#mandis

“Did you find out why we can’t go past the barrier?” Beedle asked.

"Ok, well… Fuck," Mandis replied. 

“Oh no, what was it this time? Were we carrying too much stuff? Was the entry blocked by the rulers? Although that should have been taken care of by the king ages ago.”

“It’s nothing of that sort, but I wish it was. You can’t go in with me.”

“What, why? Both merchants are supposed to be allowed to enter when they are under orders from the king.”

“Well, fuck how do I put this? Gerudo Town doesn’t really allow men inside the walls.”

“But the princess and her knight were allowed to enter. What makes our case so different, honey?” 

“I don’t know, but we must follow these damnable regulations if we are to achieve our mission.” She ran her hand through her tied hair before continuing, “I’ll try to get them to relax it for you, but it seems like this may be the one fucking thing that we can’t do.”

“We’ve certainly gotten through worse despite the dangers. After all, without Link’s protection so long ago, Windblight surely would have been the death of us.”

“But there’s never been something as simple as this keeping us apart,” she stated, trying to keep the memories of that dreadful trip out of her mind. “I’ll finish this stop up as quickly as possible, but you’ll likely have to stay at the inn that we passed earlier for at least a night.”

There was hesitation in both of their actions as they tried to make themselves go to their own objectives for the night, unwilling to leave each other knowing how close the Calamity loomed over the two of them. Beedle began slowly unloading the goods stored in his pack into Mandis’ cart. 

As they stood in front of the gates to Gerudo Town, their second to last stop on this trip before they went back to the castle, there was a realization that shot between the two as Beedle removed the last thing that they had packed away in his bag. “I suppose it’s time for me to leave then.”

“I guess.” She took a breath and continued, “Although I wish you could come with me, Bee.”

The nickname rolling off her tongue was almost enough for Beedle to tell her everything that he had felt from the very moment that he had met her. But he stifled down the riot of feelings within his chest once again before saying, “So do I.” 

The urge to tell her how he never wanted to leave her, even for the simplest of trips like this one, was harder to beat down, but the look upon her face as she looked up from the full cart was almost enough to defeat his willpower. 

“Well, it’s getting dark and you still have to get back to the inn despite the perfectly reasonable amount of lodging here,” she began. 

“Yes, but perhaps this conversation outside the walls of Gerudo Town is so much more important than my possible lodging, honey,” he said, interrupting any goodbyes she may have begun. 

“I can’t see what about this conversation before we see each other tomorrow is so important to you, Bee, but I suppose I can stay out here for a bit longer. After all, the deliveries are to be made in the morning and then we can begin our journey to Zora’s Domain.”

Neither one of them were attempting to leave at this point despite the lowering temperature and the mass of Gerudo who were entering the gate around them. It seemed that there were also a few stragglers around them, unwilling to enter the desert town without these last few words to friends and those who were perhaps more.

None of this was obvious to either of them, however, as they were deep within their own bubble of not wanting to leave the person who they had become so close to over the course of this calamitous time. Their conversation had stopped, instead leaving a companionable silence that neither could break without mentioning the fact that eventually they must leave. 

It was only once they realized that they were the last of those standing outside the walls that they broached the topic. “I believe that it’s time for me to finally leave you.”

“I could come stay at the inn with you. We can still make it back here in time for the deliveries in the morning.” 

“I could not ask that of you. After all this time spent deliberating on when it shall be time for me to leave you, you should stay. And return to me after the deliveries are done. I shall await you at the inn. I believe I can get some more supplies from the shops there while I wait.”

“Beedle, I just, I want you to know that I would have come with you if only you hadn’t been so adamant about me staying.” She had been so close to revealing the truth that she had hid behind so many locked doors, and yet it seemed almost freeing to do so. But it was not the time. Perhaps after all of this was over, she could attempt something new with her closest friend. 

He was back. A small part of her that had been worrying calmed at the sight of him looking at some of the arrows she had on display. As he grabbed a few bunches as well as two towels that she had made a few days ago, she wracked her brain, trying to remember the prices she had given him last month.

The ones for other customers were written down on a cheat sheet near her elbow, but for him, there were lowered prices. Not enough to be obvious, but enough for him to keep coming back as often as possible. After all, it wasn’t like there weren’t a dozen stores on the island that sold the things that Beedle needed.

As she watched him walk up to her with his handful of items, she finally recalled the price of the towels. Mandis was about to begin her normal script, when he said, “Did you know that apparently there’s a store on this island which sells marked down prices to certain customers?”

Oh no. He had figured it out. “No, where’d you hear that?” She asked as all thoughts of pricing went out of her head.

“Some of the townspeople were discussing a merchant and her paramour as well as how little he had to pay for goods from her. If I was the lover of a merchant, I would ask that they not decrease the price for me in order to continue their source of income, but I suppose that’s just me.”

She breathed out a sigh of relief before stating, “I’d be the same. I couldn’t let them lose money because of me.” Even if I was already doing that for you, she thought.

“Well then, in order for you to not lose any, what must I pay you today for your goods?”

“I believe your total is,” She stopped for a second, trying to wrack her brain for the price of the arrows, before continuing, “50 rupees.”

“That seems even lower than last time!” he exclaimed. “Is trade doing well around here? I can’t have my favorite merchant going out of business.”

His descriptor of her brought a flash of heat to her cheeks, and she quickly replied, “It’s fine,” before he could notice anything was off. “I think the prices are the same. Your memory may perhaps be the problem.”

She tried to find something to package it with, knowing that there was nothing behind the table beyond rupees of every color. The chance of making him stay for longer was far too tempting than forcing herself to find a nonexistent container.

But this moment was not meant to last forever. She stood up straight for the first time in a couple minutes, her back already complaining at the strain that she had put on it, before stating, “It seems that there’s nothing that I can give you to package your items with.”

There was a hint of reluctance as she collected the proffered rupees. It was unclear to Mandis whether it was just her wishful thinking or that perhaps Beedle may feel the same way about her. She brushed it off and quickly stashed the rupees. There was no use dwelling on this matter for now. After all, he had only come here for supplies before he set back out again.

As she gave him back his purchases, there was a moment, just a single moment, when their hands brushed past each other. It didn’t even properly register in her mind until he had taken the towels and arrows, but during that barely even a second action, it seemed as if time had stopped.

The slight warmth from his slightly calloused fingers, the roughness caused by weeks on end spent on his shop ship, and the possibly nonexistent spark of something that she felt were all that she could think about.

He stopped for a second after that simple touch, seemingly about to say something. There was a moment of tension, thick enough that even the sharpest of knifes wouldn’t have been able to make a dent in it, when he just took a breath before saying, “Have a wonderful day!” in that stereotypical customer service voice.