Feeling the sunlight kiss her exposed skin from the open window created a sense of nostalgia as she slowly opened her eyes in arousal. Everything was bright, even the deteriorating wooden ceiling that stared her in the face. Sitting up on the bed, she pushed the blankets a bit to allow for more room. The room was so familiar; splintered windowpane, creaking floorboards, a lonely emptiness... She was back in Kakariko Village – that breezy, dry, deserted place.
Her ears perked to the laughter of children outside, something she had not heard for a very long time. A thick book on sky people rested peacefully on the petite table beside her. Sitting on top of the book was a folded note waiting to be opened. Delicate fingers traced over the cucco-scratch handwriting.
Dear Irene,
Get well soon! You're such a brave person. I'll take care of you while you're sick, just like you took care of me. I was scared when you came back. I thought you were dead. But I'm glad you're not!
From Colin
P.S. Link was really worried about you, too.
A smile spread softly across her face. She put the card back on top of the brown book. The back of her head throbbed as she tried to recall what happened. The last thing she remembered was dodging an intense flame flying right at her.
The wooden floor creaked with the weight of a person standing beneath the arch of the doorway. It was none other than the chosen hero in green himself.
"Hey, finally awake, huh?" he said. His words were drenched in subtle relief and softness. Link walked over and sat at the foot of the bed.
"What happened?" Irene asked, holding her head gingerly.
"Well," Link hesitated, "during that last battle, you got knocked out by the monster's shackles. It hit you pretty hard on the head and crushed your body with its weight." He waited for a response, but nothing came. He decided to go on. "I brought you here as soon as I could. I laid you in the spring for a while. It's got healing properties, so all of your wounds and burns were healed. You've been out for four days. Colin was so worried that you were just going to sleep for the rest of your life!"
"Thanks," she muttered, looking down. Disappointment seeped into her thoughts of her falling unconscious and failing to make it through to the end of the battle. She wished she could've been stronger.
"It's nothing. To be honest, I was kind of worried too. But now that you're awake, everything seems to be okay." He smiled reassuringly at her.
"What was the treasure?" she asked out of the blue, looking up at him, as if she were analyzing his soul.
"Treasure? Oh," he said slowly with caution, not sure if she should know about it, "it was just a piece of the Fused Shadow." The blank stare he received from her signified her ignorance on the subject. But she did not choose to question it. Instead, she hummed in response.
"You should go outside," Link said, getting on his feet. "Come on, the kids probably want to see you." He prodded her out of bed. She followed silently, like a puppy with nowhere else to go. Surprisingly, her formerly crushed body wasn't aching so much as her head was pulsating with each step.
The creakiness of the wood beneath their feet irked Irene to no end. When they finally got outside of the large, empty building, they saw the three children playing around. Beth was pretending to be an imprisoned princess, while it looked like Talo was playing the role of the hero, leaving Colin to be the villain by default (though it really didn't suit his nature). She pitied the blond boy whose fate was to receive the short end of the stick. Talo was busy trying to hit Colin with a rather long stick he pulled from a tree nearby. What kind of a villain doesn't have a weapon?
