Disclaimer: I do not own the Zelda games/story. If only. I do, however, own MOST ofthe lyrics of the song (I borrowed a line or two from other existing lullabies).
A/N: Please see bottom of page for important plot notes."LoZ" is used to indicate scene breaks. Reviews are very welcome.
Epona's Song
"Mama! Mama, look! She's trying to stand up!" the little five year old redhead exclaimed in excitement, tugging at her mother's skirt to get her attention. Maia turned her attention from the grain bucket she'd been filling to her daughter.
"What is it Malon?" she asked her gently.
"The filly, Mama! She's trying to stand up! Come see!" Laughing, Maia set down the grain bucket and allowed the little girl to pull her over to the stall containing a mare that had just foaled, and the foal itself.
The filly was indeed trying to stand up, on very wobbly legs too. Malon laughed as the filly stumbled into her mother's flank, and Maia couldn't contain a smile at the antics of both children, hylian and horse.
"Mama, what's her name?" Malon asked without taking her eyes from the foal.
"She doesn't have one, love. Why don't you name her?" The little girl stared up at her mother, wide-eyed.
"Truly?"
"Truly." Malon turned back to the filly, nose scrunched up in thought. When she didn't say anything for several minutes, Maia prompted her, "Well?"
"I have to think about it," Malon replied in such a grown-up tone of voice that her mother was hard-put to suppress a laugh.
"Come along, little one. There are chores to be finished."
LoZ
"What's 'wild' in old Hylian, Mama?" Maia gave her daughter a surprised glance as she handed her a wet spoon to dry.
"Allta. Why do you ask?"
"Allta," Malon repeated, trying out the word. The she grinned up at her mother. "That's what I'm going to name the filly. Allta." Maia smiled and handed the little girl the last dish.
"That's an excellent name. Why did you choose wild?"
"Because all horses were wild one time, you said so."
"So I did."
"And I want Allta to remember that she use to be wild." Maia paused in the action of emptying the dirty dish water, to glance in surprise at her daughter. She hadn't expected such an intelligent, or mature response. Malon just smiled innocently, and hung her dishrag over a rack on the wall.
Maia was saved for coming up with a response – not that Malon expected one – at the arrival of her husband in the kitchen. She was surprised to see him home so early, normally he was much later in coming home when he went to town to deliver milk.
"Papa!" Malon cried happily, flinging herself at her father. Talon wasn't a particularly tall man, but he was very good-looking. Fit, tanned from hours spent in the sun, with hair as black as his wife's and daughter's was red, and eyes the color of a cloudless sky.
"Hello my little wild rose. What did you do today?" he asked as he hoisted her into his arms.
"Allta stood up today!"
"Allta?" Talon asked curiously, glancing at his wife who only gave him a mysterious smile.
"The filly Papa," Malon informed him with an exasperated tone, as though he should know this already. He chuckled.
"Ah. Who named her?"
"I did," she replied proudly. "It means 'wild' in old Hylian. Mama told me."
"Does it? Very clever." He set her down and pulled something from his coat pocket, and held it out to his daughter. It was a doll, hand-sewn, with hair of red yarn and a pair of shiny brown buttons for eyes, and a little dress made of yellow wool. Malon gasped, and then squealed in delight.
"A doll! Mama, Papa got me a doll! With red hair, just like me!"
"She's very nice. What do you say to your Papa?"
"Oh, thank you, Papa! Thank you!" the little girl exclaimed breathlessly, squeezing her father around his legs – the farthest up she could reach – and racing upstairs, presumably to play with her new doll. Both parents smiled, before turning their attention to one another.
Maia moved into Talon's arms, pressing her face to his chest and breathing in the familiar scent that was purely his. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. Neither moved for several long moments.
"You're home early," Maia murmured, her voice muffled by his chest.
"The Palace took the whole load. There must be a feast, or some event happening. They even paid me extra to take it into the kitchen for them because no servants were available."
"That explains the doll then," she deduced, moving slightly to look up at him.
"I couldn't resist."
"And that's why I love you." The kiss they shared next was interrupted by a little ball of red-haired energy.
"Ewww. Look Selia, they're kissing." Maia and Talon broke away from one another trying to restrain their amusement.
"What is it, Malon?" Talon asked, smiling down at their little girl.
"Me and Selia want a story," Malon informed them, indicating herself and her doll.
"Selia and I would like a story, please," Maia corrected.
"See Selia. I told you Mama would want a story too." Talon started laughing, and at his wife's glare he scurried quickly from the room, still chuckling. Maia just sighed resignedly, and followed her eager daughter up the stairs.
LoZ
"… and Epona, Queen of Horses, raced after her mistress, oblivious to all danger. Lady Malon leapt onto Epona's back, and the two fought off the bandits, sword flashing, and hooves flying. They fought for a long tired, until both were very tired. But at the end, Epona and Malon stood victorious. And all the townsfolk cheered, and called them heroes, and they were offered as much gold as the poor people could afford. But they refused, saying that saving innocent lives was payment enough. Then, with one last wave goodbye, they turned and raced off into the sunset. And their story was passed on by the townsfolk, from generation to generation, until Lady Malon and Epona, Queen of Horses, became legend. The end."
"I'm going to be just like Lady Malon, aren't I Mama? That's why we have the same name." Maia smoothed Malon's hair from her face and placed a kiss on her daughter's forehead.
"You can be anything you wish to be, if you try hard enough. Goodnight, dearest. Soiya ta brionglóid sera plóisiúrtha. May your dreams be pleasant." Maia blew out the candle and shut the door softly behind her. As she turned to leave, she heard Malon humming the lullaby she'd sung to her so many times before and smiled tenderly at the little voice.
Maia moved reluctantly from the door, and made her way down the hall to her own chambers, singing the same lullaby softly to herself.
Rest my love
Close thine eyes
Father tends the sheep
Mother shakes dreamland tree
And sweet dreams fall for thee
Sleep my love
Cry no more
Sailing dreamland's seas
Thy boat a silver moon
Paddles of stars
---
The dream-weaver weaves a bright tapestry for thee
Of thy journey through fantasy
On a white horse, following hidden paths in thread
There thou may find thy destiny
---
Rest my love
Dream my love
And be not woken
By neither wind nor storm
Nor by nightmare's shadows
Hush-a-bye
Softly sleep
In the arms of love
'Til dawn wakes thee again
To sweet sunlight
LoZ
Nine year old Malon sniffled quietly, wiping her tears away with the back of her hand. She had long ago stopped listening to the priest. She doubted very much that a few prayers would make any difference now. Her mother was gone. Her soul with the Goddesses, in a place that was always warm and happy.
Or so she was told.
But how could she be happy without her family? And without the farm, the horses, the wildflowers, music, and everything else that her mother had loved? Did those things exist in the Sacred Realm? And, the biggest question of all… what would they do without her?
Mama. Malon scrubbed furiously at another tear. She'd cried enough! She shouldn't be such a baby. Mama told her to be strong! Because…
Because Papa would be lost without Mama. And it seemed it was true. Malon looked at her father, at his red eyes and pale face, at the shaking fist clenched by his side. He never cried in front of her, but she'd heard him at night when he thought she was asleep.
The death had been so fast, so sudden. She was there one day, gone the next.
Not quite. But it had seemed that way. Whatever illness had taken her mother, it had taken her fast. A couple days. The healers was still puzzled.
And Malon hated them for it. Hated that they hadn't saved her. Hated that she barely had time to say goodbye. Hated that she'd had to say goodbye at all.
The priest had stopped talking. Someone lit the funeral pyre. The flames soared up, over the body of a pale woman dressed in blue, with hair the color of the very flames that consumed her.
Someone was singing a lament. Or maybe it was merely Malon's heart. But she had no strength with which to voice her sorrow, in song or otherwise. Perhaps later, when the grief wasn't like a knife in her chest
LoZ
Malon stood at the funeral sight long after the pyre had burned to ash and it had started to rain. The heavens joining her in her grief… and washing away the odor of burning flesh, washing away the smoke, the ash… and the pain.
And in that moment, Malon found she loved the rain. Because it washed away the agonizing anguish, and left only a muted sorrow in it's wake.
Raising her face to the sky, Malon thought she heard the melody of a long-ago lullaby beneath the sound of rain pounding the ground at her feet.
And she smiled.
Plotnotes: The lullaby is Epona's song (the lyrics match the tune, in case that wasn't obvious). This not it's real title, but a title that Malon gives it not long after her mother's death. This will be explained in one of my other fanfictions (one of the ones I keep saying I'm going to write but never do). But since I won't get around to writing that scene for a while, or even posting it for that matter, I'll give a brief explanation:
Malon always thought of the song as her mother's, even though it's an old tune, but didn't want to cause her father more grief by calling it Maia's Song. So she named it Epona's Song, after the horse her mother always included in her bedtime stories. Therefore, in a round-about way, Link's horse is also named after Malon's mother. Or rather, in remembrance of her.
Another quick note on Talon. Yeah, I know he's fat. But I decided he wasn't always like that. He got that way from trying to drown his sorrows in alcohol after the death of his wife. And after that, his life just became so depressing, what with Ganondorf taking over and all that, that he sort of… gave up. Not forever mind you. Just until Link goes to get him from Kakariko. But that's for another story.