Shades of Blue

Purah

I'm not going anywhere...

I'm staying here, with you...

You don't have to be afraid...

I'll be here when you wake...

We just have to find each other again...

And we will...I promise...

It was not often that Link woke slowly. True, in the past few days that he had spent in Kakariko, he had the pleasure of sleeping in a bed, waking up to the slow startup of the village, nothing to stop him from dozing off again as he tried to regain his feet. As he returned to the road, however, and regained more of his memories, he knew deep in himself that he was not often able to take such moments for himself.

For that reason, it came as very little surprise to him that he was awoken rather abruptly the following morning. He snapped awake abruptly, mind whirling instantly, ready for movement. What did surprise him, however, was the fact that what had woken him up was a loud whinny, a high pitched scream, and something that sounded suspiciously like breaking wood.

That couldn't be good.

In a fraction of a second, he had the sword and his shield in hand and was on his feet, darting out of the ruins of his house and around the corner to the source of the sound. He didn't care that he was blinded by the sun, or that his armor remained in the house. All he knew was Epona had made that sound and there was someone near her, likely the source of the scream. He had a vague thought of don't take her but he didn't give it time to form completely before he rounded the side of the house and came upon the scene.

Epona had backed herself out of her stall, now staring down (somehow furiously) at a strange person. She was pawing at the ground with clear agitation, and the person had the good sense to at least back a few steps away as Link ran up. Upon seeing Link, Epona settled somewhat, trotting over to him with a huff and sniffing at his hair. Link grabbed her reins with his shield hand and focused his tired eyes on the stranger, who was now gaping at him like a fish.

The stranger was a young Hylian, perhaps a few years older than Link (if you counted a certain way, he supposed) with dark hair and wide eyes. He had a set of tools strapped to his belt, and there was a heavy sledgehammer leaned against the side of the house which had not been there when Link had put Epona away the night before. He must have been some kind of workman, but what he was doing at Link's house, he couldn't say.

"Y-you're—" he stuttered, pointing at Link weakly before dropping his hands and staring at the house for a moment. "She's your horse—"

Link tensed, clenching his left hand on Epona's reins and adjusting his grip on the sword. If this stranger meant to take his horse—

"I wasn't going to take her!" he said quickly, apparently reading enough from Link's steely expression to backtrack another step. His eyes darted somewhere over his shoulder. "Only, I'm meant to start demolishing this house, and I didn't want her to—"

He cut off as Link's frown deepened into an all out scowl, and he tossed the sword to the ground to sign an angry, "No."

The stranger floundered for a moment, staring at his hand. "I—what?"

Link repeated the sign and shook his head for good measure.

"No, I'm sorry, I understood, it's just—" the stranger paused, again seeming to struggle for words. "Well, I...I have to, you see—"

"My house," Link signed stiltedly, pointing at the house, feeling his hands beginning to shake. Epona shuffled next to him, picking up on his distress. "It's mine. You can't."