Link peeked out when the rain at last appeared to stop, and I blearily watched as he did so. After I finished snipping his bangs, we'd talked for a while, and of nothing of value, not really.

Unable to scrounge anything together to eat, all we were able to do was snack on what little provisions we just so happened to keep in our pockets - a pouch of dried berries from my own pocket and, go figure, nothing from Link so we had to share. Though we were still hungry, we had few other options but to wait out the storm, so wait it out we did.

"It's over," Link said at last, and I sat up, stretching my arms above my head. I was met with a few satisfying pops of joins and bones, and I relaxed with a content sigh. Link was already gathering up our things and I joined him in doing so. We tied our tunics to our waists, then began the climb down.

I dropped down the last few feet and landed in a puddle, sending rainwater and mud splashing around but I didn't mind. I turned and faced the ever-darkening world. The clouds of the storm had hung down about the earth like a blanket, and now that the clouds had cleared, one might have expected it to be brighter out - if not for the fact that it was by now nighttime.

The moon was visible through the breaks in the trees, a waxing gibbous that cast its glorious and reflected light down at us. The entire world seemed to take on a ghostly blue hue, and I curled and uncurled my fingers to work the tension from them after my arduous climb. Link stood next to me, cracking his neck to one side and then to the next.

"It's a beautiful night," I said, because it was.

I began to walk further from the rock and into the forest. The trees were considerably spread out here. This wasn't the tight and almost suffocating forests of Necluda, this was the rather uncharted and unruly land between Hebra and Central Hyrule.

The land here was flat anyway, and I realized right away that maybe I should let Link lead, considering I had no idea where the horses had gone to - but for this moment in time, I was content just to walk slow, my fingers linked behind my back, looking up at the fractured canvas of sky I could see through the branches.

I let my gaze catch on different things, on this constellation or there on the moon, and when an owl passed through, I let my eyes follow it as it dove low through the trees, flying on silent wings and weaving in and out from between the trunks.

When something golden and glowing appeared just before me, I smiled, because I'd heard of these but had never seen one for myself. They didn't live out east, not as far east as I had grown up, and so this was my first time seeing them.

It was my first time seeing them, but I knew exactly what they were.

—

She was right; it was a beautiful night.

Link followed from a few paces back, content with the slow and lazy pace she took up. From here, a few feet away, he was able to watch the way she took in her surroundings. She had been looking up at the stars but certainly there were more stars residing in her eyes than in the sky; the pale shade the entire world seemed to take on right now was ghostly for most, but heavenly for her. She looked as though she lived for the moonlight, for the way it shone down and made her eyes shine.

Her gaze was soft, and when an owl dove down, she lowered her gaze to watch it fly past. Even long after it disappeared into the trees, she kept her gaze directed ahead of her, not at all perturbed by the idea that Stalfos might be lingering beneath the dirt at their feet, waiting for an opportunity to spring up and catch them off guard.

He allowed her to exist as such, bathed in the light of the moon. He elected himself to be diligent, and he rested his hand upon the pommel of his sword.

It didn't last there long.

He instead grabbed his slate, and the tablet illuminated at his fingertips. To his camera he went, and he wasted no time in lifting it and directing it towards her. He took her photo, and he captured a perfectly candid moment of her eyes widening at the sight of a lightning bug nearly alighting on her nose. They were all around, illuminating the area with their brief sparks of warm yellow light. Strangely, she seemed absolutely enamored by them, cupping her hands together to gather one of the insects there. It perched gently in her palm and she looked down at it, delighted as it dimmed for a moment then relit with the most beautiful spot of gold.

In this journey, if he were to fail Hyrule once more... if he were to fall again in battle...

And if the goddesses granted him a third chance...

He did not want to forget this. He did not want to forget her.

In theory, if he left photos for himself, even in another century, he could return here and be reminded of all that he had done with her, so long as he captured it. There was little to be done about the past - all he could do was continue to retrieve what memories he could, to piece together the fragmented thoughts that did not feel like his own anymore. The past was done, those days were gone. All he had were photos, and all he had were memories.

But if he should fall again, if the goddesses were so cruel as to make him suffer another century alone...

Should he awake in a Hyrule once again familiar yet strange, changed with the turn of another hundred years, he did not want to forget her.

Satisfied for now that he captured the moment, he wanted to live in it - and so he clipped the slate to his belt and approached her.

—

"I'll be back soon, firefly," he had said, only moments before descending down into the shrine.

I sighed. Soon, my ass.

Firefly was what he'd recently taken to calling me - and unlike the other nicknames he'd tried so far, this one seemed to stick, if only because he hadn't dropped it after only calling me by it once. Of those he tried, they all only ever escaped his lips once before he'd shake his head and decide upon trying something else.

But firefly... he seemed to like that one.

"This should be a quick shrine," he had assured me as he stepped up onto the platform of the structure. I nodded, guiding my mare to a sturdy looking trunk so I could tether her there to graze for the time being.

"Be careful," I responded to him then, tying off Sky's lead. I had met his gaze, only to find that he'd already been looking at me. He smiled reassuringly at me, and I wondered what prompted it - had I looked worried? At any rate, that's when he called me firefly again and descended into the shrine.

"I'll be here," I had spoken into the silence after he was gone. There was nothing left for me to do but wait - theoretically, so long as I was near Epona, I could wander. If that's what I wanted to do, that was an option. Of course, I could wander alone, but Link wouldn't be able to find me.

...And unless I kept a really good track of my surroundings and my path, I wouldn't be able to get back here.

...And it wasn't like I had a magical and technologically advanced bit of machinery at my hip to help me.

So, here I would stay. Certainly, if the silence dragged on too long, and my loneliness persisted, and my boredom got the better of me, I might go on a walk with the horses, but for now I would rest. We'd traveled a lot these past few days, and a lot had happened. We'd faced lots of monsters, and done lots of fighting, and traversed nearly the entire region of Central Hyrule in a matter of days.

We'd gone in a hurried pace, because neither of us wanted to linger - and with the Divine Beast just now visible in the sky, we had a clearer heading, and I couldn't help but be excited to see it closer.

What I was growing tired of seeing, though, were these damned shrines. Could I really not go into them with him? If it was anything like the slate, it was tricky, but there were tricks I had learned to use it. All Link had to do was hold it, and it would work for me as easily as it worked for him. If I held it, it would not allow me to navigate through it, nor use its tools - but as Link had let me play around with, if he held it, I could do as I pleased.

(And I only nearly blew us up once!)

With that logic, I figured there had to be a way for me to enter a shrine with him, right? Certainly it wasn't so advanced that the platform would or could somehow leave just me behind, and allow Link in? Certainly it wasn't so picky that the doors could close on me but not him?

I didn't know.

Honestly, I didn't know much about the thing itself, much less be able to guess at its inner workings. Link said there were puzzles inside, and they went underground. So theoretically, I could dig down and break in, right?

...Maybe?

Again, it was something I didn't know, so it wasn't worth thinking about further.

But it took up some time, so I elected to do it some more. Say I did dig down - was the shrine's inner workings protected by an impenetrable wall? Because I had time to do so, now a few minutes had passed and the horses were happily tethered near each other and were grazing, I stood and approached the shrine. I rapped my knuckles against the side of it, finding that it was solid and sturdy and probably indestructible, at least by means I could come up with on my own.

It wasn't wood, nor was it metal. It felt natural but couldn't possibly be so, unless it was birthed of the earth by the goddesses themselves. The entire thing seemed to thrum with magic, quiet and dormant, but there all the same.

"Trial for the hero, huh," I said quietly to no one in particular. "He already fell in battle once, sacrificing himself for Hyrule... what more do you need?"

Of course, I got no answer, but I sighed anyway, as though expecting one. I turned on my heel, stepped off the platform, and headed towards where I had left the horses' gear. Left saddleless and unburdened for now, the horses were happy to rest and as though knowing I was thinking about it, Sky proved my point further by easing herself to lay down. With a playful nicker she rolled onto her back and then over, rubbing dirt into her hair.

"Oh, come on," I said with a laugh even as I crouched down with a knee to the dirt, reaching for one of the saddlebags. "Is that a hint? Do you want a bath soon?"

She snorted indignantly, and I rolled my eyes and redirected my focus to center on the bag in my hands. The trees were, evenly spaced out as they were, allowed ample sunlight to filter down and illuminate the forest floor. Morning dew still clung to the grass, and I pulled out a thin book, one that I had shoved into one of my packs upon leaving Hateno, one I hadn't anticipated being able to find time to read... but one I was finding increasingly more time to read.

I'd be done with it soon, and I'd have to pick up a new one or reread this one and I really didn't feel like doing that, so I was left with the former. Perhaps a kind stranger might trade something for it? A book for a book, maybe?

I found a comfy spot to sit in, warmed by the sun but cooled by the breeze, leaning back against a sturdy tree trunk. I opened the book to the page I marked but... found myself thinking of Hateno. I was a long, long way from home.

A smile graced my lips, though.

To Kakariko and back - that had been the deal.

Now, it was to Kakariko, to save Hyrule, and then back.

I lowered the book to my lap. This would be a good time to daydream.

And so that was exactly what I did.

—

My daydreaming very quickly turned into regular dreaming. It was a bad idea to fall asleep outside alone, I knew that - and if Link was around to see it, he'd give me a lecture for sure.

...But he wasn't here.

"Dammit," I muttered, sitting up. I rolled my neck out, and I entertained the idea that I'd have actually not minded getting a lecture from him about being so careless like this because he would have to be around to give it. But he wasn't here, and I was still alone.

As if reading my thoughts, Epona neighed, and Sky was looking my way intently. Ok, so maybe I wasn't entirely alone. But it was time for dinner at any rate, and I'd certainly slept up an appetite, so I took care of the horses first, then got started on my own. I didn't want to make a huge portion of anything, because I didn't know when Link would return, of course. I made myself something light and enjoyed it as the horses enjoyed their own meal. Munching away, I could do nothing more than get lost in my thoughts and in the sound of nature, and it seemed that my thoughts centered about the very boy I wanted to see emerge from the shrine right about now, and actually, right about hours ago.

Hylia help me, I was bored, and I was alone.

Not the best combination.

I was missing his company, that was obvious. Anyone with eyes could see that, honestly.

I had half a mind to get up and try to get into the shrine, but I'd tried that already and it was a fruitless venture. It was dormant, completely and wholly.

At least, that's how it was for me. For Link, it was alive and thrumming with energy and whatever damned puzzle he was faced with, it was giving him an absolutely awful time because who in their right mind would take this long to do a puzzle?!

...unless it wasn't a puzzle? What if there was more to these things?

There was no way for me to know, not unless Link told me. And what he had told me was that these things held puzzles within them. Nothing more, and nothing less.

Like so much about him, there was a lot I had to rely on him for answers to, and this was just another to add to that long, long list. Hylia, he hardly knew who he was, and here he was, trying to save Hyrule once more.

The burden on his shoulders was great, and here I was, wishing for him to do it a little big quicker just to be back at my side.

Just as I was alone now, so was he. He was alone, doing what he had to as a hero. And I was here, wanting him to be at my side once more.

It was selfish, I knew that. And yet...

I couldn't stop thinking about it.

I wanted to help. I wanted to help ease that burden from his shoulders. But how was I to do that when he worked alone? Rather, when he had to work alone?

After my food was gone, I found myself reading some more, one hand holding the book and the other mindlessly twisting the jewel at my neck. After a few chapters, I grew bored again - I decided I could at least do something to pass the time that was productive, so I brushed the horses manes and tails, gave their tack a good scrub in a nearby creek, then gently undid my hair of its complicated plait. I eased the circlet from my hair, something I did as often as I bathed and washed myself.

Though tricky to get the hang of, this was a precious gift from Impa and she had been right - memories did have a way of returning when they were needed and it was so easy now to recall my mother plaiting my hair as Impa had, and now as I do so frequently.

Knelt on the bank of that creek, I looked at the jewel at the center of the crown and sighed. It was meant for the princess, but now it was mine.

And... a thought occurred to me then. Perhaps, just like this circlet, something else, or someone else... once belonged to the princess, but now might have been my own.

No, that's silly.

...and incredibly embarrassing, so I elected not to think about something like that again.

—

I couldn't help it. Bored and alone was a dangerous combination, and in the middle of trying to put some of my weaving skills to good use and craft us up some new pouches or something, my hands still and my eyelids drooped. I tried to force myself to remain vigilant - it wouldn't do me any good to fall asleep here.

Doing so again was definitely pushing my luck, and though I had faith the horses and their heightened senses might hear something coming and warn me about it, and though I also had faith in my own pointed ears maintaining the good hearing they always had, monsters of the night were well-adapted to being quiet, and slow, and that made them dangerous.

Don't fall asleep, I urged myself. Don't fall asleep...

I fought it as best I could, but I was so bored, and so lonely, and that made me sleepy.

Keep fighting it, I implored. Just wait it out a bit more...

My eyes fluttered closed, but I urged myself to sit up, to force them open. Oh, but it was so late, a short nap might not be so bad...

I was roused by my sleep by the feeling of something coming. I sat up, my every sense on high alert and my instincts telling me to be still, to listen and observe for a moment. Something was happening, somewhere close. I could feel the energy rise up from the earth, meeting my fingertips and sparking up, flaring up, stirring something in my heart.

Get up, I told myself. That's exactly what I did, though slowly and carefully. If there was something coming, unnecessarily reckless and fast movements would only bring attention to me. At the same time, if something was coming, sitting down was a good way to get ambushed and easily overwhelmed. I drew my dominant hand to my hip, resting on the pommel of my sword.

Something is coming. Be still.

I remained quiet, no - silent. I was completely still and completely silent.

A gentle breeze rolled through, brushing through my hair, still down and still free of my circlet. Perhaps taking it off had been my mistake - perhaps the dismissal of the goddesses' blessing had brought some kind of divine retribution down on my head.

I was so focused on scanning the environment I failed to check what I was closest to, because by the time I figured out where the movement was coming from, Link was already stumbling out from the shrine's door, stepping out onto the main platform on shaky feet.

"Link," I said happily, so incredibly relieved to see that he finally emerged.

But... he wasn't alright.

"Link," I repeated, all joy in my voice gone and replaced entirely with fear. I ran to him, reaching him before he could slip off the shrine's raised platform and I held him in my arms, looking him over. He was warm, nearly to the point of burning up. He was shaky, with exhaustion and fatigue. He was trembling, his hand weakly coming up to grasp at my forearm and when he held on, his hold was weak.

"Link," I said quietly as he dropped his forehead onto my shoulder. He was breathing heavily and I wondered just what might have happened for him to be so fatigued, this bright and bubbly and, as I believed him to be, inexhaustible boy. "You're shaking... What happened to you?"

"Hey, firefly," he said, lifting his head so he could see me. I freed up one hand and set it on his cheek, my other arm securely wrapped around his back and holding him up and against me. I cupped his cheek gently and he leaned the weight of his whole head against my palm, his blue eyes bleary but shining, his ears drooping and this weary smile on his lips.

"You're injured," I said, catching sight of the angry, red slice running up beyond his hairline.

"I'll be alright," he tried assuring me. "They're already clotted. I just need a good night of sleep..."

"No," I said gently, shaking my head. "You need to stay awake for me, Link. Just for a little while."

"Ah," he hissed when he tried standing tall, only to slump back against my side. "I had a feeling you'd say that. I was hoping you wouldn't, though."

"I have to make sure you're ok before you sleep," I told him. "I'll do it as quickly as I can."

I maneuvered to stand next to him, looping his arm around my shoulder. He leaned his weight against me and allowed me to help him from the platform and down onto the dirt. A few steps away we walked, each one laborious and slow. The horses watched on, clearly concerned, as I walked him towards the tree I'd been leaning against earlier.

Epona took a step closer, and then another, wanting to check in with him as I helped him to sit. He held tight onto my forearms as I eased him down, and I spoke gently to him, then to Epona. "There we go," I said to him. "I know it's not comfortable... You're in a lot of pain, aren't you?" And when Epona nickered gently, straining against her tether to get closer, I spared a glance towards her. "He'll be alright, sweet thing. I'll take good care of him."

Link hissed lowly, and I helped him to lean against the tree's trunk. I kept myself lowered in a crouch as I made sure he was all set, then pivoted to start gathering some medicinal replies. "Link," I said, "can you sit up? I'd like you to take your tunic off for me, if you can."

"I can try," he said, sitting up in a laborious way.

"Don't push yourself," I warned him, looking over at him.

"I'm good to go," he tried telling me, but anyone could see the toll it took on him in even just something so simple as sitting up.

"Oh, come on," I said. "Your tunic is stained through. Did you think I'd be stupid enough to think that it's sauce?"

He caught my gaze then, his eyes narrowed - not with disdain but with strain - and it was clear he hadn't wanted me to notice but truthfully... it had been one of the first things I had seen. I only hadn't mentioned it because if I had, it would have been all that I could focus on.

But sure enough, I was focusing on it now. Blood stained his tunic, a sloping path across his stomach. The proud blue was stained red, and it was not yet dry. It was still fresh, incredibly so - and in a spot like that, it was incredibly likely that it was still bleeding.

"I was in there for a while," he tried, his voice rough and scratchy. "Maybe I made myself some food?"

"With what ingredients? And making a sauce... you told me before you don't know how to do that. So don't lie to me, Link." I sighed, unable to get, or stay, angry with him. He had lied, yes, but that didn't matter right now. What mattered was taking care of him.

"You're lucky," I said evenly, "that I care about you too much to chastise you about it."

"I am lucky," he noted, and at that, because I knew damn well he meant multiple things by that, one of them being that he was potentially lucky to have gotten back here with his life, I hushed him gently.

"No more talking," I instructed, then held a canteen to his lips. "Here. Drink."

Thankfully, he did as I told him to do. When he took in a few long, greedy draughts, I lowered the canteen and helped him carefully pry the tunic off his body. It was obvious because it stained through the tunic, but blood stained right through his undershirt too, so I carefully peeled that away from his skin, too. And what I saw...

Oh, goddesses.

Blood was streaked across his entire torso, but as I carefully pulled the undershirt from the wound, all I could focus on was the sight of blood. The torn skin was angry and inflamed, the cut long and starting about at his belly button and streaking upwards, a diagonal from that point up by his ribs.

I leaned in, carefully removing frayed threads from the wound as I lifted the shirt up and away from him. When at last I eased him to lay back against a bed of blankets and old fabric, the clothes forgotten for now, I watched the way he tensed, suddenly cold.

Yes, I supposed it might have been cold without his own blood clinging to him.

The wound was ghastly, and my heart fell to the pit of my stomach and my entire body seemed to freeze up... But I had to act.

"Alright," I said to myself, knowing that Link was watching my reactions closely and I had to at least pretend to be composed. I settled more comfortably on my knees, then unscrewed the cap from a vial of a homemade remedy meant to clean wounds - including alcohol and other antiseptics, but it was gentler, like soap. It would still sting but at least his wound would be thoroughly cleaned.

First though, I gathered up some old, loose bits of fabric and pressed it to the cut. Link gasped, the feeling clearly an unpleasant one, but it had to be done.

"It's still bleeding," I told him, applying pressure to the wound. "Do me a favor and keep taking deep breaths in and out, ok?"

"That hurts," he told me, and I nearly scoffed.

"It can't possibly hurt more than it did to get the wound," I said, and I didn't miss the way he looked mischievously up at me - and I knew right away he was saying it to try to make me feel better. As though I was the one that needed to be comforted right now. I returned my focus to his torso, and I watched the way he struggled to keep his breathing even. His fingers dug down into the dirt, gouging tracks into it, but I freed up one hand and took his hand gently into my own.

"Easy, Link," I said gently even as he gripped my hand hard, unintentional and accidental. "Easy. Don't put unnecessary strain on your body."

"It's so hard to... It all hurts..."

"I know," I said, knowing that was a hard thing for him to admit. "But I'm here. You'll be just fine."

It took time, and more than a couple of reminders for him to keep breathing, to try to relax his body as best he could, but finally, the wound clotted. I pulled the fabric away then readied a wad of fabric with the salve coating it, then began to clean the wound. At the very first touch, one as light as I could make it be, he sucked in a breath and he held it.

Even as I worked, I took a good look at the skin of his torso. His skin was pale, paler of course than that of his neck and face, but strangely, most of his skin seemed unblemished. This cut here was just one part of a canvas, and it was by far the largest marking I could see. There were slightly raised slices of skin, indicative of past injuries, and the paled, milky white skin of scars. But they were faint, visible only because I was looking for them.

Most of his skin looked smooth, and clean, and healthy. The Shrine of Resurrection had done its job, doing away with a lifetime of fighting. But now, he was back to that lifestyle, because it was forced upon him.

And something about realizing that, about recognizing that this bright and bubbly boy was forced into a life of fighting once more after giving his life for this land once before... That had anger flaring up in my chest.

"(Y/n)," Link said, pulling me from my thoughts, "am I going to need stitches?"

"No," I told him surely, glancing into his eyes. "The cut is thin enough. You'll have to be careful for a while, but hopefully it won't even scar."

"Ah," he said, relieved, "I'm glad."

"So am I," I said. "I suppose it might have been too much to ask that after this journey of yours is done, you might be able to enjoy a life free of fighting and without being reminded of it whenever you look at yourself."

"(Y/n)," he said once more, uncertainly and hesitantly.

I smiled at him, hoping it reassured him. "Don't worry about me," I said. "Let's just get you all patched up."

He nodded once in affirmation, and I got back to work. When the wound was clean, I dressed it, then moved on. There was some heavy bruising on his ribs, so I wrapped his ribcage with bandages just for a bit of support and stability and so it wouldn't brush against the fabric of his clothes, then moved on.

I then brought my attention to his head, to a cut that had clotted by the time he came up but was still concerning. It ran up and beyond his hairline, and though thin, it needed to get addressed as well. So, I did just that. I cradled his head in one arm and cleaned the wound with the other, holding him close in my lap.

By then, he was threatening to succumb to his exhaustion, and that worried me. "Link," I said, looking into his eyes as I finished dressing the slice. He looked awfully cute like that, even I had to admit it - his hair stuck up around the bandage cutely, and if he saw himself he'd surely pout... but right now, sleep was calling to him.

"Link," I said again, and his eyes fluttered open, only for his eyelids to droop once again. It was obvious, so obvious, he was doing all that he could to open his eyes, but he was just so tired. Even so, I urged him to stay awake, to not fall asleep here in my arms. I had to - he still needed to eat, and...

"(Y/n)," he spoke softly, his eyes only just barely able to recognize my form, surely. Still, he smiled, lifting one hand to brush some of my hair behind my ear - it was still down, after all - and he lowered his hand back to his stomach, resting gently atop his wound.

"Just a few more minutes," I implored. "I'll whip something together for you to eat, and then you can go to sleep. Ok? You wouldn't miss a meal of mine, would you?"

"Never," he responded sleepily and, satisfied, I nodded and gently lowered him to lay back against all the bedding. Turning away, I got to work right away, putting some nuts and berries and dried breads together for a quick meal. I'm sure it wouldn't taste that great, but it was all I could do so quickly. Protein, some fruits to rehydrate him, and some pain-killing herbs I ground down and sprinkled on top...

I threw it all together, then helped him to sit up, then helped him to eat. It was slow going, but he ate all the same, and he seemed grateful for it. As he ate, I glanced around at his body - finding streaks of blood elsewhere, knowing that my job was not done.

But for now, this was all I could do.

I glanced at the supplies I had left. They were all scattered about, and I did a quick count of inventory. I was running incredibly, dangerously low. In the morning I would have to go get more, because when next I have to redress his wounds, I would have nothing to do so with.

Suppressing a curse, I brought another bite of food to his lips. I did so again and again, until he was done. If he'd managed to find enough energy to stay awake before, it was surely depleted now, and I guided him to lay down.

"There now," I cooed, smiling at him as he shifted in the bedding. "Are you comfortable?"

"Kinda," he said sleepily, and I'm sure that if in the morning I asked him about this conversation, he wouldn't be able to recall a single word of it. I didn't mind, though. I was just happy he'd been able to stay awake and conscious long enough for me to take care of him. Surprisingly, he pulled himself closer to me, and he rested his cheek against my thigh. Gently, so gently, I changed positions so that I would be comfortable, leaning back against the tree's trunk. He adjusted accordingly, curling himself around me securely.

And just like that... he fell asleep.

And I stayed up, now grateful for my naps, with one hand resting on my weapon laid nearby and the other in Link's hair, gently running through his bangs.

—

I stayed awake through the night. I remained vigilant as Link rested. This close, I could hear his steady breathing, and I could watch the rise and fall of his chest. He rested well, without stirring and without fitfulness... for a while.

At some point well after midnight, when the moon was just beginning its graceful downward arc towards the horizon, I noticed right away when Link began to stir. He sucked a deep breath in and let it out slowly, and I knew he was rising from his slumber. His breathing began to quicken, indicative of waking up, and after a moment, he shifted his arms, stretching them out a little before relaxing. That's when his eyes opened and he blinked once and then once more.

He mustered up the strength needed to sit up, and before I could even set a hand upon his back to keep him steady, he was pulling himself to sit next to me.

"(Y/n)," he said, presenting his hand to me, his voice scratchy and rough still. Unsure what else he wanted me to do, I took his hand in my own rather hesitantly. "You forgot an injury."

"Oh? I did?"

Prompted now to do so, I looked at his hand, then flipped his hand over to look at his palm. And there it was - a small slice across his left palm.

"Mm," I hummed with a smile, reaching for a small bandage anyway, all that I had left. "And how'd you get this one?"

"I tried to grab my sword but fumbled and grabbed the blade by accident."

He said it so simply and so readily it couldn't have possibly been a lie, and I shook my head. I cleaned, then dressed the wound, then said, "There. All set, hero."

I didn't even have it in me to ask why he'd needed his sword in a puzzle. I didn't have it in me either to recognize that he was still sleepily looking at me, so exhausted that he was awake, but not really awake. But that was obvious enough when he grasped my fingers and brought my knuckles to his lips, pressing a kiss there.

"Thank you for helping me, firefly," he said softly, his eyes meeting mine only briefly before he lowered his head to rest against my shoulder.

And just like that, after one more mumbled thank you... he fell asleep.

And I stayed up, now grateful that he was sleeping so soundly so soon, so that he might not be witness to the fierce blush that had overtaken my features.