Wanted to show some character interactions that got cut from the finished chapter! this was supposed to be after nayru and zelda talk in chapt. 20, but it didn't fit, so it got slashed. so enjoy some Ere and Zelda being friends and adorable together!
Zelda shivered in the Forgotten Temple's stale air. Her snowquil tunic was far too heavy to bother with in the slight chill, but she couldn't help the icy feeling in her gut. Outside, the gloom rain continued to fall.
"Are you... okay?"
Zelda didn't look away from the crumbling entrance of the Temple. Somewhere, deep, deep below, hidden behind the fallen statue of Hylia, Sayuri slumbered, finally at peace now that her instructions had been given, able to sleep eternally with her sister and niece. Hopefully, Rauru was at peace with his family as well, if Zonai were permitted into the Sacred Relm. Zelda wasn't sure about that, and frankly, at the moment she didn't care much as she sat, inches away from searing gloom, watching it drip from scarlet clouds onto the dusty ground of the canyon. If she squinted, she could pretend it was blood.
Blood like-- like--
Zelda squeezed her eyes shut, forcing the thought away. Link was fine. Link was a hundred thousand years in the past, but he was fine, and most certainly not a dragon with a sword sticking out of his head. Sayuri was a crazy old woman and Link was fine.
Ere took another hesitant step closer, shifting her wait awkwardly. "Wanna, uh, get away from the skin-fryin' rain?"
Zelda grunted.
"You're shaking. Just, come on back, alright?"
" 'M fine."
"... Okay."
Zelda knew she shouldn't turn her back on the (ex?) Yiga, but she was confident the sage's Vows would skewer Ere long, long before the woman managed to stick a demon carver in her back. Instead, the woman inched forwards and sat beside Zelda, a careful foot or so of space between them.
"What." Zelda grunted.
"You got any food in that fancy slate?"
"It's a pad. Not a slate. That one belongs to Link."
"Well that's good, right? Wherever he is, he's got his fancy slate."
"Nope. Broke it."
"B-- how do you break Sheikah tech? I don't know how much time you spent digging around that stuff, but as someone raised with it, it's pretty damn unbreakable."
"Diving accident. He hit a cliff."
"He. He what."
"Hit a cliff."
Ere blinked, then snorted, shaking her head. She was surprisingly expressive-- or maybe not so surprising, given she spent her life behind a mask.
"Do you-- excuse me for asking, but did you ever take the mask off?"
Ere cocked her head. "The Yiga mask?"
"Yeah."
"Of course. Those banana's gotta go somewhere."
"So that's real? You really eat all that?"
"Of course! Banana's are wonderful. Truly a blessing from above."
"You're gonna die of potassium poisoning."
"You just haven't had my fried bananas with candied cool safflina. Gives that perfect surge of power with a hint of cooling energy for a hot day."
"I'll admit, I've never really eaten banana."
"What!?" Ere grabbed her shoulder, and Zelda's hand was on the Master Sword's hilt in an instant.
"Shit!" Ere yelped, jerking back from the blade. "I'm sorry-- it was a friendship grab! I swear! Not a murder grab!"
Zelda didn't lower Fi, eyeing Ere's empty hands, raised in surrender. "Murder grab?"
"You know! A grab for murder!"
Zelda couldn't help it. Maybe it was the exhaustion of speaking with Nayru, or the information overload with Sayuri, or the nameless desperate emotion that had clung to her since she learned of dragonification, but instead of telling Ere off, Zelda laughed.
Ere looked at her like she'd grown a second head.
"I have--" Zelda choaked out between wheezes "A portable cooking pot, and some overripe bananas. Can you make me something?"
Ere grinned, holding out her hand for the pad. "Consider it done."
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