She hadn't been there.
All that work, all that time, and she was gone.
That man- that creature - Ghirahim had said something about it, but Tya had been so desperate it didn't click in the moment. Not until they stepped into the next room and it was empty. Beautiful, serene, with butterflies fluttering in the morning light. There were bright flowering vines cascading over the bowl of rock in which the spring flowed, orange hues glinting on clear, clean waters…
But not Zelda.
Had it not been for Fi confirming that she could no longer detect Zelda's aura within the temple, Tya would have believed they simply needed to look elsewhere, but no. She was gone and Tya was devastated. How had she managed to get out so quickly?
It was all she could do, to be thankful that she'd hopefully escaped whatever intentions Ghirahim had toward her. Whatever those were, Tya didn't know, but if it was true that he was the cause of what was happening, it didn't take a genius to assume they weren't good.
Dawn had come as Fi drew forth words left for Link by the Goddess herself. Such old, ruined things, for the ears of only the Goddess' Chosen. And yet she'd been allowed to be graced with these things so secret, precious, and careful. The senescence allowed them to settle in her mind like thick silt. At first, they'd been unstirred, leaving the dangerous depths clear in all its disarray. But with the stone tablet in hand, which Link had let her carry as some sort of consolation prize, she used the Goddess' message as a way to kick it all back up. She let not the meaning of Fi's words, but the source of them cloud the knot of tired hurt. The tangled threads she could no longer straighten out, she simply covered in the fog of excitement.
The sun was up when they left the temple, their exit far easier than their entrance. There was a way out from inside the spring. They didn't question it.
Neither she nor Link said much as they returned to Skyloft. They went their separate ways, and Tya took the tablet home. Link had said he would come for it, and she was too tired to care about anything deeper than getting to hold it.
Corrdrin was so excited to see her, and it was another thing that she was able to find solace in despite herself. She had had half a mind to just go to sleep with the bird out in his nest, but she didn't.
She was dirty, she was tired, she was sick of these clothes, she needed a bandaid, her hands still hurt, she was surprisingly hungry, and she wanted her bed.
It took all her willpower not to just collapse into it the moment she got into her bedroom. As badly as she had wanted to, she wasn't willing to sleep with all the temple's dust and grime on her and she'd been bleeding. She had already dirtied up her poor bedding the last time she collapsed into it without even so much as removing her boots…
Link had put a little bit of bandaging around her upper arm to stall the bleeding and shield the small wound from infection, but her clothes were still stained with it. And torn, which she was less than pleased by since…
Another pang of hurt.
Tya didn't know how to sew.
Zelda was the seamstress.
Why did it constantly feel so hopeless? Why did it just feel like she'd never see her again, like she was already dead and they were chasing a ghost through an unknown land?
The least she could do was bathe. She felt a little better after that, and she struggled through brushing her hair both before and after she did so. It had been braided, but the water from the temple had soaked in and hadn't had the chance to dry with the tightness of the strands and the thickness of it all. It was a hassle to brush out, but it could have been far worse had she not tied up as she did. Kept back the worst of the knotting.
It felt better to be clean and to be in new clothes. She'd put a fresh bandage on her arm and she'd cleaned up the cut on her cheek as she tried to dry off a little. After putting on warm, clean clothes, she didn't really care about waiting to be completely dry before she went to bed. Her pillows would be damp and her hair would be a mess, but she was too tired to think about the future of her appearance or the fact that she once again hadn't eaten.
She dreamt of the temple. It wasn't anything special, not like some storybook metaphor for things to come. It was just her subconscious reeling over the oldness of it all. The beauty of something ancient and manmade being reclaimed by the wilderness around it. And Corrdrin. Corrdrin was there too.
When Tya had first woken up, it was dark out. She wasn't sure if it was dark as in dawn or dark as in dusk, but she had really just grimaced at her window and gone back to sleep. The second time, she finally pulled herself from bed. It wasn't entirely at her own will, but as she readjusted and tried to go back, her stomach full-heartedly protested any further procrastination and she finally got up.
Her hair did look terrible.
Her bangs dried wrong and the subtle waves she usually had were all in disarray leaving it to look far frizzier than it should. Brushing it only served to further puff it out, and she eventually just huffed, gathered it into as neat a bun as she could get, and tied it back out of her way.
She made her way to the kitchen as she poked absently at the bandaging around her arm, only taking notice as she was made to wince by the effort. The thought of cooking was exhausting, but she wasn't about to eat the two-day-old rice Link hadn't fully cleaned up.
The scabs on her palms made cleaning up the kitchen uncomfortable, but she took advantage of her small burst of motivation nonetheless. It was rare enough that if she didn't act on it then, she wouldn't for another week.
By the time she was done and actually ready to make something, she had the answer to what time it was because the sun was up again. Barely, but it was. At that point, she let out a huff of displeasure and decided she was just going to grab something when she went out. It was better than bothering with something she didn't entirely want to do anyway.
Again, Tya retreated to her room to gather up all of her dirty clothes, which she wasn't entirely sure what to do with at first. She supposed she'd still clean them and just see if Zelda could sew the holes up when she returned, but she didn't really have any desire to do laundry right then either, even if it was pretty much prime time to do it. She decided it could wait a bit longer, and as she moved to set them aside in a more sightly pile, she was granted another reminder as the thud of something small hit the rug beneath her feet.
She set her clothes down and bent to pick up the dirty broach Link had uncovered whilst in the temple. It was still caked with dirt and grime despite his best effort to clean it off, so after a second's hesitation, she decided to work on it a little more.
While water was enough to get a good bit of the caked-on muck, it didn't help the fact that it was a tarnished, faded old thing. Still, she adored it just the same, and as she leaned on the counter, her elbows propping herself in front of her mirror, she examined it more closely.
Some of the details had long since been worn away as had any color on it, and there was still plenty of dirt to be carved out of all of the remaining crevices. The back was broken but there were rusted hooks to indicate that it had at one point held a latch. Lightly tracing the smoothed-out edges of it, she decided that, when she went to go get something to eat, she'd also see if anyone in the bazaar was equipped to clean it up and maybe fix it for her.
Going out to be seen in public sounded exhausting. Absolutely dreadful, if she was being entirely honest. But food hadn't been her only priority, and neither had the broach. In all honesty, she'd felt guilty about the fact that she hadn't given any sort of notice that she was suddenly not going to be coming into work. While she knew that her job was simply one of convenience for the people there and that it was something that could be done without her, it still felt bad to have just not shown up. Beyond that, she hadn't been able to stop thinking about Zel's bird. She felt so bad about the fact that she'd not gone to find her, and she wondered if anyone else had. Or if anyone even knew Zel was missing at all.
She was popular enough around town that Tya thought people might notice her absence. Would Pipit have been the type to spread the word about anything odd? Knowing Groose, he definitely would have been, but he hadn't been present when she'd gotten Link back to the academy. Did he know?
Knowing him, he probably kept tabs on Zelda's whereabouts too much for him to not have noticed this extent of time without her.
A little bit after the sun had risen, when she knew the bazaar would be just setting up, she dressed once again. With what little motivation she had exhausted from cleaning up the kitchen, she had elected to lay back down just to give the city in the sky time to wake up, but she knew that if she didn't pry herself from the comfort of her bed rather quickly, she'd be there all day.
Skyloft's coolness had always been something she tried to evade with thick clothing and today was no different. It felt nice to have a new set of clothes on that she hopefully wouldn't be staining with blood or mushroom water any time soon. After she'd spent a pretty excessive amount of time trying to make her hair look even remotely presentable and examining the red cut on her cheek, she started toward the door only to pause in her steps. There was a moment of hesitation before she turned back to her bed, and after a second of tossing her blankets about, she pulled a long length of red fabric from the mix.
Tya buried her face against the scarf.
It had been a gift from her father, one she wore often, especially in her younger years. At some point, she'd just started to not remove it, and it had become somewhat of a security blanket to her when it came off naturally in her sleep.
She never would have risked ruining it whilst on the surface, but now, while she was home, she wrapped it around her neck and tucked in the edge, absently fingering a small bit of the floral black lace design before dropping her hand altogether. With that, she finally set out.
It was still early enough in the day that few people were up and moving about Skyloft. The creatures of the night had gone to bed some time ago, leaving the streets relatively safe to walk, but there was still a sky knight or two patrolling just to be sure. Along her way, she slowed on the bridge not far from her home and flashed a small smile to Mallara, a face familiar to her mostly from her childhood. She lived just a short way from her, and, from what she could remember, she had acted toward her mother, almost like Zelda had toward her.
Tiana wasn't much different than Tya. Had that been something said to her in her younger years, she likely would have thrown someone off Skyloft, but she'd noticed it more and more since her passing. Mallara's personality was far different from Zelda's, but she had enough determined friendliness in her to consistently be around inviting Tiana out to do things. Tiana had had far less of a filter than Tya, but it never seemed to bother Mallara like it would have Zel. Eventually, both Mallara and Cain had coaxed Tiana into occasionally going out with her and Goselle. Occasionally Greba and even Dova, when Dova would leave the island farm she lived on to come to the mainland.
"Haven't seen you out much," Mallara said, plopping a basket of clothes for the wash on the bridge's railing as she looked back to Tya. Her features were a comfort that made Tya's heart ache with nostalgia. "Are you doing okay?"
The genuine concern in her tone left that guilt to rear its head again as Tya lied and said "I'm fine." So much so that it actually broke her down, slumping her shoulders some. "...I assume you know what's happened?"
Mallara nodded solemnly.
She was a gossip at heart, Tya knew. And with Pipit being a senior knight, she likely would have been among the first to hear that Zel was missing, if Pipit told anyone.
It seemed to go without saying that her absence hurt, though Tya somewhat wished she would have had the moment to just voice that pain. Even when it stopped like a physical lump in her throat, she appreciated it when Mallara continued on to say "if you need anything, you know where to come find me."
Tya nodded this time. She tried another smile but it was forced. She hoped it didn't show, and she hoped that there wouldn't be much more socialization to be done, especially in the same vein as that. It had been so brief, and yet that alone had left her wanting to run back home.
As badly as she wanted to retreat, Tya trudged on. The only other person around the bazaar was Peatrice, whom Tya knew wasn't much for socializing either. Still, she kept a good distance just in case.
It was almost immediately upon her entering that all hopes of avoiding further confrontation were dashed. Bertie, from his perch only feet away, had hummed with some sort of surprise upon seeing her, and while that would have been something she could take, Luv had taken notice of her husband's sudden intrigue.
"Nice to see you haven't forgotten about us," she called, her hands setting on her hips. It wasn't an accusation, Tya could tell. There was something lighthearted beneath the sternness with which Luv naturally spoke.
"No," Tya said, moving to the potion stand and needlessly eying the open vats in which their concoctions swirled. "I haven't forgotten." She touched a finger to the plaques that detailed the contents of each, and let out a small sigh. "I know I should have let you all know I wouldn't be coming in."
"You should have," Luv agreed. Tya's shame didn't at all prompt the woman to drop her hard gaze. "But don't take that to mean we're not sympathetic. Don't think anyone here is going to bug you too much on being absent to stock their shelves."
From her side, Bertie muttered something like "Rupin might" but Luv dismissed it. And Tya did too, for the most part. She couldn't help but smile just a little at the truth of it.
"You come in for something in particular?" Luv asked, her dark eyes flickering to the cut across her cheek. "I've got something that can heal that right up for you."
Absently, Tya raised a hand to touch her fingertips just beneath the cut, and she shook her head. "No, thank you. It's nothing that requires that much attention."
Her lips then pursed as she considered buying a bit of the health potion she sold regardless. She was relatively sure that Link had some on hand, but this felt like one of those things that having more of wouldn't really hurt. Still, she disengaged from Luv's stand with a small wave, putting herself back on track to tend to the first activity on her short list: food.
Piper's breakfast was wonderfully hot and the bread was so fresh that Tya had had half a mind to buy solely that and nothing else. She'd endured another small conversation regarding her absence, but fortunately a batch of biscuits had called the cook's attention and kept it from getting unbearably far.
As she ate, Tya found herself once again considering the words left behind by Hylia. Excited as she was by the things surrounding them, the fact of the matter was still that these storybook circumstances were real life. She hadn't thought about it until recently, that she only could have dreamt about finding such wondrous things. As it stood, she would have preferred them to remain dreams where she could get away from them at any time…
The goddess' words said that that spring was one of two. That the Spirit Maiden had to follow her own path to purify herself in both. That meant that there was more to do, and they'd been woefully unprepared for the first of it. She didn't have a lot of money to spare, but buying supplies was probably something she should use it on.
Should she even be considering going to wherever this path led Link next?
Only now that she was thinking back on it did any of their trek through the temple seem so amazing. In the moment of doing it, all she could do was sit back and be completely useless. Deadweight with constant anxiety.
She pulled the broach from her pocket and thumbed the tarnished surface thoughtfully. Under any other circumstance, she would have adored every second of the things she'd seen.
And Link had made it clear that he wanted company in his endeavors.
Still… Was she strong enough to handle doing these things? Both physically and mentally?
She finished off her breakfast and returned the dishes to Piper. Whether she went with or not, the supplies would be put to good use with Link. So she browsed among the stands, picking at the various things she could find use for. Eventually, she circled back around to the entrance which she'd come in.
"Quite the haul," Luv said, leaning with both hands on her counter to get a better look at the crate of various goods Tya had bought. "What do you need all that for?"
Tya offered a closed smile, hoping against hope that her detachment might deter Luv from seeking out an answer. When one of the woman's eyebrows quirked upward, Tya knew she hadn't succeeded. Unsure of how much she should say, she hesitated for a second. It seemed like there was a kink in the line of information, and she felt like it wasn't her place to straighten it all out for the townsfolk.
"It's not for me," Tya finally answered, which only further seemed to intrigue Luv. She knew the questions were soon to come, so before Luv could get to them, Tya said "do you have lantern oil? And…" she tapped the edge of the glass vat containing the vibrant red 'health potion'. "I will actually take some of this. A full bottle, if you don't mind."
"You don't need a full bottle for a little scratch like that," Luv assured with a shake of her head.
And again, Tya said "It's not for me."
Luv's suspicion only deepened.
Tya was reeling to try and find her next dismissive explanation when a hand against her upper back startled her almost into dropping all the goods she'd bought.
"Link," Luv greeted with a single nod of her head.
Tya blew out a breath of relief, practically whispering a greeting of her own as Link slipped the crate from her grasp.
"Hey," he replied to both of them, the smile on his lips far more genuine than her own had been when she'd offered it.
"I was-" Tya motioned to the potions. "...Just buying some stuff. I assumed it might help to have something on hand to heal up with?"
As she said this, Luv went about collecting the things she'd asked for, content in the answers she'd gathered through the context clues provided to her. She filled a bottle to the brim with the health potion and then stopped it, leaning forward to put it into the crate Link now held. She did the same for lantern oil.
Tya held out the payment for both, pausing as she once again caught sight of Link's eyes on her hands. His attention seemed more skeptical and intrigued this time, at least from what she could tell in the split second she'd noticed him looking. Soon enough it was washed away by that friendly smile of his as he thanked Luv, and then stepped back so they wouldn't be in anyone else's way should they want to buy something.
He held the crate against his abdomen, sifting through the things in it to see what she already had. "You didn't have to- have to pay for all've it."
"I don't mind."
Another moment of him looking through everything ended in him smiling brightly. "Y'know, I was coming to get things. Than-Thank you."
Weak praise, and yet she couldn't help but swell with a little pride that she'd done well. That pride was swept away by the way he softened a second after, his gaze falling once more to her hands.
"Why do we need lan-lanter-lantern oil?"
Tya stared at him for a moment, then dropped her own attention to her worn-out palms. One rested against her stomach and she held the other up, looking too intently at the scabs that had formed.
"...I don't want to talk about that," she said. "Not here, at least."
Link looked at her with curiosity in his blue eyes, but he didn't push. Instead, he offered another smile and accepted her request with surprising ease, asking "do you need anything else?" as a means of redirecting the subject elsewhere.
Having gotten everything she could think of and apparently, everything Link could too, at least at that moment, the pair elected to head back to her place once again. In the hour or so she'd spent shopping, Skyloft had gotten a little more lively. She and Link had to suddenly separate to either side of the bridge on their way, to avoid having their apparent haul tossed over by a little girl darting playfully after the remlit Tya knew hung out by the stream.
Mallara waved to them from the edge of the water, the suds from her laundry trickling along the current as she rinsed them one-handedly. Link, also one-handed as the other was occupied by the crate propped against his hip, greeted her similarly.
It felt so strange to Tya that life for everyone else was still cycling on like normal. Like there was no piece missing from all of them like there was for her and likely for Link as well. It wasn't a new experience, no. She'd felt it before, but less keenly than now, only because the first time, she'd essentially died too, in every sense of the word but one. Part of her hated it; the fact that they could all function without the consistent reminder in everything they did. She couldn't help but feel a sense of envy over the fact that everything was just a far-off tragedy to them, a story to be told and to be sympathetic over. That they could all sit aside and do nothing while someone so important suffered.
But even in her state of distress, her edges so worn and frayed, Tya knew that it wasn't fair to think everyone should drop everything in favor of one person. Especially if the lot of them didn't know what Zelda and Link had been mixed up in. Though it was a rarity, Zelda wasn't the first to fall through the clouds. It was one of the first things taught to children there, that the edges were dangerous. Even she had thought that it was a death you couldn't come back from, and just because she now knew that Zelda had been a special case didn't mean she could blame everyone around her…
She pressed her palm to her forehead, letting out a long sigh of near frustration before brushing back frizzed-out strands of her hair. Her already messy bun had loosened in the time it took to be out and about, and she was, at that point, kind of considering chopping all of it off just to not have to deal with it.
She would regret that immediately.
As she opened the door to her home and then stepped aside to let Link enter, she made a motion for him to set the crate down wherever. Closing it behind him, Tya once again set both of her hands over her stomach and considered herself as she watched him. She'd had quite a few thoughts in the short time she'd been awake, but now that he was here and they were able to be voiced, she couldn't really tell which ones she wanted to say and which she wanted to keep to herself.
The majority of them felt like self-doubt- like things he shouldn't be burdened with. She couldn't parse which were legitimate concerns and which were her being dramatic in her own head- all except for one.
"Link," she started, gaze absent as he had begun to rummage through everything again like he was going to start sorting it. "Do you have any word on Kella?"
He perked up with the question, nodding his head once, but he gave no verbal answer. Instead, he seemed momentarily lost in his own train of thought before he slid away from the crate altogether and motioned for Tya to come closer. "We've got a lot of stuff we need to talk about."
Tya's fingers bunched in the fabric of her sweater as if that was going to help quell the dhurning that vagueness caused in her stomach. Slow, almost reluctant, she moved to her mother's chair and lowered herself to sit on the very edge. "Do we?"
"Well, yeah," he motioned out toward her hands, still resting over her abdomen.
That didn't help to ease her fear any.
She didn't know what all the subjects were, but if that was one of them, it didn't exactly bode well for her.
Looking her over, Link's sudden attentiveness seemed to soften and he offered a smile. Even though Tya could see the genuineness of it in the light of his eyes and the gentle curve of his shoulders, it didn't ease her mind any.
"...What do you have to say about it?" She asked, directing her gaze to the floor.
"If you don't want to ta- to ta– If you don't want to talk about it, we don't- We don't have to."
"I'd like to get it over with," she said, words clipped by discomfort which made Link falter for the smallest second. He nodded once more, seeming to understand something, though what, she didn't know.
"Why are you so…" Link stalled trying to find the right word for her behavior.
Aggressive?
Defensive?
There was a lot she could think of, and in truth, she didn't know why. Was she more clear-headed now, to realize that her previous thoughts of monstrousness were ridiculous? Or was it something else? Was she simply emboldened by the possibility of fear she'd seen in his wariness before?
She swallowed down a pang of newer guilt. The possibility of enjoying his fear outweighed the truth in the back of her mind that said that had never been the case. What-ifs clouded her judgment, as they always did, caring little for how outlandish the majority seemed to become.
Anxiety was a dark magic all its own, to make so many somethings out of nothing.
"Tya," Link said, and she flinched. Was it aggression in his tone?
Annoyance?
She could see nothing that suggested it in his expression, but she could swear she heard it.
"Why do we need to talk about it?"
"I just want to know."
"Know what ?"
"Well," Link straightened for a second, then leaned back against the couch. He stretched his arms above his head and then clasped his hands behind his neck. "First, why are you so afraid to talk?"
Tya shifted in the chair. She was uncomfortable on the edge, but the urge to run to her room wouldn't allow her to settle back into it properly. "Because it is… Abnormal? Strange- it is. Something no one else does."
"Unique," Link filled in that blank, though the context of the word felt wrong. Unique felt positive, and she couldn't bring herself to find any of that in herself. She said nothing. Her hands dropped to her lap, one rested over the other, and Link watched them. They were silent for a moment before Link said thoughtfully "You make a lot of problems for yourself."
She tensed.
It didn't sound accusatory, nor did his expression hold any distaste. It only spoke of curiosity. Like he'd noticed it about her but held no true opinion. Still, she couldn't find a context in her mind where it didn't sound demeaning to point it out. Tactless.
Again, she said nothing.
He didn't at all understand her coldness, but whether or not he cared, he didn't show it. He carried on to take another deep breath. "They did find Kella," he said. "Groose did."
At once, her shoulders loosened and she looked at him again. Only a little bit of the aforementioned coolness still lingering. "Groose found her?"
Link nodded. "She's with Henrietta."
Her fingers tapped nervously against the back of her other hand. She was glad to hear that Zelda's bird was okay. Or that she was, at the very least, in good hands. Given that Link didn't seem distraught, she could assume she had been found alive. He didn't seem the type to keep that part secret just because she was being unfriendly.
In the silence that came after, where Tya shifted with discomfort yet again, Link sighed. He slid off the couch, moving across the floor to lower next to her knees. He plopped to sit with his back against the chair, shoulder against her thigh. Peering up at her from this spot, he simply said "Talk to me".
Her head tilted, eyes almost pleading for him to not say such a thing. The damage had been done, though.
What was she supposed to say?
Every single conclusion she had in her head was something she'd made up entirely based on…
Well.
Nothing. She had no idea why she had the ability she had. Her mother hadn't either, her mother had only known that it was a dangerous thing to hold. Something to be kept quiet, something to learn only to silence.
She'd never cared if she was a monster. That fear was something fresh and new and it was further aided by the fact that, if she thought about it, she realized it wasn't a matter of being a monster that bothered her. If she was left alone, she would be fine with that. She would be fine to live in solitude as the monster she thought she could be. What she cared about, was the possibility that this thing in her blood had been the cause of any of this, and though on some level she knew how wildly far-fetched that was, anxiety had so deeply rooted itself in her, that she could no longer think of anything else.
Even now with Ghirahim's admission that he had been the one to do all of this, she somehow feared it was her fault. That she had, with her presence and her being, helped him lure Zelda. It was an idea that had absolutely no backing, but that was just the kind of outlandish shit she'd come up with.
It was a complete mess.
She was a complete mess; everything in her was so jumbled and tangled with both facts and ridiculous assumptions, she couldn't tell the difference anymore.
If she could just. Sort out her feelings…
Both of her hands drew up, her scabbed palms pressing to her eyes as she tried to quell the churning of her mind long enough to figure out a place to start.
She felt Link's hand rest against her knee; a gesture to comfort, yet she felt the need to flinch away. She didn't.
Her hands fell again, resting in her lap, balled and pulled against herself. "I am not supposed to talk about it," she finally muttered. The inquisitive look that Link gave her after told her she sounded a little unhinged whispering it as she did. Like she thought there'd still be some physical consequence of the action as there had been with her mother. "My mom said not to talk about it."
At that, his curiosity seemed to shift to something else. Sympathy? Annoyance? Those two things were very different. But the space his expression had hollowed out in her mind left it open to be molded and picked apart by irrationality.
"You can tell me," he said. He turned and sat cross-legged in front of her. He put a finger to his lips, saying he'd keep it quiet, but that didn't ease the inherent fear.
Tya rubbed at her wrists as her scars ached with memories of razors on skin. Her own doing, yes, but not completely. Some had been her mother.
She understood why, but it still hurt to remember.
"I can't."
Link's lips pursed. Though he visibly deflated, he nodded his head once again. Gently, he reached forward, his arms set along her knees, and he touched one of her hands. Again, she had the urge to pull away, but she didn't. She allowed him to pull free one of her hands and face her palm up.
"Will you use it to help?"
No.
No, she wouldn't.
She wasn't supposed to use it at all. Ever. That was the intention of bleeding it out- spilling the magic from her veins to give her so little to work with that there'd be nothing to use.
Her mother had cautioned against ever going that far, and had told her only to bleed a certain amount to calm it so it would be less likely to burst. Both literally and metaphorically. But she had considered what would happen if she bled herself dry. She'd always been too afraid to try after her parents died. It felt like her father could watch it all happen and she knew it would destroy him to be able to do nothing, even if it meant she'd see him again if she succeeded. She had done it once, when Tiana was still around. She'd seen the contemplation in her mother's eyes. Whether or not it would be better to allow it.
Again, Tya rubbed her wrist. The left one, on which there was a long scar from her palm almost to her elbow.
"I'm not supposed to," she said. "I am sorry that I did. It was... Instinctive." And it had felt good. Beneath the fear of it. Beneath the deeply embedded lessons her mother had ingrained in her.
She'd not noticed that, when he pulled her arm, her sleeve caught against her skirt and slunk upward a bit, uncovering the very scar that burned with the recollection of its origin. Link's fingers had inched it up a bit more to look in the moments she had been too distracted.
She turned her wrist to flatten against her leg so he could no longer see.
He didn't ask questions.
"I won't make you," he assured her, then again, his lips pursed. "But maybe a knife?"
"A knife?"
"Yeah," he withdrew, holding his shins as he rocked back needlessly. "For defense."
That made sense.
"I have no idea where to get a knife."
"I can try."
The academy didn't really allow people just to take weapons from their already meager armory, but he did say try . Honestly, she should have considered some armor as well, but she no longer had the energy to bring that up. Or bring up anything for that matter. The only conscious worry plaguing her mind that she knew to be one worth the time had been put to rest. She was glad to know that Kella had been taken to the town's ornithologist, but now she felt a little bit like she might vomit with the dredging up of all the things she shouldn't do.
For once, her mind was silent. Practically overheated and stalled with the effort of worrying about all these nonsensical things.
She really did make a lot of problems for herself.
"We should get things together…" she rubbed her brow and closed her eyes, wishing to the goddess she could just reset her stupid dysfunctional mind and shut the fuck up. "...I'm sorry."
"It's okay," he replied far too quickly. "Yo-you don't have-don't have to tell me anythi-anything."
She knew that much. It was just that she kind of wanted to. It felt like he should know; like he was supposed to know. There was something comfortable about the thought, but it was distant. Old. Hidden beneath years and years of detritus.
"But just so you know," he continued. "It's neat."
Her brow arched. "Neat?"
"Neat."
"...Thank you?"
He had to be blessed by Hylia. The way his smile lit up a room had to be a gift from the Goddess.
Her mind was given little chance to ease itself, though it was easy to guess it likely wouldn't have even if she had the time. Tya sniffled, reigning in her own emotion at least outwardly, so she could get up and do just as she suggested, when there was a knock on her door. A twinge of panic left her whipping to look toward it.
That conversation had taken her even farther from any desire to socialize, and the dread of having to do so was clear enough in the way she clutched the arm of her mother's chair.
"Do you want me to…?" Link's offer trailed off as he stood, making a small motion out toward the door just a short distance from them both.
Tya closed her eyes tight before waving her hands. "Would you mind? I need a moment- you can just… Tell whoever that I am busy and they can come back another time."
He nodded, stepping back as she stood and retreated to her bedroom with more haste than what was warranted for such a trivial thing. But Goddess, she was overwhelmed. At no point had Tya ever possessed the patience to talk to people and it felt like her short shopping trip and the various questions had exhausted the meager supply for the next year.
She heard the sound of a woman's voice when her front door opened. Familiar and yet unfamiliar, but her prior conversation with Mallara had made it easier to place. Goselle. From her room, behind a closed door, Tya couldn't make out what was being said, but she also didn't try to. Relinquished of her responsibility to entertain a possible guest, she moved back around the edge of her bed and crawled in. She had no intention of staying there, just lying down until Goselle was done, but even as she heard the door close and the room go quiet, she made no effort to get up. Instead, she just lied there wondering why she didn't feel the same obligation to Link that she did any other guest. Was that rude? He hadn't seemed to mind, he'd even gone about using her kitchen- something she'd never be able to do the first time she had been in someone else's house. What if she used something she wasn't supposed to use?
Apparently, he had carved himself out a little space as a friend in record time, which was probably why she also didn't much mind when he knocked on her bedroom door. With her permission granted, he inched it open just to make sure it was okay, and then when he found that it truly was, he entered with a plate in hand.
"She made you lunch," he said, offering the plate out. In all honesty, she wasn't hungry, but she did still lean to see the pleasant little helping of pinwheels lined along a contained sauce.
"That's…" Tya sat up and looked up at him. "That's so sweet."
He brightened, which to her seemed strange because it wasn't like it had been his doing.
"I am not hungry at the moment," she said. "You can have it if you'd like. Otherwise, we can store it for later."
Link considered the plate for a second it seemed, but ultimately shook his head. He retreated for a moment, presumably to store the lunch for later, and when he returned, he sat on the edge of the bed. Tya scooted over to make room, propping herself up against her headboard.
"Feeling okay?" He asked.
Tya frowned, exaggerating the expression as her answer, which seemed out of place when she generally kept herself somewhat reserved. Link was amused regardless.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be," Tya waved a hand. "It's not your fault."
"I asked questions," he motioned toward her hands again and Tya ignored the surge of discomfort that came from that acknowledgment.
Despite it, she said "it's okay." It was reasonable to have questions. She still had a million, she just had no way to find the answers anymore. There were stories all over the place that had people with power like her own. For the most part, they were just that, though; stories. There were some books that said during the days before Skyloft's creation, people practiced magic of all sorts, but even that was limited, and the information on it, even more so. Being an avid reader, it wouldn't have been strange for her to seek more, but she'd always been afraid that if she started doing so, someone might catch on.
Another unfounded fear.
Why would they?
And, honestly, why would knowing of her abilities even be an issue if they did?
She didn't know.
She just knew her mother was adamant that it was never used, and that meant it had to be. Why else would Tiana have been so overbearing and fearful of it?
This was way too much thinking, especially on that .
Tya slid down further in the bed, groaning as she nestled into her pillows. "...Would it be a problem if I took a nap?"
Link shifted to look back at her and shook his head. "No," he answered. "I can get things."
With a little hum, Tya readjusted again. He'd just said he was going to get up, and yet she curled against his side, head rested at his thigh. Curiously, he tilted his head at her, and she simply said "I'm not angry with you."
Again, he smiled. He dropped a hand to ruffle her hair like it hadn't already been through enough, then stood and left to return to the task at hand.
"Don't let me sleep long," she called.
"I won't," Link assured from her living room.
