A Shed of Hope

Chapter Nine: Zelda

“What do you want to do first,” Link asks from my side. We stand in the middle of Castle Town, the market bustling with activity. Kids run around looking into windows and calling out to parents. Parents call for their kids, shop for needed items, and do window shopping on expensive things they can't afford for their children. A huge fountain sits in the middle of the market, spraying cool water on the kids that sit on the stone fountain’s edge. Link and I stand next to each other next to the fountain, Link in a green tunic and pants with his belt holding a pouch of rupees I gave him earlier and me in a hot pink sundress with silver flats and my hair in a side braid. No one that passes by us notices who I am, seeing I am wearing no headdress like I usually do when I go outside of the castle grounds. I look from one shop to the next, wondering what to do first.

            “Well,” I say, looking down at my stomach before looking back up at Link. “I am kind of hungry.”

            “Great,” he says, “I know a great place to eat. I've been here a couple times since Ganondorf brought me to the castle.”

            “Where is it,” I ask, giggling as Link leads me down a narrow pathway.

            “It’s just down here,” he says, “a great takeout place. We can eat on the edge of the fountain if you want instead of inside the small restaurant. It’s not a grand place, but the food is great!”

            He leads me inside a small, stuffy shop that has few tables, but a long counter to the side as soon as we enter the door. A small bell rings and a middle-aged man with a short beard and a bald head walks up to the front of the counter. I look at the menu written on a piece of cardboard right next to the payment box. I look it over with Link looking over my shoulder.

            “A sandwich place,” I say, observing the menu and seeing that only sandwiches are available.

            “Yes,” the man behind the counter says in a kindly manner. “The best sandwich place in Castle Town!”

            “I’ll take a chicken sandwich,” Link says, looking up from the menu and to the man.

            “I’ll take a turkey one,” I say right after.

            The man rings us up and we each give him our share of rupees as he hands over our sandwiches a couple minutes later. Link and I pick them up, still wrapped in tissue paper, and walk back to the fountain. We find a nice place in the shade and sit next to each other, our shoulders touching. We eat out sandwiches in silence, enjoying every last bit of them.

            “What next,” Link asks as he tosses his wrapping in a garbage ben.

            “I don’t know,” I answer, tossing mine in after him. “Maybe some games, like the sharp shooting for bow and arrows.”

            “Sure, why not,” Link replies as we start walking across the market, into a small shop that had a picture of a target on the door. “I didn’t know you had an interest in weaponry.”