"Did you get milk from my dad?"
"Yeah, I always do when I come here."
"Can I have it?"
"No, get your own."
"Daddy won't let me have extra milk."
"I paid for this myself."
"Please?"
"No. Now what did you want to show me, Malon?"
"A cool thing I found," She replied quietly, looking down. "But you don't get to see it since you won't give me the milk."
Link could certainly afford another bottle of milk, but it just wasn't fair to him that Malon got this one. Even more so since she has cows right in her backyard. Malon claimed she didn't even know how to milk cows, but Link hadn't believed her.
"Okay, how about half the bottle?" She asked.
"No, Just get your own."
"I've told you, Link! I don't know how!"
Link sighed. "You can have a little of it. Just a little, though! Maybe this much." He gestured a small amount between his fingers.
Malon frowned. She made her fingers a bit wider than his. "At least this much or no deal."
"But that's almost half!" Link complained. "What's so great about this dumb secret, anyway?
Malon looked insulted. Link shrugged helplessly, not wanting to have offended her. Maybe if he could change the subject, she wouldn't be so upset.
"Just tell me the secret."
She didn't move. She kept her arms crossed over her chest, making Link feel guilty. Had he really hurt her feelings that badly?
"Fine," Link sighed. "You can have half the bottle."
Malon's bad mood almost immediately dissolved, leaving Link colored with embarrassment. Had she really just tricked him? How mean!
"Alright, come on then," She said, taking his free hand. In the other was the milk he was tricked into giving up.
Link was unamused that she led him to the room beneath the windmill. He'd been in here before, and he knew for a fact that there was nothing inside. Nothing of value, anyway. Just some cows and empty crates.
"What I need you to do," Malon said when they were inside, "is move some of the crates. Only the ones I tell you to, though, or else it'll get confusing." She stole Link's jar and hopped onto one of the crates.
Link, now glaring at her from below, wanted to protest to her bossing him around; however, he knew that would just be another fight he couldn't win.
She took a drink from the jar before telling him which crate to move where. She had also mentioned during the process that this was 'much funner when someone else did the work,' which made Link even more upset than before. This had better be worth it. He had already lost his milk over this.
After moving two or three of the boxes, a hole in the wall was revealed. It sloped downwards and looked rather creepy. Fortunately, Link could handle creepy.
Malon insisted on going first. Again, Link complied without much of a pointless fight.
The tunnel was a tight fit for Link, so he didn't bother to make a note of coming back.
They were in a small round room with high windows that let in enough light. By the cobwebs up high, he guessed this room was probably forgotten about.
"How did you find this place?" He asked her.
"Easy, Malon said, digging around in a pile of hay. "I could hear the cat."
"Cat?" he asked. In reply, Malon stood up in the hay, holding up a gray and white cat. Its legs and tail dangled beneath Malon's grip, and although it didn't look comfortable, it didn't appear to have any intentions of leaving. It was a skinny cat, and its bushy tail seemed out of place.
Malon poured the remainder of the milk into a pie tin on the floor and put the cat down nearby. Link took back the empty jar. Although he'd agreed to give up only half, the fact that Malon wasn't the one drinking it made him feel better. (He didn't like it when she took his stuff.)
"I call her Lora," Malon said, watching the cat drink. "I don't know why, though. She doesn't respond to it. But I like that name."
"It's a cool name," Link agreed. "So why is this a secret?"
"Daddy doesn't like cats," she explained. "he's allergic. He would make me get rid of her, but I love her."
"You can't just keep it in here forever," he told her.
"I wasn't going to. I was going to ask you to take her to castle town next time you go. Maybe she belongs to someone there."
"Well, I'm not headed down there anytime soon, but I could make a trip if you want."
"Would you?" She asked. "Oh, that would be great!" She said happily, practically bouncing with happiness. Lora meowed at Malon, who picked her up again. "But I do want to keep her here with me for a few more days. Is that okay?"
"It's not my decision," Link said. "I'm starting another adventure soon, though, so I might not be back for a while."
"Where are you going next?" She asked. She had seemed very eager to hear his story about his time in the great Deku tree, so he had always made sure to come by and talk about his other adventures.
"Zora's Domain, maybe. Somewhere by the lake."
"I hear it's cold at Zora's Domain. I want to go there one day." Malon handed the cat over to Link. It was purring but Link wasn't sure what that meant. Maybe he was doing it wrong. He didn't really have experience with cats. He looked to Malon for help, and she just laughed.
Although Lora was a skinny cat, she was still big, and Link had a hard time holding her comfortably. He ended up sitting with her in his lap, with Malon joining them in the hay.
"So what was your last adventure about?" Malon asked after Lora had quickly fallen asleep in his lap.
"Well," Link began, scratching the cat behind the ears, "It was in Death Mountain."
"No way!" Malon said, astonished. "You didn't see any lions, did you?"
"What? No," Link replied with a confused frown. "Why lions?"
She shrugged. "I don't know, mountain lions? They exist, okay?"
"Well, I didn't see any. Although I fought a dragon." He grinned, obviously proud of the feat.
"I don't believe you, fairy boy."
"You never believe my stories, but they're all true. I really am going to save Hyrule with Zelda. I met her, I really did!"
Malon rolled her eyes, just like every other time Link told her about his quest. She liked hearing the stories, but never believed any of them were real.
"You an go on an adventure with me one day," Link said, leaning his head back against the wall.
Malon mimicked his movement. "Can I go to Zora's Domain with you?"
"No," Link answered quickly. "What if we get attacked? You don't know how to fight, do you? Not everything out there is gonna listen to you when you tell it to stop."
Malon sighed. "How about the adventure after that? I'll get a sword just like yours and we'll go together."
"Fine, maybe," Link said, looking down at the cat. "Maybe Lora would want to come too."
"That would be funny."
"Yeah." Then it was quiet for a minute. Lora continued purring.
"You know," Link said a few minutes later, "I'm still mad about that milk. You owe me."
"No, I don't. I showed you Lora, isn't that enough of a repayment?"
"And I'm going to take you on an adventure."
Malon frowned. "What if you forget about me when you're at Zora's Domain?"
"Why do you think I'll forget you?" Lora rolled over in Link's lap.
"I don't know, it just felt like you were gone for a really long time at the volcano. I thought you had forgotten about me, and you're my only friend, really."
"What about the kids at Castle Town?"
"They don't really like me because I'm not from around there," she said sadly. "That's why I like to stay here when daddy goes to Castle Town."
"Well that's mean of them," Link said. "Well, I like you and I'll never forget you, okay?"
Lora climbed out of Link's lap and buried herself in the hay where she was earlier.
"You'd better take me on an adventure or I'll hit you when you get back."
"Where do you want to go?"
"I want to go see Lake Hylia," Malon told him. "All the kids at Castle Town said it's really fun in the summer."
Link wanted to tell her that that wasn't much of an adventure, but she looked happy so he didn't bring it up.
"All right," he agreed instead. "After this adventure and taking Lora to Castle Town, I'll take you to the lake."
Malon insisted he pinky promise. He smiled as he did so, and she returned the gesture.
Suddenly, her eyes grew wide. "Oh, no," she said, standing up and brushing hay off her skirt, "I bet daddy is looking for me. He was almost done making lunch. Come on, Fairy Boy."
She left through the tunnel first, and after Link crawled through, she had him push the crates back to their original position. Malon looked to be in a hurry when she opened the wooden door outside the windmill.
It seemed her timing was perfect. As Link shut the door behind him, Talon was approaching them.
"What were the two of you kids doing in there?" he asked, looking between the two of them with one eyebrow raised.
It was a good thing Malon was good at improvising, because Link had no idea what to say. Malon, however, quickly pieced together: "I was showing Link some cool rocks I found. Do you want to see them too?"
"Maybe later," he replied suspicion still frozen on his face. "Right now, it's time for lunch. Get inside, Malon." He looked at Link. "Would you care for some lunch, too?"
"No, sir," Link said, standing up straight and trying not to look suspicious.
"You go on ahead, Malon," her father said.
"Bye, Link," she said, frowning but complying.
Talon and Link walked slower behind her. Link hoped he wouldn't inquire further about the secret room; Link had never been good at lying.
"So, Link," he said casually. "Malon talks about you a lot. You do some pretty risky things on those adventures, huh? Dragons, she told me. I'm surprised they still exist!"
He laughed nervously. "Yeah. Although I think he was more of a dinosaur. I don't really know the difference. It breathed fire, though. Do you know if dinosaurs can breathe fire?" He suddenly thought he was talking too much, and therefore stopped talking altogether.
Talon chuckled. "I don't know. I've never met either of them."
"And you probably never will," Link said slowly. "I think I killed the last of its kind."
"Well, that's sad. Hey," he said quieter, changing the subject and walking slower when Malon had entered the house. "I'm a little worried about Malon," he told Link.
"Why?"
"Well, she's spending a lot of time over by the windmill all of a sudden. Plus, she stopped coming to Castle Town with me lately. I think some kids were teasing her, but she won't exactly tell me why."
"Oh. She's probably just organizing her rocks. She's really proud of them. And I don't know about Castle Town, sorry." Link felt his stomach knot at the lie. Did she even have rocks?
"She probably is. She's been collecting them for a while. But hey, you're her best friend. Do you think she's alright? You probably know her better than anyone else."
"Yeah, definitely," Link said, probably too quickly. Did he really know her best? He'd only recently met her. He thought about this for a while as his conversation with Talon had apparently ended. They were now at the entrance to the ranch. Link opened the gate and said goodbye to Talon. Talon reminded him that he was always welcome there, but Link already knew that.
When he left, he left exactly as when he came: without milk.