Fragments of the Past

reconcile

Had you been in better spirits, you likely would have been admiring the beautiful location Sidon had brought you to to study. The Zora prince had led you up a tall staircase to a private area that overlooked the Rutala dam reservoir, which was breathtaking enough on its own. With the sun beginning to set, it was even more beautiful.

You could barely even see the scenery, though, with the tears currently clouding your vision. You gripped the scroll in your hands hard as you willed the tears to dissipate, tying to no avail to focus on the words in front of you. Several piles of scrolls and other reading materials were laid out on the stone bed, and though you had been sitting here for well over an hour, you had hardly even made a dent on the mass of papers.

After a few moments of staring at the document with no success, you pressed your palms flat against your eyes, rubbing desperately with the hope that the tears would go away. Maybe if the knot inside your chest would untangle, then you would be able to find the information that Link needed, and not be such a deadweight to him. As it was, though, you felt as though your presence was doing more harm to him than good.

The events of the day replayed in your mind, and if anything, the knot in your chest only tangled further. Really, you didn't know whether you wanted to cry from feeling miserable, or out of frustration at Link. You really couldn't make sense in your head just what it was that you had done to make him give you the cold shoulder, but it was eating away at you.

Though the interaction with him had happened several hours before, you felt as though your heart hadn't quite stopped aching since, and it was beginning to take a toll on you. You felt exhausted, and if the emotional pain wasn't enough, there was still a slight dull aching in the back of your skull.

Part of you screamed to just give in, succumb to the weight of the emotions building up inside of you, and cry. The other part was still so busy trying to figure out just what you had done to make Link so upset that it couldn't even decide whether or not you should cry.

The emotional side won.

Sucking in a small, harsh breath, you allowed your first tears to fall in earnest. They rolled heavy down your cheeks, and left your face contorting into an expression that you knew was ugly.

You couldn't bring yourself to care what you looked like, though, as you gave into the weight of the emotion that had settled itself over your heart during the day. As tears stained their way down your skin, you leaned back on the bed until you were staring up at the ceiling of the awning.

You weren't sure how much time passed like that, staring up at the cerulean stone with tear-clouded vision, but eventually the sound of footsteps pulled you out of your emotional fog. At first, you thought it might have been Sidon coming to check on you.

At least, until you sat up and were met with the sight of one blond knight who made your heart feel like it had been ripped out of your throat.

Oh.

Well, now you definitely cared what you looked like.

You rushed to wipe at your cheeks, knowing that there truly wasn't anything that you could do to disguise the obvious evidence that you had been crying, but still trying nonetheless.

In an attempt to act even more casual, you cleared your throat, now trying to nonchalantly wipe the snot from your nose. Gross. And, great, you probably looked like an overly-emotional wreck to him, cause this is definitely what you wanted him to see when you guys next spoke.

Just great.

If Link noticed your tears, though, he didn't say anything. Instead, he kept a fair distance away, standing by one of the banisters of the awning that hung over the little makeshift study area. While his gaze was mostly focused on the floor, he briefly looked up at you, raising his hand in a tiny half-wave.