💓- A memory about their friends
They exchanged stories around the table, familiar with one another and confident. Urbosa spoke of her triumphs as the Gerudo Chief, while Revali insisted that sand storms were nothing to the wings of any self-respecting Rito. Daruk’s laugh barreled and rolled, temporarily muddling the other voices in the room before they all came back into focus. Mipha, as usual, was the one least to talk. She smiled and offered anecdotes, sweet words from the wisdom of her people, but was goaded into admitting that she was deadly with her spear.
His hands did not talk with them-- only half of them could really understand his words, and he had always preferred to be quiet in a crowd-- but instead they stirred a pot, broth thickened with flour, stewing cuckoo thighs, carrots, and amaranth greens in a pot. He lifted the spoon to taste and reached for the pepper mill to add a touch of something more.
“Link, what about you?” Daruk spoke, and yes, his voice came as loudly as he laughed. “Little guy like you must have done something exciting to be a knight already!”
“Oh hush, let the boy finish dinner before he gets ashamed of himself,” Revali spoke next, and despite how strange a Rito’s voice sounded to him, Link could hear the inherent mocking.
Still, he began to spoon out bowls for them all, offering to Mipha first before the others.
“Do you want me to tell one for you, Link?” Mipha offered, since she knew him the best and could remember a few reckless adventures in Zora’s Domain.
He shook his head and shrugged before gesturing to everyone’s bowls, bidding them to taste.
Urbosa ate first, and she grinned wickedly at him, a very dull beam of pride in her eyes. Not the kind of maternal looks she had for Zelda, but something similar, though she had only known Link a matter of days. “I think this is his claim to fame,” she said in a light hearted joke. “Knight or not, the Chosen Hero can cook.”
Link stared at the fire. It had no pot, it had no table. It was barely sheltered from the rain. A hand-caught trout skewered on a stick, slowly trying to cook itself through skin and scales and bones.
He looked to the ground and his mud soiled boots.