Third era of Hyrule 229

Tuesday

Dear Diary,

It's been pretty lonely on the ranch since Dad passed away last year. Mr. Ingo left too because he fell in love and married a rich noble girl. It was actually a pretty tearful goodbye. I know we didn't really see eye to eye, but we were still good friends. Plus he really did love the animals on this ranch. I miss him.

Now the only one left on the ranch is me. Maintaining this place is hard enough with just three people. By myself it's nearly impossible. Everything is starting to get run down. The fences, the roof, the walls, the stables, everything is falling apart and I can barely keep it together. What's worse I have to make my rounds to and from the different towns and cities but if I leave the ranch I can't take care of the animals or anything else. I've had to cut routes so I'm never gone more that a day. It takes so much longer to get from town to town and some places I never get to at all.

And since repairing the ranch costs so much money and I can't sell as much as I used to, I've had to raise prices just to keep this roof over my head. I've tried putting up help wanted signs in every village, but nobody seems to want to help. If this keeps up I'll have to sell the animals, and things will only get worse from there...

It's so cold now. It's the middle of winter you know? The animals went on a riot in the spring and Benny, you know the big black bull, he went charging through the fence and the wall of the house. I managed to get things under control, but I haven't been able to properly patch it up. I had a few spare boards lying around so I nailed those up and now the rest of it is blocked by furniture. Then when summer rolled around I found out there were a ton of holes causing my roof to leak and in the fall the mice started coming inside trying to get away from the cold of winter making nests and mouse holes everywhere. With all these holes I can't get the heat to stay inside no matter what I do.

The different villagers are getting angry about deliveries. Some towns have stopped making orders. Kakariko seems to be my only trustworthy customers anymore. Well them and Hyrule Palace. There's always a demand there but that's to be expected.

It's the middle of the night you know. I'm laying down trying to keep warm but these old blankets might as well be rags for all the good they're doing. My hands are so cold they feel frozen. It's making it really hard to write but this journal feels like my only friend these days. It's really all I have to keep me company anymore aside from the barn animals and the occasional bed bug. Shadows seem to dance on the walls tonight, like I didn't need anything else to keep me awake.

As exhausted as I am sleep seems to be pretty hard to come by. In fact it's damn near impossible. Here I am in my nightgown after a hard days work in the freezing snow, and I'm seeing ghosts on the walls. Of course I know they're not real, but when you're this exhausted and the world seems against you you're ready to believe just about anything.

I forget when the last time I had visitors was. Ingo does stop by from time to time to help out, but since he's more like family than anything else I can't really consider him a "visitor". I guess if I had to pinpoint the last time I had visitors, I'd say it must have been… eight years ago now. Back when HE visited. I wonder if I'll ever see him again? He did promise to come back some time after he purchased Epona. I wish he'd return… its lonely here in this house by myself.

Third Era of Hyrule 229

Wednesday

Dear Diary,

You'll never believe what I found yesterday! Or rather WHO I found. She's a little fairy, calls herself Navi. Apparently she's looking for a friend of hers who she left some time ago. Apparently she heard of that friend going through a lot of pain and strife searching for her and it broke her heart. When she left she didn't think it would have such an effect on him and now she felt guilty.

According to her she had feelings that couldn't be returned. Not because they couldn't, but because what she wanted just couldn't be. I guess that makes sense, after all she is a fairy and her friend is evidently a Hylian. I feel bad for her, but there's nothing I can do.

It hurt that I couldn't help her, but at the same time I was a little offended by what she did. I mean, she left her greatest friend in the world completely alone because SHE had a broken heart. I can't really say I wouldn't do the same thing having never been in that position, but I don't think it's right to completely abandon someone in this huge wide world.

This past year I've come to understand just how horrible loneliness is. All you want to do is just pack up and go... anywhere. You just want to keep walking forever and ever, looking for that place you call home. I can't tell you how many times I've lost track of where I was going on the Caravan just because of that. It's like this singing in your heart and you follow it without realizing where you're going. I always noticed that the singing pulled me to Kokiri forest, but no one dares to go there as its filled with monsters supposedly. Still though I keep being drawn to that place, like I'm being pulled by invisible threads.

But even if I wanted I couldn't go. I wouldn't be able to deal with the monsters, plus I have to take care of the ranch.

Speaking of the ranch, Navi was quite helpful. She couldn't do practically any chores due to her small size, but her magic was enough to keep me up and moving. Whenever I got exhausted she'd just fly around me and I'd get an energy boost. She only stayed for about a week, but I've gotten more work done this week than I have all year and needless to say I'm happy about that.

As Navi left she gave me a detailed description of her friend. I was surprised and asked her if his name was Link. When I mentioned him she got super excited thinking I knew something about what happened to him, but all I did was let her down. Apparently, Link bought Epona right after she left, probably for the sole purpose of finding her. But I said he promised he's come back sometime and he seemed like the kind of guy who kept his promises. She seemed to perk up a little after I said that, so I'm glad.

Now if only somebody were out there looking fore ME...