Miss Halley sighed and circled around to their other side. "Nayru help this child… didn't your parents teach you anything?"
Link's face burned as they frowned down at the floor. Their father had taught them how to behave in many different places - but the rules of the goron council or the zora court made sense to them. Rules about always finishing the food you've been given and respecting the water you all shared, those were rules about being kind. These seemed like rules meant to be unkind to Link, more than they were meant to be kind to others.
Miss Halley's hands corrected each element of their posture as she listed them, "Chin up, shoulders back, spine straight, wrists crossed at your back."
Taking some initiative and clicking their heels together with their toes pointed out finally got her to smile.
"Better. Now, you must learn to keep that posture as you move. Watch me."
Miss Halley moved across the polished hardwood with grace. It's more rigid than her usual posture, but Link wasn't sure what they should be emulating, since her skirts made it hard to tell what she was doing with her feet. They picked up the slack of their tunic.
When Halley turned back, she scoffed, gently swatting their hands and smoothing the fabric back down, "No, you don't lift that."
She sighed again, gathering up her skirt so they could see to her knees. "This is absolutely not proper and you will not tell anyone I did this, but I'll do it once because I am a good teacher."
Halley demonstrated the posture for them once more. Much easier to copy and Link made a marked improvement. But inevitably, Halley stopped them again after a few passes.
"No, no," she jammed the toe of her shoe against the outer edge of theirs, prompting them to turn it inward, "And keep your knees up. If you don't learn it the right way the first time, it'll be harder to fix later."
Link turned their head up to look her in the eye with a miserable kind of confusion. "Mama said Daddy learned this but learning to ride horses ruined it anyway. So why do it? I'm gonna ride horses."
Halley returned the look with her own face blank, lips drawn into a straight line.
"You know what… get some fresh air." She dug into one of her skirt's pockets and produced a leather pouch the size of her fist. "Pick up my order from the alchemist, I'll need a square of chocolate, and auntie Levenfeld has been wanting some polish for her flute. Can you remember that?"
Link was nodding before she had even finished, before they had even committed the task to memory, eyes alight as she dropped the pouch into their waiting hands.
"Good. You can use whatever's left however you like," She paused, then leveled a finger at them and added, "And listen, the chocolate is a need. If you don't ask questions you can have some."
They lit up all the brighter, giggling as they tied the pouch to their belt. It hung down far enough to brush their knee. As soon as Halley dismissed them they started off at a run, the little crystals clattering against one another.
—
Wiggling free from the tangle of busy-adult legs, Link finally escaped the market square, and free from their errand. Free as well to grab themself a treat before heading home. The smell of fresh bread led them to a stand on the corner leading off to a side street, where they grabbed themself a fluffy bread roll stuffed with honey and butter. Not wanting to be jostled with such a prize, they continued down the side street; they had enough wit to intuit where they could cut through to get where they needed to go.
Shops gave way to houses, clustered together with laundry lines hanging over the cobbled paths. Strips of grass and potted flowers thrived in the sun, despite the cluttered atmosphere. At the end of the long, arching rows of houses was a small park, a refuge of green among the grey, with the arch continuing on the far side. By then Link's hands were sticky, but empty. They stuck and unstuck their thumb and forefinger just to feel the faint pull. Next to the last house, slipping in-between it and the decorative fence around the park, Link turned to cross southward and meet up with the main road.
Before they reached the last corner of the fence, their ear twitched. Something rustled in the nearby brush. And again. Their gaze followed the swivel of their ear to the sound. A firefly zipped among the leaves and flowers. Link tilted their head and furrowed their brow.
Laying their bag in the tall grass, they crouched down and moved closer. Burs grabbed onto the knees of their pants and the hem of their tunic. The light dipped into a bush, becoming only faint flickers in the leaves. As quiet as they knew how, Link crept ever closer.
As soon as their hands closed around it, a sound like a tiny bell rung out, and an even tinier voice cried in alarm. Link gasped and fell back, releasing the little light. Then, in a plume of sparkling dust and leaves, something else appeared before them; a korok, its berry branch swinging dangerously close to their face in an attempt to menace them.
The fairy zipped around her friend to get up in Link's face, "What's the big idea?!"
Link waved their hands frantically, pressing their lips together and humming in distress. Words failed them, so they grasped at one of the few signs they knew, pressing their fist to their chest in rapid 'sorry's.
She backed off a bit and the korok lowered its stick. Soon she sighed and said, "Oh, alright, fine, calm down, you're forgiven."
They shifted forward onto their hands and knees to get a closer look - it was all they had wanted in the first place. She backed off again, but not out of arm's reach. This was not the first fairy Link had seen, but they never ceased to be fascinating. If there was some sort of body inside the light, they couldn't see it, not even where the joints of the wings should be.
The korok took a few jingling steps and leaned forward, tilting side to side to mirror Link's curious stance. Left, right, left, until Link sat back. The mimicry made them giggle, especially when it flopped down too. They held out their palm and the korok held out its nubby arm. When Link touched their thumb to it, they could feel tiny, wiggly fingers, like bug legs.
Suddenly it spoke, "You shouldn't just grab people!" and bopped Link on the forehead with its berry branch. Link gasped and both sprite and fairy laughed. The korok poofed away in another puff of leaves and dust.
Link was on their feet in a flash, chasing after the fae, even if they didn't know why. They only just remembered to pick up their bag before they were out of the park and back onto the main road. Weaving between people and carts until they crested the swell of traffic and came out the other side, tripping on the step off the road and landing on the korok.
The korok squirmed all their limbs and whined, "Noooo," then suddenly stopped, poofing away, which dumped Link onto the grass, "Okay, my turn!"
A moment's confused pause, and then their ears stood on end and Link scrabbled to their feet. They stayed off the street this time, under bushes over branches, stumbling around garden statues. The fairy came up in their periphery, ready to swerve and bop them, but Link just barely hopped away.
Play made the way home that much shorter. Too soon they were back on the Sunderland's property, stopping with their hands on their knees to catch their breath. The fairy was going too fast and crashed into their back, laughing as she spiraled to the ground, "Got you!"
When the korok caught up too, it ran past Link, skidding on its tiny feet and ending up on its face.
The fairy picked herself up and started saying something, when she interrupted herself by chiming several times, her light flashing red. Before Link could see what had alarmed her so, the korok was bowling them over into the brush.
"Stay low!" She whispered. She stayed close to Link's face for a few moments, keeping them from sitting up. Shivering and jingling softly until whatever it was had passed. "Ohh, no! I didn't realize where we were! We've got to go, you have to stay away from this house!"
Once they were allowed to sit up they looked out, but couldn't see anything. They couldn't think of what to say beside, "But I live here."
The fairy flashed through several colors of distress and fluttered her wings so fast she lost altitude. "No no no, you can't! Children aren't supposed to live here anymore!"
Link tilted their head, eyebrows furrowed.
She paced mid-air while the korok shook. Whatever she was mulling over, she didn't come up with much of an answer, "Please, please just trust me! I can't really explain it to you."
They crawled out of the bush, got to their feet and dusted themself off. "I don't have anywhere else to go…"
"But-!" She flitted up next to their face again, shifting between pink and red like a heartbeat. The two looked at each other for an uncomfortable moment. When Link turned to go, she shot forward and grabbed their sleeve, "Please just be careful!"
Link responded with a single, firm nod.
They picked up their shopping from where they dropped it. Behind their back, slowly fading as they jogged toward the house, the fairy whispered harshly to her companion, "Come on, Tula, we have to do something!"
—
Sweat beaded their brow from the heat of the water and their knuckles were scratched from where they had slipped on the washboard. From under the door, they could hear the faint sounds of cutlery and chatter. At least the potent soaps overwhelmed the smell of food, so they weren't as hungry as they could be.
Halley knelt down and whipped a clean cloth from her belt, blotting the sweat from their forehead. "Well, I'll bring you a plate in a little bit, anyway… I need to make my appearance. Don't go nicking any cookies before I get back." Then she straightened and gathered her skirts without another word.
For a time there's just the sounds of sloshing water and clinking pots.
But then, something else. They didn't pick up their head, but their ear swiveled to better listen as someone new entered the kitchen - shoes with a raised heel, from the sound of it, like the nobility wore.
The sound stopped in front of them and did not start again, for long enough that they were wary when they looked up, since whoever it was must have been waiting for their attention.
The strange man from upstairs was looking down his nose at them, smiling, his arms poised behind his back. Harnel tsked gently. "Poor thing." He dipped into his pocket and handed them a small, round candy, then pressed a finger to his lips conspiratorially. Link smiled and mirrored the gesture.
Only then did he continue, disappearing into the pantry.
He passed back by without ever making it to the dinning hall. Link caught a glimpse of a long, dark bottle as he went.
When at last the final pot was put aside and the last rag hung up to dry, Link flopped onto their bottom with a sigh. They smiled when they opened their eyes, though, as Halley was holding their plate out to them, her other hand supporting her chin.
"If you'd just been on time, neither of us would be here right now." Halley grumbled. Link barely glanced up at her as they dug in. Then a bit lower, with the heel of her palm squished against her cheek, "Of course, he could always just hire more staff, too."
Link glanced at her again but said nothing. The persistent, stiff quiet that pervades late evening and candle-lit spaces started to gather around. Except, of course, for the sound of Link eating, which soon had Halley's lip curling. She scooted forward on her bucket, scraping the wooden floor, and leaning in closer to Link.
"Just what sort of family do you come from, anyway? I'd never expect a kid with your manners to also have the gall to be late."
They shifted uncomfortably and tried to sit a little nicer - as much as one could on the floor, anyway. "Sorry, miss, I was-"
She waved her hand, "Ahh, I don't care to hear any excuses. Just stop it."
"Yes…" Link ceded, but her smile still took a mean edge. They finished their plate slowly, unsure what it meant.
"Besides, you don't need me to punish you. You know what happens to children who loiter and laze about." She took their plate and set it aside for the morning wash, then reached up to snuff one of the lights. The remaining candle painted every curve and crevice of Halley's face in sharp, amber shapes. "The hands of death drop from above to drag idle children below."
Her smile split to a grin, but she couldn't keep it up; she leaned back and laughed before finally rising and taking up the candle.
Halley pulled them off the floor and ushered them toward the door. "Come on, off to bed."
~ I fretted over cutting the section with the fae so much and I'm still not 100%. But I decided to keep it because,
A. It *does* have thematic relevance. It's just the bit I worry most about people not getting why it's relevant.
B. Christ does this thing need some levity. Even if it is front-loaded.
It's all downhill from here, kids, our key players are all in place. Get ready to cringe down in your seats.
*Petty bitch note: Nintendo will pry Nayru, Din and Farore from my cold dead hands. I resent the shift to monotheism and I don't apologize for it.