Injured in the middle of winter, and with her enemies in hot pursuit, it seemed like the end may have come for Sheik of Kakariko. However, fortune smiled on the blonde, as she was rescued from her plight by the sudden appearance of a redheaded girl who took her in and treated her wounds. Now the heavy snowfall has cut the ranch off from the rest of Hyrule, leaving the two of them with only each other for company until it thaws again.
Hot and Cold (The Legend of Zelda)
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Chapter 1 - Hello Nurse
Summary: Injured in the middle of winter, and with her enemies in hot pursuit, it seemed like the end may have come for Sheik of Kakariko. However, fortune smiled on the blonde, as she was rescued from her plight by the sudden appearance of a redheaded girl who took her in and treated her wounds. Now the heavy snowfall has cut the ranch off from the rest of Hyrule, leaving the two of them with only each other for company until it thaws again.
Chapter 1 - Hello Nurse
The snow was falling thick and fast, and Hyrule Field was covered in at least three feet of the powdery substance.
This presented an even bigger problem than it normally would for the injured woman, as she trudged her way through the adverse weather, one hand raised to protect her eyes. Her muscles ached and it would have been hard enough to force herself to keep going even if she was wasn't pushing against the blizzard. Not to mention her feet left deep footprints in the snow that would be easy for anyone to follow, then there was the bright red blood leaking from the wound in her side, which stood out starkly against the white ground.
The blonde shook her head, trying to rid herself of the haze that was threatening to settle over her mind.
This was not good, she was getting tired, her chest was starting to burn, and she wasn't sure how much further it was to the hideout. Gods, she was not even sure she was heading in the right direction, all the snow had completely changed the look of the field and it was messing with her sense of direction. A problem that was made worse by her inability to concentrate properly, and how her vision kept blurring.
Still, she forced herself on. She couldn't hear the sound of anyone following her over the wind howling around her, but she had to assume that her pursuers were still there. So she struggled on, even though she could no longer feel her fingers or toes, and the numbness was starting to spread up her arms and legs.
Come on, one foot in front of the other.
It was taking so much effort to keep herself going, that she did not hear the sound of hoof-beats until they were almost on top of her. Damn! She was out in the open with no where to hide! Not that she would have had time to hide, even if there had been cover nearby.
She quickly drew her dagger, and tried to adopt a fighting stance; only to find she could not maintain the position, and she sunk to one knee as her legs gave out beneath her. Her clothes quickly absorbed the freezing moisture from the snow, but she could barely feel it.
Damn! No, this can not be how it ends!
"Hey!"
The voice instantly captured the blonde's attention, and when she looked up she found a large horse with a chestnut coat looming over her. Her vision was too blurred at this point, and her stomach clenched as she wondered whether it was a man in the saddle, or one of the many vile beasts Ganondorf had spent the last seven years conjuring up.
"Hey," the voice called again, yelling over the howling wind. "Are you okay?"
She opened her mouth to reply, to spit some suitably defiant last words; but her voice caught in her throat, frozen there by the cold and fear.
What happened instead was that the blonde collapsed completely, as the last of her strength finally left her, and she could no longer fight off the darkness encroaching on the edges on her vision.
She barely heard the panicked squawk that came from the rider, nor the crunching of their boots against the snow as they leapt from their mount and rushed to her side. The last thing she saw before everything went black, was a pair of beautiful blue eyes staring down at her.
The blonde drifted in the darkness for what felt like a long time, periodically tormented by painful images. Her father dead upon his own throne, his blood dripping down the marble steps, of being pursued by Ganondorf himself as she and Impa desperately tried to flee the castle, and the sight of Ganondorf's twisted tower erupting from the earth where her home had once stood. She was awash in pain and terror as all sorts of terrible memories dredged themselves from the corners of her mind.
Eventually however, the darkness slowly began to recede, and the images themselves dissolved.
Her vision was still blurry as she opened her eyes, and all she could see was a dull light hovering somewhere above her, yellow and comforting. However, she also felt nice and warm, enveloped in a comfortable softness, and some sweet scent drifted upon the air. For just a second she wondered whether she actually died out on the frozen Hyrule field, and this was heaven.
Thinking about about that brought to mind the image of that large horse looming over her, and that memory caused a twinge of fear that helped to propel into full wakefulness. Suddenly she was very away of how every muscle in her body ached, and how her head was pounding like a Goron had used it for carving stone.
Even without trying to move she could tell that her limbs did not have much strength in them, they felt sort of hollow, drained. Still, she had to know where she was, and she forced herself to try and sit up, her abdominal muscles tensing from the effort. However, she had barely moved at all before a sharp pain shot through her abdomen like a white-hot flame, and a hoarse scream tore from her lips.
"Oh, you're awake!"
She heard the sound of hurried footsteps, socked feet padding against a wooden floor, and before long there was a figure hovering above her. As her eyes slowly adjusted she could she that it was a pretty, redheaded girl with a pair of beautiful blue eyes. The blonde released a sigh of relief, she did not look like one of Ganondorf's minions.
"Can you tell me your name?" the redhead asked, her voice low and soft.
The blonde tried to speak, but her throat felt raw, and all that came out was a ragged whisper.
"Sheik," she managed, eventually. Even with her head all messed up, she remembered to stick with her cover story.
The redhead smiled, a warm, comforting expression.
"Nice to meet you Sheik," she replied. "I'm Malon."
"A pleasure," the blonde croaked.
"Same here," Malon replied. "Now why don't you rest a little more? You still look kinda rough."
Yes, more rest sounded like a good idea. Her whole body felt really heavy and sluggish, and it was getting harder to string her thoughts together. She just needed a little time to clear her head, and let her body recover. With that in mind she allowed herself to sink back into the darkness, and this time her sleep was completely dreamless.
When Sheik woke again she felt a little better, or well, she did not feel like death warmed over anyway. Her muscles no longer ached as much as they had earlier, but they still felt kind of weak, and her headache only seemed to have gotten worse. So much so that she opened her eyes, only to hiss in pain and immediately clamp them shut again. Gone was the soft, yellow light from before, and in it's place was a harsh, pale light that sent a searing agony right through her skull.
"Oh, you're awake again," said a somewhat familiar, soft voice.
The blonde turned her head, and risked opening her eyes again, gently easing them open in the hope that she could avoid the pain from earlier, it seemed to work.
Everything was blurry for a moment, so that she could only make out vague shapes and colours, but her vision soon began to sharpen. There was a redheaded woman walking towards her from the far side of the room, her socks padding softly against the wooden floor. The girl looked to be about the same age as her and she felt oddly familiar, but Sheik could not quite put her finger on where she might have seen her before. It was not until she caught sight of her brilliant, blue eyes that her thoughts clicked into place, and her memories came back to her. Broken memories of the redheaded girl leaning over her, her soft voice soothing her pain as her blue eyes sparkled in the flickering light of the lanterns.
"You're … Malon?" Sheik said, her voice barely above a whisper.
Her throat was not quite as raw any more, but it still felt very rough.
"Oh, you remembered," the redhead answered. "I wasn't sure you would."
Sheik nodded, and tried to push herself up, only to scream as a lancing pain shot through her abdomen. Okay, yes, she remembered that now.
Then suddenly Malon was there, gently taking her by the shoulders and helping to ease her into a sitting position.
"You shouldn't push yourself," she said. "You were hurt pretty badly."
Yet even as she spoke the redhead grabbed the pillows and plumped them up against the headboard, in order to offer Sheik some comfortable support.
As the other girl was helping her up, Sheik took the opportunity to discreetly check out the room. There was not much, it was a very simple room. Apart from the bed she was in there was a bookshelf and wardrobe on one wall, separated by a window, and a small table next to the bed. On the wall opposite the bed was a small, wooden door. The sunlight poured in through the window, casting the entire room in a harsh, white light.
"Thank you," Sheik whispered. "How long was I out?"
Malon grabbed a small, wooden chair from the side of the room, and sat herself down before answering.
"Only a couple of hours this time," she said.
It took a second for Sheik to process the words.
"Wait, 'this time'?"
Malon nodded.
"Yeah, you slept for a solid couple of days after I found you," she answered. "You woke up for a little bit last night, but went back to sleep pretty quickly."
Sheik nodded. Yes, she remembered that, vaguely.
"Frankly," the redhead continued. "I'm just relieved you woke up at all. We're pretty far from any villages out here, so I did try and learn a little medicine, but you were a bit beyond what I was ready for. And I'm more used to treating animals anyway."
Malon's tone was deliberately light, but Sheik could see how tense her shoulders were as she spoke, that evening must have been quite an ordeal for her. Well it had been quite the ordeal for her too, but she had been trained for that sort of thing, and it was not hard for her to recognise the enormity of what this girl had done.
Sheik inclined her head, fighting against the stiffness in her neck.
"Thank you," she said. "It looks like I owe you my life."
The redhead waved her hand as though dismissing her praise, but then gave an embarrassed little giggle, and Sheik could see the colour rise in her cheeks.
"Don't worry about it," she replied. "I wasn't just gonna let someone die in front of me. And with the blizzard setting in I wouldn't have made it to the closest village. Not fast enough anyway."
"Still, thank you," Sheik said.
Then silence descended between the two of them, not really an awkward silence, but not a comfortable one either. Sheik felt like she should say something, but she could not think of how to begin. She had been given etiquette training twice over, but it had been a long time since she had been required to make polite conversation with a perfect stranger.
Eventually it was Malon who broke the silence.
"How'd you get injured so bad anyway?" she asked.
Sheik tried not to freeze like a startled rabbit as she scrambled to come-up with an answer, she should have expected Malon would want to know about that.
"Call it an unfortunate misadventure," she answered.
It was not the best excuse she had ever come up with, but it would have to do.
"You were running from Ganondorf's men, weren't you?" Malon asked.
This time Sheik did freeze, and she felt her blood run cold as she locked eyes with the redhead. Was this girl one of Ganondorf's minions? She did not look it. Not that being pretty necessarily said anything about her morality. But no, she could not be. If this girl was working for Ganondorf, then Sheik would likely not have woken up at all. Not unless this girl had figured out her secret...
"How did you know that?" she asked.
"There were a couple of soldiers poking around the outside of the ranch the night I found you," Malon answered. "I was afraid they were gonna barge in, and demand I let them search the place."
"And what would you have done if they had?" Sheik asked.
Malon's gaze turned down to her knees, and her shoulders hunched over as she began to pick at her skirt.
"I don't know," she replied.
Sheik actually felt a little disappointed with that answer, then felt disappointed with herself for feeling disappointed. It would have been entirely unfair for her to expect someone with no combat experience to stand up to trained soldiers, and it was not as though the girl had asked for an injured Sheikah to collapse in front of her.
That was the moment Sheik's stomach chose to growl, and the tension in the air completely dissipated in the face of it's discontent. The blonde could felt the colour rising in her own cheeks as she realised just how hungry she was, she felt absolutely famished actually.
Malon's mood also seemed to do a complete reversal, her blue eyes sparkled as she raised her head again, and a cheeky little grin formed on her lips.
"Hungry?" she asked.
Sheik coughed into her fist, and turned her head to the side so that she did not have to meet the other girl's eyes.
"Perhaps a little," she answered.
"Well, that's not a surprise," she replied. "You haven't eaten properly in a couple of days. Stay here, and I'll go fix you something to eat."
With that the redhead rose to her feet, and padded over to the door, shutting it behind her with a soft click as she left the room.
The room went very quite and still after Malon left, almost as though all of the energy in the room had gone with her. It was probably the snow Sheik mused, it had some remarkable properties Snow. Take for instance it's ability to absorb sound, which is why it sounded so much quieter when there was a build-up of snow, and why even when you did hear something it sounded so very slightly off. One would think that would make it an assassin's best friend, but there were some obvious downsides to working in snow, about from the freezing cold. It was hard to avoid leaving tracks, for instance.
Sheik sighed, whilst the properties of snow and how it related to her work were interesting, she knew she was just using it to avoid thinking about last night.
She had acted rashly, she knew that. She had not scouted the area properly, had taken too many chances; but if she had waited any longer she would have been witness to more innocent blood being spilled. Perhaps they could not defeat Ganondorf until Link returned, but that did not mean she could just sit around and watch her people suffer.
The blonde realised she was clenching her hand tightly, and forced herself to open it again.
...Yes, her people. She had to remind herself about that sometimes. That she was not Sheik, she was Zelda, princess of Hyrule.
Seven years spent living under any alias was wearing on her mind, and sometimes even the darkest recesses of her own mind she found herself thinking of herself of Sheik of Kakariko, instead of Zelda of Hyrule. It was like the shadow of Sheik was growing larger and larger within her with every passing day, and one day it would consume Zelda completely. The very idea terrified her, because despite everything she did not want to lose who she truly was.
She raised her left hand in front of her, and stared at it as though expecting to see something; but there was nothing, nothing but plain, slightly-tanned skin.
She sighed again. So much for her supposed wisdom, if it had not been for her Hyrule would never have ended up in this state to begin with. It had been her plan that had ended with Ganondorf gaining access to the Triforce; her plan that had ended with her father dead on his throne and Link trapped in the Sacred Realm. It had been her plan that had placed the people of Hyrule under the boot of a cruel tyrant.
Her eyes started to burn, and she took another shuddering breath.
The guilt hurt, but she clung to it, because it was one of the few threads she had left to tie her to her past.
The latch clicked again, and the hinges squeak slightly as the door to the room opened again. Malon walked in holding a tray with both hands, and the kicked the door closed behind her. The tray she carried has a bowl on it with steam gently rising from the surface, and Zelda can already smell the tomatoes.
"I thought soup would be a good idea," Malon said, with a smile. "Since you have't eaten in a couple of days."
The blonde tries to adjust herself as the redhead draws closer, only to grimace as that sharp pain shoots up her side again.
Oh right, that, she thought.
"Are you alright?" Malon asked.
Laden with the tray as she was, the redhead was not able to rush to Zelda's side as she had previously. In response the former princess waved her hand, and reclined back into the pillows. At least she had an excuse for the tears.
"I'm okay," Zelda replied.
The redhead hummed thoughtfully, and looked down on the blonde with concern. The she did something wholly unexpected, she smiled. A little smirk pulled at the corners of her mouth, and her blue eyes suddenly sparkled with mischief.
Zelda was immediately on guard, she very much did not appreciate being stared at like that whilst she was bed-bound.
The princess kept her eyes on the redhead as she walked over to the chair beside the bed, and sat herself down. Zelda raised an eyebrow as Malon set the tray down in her own lap, lifted the spoon out of the soup, and blew on it lightly.
She realised what the other girl was up to when she held the spoon out to her. Her eyes went wide, and she could feel the colour rushing to her cheeks as she caught on to the implication.
"I – I can feed myself," she protested.
"Of course," Malon replied, with a smile. "But with your injuries, it might not be a good idea to have you rest the soup on your own lap. If nothing else, I really don't want to have to try and do any washing in this weather. I'd never get it dry!"
The redhead did not look particularly put out by the idea, in fact her smile was wider and more wicked than ever as she continued to hold the spoon out in front of her. Well whatever, holding out your arm for an extended period of time was actually quite taxing, and the former princess was certain that she was stubborn enough to outlast her.
Except that the scent of food caused her stomach to rumble again, as if to remind her of just how hungry she was, and the redhead actually giggled at the sound.
Zelda barely bit back a groan as she opened her mouth, and allowed the other girl to feed her.
The soup was a lot stronger than she was used to, so strong that it very nearly brought tears to her eyes, but it was not bad. In fact, given how hungry she was it tasted damn near divine! It was thicker than she was used to too, and when she swallowed she could feel the hot, creamy liquid warm her insides.
"There, that wasn't so hard now was it?" Malon asked. "Do you like it?"
"It's very good," Zelda reply. "Rich, but not completely overpowering."
Malon's smile transformed, becoming a little less wicked, and a little more sincere.
"Thank you," she replied. Then she dipped the spoon back into the soup to prepare another mouthful.
They spent a minute or so like that, with Malon feeding her, and Zelda trying to stave off the feeling of being seven-years-old again.
"You know," Malon said, eventually. "When I first found you I thought you were a boy."
"I get that a lot," Zelda replied, between mouthfuls.
She did not mention of course, that it was an image she was deliberately trying to affect.
Strangely, Malon's cheeks went slightly red then, and she suddenly appeared to be having trouble meeting her eyes.
"I see," she said. "Of course, then I took you clothes off, and, well..."
Zelda felt her cheeks burn, again, but otherwise managed to retain her composure. She was not sure why she was so embarrassed, back when she was a princess she had used to have people who helped her dress; of course, she had been a child back then, and so had not quite understood the implications of having other people see her undressed. Well, it had also been a long time since then.
"You – um," Zelda stuttered. "You took my clothes off?"
Malon nodded.
"To treat your wounds," she explained. "You had quite a few of them. But the one in your side was the worst."
Zelda nodded. Okay, right, yes, that made sense. Really, she should have realised that herself.
As the blonde swallowed the last of the soup, Malon dropped the spoon back into the empty bowl with a light "clink".
"And that's all of it!" the redhead proclaimed.
"Thank you for the meal," Zelda replied.
"You're welcome," she answered. "Now, with my patient all tended to, I have to go make sure the animals are doing okay too. Will you be alright by yourself for a bit?"
"Of course," Zelda replied. "In fact, I might try and get a little more rest."
"Probably a good idea," Malon said. "Alright then, I'll come and check on you when I'm done."
With that the redhead turned and left the room, leaving the blonde all by herself. Zelda gently eased herself back down beneath the covers, enjoying the feeling of warmth they brought with them. She had not been lying just then, she really was going to try and get some more rest, she wanted to try and regain her strength as quickly as possible.
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AN: Yes, the beginning of another new story from me. I promise I'll get back to my other stories, eventually, once work calms down. This was just a lighter story I started writing in my spare time over Christmas, and is currently planned to be about seven chapters long.
Chapter 1 - Hello Nurse
The snow was falling thick and fast, and Hyrule Field was covered in at least three feet of the powdery substance.
This presented an even bigger problem than it normally would for the injured woman, as she trudged her way through the adverse weather, one hand raised to protect her eyes. Her muscles ached and it would have been hard enough to force herself to keep going even if she was wasn't pushing against the blizzard. Not to mention her feet left deep footprints in the snow that would be easy for anyone to follow, then there was the bright red blood leaking from the wound in her side, which stood out starkly against the white ground.
The blonde shook her head, trying to rid herself of the haze that was threatening to settle over her mind.
This was not good, she was getting tired, her chest was starting to burn, and she wasn't sure how much further it was to the hideout. Gods, she was not even sure she was heading in the right direction, all the snow had completely changed the look of the field and it was messing with her sense of direction. A problem that was made worse by her inability to concentrate properly, and how her vision kept blurring.
Still, she forced herself on. She couldn't hear the sound of anyone following her over the wind howling around her, but she had to assume that her pursuers were still there. So she struggled on, even though she could no longer feel her fingers or toes, and the numbness was starting to spread up her arms and legs.
Come on, one foot in front of the other.
It was taking so much effort to keep herself going, that she did not hear the sound of hoof-beats until they were almost on top of her. Damn! She was out in the open with no where to hide! Not that she would have had time to hide, even if there had been cover nearby.
She quickly drew her dagger, and tried to adopt a fighting stance; only to find she could not maintain the position, and she sunk to one knee as her legs gave out beneath her. Her clothes quickly absorbed the freezing moisture from the snow, but she could barely feel it.
Damn! No, this can not be how it ends!
"Hey!"
The voice instantly captured the blonde's attention, and when she looked up she found a large horse with a chestnut coat looming over her. Her vision was too blurred at this point, and her stomach clenched as she wondered whether it was a man in the saddle, or one of the many vile beasts Ganondorf had spent the last seven years conjuring up.
"Hey," the voice called again, yelling over the howling wind. "Are you okay?"
She opened her mouth to reply, to spit some suitably defiant last words; but her voice caught in her throat, frozen there by the cold and fear.
What happened instead was that the blonde collapsed completely, as the last of her strength finally left her, and she could no longer fight off the darkness encroaching on the edges on her vision.
She barely heard the panicked squawk that came from the rider, nor the crunching of their boots against the snow as they leapt from their mount and rushed to her side. The last thing she saw before everything went black, was a pair of beautiful blue eyes staring down at her.
- - -
The blonde drifted in the darkness for what felt like a long time, periodically tormented by painful images. Her father dead upon his own throne, his blood dripping down the marble steps, of being pursued by Ganondorf himself as she and Impa desperately tried to flee the castle, and the sight of Ganondorf's twisted tower erupting from the earth where her home had once stood. She was awash in pain and terror as all sorts of terrible memories dredged themselves from the corners of her mind.
Eventually however, the darkness slowly began to recede, and the images themselves dissolved.
Her vision was still blurry as she opened her eyes, and all she could see was a dull light hovering somewhere above her, yellow and comforting. However, she also felt nice and warm, enveloped in a comfortable softness, and some sweet scent drifted upon the air. For just a second she wondered whether she actually died out on the frozen Hyrule field, and this was heaven.
Thinking about about that brought to mind the image of that large horse looming over her, and that memory caused a twinge of fear that helped to propel into full wakefulness. Suddenly she was very away of how every muscle in her body ached, and how her head was pounding like a Goron had used it for carving stone.
Even without trying to move she could tell that her limbs did not have much strength in them, they felt sort of hollow, drained. Still, she had to know where she was, and she forced herself to try and sit up, her abdominal muscles tensing from the effort. However, she had barely moved at all before a sharp pain shot through her abdomen like a white-hot flame, and a hoarse scream tore from her lips.
"Oh, you're awake!"
She heard the sound of hurried footsteps, socked feet padding against a wooden floor, and before long there was a figure hovering above her. As her eyes slowly adjusted she could she that it was a pretty, redheaded girl with a pair of beautiful blue eyes. The blonde released a sigh of relief, she did not look like one of Ganondorf's minions.
"Can you tell me your name?" the redhead asked, her voice low and soft.
The blonde tried to speak, but her throat felt raw, and all that came out was a ragged whisper.
"Sheik," she managed, eventually. Even with her head all messed up, she remembered to stick with her cover story.
The redhead smiled, a warm, comforting expression.
"Nice to meet you Sheik," she replied. "I'm Malon."
"A pleasure," the blonde croaked.
"Same here," Malon replied. "Now why don't you rest a little more? You still look kinda rough."
Yes, more rest sounded like a good idea. Her whole body felt really heavy and sluggish, and it was getting harder to string her thoughts together. She just needed a little time to clear her head, and let her body recover. With that in mind she allowed herself to sink back into the darkness, and this time her sleep was completely dreamless.
When Sheik woke again she felt a little better, or well, she did not feel like death warmed over anyway. Her muscles no longer ached as much as they had earlier, but they still felt kind of weak, and her headache only seemed to have gotten worse. So much so that she opened her eyes, only to hiss in pain and immediately clamp them shut again. Gone was the soft, yellow light from before, and in it's place was a harsh, pale light that sent a searing agony right through her skull.
"Oh, you're awake again," said a somewhat familiar, soft voice.
The blonde turned her head, and risked opening her eyes again, gently easing them open in the hope that she could avoid the pain from earlier, it seemed to work.
Everything was blurry for a moment, so that she could only make out vague shapes and colours, but her vision soon began to sharpen. There was a redheaded woman walking towards her from the far side of the room, her socks padding softly against the wooden floor. The girl looked to be about the same age as her and she felt oddly familiar, but Sheik could not quite put her finger on where she might have seen her before. It was not until she caught sight of her brilliant, blue eyes that her thoughts clicked into place, and her memories came back to her. Broken memories of the redheaded girl leaning over her, her soft voice soothing her pain as her blue eyes sparkled in the flickering light of the lanterns.
"You're … Malon?" Sheik said, her voice barely above a whisper.
Her throat was not quite as raw any more, but it still felt very rough.
"Oh, you remembered," the redhead answered. "I wasn't sure you would."
Sheik nodded, and tried to push herself up, only to scream as a lancing pain shot through her abdomen. Okay, yes, she remembered that now.
Then suddenly Malon was there, gently taking her by the shoulders and helping to ease her into a sitting position.
"You shouldn't push yourself," she said. "You were hurt pretty badly."
Yet even as she spoke the redhead grabbed the pillows and plumped them up against the headboard, in order to offer Sheik some comfortable support.
As the other girl was helping her up, Sheik took the opportunity to discreetly check out the room. There was not much, it was a very simple room. Apart from the bed she was in there was a bookshelf and wardrobe on one wall, separated by a window, and a small table next to the bed. On the wall opposite the bed was a small, wooden door. The sunlight poured in through the window, casting the entire room in a harsh, white light.
"Thank you," Sheik whispered. "How long was I out?"
Malon grabbed a small, wooden chair from the side of the room, and sat herself down before answering.
"Only a couple of hours this time," she said.
It took a second for Sheik to process the words.
"Wait, 'this time'?"
Malon nodded.
"Yeah, you slept for a solid couple of days after I found you," she answered. "You woke up for a little bit last night, but went back to sleep pretty quickly."
Sheik nodded. Yes, she remembered that, vaguely.
"Frankly," the redhead continued. "I'm just relieved you woke up at all. We're pretty far from any villages out here, so I did try and learn a little medicine, but you were a bit beyond what I was ready for. And I'm more used to treating animals anyway."
Malon's tone was deliberately light, but Sheik could see how tense her shoulders were as she spoke, that evening must have been quite an ordeal for her. Well it had been quite the ordeal for her too, but she had been trained for that sort of thing, and it was not hard for her to recognise the enormity of what this girl had done.
Sheik inclined her head, fighting against the stiffness in her neck.
"Thank you," she said. "It looks like I owe you my life."
The redhead waved her hand as though dismissing her praise, but then gave an embarrassed little giggle, and Sheik could see the colour rise in her cheeks.
"Don't worry about it," she replied. "I wasn't just gonna let someone die in front of me. And with the blizzard setting in I wouldn't have made it to the closest village. Not fast enough anyway."
"Still, thank you," Sheik said.
Then silence descended between the two of them, not really an awkward silence, but not a comfortable one either. Sheik felt like she should say something, but she could not think of how to begin. She had been given etiquette training twice over, but it had been a long time since she had been required to make polite conversation with a perfect stranger.
Eventually it was Malon who broke the silence.
"How'd you get injured so bad anyway?" she asked.
Sheik tried not to freeze like a startled rabbit as she scrambled to come-up with an answer, she should have expected Malon would want to know about that.
"Call it an unfortunate misadventure," she answered.
It was not the best excuse she had ever come up with, but it would have to do.
"You were running from Ganondorf's men, weren't you?" Malon asked.
This time Sheik did freeze, and she felt her blood run cold as she locked eyes with the redhead. Was this girl one of Ganondorf's minions? She did not look it. Not that being pretty necessarily said anything about her morality. But no, she could not be. If this girl was working for Ganondorf, then Sheik would likely not have woken up at all. Not unless this girl had figured out her secret...
"How did you know that?" she asked.
"There were a couple of soldiers poking around the outside of the ranch the night I found you," Malon answered. "I was afraid they were gonna barge in, and demand I let them search the place."
"And what would you have done if they had?" Sheik asked.
Malon's gaze turned down to her knees, and her shoulders hunched over as she began to pick at her skirt.
"I don't know," she replied.
Sheik actually felt a little disappointed with that answer, then felt disappointed with herself for feeling disappointed. It would have been entirely unfair for her to expect someone with no combat experience to stand up to trained soldiers, and it was not as though the girl had asked for an injured Sheikah to collapse in front of her.
That was the moment Sheik's stomach chose to growl, and the tension in the air completely dissipated in the face of it's discontent. The blonde could felt the colour rising in her own cheeks as she realised just how hungry she was, she felt absolutely famished actually.
Malon's mood also seemed to do a complete reversal, her blue eyes sparkled as she raised her head again, and a cheeky little grin formed on her lips.
"Hungry?" she asked.
Sheik coughed into her fist, and turned her head to the side so that she did not have to meet the other girl's eyes.
"Perhaps a little," she answered.
"Well, that's not a surprise," she replied. "You haven't eaten properly in a couple of days. Stay here, and I'll go fix you something to eat."
With that the redhead rose to her feet, and padded over to the door, shutting it behind her with a soft click as she left the room.
The room went very quite and still after Malon left, almost as though all of the energy in the room had gone with her. It was probably the snow Sheik mused, it had some remarkable properties Snow. Take for instance it's ability to absorb sound, which is why it sounded so much quieter when there was a build-up of snow, and why even when you did hear something it sounded so very slightly off. One would think that would make it an assassin's best friend, but there were some obvious downsides to working in snow, about from the freezing cold. It was hard to avoid leaving tracks, for instance.
Sheik sighed, whilst the properties of snow and how it related to her work were interesting, she knew she was just using it to avoid thinking about last night.
She had acted rashly, she knew that. She had not scouted the area properly, had taken too many chances; but if she had waited any longer she would have been witness to more innocent blood being spilled. Perhaps they could not defeat Ganondorf until Link returned, but that did not mean she could just sit around and watch her people suffer.
The blonde realised she was clenching her hand tightly, and forced herself to open it again.
...Yes, her people. She had to remind herself about that sometimes. That she was not Sheik, she was Zelda, princess of Hyrule.
Seven years spent living under any alias was wearing on her mind, and sometimes even the darkest recesses of her own mind she found herself thinking of herself of Sheik of Kakariko, instead of Zelda of Hyrule. It was like the shadow of Sheik was growing larger and larger within her with every passing day, and one day it would consume Zelda completely. The very idea terrified her, because despite everything she did not want to lose who she truly was.
She raised her left hand in front of her, and stared at it as though expecting to see something; but there was nothing, nothing but plain, slightly-tanned skin.
She sighed again. So much for her supposed wisdom, if it had not been for her Hyrule would never have ended up in this state to begin with. It had been her plan that had ended with Ganondorf gaining access to the Triforce; her plan that had ended with her father dead on his throne and Link trapped in the Sacred Realm. It had been her plan that had placed the people of Hyrule under the boot of a cruel tyrant.
Her eyes started to burn, and she took another shuddering breath.
The guilt hurt, but she clung to it, because it was one of the few threads she had left to tie her to her past.
The latch clicked again, and the hinges squeak slightly as the door to the room opened again. Malon walked in holding a tray with both hands, and the kicked the door closed behind her. The tray she carried has a bowl on it with steam gently rising from the surface, and Zelda can already smell the tomatoes.
"I thought soup would be a good idea," Malon said, with a smile. "Since you have't eaten in a couple of days."
The blonde tries to adjust herself as the redhead draws closer, only to grimace as that sharp pain shoots up her side again.
Oh right, that, she thought.
"Are you alright?" Malon asked.
Laden with the tray as she was, the redhead was not able to rush to Zelda's side as she had previously. In response the former princess waved her hand, and reclined back into the pillows. At least she had an excuse for the tears.
"I'm okay," Zelda replied.
The redhead hummed thoughtfully, and looked down on the blonde with concern. The she did something wholly unexpected, she smiled. A little smirk pulled at the corners of her mouth, and her blue eyes suddenly sparkled with mischief.
Zelda was immediately on guard, she very much did not appreciate being stared at like that whilst she was bed-bound.
The princess kept her eyes on the redhead as she walked over to the chair beside the bed, and sat herself down. Zelda raised an eyebrow as Malon set the tray down in her own lap, lifted the spoon out of the soup, and blew on it lightly.
She realised what the other girl was up to when she held the spoon out to her. Her eyes went wide, and she could feel the colour rushing to her cheeks as she caught on to the implication.
"I – I can feed myself," she protested.
"Of course," Malon replied, with a smile. "But with your injuries, it might not be a good idea to have you rest the soup on your own lap. If nothing else, I really don't want to have to try and do any washing in this weather. I'd never get it dry!"
The redhead did not look particularly put out by the idea, in fact her smile was wider and more wicked than ever as she continued to hold the spoon out in front of her. Well whatever, holding out your arm for an extended period of time was actually quite taxing, and the former princess was certain that she was stubborn enough to outlast her.
Except that the scent of food caused her stomach to rumble again, as if to remind her of just how hungry she was, and the redhead actually giggled at the sound.
Zelda barely bit back a groan as she opened her mouth, and allowed the other girl to feed her.
The soup was a lot stronger than she was used to, so strong that it very nearly brought tears to her eyes, but it was not bad. In fact, given how hungry she was it tasted damn near divine! It was thicker than she was used to too, and when she swallowed she could feel the hot, creamy liquid warm her insides.
"There, that wasn't so hard now was it?" Malon asked. "Do you like it?"
"It's very good," Zelda reply. "Rich, but not completely overpowering."
Malon's smile transformed, becoming a little less wicked, and a little more sincere.
"Thank you," she replied. Then she dipped the spoon back into the soup to prepare another mouthful.
They spent a minute or so like that, with Malon feeding her, and Zelda trying to stave off the feeling of being seven-years-old again.
"You know," Malon said, eventually. "When I first found you I thought you were a boy."
"I get that a lot," Zelda replied, between mouthfuls.
She did not mention of course, that it was an image she was deliberately trying to affect.
Strangely, Malon's cheeks went slightly red then, and she suddenly appeared to be having trouble meeting her eyes.
"I see," she said. "Of course, then I took you clothes off, and, well..."
Zelda felt her cheeks burn, again, but otherwise managed to retain her composure. She was not sure why she was so embarrassed, back when she was a princess she had used to have people who helped her dress; of course, she had been a child back then, and so had not quite understood the implications of having other people see her undressed. Well, it had also been a long time since then.
"You – um," Zelda stuttered. "You took my clothes off?"
Malon nodded.
"To treat your wounds," she explained. "You had quite a few of them. But the one in your side was the worst."
Zelda nodded. Okay, right, yes, that made sense. Really, she should have realised that herself.
As the blonde swallowed the last of the soup, Malon dropped the spoon back into the empty bowl with a light "clink".
"And that's all of it!" the redhead proclaimed.
"Thank you for the meal," Zelda replied.
"You're welcome," she answered. "Now, with my patient all tended to, I have to go make sure the animals are doing okay too. Will you be alright by yourself for a bit?"
"Of course," Zelda replied. "In fact, I might try and get a little more rest."
"Probably a good idea," Malon said. "Alright then, I'll come and check on you when I'm done."
With that the redhead turned and left the room, leaving the blonde all by herself. Zelda gently eased herself back down beneath the covers, enjoying the feeling of warmth they brought with them. She had not been lying just then, she really was going to try and get some more rest, she wanted to try and regain her strength as quickly as possible.
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AN: Yes, the beginning of another new story from me. I promise I'll get back to my other stories, eventually, once work calms down. This was just a lighter story I started writing in my spare time over Christmas, and is currently planned to be about seven chapters long.
JamesB
You needed worthy opponents.
- Location
- Kansas
This is interesting timing. I'm close to finishing Ocarina of Time for the first time. The characters and time put this as shortly before Link is released from the Temple of Time, 7 years after he (unwittingly) allowed Ganon to take over Hyrule.