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Chapter 04 - Search for a Stranger

"Wait, back up," Thadd said, clearly surprised - and really, who could blame him? I certainly couldn't. If I'd heard anyone else say what I had, I'd have been confused too. Hylia, I'd probably think they were lying. It was all so outlandish, so incredible, so strange. "No way. You... You fought monsters?"

"Tried, anyway," I said, finding it somewhat amusing how clearly his shock shone through across his face, in his eyes and in his expression. I fought the urge to laugh - when we were kids, he was never able to hide what he was feeling. It seemed he still couldn't, even now, all these years later. "I mean, I guess technically I fought, but... I didn't kill any. I... couldn't."

"And you were at the beach? Our beach? Here in Hateno?" I nodded in answer, and he didn't quite seem to believe it yet. "(Y/n), that's insane. That would mean they had us surrounded, at least for a time." 

His brows pinched together with concern and frustration, and his eyes bored right into my own. He'd always had a talent of seeing right through me, too. I suppose if his inability to hide his emotions hadn't gone away since we were children, then so too hadn't his ability to always tell what I was thinking or feeling. 

All at once, his concern increased, his worry doubled, and he looked so fear-stricken that I'd have thought he was the one who just fought monsters.

"Your life was in danger! Why didn't you come get someone? I could've... I could've helped! I should've been there! I should've-"

"Thadd," I cut in gently, shaking my head. "If I ran for help, there was no telling if they might not have chased me. If I ran all the way to you, the monsters might have reached town, too."

"Your life was in danger and if something happened to you, if something... if you got hurt or worse, or..."

"Coming to get you, it crossed my mind, it did," I assured him. "But I couldn't risk leading them to the village.

"But..."

"I get it," I said. "I know you want to protect the village, and I do, too. At that moment, I wasn't really thinking."

"No," he agreed, looking away for a moment. He certainly looked troubled, and again, I couldn't blame him. This was all so much, it was a troubling thing to hear. "I guess not." His eyes found mine once more. "I'm glad you're alright, (Y/n), truly."

"Me too," I said softly.

"And... you are alright, right? You're not hurt anywhere?"

I smiled. "I'm alright, Thadd, really."

Really, I was lucky to have made it out with my life. If that stranger hadn't been there...

"Thadd," I said suddenly, catching his full attention. He blinked, and his eyebrows rose upwards. When he hummed in response, I stepped closer to him, remembering why we'd come to see him in the first place. "Listen, you've been standing guard here all day, right?"

"Yeah," he answered uncertainly. "Like every other day. It's my job to stand guard here. Why do you ask?"

"I mentioned I didn't kill the monsters," I reminded him. 

"Right."

"Someone else did it for me."

"Who?"

"A stranger," I told him. "Though we love our tourism, we haven't gotten travelers here in a long, long while. We come to know everyone here, don't we?"

"Right," he said slowly once more.

"Anyone who enters the village goes by you first," I said, smiling now. His cheeks started to warm once more, and he swallowed hard as he nodded.