I remember the exact day when my life changed. After that day, it was filled with waiting, longing. I was only a small, normal girl, living on our farm with my loving if forgetful father and our ranch hand. My life was fulfilling: I took care of my cuckoos, helped with milking our cows, could ride my horses better than many adults, and was training my own little filly. I was even doing other things like cooking when no one else could and practicing singing. But then came that fateful day, even if I didn't know it at the time.
My day started out normal. I got up, got dressed in my plain white dress and pink apron, collected cuckoo eggs, and reunited the mothers with lost babies. I fed the cows, I watered the horses, I prepared the milk in the cooling containers to take into town so we could sell it to the nobles. Then father said that I should come along, and I was old enough to start helping him with the milk deliveries! So I grabbed the cuckoo egg I was incubating so I could sell it in town and hopped in the wagon, waving good bye to Mr. Ingo.
When we got to town, is was early afternoon, and my dad dropped me off at the gate, saying for now I could look around town, and cautioned me not to get lost. So I wandered into town, looking in all the shops but not having enough money to buy any of the pretty trinkets, since no one was interested in my buying my egg. Tired of looking at things I had no money for, I went back to the gate but the guard just laughed when I said I was helping to deliver milk. I was a bit worried, because I knew how much father liked to sleep and thought I might have to spend the night alone and in a strange place. Walking back toward town, I thought I might try to find a kind person to go in and retrieve my father. But then I stopped when I saw the strange boy, looking for a way to get into the palace. The thing that struck me was his odd clothing. No one in their right mind would wear clothes like that, and I had to giggle at his hat. But then something moved from underneath it, flying out to talk to the boy! It was a fairy, I guessed, because though I'd never seen one, I'd heard stories.
So I went over to him and said hello. He jumped up like I had shocked him, and looked around surprised.
"You scared me! I thought you were a guard! I've already been thrown out twice, and I can't figure out how to get in!"
Were were his manners, I thought. Doesn't he know that you should be polite and at least ask for names first? So I stuck out my hand and said that my name was Malon.
"I'm Link" said the boy.
"Well now that we know each others names, I can help you! Why not try climbing that vine over there? But when you do get into the palace, can you help me find my father? He's always falling asleep and I worry about him. Here, you can have this egg I've been incubating, so it should hatch soon."
"Well, ok," said Link, looking reluctant to help. "I'll try to find your dad."
I said good bye to him and watched as he climbed up the vine and out of site. I sighed and sat down to wait, looking at the setting sun and resigning myself to spend a cold night on the hard ground. Just then, my father came driving out with our wagon, a guilty look on his face.
"Malon, I'm so sorry, I guess I just dozed off. I promise, I won't do it again!" Glaring at my father I jumped in and scolded him, just glad I didn't have to spend a night outside.
The next morning the fairy boy was the last thing on my mind, forgotten as I happily tended to my chores. I was out in the field singing to my filly Epona when I heard a noise behind me.
"Hello Malon!" shouted the fairy boy, looking around at my ranch. Surprised to see him here, asked him what he was doing. "I was on my way somewhere, and thought I'd come by and look around," was his reply. Well, as long as he was here, I would show him my life.
"Well ok. I never have any one to play with except for Epona here. Would you like to be my friend?" I asked tentatively, hoping I would have another child my age to play with. Laughing, Link nodding, saying he didn't have many friends either. So I showed him my ranch. We saw my cows, and I made him taste some of their milk, which he'd never had before. Then he tried balancing on one of my horses, falling off in a pile of manure, and I laughed when the cuckoos chased him around, pecking him unmercifully. As the sun set, we sat on the wall surrounding my farm, and looked at the sun. Fairy boy looked at me and grinned.
"I like having you as a friend, Malon. When I get done this errand for the princess (he had told me about the stones he had to collect) I'll come back and visit you everyday, so we both won't be lonely. I promise, I'll be back in a few days."
I smiled back and told him to hurry, because I had so many other things to show him here. Then, as a parting gift, I taught him the song my mother used to sing to tame the horses. He promised he'd return again, tucked away his ocarina, and jumped down, waving goodbye, running away towards death mountain.
So for the next week I waited, knowing Link wouldn't break his promise, and looked out at the world hoping to spot him everyday. And when a week passed without him coming, I made excuses. He was just caught up in his adventure, or some monsters had taken longer to defeat than usual. He wasn't hurt, just tied up. But he still didn't come. Then one night as I was sitting on the wall looking into the sunset as had become my ritual since he left, I saw something. It was a black cloud, coming up over the horizon, hovering over the castle. It began to rain, and I squinted harder. I heard galloping sounds from across the plain, growing louder and louder, until finally a white horse shot past our walls, vanishing from sight as soon as it came. I looked, but nothing was pursuing it, and wondered what had happened, and again thought of Link.
Every once and a while from then on, there were new things happening all over the kingdom. Over castle town one night, the air grew red, and big jets of fire came from the center, and the wind carried screams to my ears. The morning after that I learned that we couldn't deliver milk to the castle any more, though my father never would tell me why. A month or so after that, the mountain erupted with the same fire I had seen over the castle, for days on end, clouding the kingdom with a foul smelling black smoke. Every day I had to scrape away the soot and grime from my eyes when I woke, and we kept all our animals inside so they didn't suffocate. Finally after a few weeks, a cold wind blew in from the Zora's river and caressed my face with wet kisses of snow. Although the cold bit and sting, we embraced the wind, because it blew away the terrible smog.
Then bit by bit, month after month, monsters could be seen, walking towards the forest. They never came fast or in great numbers, but there were always a few each day. Again I wondered about all these events, and trembled because the evil might notice our little farm soon. But still I didn't despair, because I knew soon Link would come, and help us. But he never did, and life on our secluded ranch carried on as usual. We managed to avoid notice of the evil for a year, then two, living on our own crops and animals. We sold a few horses to the stray traveler who wasn't affected by the recent events, and once again our life seemed fairly normal, unaffected. Link began to fade from my mind, and I started training my horse again. My thirteenth birthday came and went, and I began growing taller, my hair grew a deeper fiery red, and my face changed to be more angular. With my tallness, I also had small curves and the start of breasts, and when I found my skirt bloodied one morning, I cried thinking I was sick, having no other woman to explain it.
But these events passed without changing me much, time passed normally as it always had, until one night I was out late in our barn, tending to a sick calf. Thinking he had ate something that upset his stomach, I started to the house to mix a bottle of milk sweetened with honey and dosed with medicine. But I stopped, the hair prickling on my neck, and turned slowly toward the entrance of our farm. There, sitting atop a huge black stallion, was a man dressed all in black, with a evil smirk on his malevolent face. I stopped and gasped, backing away from him.
"Girl!" He shouted, his voice deep and filled with power. "Go tell who ever lives here to come out and greet their great King, Ganondorf!"
And what else was I suppose to do, so I ran for the house, shouting my fathers name as I burst into the house.
"Father, come quickly!" I said, banging on his door, and Mr. Ingo's too. "There's a huge man with flaming hair dressed all in a strange black garb out side, demanding you come to him."
My father appeared sleepily at the door, as did Ingo, and they looked out the window at the man waiting with an impatient look.
"Ingo, go talk with him for a minute," said my father, with a panicked look. "Malon, you must go upstairs, and do not come outside until the evil man is gone. Do not go outside, no matter what he does, and if he comes for you, run as fast as you can. If I am called away, Ingo is a good man and will take care of you. I love you my dear," and with a last glance at me, he turned and walked out, even though I screamed at him not to go.
I ran upstairs to my small room, and gazed out the window at the three people. The man had gotten off his horse, and was looking at the two in front of him, Mr. Ingo cowering, my father standing proudly. The man gestured at the barn, and Ingo nodded, but my father stepped in front of the door, not letting him pass. The man scowled angrily, and thrust his arm out, knocking my father out of the way. I screamed as my father flew up in the air, landing with a thump. He got up groggily, just as the man looked up, seeing me in the window and laughed maliciously. He pointed to me, and my fathers face grew pale and afraid. Nodding, he pointed at the barn, and lowered his head in submission. Still laughing, the man's hand started glowing, and he threw a ball of light at my father. He grabbed him as he collapsed, and said something to Ingo, dragging my father along as he mounted his horse and galloped away.
I screamed and screamed, falling to the floor sobbing. I would not come out of my room for Mr. Ingo for days. When I finally did, he explained Ganondorf had named him the owner of the farm and we now served him, and he could take what he saw fit from our farm. The next weeks passed in a blur for me, Ingo was distant and a bit cold, and didn't pay much attention to me. He only talked to me to say now I must make dinner for him, tend the cows and horses and cuckoos alone, and that he would handle horse training and talking to Ganondorf, or his dark king as he called him. And when ever Ganon came, I hid, never leaving my room until hours after he left.
So months passed, blurred into each other, and my only solace in losing my father was Epona, my mare that only came to me. I taught her to maintain her fiery spirit, and listen only to me and my mother's song. So my life once again, went on, caught up in chores and serving the increasingly controlling Ingo. He was becoming drunk with the small power that came with the position that Ganondorf had given him, thinking that he would never be harmed by the evil King. And as I grew older, my fourteenth birthday over and the months passing, he began looking at me with a strange hunger. His eyes would follow me everywhere, and I took to making his meals ahead of time, sewing his clothes in solitude, and locking my door at night.
One night when I was still awake in my room, mending a dress ripped by a stray horse hoof, I heard Ingo enter the house, and stumble around in the darkness, cursing and mumbling. I guessed he was drunk as usual, and I paid him no heed, but extinguished my light.
"MALON!" he shouted, when he knocked over his pot of stew, crying hungrily for me to come and make him some more dinner. I cringed and made no move, pretending to be asleep. Tramping upstairs, he banged on my door.
"Come make me more dinner, girl! I know you're awake, I saw your light on! COME OUT HERE! You're in for a beating, insolent girl!" but even as I hugged my knees to my breast, knowing he would get bored eventually and wander away, his voice changed, from gruff to sweet and silky, a layer of honey over his slurred speech. "Malon, honey come out here," he crooned in a sickly sweet tone, "Girl, I know you've seen me watching you, because you're growing beautiful and fine. Come, make uncle Ingo something good to eat, and we can talk like we used to. I know you want to, don't resist," but as I still did nothing, more scared than ever, his voice cracked and became rough again "Alright you little slut, if you won't come out, I'll just come to you!" And his knocking became more frantic, angrier. I sent a prayer to the goddesses, asking them to protect me. Finally, since my door couldn't be broken, he walked away to find something to break it down, and tripped, passing out at the bottom of the stairs. I sighed, trembling and barely slept that night.
After that night I began to creep outside at night and sleep with my horses, sometimes singing in the moonlight where Ingo couldn't hear me. So once again, my life wore on, worse for the wear, but still, at least I had my animals. A couple of months after I started sleeping outside, I was in the barn. Having made Ingo's dinner and escaped without him coming home yet, I was playing with a couple of chicks, and preparing to sleep. I heard a door slam as Ingo went into the house, then him come outside again. Thinking he was just relieving himself, I lay down on my bed of straw and closed my eyes.
They jerked back open as I heard the barn door creak open, and Ingo call my name. He shuffled around, and I crawled deeper into the hay, hoping in his drunken state he would overlook me.
But my heart stopped as one of his boots hit my back, and I heard him chuckle, saying "Ahhhh there you are bitch. I knew you were in here. Come to uncle Ingo, he wants some comforting for losing his money in his gambling game." As he drug me up by my hair, I screamed, and he hit me in the stomach, and I collapsed, my breath gone. I felt him on me a few minutes later, reaching for my small breasts, and looking me over as if I were a promising young foal.
"Ah, malon, you've grown up. You're a fine young woman now, and everything on this farm is mine," he said, and when I struggled against him he hit me again.
My world went black for a few seconds, and when I looked up, Ingo had ripped off my clothes and tossed them aside. I struggled, but I was dizzy and weak, and it did no good. All I could do was look away and cry, thick poisonous bile creeping up my throat, until he was done and had gotten off of me. Wiping himself, he looked down and grinned wickedly, exiting the barn.
I curled up in the filthy bloody straw, vomited, and cried, my life could get no worse. The next morning, I tried to push last nights terror from my mind, and it worked for a while. I found a shed in the back of our pasture to sleep, and didn't see Ingo for a week, hoping he hadn't seen me either. But then came a night where I heard a banging on the sheds door, and curled up again, closing my eyes and willing him to go away. But it never worked. At first I tried to fight. I found different hiding places, staying there until he found me. I tried to harm him, first with small weapons, then with my fists. I even ran away, but when he found me and dragged me back, he beat me until I couldn't move, and hurt me in other places too. Then he installed a high gate which only he had the key too. None of my plans worked. Whenever he came for me, he went away satisfied and I was shattered again. I was a trapped woman, and finally stopped running from him. I went back to sleeping in my room, and when he came for his nightly visit, I concentrated on being as limp and non human as possible, and shut myself in my mind.
I was miserable, but still, I was not dead. No one wold to save me, and I was less than a slave, but I was alive. I still had my horses and sang to myself to give me strength. So the years passed. I turned fifteen, Ingo gave me a birthday beating. I turned sixteen, and Ganondorf came and leered at me until I ran as far as I could from him. I got used to my life, pushed hope from my world, and just functioned like a shell. By the time I turned seventeen, I was used to my life. I never fought anymore, I reasoned, Ingo didn't hurt me if I cooperated.
But than the day came when once again, my life changed. It was a normal evening, I had fixed dinner, gone to my room, Ingo had come and gone, and I washed myself up and put my clothes back on, crept out the window, and was singing to myself in the moonlight. Suddenly, I heard a voice behind me, and jumped, thinking it was Ingo again. I turned to face a tall man, who looked to be about my age, and who shone in the moonlight. He was dressed in green, clutched a beautiful sword and had a small piercing in one of his ears. His face was chiseled and handsome, and I could see muscles bulge from under his tunic. But then, I saw a small light floating around his head, and my memories jolted me.
"Link?" I whispered cautiously, not letting myself hope.
"Yup, but it can't be you, can it...Malon?" he asked, peering at my worn face, "Are you ok? You look...tired."
"These years...they've been hard on me. But where did you go Link? I waited and waited for you to come back, so we could play together again. But you never came. You promised," I said sadly.
"I'm very sorry, but my absence wasn't my fault entirely. But now that I'm here, I will come visit you more often. I promise." I sighed. I had heard that before. But I led him into the barn, and showed him Epona, telling him to play the melody from so many years ago. When she showed an interest in him, I told him he could have her, because she was better off with him. So then he told me he would come back this time, and rode off. I didn't believe him, and went to bed, miserable, thinking of my old life.
So once again, I hoped, prayed to the goddesses. And then, a week later, much to my surprise, Link came back! He smiled, saying he wanted to take me somewhere and show me where he'd been. So, I climbed behind him in the saddle and told him I needed to be back by sundown.
"Why?" he asked me, but I didn't answer, just looked away. And so he shrugged, and took me to the forest, rich with green, and introduced me to the Kokiri, telling me this was where he grew up. He showed me the entrance to the forest temple, and explained what his mission was, and how he needed to free the kingdom from Ganondorf soon.
We sat in the cool shade and talked of our life, but I didn't tell him much of mine, only the few good parts. He listened to me and seemed to know I wasn't ready to tell him bad things yet. So at sundown, he obliged and took me home, saying he would come as soon as possible. And this time, he kept his promise. The next time he came, he took me to a fiery volcano, and wrapped me in a red tunic to protect me from the heat. The next time, he took me to the Zora's domain, and showed the dazzling ice realm, though I felt a little sorry for the frozen Zoras. Every time he took me somewhere, I told him more about me, the bad things, and felt a weight lift off my chest. With Link, I flourished, became happier, more radient.
Then Link disappeared for a few weeks, but I didn't worry, I knew he'd return. I was out in the field at night, singing happily, when I heard Eponas hooves. I turned, glad that Link had thought to visit, and I saw him slumped over his saddle, bloody and pale. I gasped, and ran to the house to get a medical kit. Grabbing Epona's reins when I returned, I led her to the shed and laid him on the straw, opening his tunic. He had a long gash on his side, deep and starting to get infected by the looks of it. So I sewed him up, and cleaned him, and then I waited. Everyday I would return to give him chicken broth and see if his fever broke. On the third day, it did, and he sat up, calling for me. I hurried to him, and he told me that the wolfos had ganged up on him and slashed him, and he barely escaped. He looked up at me, touched my face gently and thanked me. A few days after that, when he was preparing to leave, Ingo caught us.
"Who is this! Why is he on that horse, girl, you've been letting him in here! Don't you remember whore, you belong to me!" screamed Ingo in a rage, and slapped me to the ground. Link cried out, and ran to my side, glaring at Ingo.
"If you want that horse, how 'bout a race, boy?" Grinned Ingo. Looking at me quivering in the dust, I saw that Link understood, and turned to Ingo. "If I win, you stop hurting her, along with giving me Epona." Always the gambler, Ingo said if he threw in a fifty rupee bet he had a deal. Link accepted, and won. He came to me and said if Ingo ever touched me again, he would personally take care of it, and glared at the enraged Ingo.
After that, when Ganon came, Ingo was punished for losing the horse, and he no longer strutted around like a puffed up cuckoo. I finally was free, ad my life was happy again. The best was when Link came one day, bringing my father home. I hugged them both with tears in my eyes, and thanked the goddesses for sparing his life.
After that, Link came regularly, and took me many places, my favorite being a giant temple in the sands of a fierce dessert. As Link came more and more often, he brought me trinkets and we spent more and more time together. One day he came in the afternoon, and whisked me up upon Epona, grinning and telling me I would love the new thing he'd found. I held onto him as we galloped away, towards the lake. When I dismounted, I asked him why we were at lake Hylia, we'd been here scores of times.
"You'll see," was his only reply, his eyes twinkling. He dived into the lake and I followed, splashing him, and trying to dunk him. Laughing, he swam away fast and led me to the far side of the lake where I'd never been. He parted a few bushes and climbed up into a small cave, that I would have never found. Pulling me up, he told me to wait, for a while, and wouldn't answer me why. As the sun was setting, I was thinking of going home, when Link turned my head toward the lake, and I saw what we had come for. The lake was on fire, rays of light shooting out at all angles and lighting up the whole sky, a brilliant pink and purple from the sunset. I gasped and held my breath, because I'd never seen something so beautiful.
"Oh Link," I whispered, leaning against his warm frame. He smiled, saying he knew I'd like it. Then, he leaned down, and his warm lips brushed gently into mine, and my heart stopped. As he wrapped his arms around me, he brought me gently to the cave floor, and caressed me softly, pulling my body to his. I undid his tunic and pulled it off, leaving him with only leggings and boots. I wrapped my legs around him and pulled off the rest of his clothes, moaning a bit as I pushed myself onto him. We went faster, moving together, when finally, I looked at him and whispered I loved him, collapsing as he smiled again.
The next morning I woke up, to find Link next to me, frowning and looking out at the water. I touched his arm, and he said sadly to me. "I have to go do something, and I might not come back. I've been avoiding this to spend time with you, but I can't shirk my duty much longer. But wait for me," he said sadly, whispering he loved me as we rode back to Lon Lon ranch. I watched him ride away, and again, I waited. I waited for a long while this time, always looking for him.
Then, he came. Bloody, stinking, hurt, he came to me and grinned.
"I did it. But now, you know things must go back to normal. This means, I have to go, but I know you, you'll wait for. For however long it takes, you'll always wait for me." I cried and told him to promise me he'd come back. And he did, and I believed him.
"Wait, wait for me Link!" shouted Navi, hurrying to catch up to the boy as he ran through the waving grasses of the great plain. Laughing and shouting for her to hurry up slow poke, Link ran the last few steps into Lon Lon ranch, looking around. He took off his small green cap, scratching his head and searching for the person he knew. He was beginning to feel sad, and muttered something about she hadn't waited, when a small redheaded girl walked out of the building behind him. Her eyes lit up as she saw him turn, and she giggled, saying simply "You kept your promise this time." and flung her arms around him.