Marin


"Where have you been?"

I glared out at him.

"Marin, wait, before you go crazy, I..."

I stepped towards him and put my finger up to his lips to silence him.

"Shhhhh."

Link stopped talking and stared at me with an odd look. I retracted my hands and smiled. Something had just popped into my head.

Why was I being so mean to him? I could be nice to him. So I made a commitment not to yell at him.

"That's ok. You don't have to tell me."

3 days ago, I had woken up alone in my bed, when the night before, I was accompanied by Link, who was injured and bleeding.

I was naturally worried.

But, I thought of what my father had said to me that night, and decided not to worry about it as long as he was safe. I was hoping for a while that I hadn't driven him out after the fight, but he was apparently ok.

Ugh...

The fight. I supposed I owed him an apology for that.

"Hey, Marin?"

I heaved out a peaceful little sigh. He wasn't taking it too hard.

"Yeah?"

"Can we take a walk together?"

I stepped back a bit in surprise.

"Uh... Ok," I muttered. "Let's go..."


It was another perfect day on the island, just like any other. The sun beat down on us, delivering warm, subtropical weather. Link and I were walking through Mabe Village, where the living was easy, and where everyone glowed with the radiance of life. We strolled through the grass, warmed by the sun and feeling calm and peaceful.

"Koholint Island is beautiful," Link said finally. "Almost as beautiful as Hyrule."

I looked over at him, with his hands tucked behind his head as he walked along in big, long strides.

"Is that where you're from?"

"Yeah," he said. "It's great."

"Do they have a beach in Hyrule?"

Link gave a bit of a puzzled look, still facing forward.

"No. But I have to admit; the beach here is..." he stopped for a moment as if thinking of something to say.

"Peaceful?"

"Yeah," he replied. "That's the word for it. No less, I wan't to go back to Hyrule as soon as possible. I've got a family there." He sighed sadly.

"You've been missing them, haven't you."

"Yeah."

"I can tell. I've always been able to see something in your expressions that looked sad."

"Yeah... I really miss my uncle and my friend Zelda."

"You called me Zelda before."

"You look alot like her. Except she has blonde hair, and it's a bit shorter than yours. You look like you're taller, too."

I smiled and we continued walking past the little huts, mildly worn with age, as we neared the area near the statue of the Flying Rooster. Link grabbed my shoulder and stopped me.

"Wait," he said, "I want to talk to you."

He grabbed on to my hand and led me to the statue.

Something about his eyes looked suspicious, as he combed down the area looking to see anyone was around. We caught a quick glimpse of a kid who ran away as soon as he realized he had been caught.

My guess was that he'd probably be watching in from a safe hiding spot, but...

Link sat down under the cliff at Pahpal's house, and invited me a seat next to him. I took the invitation nervously.

"What is it?" I asked. Link looked over at me inquisitively.

"What's what?"

God, What a dumbass.

I sighed. Whatever it was, it could wait for later. I curled my knees to my chest and watched a bee buzzing around. I thought about Richard...

Richard!

Richard needed Link. I shook my hair out, in disbelief that I had forgotten something so important, and I turned towards him to address the matter.

"Oh, that guy?" Link responded. He looked back at the landscape somewhat uninterested. It almost looked like he was watching the same bee. "I already met him," he said.

I gave a little sigh of relief. While I could probably kick Richard's ass, Carrie could probably kick my ass, so I didn't want to piss them off.

"Did you get him his castle back?" I asked.

"Castle?" Link turned to face me again. "He made me go in a castle and get some gold leaves..."

Why wasn't I surprised? This was so typical of Richard. He told me he wanted his entire castle back.

"I don't see why he couldn't have gotten them for his own damn self," Link said finally after a few awkward moments of silence. I laughed.

"It's cause he's conceited!"

Link gave a bit of a chuckle. "You don't like him very much, do you?"

"Actually," I corrected him, with the a matter-of-fact tone of voice, "we were at one time considered lovers."

Link looked a little blustered at the thought.

"Not for very long though," I stuttered quickly.

"Oh... What happened?"

"My daddy didn't approve."

"The classic block," he said dryly.

"Ah," I said, "That's okay. I don't think it would have worked out anyway. Besides, Daddy's not usually like that anyways."

"What, have there been other guys?"

Holy crap, why was he so interested? I tried as hard as I could not to bust out in complete laughter, but it wasn't working very well. I could feel my eyes bulge and a grin slowly creeping across my face.

"Why do you care?!" I finally belched out with laughter.

"Hey, now..." he said somewhat crossly, and with a cross-eyed look to mach, "What's so funny?"

"No, there haven't been any other guys," I moaned playfully.

The bee suddenly came buzzing along, weaving a path around and finally on Link's ear. He swatted at it, and obviously hurt himself in the process.

God, what a dumbass.








"I know that we haven't been getting along... to well, but I was wondering..."

Link and I were now walking around on the beach. It was now late afternoon, the temperature had dropped, and the sky was tinted with warm oranges and pinks.

Apparently, whatever Link had wanted to talk about earlier, he was about to blurt out...

"Would you... Would you like to return to my home country with me?"

My jaw dropped with surprise.

Poor Link looked so flustered and embarrassed when he saw my reaction. His head sagged down, as did his shoulders. His face turned bright crimson and he avoided eye contact.

"Well.... I just thought that... You know with the way that things have been going... and ah... I just sort of felt like... ah, I don't know... damnit!"

He dropped his head down even farther and avoided eye contact with me.

"Stop talking."

Once again, I stepped forward, and put my finger up to his lip.

"Shhhhh."

He slowly lifted his head and gazed sheepishly at me with his clear blue eyes.

And I smiled.

"Of course I would go with you!"

His head snapped up with shock, though his shoulders remained in their slouched position. His eyes went wide with shock and his eyebrows perked up to his forehead.

"Really?!" he asked, in an unsure voice.

"Really."

"Uh... great!"

He now got back to his normal posture and grinned at me.

"I better go," he said happily, and he turned around and took off.

I looked down at the ground for a few seconds, then clutched my face in emotion. What a pleasent surprise that was! I made a few little strangled giggling noises, then ran off towards the house with emotion.







Two weeks later, Link and I sat on a log in a small alcove on the beach. I was drearily positioned in his lap, and his arms were passionately wrapped around my shoulders. I clung my harp tightly to my chest. I loved my harp. I loved watching my slender fingers gently glide over it as I plucked at the strings. It was a secret passion, though. As of yesterday, Link was the only one who ever heard my play.

It was another late afternoon, just like the ones we had shared as friends. But now it was different. Now we were more than just friends. I peacefully extended my legs into the water, letting the sand wash around in between my toes.

Maybe I wouldn't buy new shoes, after all. I enjoyed being barefoot. Walks along the beach were even more pleasant, as the sand warmed the bottom of my soles and heels. Grass had a similar effect, though it was a more cool and wet, almost like a tickle. My feet were a lot more comfortable too, now that they weren't squeezed together by the sandal straps. I kind of enjoyed the room I had for my toes, and found myself wiggling them or stretching them out periodically, even If there was no specific reason to do so.

I liked my feet. They were kind of pretty, in a wierd way.

Link rubbed my arm a bit.

"What should we do now," he asked.

"Nothing... Just... listen to the waves."