Chapter Five
The guests of the Wetland Stable took many bets that morning - the hottest pool was the status of the blonde woman and the bleeding man they dragged in last night. She was not his girl, according to the most chronic of bachelors. She must be a relative - of course, the better-looking cousin of the two.
Missus Lawdon, however, knew better. Call it woman's intuition - a superpower her husband dreaded. And although she had promised him not to snoop around the hot young duo, nothing stopped her from making an estimated guess and turning it into a profit.
She watched Lawdon leave for his usual morning walk, umbrella in tow, and smirked, sliding a purple rupee onto the table, "Newlyweds."
"That ain't betting money, Leekah!?"'
"You bet it is! Saved for the perfect occasion." She winked, proudly belly-bumping the table on her way out, "Now, ante up, everyone."
Groans of the guests fell behind her as she skipped to the front desk where she could study the mysterious duo in secret. They hadn't moved all night – the lad in the bed; and the young lady anxiously waiting in the chair beside him, packing and unpacking his things. Relatives? - Nah! Not unless the girl was in love with her cousin with all the doting, care-taking, and doe-eyes. Poor boy – his face was a permanent tomato this morning when he had woken to her pretty face.
"Morning, Leekah!" She heard behind her – a muffled voice followed by fervent tapping on the window. She rolled her eyes, pushing open the rain-rinsed shutters.
"Hiya, Jo. Get your horse settled and come in."
"That how you greet your customers?" He shivered, holding an umbrella over his head while his stead braced the miserable downpour.
"Not the well-paying ones! Will it be another straw bed?"
"Can't be down on my luck?"
"Look, half of you are bonafide Wilds-Trash, and don't call it treasure hunting. Why not get a real job and clean my inn, yeah?"
"You're the finest treasure in the wilds, Leekah." He winked, "Oh my, how you're coming along!"
"Almost six months - quit the sweet talk and get your horse situated."
"But there's a mare in my usual stall."
"Ah - we have some newcomers. Came in all teary and bloody from the fields yesterday."
'The fields? - in this weather? Who are they?"
"The center of today's bets – all bachelors are holding out hopes she's single, but yer ole Leekah knows better. But come on in! You know the drill, hot tea on the kettle! Dry towels, on the beds.
"But the stall?"
"Malayna, Jo, pick another! - there's plenty to go around!"
The man sauntered off, leaving Leekah alone to do her snooping. She bunny-hopped to the woman's dress drying on the beams above and fingered the fabric. Sleek. Satin. White – of course, this was a wedding dress. She was a bride. They were newlyweds, and the expensiveness of the gown, coupled with that one-thousand-rupees-of-a-message-to-the-Sheikah, shaped-out an even grander story!
Surely, blondie was a child of wealth, and where did wealthy children come from in this gods-forsaken land? Hateno – where all the rich Hylians hid comfortably behind the fortified walls of the Fort. What pompous devils, locking everyone out so they could live freely without monsters, gangs, and thieves. But, not little-blonde-lassy! Despite being the heir to her stuffy family's luxurious estate, she possessed the heart of the Wilds, having the courage to fall in love with a man beneath her standing and flee!– perhaps he had been a farmhand. No, she corrected, a bodyguard! – one who helped her escape her own wedding to a fat, wealthy landlord, whisking her away to the Sheikah Sanctuary to be married by one of them holy persons. But such a happy ending was cut short when they crossed the plains for the Hebra pass the next day! - a brood of monsters with malice-dipped spears thrash his side, leading up to Lawdon's heroic surgery!
What a tale! - Leekah grabbed her parchment and penned their story in a letter to her sister.
Author's Note: a fan-fiction in a fan-fiction