pre-work: i've always to write a malink story, but never knew how.
title: Hestia
summary: Throughout the years, Malon will always give the Hero of Time a home to return to. — post-OoT, Link/Malon
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He is ten when he arrives at the ranch, asking her father for a job. Malon remembers him instantly, dressed in that peculiar shade of green, evocative of Hyrule's deep and mysterious forests. He had helped her wake up her father that day in Castle Town, and now that Malon thinks about it, she had given him a nickname too.
Fairy boy, she recalls, after giving it some thought. Yet, his fairy is nowhere to be seen.
Malon walks up closer to the boy. His blond locks are parted neatly in front of his features, blue eyes electric.
"Fairy Boy, where's your fairy?" she frowns.
He freezes, muscles tense. His eyes are sharp and somewhat foreboding when he turns to glare at her. There's a dark feeling in the pit in of Malon's stomach. She feels as though she's gotten in trouble with an adult — like that time she'd forgotten to close the ranch gates, and her father had scolded her.
The blond must've noticed his intense look, because his features soften before he looks off into the distance. Malon almost lets out a sigh of relief.
"My name is Link, not fairy boy," he says forlornly. "My fairy...she had to leave."
Malon feels sad looking at him, all of a sudden. His blue eyes are downcast, lips shifted into a frown.
"I'm sorry, Link," she says, unsure of what else to say.
Link shakes his head and breaks out into a smile. "Don't be. In any case, it's nice to meet you again, Malon."
"It's nice to meet you too," she smiles back.
Link is a hard worker. Whereas Malon still rubs the sleep out of her eyes while milking the cows, Link is nothing but attentive with regard to his duties. Link hauls heavy pails of water or nails together a new section of fencing without so much as breaking a sweat, let alone yawning.
One morning, they sit together watching the sun rise. They were both supposed to collect the eggs an hour before, but Link had long since completed the task.
"Why are you always so awake, Fairy B-, I mean, Link?" she stumbles, covering her mouth with both hands. Link only nods and smiles at her reassuringly. Some things would never change.
"I practice archery and my swordsmanship in the morning," he responds, flexing his left hand absentmindedly. Malon's mouth widens with amazement.
"Can you shoot a bulls-eye?"
She leans over excitedly, and Link's smile widens bashfully.
"Sometimes," he admits, scratching his head. "It's hard because I'm used to a bigger bow." His hands stretch out to his entire arm-span to demonstrate.
"Why would you be used to such a big bow?" she frowns. Link's mouth widens and closes quickly, but the surprise on his face is still evident.
"I-uh...back in the Kokiri Forest, they just had bigger bows," he says, unconvincingly. The redhead seems to buy into the idea, nodding along. Link changes the subject quickly, but Malon doesn't forget that brief flash of uncertainty on his face.
Malon spies on him when she manages to wake up early enough in the morning. True to his word, Link practices his swordsmanship every single morning, but stores away the sword deep within a chest immediately after. His archery has improved steadily since that conversation, each set of shots hardly ever escaping the bulls-eye.
There are times when the redhead thinks that Link knows she's there, especially when he turns and stares somewhat unnervingly in the direction of her hiding spot. But the blond always shakes his head and turns back to his previous activity, as if confronting her wasn't worth his time.
One morning, she comes up with the ingenious idea of hiding in the rafters of the stables. Trying not to giggle, Malon watches Link enter the structure.
He walks over to Epona, one of their wildest foals, whistling a familiar tune. Strangely, Epona doesn't nicker or buck at his presence like she does with other visitors. Link whistles for a little longer, as the horse nuzzles into his hand affectionately.
Malon widens her eyes when she realizes what song he's whistling.
"You stole that song from me!" she shrieks angrily.
Link yells in surprise and jumps back, but doesn't fall down like she thought he would. His body weight is spread out perfectly, his feet shoulder-width apart, and every muscle in his body is tensed, as if ready to fight. His eyebrows are furrowed, while his blue eyes scan the area for any sign of movement.
Malon hops down from her hiding place, and Link relaxes when he spots her, though his facial expression turns from one of suspicion to one of pure shock. The redhead is getting more and more used to that surprised expression on his face, though he's gotten better at hiding it over time.
"Malon, you nearly scared me to death," Link says unconvincingly.
The redhead frowns.
"That song. Where did you learn it?"
"...well, I learned it from you," he half-lies, trying to smile sheepishly at her.
"How? I never taught it to you," says the redhead, crossing her arms.
Link doesn't respond, racking his brain frantically to come up with an excuse. Malon's blue eyes bore into him, and Link grows more nervous by the second.
"That song was composed by my mother," Malon says softly, after another moment.
"She died when I was young."
The farmgirl looks away. Link walks over to the redhead and places a hand on her shoulder gently.
"I'm sorry," he says genuinely. Malon's blue eyes are somewhat glassy, but she blinks the tears away and looks at him. For a moment, his eyes look quite old, but the farmgirl attributes it to a trick of the light, nothing more but the way the sunrise reflects off his face.
"This song must mean a lot to you," Link murmurs, pulling out a small blue object from his pocket. Upon closer inspection, it's an ocarina, with the Royal Seal engraved on a circular strip of metal surrounding the mouthpiece.
Malon doesn't have many worldly possessions, but even she can tell that this is a piece of excellent craftsmanship, if not divine in nature. After all, rumor has it that anything with the Royal Seal on it has some magic imbued within it. The redhead tries not to stare blatantly.
"Do you mind teaching it to me properly?" he asks, pulling Malon out of her admiration for the artifact.
Malon nods and clears her throat.
Several months go by after she teaches him her mother's song. Malon finds it easier and easier to wake up, if only out of her sheer competitive spirit. After all, Lon Lon Ranch is her birthright, and she won't be losing to some fairy boy when it comes to taking care of the farm — even if Epona does seem to like him better. Link seems to enjoy her presence, lips curling upwards whenever she chirps 'hello' or 'good morning'.
"Have you ever wanted to see the kingdom, Fairy Boy?" she asks innocently one day, as the two of them collect eggs from the hen house.
Link nearly drops an egg upon hearing the question, but his reflexes are as quick as ever. He dives to catch the egg before smoothly tucking his legs into a roll. Malon raises an eyebrow and mutters, "Showoff."
Link chuckles and sheepishly smiles. "Sorry. Force of habit."
"Anyway," continues the redhead, frowning at him. "Haven't you ever wanted to see the kingdom?"
Link sets the egg neatly with the rest and looks down at them with a pensive expression on his face. Malon knows that look, and there's a sinking feeling in her stomach. She never knows which questions will be met with blatant shock or a degree of hesitation, and the redhead hates the way he frowns and looks so sad when he answers.
"I did," the blond says after a moment. "When I was younger."
"You're only ten, though. Like me," points out Malon, walking up to him. She counts the eggs they've harvested this morning, while sneaking a glance at Link from her peripheral vision. There's a smile on Link's face, but something about it makes Malon's heart ache.
He seems to notice her frown and quickly says, "I can tell you a lot about Hyrule, if you want. I've..."
Link pauses.
"...read a lot about each location."
As always, Link is never good at lying about his past. He looks to the farmgirl to gauge how effective his deception is, relieved to find her mouth gaping in surprise.
"You can read? My dad said he'd teach me how to read and write a while ago, but he never got around to it."
"I'll teach you after our chores, if you want," he says, happy to change the subject.
Malon nods eagerly, a bright spark in her eyes.
Malon knows the Hylian alphabet already from another childhood song her mother had taught her prior to her death. She's quick to figure out how written letters are pronounced and even learns how to sound out common words, like horse or cow, with ease. To help her practice, Link starts to write out certain words in the ground with a stick.
"Ma-lon. Malon," the redhead repeats, looking to Link somewhat puzzled. She repeats it once more under her breath, before the farmgirl says eagerly, "Oh, that's my name! Malon!"
Link smiles while nodding and starts to write out longer words and phrases. Malon sounds the letters out with some difficulty, with Link providing gentle guidance every step of the way. Eventually, Link begins writing out an entire sentence for her, though the redhead becomes slightly nervous as the sentence stretches far longer in length than any of the previous phrases.
Link finishes writing the sentence and leans slightly on his stick, motioning for her to try it out.
"The...qui-ck...brown fox..."
Malon's eyebrows furrow in frustration.
"Try starting over again. It's okay to take it slow," says Link reassuringly. Malon nods diligently.
Link tunes out her voice as she works her way through the sentence. It is a very nice day, he thinks, as the breeze passes by. The beams of sunlight streaming down on Lon Lon Ranch are warm and nurturing, unlike the oppressive heat of the Gerudo Desert and Death Mountain.
The hero closes his eyes.
Upon arriving in this timeline, Link had sealed away his piece of the ancient magic deep within himself, so as to not tip off any magic-sensitive observers. Malon's voice grows even more distant as he focuses on tapping into that wellspring of energy, and suddenly, he can feel it.
He can feel the Triforce resonating with everything around him: the soil itself pulses with energy, up into the trees and extending to even the most minute branches. It's almost too much to handle.
Link pulls back from the power and exhales. The sound of Malon's voice comes back into focus. Birds chirp in the distance. This is everything that he and Zelda had fought for, in the other timeline. Link thinks he ought to be grateful, having been given a second chance to live out his life, to make this ranch his new home.
And yet there's this haunting feeling that this just isn't where he belongs.
"Link! I did it!" Malon says brightly, shaking the blond out of his thoughts. "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog! The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog!"
Link can't help but smile as she embraces him tightly in gratitude.
By the end of the day, Malon is flying through paragraphs, let alone single sentences. After returning from Castle Town, Talon is both surprised and overjoyed to see his daughter reading one of his almanacs. As Malon reads by the light of the window, her father thanks Link and pulls him in with a firm handshake.
"How'd you like to marry her someday?" he whispers while winking conspiratorially.
Though Link has heard the request before, in what feels like another lifetime, he is still caught speechless and turns a vibrant shade of red. Talon only laughs heartily, ruffling the boy's hair affectionately.
After a celebratory dinner of roasted Cucco with freshly baked bread, Malon rushes back to the hearth of the fireplace, eager to practice her newfound ability. The light of the flame is more than enough for her to rush through each page, absorbing every bit of new information along the way.
Eventually, Link joins her by the hearth, their hips barely brushing as he looks over to what she's reading.
"Fairy Boy! This book has some funny jokes. Do you want to hear some?" asks Malon, smiling effervescently. Link nods, adding another piece of wood to the flame.
The redhead tells an anecdote about a farmer and his lost Cucco, and they laugh like children ought to.
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notes: the original title for this story was repeated twice in the last section of this chapter. if you can guess what it is, i'll give you a prize? in any case, i really hope you guys enjoyed the story so far. i predict that this story will be somewhere from 3-4 chapters? not totally sure yet.
if you liked it, please leave a review! i'd love to see some feedback. :)
