Anju and Kafei // A Zelda Tale

Chapter 5

That night Anju was sitting in her room at the Stock Pot Inn. Her mother and her grandmother entered the room.

"Anju, please. Don't be like this."

"A simple hello would be nice." Anju calmly avoided eye contact with her mother.

"I'm sorry Anju, but I just can't let you stay here. I want what's best for you, and-"

Anju had had about enough of her mother's obliviousness.

"If you truly wanted what was best for me, you would let me stay! I don't care what you say. Nothing can change my mind at this point."

Her mother sighed. Anju looked at her. Was that... a tear? Anju was speechless. The only time she had seen her mother cry was when her father died.

Anju's father had been a Terminan solider. He had a special mission at Ikana canyon. Anju was about 5 at this time and she was smarter than they thought. She had heard tales of men being turned into spirits, and begged her father not to go.

"Father, please! You can't go."

"Sweetie, I'll be back. You'll see me again." He looked doubtful. "But no matter what, please always remember to always persevere at what you believe in and if you believe I'll be back, then I'm sure to return."

Anju held onto those words for the longest time. After a month of her father's absence, she began to lose faith. One day, a fellow solider came to the house.

He quietly spoke to Anju's mother in the hall. Anju didn't need them to explain what happened, she knew.

She ran outside, tears falling down her hot face.

"I believed in you! You lied!" She sat on the cold stone for several minutes before her mother found her.

"Anju, I-," her mother's words were cut off by a sob and Anju hugged her mom like she had never hugged anyone before. They sat and cried for what seemed like hours before the Stock Pott Inn customers started arriving.

Her mother was never the same. Anju learned to hide the pain, but it still broke her mother sometimes.

For her father's sake, she knew she had to wait for Kafei. That's what her father would have wanted.

Anju snapped back to reality. She saw her mother staring at her, but quickly looked away, fearing the look on her face would trigger mourning for her mother.

"Very well," her mother said. "Have it your way."

Her mother and grandmother left the room, and Anju was alone.