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The light of the portal evaporates into the chaotic, under-construction site of the first Hylian settlement on the Surface since Demise's...defeat. This is why people shouldn't name themselves after concepts.
Feathers waves at the tall redheaded fellow who'd nearly thrown Painter through a wall the last time they were here. The man looks up, feathered hair ornament bobbing with the movement, and waves back.
"Groose! Hey!"
"Link!" Groose calls cheerily. "Just in time, Zelda's over by the school!"
"Thank you!"
Feathers leads the rest of them through the complicated city layout to one of the outwardly-completed buildings, where several young women are working on painting the walls.
"Which one do you think is the Zelda?" Spear asks, elbowing Forest in the ribs.
"Shut up."
"Maybe the brunette?" suggests Fuzz.
"No, gotta be the auburn." Faerie says. Thistle frowns.
"Isn't Zelda usually blonde?"
Feathers laughs. "Lily-girl!"
Sure enough, the blonde girl on the scaffolding turns around, a sunny smile spreading across her face when she sees Feathers waving below.
"LINK!!"
Half the group members shout and lurch forward as she jumps from the scaffolding, but Feathers catches and twirls her around before she hits the ground.
"You're gonna give someone another heart attack if you keep doing that," Feathers chuckles, setting her back on her feet. Zelda giggles and pokes him in the nose, waving at the others in their various stunned poses.
"Hello! You must be Link's friends- sorry I missed you last time!"
"Oh Goddesses, she's a crazy one." Forge whimpers. Thistle blinks.
"Why?"
"Wh- she jumped off a building!!"
"Oh." The younger hero shrugs. "Seems fine to me."
"What kind of kingdom do you live in??"
Fuzz scratches the back of his neck with a nervous laugh. "I forgot you weren't with us at that point."
"He jumped off a castle tower right in front of us," Painter says, eyes more haunted than usual. "I think my heart actually stopped for a moment."
"So did mine!" Thistle grins. "For many moments!"
"No way, mine too!" gasps Fuzz, deliberately overdramatic. He and Thistle high-five while Painter throws his hands into the air.
"Not helping!"
"Hi Zelda!" Clover beams. "My name's Clover, nice to meet you!"
He bows sharply, sticking his arms out at an angle behind him and rising so fast he almost smacks Spear in the chin on the way up.
"No it's not, you said so yesterday." Rudder chimes. Clover glares at him.
"Scruffy little cabin boys should keep their mouths shut around royalty."
"You little-!"
Rudder launches himself at Clover, immediately hoisted off the ground by Spear.
"Damn." Forge remarks. "Didn't know Grandpa had it in him."
Spear glares. "You're older than me."
"Lemme at him!!" Rudder shouts, wriggling fiercely in Spear's grip like an angry cat.
"Clover, that was rude. Apologize." Faerie orders. Clover bristles, but eventually and unconvincingly obeys.
"Uh...well, there seem to be rather more of you than the last time you were here." Zelda says, neatly changing the subject for the time being. "And I'm afraid I never made any of your acquaintances at the time. If you all wouldn't mind-?"
With each introduction the tension eases, until Spear is finally able to release their sailor from air jail and put him back on the ground without him immediately lunging for Clover's throat.
"Well, it's lovely to meet you all." Zelda smiles when everyone's gone. "Moss-boy, why don't you and your friends follow me to the house? We'll have tea."
"Ooh, Moss-boy?" Faerie teases. "I've got to know the story behind that."
Zelda smiles. "Of course!"
15 years ago
"Link!!" Calls Pipit.
"Link!" Calls Instructor Owlan.
"LIIIIIIINNNK!!!!" screeches Zelda. "Where are you?? You didn't fall over the edge, did you??"
She makes her way towards the Knight Academy, shoes pattering over the stones as she continues to call out for her classmate. "Link!!"
A loftwing chatters at her from the courtyard- Zelda follows it around the building, where a fluffy brown head is just visible amidst the untrimmed grasses at the base of one of the trees.
"Link!" Zelda gasps. "Thank you, Mr. Loftwing!!"
The bird lowers its head to tap its beak lightly against the top of her head. Zelda giggles, waving goodbye as it flies away.
She trots over to Link, poking him in the shoulder until his face scrunches up and he groans unhappily. "Poke! Poke poke poke poke poke!"
"Mngh, what?" Link grunts, opening his eyes. "Zelda?"
"Found you! I win!" Zelda grins. She grabs his hand and drags him along with her back to Instructor Owlan.
"Good job, Zelda!" he praises. "Where was he?"
"Behind the Academy!" she chirps, smiling wide to show off the tooth she lost yesterday. "He fell asleep under a tree!"
Instructor Owlan sighs, rubbing at his eyebrows. "Sleeping again...I swear, Link, one of these days your tunic is going to grow moss."
Zelda giggles, imagining Link all covered in moss like a bush. Link's lip wobbles, tears welling in his big eyes.
"I'm sorry...I don't mean to, I swear! I just get so tired all the time, and the grass was so comfy!"
The instructor leans down to brush away the tears, gently pinching Link's cheeks and tugging at them until he starts to giggle. "Not to worry, dear boy. A child needs plenty of rest and sun to grow, just like a little seed- with how much you get, you'll probably grow up the strongest of all of us!"
From a bag in his robe, he produces two pumpkin-doodle cookies, each the size of the childrens' heads. "Here. You each get one, so don't go arguing over whose is bigger, okay?"
"Okay!" they chorus. Instructor Owlan pats them both on the head and leaves to go tell everybody else they can stop looking. Zelda beams at Link, who's holding his cookie with two hands, eyes practically sparkling.
"Come on! Let's go eat these somewhere pretty!"
They wind up sitting by the shore of the lake, munching on their cookies and watching the birds play in the water.
"Hey Link," Zelda asks, mouth full of cookie, "you like plants and flowers and stuff right?"
Link nods. "Mn."
"What kind are those?"
He looks to where she's pointing and squints. "Um- lilies, I think."
"Oh. I like them, they're pretty."
Link nods, ducking his head shyly. "I think you're prettier."
"Prettier than a lily?" Zelda asks. Nobody's ever said something like that to her before. Her companion nods again, carefully setting down his cookie on a piece of cloth and darting off towards the shore. When he returns, he's holding a bundle of plucked lilies in his hand. Zelda takes a bite of her cookie, watching him curiously while he weaves the strands together into a big circle.
"There!" Link says when it's done. He reaches out, setting it carefully on Zelda's head. "Now you're a lily-girl."
Zelda giggles, and points to his mussed-up boots from the water's edge. "And you're a moss-boy!"
"Oh no!" Link gasps. "Mr. Owlan was right!"
Now
"And we've been friends ever since!" Zelda finishes, smiling radiantly as she passes the teapot to Forge.
"That's the cutest thing I've ever heard." Faerie coos. His wings flutter behind him with a sparkly glow. Feathers flushes, trying and failing to hide his face behind his hair. Unfortunately for him, there's too many of his nicknamesake in the carefully-twisted style for that to ever have a chance of working.
-
"Oh, and Link?" Zelda calls as she sees them off.
"Hm?"
Reaching into her hair, Zelda pulls out the longest feather of her ornament, holding it out to Feathers shaft end first. Feathers turns a brilliant shade of scarlet and tugs the same out of his own, offering it the same way. The rest of the group watches curiously as the two sky-people fasten their traded feathers into the tight weave of the ornaments' bases.
When they're done, Zelda smiles even brighter than when they arrived.
"Safe winds!"
"Strong wings." Feathers responds. He waves goodbye as Zelda turns around and runs away back into the town.
As everyone had pretty much expected he loses what little composure he had the moment Zelda disappears from view, sinking to the ground in a flustered mess.
"So- what just happened?" Fuzz asks, when it becomes clear no one else is going to.
"Oh Goddess," Feathers says with the same pitch as Zelda's tea kettle, "I just got engaged."
That the group responds to.
"WHAT?!"