I sat in the big cherry wood tree that stood in a mini jungle of canopy leaves about twenty feet off the ground, maybe half a mile away from the Lake Hylia. I was on the largest branch that was about three quarters of the trunk's diameter. It was damp after a short rain, which I had sat through. I had been there the whole day. I could tell that it had been the whole day because it was beginning to get dark, but I didn't care. I didn't care if I went home, was brought home, or just spent the night where I was. My body was soaked to the bone from the rain; my clothes clung to my skin. My wet hair stuck to my face and limited my vision. I could have cared less at that point. It began to rain again, spattering against the barkless tree and me. There was no more of me to soak; even the toes of my shoes were completely drowned. I shivered, yet I felt no chill. I did not feel warm, not cold, not anything.

Just numb.

The rain was not the first thing that began to wet my skin. My tears stained the collar of my royal dress. After that the rain took care of the rest of me. I didn't cry again.

The last time I had sat in this tree, it was the most magical time of my life. I would never have a time like that ever again.

The reason?

It was who I was with that made it magical.

I was still fourteen, like I was while the rain washed away all of my perfect memories of him.

I stared down at my clenched fist, drops of water running down my white tensed knuckles. I forced myself to uncurl my fingers to reveal a gold necklace chain that held a gold flower surrounded by eight gold rings about the size an “O” shaped like a diamond around the flower, which itself was about the size of my whole fingernail. He had given it to me. But I also held something else in my hand...well...on my hand. A small gold band with a small diamond with tiny rubies surrounding it rested on the third finger of my left hand. Yep, a ring.

I was engaged at seventeen.

Engaged and then unengaged.

I looked down at the ring after I put the necklace back around my damp neck. After twisting it off my finger, I stared at it for a moment and then read the writing engraved on the inside.

Two hearts, one heartbeat. I love you- Link

The beautiful ring might as well been a sword. Every time I looked at it, or even thought about it, my heart felt as if a blade, recently sharpened, had gone straight through it. I just never saw any blood. Deep in the back of my head I wished there was. My fingers curled around the ring so tightly that the sapphire began to bite into my flesh. I didn't even feel it. I stood up in the rain, holding the trunk with one arm as I held the ring in the other. I opened my hand to look at it one more time, feeling the pierce into my chest, then lowered my arm, letting it slip from my palm. I heard it clink against the large roots of the tree and then all was silent, except for the rain, and my one heart beating faintly.

Then, as I looked at the ground, everything suddenly grew blurry, and then the blur grew bright, and then a great flash of light blinded me so that my eyes retreated back into the far reaches of my memory, to the last time he and I were together.

 

We sat on the largest branch of the cherry wood tree. I held his hand and laid my head on his shoulder. We felt a light fog slightly thicken the air.

“Tell me something,” said Link, waiting till I moved my head to look up at him. “What was the greatest moment of your life?”

I thought for a moment. Then I squeezed tighter on his hand.

“When you told me you love me,” I replied.

“I say that all the time,” Link said.

“And it never gets old.”

I felt his hand move around to the back of my neck, fingering through my hair a little.

“I love you.”

I closed my eyes, letting the wonderful words sink into my brain.

“I love you too.”

Then, Link pulled my face up to his and kissed my gently. Like all of our kisses, they gradually grew deeper. Our lips moved together, where then I placed my hand around his neck. I felt his tongue gently caress my lips, then the edges of my teeth, then my own tongue.

But as all wonderful moments end, so did the kiss. I gently pulled away from him, then laid my head on his shoulder, breathing in deeply the perfume of his breath. I heard him chuckle softly.

“Are you tired?” he asked, putting his arm around my shoulders.

“You wore me out,” I replied. “You're a really good kisser.”

“So are you.”

I smiled, but kept my head on his shoulder.

“Remember when we agreed to wait till we were twenty-one to get married?” Link asked.

“Yep.”

“There's a difference between being married and being engaged.”

Before I had time to react, I felt something cold and metal slip onto my finger.

“Are you willing to wait?”

I looked down at the tear shaped ring and smiled. I gazed back up at him and nodded.

“Yes I am,” I said. He sighed with relief.

“Good,” he said. Above, the sound of thunder startled me. Link reached out an caught me before could fall off.

“We'd better get home,” he said, slipping from the trunk and landing on the moist dirt with a muffled thump. I slipped off after him and he steadied me as I landed, holding me by the waist. Another thunder clap sounded.

“Sounds like a big storm,” I said. “Everyone's probably gone inside.”

Link looked up, then smiled down at me.

“The storm will have to wait,” he said, pulling me closer. “Like you said, everyone's inside. No one can see us.”

That's when he kissed me the most passionate. His fingers trailed through my hair, while his other arm curled around my back, holding me tight against his chest. I weaseled my arms from his grip and wrapped them around his neck. I felt him smile through the kiss. When we pulled away after a minute or so he was still smiling.

“Ok, now we can go home,” he said, taking me by the hand and leading me back to the castle.

 

I jolted out of my flashback when a clap of thunder struck the sky. My body felt numb and limp. So limp, that I could no longer stand up and lost grip of the trunk. I fell forward into the cold mud, rolling down a small lump that the tree was elevated on. I had felt the roots when I hit the ground, which was a good sign that I hadn't been paralyzed by some paranormal depression. I still felt the cold rain on my back, not knowing why it felt why the sky was pressing down on me like a giant block of ice, about to crush me. I raised my face from the ground and saw a shimmer right in front of my nose. The ring sat in the mud, gradually being buried by the erosional effect of the rain and dirt. I inched my hand weakly to reach it, fingering for it. I felt its cold metal surface and held on as hard as I could. I used the rest of my strength to sit up and lean against the tree. With my cheek I felt the indention of a carving Link had put into there the day before he died. In side the carved heart were the words Two hearts. One heartbeat.

That was our little saying. It was quite incorrect now though. After, the accident at the Gerudo Valley Falls, everything changed. My family was here, there hearts beating. There was Link's family (the Kokori) there hearts were beating. And my heart was beating. But it was so faint, one might have thought that it wasn't beating at all. That was because part of it had been ripped from the rest. Now, it was just an incomplete organ.

My lonely, one, faintly thrumming heart.

 

Back to Story Menu