New Home - BotW Link x Reader (Undergoing Revisions)

Chapter 12 - First Night by Firelight

It was silent, then.

Link's adamance regarding my place here - as in, I was only to be a side character in the journey I had chosen to come on - was troubling at best and incredibly worrying at worst.

I was shocked, embarrassed, and more than a bit frustrated at the fact that he was so worried I might get hurt or die that he didn't want me anywhere near the fighting, even if that meant I wouldn't know how to defend myself if monsters were to chase me, but more so, I was upset at the possibility that I had upset him.

To prioritize how someone felt about me... what was happening to me, really? I couldn't say for sure why I felt the way I did as I continued to tend to the fire, then worked to prepare and cook some of the  fresh fish I'd caught in a babbling stream nearby, but I could certainly hazard a guess.

I cared too much.

Never in my life had I been so quick to trust someone - and it wasn't unfounded, I was sure of it. Or maybe I was delusional. But no, because it was obvious he had a big heart, and he hadn't done anything to betray my trust in him - and clearly, he trusted me, for he had let me tend to his wound.

But it felt off. I felt I knew Link, but there was something reserved, something tucked away and hidden from view that I had not gotten to see clearly yet, but only in glimpses: in battle, when he ducked into this stoic, quiet, knightly sort of self. It was so different from the laughing, jovial, bright boy I'd already met.

What scared me now was that I had no idea which was the true Link. Was it the one he kept carefully hidden away, or the one he presented? Or maybe... neither of them were him. Maybe I didn't know him at all. Maybe I was giving myself far too much credit.

I pushed those troubling thoughts from my mind, at least for now. It wouldn't do me well to dwell on them, especially not when we'd only been traveling together for half a day. I knew this journey would be hard, but to think we'd argue so soon...

No matter. He was just concerned, and I was, too. We were concerned in different ways - we cared in different ways, for different reasons. But if I knew anything, I knew that the only way around this was to push through it.

Still, I didn't want to apologize, otherwise he might think I conceded, which I hadn't. No, I definitely wouldn't do that. I didn't want my feelings undermined because he thought he knew what was best - and maybe he did, but I wasn't going to give in so easily.

Maybe there was a way to apologize without apologizing, but as I mulled it over, only the sounds of nature and the crackling of the fire found our ears, and I was content with that. It allowed me to think.

It seemed that Link managed to gather his thoughts and grant voice to them before I'd even begun to sort through my own.

"You're good at that," Link said quietly, his voice reaching mine only because of our close proximity. I looked over, away from the fish skewered on sticks I'd planned on using for kindling as they cooked over the fire, and found that he was trailing his fingertips across his arm, across the bandages now covering his wound.

"It won't scar," I said, choosing for now not to comment on his compliment.

It sent too many butterflies alighting in my belly for me to focus on it without growing flustered, so I forced them down into the pit of my stomach and changed the subject as best I could.

"When we reach the stable, we should stock up on gauze and whatever we can find that can clean wounds. I know there are herbs somewhere in Hyrule that are natural cleansers, but I don't know where they are."

Link seemed particularly interested in that and suddenly, I was the sudden focus of a set of stunning cerulean eyes. "That would be helpful," he said. "Where'd you hear about that?"