Between the Lines || Link x Mipha

Chapter 15: Secret Creation

Liana quietly hummed to herself in the comforts of her own room. She was tucked away in the bottom left corner of her room where she had an easel of papers and a specially designed Zora mannequin. Normally the easel would have been covered all over with architect plans and designs, and having a mannequin—a male one at that—seemed quite out of the ordinary. The easel was covered with information about fabrics, metals, stones, and the design and dimensions of a special armor, including a special someone. The mannequin had fabric draped over it and there were ink markings on it to label specific points in the armor.

Denim blue fabric wove in and out of each other as Liana moved her needle in a rhythmic motion. Currently she was working on the left sleeve of the armor. She was being as careful and meticulous as she could. She did not want to make a single mistake. It had to be perfect.

Liana peered over to her easel of notes, her eye catching the notes about stones. She quickly skimmed through it until she got to the notes about opals. A ring of opals adorning the cuff of the arms, it stated. The young princess carefully finished the last few threads of the sleeve. She set her needle and thread on the easel and walked over to her nightstand. She opened up the drawer and picked up a silver box that was inside. As she strolled back to the easel, she opened it and set the box down at the side table next to the easel. Liana smiled as the variety of gems, ores, and rocks illuminated her face.

"Oh, Klay," she whispered to herself. "I really hope you love this." Suddenly, a rapid knocking came from her door, and she knew exactly who it was based on how loud and annoying it was. "Hold on, be patient!"

Liana quickly closed the box, turned the easel around, and carried the mannequin over to her closet. Before she could fully open her closet door, her brother happily barged in.

"Liana, I got great news—" Valik stopped in his tracks, Liana stopped as well, her hands gripped around the waist of the mannequin. Without a second thought, Valik slammed the door shut behind him, knowing that he stumbled in on a secret.

"You couldn't have waited for a second longer?!" Liana huffed and continued to set the mannequin in her closet.

"Hey, no need to put it away, I've already seen it," Valik walked over to her and motioned her to take it out of the closet. She reluctantly did and nudged the closet door shut. Valik circled around the mannequin. "This is looking really good, Liana! So..." he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and she scrunched them up. "When's the proposal? You gonna take Klay to Satori Mountain? Oh, how about Rabia Plain? That place is always nice and peaceful."

"I don't know," she squirmed away from him and folded her arms. "You weren't supposed to know about this. No one is."

"Yeah, I figured," he slightly laughed. "I won't tell anyone, I promise."

"You better not! Seriously! I'm still not even too sure about the design yet. But anyway, what are you doing here? You just coming to bother me again?"

"Well, I've got some great news, and you will be the fourth one to know!"

"Okay," she gave a confused chuckle. "Who were the first lucky three?"

"Mom and Tayli's parents," he smirked and eyed Liana closely. "And, I just told them the news about an hour ago. Think you can guess just from that information?"

"Hmm, is it about those rumors that have been going around about Tayli? I mean, I know none of them are true, but I know they've been getting out of hand lately."

"No, I mean, yes, well actually the rumors affected the news into happening."

"Huh?" Liana paced around and tapped her chin. "Give me another hint."