Disclaimer: I own nothing
Author's note: Sorry for the long wait guys! Here it is.
The rest of the trip to the castle didn't take as long as Mage thought. It felt rather quick with Malon riding at almost full speed, he figured that she just wanted to get there and leave as soon as she could. He stopped his stallion at the sight of the castle as they approached the gates of Hyrule Village.
"What is it Mage?" Malon asked stopping her mare to look back at her brother.
"I have never…wow it's…amazing." He said in disbelief.
Malon smiled at him, she forgot how young he was sometimes.
"It is quite impressive, come on, we have a deadline." Malon said resuming her trot.
As they rode through the market, Mage couldn't help but stare at all the different booths. There were some selling weird kinds of meat, to some playing games. There were shops and pubs, people laughing and running around the square. He stared at the church for a long time, he felt a strange pull towards the place, but he wasn't sure why.
"Mal…is that it? Is that the…Temple of Time?" Mage asked in an awed voice.
Malon couldn't help but laugh softly at this, he had heard the stories growing up, but unlike Malon, he had never actually been to see it.
"It is, it's very old…very magical." Malon replied.
"If we have time…may we see it?" He asked.
"Of course, maybe we can go tomorrow, we aren't under any kind of obligation to stay exclusively at the castle, but we do need to get the horses to there before we start anything." Malon said moving her mare forward.
They kept moving out of the village and up a winding path to the castle, Mage's jaw dropped at the sheer size of the castle, he knew it was big, but he wasn't expecting it to be so complex. Malon shook her head smiling at her brother as they stopped at the gate.
"Malon Lon, and Mage Lon, of Lon Lon Ranch, we are here to present these stallions for breeding to the Captain of the Guard, Link." Malon said handing a roll of parchment to the guard.
He took the roll of parchment from her hand, and inspected it, he smiled.
"Open the gate!" He yelled to a guard on top of the small stone pillar next to the gate.
The guards jumped to attention and began to lift the gate.
"You may proceed, have a good day m'lady." He said tipping is helmet.
She smiled and nudged the horses forward. The continued on for a few more minutes until they came to a set of stables a little further in the gates. Malon dismounted her mare as a silver haired woman came out to greet them.
"Malon, it is good to see you lass." She said extending her hand.
Malon shook it smiling.
"Good to see you Impa. You look well." Malon said releasing her hand.
"You as well, and who is this strapping young man?" Impa asked looking Mage up and down.
"Oh this is my younger brother, Mage." Malon said.
Impa extended her hand, Mage shook it enthusiastically.
"Wow…pleased to meet you!" He said.
"Pleased to meet you Mage, Why don't you two get settled in, I will go and call Link, he will be pleased to see you." Impa said releasing Mage's hand.
Malon nodded and began to remove the saddles from their horses, making sure that they were fed and watered. It wasn't long before Impa had returned with a tall, slender man with golden hair and a light suit of leather armor. Malon swallowed as Link made his way closer to the duo. Mage could feel his sister tense beside him and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"It's alright." He whispered moving forward and Link and Impa approached the duo.
"Mage, it is nice to see you, you are looking fit, soon enough you will be training for the ranks yes?" Link asked taking Mage's hand.
"I am, thank you sir. A couple more years, and I will be ready." He said letting go of Link's hand.
"Malon…it is good to see you." Link said.
Malon didn't extend her hand, nor did she speak to him. Link had expected this, and even though they were no longer together, he still knew that she felt the same about him as he did for her. Impa ignored this, and moved to examine the stallions that Malon and Mage had brought.
"This one is Odin." Malon said introducing the smoky, gray stallion.
"He is quite impressive." Link said running his hands over the large horse's muscles.
"This one is Achilles." Malon said standing next to a golden, chestnut stallion.
Link did the same to Achilles, inspecting every inch of the large horse. He was very impressed with these two so far and couldn't wait to meet the last two.
"This one is Zeus." Mage said interrupting Malon, he knew as much about the horses and she did, and could sense that his sister was anxious to lie down.
"And the last one, this is Bucephalus." Mage said patting the solid black stallion on his large neck.
"He is my favorite." He added as Link and Impa inspected him.
"I can see why, he is very impressive. They all are very impressive, they will do nicely. Tomorrow we will begin the breeding process, it's time we get you two up to the castle and situated before dinner." Link said after a few minutes.
"Can we see the village before we settle in? I have never been here before." Mage asked.
"Of course, you are under no obligation to stay at the castle, you may come and go as you please, the guards know who you are." Link said smiling.
He eyed Malon curiously, her stoic expression and tense stance told him that she wasn't looking forward to staying in the castle, but it was the sensible thing to do, at least until the breeding was done.
"Mage, we will go tomorrow, I need to lay down." Malon said softly.
"Oh, of course sis." He said smiling.
Link eyed the two of them curiously. Impa led Malon and Mage back up to the castle. Once settled, Malon stripped down to nothing and climbed into the soft bed that was waiting for her. She lay there, feeling slightly sick, she wasn't sure if it was nerves, or the baby, but she decided that a little bit of sleep wouldn't hurt. She rolled over and fell asleep.
TBC….