Link didn't speak much during breakfast. He'd come back shortly after his escapade into the woods. He wouldn't let pointless bouts of melancholy get in the way of his responsibilities. Paya had to eat, and it was negligent to leave her alone for too long anyways. He had cursed himself for leaving her in harm's reach. Ganon might've been carried off with the wind, but common cruelty hadn't. That much was obvious after the escapade from the day before.

Paya didn't pry too much. Although he caught her stares, he appreciated that she didn't ask why he was all but silent during their meal. He wasn't much of a talker anyways.

He was finishing up his last few bites when she interrupted his brooding. "Do you mind if we… break up the riding today?" She asked. Her voice was laced with cautiousness. "I'm not really used to it, and my legs are really…"

"Sore," he concluded with a slow nod. "Yeah, of course." He slid the Sheikah Slate off his belt and opened his map. His steely blue eyes traced the screen. "The next stable is a while away. About a day's ride… Why don't we stay here today?"

"Surely not!" She replied immediately. Her entire body noticeably stiffened. "I won't slow you down! We can leave and ride right there. That's just fine with me!" Any amount of confidence that she'd adorned herself in had quickly been torn away.

"No, it's fine, Paya. We can rest here for a day. I don't mind," he insisted. The look on her face compelled a sort of guilt inside him. Had he come off as so short tempered that he inspired fear? Why did he draw such anxiety out of her? Surely she wasn't like that with everyone. "We aren't in any kind of rush. It'll be nice to just enjoy the scenery. I'll go hunting. Get us some meat and more food for the road."

"Well… okay. If you say so… These mushrooms-" she poked at the food in her bowl. "How do you know what ones are safe to eat?"

"You just have to remember what ones are okay," he replied. "...I could show you. Would you be okay to walk?" Learning to forage would be a good practical skill. It wouldn't be overly arduous, and it might prevent her from becoming too bored.

"Yeah, absolutely," she replied. It was hard to trust any of her self-assessments given her overly selfless disposition, but it seemed honest enough.

He returned his empty bowl to his bag and rose to his feet. The patio outside of the stable was noisier now. It was mostly single travelers standing around, making friends out of strangers with hearty laughter and shared food. He caught slivers of conversations that whisked through the air. References to wives and grandfathers and old friends were woven through the chaotic assortment of exchanges that caught his ear. Stories and lives blossoming around him like dew drops in the dawn horizon.

He didn't notice at first when Paya stood up beside him. Had it not been for her clearing her throat, he might've become lost in the myriad of people's offhanded comments.

"There's a forest to our immediate west," he said, regaining focus. "We can go there, and I'll show you mushrooms, and I can hopefully get some game."

Paya nodded and followed him as he turned towards the direction of the woods. They passed out of the stable patio and onto the grass. It was a hot day today; the later it got, the more aggressively the sun poured its warmth down on them. The forest's coverage would be a great relief.

"Where was it that you said we were headed to again?" Paya asked. She peered at Link from the corner of her eyes.

"Tarrey Town," he replied. He watched as a bird darted across their path. Too little. Not worth shooting down.

"What's that like?"

"Well, it wasn't much of anything when I was there last," he explained. "Just a small community trying to develop into a proper town… I met the founder in Hateno, and I helped him a bit with it, but obviously I didn't have the time to do a whole lot."

"Oh, okay," she replied. "That'll be really cool to see! I'll try and help out however I can."

She was sweet. He smiled at her.

Paya followed behind Link as they made their way into the treeline. Her eyes followed every figment of motion with great enthusiasm. Every whisper of the breeze was enough to bring a bright smile onto her face. Link found himself hoping for the birds to sing so that he could see the aftermath.

As they were taken into the embrace of the trees, Link let his focus shift from the Sheikah girl to the forest floor. Around a nearby tree was an orange mushroom cluster that created a small semi-circle around the base of the trunk. He pointed at the assortment. "Hylian shrooms are the most common mushrooms in Hyrule," he said. "That's what those are. You'll find them everywhere."

"Are they edible?" Paya asked, approaching the tree. Her head of silver hair ducked down as she crouched down next to them.

"Yeah," Link replied. He followed after her and opened his satchel. "Here, you can put them in my bag… I think I see stamellas over there-" he held out a hand to their right. "Those give you a lot of energy."

Paya followed his gaze and frowned. "The mushrooms do?" she asked curiously.

"Yeah," Link said. "Lots of different mushrooms and fish have different qualities like that. There's another kind called sunshrooms- they're bright red, I'll keep an eye out for them- those help you stay warm in the cold."

"Really? Paya's eyes widened with interest. "That's so cool! I didn't know a little plant could do that."

Link felt strangely bolstered by her remark. He felt… knowledgeable. It was nice to seemingly possess a quality unrelated to his ability to wield a sword. He smiled at her. "Well, I'll show you how they all work as we find more."

"I'm looking forward to it," Paya replied. She put the Hylian shrooms into his satchel before returning to her feet. Link let himself look at her face again. She looked better, now. More at ease out in the woods. Joyful and engaged. He preferred it greatly to the anxious tenses that so easily overtook her features. When a smile stood in place of her typical anxious grimace, Link could appreciate that she was pretty. Very pretty, even.

His thoughts were interrupted by a gasp that slipped through Paya's lips. "Link, look!" her voice had dimmed down to a whisper. He followed her gaze.

A few dozen feet away was a doe. The oblivious animal grazed lazily at the lush foliage that covered the forest floor.

His initial instinct was to grab his bow. He had done it numerous times before, when hungry and desperate. But now, the impulse was quickly dismissed. The wonder that enveloped Paya's eyes wouldn't be squandered by his firing of an arrow. They didn't need the meat that badly. Time wasn't running out like it had been for 11 months.

"Isn't she beautiful?" Paya rhapsodized under her breath. The Sheikah girl took a small step forward as if to gain a better view.

"She is," he said. He'd never once considered the beauty of a deer before. Even now, his enjoyment of the animal paled in comparison to the joy he felt in witnessing Paya's reaction. The greatest landscapes in Hyrule couldn't compare to the smile that had enveloped her features.

The doe picked up its head. It looked directly at them, noticing their presence for the first time. A few moments passed, and it turned and abruptly cut through the trees away from them, leaving their line of sight.

"I love deer," Paya enthused. She looked away from where the deer had last been and back at Link. "One wandered into the village one morning a few years ago. I was up really early cleaning the shrine, and I remember I turned around and it was really close to me. Maybe 20 feet or something." She spoke more freely than usual; her thoughts trailed out like a delicate stream. "It was so pretty. Like that one, but way smaller. Like a baby."

"A fawn."

"Yeah, a fawn. And I tried walking up to it, but it ran, just like that one… I don't know. I remember thinking it was the prettiest animal, and…" she scrunched her nose. "I don't know how to describe it, but I remember thinking that it was a lot like me."

That brought a frown to Link's face. "How?" he asked, horribly confused by the comparison.

"I don't know. Just the way it looked around. It reminded me of myself." She shook her head. She stepped forward, leaving the idea behind herself. "Yesterday, you told that couple that you were a fisherman. I understand why you didn't tell them the truth, but I was just wondering… is that what you would want to do one day? I mean, surely you deserve something for everything you've done? Land or honor or something…? I'm sure Princess Zelda would, you know…" The change in conversation was stark, and it took Link aback. It took him a moment to muster a reply.

"I don't want lands or honor," he said firmly. His eyes traced their surroundings as they continued forward.

"But you saved all of Hyrule," Paya reasoned. "You're… You're the Hero of Hyrule!"

The title was repulsive to him. He grimaced and shook his head. "I don't need anyone to know that," he retorted. "I'd prefer they didn't. It doesn't… I don't want to be known as that."

"But you are!" Paya insisted. She turned to face him. "Even if nobody knows it. I know, and that's… that's all I can see when I look at you. Why don't you-"

"Is that why you get so scared around me?" Link interrupted her. The question crossed his mind and slipped through his lips without hesitation. He stopped walking and looked back at her.

"Link, I…" Her eyes turned downwards. He saw the familiar stiffness return to her posture.

"It's fine," he insisted abruptly. He loathed to see her comfort be replaced by apprehension. "I just… I wish you didn't. I really wish you didn't."

"I'm sorry."

Link looked at her. There was no use trying to pull her back to comfort by force. It never really worked too well. He'd need to try something else, he thought. Maybe he could just distract her.

"Have you ever met a fisherman?" he asked. A change in pace. He began to walk again. His eyes scanned about for mushrooms that he could point out to her. She simply needed to relax.

"Yeah, I have," she replied. Hesitancy still hid within her words, but at least it wasn't another apology or backtrack.

"Do you think I could be one?" he asked. Motion caught his eye, but it was merely a grasshopper.

"Maybe. But you're always…" Paya abandoned the thought and shook her head. "I don't know. Would you like staying in one place like that?"

"I think so. One day," he replied honestly. He couldn't imagine running for the rest of his life. He'd get old eventually. He couldn't climb mountains until the day he died. Although he felt most at home in the turbulence of the wild, he hoped that one day he'd find stability to replace it. A home that was more concrete than horseback.

"I wouldn't have imagined that," Paya admitted. "But I guess you haven't had much of a chance to stay still."

"No, I haven't," Link replied. He felt his jaw clench.

"...But you'd like that? A normal life?" she asked.

"Yeah, I think so. A job. A wife, maybe. Kids." The thoughts fell out of his mouth at the same as their formation in his mind. He hadn't ever considered such a thing before. The idea of a wife was so foreign that it almost startled him as he uttered it. Of course, it made sense that he'd never thought about it. When would he have had the opportunity? Staying alive and saving Hyrule from imminent destruction had replaced any other goal that he could've mustered up. Still, it felt foreign. A wife. Children. A distant visage that was endearing but impossible.

Paya's mouth gaped in shock at the comment. "I didn't… I never thought of you as that type," she admitted.

Her words were delicate, but they felt like hot iron. Link physically recoiled slightly in insult. He wasn't the type? What was he, then? He felt like nothing at all. An echo existing in a deafening world. He couldn't honestly say that he felt concrete in any aspect of himself. He didn't know what he wanted, only the few things that he didn't. Even still, Paya's comment hung like an ax over his head. Was he incapable of normalcy? Of being a fisherman with a wife and children? Would he ever be able to try and regain some semblance of personhood? What did Paya perceive him as: what would the world perceive him as?

"Link?" Paya interrupted his thoughts. Her eyes traced him with concern. "I didn't mean that in a bad way… I've just never heard you talk about that before. That's all."

Regret for his reaction immediately overturned his feeling of offense. He was making a big deal out of an offhand comment. It wasn't anything that mattered, anyways. How he was perceived wouldn't change the rising or setting of the sun. She didn't have a reason to think any differently, anyways. Why had he been so insulted?

"...I haven't thought about it before," he admitted. He forced his posture to return to normal. "I woke up with no memory, and for the past 11 months… I haven't had the chance to think about anything past Ganon." His eyes were trained at the distant treeline. The forest now felt endless and imposing.

"That makes sense," Paya replied. Her voice was soothing. When she wasn't drowning in fretful worries, she had a rather comforting tone. It made the tension in his jaw ease. "But now you do, don't you?"

"...Yeah, I guess so," he said. He knelt down and plucked up a Hylian mushroom halfway hidden behind an old log. He could feel her eyes trained on him. He stood back up and dropped it into his bag.

It was almost midday, now. The sun crept through the scattered canopy of the trees that surrounded them. The pair continued on, allowing the occasional bird chip to take the place of conversation for a few moments.

"...So you think you'd settle down around a village then?" Paya continued after a bit. She brushed back the spare pieces of silver hair that had stuck to the side of her face.

"I'd think so… I'd need someone to sell my fish to, wouldn't I?" he said. A dopey smile fell onto his face as he looked over at her.

Paya laughed. "I suppose you would… Where?"

"I don't know. Maybe Lurelin Village. That's down south. Or maybe Hateno, or… anywhere, really," he reasoned. He wasn't particularly connected to anywhere in particular. He'd never stayed in any town for more than a day or two at a time. It was as though he'd been caught in an endless blizzard, where standing still for too long would've resulted in him being buried alive. "Look-" he pointed ahead at the base of a tree. "That's a stamella shroom."

Paya lead the way over to the brightly colored mushroom top. She bent down to retrieve it.

"And what about you, Paya? What do you think you'll do one day?" He asked. He couldn't imagine her making a docile return to Kakariko Village. She seemed so joyous out in the wild. Although she was still prone to anxiety, she was much better out with the deer and the wind.

"I haven't really thought about it," Paya replied. She handed the mushroom over to him, looking away when their hands made contact. "I don't think I'd make a good fisherman."

He slipped the mushroom into his satchel. "Maybe. What would you do instead?"

"...Well, I guess… I think I'd have to go back, wouldn't I?" Her eyebrows settled into a frown. "I don't know what else I'd do."

Link shook his head. "Certainly not? I mean, unless you really wanted to."

"I don't know anyone outside of Kakariko Village, Link," Paya replied. A dispirited look settled in her eyes. "I wouldn't know where to go after this. Not by myself." She'd settle back into the monotonous life she'd had before Perpetually looking up at the mountains that surrounded her, but never daring to approach them.

"You won't be by yourself," Link replied indignantly. He could almost see the future that laid before her if she was once again confined by her fear to Kakariko Village. She'd have the same frigid posture, the same resignation forever. She'd have to try and recall the animals that she loved as they slowly seeped out of her memory. "I'll be with you."

"I meant after this," Paya dismissed. Her mood was seemingly sinking down into the riverbed of doubt.

"Even after this," Link insisted stubbornly. "I won't just… drop you off."

"You'll have to," Paya insisted. He met her gaze. Her eyes carried a sort of helpless gravity to them. She was resigned to her fate, but he wasn't.

"I won't," Link said. His jaw clenched into place. He stared back at her, silently begging that she abandon the idea. "You're not meant for Kakariko Village, Paya. You… you love it out here. I'll be damned if you have to go back to cleaning statues all day."

"It's the one thing I'm good at," Paya replied wistfully. She shook her head and turned away from him. She gazed instead out at the forest, letting her eyes trace the scenery. Perhaps she was trying to commit to detail every tree.

"No, it's not," Link didn't look away from her. "You're… you're good at talking to people, and you're really smart, and you can even ride a horse now!" He pulled a smile out of her. "And I… I won't ever leave you, Paya. Not unless you want me to. I'm going to show you all of Hyrule. The… the mountains and the desert and the sea." He stepped closer to her almost instinctively. He took hold of his satchel and opened it. He began to rummage through it, looking for…

He pulled out the purse enthusiastically given to him by the mother-in-law from the day before. He held it up to her. "I won't ever leave you, Paya," he repeated again.

Paya looked at the purse and then his face. She accepted it slowly. "This was a gift to you, not me," she protested gently.

"Open it," Link insisted. He felt his heart beat faster within his chest. "Please."

Paya hesitated before opening the clasp at the top. She reached into it and pulled out a silver, glimmering cluster of fractals. The star shard was immediately captured by the sun and shimmered in her hands. The glittering was reflected by her widened eyes.

"What is it?" She asked, unable to look away from the celestial gem.

"It's part of a star," he said. A foreign warmth crept into his ears. "One that fell from the heavens. And… and I swear by the stars that I won't leave you, Paya. Not ever." There was no Ganon to run off to fight, now. He could abandon every pointless pursuit that would pull him away from the silver haired Sheikah girl. The source of this sudden dedication was unknown to him; he merely knew that he'd sooner fall on his sword than damn Paya to wilting away in Kakariko Village away from the sun.

"Link, you can't… you can't say stuff like that. You can't get my hopes up like that," Paya's lip quivered. His promising words only seemed to be distressing her. The reflecting light in her hands exposed liquid that was quickly welling in her eyes. "It's not fair."

She didn't believe him. Link's hands clenched. In a swift, visceral motion, he stepped closer to her. They were now only about a foot apart. He could see her properly. He'd never noticed the small freckle beside her eye before. The instincts that had kept him alive for 11 months now propelled him to touch the side of her face with his calloused, rough hand. "I never want to leave you," he said.

Time dribbled off into a sedated pulse. The wind abandoned them, and all Link could see was the Sheikah girl. Her nose, her bronze eyes, her lips. He was hypnotized, unable to pull himself away from her. It was like gazing at the moon: something so much bigger and grander than himself, which demanded all attention be forfeited to it. She was staring at him, the pools of tears that had gathered in her eyes now still and shimmering. A blush blossomed in her cheeks and spread throughout her face, but she didn't look away from him. She leaned closer, and Link felt as though he was floating.

Their lips met in the midst of a gentle breeze. It was a bizarre, perfect, terribly awkward thing that made Link's face grow hot and his legs grow weak. He didn't know what he was supposed to do; he didn't have the advice of a father or the experience of a man to guide him. He could only delight in the feeling of being with her, together under the sun and trees and stars.

Time had all but abandoned him. He couldn't tell how long it had been when he felt himself ease back away from her. His ability to think clearly had been lost in the trance he'd been pulled into.

Paya's face was a vivid red, of course. Evidently, the event had rendered her entirely speechless. She could stare back at him and blush.

Joy was replaced by a similar sort of embarrassment. Link cleared his throat and rubbed at the back of his neck bashfully. "You… you can keep that," he commented awkwardly, gesturing to the star fragment. "And the bag. It isn't really my style."

A beat of silence enveloped the two, before they both began to laugh. Light, easy laughter from the bottom of their stomachs. The only thing was preposterous. The entire set of circumstances surrounding them were so unlikely that it only made sense to laugh until their sides ached.

"I really hate you, you know that?" Paya managed in between the laughter. She was hunched over, clutching onto her stomach. She'd never looked better than here, lost in joy and red-faced glee.

"Oh yeah, I've always been able to tell," Link snorted. "Hatred was always the impression I've gotten."

"Oh, shut up!" She leaned over and swatted at his shoulder.

He grinned at her. The air felt so much lighter now. The foliage was even greener. "Hey, aren't you supposed to be resting today?" He mused. "Why don't you sit down for a while? I'll try and find us some meat… I won't go too far."

"Oh, alright," she agreed, the laughter slowly fading from her voice. She looked back, before finding a place beside a tree trunk to sit. She still held onto the star cluster that dazzled in her hands. "You have to come back. You've made a promise, and I won't forget it," she toyed as she relaxed against the trunk.

"I always keep my word," Link replied with a wink. A playful gesture that caused a snort to escape the Sheikah girl. He took the bow from her shoulder and set off, away from her.

Link had never felt so happy in his life.

…

Author's note:

Big win for me and all of the other cornballs this chapter! Hopefully it didn't come across as too inorganic or rushed.

How big of a word count is necessary prior to the romance starting before it's considered a "slow burn"? Is this a slow burn? Much to deliberate over.

As always, any feedback is greatly appreciated! I hope you enjoyed. ( ｡ •̀ ᴗ - ) ✧