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Prologue to the Twilight, a 'Legend of Zelda' fanfic by Tsunami Storm

Chapter 2: Life in Ordon


-Three months later-

"Oi, Link! Rise and shine!" Fado called, waking the ten-year-old from his nightmare. He'd been having the same one for weeks; the world cast into shadow- a dark man on a black horse- and the Triforce breaking into three separate pieces. Slowly he sat up in his bed, rubbing his temple with his left hand- which had since become the dominant one in the three months that he'd lived in the simple village of Ordon. Setting his feet on the floor, Link opened the door to his unfinished tree-house and climbed down the ladder- smiling at the goatherd when he reached the bottom.

"There's my strong and silent helper!" Fado laughed in greeting as he tousled Link's dirty-blond hair, which was already messy from sleep- or lack thereof. "G'morning, Sleepyhead!"

The boy smiled and nodded at that, his silent way of returning the greeting. His bright blue eyes sparkled in the light of the dawning sun, which was shining from the tree gaps to the east of his tree-house.

"Well, now that you're up, why don't we start by turning out the goats into the pasture?" Fado suggested as he started walking back to the village. Link followed with a nod, then jogged a few paces to catch up to the goatherd. Fado led the way through the quiet village, most of whose inhabitants were still asleep. He silently opened the wooden gate, and both he and Link entered the paddock and crossed to the barn- where one could hear a few bleats of impatience from the goats who were already awake. "Yeah, yeah, you scamps. We're comin'!" Fado assured with a laugh.

When they entered the barn, Link and Fado exchanged a smile and a sigh. Time to get to work. "All right, kiddo. You know what to do. Soon as I get over into the girls' section, you let the boys loose to graze. Just make sure you lock that gate back to the village. We don't want any of the beasties tearin' through the town." Fado instructed, to which Link replied with an understanding nod. He quickly ran outside to the gate, locked the padlock tightly, then ran back inside the barn and waited for Fado to give the signal.

"All right. You ready, Link?" Fado asked as he carefully let himself into the first nanny's stall. Link nodded swiftly, and Fado answered, "Okay, let 'em loose!"

Link quickly backed into the corner between the first stall and the barn door and pulled a rope that hung just above his head. The rope was part of a pulley system that he'd designed, which allowed all the stall doors on one half of the barn to be opened at the same time. This way, the billy's could be let out to graze much faster, and the morning duties wouldn't take as long as they used to. At once, the ten metal pins came out of the latches, and the billy's thundered out of the barn and into the grazing area, proceeding to dip their heads and begin eating the green grass.

After that task was finished, Link walked over to the other side of the barn, let himself into another stall and proceeded to copy what Fado was doing: milking the goats to make their famous Ordon cheese and their health-restoring milk. After each nanny was milked, they would let her out to graze with the billys and her kids- if she had any. The process took a long time, but finally Link finished with the last goat and exited the barn, petting a random goat as he passed it to sit in his favorite spot in the pasture.

The billy bleated with pleasure as Link patted its rough, coarse hair, then shook itself and capered away- finding another green spot to graze. The ten-year-old smiled as he breathed in the crisp morning air, then flumped down next to a bunch of reeds.

"That gives me an idea, Link." Fado sighed contentedly as he sat down on the boy's left side. "Why don't you play that song for these guys? They always love it when you play it."

Link nodded, then picked a flower and blew through it, forming three notes in quick succession with the simple plant, repeating the notes once more to make it a song. Link didn't know why, but he could feel something almost- magical in those six notes. They sang of green pastures and wide open spaces, of blue sky as far as the eye could see, and of freedom. Whenever Link played this song, he felt a sudden powerful urge to climb onto one of the goats and ride it around, but always suppressed it because of the warning.

-Flashback-

"Oh no, Link." Fado had said when the boy had tried to climb onto one of the gentle billy's, about two months earlier. "These boys ain't for ridin'. They may look gentle now, but they'll throw you off faster'n you can say 'Triforce'."

-End Flashback-

Link smiled as he watched the billy's, nanny's and kids caper about happily, swinging their heads up and rearing on their hind legs. Some bleated to show their joy, others hopped around like their young. Link and Fado sat in companionable silence for a few minutes, then the boy excused himself silently and returned to his house to continue adding and building rooms and furniture. Rusl and Uli had given him several nice goat-hair blankets to use; Sera, her husband Hanch and their three-year-old daughter Beth had given him dinnerware; Ilia and Bo had helped him in building his stone hearth and cellar; and Jaggle, Pergie and little Talo- the family who lived in the house with the waterwheel- had let him borrow some of Jaggle's tools to cut wood for the tree-house.

Just as the noonday sun was at its highest in the sky, Link heard a strange sound coming from the woods north of his house. It was a faint cacophony of snorting and neighing, mixed with the unmistakable growls and howling of wolves. Is a horse being attacked by the pack? Link wondered to himself. Without a second thought, he seized his new wooden sword from Rusl, then ran through the paths to the forest- alone and without a plan.

Link made his way through the southern part of Faron Woods, following the noises of the horse and wolves as the sounds grew gradually louder. Eventually, Link found that he could only distinguish the sounds of one wolf- not an entire pack- though the frightened squeals of the horse were made no less important due to this realization. Even at the young age of ten, Link felt very courageous and heroic, and couldn't let a majestic beast such as a horse be taken down by a savage wolf.

And so, Link ran through the forest, ignoring the pain on his bare arms as rough branches scraped across them. Eventually the boy came to a wide open area surrounded by high, thick walls of solid rock- the main section of the woods of Faron. However, the impressive scenery was not what stopped Link in his tracks.

Just thirty feet in front of him, a magnificent Golden Wolf was battling with a horse that was no more than a yearling, if that. Link could see the mother's body ten feet to the right of him, but knew instinctively that she had not been killed by the Golden Wolf, or any wolf for that matter. At her neck was a giant spider-bite, no doubt from one of the enormous Skulltulas that made their webs here. That poor foal must be scared stiff, and now it has to fend off a wolf alone? Link shook his head stubbornly. No. It's not alone. I won't allow this to happen!

Clenching his wooden sword tighter in his fist, the boy charged at the warring animals, intending to save the frantic foal.

However- as he neared the battling beasts- he noticed with a start that the wolf was actually on the defensive, trying to find an opening so it could somehow get away and calm the mad-with-fear yearling. Silently, Link dropped his wooden weapon, completely nonplussed at the reversal of roles in the battle.

Without warning, the snorting animal would rear and paw at the air, then charge off in a random direction- the Golden Wolf right at its flank. They're fast! Link observed in awe, watching the two creatures nearly streak through the trees like lightning. The horse continued to rear, paw and race around, but Link was surprised that it never came near him or any of the exits- so it didn't cause him harm or escape into other sections, respectively. Then he noticed that the wolf would snap at the horse's legs just when it would approach a cave or the boy.

The wolf is herding the foal- Link realized slowly. He doesn't want to hurt the poor thing, so he's keeping his teeth to himself. Link guessed that the wolf was male- as lone wolves usually were- judging this by the animal's size and the shape of his muzzle. He also thought: He's trying to tire it out so it'll be easier to calm. If this is the same creature that Ilia and Rusl encountered when they found me, then they're right. He's too smart to be a normal wolf.

As if in answer, the Golden Wolf spared a glance at Link with its good eye, a look that plainly said, "I could use some help!" The boy nodded in acknowledgment and seized his chance when it came. As the galloping horse streaked past him, he leapt up into the air and managed to grab a good part of the horse's mane, then held on for dear life as the wild horse tore around the glade and tried to buck him off.

Somehow, Link was able to hold on for a few minutes, but then crashed into the ground when the horse threw him off. Instinct taking over, Link rolled forward to minimize the damage that a fall like that could cause, then got to his feet and dusted himself off- ready for round two.

Five times this process was repeated, and five times more was Link rudely introduced to the hard ground again and again. But the boy was valiant and would not give up a challenge so easily. He stubbornly ignored the stabbing complaints of his body, which at this point was covered with small cuts and bruises from head to toe.

The yearling was breathing hard now, as was the Hylian who'd tried and failed to tame it. Not only was it crazy with fear at its mother's death, it was stubborn too- determined to keep its fiery spirit free. It paused for a moment to catch its breath, eyeing its opponents warily- the strange wolf on one side, the young Hylian on the other.

The Golden Wolf howled a strange melody then, one that Link did not recognize. This tune sang of mending, the healing of broken souls and wounded hearts. It was a haunting, melodious tune, but- as Link listened- he felt his own troubles and cares melting away into the notes of the song. He breathed in deeply, then sighed in contentment- a strong, inner peace becalming him as it never had before.

Remarkably, the wild foal was acting the same way, slowly breathing in and out and relaxing all of its tense muscles. From this song, the young horse could tell that the Golden Wolf was no foe, but still wasn't sure about the Hylian. The horse pawed at the ground nervously, but stayed in one place at least.

The Golden Wolf then looked directly at Link, studying him expectantly with his bright red eye. Link tilted his head to the side in confusion for a moment, wondering what the wolf wanted him to do. Suddenly he spotted a bunch of reeds on his left and picked one, stood up and blew through it- playing the song the Ordon goats loved so well.

As Link played the song, the foal pricked its ears and turned them toward the boy, wondering where that beautiful sound was coming from. It sang of green pastures and blue skies as far as the eye could see, of freedom to run wherever you wanted, however far you wanted, and not have to worry about obstacles in your path. The foal yearned for the freedom of which the melody sang and whinnied in pleasure. Snorting softly, it looked inquisitively at the Hylian boy, seeing him in a new light. Surely one who played of such liberty couldn't be all bad.

Link slowly finished the song- letting the last note fade away in an echo- then dropped his arms to his sides and his eyes to his boots, trusting the foal not to trample him flat. The horse slowly approached the lad, who didn't look as threatening now as he had earlier. When the horse and boy were a mere inch apart, the foal snorted- blowing the boy's hair in all directions for an instant, then back down as the air became still again.

Mistaking the boy's dirty-blond hair for golden hay, the horse tried snuffling some of it up with its soft muzzle. Link giggled when the horse's lips tickled his head and the horse stopped, realizing that hair was not the same as straw. It backed up a few paces in uncertainty, then turned its head to the side and stared at the youth- dark blue horse-eyes meeting smaller, light blue ones. The blue-eyed boy was smiling at the cautious foal and the horse was staring back- both completely forgetting about the Golden Wolf.

Link slowly and carefully raised his hand to the side of the horse's head so that the foal could see it, intending to stroke its silky brown neck. The horse gave no indication of objection, so Link smiled wider as he petted the magnificent animal. As he continued down the foal's back- who was apparently enjoying the attention- he surreptitiously checked the horse's underbelly to see if it had been wounded in any way. What he discovered- instead of the injuries he'd been looking for- was that the foal was actually a filly. He'd had enough experiences identifying the gender of goats, and guessed that horses couldn't be much different.

Good girl- Link thought at the filly as he continued to pet her. You're all alone in this world now, aren't you? Link felt sorry for the poor creature. She was an orphan, just like he was. It was then and there that Link made a life-changing decision. He would take the filly home with him. She could be very useful to the village, gathering sticks and wood when she grew bigger and herding the goats at the ranch. With a horse around, chores would go by twice as fast!

As the horse and her boy journeyed out of Faron Woods, a thought occurred to Link. What should I name you? He wondered to himself, but directed the question at the horse. He'd heard all the legends of the famous Hero of Time by now- mostly from Bo and Rusl- and thought of the hero's loyal steed, Epona.

Link chuckled quietly. If I'm named after a legendary hero, why can't my horse be too? She's even about the same color! He observed, studying his horse as they walked through the forest back to Ordon.

Epona. Link thought suddenly. Yeah. It fits. It fits her perfectly. Both were wild horses that no one could tame without a song, both beautiful beyond compare, both fast as the wind- and both were loyal to a fault. Link didn't know if this last similarity was true or not. Only time would tell.

As the young Link walked through the forest to his home, the old Link loped behind him- silent and unseen- until they came to a fork in the road. Hylian and horse continued south, but the Golden Wolf turned east, effortlessly phasing through the locked gate that led to Hyrule Field.

Once there, the wolf sat down and pointed its muzzle to the sky, howling the same notes as the boy had played on the reeds. Once he finished, he waited patiently for an answering sound- sitting back on his haunches and twitching his tail back and forth.

At long last, his answer came in the form of ghostly hoof-beats and a heartfelt nicker of greeting. The Golden Wolf grinned and licked the spectral steed on the nose, then the two old friends raced across Hyrule Field- just as they had so long ago.


The End

Aww- how cute! TP Link meets his Epona in this one! The Ordon goats are cute too, especially when Link pets them!

I feel sorry for Epona's dam, though. Killed by a giant Skulltula. Eeuugh. Glad I don't have arachnophobia. And I have no idea what happened to her sire. Maybe he's a horse in the Hylian cavalry? Is there such a thing? Or maybe he's just a wild stallion. I'll leave it up to you.

That nightmare Link had in the beginning can either be a shout-out to OoT [My favorite game of the series] or a premonition of things to come. I left it ambiguous on purpose.

I know the barn is slightly different in the game, but I took some artistic liberties with it. Just pretend that it changed during the seven-year interim between the end of this story and the beginning of TP.

We all know from the game that Link is kinda reckless, so he is in my story too. There's that Triforce of Courage at work again!

The 'Hero's Shade' is back! Although we don't see his Hylian form this time. Oh well. More cute wolf!

The inspiration for the last paragraph came from a picture on Deviantart by 'Clopina'. It's called '+ Old Friends +'. You should check it out. They're a really good artist!

As for Epona eating Link's hair, that was inspired by a picture on Deviantart by 'Naolin-Nox'. It's called: 'OoT: She's eating Link's hair'. Wrong time period, though. That's OoT Link and Epona in the drawing. It's cute though!

Just a little self-advertising here. If you wanna see more art of interaction between OoT Link and TP Link- and don't wanna search through a bazillion pages of suggestions- just go to Elementianhero22's Favorites page on Deviantart and click on the 'Legend of Zelda' collection. I've collected quite a little story there, if I do say so myself!

God Bless!

Tsunami Storm