk the cows, and the goats, chop some wood and shovel down the hay from the top of the barn. " He nodded and went off to do so. "You can come with me. We're cooking for two extra people so I could use a bit of help in the kitchen."
"Uh...um okay. Sure." as the princess went to do as told, she took one last look at the hylian male , seeing that he was already heading for a pile of something to get the jump on all his tasks. Shaking her head, she took her leave to go along with the spirited redhead.
"So, what do you know?"
"Almost nothing..." she murmured back. She then stopped to question herself. She just answered without knowing what exactly she meant. "I'm sorry, clarify."
"If you responded that way, you probably subconsciously knew what I was talking about already." she giggled. "But you answered multiple questions with that one answer ya know."
"I...please clarify." the princess requested again, causing more laughs from the ranch girl.
"Well, it coulda meant what did you know about cookin. Or...what you knew of Link. Or..."
"Why would I know that much about him!" she quickly quipped, huffing to herself. "That guy doesn't spare a word for knowledge or anything else. Truthfully, it's damn frustrating half the time!"
"How so?" Malon prodded, sitting in a chair. Just when had they reached the kitchen, Zelda wondered but ignored it nonetheless. Things tended to blow right past you when you were talking to others.
"He's hired to help me and all and I know that he's definitely watching out for me. He's proved it quite the number of times so far but instead of jumping in the middle of danger or risking it, a simple 'watch out' or 'don't do that' here and there could save us some trouble now and again. Especially when there are monsters around. I usually get shoved or pushed behind him as he does all the fighting. And that bugs me too!"
"I see. Why does it bug you though. Seeing him, you must know he's made for it." a sly smile made it's way unto the face of the other as she thought of something that she most likely shouldn't be. "Be careful with that knife though, you're doing good but still..."
"See, even that would suffice! I'd know not to...not...to...uh...Malon?"
"Yes?" she smiled down at her own hands, which were chopping carrots and other vegetables.
"When did I get this?" referring to the knife and half peeled potato in her hands. She didn't remember asking, receiving or being taught how to use any type of kitchen materials.
"Oh, you're easily led even without paying attention. I've been leading you since we came in. But continue. You were at the fact that he fights so much..."
"...huh..." still fascinated on how she didn't even know that little fact about herself, she continued with her rambling. "But yeah, he does all the fighting. I know that's what he's supposed to be doing but it makes me feel like I'm just dead weight. Not only that but he hardly ever gets tired from everything that we do in those temples. All the fighting and pushing things and the occasional drops and it takes him forever to get tired while I'm barely managing to keep up with him."
"Ah..." her kitchen companion sighed. "Muscles and stamina. Two things that make a girl happy, you know?" she sighed a bit dreamily to herself, causing Zelda to actually stop to ponder on what the meaning of that was. Being the quick one that she was, she just stared at her, a semi blank face and a small ahem. "Oh, I'm sorry. I really am. Sometimes I just can't help myself." she grinned to herself with the last part. "Continue."
"I have to wonder why you're actually listening to all of this."
"Oh, that's simple. Seeing as I never see fairy boy outside the ranch, this helps me learn a bit more about him. That and I get to hear about things from another perspective than my own, since he ain't talkin' any time soon, ya know?"
"But it seems like your mind is straying...you know..."
"Hmm? Oh that. That's nothing to worry about. Come on, keep talking."
"Okay...but not only does he never run out of energy but he also has this annoying habit of teasing me."
"Teasing?" Malon's knife stopped for a moment before continuing again. Fairy boy, tease? She's never seen hide nor hair of anything like that. "How so?"
"Picking the worse time to make a certain look or face at me. That or something else stupid that only he manages to do even though he doesn't say a word. He doesn't need to, his sarcasm is in everything..." she huffed, growing a bit more annoyed than she should have been. "And for some reason he doesn't know how to sleep with a freaking shirt on!" the constant clack of the blade hitting wood stopped once again.
"So...you're telling me that he sleeps shirtless..."
"All the time." she replied blankly, not detecting that small amount of something in the other girl's voice.
"And where do you sleep, compared to him I mean."
"Right next to him. Which is the problem."
"...h...how so?"
"I have this bad habit of...I guess you could say clinging to something next to me if it's warm enough. And considering who is next to me, you get the issue..."
"So...are you saying you end up sleeping on a half naked fairy boy every night that you two camp out?"
"Sadly, yes..." she murmured, a small patch of pink spreading due to Malon's word choice. The redhead heaved a breath, then turning to the princess in front of her with something of a forced smile on her face.
"Although you're complaining, I think I'm jealous of you right now..."
"E-eh? Why would you be? All that stuff is stupid anyways..." her voice trailed, she now pointedly avoided the blue gaze of the other woman.
"Anyway, since things are at the point of a boil, you wanna go check on him? He works fast but if you catch him at the right time, it's a lovely bit of eye candy if I do say so myself..." she grinned. If Zelda wanted to protest she wasn't really given the chance to to begin with. She was dragged out the kitchen and the house as well before she could really catch on to all that was happening. The place Malon chose for them to sit was outside of the stables on a couple crates. It had a good view of everything around, including the hylian male that was making a trip to the storage building. And as the redhead expected, his shirt was gone.
"M-Malon, w-why are we doing this?" the princess whined, eyes diverted to her own lap. That same grin was on her face as she looked to her.
"Now I see. Even though you were complaining...that didn't mean you didn't like the view..."
"I, what?" she squeaked, face growing in vibrancy. Lowering her eyes, Malon's smile just got wider.
"You know exactly what I mean." Scooting a bit closer, she pointed at the swordsman, now holding a decent number of logs that he planned to chop up soon and giggled. "You like the view and you know it. And the scenery just makes it all the better. The orange of sunset gleaming off already semi tanned abs and muscles of his and just OOH!" she laughed as the other just covered her face. Link spared a small glance their way, just to end up shaking his head. Malon was up to something again. He never minded helping the girl out but she would always end up doing something a bit mischievous, and she had two victims today. And judging by those expressions...
"Stop that! You should be ashamed of yourself!" and yup, she was at it again. For now, he'd just keep tending to the list until it was done.
"Shouldn't be ashamed of something looking good..."
"You should for pointing it out the way you are!"
"Oh, so you're agreeing with me now, huh?" Zelda stared, dumbfounded for a moment. Without trying to, yes, she did. She just gave up, putting her face in her hands and whining. "Okay, okay. Let's go finish up in the kitchen. I'm sure it needs to be stirred by now. Let's go. We can come see fairy boy again when all the food's done." As they walked back, something dawned on the princess.
"You know...now that I think about it..."
"Hmm?"
"We haven't eaten an actually thing since we started this journey..."
"And how long ago was that?"
"A few weeks actually..."
"You're joking! What is wrong with you and fairy boy! How do you even do it, I can't comprehend that!"
"Potions...the give you back your energy for a good amount of time so it never occurred to me to eat something..."
"You two are going to keel over. Now let's hurry and get some food in your bellies!" she ordered as they headed back to the house. "At least now I know how he does it. I would've never thought of that but let's just see how you two change about that once there's a full plate in front of you."
.-+Z.e.L.d.A+-.
"And that's a wrap!" Malon chimed, dusting her hands together for emphasis. "I got a bit carried away though..." she chuckled. "But there's nothing wrong with it. We have such awesome guests tonight! Now, let's go, let's go..."
"Yeah, yeah..." Of course, Malon was the lead of the two as they went to go find Link. He wasn't outside so it was clear that he was done chopping the wood and doing whatever with the horses and such. And based on all the bottles no longer outside of the shed, all the milking was done as well. The only thing she could think of was the hay but a few bales were stacked quite neatly outside the barn.
"Oh...this is a bit strange...he seems to be done with everything, and yet..."
"No where to be seen."
"Well, there's only a couple things I can think of that he'd be doing. Napping for sure but the question is where..."
"...Link naps? That's a new one."
"Yeah," Malon replied, looking up at the starry sky. "That's why when you said that he never gets tired, I was a bit surprised. He's always asleep around here when you don't give him anything to do. On the roof, in the field, in the hay, with Epona..."
"Well, let's check there." Zelda suggested.
"Wait, which place? I named like...four."
"With Epona, since he's nowhere outside. I looked every place you mentioned while you were saying it."
"Quick thinker I see, alright, let's get going." they headed to the stables near the entrance to the ranch and it didn't take long at all to spot the golden locks of the hylian warrior. He lay against the bare of his mare's belly, an apple in his hand as Epona lay down, head near a few apple cores that Link was sure to have given her. They leaned over the wall opposite of him and Epona. "Aww...he put his shirt back on..."
"Only you would complain about that while it's night time."
"And you have no right to say that considering you sleep next to him shirtless during the night time..."
"That could be counted but I'm not actually trying to see it. So it's a moot point."
"Touche." she giggled, walking around to crouch in front of him. "He always looks so sweet while he's sleeping..."
"He does?" she had a bit of a hard time picturing Link being sweet, but then again, she never really saw him asleep but a time or two. She never really payed attention but just acknowledged that he was.
"Yeah. Wait..."
"He's usually asleep after me and awake before me..."
"Ah..." she grabbed the princess' hand and pulled her over. "Come on, have a look see..." Zelda crouched down as well to get a good look at him. Oddly enough, sweet was a good word to describe his expression as. Calm look about him, his mouth just a bit ajar while his bangs dusted across his brow. Speaking of which, Malon had slowly began to trail her fingers along a small set of bangs.
"Stop that! He'll wake up..."
"He will not, I do this all the time. I just like the way his hair feels..."
"Yeah, and everything else on him..." she mumbled to Malon, the girl nearly snorted at that but suppressed it to giggles.
"You already know me so well. But really, feel it. He's like a cat."
"Hmm..." deciding to take her word for it, she reached out a hand to his locks as well. And again, the word was well chosen. It was soft but not fully tame and just a tad bit rugged. She found herself amused, hand moving from this bang to the tuft he kept right next to his ear, taking in the texture of it with the small brushes of his cheek as she did so.
"And someone was talking about me..." she looked at the other girl, immediately noting that teasing look had come back.
"No, no, no. This is my first time ever doing this. You yourself said that you do this all the time..." she quickly defended. The smile never left though.
"Even so, here's something you're hiding..."
"...what do you mean?"
"There's that little bit in you that has a crush on fairy boy..."
"What?" she made a noise something in between coughing and clearing her throat at that. "There's no way!"
"So...you're completely indifferent to him? No blushing or random thoughts or actually admitting to yourself that you don't mind him...?"
"I..." she stopped her hand movements against his hair and looked down in her lap, "..." Malon just simply rested her chin in her palm, waiting on what she already expected. "...well..."
"Mmhmm..."
"Su...suppose it is true..."
"Mmmmhmmmm..."
"W...well..."
"Yes?" she urged.
"Malon! Is it time to eat yet? I recon you we'd have a full course tonight!" Talon called from somewhere on the ranch.
"Oh, phoo!" Grumbling, Malon rushed to the outside. "Stop that Papa! Link's still asleep!" her voice faded with the more she fussed at her father. The brunette closed her eyes and sighed in relief, just to open them to something she didn't want to see at this moment. Those crystalline blue eyes staring back at her, and to make it worse, they seemed amused.
"I...what...how much did you hear?" still looking her directly in the face, he simply touched her hand that was still resting on his hair. Her immediate reaction was to pull it away until she comprehended what that actually meant and with that understanding her face grew three shades redder. She was stuck between wanting to scream the other girl's name at the top of her lungs or just going to hide in a corner...and she was edging towards the latter.
Instead, yet again, she just covered her face with her hands and scooted against the wall opposing him, pulling her legs against her. She heard the hay rustle, assuming it was him shifting positions for whatever reason. She didn't want to find out. She just wanted to go away at the moment but knew it would be pointless. She'd have to face him eventually anyway. A hand placed on her head startled her but she still wouldn't show her face, instead she just tucked her legs in tighter.
Currently, he was on his knees in front of her, thinking of a way to get her to stop. Currently a couple were in mind but knowing this girl, it would probably prove useless. Usually when he'd put his hand on her head it'd calm her down but it did nothing in this case. He honestly didn't get why she was so embarrassed. Shaking off the thought, he rubbed her head, as per usual just to see and she visibly loosened but still wouldn't come out. Quickly tired of it, he decided on something random. He poked her side. It was as if someone set a fire under her, she popped up that quickly. He couldn't fully contain the laugh so it came out as an amused scoff as she glared at him for it.
"Stop messing with me, you jerk!" and right after commanding that, she tucked her head back against her legs again. It's bad enough it was already hard for her to ignore him most of the time but at the moment it was pointedly difficult. Another poke to the side made it even harder. Of course, she flinched at it but tried to pretend it wasn't there...until it happened again...and again...and again...and aga- "Would you stop that!"
He gave her an innocent smile, which didn't help her at all, before poking her again. Sure, he was getting her mad but, what worked, worked. He heard a low growl from her but he still didn't stop. Even when he saw her eyebrow twitch. By that time, she'd had enough.
"Let's see how you like it!" she yelled, standing abruptly which in turn made him sit back. Before he knew it, she'd began the same assault on him but at a quicker pace. He was stuck in a form of fidgeting that eventually let to him curling up on the barn floor as she continued. It was his fault. He knew that but for the life of him he couldn't stop smiling. More smiling led to more poking and that continued until...
"Miss Zellie, what are you doin'?" the princess turned abruptly to be faced with a smirking Malon. "Well, how do you explain this?" She crossed her arms playfully, tapping her foot against the straw covered floor.
"What do you mean?"
"You two are all tussled, Link looks like he can't breathe and is grinning like a fool no less, your face is cherry tomato red and you're straddled over him. So, explain it." For a moment, Zelda was at a loss for words. She chanced a look at the swordsman, who was now resting his weight on his arms and just smiling up at her. In the instant she was irritated, she quickly turned back with a stern frown on her face and exclaimed:
"He started it!"
"Well, no matter who did what, get your butts in the house. Dinner's ready and pop's been eying the pot since we started." grabbing each of them by an arm and pulling them off the ground, she led them to the house to have the food that was awaiting them. As they sat at the table after everything was given out, girls on one side and guys on the other, she leaned over to Zelda and whispered: "So what really happened?"
"Like I said..." she murmured, getting a spoon for the stew and mixing it a bit slowly, "He started it." taking a spoonful in her mouth, she looked to him a bit spitefully. Seeing as Talon was messing with Link at that moment, it was wasted.
"Well how did he start it? Last I checked, he was asle-"
"He wasn't asleep..." seeing as Zelda was now staring a hole into the meal in front of her, she decided to leave it at that. After the meal was done, the princess was led to Malon's room along with her bag as Link headed in another direction. Yet again, she found herself bunking out at someone's place that she didn't fully know yet and of course was a companion of the male traveler. Basing things on how things were today, she had no clue of what would happen in the morning...
A/N: rawr, hey guys. Lol I haven't written in quite the little while. I hope to hop back onto my stories at the semi, constant pace I used to be in. at least two chapters a month I tried to keep up with but I was in a real bad funk. Thank you for being patient with me though, and be sure to look out for more to come!
~Ruru out!