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“Goddesses,” Warriors huffed, “you’re as bad as Wild.”
Twilight cracked open an eye, scowling up at the captain. “Oh next time I’ll be sure to get some tree sap in ‘er for ya too, cap’n.”
The rancher yelped as Warriors tugged his brush a touch too hard.
“Next time,” Warriors scoffed. “Next time, we’re cutting it all off.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Says who?”
“Oh I dunno,” Twilight balked, “how ‘bout the guy who braids it while I’m sleeping?”
Warriors paused, his brushing slowing to a stop. Twilight had a point. That annoyed the captain. Warriors plucked a knot from the rancher’s hair.
“Ow!” Twilight cried. “Tryna fleece me back there?”
Warriors shrugged, pulling his brush through the rancher’s curls again. “I wouldn’t have to if you didn’t make such a blessed mess of yourself.”
Twilight flapped his lips, rolling his eyes as he did. Warriors was the last person he wanted to have brushing his hair, but the captain caught him just as Twilight snuck off to wash all the mud and leaves and honey out. The rancher was peppered with mild scrapes and light bruises, all of which were trophies from an unsuccessful honey hunt. Instead, the rancher found bees and bokoblins and an old pit in the ground obscured beneath leaves.
Warriors worked diligently, guiding a boar bristle brush through Twilight’s thick hair. It was a job only Warriors had the patience for. Twilight would never get it all out, Time would simply shave the man’s head. Warriors made a big fuss about it, but he knew everyone knew he rather enjoyed grooming. It was something simple, routine, and repetitive to keep his hands occupied. There were few luxuries one could afford on the road, especially in their line of work, and fewer ways to keep shaky fingers busy and dangerous thoughts from tumbling out of control.
The two men sat alone at the riverside. They occupied a flat boulder, the surface of which warmed in the late afternoon sun. The water burbled past with a gentle current, carrying curled leaves and fish downstream towards a rush of small cascades. The river was cool and crisp, its mist refreshing and scent soothing.
While Twilight’s clothes dried after a deep scrubbing, he sat in his underclothes. Warriors wore his trousers rolled to his knees and the sleeves of his undershirt up past his elbows. Twilight’s hair was a pain to shampoo—so thick it was difficult to wet, it knotted easily, and it was hard to rinse all the residue from. If they had the time, Twilight would manage it himself, but often, they were on the move and so one of the other heroes would take a coarse scrubbing brush and help the man.
It just so happened that both Twilight and Warriors were having difficult days. Twilight decided to take his foul mood out by prowling through the woods and making trouble. Warriors could only try to meditate or write letters, but he ended up biting his nails until they bled and then tidying their camp so thoroughly that Time sent him away until supper.
Twilight winced as he heard a knot rip from his hair. “You’re so gentle,” he hissed.
Warriors rolled his eyes. “Whining doesn’t suit you, rancher.”
“I’ll show you whining.”
“Oh I wish you would,” Warriors clipped. “If you did, perhaps you wouldn’t feel the need to act like a blessed idiot out in the wilds.”
Twilight jerked his head away from Warriors, snapping a glare back on the captain. Warriors turned his nose up, picking knots from the bristles of his wooden brush.
“What’s that s’pose to mean?” Twilight demanded.
Warriors raised a brow. “It means you’re having a right awful day, which means the rest of us are too.”
“Oh!” Twilight laughed harshly. “ I’m havin’ a bad day? You’s the one pickin’ through all our spoils tryna,” Twilight gestured wildly, “alphabetize our equipment by color!”
Warriors scowled. “Alphabetise is a big word for you, Twilight,” he snarked. “And that’s not how I organise.”
“Forgive me,” Twilight huffed sarcastically.
The rancher settled back in, grumbling to himself. Warriors took up his work once more, though he was slightly more gentle with the brushing as he did.
Twilight tapped his finger on the ground, annoyed. “So?” he pressed.
Warriors raised his brows. “So what?”
“You gone talk ‘bout it or not?”
“Talk about what, rancher?”
“You been pacin’ all goddess-blessed day,” Twilight answered. “I watch you reroll you’s socks bless ‘bout five times, ‘n then, you gone ‘n done Wind ‘n Time’s too. ‘N do we gotta talk ‘bout how you ain’t sleep none last night?”
Warriors sagged some, knotting his brow. “I did sleep.”
“Not enough.”
“You weren’t in bed until after the moon set.”
“‘N pray tell how you reckon if you was sleepin’ at that time?”
Warriors paused. “...touché,” he sighed.
Twilight shifted a glance back at the captain as Warriors fell quiet. The captain’s gaze was far off, his hands working absently as his mind wandered. Twilight could only imagine the place Warriors thoughts went. A battlefield perhaps, or a dark corner where some hired assassin held a knife to his throat. The rancher frowned, throwing his weight back into Warriors.
The captain yelped as he was knocked flat on his back. Twilight lay on top of him, settling his warm weight. Warriors shoved at the rancher’s shoulder.
“Get off,” the captain hissed. “I’d rather not be squished to death.”
Twilight hummed, closing his eyes. “If I kill you,” he offered, “it’s gone be a lot messier ‘n this.”
Warriors rolled his eyes. He blew a puff of air up, knocking his bangs from his face.
“You have some nerve,” he grumbled.
Still, the captain began picking at Twilight’s hair once more, even if he was pinned beneath the younger man.
“Well?” Twilight urged. “Talk ‘bout it.”
Warriors shook his head, tugging a knot free from Twilight’s tangles. “There’s nothing to talk about,” he lied. “It’s the same as always.”
“I can smell lies,” Twilight warned.
“That’s a blessed lie and you know it.”
The rancher shrugged. “Rulie b’lieves it.”
“You’re a bad influence on those boys,” Warriors sighed.
“Gotta balance you out somehow.”
The captain smiled faintly, breathing a chuckle out through his nose. Twilight cracked a grin, hiding a snicker behind his hand. Warriors sighed, moving to the next patch of tacky honey and mud. He wet the hairbrush and began to tease out the mess from Twilight’s hair.
“You wouldn’t understand,” Warriors murmured after a moment. “It’s not…it’s not something I can talk about. When I try it just…” He let out a heavy sigh. “I can’t.”
Twilight nodded, his eyes following a cloud across the sky. “But it makes you sad.”
Warriors shrugged. “Yes, and angry and guilty and all those other things,” he agreed. “It’ll pass. It always does.”
“Keeps comin’ back.”
“I imagine it will until the day I die.” Warriors paused, using his thumb to force a clump of honey and twigs out of the brush. “There are things that can’t die, Twilight.”
Twilight nodded once, his face grim. “I know,” he sighed.
Warriors picked up his brushing again. “And you?”
“‘N me what?”
“Three nights you’ve gone on night patrols and not come back until nearly dawn. You’ve been more of a pest than usual. I’d love to know what’s in that hollow void you call a head, rancher.”
Twilight pinched Warriors’ thigh hard enough to get a yelp from the man. “Flattery,” he scoffed.
Warriors smiled. “You’re unbearable when you’ve got an ego,” he teased.
Twilight nodded, his face falling somewhat. He flexed his fists, brow furrowing in frustration. “Just been angry,” he mumbled.
“Angry?”
“Mm.”
“I’m asking you to elaborate, rancher.”
Twilight glanced back. “Well that’s a big word for me, cap’n.”
Twilight hissed in pain as Warriors yanked his hair.
“You’re not in a position to test me right now,” the captain snipped.
Twilight puffed his cheeks in a mild pout. “Gotta ‘member what it’s like to be alone sometimes,” Twilight sighed. “This ends one day, ‘n we all go home ‘n I—” He paused, glaring at the water. “I dunno what that means anymore.”
“Home?”
Twilight nodded.
Warriors frowned, humming in thought. “If I were a superficial man—”
“You are.”
“If I were a superficial man,” Warriors repeated sternly, “I would tell you home is where the heart is. But in truth, I don’t know what it means anymore either. I suppose I won’t until I find it again.”
Twilight picked at a scab on his arm. “Skin don’t fit right anymore,” he sighed quietly. “Nothin’ do, ‘n nothing make it feel like it do neither. I try distractions but they…”
“They only go so far.”
Twilight nodded.
The captain set aside the brush, content to have the last of the mess free of Twilight’s hair. “Alright,” he said as he patted the rancher’s shoulder. “All done. Get up.”
Twilight only dropped his weight further against the captain.
Warriors tugged Twilight’s ear. “Rancher,” he scolded.
“We can stay here a bit longer, right?” Twilight asked.
Warriors paused, eyes wandering the sky. “I mean, yes , but—”
“I wanna.”
The captain glanced down. “You want to…what?”
“Stay here. Like this. Just a li’l longer,” Twilight confessed quietly. His ears turned red and he darted his eyes away, refusing to meet the captain’s gaze as Warriors peered down at him. “I mean if it—if it ain’t too much trouble.”
Warriors let out a long sigh, but nodded, laying down on his back again. Idly, his fingers began to draw Twilight’s hair into small braids. Twilight closed his eyes, the touch soothing whatever insecurities he fought against.
“Y’know I act like a big brother t’ so many kids,” Twilight murmured, “but I…” He frowned, rubbing his tired face in his hands. “Never knew what it were like to have one too.”
Warriors glanced down his belly curiously. “Do you now?”
“I got you,” Twilight answered softly. “‘N so if it’s all the same t’you, I’d just like to stay here a bit longer ‘n pr’tend it’s gone be this way forever.”
“Twilight,” Warriors said gently, “I’ll always be your brother.”
“You ain’t always gone be with me,” the rancher got out, his voice breaking into a whimper. “So just while we can…”
Warriors smiled, thought something heavy like grief writhed in his chest. “You moblin brain,” he chuckled despite the emotion in his voice. “Don’t make it sound like you’re dying again.”
Twilight laughed, sniffling as he did. Warriors hushed the man, sitting up to wipe tears from the rancher’s face. As the captain rolled his thumbs down Twilight’s cheeks, the rancher covered his face with his hands, dragging in a shaky breath. Warriors smiled warmly, bowing his head forward. He pressed his forehead to the back of Twilight’s hands and for a while, the two held onto each other while they could.