Ilia's Secret (part 1): Waiting for Link

[knilnolam 0]

Twilight was descending on Ordon, throwing an orange haze over the small village. Silver dust moats played in the warm light as it shone through her stained glass window. Ever since the fall of Zant, the hour of twilight now brought with it an air of comfort and unity, rather than sadness. Ilia let herself become immersed in the soft glow and couldn’t help being reminded of Link and all that he did to restore balance to the world. She smiled to herself and let her eyes wander to the path that lead to the ranch.

Time always seemed to move slower when she longed for him, almost as if it were teasing her nerves on purpose. In a hopeless attempt to calm her fluttering heart, she sighed restlessly and tried to focus on finishing the decorations for tomorrow’s banquet.

Bo had been organising the event for quite some time now and she knew he would want it to be perfect. Every month, on the annervisory of Zant’s death, a gathering would be held in the honour of those who helped to save Hyrule. Each gathering was held in a different town; the first was Kakariko Village, the second Zora’s Domain and now it was Ordon’s turn to act as host.

As Ilia finished threading the last line of flowers through the elaborate centre piece, she heard a faint, yet recognisable whinny outside her window. She looked up excitedly to see Link leading Epona past her house.

‘Finally...’ she breathed as she hurried down the stairs. When she reached the bottom, she threw open the door and skipped towards him. Link caught Ilia around the waist with his free arm and kissed her affectionately. She wrapped her arms around his neck and lent into his body.

‘There’s something I need to talk to you about,’ she whispered in his ear.

‘What...?’ He said as he brushed his lips against her neck. Ilia pulled away to look around. Everywhere she looked people were either busy setting up the village or going about their evening chores.

‘Hmm...Not here.’ she said biting her lip.

‘Is everything all right, Ilia?’ Link asked.

‘Everything is great,’ she said brightly as they started towards Link’s tree house, hand in hand, ‘I’ve been waiting for you all day-’

‘HEY! LINK!’ Bo’s voice boomed and Link turned to see him and Rusl standing by a long, wooden table, ‘Hey, son, lend us those muscles of yours for a minute will you?’

Link looked hesitantly at Ilia, ‘Er...’

‘Unless you kids have more important things to do, that is!’ Rusl said beneath a smirk.

‘It’s OK, you go and help them,’ Ilia smiled at Link, ‘I’ll tell you another time.’

‘As long you’re OK,’ Link kissed her on the cheek and ran towards the two men who were now laughing and making jokes at the young couple’s expense.

Ilia sighed in both disappointment and annoyance. She had been waiting for so long to talk to Link alone.

Hmm, trust Pa to steal Link away. He is always interrupting at the most inconvenient of times... she thought as she made her way back inside to prepare dinner.

READ NEXT: Ilia's Secret: The Arrival