Apothecary

Chapter 18

We continued through the rest of Faron Woods, setting out from what I learned was Faron Spring. When we discussed it, Link said it was very close to another spring that wasn't far from where we were headed next. I was rather curious to see this other spring—something in his voice told me he knew it well—but unfortunately, we passed it up. He said we'd revisit it later, but I was still a little disappointed. However, all that changed as soon as I saw what was in store.

"Whoa!" I exclaimed when we stepped forward into a clearing in the woods. "Whose epic treehouse is that?

The hero raised a hand to his head. "...That would be...mine, actually. This is my hometown of Ordon Village." He said sheepishly. "There's...no special reason we had to come here, I just wanted to. You know, since we just happened to stumble into your hometown, I thought it was only fair..." He trailed off and stared at the ground. "Um! Anyways. I haven't been here in a while, so some of the villagers will probably want to--" 

As if on cue, a voice interrupted him. "LINK! Where have you been?!" A teenage girl, around my age, suddenly tackled him and knocked him over. I jumped back, but Link acted as if this were completely normal, and he sighed from the ground. "...they'll probably want to see me. Hello, Ilia."

"Hello?! Is that all you can say to your best friend at a time like this? You've been gone for almost four months now! Colin is absolutely miserable, I'll have you know." At this point they had both stood back up and he was listening to her rant with a slightly guilty expression on his face. "I was getting really worried, because you never write anymore and--" Ilia stopped short, apparently just having noticed my presence. "...who's this?"

I took my cue and introduced myself. "Hi, I'm Y/N. It's nice to meet you, Ilia." I waved.

"Nice to meet you too, Y/N..." She trailed off, something apparently dawning on her. She glanced rapidly back and forth between Link and I as if trying to figure something out, her expression becoming more and worried each time she did so. Finally she buried her face in her hands. "Oh, no."

The hero looked over at his childhood friend. "Is...is something the matter?"

"Link. You didn't."

He looked genuinely confused. "Ilia, what's wrong?"

"Please tell me you haven't dragged another girl out on an adventure to--" She cut herself off and abruptly turned to me. "How long have you been speaking to him?"

"A-about two months?" I was confused as to why this mattered.

"Even better!" She whirled back to the mystified hero. "Link, do you really not realize what you're doing to her? Are you blind?"

I had to cut in. "I'm sorry, is...is there an issue here? Do you have a problem with me?"

Her expression immediately softened as she turned back towards me. "Oh, no. You're fine. It's him I'm worried about." She pointed an accusatory finger at him.

"I...I really don't see what you're talking about." Link looked as confused as I felt.

"You don't see that you're just going to--after all the times that I--okay. Okay. Fine. I give up." She looked wearily back to me. "Welcome to Ordon. I'll go tell everyone that you're here." She stalked off frustratedly, taking the reins and muttering something about "leading people on" under her breath. We watched her go.

"Link?"

"Yeah?"

"Do things like that happen often?"

"Yep. Once she stole Epona the day that I was to deliver a custom sword to Hyrule Castle."

"...what."