Tales of the White Man pt 3

The forest was deep indigo when Kai and Mizu arrived back at Link and Arill's house. Mizu didn't get to see inside earlier, and took this chance to absorb every part of how people in the past live. The tree trunk inside had holes on both sides that lead to two more rooms, on the left was Link's room, and on the right was Arill's. They both had a sneak peek inside Link's room first. Messy was the first word that came to their minds. For a legendary hero he wasn't as organized as people thought he'd be. His bed was a simple block of wood with hay on it and beside it were pitchforks and bottles most likely holding water. The floor was littered with hay from his bed and stain marks from whatever Link eats when he's not eating dinner with Arill. On the walls were pinned up scrap pieces of paper, along with items he's collected over the years. Like the Boomerang, Slingshot, and even some treasures he found or was rewarded. They all seemed to be hung there in no particular order, just in any spot and in no form of pattern whatsoever.
Arill's room was a different story. Her bed looked more like a bed from their era; it had legs, blankets, and even two pillows with patterns on it. Next to her bed was a small block of wood with folded up sheets and aqua paper on the top with a writing tool next to them. One corner of her room was full of shelves of books she collected in her travels and all seemed to be in alphabetical order. Another wall had lots of different materials draped over the wall, along with some makeshift curtains for the window, and the third wall above her bed was decorated with paper with odd markings on them, Kai concluded it was things to remember when she was training. Her floor also had many different kinds of blankets on the floor, all trying to cover up the dirty wood underneath.
In the centre of their home were the basics of everyday life. A stove, some tables to prepare food, some bowls, plates, cups and pots. All of these things seem to be primitive except for the cutlery, which seemed brand new. Also not cleverly hidden away was four bags of rupees all full to the brim.
"Ok! Let's get started on the cooking!" Kai announced, tying her hair up and pulling back her sleeves. "Mi-mi, you go see if Arill has any good cook books. I'll take a look at what ingredients they have."
Mizu ran off to Arill's room again and Kai looked under their makeshift tables to see what they had. All that was under there were seaweed, seaweed and more seaweed…that wasn't a good start.
"Kai! We have a problem here!" Mizu called from Arill's room.
"What is it?" She called back.
"All of her books seem to be in old Hylian text! I can't read any of it!"
This was a serious problem indeed. "Ok Mi-mi! I have a plan B! I just hope Arill doesn't mind us using her money."

It was 8PM by the time Arill came back to the Kokiri Village; she not only cleaned the tears from her face, but loosened the hair net on her head so it hangs to the lower half of her back, and changed to her most casual wear of a simple blue dress. She realised from the top of the forest that her home was lit up the brightest. It looked somewhat like they were having a party over there, curious but also worried of her home, she checked it out.
"Ok Kai! I think the soup is almost ready!"
Arill came up the top of her ladder and saw the main room lit up with candles and the table was pulled out to the centre of the room. One of her blankets was draped over the table and on it were bowls of food to nitpick at, three plates with knifes and forks beside them, and three lit candles in the middle. Kai and Mizu were both covered with food and laughing themselves silly at each other's messy outfits.
Their joyous laughter faded as they saw a rather shocked Arill at the front door. They both froze on the spot, was she happy? Or angry? It was hard to tell.
"Where did you get all of this from?" She gasped.
Mizu and Kai both tried to explain at the same time, then both stopped and decided that Mizu should start first.
"Well, we couldn't find anything edible in the house and we didn't bring any money with us so…"
"…We used some of your savings to get some food from the shop down the forest." Kai finished. "We'll pay you back next time I visit, I promise. We just wanted to cook some food for you."
Arill let out a smirk but her eyes softened up, "That's really impressive guys, I love the presentation. But seriously, you two are the guests; I should be treating you, not the other way around."
Both girls explained that they were fine about it, but Arill's stubbornness revealed itself and ordered them to sit down so that she can finish preparing the meals. She noticed they tried to make something edible out of the seaweed supply, but all results seemed to have failed. So she made a small starter for herself.
Dinner was pleasant enough, but the atmosphere around Arill and Mizu was still tense. They both shared their stories of their adventures but each gave the other pointers for the next time they have an adventure. Kai had to step in occasionally to cool down the tension, but as the night went on she found she had to interrupt them less.
After they ate their last bit of dessert, Kai found it was the best time to ask Arill what she came here for in the first place.
"Hey Arill, I have a question for you." Kai started.
Arill's warm smile seemed to have returned by then, and answered, "Oh? Are you stuck on any history exams? Or is it a personal question?"
"Not exactly. I've been reading a lot of the books you lent me and one tale about a Man in White caught my attention, could you..."
Kai's voice trailed off as she saw Arill's face lose all of its colour. "Do...do you know of the White Man Arill?" Kai asked rather sheepishly.
Arill became flustered and couldn't seem to find her words. "How did you know of...wait, yes you read about it..." Her face filled with worry and her eyes seemed to be looking in the distance. She stood up and grabbed herself a cup and poured water into it from her Jewel of Neptune.
Kai and Mizu gave each other looks as if to say, "Oh bugger, we shouldn't have said anything now". Arill sat back down with her cup of water and started again.
"You're asking about a man who's dressed completely in white and eyes which could look though people's souls? Yes I know him, had the misfortune of meeting him a few times..."
"You've met him?" Mizu asked, "What does he look like?"
Arill took another sip of water before answering. Both girls were leaning forward on their seats to listen to what she has to say. "He looks about my age, and the jerk followed me all throughout my journey back to Hyrule after I was trained at the Sacred Village and when I used to journey out with Link in my later teens."
"Jerk? He's not friendly then?"
Arill's face burned up and she swallowed all of the water down in one gulp. Her behaviour was beginning to make the two girls uneasy, and unsure if they should further press Arill into answering their questions. Nevertheless, they sat tight on their seats and continued to listen.
"Oh he's "friendly" alright, far too friendly for my liking. He's proposed to me a few times, and insists I should live with him in his god-forsaken mansion! He knows of my..." She stopped and looked at Mizu, then at Kai, "Does she know of my other race?"
She nodded and then Arill continued, "Anyway, he knows what I can transform into and he's tried what ever way he knows to try to make me stay with him..."
After a long pause, Kai understood eventually she wasn't going to finish, and so she asked the next question, "What about Link? Has he ever met this man? And has he actually told you his name?"
"Yes they've met. The guy absolutely loathed Link on their first encounter. Since then he's tried to challenge Link to duels and even pull dirty tricks on him to get him out of the way, but Link's always bested him. As for his name, no-one knows of it. I even checked the archives near where he lives once out of curiosity, and his name doesn't appear there."
Mizu was about to ask next but Arill quickly stepped in. "It's getting late, and I haven't prepared any sleeping arrangements. Maybe you two should get back to your own time, and don't worry Kai. I'll get in touch when Link returns from his journey."
She left no option for both girls to argue and she simply stood up and retired to her room. Kai was thinking about going after her but thought she was already being rude enough asking about this man.
"We'd better go Mii. I'm sure we can find more information back in our era."
"What? But you said we could stay for another day here!"
"Do you think Arill would enjoy our company again for another day?"
"...Good call." And with that, Kai pulled out her sword and warped back to Kai's bedroom.