((I'm very sorry about not being very active last week, I won't be here on the weekends much as well, my homeschooling office feels I'm being too distracted. They want me to go to their home office from now on and work there, it'd technically be easier for me, since they can help me out. I can go whenever I want, so in about an hour, I'll be gone. Need to do work there for three hours, then do the rest at home till I get tired, and this is on my weekends too! @[email protected] At least summer vacation is coming soon, maybe thats why they're riding me and making me do so much work...))

"Thank you love..." Link said as Gabri helped him, he grunted in pain slightly, the man and woman from earlier stepped in front of them, "thank you kids for helping us get everything home safely." The man said, holding his wife's hand, "we must thank you, so you can stay at our house, we'll cook you up a nice hot meal and let you stay in our guest room." His wife smiled sweetly and spoke, "I have a feeling you'll love it here, but, we should first know your names, kids." Link did his best to speak, still in pain, "my name is Link, ma'am, and this is my fiancée, Gabri Ella" he wrapped his arm around her over her shoulders and he smiled.

The man's wife clapped her hands and laughed giddily, "oh, how sweet, you two are engaged! Well, my name is Marlene and this is my husband, Jacob" she leaned against Jacob, who looked at Link, confused. "Link, huh? Thats a weird name... ah well, come on kids, our house is just over here" he said, pointing over his shoulder, there was a quaint cottage made of wood just behind them. All of the houses were similar, along with everyone's clothes, truly a weird, but quite cozy town. The couple turned around and walked off to their house, Link and Cody followed along, holding onto Gabri, the door shut behind them.

Meanwhile, out in the forest and mountains, the bandits grounds were active and angry at what happened with their failed theft earlier. The bandits who ran away were tossed onto the ground outside a giant tent, they were shaking with fear, loud footsteps soon happened and a giant man stomped out of the tent. They coward and huddled together at the feet of TwinBlade, king of the bandits. TwinBlade folded his arms and glared down at the cowardly bandits, "mind explaining to me what happened, you stupid bastards..." He asked, slowly sounding more angry.

"A kid... a kid with long ears killed off two of our partners" one bandit squeaked, "and..." he grew silent, Twinblade bent over and stared them down, "and...?" He asked loudly, the bandit flinched, "he grew a yellow aura and he almost killed us, we just had to run for it! We're sorry Twinblade, please, give us one more chance, we'll do anything!" The bandit begged, on his hands and knees, Twinblade stood upright, looking down at them, he lifted his fist in the air, thumb out and on the side. Twinblade looked around at his followers, who were staring back, evil looks on their faces, Twinblade slowly pointed his thumb down, sealing the coward's fates.

All of them screamed in fear, "take them to the bear pit!!" Twinblade shouted, some of the bigger, more muscular bandits grabbed the screaming cowards and pulled them off into the trees. "You three!!" He shouted, pointing over at some stray bandits off to the side, "when night falls, bring me this kid with long ears, alive! I want to see his blood stain the dirt by my feet and my blade!!" The three bandits laughed evilly, and soon, you could hear blood curdling screams and roaring coming from the trees, everyone laughed uproariously at the torture, Twinblade went back into his tent, laughing still.

[[Its fine...School comes before fun. Get to the posts when you can]]

Gabri Ella smiled at the couple as she and Link followed them to their home. "Thank you." she said as they entered into the house. It was a nice home. She helped Link sit down and removed Cody's nest from her belt and set it into Link's lap.

She walked over to Marlene and hugged her. "Thank you, again. Let me help with dinner."

Their luggage was placed off to the side of the door, along with their weapons, Link sat back in the chair by the door after Gabri helped him, "thank you, love..." he said weakly. He attached Cody's nest to his belt and did his best to relax and ignore his pain, Cody sat on his shoulder, looking worried for Link. Link chuckled though and pet Cody's head, "don't worry my friend, I'll be fine... just need to rest for awhile" he sighed and rested his hands on his stomach, closing his eyes to get some shut eye maybe. Cody chirped, as if wishing him some good rest he then flew over to Gabri, hovering by them, Marlene smiled happily and gave her a hug as well.

"You're welcome dearie, and I would love it if you'd help me out with dinner, I'm planning on making chicken and dumplings, my granny's recipe. Come on into the kitchen with me and we'll get started" she giggled and walked off into the kitchen with Gabri, Cody followed behind them and perched on the windowsill. Wooden cabinets and a giant, primitive stove, the chimney of it went outside the house for the smoke to enter the air. While they were talking and starting to gather the ingredients for dinner, Jacob was out behind their house, preparing the chicken, he came back inside through the back door, the raw and clean chicken wrapped in a cloth.

"Here Marlene, fresh chicken, its been so long since you cooked this meal that I can hardly wait till its done!" Jacob said excitedly, Marlene giggled, "oh I know Jacob, I promise it'll be great dear, for now, can you please get us some more vegetables? We don't have enough here right now" Jacob nodded his head and left through the back door to restock their house. Marlene put the chicken on a giant platter and began to cut it up with a sharp knife into smaller pieces, "Gabri, can you help me with the dough for the dumplings?" Marlene asked, "the ingredients are up in the cupboard for you as well as the bowl for mixing, utensils are in the drawers."

She hummed a small tune to herself as she went to work on dinner, she looked over her shoulder occasionally at Gabri, "so dearie, how are you and Link?" She couldn't help but giggle, "you two are so cute together" she giggled again.

"Dumplings it is." Gabri Ella said and started to get the ingredients from the cabinet Marlene pointed out. She took the utensils out and started mixing the things for the dumplings.

Gabri turned and smiled at the other woman when she was asked the question. She blushed then turned back to the mix. "Thank you, ma'am. We are doing well." she said. She wanted to tell the woman about their trip to find Link's past but was nervous about telling her. Gabri decided to tell her anyway. "We are going to see Link's home before we get married. I'd like to meet his parents."

"Oh, is that right?" She said in confusion as she placed the neatly cut meat onto a separate plate, "I wish you luck on that, dearie, and hope for the best between you two, may I ask what your cute husband's home is called?" She cleaned up her hands and wiped them off on her apron, but she then folded her arms and huffed, sounding impatient, "where is that man with our veggies?" Just then, Jacob came back inside, carrying baskets of carrots, potatoes, onions and other small vegetables. "I'm sorry honey for taking so long, everyone was in a mad rush for the food, but I managed to get the best of the bunch" he placed the baskets on the counter and Marlene walked over.

She gave him a kiss, "thank you honey, what would I do without you?" She sighed happily and hugged him, he hugged her as well, "I'd better go get some wood ready for dinner, I'll see you all in a while." He grabbed the axe by the door, gave them a wave good-bye and stepped outside, closing the door behind. Marlene sighed and swooned, "I just love that man" but she looked over at Gabri, she blushed and giggled, regaining her posture, she took some vegetables from the baskets. "So, whats his home called, dearie?" She asked as she began to peel and chop the veggies.

Gabri Ella smiled and brought the dumpling mix over to Marlene. "Link is from Hyrule," she said. She watched Marlene work with the veggies for a moment, then decided to ask a question about the couple her and Link were staying with. "How long have you and Jacob been together?"

Marlene giggled slightly, "oh, we've been together since our childhood years, dearie" she said as she chopped up an onion, "we grew up in this place as best friends, but, it soon became a bigger bond between us." She started to tear up, possibly from the onion, she sniffled a little, "one day, Jacob was injured by the bandits on our way back home, they broke his leg, but, I was so thankful he was still alive. Our relationship only became stronger, enduring every hardship in our lives together, including the day our 10 year old son fell ill with a fatal disease..." she looked to be tearing up more than before.

"The only cure for it was an herb that grew in the region the bandits took over... no one was brave enough to get it, except Jacob, his brother and my father, they left to get it one night while I watched over our son, Isaac. Sadly, Jacob was the only one to make it back, he had an arrow in his arm, but he had the herb, only, it was too late, Isaac had died just as he came home. We've done our best to move on, but, it has been so hard... so very, very hard" she put down the knife, sobbing a little, "I'm sorry dear..." she said, wiping her face with her apron. Link had overheard the whole tale, despite him looking as if he fell asleep, it tugged at his heartstrings and he couldn't help but let a tear fall. He stood up, ignoring the pain in his injuries, he walked into the kitchen to see them all, Cody flew from the windowsill and perched on Link's shoulder.

Cody leaned against Link's neck, chirping sadly, Link looked at himin the corner of his eye, sad as well, he patted Cody's head. "I'm very sorry about what has happened to you, Marlene, truly I am, strangely, I feel that I know what its like to lose those you hold nearest to your heart... if not in death, then separation." He walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder, she looked at him with her tear stained face, "you should sit down for awhile, relax a little bit, Gabri and me will finish dinner for you." He helped her over to the chairs by the table and she sat down, she sniffled once more, wiped away some tears, and tried to calm down.

"Thank you dear..." Link nodded his head and smiled, "you're welcome" he walked over to her cutting board and began to finish up with the vegetables.

Gabri stood there for a moment, staring at the floor. She didn't know what would say because anything that came out would not make the death of Marlene's son go away from them. She wanted to avenge his death and the death of the others but she wouldn't be able to do it alone and would have to wait for Link to heal. Recovering a bit, she walked over to the woman and rested a hand on her shoulder. "I, too, am sorry for your loss. You will get through it with the help of good friends and family. I know its possible." she said, giving the woman a smile.

She hugged the neck of the woman, released her and smiled softly. Then turned around and walked over to help Link finished preparing dinner.