I'll be in hateno for the holidays

666

Ring ring ring ring riiiiiiiing Zelda's phone was ringing and she picked it up off her desk to answer it
"hello, this is Zelda" she said
"hey, honey, how's my favorite employee doing?'' her boss asked "got any info for me yet?"
Zelda rolled her eyes
"nope, still working" she said I the most polite tone possible
"I've got to collect the next batch of samples and analyze them against the samples I brought with me, then make a hypothesis and test again"
"yeah yeah ok, just let me know when you have something. I'll call back in the next few days to get a progress report from you. Bye kid''
Zelda hung up with a sigh. She really did have a lot of work left.
Normally she'd be happy about that but the more time she spent working, the less time she spent with Link.
"I wish I had an assistant" she thought "hold on" she said out loud "I've got an idea.
She grabbed her field kit and put in two extra pairs of gloves and a few trowels. She picked up her phone again and dialed link's number, something she hadn't done in years
"hello?" She asked, apprehensive "Zelda! Hi" came Link's startled voice from the other side of the phone.
"I was wondering if you were able to see me earlier today, I had an idea for something we could do, you could even bring Arln"

In half an hour they were all happily doing field work.
Link put Arln on his shoulders so he could reach the leaves of the trees and he had a lot of fun.
Zelda saw two women crouched by the bottom of a tree and walked over. "Hello!" She said
"hi" said one of them, not looking up "oh, hello" said the other, standing up to face Zelda.
"Don't mind my sister, she's just really focused"
"I see" said Zelda. "Can I ask what you're doing?"
"Yeah, of course, we're truffle hunting. This forest is a good spot for them and you can't beat that flavour mmm mm!" She said
''how interesting..." Mused Zelda "well, good luck, have a nice day" she walked back to link and Arln.
"Zelda, we have a problem" said link "what?"
"I'm afraid we've completely filled all the collection containers you brought with you. It was mostly Arln"
he told her
"that's not a problem" she said, beaming at Arln
"looks like you're quite the scientist. I'll just run these up to my lab and then we can get lunch like we planned.
Do you want to come to the lab with me?" She asked.
"can we we can we?? Uncle link?" Begged Arln
"if Zelda says it's ok"

"See here," Zelda pointed to a graph "that is the amount of nitrogen in the soil down the hill, compared to the soil from a park in castle town.
We can also see all kinds of DNA, or doozy ribonucleic acid from all sorts of animals. Squirrels, birds, even fish!" "Wowww" said Arln.
"I want to be an ecologist like you when I grow up" his smile faded. "But does that mean I'd have to live in the big city?" "Not necessarily" Zelda assured him
"we can always use more scientists out in the field, in places like this"
she looked up as link came out of the bathroom.
"You guys ready for lunch?" He asked "sure thing" said Zelda.

At the little cafe link and Zelda got latte's and Arln had an hot chocolate. They had delicious tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches as well, with sugar cookies for desert.
"Mm that was so good!" Exclaimed Zelda.
Once they were done they took a little walk outside.
"Arln, it's about time you got home" said link "we have to help your mom with the cows. You should come with us, Sun"
it took link a moment to realize that he had accidentally called Zelda by his childhood nickname for her.
He kept talking hoping that she wouldn't notice
"I mean, you left your clothes at the house yesterday and you probably need them back so if you want you could come get them today and-"
"why'd you call her 'Sun'?" Arln interrupted.
Link rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed
"because I loved sunshrooms so much" said Zelda laughing
"well, that's not the whole reason" said Link
" she was always so good at growing plants, it was like they needed her, like she was their sun"
Zelda blushed as he met her gaze
"and she always made the day brighter " she didn't know what to say in reply.
He had never told her his reason for calling her that. She had always thought it was just a teasing Nickname.
"Huh" said Arln, unimpressed. "Whattyou say?'' asked Link.
"Hm?" Zelda was brought out of her reverie and focused on link, who was extending his arm to her.
"Are you coming?"
Zelda smiled and wrapped her fingers around his hand.
"Me too!" Said Arln. He held up his hand expectantly and Zelda laughed.
"Of course" she took him with her free hand and the three made their way to Aryll's house in a wobbly line.
Zelda couldn't remember the last time she'd had so much fun just walking somewhere

Authors note:
For thouse of you wondering 'Arln' is pronounced Àrr-ull-nnnh

This chapter's playlist