One look to the left side of house showed that a certain animal was missing. His sweet, loyal mare Epona wasn't beneath her shady grove of trees like she normally was. It was early morning and he could hear the village slowly awaken from its slumber and the residents began to enter into their daily routines of rural farm life.
However, he instinctively knew why the mare was gone. Instead of worrying him, it made the young hero nervous and slightly sick to his stomach. His right hand brushed against the smooth bone surface of the charm Ilia had given him upon her memory returning. The pad of his fingertip circled one of the holes and he sighed. Link could very easily place the instrument to his lips and have his horse come running back to him in an instant, but it wasn't right. He had to face this sooner or later, he had to, it wouldn't be fair to Ilia to take the cowardly way out. Not after all he had been through and all he had lost.
Sure enough, the young blonde was silently running her fingers through Epona's pale mane and humming her song. The warm waters of Ordon's Spring lapped at his sandals and toes. He coughed beneath his fist, alerting the younger girl of his presence. Instead of turning with a smile and a brightening of her green orbs, she tensed and her lips curved into a frown. He'd expected this sort of reaction. He knew she wouldn't take kindly to his sudden "hermit symptoms" as Talo called it. No one knew what he'd really done to save Hyrule, no one cared to ask and he didn't feel up to telling them. He doubted anyone would even believe him, even Rusl was likely to be skeptical of the sheer absurdity of his adventure for justice.
"Link."
He said nothing, instead staring off to the right side of the watery area. His blue eyes focused on a bare patch of grass and the covered tunnel behind it. If he narrowed his eyes he could almost see the transparent image of his tutors golden wolf form, panting and waiting for his pupil with his wisened red eyes.
"Link." The boy in question looked up to see Ilia staring at him sadly. "Why are you so quiet lately? You never play with the children or come to see me. All you do is work at the ranch and go back home, without even responding to anyone's greetings." Her face grew flustered as she attempted to cover her affection for him by patting Epona's side. "You've been neglecting Epona with your sulking!"
He tried to feel ashamed by her motherly reprimand, but he didn't have it in him. Instead, he sank down to the ground and rested his arms on his bent knees, staring silently into the pristine waters of the spring. Ilia frowned before growing desperate as she plopped down beside him.
Her delicate hand was then placed on his knee. He glanced at her hand, all it reminded him was the fact that it wasn't tinier and didn't belong to the person who he missed.
"What happened to you?" Her eyes stared at him imploringly, begging him to tell her. To make her feel like their friendship hadn't been strained the moment the goblins had kidnapped her. "Please, I want to know."
Link shook his head. "You wouldn't understand." He could feel her hurt at his abrupt words and he opted to stand, perhaps he could put off the confrontation a bit sooner. At her hand on his shoulder, he realized he couldn't.
"Is it the princess?"
His hands clenched at his sides as he shrugged off her hand, the sorrow of his companion's choice echoed in the depths of his eyes. Before Ilia could stop him, he'd boarded his mare and idly stroked her ear in an automatic stroke of affection.
"Yes." He answered quietly, his bangs shadowing his eyes from her gaze. "It's the princess." His thighs squeezed Epona's sides and he was gone. Leaving only a few ripples and a lost friend in his wake.