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Wind was bored out of his mind.
It’d been fine when he was actually sick, and so most of his time bored was also time he was feverish and dizzy and tired, and he ended up either throwing up or falling back asleep.
But now he’d been resting for what felt like an eternity, and he was completely fine. As long as you ignored his occasional cough.
His legs shook a little going down the stairs in Wild’s house, where he’d been left alone while everyone else ran errands or whatever, but he was perfectly capable of stepping outside for some fresh air.
If they wanted to keep him from doing so they should’ve stayed to keep an eye on him.
And entertain him.
There had to be something interesting somewhere around the house.
Like that stable in the back garden.
Wild had insisted it wasn’t a stable, that his horses were all in those big stable-inn places, but this didn’t look much different from the stable Time kept Epona in the times they’d visited the ranch.
More covered, maybe, because Wind couldn’t see into it from outside, which also meant he couldn’t see if there were actually horses inside.
New goal acquired, Wind stepped outside and closed the door behind him.
It was kind of chilly, especially since he was still wearing his pajamas, but not enough for him to go back inside and change.
He made his way to the stable thing, at first quickly but then tiptoeing and trying to listen for any sounds as he got closer. It was very quiet, but he didn’t know if that meant Wild was out or if he was just quiet.
Carefully, Wind pushed the door open and peeked inside, unable to suppress a gasp at what he saw.
He hadn’t been wrong in expecting a stable.
Very wrong about the kind of horse he’d expected inside, though.
Wind had seen Epona. And Epona. And also Epona. He’d also seen Sky’s bird, and Legend’s roommate’s bird, and Four’s weirdly person-shaped “cat”.
He’d never seen a stalfos shaped like a horse before.
Granted, he hadn’t seen that many different horses, but it looked nothing like the ones he had.
It was missing all the fleshy bits and the eyes bits and the hairs bits, but it still looked at him like it could see through his soul, and Wind shivered in ways that he didn’t think were related to the cold.
Wild turned to him, too, and sighed.
“Come inside, Wind. Please keep the door shut, the Stalhorse gets fussy about the cold,” he said.
“The what?” But he closed the door behind himself even as he asked.
“Stalhorse. Like a stalfos, but a horse.”
“... Yeah, I see the family resemblance.”
Wild snorted, and Wind smiled and got closer, despite his nervousness.
“I thought you had a horse in here. Like, a regular one.”
“I told you it wasn’t a horse stable!”
“Well you didn’t put it like that! Does it have a name?”
The other hesitated where he was brushing the Stalhorse with some sort of duster, then offered it to Wind. He didn’t answer until Wind carefully tried to brush some dust off the Stalhorse’s shoulder.
“Reina. It means Queen.”
“Queen of the Stalfos?”
Wild snorted.
“No, she used to be the princess’ horse. A lovely white horse. She died to the Calamity.”
Like him, he didn’t say, but Wind knew.
“How come she’s here, then?”
“That, I don’t know.”
“Well, how did you get her?” he clarified what he actually wanted to know. He kind of wanted one, too. Tetra would be impressed, if she didn’t shoot him first and ask questions later.
“I heard rumors, during my adventure, of a gorgeous white horse that used to belong to the princess. I found her, instead. None of the stables would let me board her, even though she had the bridles and armor of the legendary horse, so I took her home and got some help to build her a stable.”
“You said this wasn’t a stable.”
Wild sighed. Deeply.
“I didn’t want everyone asking me to see the horse inside. I don’t want them to try and attack her.”
“Do you think they would?”
“I don’t know. But she’s my horse now, and I don’t want her to get hurt.”
“Can she? Wouldn’t she just, come back later?”
“I don’t know.”
They continued dusting Reina off in silence for a bit.
“You know, everyone expected a normal, but pretty, horse,” Wild said.
“A lovely white horse, you said. She’s very white.”
Wild snorted.
“Still not what they expected.” A pause. “Neither was I. I tried, but I couldn’t be. She didn’t get the chance to try. I think if I hadn’t been with her, if they’d found her in the wild, they would’ve just attacked her. Maybe people did.”
“Oh.”
He hadn’t realized it ran quite that deep.
Wind tried to imagine how he would have reacted seeing Reina in the wild. If it’d been at night, or with other stalfos, he would’ve assumed it was a monster.
He certainly wouldn’t have thought to tame it and bring it home.
“I’m glad you found her, then. I think she’s very lovely. And very white.”
He offered the older hero a smile, and Wild shook his head but returned it.
“That, she is.”