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“We need to talk.”
Wild had been quietly sitting on the front porch of the ranch, carefully going through the motions that Four had taught him to care for his sword when Malon had imperiously swept out and made her declaration. Wild blinked up at her and meowed in confusion, fairly certain that he had done nothing recently to earn her ire. He hadn’t even knocked any glasses off tables today. Well, none belonging to the ranch, at least.
Malon smiled, softening. “Don’t worry, it’s nothing bad. Go through to the kitchen, I’ll get everyone else so I can explain. Don’t tell Link. My Link. Time. Just keep this a secret.”
Oooo-kay. You know what? Whatever. Fair enough. Wild trusted Malon enough to go with this. He put the sword back into its proper place in his slate and headed inside, mindful of Malon’s ‘no weapons in the house’ rule, which she enforced viciously. Only Sky was exempt, and only in the case of the Master Sword. The woman had some sort of sixth sense when it came to detecting weapons hidden about a person and had more than once given a tongue-lashing to an unsuspecting hero who had forgotten a knife in a trouser leg or up a sleeve. Wild wasn’t willing to risk her ire.
Hyrule and Four were already waiting in the kitchen when he wandered in, looking vaguely confused. Wild walked over to where the traveller was sitting on the kitchen table, nudging his arm.
“What?” he asked, not sure how to finish his sentence. He gestured at the kitchen around him to try and complete the question. Hyrule clearly understood well enough and shrugged, clearly as confused as Wild was.
Four, who was suspiciously green-coloured as he poured himself a glass of water, shook his head. “No idea. Malon just came in and said I had to come and listen to something.” he was still slightly sooty from where he had been working in the adjoining nearby forge and was clearly a little put out at having been pulled from his work. Whatever that work might have been. Wild was pretty sure that he had said something about horseshoes?
Either way, he didn’t feel particularly bad for the Smith. Four had clearly split as soon as Malon’s back was turned so that his other three selves could continue with the work. Wild wondered idly how many times Four had done this in the past without any of them noticing. He caught the Smith’s eye and purred a laugh. Green winked back and sipped his water.
A few minutes later there was a commotion in the hallway outside and Twilight burst in, giggling and supporting a deeply put out Sky. The Chosen Hero had clearly been dragged unwillingly from his bed, his hair a mess, his shirt rumpled and his feet bare. He looked very, very angry. On instinct, Wild reached for the coffee pot and began to heat some water. Grumpy and Tired Sky wasn’t quite as frightening as Godslayer Sky, but it was a close second.
It took nearly ten minutes of the Chain arriving in drips and drabs, but finally Malon swept in with Wind in tow and everyone was together in the kitchen. Everyone, that was, except-
“Where’s Time?” Warriors asked, looking around.
“He’s off rolling around in the mud with Epona.” Malon responded.
For a moment Wild assumed that this was a joke, that she meant her husband was out riding or caring for his horse. But no, he followed her gaze out the window and sure enough, Time was in the paddock with Epona, and the two of them were rolling around in the mud, legs in the air.
At least they both looked happy?
Weird forest man. Some of the heroes called bullshit when Time said he had been raised by a tree, but times like this, Wild one hundred per cent believed it.
Wild turned back to Malon.
“So.” she said sweetly, clapping her hands together. “I suppose you’re all wondering why I've asked you to come and meet me here.”
Sky grumbled something unintelligible into his coffee, which Wild assumed was a comment on how he’d be a lot more interested if he hadn’t been dragged out of bed at the crack of dawn (never mind that it was after ten in the morning). However, it mostly came out as a slurry of tired vowels, so Malon smiled politely at him and nodded as if he had said ‘yes, Missus Malon, I am very excited, eager, and interested to hear what you have to say’.
“Well. It seems that Hylia has landed you boys here for a reason.” she explained patiently, ignoring Legend’s eye-roll and comment about where precisely Hylia could stick her reasons. “In two days it’s Link’s birthday. My Link. Time.”
The reaction from the Chain was nothing short of explosive. Wind shouted in delight and even Sky managed a pleased grumble, sending bubbles burbling through his coffee. Twilight clapped his hands, eyes sparkling with glee, while Hyrule looked vaguely confused. Wild meowed happily, his tail curling eagerly through the air.
“Wait!” Legend cut in, holding up his hands. “Wait, what the fuck? The Old Man knows when his birthday is?”
Wild rolled his eyes, but he could sort of understand the sentiment. He didn’t know when his birthday was either, and he was fairly certain a few of his brothers were in the same position. Hyrule, definitely. Warriors, probably, for all that he grew up in a city. Time, who would loudly tell anyone he asked that he was raised by a tree and had never been to school? Him actually knowing when his birthday was had never really occurred to Wild.
Malon laughed him off, pouring herself a mug of coffee from Sky’s pot and ignoring how the Chosen Hero hissed at her.
“Well, you aren’t wrong, hon.” she beamed, sipping her coffee. “We don’t know the exact date, but we chose a day years ago and we just use that as a marker. Everyone should have a day to celebrate themselves, after all.”
“That’s what I did.” Warriors said and then flushed an uncharacteristic tomato red, lifting his hands to fiddle with his scarf. “I- I mean. After the war. I picked a date. We didn’t really keep close records down in my neighbourhood, so I know what season I was born in, but not the exact day. So I went for the twenty-seventh of May.”
Legend snorted. “I’m guessing that was a Dr Kwan suggestion?” he snarked, and Warriors’ deepening flush was as good as a confirmation. Wild rumbled in affection. Everything he heard about the Captain’s therapist just made her seem better.
“That’s a great idea!” Wind chimed in. “Birthdays are great! We always have a big party back on Outset and everyone gets to spend the day together celebrating. I mean, usually. I had one a while ago that wasn’t so great, but that was totally a fluke. And I got my first journey out of it and now I’ve met you guys!”
Sky smiled and ruffled his hair, apparently in a bit of a better mood now that he had drained his mug of coffee and was pouring himself another. “Do you have any plans for him, Missus Malon? Things you normally do?”
Malon seemed pretty amused by Sky’s sudden change in mood, but didn’t bring it up. “I have a few ideas. But I figured that given you boys are here, we should all do something together. Have a little party. I’m fairly certain he’s forgotten that it’s coming up, he forgets it every year, so it should be a nice surprise!”
Twilight waved a hand to get her attention and began to sign. Wild squinted, focusing as he tried to see how much he could catch.
“What…us do?” was all that he was able to make out, but he got the general gist of it. Wild rumbled along with his question.
“Well,” Malon considered, putting her hands on her hips. “I know you all have your own talents and skills, so whatever you want to do is more than welcome. I’m going to make a special dinner, so we can have the party then.”
Wild yipped happily. “I make food!” he signed and then paused, running over the signs he had memorised. He knew that he knew this one. “Cake!”
“I was hoping you’d say that!” Malon beamed. “The kitchen is all yours and there are plenty of fruit patches out the back you’re welcome to.”
“We- I’ll make him - no, wait, I want it to be a surprise. Can I keep using the forge, Missus Malon?” Green asked.
Malon nodded. “Of course you can, hon. Look, all of you, you don’t all have to come up with it now, and you don’t need to do anything big. He’d be delighted with a hug from any one of you, or a bunch of flowers or a nice rock. I just wanted to let you know, because I have no doubt that he never would have mentioned it himself. Just remember, most importantly: This is a surprise party. Link must not find out!”
The Chain began to drift out of the kitchen, chattering with each other and to themselves, all lost in thought about what they would give to Time. Only Wild and Hyrule remained. Wild pulled out his slate and hummed to himself as he flicked through, absently pulling out a chair at the table and sitting down. There was a wealth of recipes stored in the device, and he didn’t have a clue what to use. Sure, he could make a standard cake, but Time wasn’t exactly a standard sort of person. The cake had to be special.
He was so lost in thought that he didn’t really notice that the Traveller was still with him, standing in the middle of the flagstone floor and shuffling uncomfortably from foot to foot. It was only when he gently tapped his arm that Wild realised he was there. And by ‘realised he was there’, he meant ‘screeched in alarm and fell off his chair, landing flat on his arse in shock’.
Wild never claimed to be dignified. That was an assumption the others saddled him with. They looked at him and, seeing a giant cat-man, presumed that he must be dignified and elegant. But he had never actually made the claim. Not once.
Hyrule was snorting with an unsuccessful but well-meaning attempt to hide his laughter as he reached down to help Wild up. The Champion grumbled as he stood, dusting himself off.
“You okay?” Wild asked once he was squarely on two feet, desperately changing the subject back to whatever his brother had wanted.
Hyrule nodded, giggling once more and then glancing away. He chewed his lip and made a sign. It was vaguely familiar and Wild squinted as he repeated it a few more times.
“Birthday.” he finally understood.
Oh. Damn. Of course. Duh. Wild rumbled in understanding and nodded, settling back into his chair at the kitchen table and gesturing to Hyrule to join him. “Time’s birthday?”
Hyrule shook his head, not meeting his gaze. He signed slowly, pausing to repeat words and swapping signs when Wild didn’t understand.
“No. I - no.” he sighed, shaking his head. “I have no birthday? Have not seen one?” he paused, considering. “No - I have seen. But in town. Not for me?” he rolled his eyes and made a dismissive flapping gesture that Wild took to mean ‘ugh!’. “What do I do?”
Wild frowned, putting together the signs he had seen in his head. That Hyrule didn’t know when his birthday was was pretty much expected. The Traveller had mentioned before that he wasn’t even entirely certain how old he was. But that he had never actually seen a birthday celebration, or at least not one that he had been able to engage with was a step further than he had imagined.
He supposed that it made sense, knowing Hyrule’s world. Actual communities larger than a small collection of houses or some people living in a cave were few and far between, and Wild couldn’t exactly imagine Hyrule making the journey into the few cities to learn about birthday celebrations. It made sense if the Traveller didn’t exactly know about the appropriate etiquette.
Wild hummed.
“I have no birthday.” he admitted, and then tapped his head. As much progress as he was making in sign, miming was still the best way he had of saying ‘memories, you know?’. He chuffed.
Right, okay, now how would he say he just chose a day to be his birthday? The truth was, he used the date he climbed out of the Shrine of Resurrection, but that was definitely beyond his capabilities and required a whole lot of context. Shit, he really needed to practice more.
“Did what Warriors did.” he settled on. “Took day. For me. Fun!”
Hyrule nodded slowly and then made a sign that Wild was absolutely positive he did not recognise. Rulie huffed, casting about for some way to mime it. Smiling, he gave a thumbs up and lifted a mug from the table, presenting it to Wild with a flourish.
Wild squinted, holding the mug.
Wait. Presents!
Wild yipped and nodded, and the conversation derailed for a few minutes as he got Hyrule to teach him the sign for ‘gift’.
Okay. Got it. He nodded, returning to the question at hand. Rulie had asked him about presents. “Can have gift for birthday.” he agreed.
Hyrule huffed impatiently. “Big small? For Time? What?”
Wild rumbled, shrugging. “Time loves you.” he said slowly. “Birthday is for friend. Family. Not need big gift. Just you.”
Hyrule looked at him flatly, which Wild got. He wasn’t exactly giving very helpful advice for what to actually give Time. “You… help me with cake?”
“Me. Cook.” Hyrule raised his eyebrows.
Okay, that was fair. Time probably wouldn’t thank Hyrule for any of his cooking. Or, he would, because he was a fundamentally nice person, but would get food poisoning ten minutes later.
Suddenly Hyrule gasped in delight. “Anything?” he checked. “Can be small?”
Wild rumbled and nodded, and Hyrule flashed him a grin.
“Thank you, Wild!” he signed, jumping to his feet. “I have idea! Thank you!”
Wild rumbled and waved as the Traveller dashed out the back door, presumably to work on whatever this idea was. The Champion hummed and pulled his slate out again, sorting through his ingredients. He had a new idea forming in his head, and it would require a lot of cake.
-
It took a bit of effort and creative miming to explain his plan to Malon, but she grinned as soon as he got the general gist across and told him that the idea was fantastic. Half an hour later she called everyone back into the kitchen - sans both Time and Hyrule this time - to explain the new plan.
“It has been brought to my attention.” she announced, nodding to Wild, who purred happily. “That our favourite Traveller does not have a birthday, and has never had a celebration for himself. I’m sure we can all agree that this is a completely unacceptable state of affairs, so,” she paused and looked around. “We are going to make it into a joint celebration. Something to celebrate both Link and Hyrule. We’ll keep with the original plan, but I’ll tell my Link we’re planning something for Hyrule’s birthday so that he can join in. I still don’t think he’s remembered his is coming up, the idiot. So what do you all think?”
“I think is sounds fucking brilliant!” Legend cheered. “Hey Four, are you nearly done with your gift for Time?”
“Nope.” Four said. He was looking a lot more blue than he normally did, and Wild chuckled.
“Great!” Legend grinned. “I know what I want to give Rulie but I’m going to need your help.” He grabbed Blue’s sleeve and began to drag him back outside in the direction of the forge.
“I said no!” Blue protested as he was pulled along, grabbing onto the doorframe.
“Yeah I know I heard you.” Legend replied, yanking once more on Blue’s arm and pulling him outside. “I’m just choosing to ignore it.”
The door closed behind them. Wild wondered vaguely if he should go to the Colours’ aid - but no. They could handle this themselves. Through the window, he could see Blue giving Legend some sort of order, presumably telling the Veteran to fetch something so that Blue could slip back into the forge and rejoin before anyone noticed anything was amiss.
Wild couldn’t help but laugh as he returned to his bakeing. With how excited everyone was to contribute, this was going to be the best birthday ever.
-
“That’s a lot of cake.” Time remarked as he passed through the kitchen, his eye running over the explosion of mixing bowls, utensils, and batters in various states of preparedness that Wild had spread across the countertops.
Wild turned to look at him, blinking slowly. To be fair, the kitchen currently looked vaguely like he and Four had been playing with bombs again. He had long since gone past using only the countertops, now having commandeered the kitchen table and several shelves as cooking surfaces.
Time glanced around, looking at the different mixing bowls, each batter a violently different colour, the scents of strawberry and vanilla, chocolate and carrot mingling violently in the air.
“It’s going to be massive.” Time continued, sounding a little uncertain. “I know Hyrule has a sweet tooth, but are you sure this will all fit in one cake?”
Wild could have replied. He had enough of a grasp of basic sign that he could have come up with something to say. But alas, his brain had turned to static as he panicked, wondering if Time was going to figure out that the reason he was making so much cake was because he was making one him as well as Hyrule.
So instead he stared at Time, blinking slowly. Time’s smile faltered.
“I-I guess I’ll just… leave you with that, then.” he said, backing towards the door. As he left the kitchen, Wild heard him murmur “Everyone is being so weird today.”
Wild snorted and returned to his honeyed cake batter. Honestly. As if there was such a thing as ‘too big’ a cake anyway. Ludicrous. What a thought.
-
Okay so the cakes were a little over the top.
Wild couldn’t help it. He loved his brothers and while he still didn’t really have the vocabulary to tell them this with sign, he absolutely could tell them with food. And given that both Time and Hyrule were well known for having the sweetest tooths in the Chain, he was going to tell them how much he cared with cake.
So much cake.
So, so much cake.
Like, damn.
Each had four tiers, and although they did get progressively smaller as the towers of cake grew taller, the base of each was so wide that ‘smaller’ was really only a relative term. There was just so much cake.
Malon had somehow managed to persuade both Time and Hyrule to stay away from the house while they set up for the party - something about ‘how much Hyrule would like to go fishing but is too nervous to ask’. Wild wasn’t convinced that Hyrule had strong feelings on fishing either way, but Time had looked delighted at the prospect of going out with him.
Back at the ranch, Wild had needed to draft in Twilight and Warriors to help him carry the two cakes into the front room and set them up on the coffee table. They looked even bigger in the little sitting room, Hyrule’s (made of layers of chocolate, honey, coconut, and strawberry cake) on the left and Time’s (fruit cake, coffee, walnut, and a topping of monster cake, complete with little horns) on the right.
“Damn, Wild.” Warriors remarked from where he had caught Wind around his waist before he could throw himself into the cakes and send them flying. “You’ve really outdone yourself with these ones.”
Wild mewed in pride, flopping heavily down on the sofa next to Four. The cakes were fantastic and he was incredibly proud of them, but damn, he was exhausted. Standing for an extended length of time while cooking tended to hurt his back at any time, but in the Aspect? He was far too tall for Time and Malon’s countertops and after baking for two days straight his back was killing him.
Four - and it definitely was Four this time - also looked exhausted. Wild knew that he had spent the last two days working tirelessly in the ranch’s little forge, working on both his own gift and helping the others with theirs. It hadn’t taken long for the smith to barricade himself inside the forge and ban anyone else from coming in. The rest of the Chain had joked that he was grumpier than usual, but Wild well aware that it had been so that he could split and get everything he wanted to done.
Honestly, while it was a useful skill to have, it looked like Four was regretting exhausting himself four times over.
They may have gone a little overboard with the decorations as well. Paper chains were strung from wall to wall. Huge bunches of flowers were set on every available surface. A vast banner was hanging over the fireplace, and Twilight assured him that it said ‘Happy Birthday Link and Link!’ in Time’s hylian.
By the time Hyrule and Time returned to the ranch, the Chain were giddy with excitement and barely managed not to vibrate out of their seats. They waited with bated breath as Malon went out to meet them, listening through the open window as she instructed them to come in and join her in the sitting room.
At last the door creaked open and the two birthday boys entered. Immediately the Chain leapt to their feet and those who could cried “Happy birthday Time and Hyrule!”. Twilight signed along, his gestures wide and energetic. Wild didn’t bother trying to pronounce anything, but howled happily along with the rest.
Both men paused in shock, and then Time burst out laughing.
“Wait, really?” he gasped.
“Yes, really, you enormous dork.” Malon smiled, standing on her toes to kiss his cheek. “You always forget your own birthday.” and then she turned and put an arm around Hyrule. “And now you have one too. Your brothers all wanted to make sure you had a day to celebrate yourself as well.”
Hyrule, who had been staring at the scene before him with wide eyes and a slack jaw, flushed bright red. Then he began to smile. “Really?” he asked.
“YES, really!” Legend rolled his eyes. “Now get in here, the two of you, and open your presents so we can finally get some of that cake!” he teased.
Time finally looked over at the cake and burst out laughing.
“Is that why you were baking so much, Wild?” he laughed as he and Hyrule went to look at the spread. “I was worried you’d been possessed by some weird cake ghost. The way you looked at me when I asked you about it! You looked murderous!”
Wild chuckled with him, rumbling happily and pointing out whose cake was whose, leaning on Malon’s aid to explain what was in each layer.
It was a truly wonderful evening. Despite the short notice, everyone had managed to bring together a wealth of gifts for both of their brothers.
For Time, everyone had given something different. Twilight had a new bridle for Epona that he had picked up back in Ordon and had been meaning to give to him ever since. Four had crafted him an intricate puzzle box decorated with a swirling leaf pattern. Hyrule shyly presented him with a small, round rock with a hole in the centre, telling him that it was a fairy charm that would ward off bad intentions. Time had beamed when he saw it and hugged Hyrule tight, giving his hair an extra ruffle. Wild was pretty sure, looking over at them, that there were tears in Time’s eye.
For Hyrule, the Chain had coordinated to put together one big gift from all of them. As their designated healer, the Traveller was always using his well worn medicine set to mix together salves and potions for the frankly absurd number of scrapes the Chain managed to get into. It was the same set that he had brought from his own era back when he had joined their group, and to say that it was beginning to fall apart was putting it mildly.
Legend had convinced Four to help him melt down some silver that he just happened to have lying around to make a new medicine bowl, far better for conducting magic than his old wooden one, and stamped it with protective runes around the rim. Hyrule was also presented with a new pestle and mortar that they had managed to wrangle from a passing travelling salesman, and a new collection of leather pouches and jars for storing his different herbs and salves. To top it off, Time and Malon made sure that some were already filled with plants and ointments only found in this era.
It was a good day and the party went on well into the night, with everyone laughing and chatting and eating cake and thoroughly enjoying themselves. And no, Wild refused to accept that he had made too much cake, not even when people started falling asleep and there was still more than half left over. He had his slate, after all, so it wasn’t like it would go bad or to waste. And who wouldn’t enjoy some surprise leftover cake after a hard battle? It would be fine.
As they all drifted towards their bedrolls, Hyrule approached Wild, yawning but still merry with the festivities. He made a sign that Wild don't fully understand, although he got the general gist.
“This was your idea.” Hyrule accused, smiling.
Wild shrugged, brushing him off as if to say ‘I don’t know what you mean’. Hyrule punched him playfully in the ribs before giving him a hug, his fingers curling into Wild’s fur.
“Night, Wild.” he signed sleepily as he pulled away.
Wild rumbled happily. “Night Hyrule. Happy birthday.”
Yeah, it was a good day.