From a distance everything looked mostly the same. The bright blue skies, the long and expansive fields were green and stretched beyond his sight. Even the rivers were clean and flowing. But now without a giant moon overhanging the world it felt just a little empty. Leisurely trotting along on Epona, Link stopped along the river to let them both drink.

His visit to Termina, a bizarre and scary world, but ultimately kind and just confused, had left Link with treasures, lessons, and a deep yearning to finish something. He'd spent a long time since he saw these plains, these long running rivers, these tall mountains, and he just wanted to visit everything once again.

But Link had to wait for know. The sun was already starting to set in the distance, and it didn't look like he'd be able to get to Castletown in time. He turned Epona toward her old home, the old Lon Lon Ranch. "Come on girl," he ordered, "let's surprise 'em!"

Taking care of a group of horses wasn't easy work. It was fun, it had been fun and stimulating since Malon was little, but it never was a quick and easy task, as Ingo would eagerly attest to. She finished putting away the last foal when she heard a very familiar tune playing in the distance. She hadn't hummed that one in a while but recognized it immediately.

Looking toward the entrance of the ranch, past the iron gates, she unmistakably saw a boy in green on top of a horse. Malon knew of only one person who fit that description and jumped in joy. "Kokiri Boy! Over here!" She waved him over, excited to see him and Epona once more, and ready to hear all of their tales. As he rode Epona over to her, she was amazed how he got her to follow instructions so well.

Up close she saw the "Kokiri boy" from before now looked closer to being a real man. Taller, muscles starting to form in his still tiny 13 year old body, and very calm when riding Epona (unlike the first time he tried it, when he tried to force her to heel and Epona threw him off into a puddle of mud,which still made Malon giggle).

Link had a strange feeling of Déjà vu, having just seen her doppelgangers a few weeks ago, but still happy to see her. While Malon was more carefree then Romani, she possessed more of Cremia's work ethic when it came to her profession. He wondered if Talon were a more diligent ranch owner, would Malon would be a more or less of an enthusiastic horse-wrangler?

Malon was the first to break their silence. "You and Epona sure got big." Getting off of his steed, Link had to crane his neck down a bit to look at her. She looked a quite a bit older then when he left her, and just a smidgen more so then Romani. She was taller, hair a bit shorter (did she cut it or did one of the men do it?), and eyes still mischievous and stubborn in her own way. While he was comparing Malon to her previous appearances, she was fretting over Epona.

Epona had grown so big she towered over both of them. While petting her mane Malon reminisced when Epona was about as tall as her and Link, last she saw them at least. She acted so sweet from when she was a foal Malon could hardly believe she was the same little beast

"Has Link been treating ya well?" Epona neighed in response. She gasped. "He hasn't? I knew I shouldn't have let you go." She turned to him and puffed out her cheeks in mock-rage, and narrowed blue eye, which made Link giggle.

"Where have you guys been in the last two year? How come you haven't visited? Have you been feeding, cleaning, and brushing Epona every day? You made sure to feed her the carrots she likes and not the ones she doesn't?" Malon's words came out faster then Link could respond, or process them.

Meanwhile, before she started rattled off questions, Talon came out of the house looking for her. "Malon! Honey! Dinnertime!" When he didn't see her anywhere he walked over to the pen to see what was the hold up. He could hear her in the distance laughing and talking with some one.

Squinting a bit he saw Malon with a familiar green dressed figure and jumped when he realized who it was. He ran over to them and upon arrival called out, "Well color me brown, sprinkle me with pebbles, and feed me to the Goron! Link how've ya been?" Both turned to see Talon, same as the bald, portly figure Link remembered seeing, running in his own unique way.

"I've been fine." Link said while being patted on head by Talon. "Me and Epona just got back to Hyrule. Mind if we stay the night?" By now dusk had already set in and visibility was getting low.

Malon jumped in on his question, "Of course we will. Right pa?" Malon put on her sweetest face and cutest eyes. "Please? Kokiri boy doesn't have anywhere else to stay, don't throw him and Epona out!"

"Well," scratching his chin Talon decided, "all right, but ya got to entertain us with some stories boy." Link nodded at the conditions.

Dinnertime with Malon, Talon, and the still grumpy Ingo consisted of a few portions of Cucco as the main dish, with soup and vegetables as a side. "So tell us Kokiri boy." Malon said after finishing her meal, far faster then the men at the table. "Where were ya? What kind of stuff did you see?"

Link gulped up the last pieces of soup and started to talk, vaguely feeling discontent he was no longer known as 'Fairy Boy' to her. "I was traveling with Epona through a forest and," he paused, "well we weren't able to follow the map all the way through the place." Mostly because he didn't have a map for the forest he was in, but they didn't need to know of his lack of planning.

"You mean you got lost?" Ingo sarcastically muttered, and the other two tittered at that. Nice to see you never change Ingo. Link groused to himself.

"No!" Link shot back. "Well a little." None of them looked convinced. "Yeah I was completely lost. Anyways," getting away from his embarrassment, Link continued "we eventually met up with a Skull Kid and ended up in a land called Termina."

While Talon and Malon raptly payed attention to his stories of creepy mask sellers, angry-faced Moons, and various other tales Link skimmed the horror and embarrassment off of, Ingo choose to ignore him. The surly worker propped up his arm, and fell asleep with his cheek in his palm. To him this whole blather about evil masks and creepy Moon's was just rubbish in his eyes. His very sleepy and tired eyes.

Link was having a fun time pantomiming the various people he met to the ranch family. "So after I saved the Deku princess and got her back to the monkey trial..." He stopped part way with a sour look on his face

Both of them noticed his narrowed eyes and turned to look at what he was glaring at. "Oh Ingo." Talon muttered. "Your s'pposed to sleep on the job, not dinner!" Malon kicked her dad at that. "What was that fer!" He yelled.

"Nothing dad." Malon sighed. "You shouldn't be sleeping when the suns out at all." She admonished him and wagged her finger to punctuate that. Talon eventually decided to pick up Ingo and bring him to his cot on the other side of the room, grumbling to himself. After dumping Ingo off he called back, "I hope you don't mind napping down here tonight Link," he pointed upstairs, "Malon's got the only real room in the ranch."

The redhead in question just stuck her tongue out at that. "Well I am the only one who does any real work around here. You and Ingo either don't do anything or complain about it too much." By coincidence Ingo turned over in his cot and mumbled something in his sleep.

"I work plenty hard! I just use my intuition to extend business relations rather then involve myself in physical labor." He explained in his own loquacious fashion.

Despite how silly they were, arguing back and forth, Link was glad some things never changed. It also made him a bit dizzy considering how he just got back from seeing a big Malon and little Malon, and a serious looking Talon in a suit. Actually...

"Hey guys." He got their attention. "When I was in Termina, way after the monkey and Deku Princess thing, I got this." He went to his bag and rifled through it till he found a bottle with a purple cover, and handed it to Talon.

"Let's see here." He brought the bottle up close to his eyes. "Chat-ew Ra-money?" He thrust it back dramatically. "Are you saying our milk isn't as good as this fancy-shmancy stuff? I can't believe you Link." He started faux-weeping and turned to his daughter. "Malon he betrayed us! I can't live anymore knowing our customers are leaving for another brand." He did his best impersonation of a weeping women, which failed to convince anyone but did give them a laugh over it.

"This stuff is special." Link grinned. "Cost me two hundred Rupees for a bottle." Both of them blanched at that.

"Kokiri boy," Malon sounded a little apprehensive at the prospect of paying so much for a bottle of milk, "isn't that a bit much for a bottle of milk?" Compared to their more reasonable price, Malon hoped he got to keep the bottle he bought it with.

"The Milk Bar I bought it at said it had magic properties." He offered it again to Talon. "I also heard you can stay up three days and three nights if you drink the whole thing." Talon squinted at it, turned it over various angles, and even lifted it up to see if he could filter it through the light.

"Pa!" Malon jumped and tried to get it from his hands. "Try it or let us have some." Eventually Talon gave up and tried the milk. His eyes nearly popped out of his head after the first swig. "Whew!" He had to take a second gulp to hold it all down. "That stuff sure is potent!" He took a step back and muttered, "Mind if I keep it?"

Before Link could respond, Malon snatched it out of his hands. "Hey!" Unlike her father, too proud to try a competitors brand without coaxing, Malon drank down half the whole bottle, and set the bottle down. She just stood there spaced out for a second, then promptly fell over.

Both of them quickly got on either side of her. "Link, what was in that foreign milk of yours?"

"Ugh, magic? All I know was it came from really special cows and kids aren't allowed to drink it." He turned to Malon and was about to say something, until he noticed she was gone. "I swear I don't remember invisibility happening when I tried it." It didn't take long to notice not only was the door open, but Malon was running around giggling outside.

"Link?"

"Yeah."

"Where'd you put your bag." Link was about to point and say 'right there' until he noticed it was, in fact, not there.

Both men soon realized that a "magic" infused was a very bad prospect for all involved and ran when they heard the horses running.

Every morning, at the crack of dawn, Ingo dragged himself out of his makeshift bed for another day of labor. Very rarely was anyone but Malon up at that time, the girl must have inherited her mothers work ethic, Ingo thought once before adding, bless her soul. Talon slept until past noon, and they rarely had any visitors until the later half of the day, after Talon had awoken and cleaned himself up for guests.

So when Ingo woke up and found this in front of him he was stupefied. Malon asleep and snoring on top of the dinner able, clothes muddy and disheveled, with no sign of Link or Talon anywhere. Normally sweet little Malon, who always goes to bed on time, was somehow looking like your average repeat bar patron.

Where is that fat oaf, and that little green boy? As he took Malon upstairs and tucked her in, he couldn't find either of them in the house, nor in the ranch. Come to think about it, where are the horses? As he looked in the stalls, and in the pen, he couldn't find anything. It was almost as if someone kidnapped the ranch. "Spooky." He grumbled.

After some time had passed he heard a large amount of galloping coming toward him, and saw the horses (all of them apparently) riding back into the ranch. Following them were two very tired looking horse-wranglers.

"So." Ingo said, composing his thoughts and wiping the sleep out of his eyes. "I'm guessing you two had a fun night?"

Talon's eyes were heavy and slumping like the rest of his body. "Malon had some of this foreign milk Link brought, and well she had a lot of fun playing with the horses." Talon started to sink into the ground as he said that.

Blinking he turned to Link. "Playing?" What sort of playing, he wondered, involved taking the horses out to the field at night.

After yawning, and laying his cheek on Epona, Link said, "She took my bag and started throwing bombs upward to make fireworks." Shifting a bit on his own horse he continued. "This was after she released the horses and they were all milling about. We had to spend the night getting them all back." His disjointed speaking only highlighted how tired he was.

Suppressing a laugh at the image of all this, Ingo decided to let them off easy. "I tucked Malon into her bed, I think you'll want to clean her and it though when you wake." Looking around for Talon he took a moment to realize he was laying on the ground. "The cot's just a few feet inside boss. Do you need some help?"

Talon mumbled, "Thanks Ingo. I'll be fine Ingo. Just keep that milk away from Malon when she wakes." Link meanwhile was already snoozing on Epona who was trying to nudge him awake.

Rolling his eyes Ingo got to work and muttered to himself that he would never have let this happen if he was in charge of this ranch.

I've always assumed Chateau Romani had a little alcohol in addition to it's mostly magic contents.