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Wild was missing.
This was not really a remarkable state of affairs, except for the fact that the rest of the Chain were out shopping, leaving Wild and Hyrule behind to mind the former’s house. The village all seemed safe enough, but Hyrule had been looking forward to spending the day with his friend. Sure, they likely would have snuck off together for some adventures, but the key point was together . Not, Wild wandering off and leaving Hyrule alone.
Rather than give in to the churning thoughts of being abandoned, Hyrule started looking for his friend. He was definitely not in the house, and going into town seemed unlikely, but… Where would he have gone otherwise?
To his shame, it took Hyrule three loops of the house to notice the ladder pressed against the cliff-face, and hidden behind the tree.
There!
Finding the ladder to be secure, Hyrule shimmied up the cliff, and had a look around.
It was surprisingly easy to find Wild; he was sitting not far away, in the shade of a tree and surrounded by flowers. He had a ring of flowers on his head, and was plucking more from beside himself. Those he was plucking he was stringing into a chain, that did not look dissimilar from the ring in his hair. Hyrule blinked a few times.
It… seemed a waste of flowers, but it was also really, really pretty…
“Hyrule!” Wild grinned, holding up a half-finished string of flowers miraculously staying together. “I’m making flower crowns for everyone. Do you want to join in?”
The offer was easy and completely lacking in malice. Cautiously, Hyrule approached and sat nearby, “making what?”
“Flower crowns,” he gestured to the new item on his head. “It’s spring, and I was making one for Flora, then I thought everyone would want one. Who doesn’t want to feel pretty, right?”
That… The flower crown was very pretty, and Hyrule was always fascinated by new things. Hyrule leaned a little closer, watching Wild’s nimble fingers work.
“I don’t know how,” he replied. "There's not enough flowers in my Hyrule to waste them on looking pretty."
Wild looked very mildly horrified, but then swallowed it and gave a grin, “I’ll teach you then! It’s really easy.”
Wild seemed thrilled to be able to teach someone something for once; Hyrule could never say no to that. No matter how certain he was he would mess it up.
"First, you need to pick your flower. Flora says it's only right if you use daisies, but I think dandelions are best! The longer stems give you more room to mess up," Wild gestured to the flowers around him, before leaning for a specific one. "Then, you follow it's stem down. Find the very bottom, then pluck it like this!"
Hyrule watched the movements closely. As soon as it was over, he picked out a flower for himself, and copied Wild's action.
"Now the tricky bit! A little lower than half way down the stem - too low and it breaks, too high and you don't get a good pattern - you need to pinch the stem. Use your nails, and make a tiny cut in the centre of it. You should just be able to split the plant fibres apart."
Having been warned that it was tricky, Hyrule watched with intent. When he did not move to copy, Wild plucked another flower and did it again.
This time, Hyrule carefully copied.
His finger slipped, and the step was split open.
"Just pinch that bit off," Wild told him. "Next time, be more careful with your fingers; you need to line your nails up with the stem first."
This time, Wild talked him through the entire thing. Hyrule was left with a slitted flower; he looked up, awaiting instruction.
"And now you just get another flower, put it in the hole, and carry on!" Wild grinned. "Once it gets long enough, I'll show you how to tie it off."
“Thank you,” Hyrule grinned back, before turning to his task.
There were a whole multitude of flowers in this field, more than in Hyrule’s entire land just within easy reaching distance. He examined them all closely before picking the next one - if he took the prettiest they wouldn’t make seeds for next year, but he did not want to use ugly ones for his chain.
Wild did not seem to be paying nearly as much attention to the flowers themselves, grabbing whatever he felt like, but Hyrule was dedicated. That was probably fine, however; there were so many flowers here! They could make crowns for everyone and there would still be more flowers than could be seen.
Settling into a pattern, Hyrule began to hum a tune he did not remember learning. After a little bit Wild joined in, clearly improvising a second part and their clashing notes sending them into fits of occasional giggles. Wild was by far the faster crafter, chaining together five flowers for every one of Hyrule’s. Hyrule was a little embarrassed, but did his best not to be; Wild was clearly practised at this and, anyway, it just meant they might be able to make enough for everyone between them.
It seemed like a nice idea, though whomever ended up with Hyrule’s messy work was sure to be disappointed. Maybe Wild would just make them for everyone, and Hyrule’s could simply be called a practice piece? Or he would wear it himself, that seemed sensible.
Soon enough, his chain of flowers was long enough to wrap around his head. He held it up for Wild’s judgement, a little more nervous than he had expected to be.
“Looks good,” Wild gave him a thumbs up, running his fingers gently along it. “Should all stay together. Now, to finish it off,” he grabbed one of the chains laid out beside him. “You need to put a slit close to the top of the first flower, like so!”
Wild did exactly as he described. Now in the habit of making the slits, Hyrule had a much easier time copying him.
“Right, and now you just slot the last flower through that hole, then tie a bit of grass around to hold it all in place. You can do it if you’ve got any shaky slits around the circle too,” Wild did exactly as he was describing, not even seeming to think about it, before grabbing one of the other chains. He showed Hyrule some places where he had had to add extra support to the joins, which honestly made the traveller feel a little better about his own handiwork.
Cautiously, terrified of breaking everything, Hyrule did as he had been told to. Wild nodded, then handed him the other nearly finished chains.
“You did good! Finish these ones off, then we’ve both worked on them. Not even Legend can say no if he knows you worked hard on it.”
That seemed both a little manipulative, and entirely like it would work. Wild was also giving Hyrule a vital part of the crowns to do, but in such a way that any messy handiwork would be hidden. He appreciated the gesture; to be in integral part but in a subtle way? That was where Hyrule had always been more comfortable being. Not like his more boisterous companions.
As he worked, he felt something softly touch his head. Raising a hand he found flowers there, and looking over he found Wild no longer wearing the first crown. Instead, he was wearing the one Hyrule had made, and preening happily as he used his slate as a mirror.
Hyrule must have made a noise, for Wild looked at him; somehow, despite Hyrule’s inexperienced crafting, the flower crown still looked beautiful on the Champion’s head.
“I liked yours, so I put it on,” he said. “I gave you mine instead; I hope that’s okay?”
It was more than okay; Hyrule was no longer sure how to make words, so he just nodded and returned to his task.
Soon enough, he was done, and just in time too - looking up he saw a scowling Legend marching up the hill, Sky following up a little way behind.
“I thought we told you to stay by the house,” Legend immediately snapped.
Wild peered down the side of the cliff to where he could see his house, not more than thirty metres away, “we did! Look!”
Legend did not seem impressed by the technicality, though Sky peered down and began laughing into his hand. Hyrule, knowing by heart the lecture that was sure to follow, gently picked up one of the crowns. He stood, and - ignoring anything that was being said - offered it towards the veteran.
“We made you a present,” Hyrule quietly said. “We made them for everyone, but this one is for you…”
“I was teaching Hyrule to make them, but there aren’t enough flowers by my house. And it’s just a short walk!” Wild quickly caught on. “We didn’t even go anywhere dangerous; I have a ladder to get up here! Or well down, its a shortcut from the shrine when I don’t want to deal with town, but its all the same.”
A ladder neither of them had used, but that wasn’t the point.
Seeing the flicker in Legend’s expression, Hyrule gestured a little more with the flower crown.
“Fine,” he snapped, bending a little so Hyrule could place the flowers on his head. “But next time, tell someone. Sky’s been worried sick.”
Sky did not look particularly worried, so it was clearly Legend who was actually concerned. Still, Hyrule let him save face; they had just escaped a scolding after all. And Twilight was not there already, so the rest of the Chain could not have been too concerned.
He picked up the crown he had mentally dubbed Sky’s - a little more pink than the rest, reminding Hyrule of sunsets - and offered it too.
“We’re sorry,” Hyrule told Legend, despite directing the words at Sky - this time with genuine intent. “We really didn’t realise you’d be worried.”
“I know you didn’t mean to,” Sky replied, ducking down just like Legend had done. “These are very pretty, but please think before you disappear next time.”
All four of them knew that Wild and Hyrule would both forget their promise the next time something looked even vaguely interesting, but Hyrule did really intend to try to keep it this time. Just like he had the last few! It just… Was difficult, sometimes, when he was so used to wandering where-ever the fancy took him.
“The ladder’s just here,” Wild said, keeping the conversation from getting tense in the aftermath. “I assume you’d rather use it than go back the long way?”
Nobody really needed to agree to that; Wild slipped the other five flower crowns onto his arm, before climbing down. At Legend’s pointed look Hyrule followed, a little cowed to think he was expected to run off; maybe it was a fair assumption, but he had gifts to watch be given out! He couldn’t run into the woods for that.
Within moments they were all back at Wild’s house, Time ominously eyeing the cook-pot while everyone else milled around. In swift measure the rest of the flower crowns were handed out - responses ranging from polite to genuine delight - and the evening was settled back into.
It was late, when Sky and Wind were already in bed, when Wild - still wearing Hyrule’s flower crown - scooted over and whispered in Hyrule’s ear.
“Next time we sneak off, I’ll show you how to do it with thorny flowers.”
Hyrule desperately wanted to pretend there would not be a next time, but he knew himself too well; he hid his smile behind his hands, and nodded gleefully.