Chapter Seven: Extenuating Circumstances

…

K-tak. "Mara, I'm home!"

Mara rose from the kitchen table and hustled into the entryway as Link kicked his shoes into the corner next to the front door. "Welcome home, Link," she said, standing at the doorway with her hands clasped against her lap. "Did you get the milk?"

Link handed her a paper bag. "Almost fresh from the cow," Link said.

"And the change?" Mara asked as she pulled a bottle out of the bag for a quick examination.

Link dug into his pocket and produced a pair of one-Rupee coins. "That's all I have left," he said. "I bought Losel an Ordowich set. Sorry."

"Oh, there's no need to apologize, Link," she said as she went back into the kitchen. Link quickly followed behind. "Frankly, there are worse things I worry you might use the extra money on."

Link gave her a confused look. "I'm… sure you didn't mean for that to sound so dirty," he told her.

Mara heaved a heavy breath through her nose. "Being around crime so often certainly changes how you interpret things, doesn't it?"

Link groaned and scratched his head. "Yeaaah…" he admitted. "Guess I should know better."

Once they were in the kitchen, Mara took the milk to the back of the kitchen and set it on the countertop. Link took a seat at the table, and Mara picked up from that same counter and delivered two dinner plates to the table. Link looked down at a leg of roasted cucco, a half of tomato (probably from the garden), and a biscuit. "So," Mara said as she seated herself. "How was your day?"

Link had stabbed the tomato with a fork and was about to take a bite. He stopped so he could tell her, "We busted Catskill again."

"Catskill? You mean you're picking on little Reed again?"

Link had to swallow before he could reply. "I'm not 'picking' on him," he told her. "The man can't stop himself from smoking up a whole batch whenever he's doing something he shouldn't. The fact that he had to steal his mom's cigarettes afterwards just goes to show he couldn't afford another pack before we caught him." Then he shrugged. "Or, well, he thought he was gonna fake changing brands. This isn't the first time I busted him because of his stupid smoking habit."

"I was talking with Ginger at the clinic yesterday. She's concerned that Fran's health is taking a downhill turn lately; she's had to go to the clinic three times last week."

"It's probably stress from having to watch her son get arrested every month," Link told her before taking another bite.

"Link, you do realize that, by constantly arresting him, you're preventing him from helping his mother get the care she needs."

Link had to swallow quickly to argue, "It's not my fault her son spends most of his time stealing. If he would at least get himself a job cooking fries or something, he might be able to afford some of her expenses."

"Things just aren't that simple, Link. His record of arrests makes it difficult for him to get a job. Not to mention that everyone in Ordon knows him to be a troublemaker."

"Then his mom needs to stop relying on him. He's destroying his own life; he doesn't need to take his mom with him." Mara just stared at him as he used his fork to tear pieces of cucco meat from bone. He did not look up, but he heaved a sigh and recited, "'Love isn't logical', right?"

"She wants to be able to rely on her son, Link. As much of a crumb as he may be, it's turned into a cycle of arrest and neglect. He doesn't have the opportunity to do anything to help her."

"Mara, would you trust me to take care of you if I had an arrest record like Catskill? I mean, as much as she loves her son, how reliable can he be if all he does is steal for money?"

"He hardly gets a chance to take care of her. How are you so certain he'd be bad at it?"

"Have you seen Catskill lately? The guy's so skinny he's nearly emaciated. I know you wanna say he's starving himself to give his mom food, but he doesn't seem like the kind to take any responsibility. He was trying to claim I set him up earlier after he tried to run from March and DS Navi. He blames me for the stupid things he does, like getting drunk and busting out his friend's chops. That right there should be another indication of his irresponsibility; he went out and got drunk rather than use that money to support himself and his mom!"

"Link. Sit down."

The level tone and blank stare on Mara's face when she said that caused Link to stop. He glanced down and realized that, as his voice was gaining intensity, he had risen from his chair and was now leaning forward on the table. His mind doublechecked how bad this looked, and he slowly slid back down onto his seat. He planted his elbows on either side of his plate and smothered his face into his hands.

Mara let a moment of silence pass before saying, "I don't intend to criticize you for what you do, Link. But you need to see that there are further circumstances which might show why Reed behaves the way he does. Perhaps he is irresponsible and couldn't be relied on to take care of his mother. But don't you think that sort of thing could explain his frustration and acting out? He's only four years older than you, Link. His life isn't going too well, but it isn't entirely his fault."

Link groaned what could vaguely be an agreeing tone from behind his hands. Then, he slid his hands down his face. "Well, it's getting worse," he told her. "He stole from the Princess of Hyrule. That's a Crown charge. They're going to lock him away in Hyrulia for a while."

"Really?" Mara asked, her voice concerned. "They'd do that for a few pieces of jewelry the princess herself was being neglectful of?"

"Crown property is Crown property," Link said.

"And, after all the other thefts, this one has to have serious consequences?"

Link gave her a disappointed look. "I know what you wanna say, Mara," he replied. "But his life of stealing is about to catch up with him. It was only a matter of time before he escalated to this point."

"What are his chances if he concedes to the charge? What could he be sentenced to?"

Link rubbed his eyes as he tried to recall the law books he had read last year. "Minimum ten years with labor," he replied. "There's no life imprisonment attached to such a small charge, but he's gonna have to make himself comfortable."

"Over jewelry," Mara pointed out.

Link shrugged. "He probably has a good chance if they can recover all the jewelry he took, but we only found one piece. If they had it all, the courts in Hyrulia might be willing to cut him a little slack, maybe even dismiss the charge. But, if either of the other pieces have been destroyed, he's doomed."

"Would you be willing to search for them?"

"If the Sheriff's office didn't recover them, there's nothing to search for. At least one would be melted for its weight in gold. The earrings… Those, I can't be sure. They could probably be recovered; they'd have the better resale value."

Mara nodded. "As long as there is a chance. I can only hope Reed makes the right choices." She paused to take a bite of her biscuit. "How is Losel doing?"

"Huh? Losel?" Link asked, confused by the change in topic.

"Yes. You said you bought him a meal earlier. That was certainly kind of you."

Link shrugged. "I mainly did it so I could ask him about the stuff he found in the park. That was how we found out it was Catskill who took the jewelry."

"I take it he's still living on the streets."

Link nodded. "Yeah, but he seems to be doing it all right. He's at least trying to stick to the trash program. I managed to get a little clarity out of him, but I don't imagine he's got much of a mind left."

Mara shook her head. "I'm still so astounded at how much he's changed all these years. It's horribly unfair to him. He did good work."

"Yeah, I know. I remember all the buildings you pointed out to me."

"Perhaps it's for the best that you can at least work with him. It seems to at least give him some purpose. It's always nice to give the unfortunate a chance. Isn't it, Link?"

Link looked up from his cucco to see her pointedly staring at him. He had to go back to what she had just said in order to see if he had missed some subtext. And he realized that she was drawing parallels between Losel and Reed. He began to realize that, in spite of what Link knew about him from their encounters, he did not really know if anyone had given Catskill the opportunity to make himself useful. Mara had done it again. As much as Link thought he knew it all, he was still finding Mara could show him a few new perspectives even at seventeen years old.

And she seemed to be right. For the greater part of Ordon, Losel was a mindless menace and a rambling lunatic that lived in alleyways and scared the crap out of people on the streets with his incoherent speech. Yet Link went to him for information, no matter how direct or indirect. Did Reed Kasill ever have that opportunity? Link was so used to busting him for the crimes he committed that it had not occurred to him just what kind of issues led to Reed thinking he had to steal to survive. Link could not take away the Crown charge; that was already in the works with nothing to stop it. But he wondered if there was something that could be done the next time he encountered Reed.

Link heaved a sigh at his plate and picked up his biscuit. "Yeah," he told Mara. "Yeah, it is."