Luminescence

There Is No Gentle in Killing

Ilia waited for him like a crouching tiger at the bottom of the ladder. The moment he touched the ground she pounced.

"I want to come with!"

He wasn't in the mood for this. "No."

"How come?"

"You know why."

"Aw, come on, I need to get out of this dinky place some time!"

"Just drop it."

"How hard could it be? I could ride behind you on Epona—"

"This isn't some jolly stroll through the woods, Ilia. There might be monsters out there and I have to get there by nightfall. Besides, the princess is asking for me, not you and whoever."

From above them he could hear the door snapping shut as Luna stepped out. He could see her peeking over his porch with far too hopeful eyes.

"That applies to you too, Luna!"

The pale eyebrows scrunched together and her wings rustled. Ilia only spared her a glance before returning her full, green-eyed attention on him. She turned on her best puppy eyes—which made him feel more awkward than guilty.

"Please, Link, I beg of you! On all that's holy, I'll give you anything!"

He paused in reaching for Epona's saddle, which hung in a small shack besides his house. Suspicion tickling his neck, he looked back at her.

"Why are you so into coming with me?"

Ilia gave the same exasperated eye roll that Rusl had given him that morning; as though he were stupid. It was starting to get on his nerves.

"Isn't it obvious? I tried to talk to you about it yesterday before she came. Luna, right?" Pink warmed her cheeks once more and she looked off to the side. "My father pointed out that I am at the age I should...I should consider getting married." her eyes snapped back on him. "And I am not marrying that Sorens ass, so don't you get started!"

Link nearly jumped a foot in the air at her venom. "I wasn't going to!"

"Good."

There fell an awkward silence between them. He tried to fill the space by coaxing Epona over to him with a handful of grains and slinging the blanket and saddle over her back. As he leaned down to buckle the straps a moist, fuzzy nose nuzzled his ear. He almost didn't hear Ilia's next words over the sound of oats being munched.

"So, you see, I don't need to go near the castle at all. You could just leave me in the town while you're doing your business."

"Okay, okay. One, I wouldn't leave you in town all by yourself. That's just stupid, something bad could happen. Second," he eased out from under his horse and gave her an incredulous look, "you're really asking me to help you manhunt?"

She winced. "Why do you have to say it like that?"

"Because that's what it is. You're manhunting."

She gave a muffled grunt of frustration. "Well, what am I suppose to do? Wait around for father to bring me home one? This is awkward enough without ending up in an arranged marriage."

"What's wrong with that?" he leaned down to tug another strap of the saddle. "It's pretty much the same thing as what you're going to do."

"But what if he's ugly? What if he has, I don't know, toenail fungus, or-or—"