This story is set in an alternate universe where Link chose to stay in Terminal and not continue his search for Navi. Set three years after the events of Majora's Mask Link is a Ranch Hand working at Romani Ranch with Romani and Cremia. It is five days till the Carnival of Time and Romani Ranch is preparing for the shipment of Romani Milk to Clock Town.
The sun peered over the horizon shading the sky of Romani Ranch in a light pink; the crack of dawn was made sound by the caw of the roosters. "Rise and shine sleepy head" Romani shouted tugging at the sleeping Link "C'mon it's six o'clock there's no time to sleep in" even though he had been living there for three years Link had never gotten used to waking up early. "It's your turn to make breakfast and you're not even dressed" she pulled him right out of the bed "Ahhh just leave me alone, Romani" Link shouted trying to cover his cold body with the sheets "No" she smiled "Well let me get dressed and I'll make breakfast" Link hissed. Link rode up his brown leather pants and slid on his cream leather shirt and walked down the stairs to the kitchen.
"Good Morning, Link" Cremia welcomed Link with a smile "Morning" he said rubbing his eyes, Romani was already sitting at the table waiting for breakfast "I didn't want to wake you Link so I made breakfast instead" Cremia smiled presenting Link and Romani breakfast: Egg cooked toast and potatoes "Thank you" Romani and Link said eating their meal. Cremia sat down at the table and looked at the pair "Once you two are done I need you to go bring the cows out to graze" The pair nodded in reply already busy eating breakfast. "Alright, Grasshopper" Romani stated pushing her plate forward "Let's get to work" she grabbed Link by the shoulder who was still eating "But I haven't finished my potatoes" he muffled with a mouthful of toast "No time for potatoes it's already twenty past six" she opened the door dragging Link with her.
The sky was still pink and the sun was just rising above over the hill "The cows are in the barn let's go get them" Romani skipped towards the barn dragging a sleepy Link by the hand. Romani began to unlock the pens where the cows were kept while Link pushed open the heavy barn doors. Link grunted pushing the right door outwards "Come one you're a boy, you should be able to do it" Romani teased, Link just grunted in reply moving to open the left door. Link pushed his back against the door and pushed as hard as he could, the large wooden door creaking as it was pushed open. Link let out a tired sigh after he had opened the double doors "No time for rest, Grasshopper" Romani said bringing the cows out through the door, Link put his hand on the side and helped move the cows.
All the cows followed Romani into the field to graze except on cow which refused to move "Romani" Link shouted from the barn "What is it?" Romani shouted back "Sally won't move" Romani didn't answer back she just patted the other cows waiting for Link. "Hrmmm... Alright Sally, the grass over there is waaay more tasty than the grass over here" Link put his hand to his face and scratched his brow "I'm talking to a cow here this isn't going to work" he moved his hand to his chin and kicked his boots "How do I get her over there, hrmmmmmm?" Link scratched the back of his head then "I know" he ran back into the house and grabbed a carrot from the kitchen "This will work" he smiled. And it did.
Link gave Sally a nice rub under the chin and fed her the carrot as she reached the grazing area with all the other cows. "Nice work with Sally, Grasshopper" Romani praised "Let's get back to Cremia, eh?" Link nodded in reply. The pair walked across the field back towards the Horse Stables where Cremia was "Tag! You're it!" Romani shouted pushing Link and running off towards the Stables "Hey" Link laughed chasing after her, "Catch me if you can, Grasshopper" Romani taunted skipping across the field, Link was still tired from waking up and it was only around seven "How does she find the energy to do these things" he thought to himself chasing her across the field. The Horse stables grew ever closer as Link pushed himself harder to reach Romani "Too slow, Grasshopper" she shouted back as she waited for Link at the Stables who was just reaching the stables.
Romani greeted Link on his arrival to the stables "Well look who made it" she laughed and Cremia smiled "Link" Link looked over to Cremia "Me and Romani will handle the horses Grog was asking for your help over at the Cucco shack" he paused for a minute "Did he say what kind of help?" he asked "No he just said he needed help with something" Cremia replied scratching the back of her head "Alright I'll go help" Link said walking off towards the shack.
Walking along the path towards the shack link paused in the middle and thought of Tatl "I wonder if she is okay?" even though he always had Romani and Cremia he still felt lonely. Tatl had been with him during those three days and even though she would annoy and berate him on some occasions he still felt companionship with the fairy. But since she was gone and he chose not to continue his search for Navi he never really filled the void that was always there. He stood there for a minute taking a look as the sky turned from pink to purple as the sun beams began to stream across the sky; he let out a sigh and continued his walk towards the cucco shack.
"You're here" Grog said with a tired face, he was always tired but no one could ever tell why maybe he was just tired of the world. "Cremia said you needed help?" Link asked "Yeah" Grog looked around at all the cuccos "I need you to feed the chickens" Link put his hand to his face and let out an annoyed sigh "Isn't that your job?" Grog looked up and looked around at the roosters and cuccos "Yeah probably" Link sighed and rolled his eyes "Fine" he looked around the yard "Where's the feed?" Grog looked up and nodded his head in the direction of the fence where a group of sacks were slumped. Picking up the sack containing the bird feed and walked around the yard taking out small lumps of feed with his fingers and tossing them around him, the cuccos began to swarm around link wanting the food. "Uhhh Grog a little help here?" Link stuttered as the cuccos began to swarm around him in larger numbers, Grog still sat slumped unresponsive to leaks pleas. The cuccos began to hop up and attack Link, a group of three cuccos jumped onto links torso and pushed him over knocking the bird feed everywhere. Link had enough with Grog's task "I'm off" he said in anger slamming the door as the cuccos chirped happily eating their feed and Grog still sat against the tree.
The sun was now looming over the ranch and the sky had changed colour from a light mauve to a bright blue as the early hours of the morning closed and the day had begun. Link moved across the field away from the Cucco Shack and towards the horse stables where he last saw Cremia and Romani, the day had only just started and there was more work to be done and maybe a break before lunch. The two sisters were busy feeding the horses and failed to notice Link coming towards them, "Done helping Grog out" Link shouted behind the two girls scaring the hell out of them "Don't sneak up on us like that again" Romani screamed at Link's chuckling face while Cremia put on a happy face watching the two fight.
After bringing the horses out to pastor and chasing down most of the dogs after they escaped from the race track most of the work was done on the ranch by three o'clock. It was time for Lunch. Everyone at the ranch began to head towards the house for lunch, it was Links turn to cook and he was the first too bee in the house making lunch for everyone. "What's lunch gonna be today?" Grog asked taking his seat at the table "Cucco and vegetable soup" Link answered stirring the cooking pot containing his previous statement "I hope it tastes better than what you served last time" Mamamu Yan scoffed, Grog sighed at his lunch knowing that the meat had come from one of his Cuccos "Don't worry Grog I made a separate vegetable stew for you" Link said in a vain attempt to cheer up the melancholic Grog.
Link plated the table placing the soup bowls at everyone's spot on the table, barely anyone said a word except for Cremia who thanked Link for the soup and encouraged everyone else to do the same but they chose to ignore her. Link poured the soup into his bowl and proceeded to sit down next to Romani. The soup was nice and hot and the cucco had cooked just right "Romani loves this soup Grasshopper made" Romani announced loudly "Thanks, it's not much" Link replied blowing on the cucco and onion in his spoon "Mmhmm this is really good, Link" Cremia cheered "It's not terrible" Mamamu Yan hissed and Grog gave a silent nod of approval. "More I want more" Romani shouted banging her bowl on the table "There's some more in the pot but I'm still hungry so it's mine" Link yelled running with his bowl towards the pot trying to outpace Romani who was charging towards the pot. Romani and Link pused and shoved each other trying to get the last portions of the soup from the pot "It's my food I made it" Link shouted trying to deflect Romani's spoon "The cook never has seconds" Romani shouted back. Cremia stood up from the table, walked towards the two growling fighters and poured the soup into her bowl and sat back down "Now everyone's happy" Cremia smiled eating the soup as Romani and Link looked in horror as their delicious lunch they fought so hard over was eaten by Cremia.
After lunch had ended and everyone had left it was now four o'clock in the afternoon and dusk was approaching. The day was ending and it was time to bring in the horses and cows from the field, Cremia sent out Link to get the horses while she and Romani gathered the cows. Link put his fingers in his mouth and whistled out Epona's song and after a few seconds Epona was galloping towards Link, he gave her a rub on the nose then wrapped his hand around her neck and swang his body over her onto her back. "YAH" he shouted hitting her side and galloping towards the Horses in the field.
Link and Epona circled around the four horses rounding them up into a group and leading them towards the stables. The horses crowded outside of the stables and were guided in by Link who had dismounted from Epona; he held the horse's head and led them into the stable pen. After doing this for all of the horses including Epona he looked over to see Romani and Cremia struggling to close the barn doors. Romani was pushing then she noticed Link in her eye and stopped "Oi come help us, Grasshopper" she shouted waving at him.
"Why...do... I... always have to... do... all the work" Link grunted pushing the final barn door close by himself while Cremia and Romani watched "Because before Grasshopper came Romani and big Sister always had to do the work" Romani replied to a struggling Link. The door let out a loud creak as it closed shut "Well that's all the work done today" Cremia smiled "C'mon Grasshopper it's time to go play" Romani shouted running off to the side of her house to get her bow with Link in tow.
Romani ran around the field shooting twigs from her bow while Link rested on a small hill behind her and watched chewing on a piece of straw and basking in the sun. It was spring and nature had opened up and revealed itself for all the world too see, the Carnival of Time was also closing ing and Link had not made his mask yet he sat thinking of what he should make or should he just buy one. The grass was soft and the sun was warm, the spring breeze left a gentle tingle across Link's cheeks and his body felt warm from the heat of the sun, it was the perfect way to wind down a day.
It was now around six o'clock, the day was finally over and the sky returned to its light pink as the sun began to rest on the horizon, Link and Romani lied on the grass watching the sun set "I wonder what the town's like this time of year" Link thought to himself looking at the sky "I haven't seen it in years" Romani let out a sigh "Romani hasn't seen the carnival in years too". "Link, Romani" Cremia shouted from the house "It's time to come in now" the couple groaned and picked themselves up off the grass and headed towards the house "Am I still cooking dinner?" Link asked "Yep" Romani smiled.