Linkguistics

Part 17: Cats?

Kilton looked at the Hylian that had startled him. The Hylian was sitting on an large block of ice with an odd design on it and wearing some glowing armor. Kilton had initially wondered if some new monster species which was previously undiscovered came here.

"I suppose you're here because you heard I was opening a monster shop and you wanted to see for yourself."

"Monster shop? Um, I'm here because I look for Master Sword?"

"Master Sword? I'm opening a monster shop called Fang and Bone. I'm still preparing for my grand opening." Kilton handed over his business card to the short man then asked for it back. "Anyway... Do you, uh... Are you into monsters?" Link looked so confused that Kilton realized he might need to repeat himself. With Link's strange accent Kilton should have known he'd need to speak more clearly.

Link said after the third back and forth, "Am I into monsters?"

"Yes. That's what I'm asking." Kilton could smell various creatures on Link. He hoped maybe this was a foreign monster researcher who could compare notes with him or even tell him about new creatures outside Hyrule's borders.

Kilton did not pick up the note of dry sarcasm when Link said, "I like them."

"How much do you like them."

"I ADORE monsters."

"I LOVE MONSTERS MORE THAN YOU DO!"

"Ha! Say, do you know about Master Sword?" Link stared openly at Kilton, who stared back.

"No? I don't know if it exists. Who cares about it when we can talk about MONSTERS."

"Um, okay." Link looked thoughtful for a moment and pulled out a notebook. He flipped through torn and scorched pages. Kilton hoped he was looking at a new variant of Lynel when Link held up a picture. It looked less... sharp. "What about animals? Do cats be in Hyrule?"

Kilton wasn't sure why Link looked so disappointed after they talked more. Kilton really wanted to hear more about tiny Lynels that people tamed and became best friends with.

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Hateno Village had been quiet today.

Manny saw the strange foreign guy riding in on a magnificent horse. Link seemed to have new armor and although Manny hadn't seen him before, his reputation preceded him. Link was stopping to talk to everyone in his strange accent and it didn't take a spyglass to see people getting confused by the questions. Soon enough, Manny's turn came. He was going to check and make sure he could figure out what this guy was up to.

Manny leaned back and casually said, "Hi."

Link remained on his horse and was already flipping open his notebook. "Hi, I'm Link."

"Hi. I'm Manny."

There was a lull in the conversation. After waiting to see if Manny had more opening pleasantries to add, Link got out a book. Some of the pages looked a little scorched. This might explain the faint smell of smoke which lingered about Link's person. "You know of Master Sword?" Link pointed to a sketch in his notebook.

"Uhhh, no one knows where it is? It's only a legend." Manny didn't see the page Link was writing on. His list of vocabulary had another tick mark next to 'legend' and he planned to check his understanding of the word later in Kakariko.

Link flipped to another page and pointed at a strange creature Manny had not seen in Hyrule. It had a strange resemblance to a Lynel. The drawing looked less menacing, somehow. "You know if any of these in Hyrule? Is cat."