It was the fourth of Din, and the summer sun stood at the center of the sky like the middle of a massive clockface, the white clouds dancing in lazy circles around its burning eye. Link laid on the back of a caravan of moving wagons heading out from Castle Town gate, his arms crossed behind his head as he gazed up into the sky, the paved street not even jostling the wagons as they made their way down towards the Faron Province in the south.

Hyrule Castle Town, the capitol of Hyrule and seat of the Lanaryu province, was nestled up near the border with the Goron territory of Eldin, the massive tiered structure of the city rising up like a small mountain itself in the foothills of the Death Mountain range, with the sprawling Hylian Field out below, leading down quite a few miles until the farming communities of Faron began to appear.

The wagon was headed for Lon Lon Ranch, the oldest and most influential of these communities, led by a bony, sour looking man by the name of Inigo Editta. After the disappearance of the ranch's previous owner, Talon, the hard-working foreman Inigo had taken control of the estate until such time that Talon's daughter Malon was ready to take over as the stockgrower.

Most, if not all of this information Link had learned that morning as Inigo's crew of employees and other traders had been buying their last-minute supplies and getting the wagons ready to head home. People were more likely to talk to Link then most others. He was mute, after all. Not like he was going to spill the beans to anybody, and with this unusual candidness, the boy had learned some unsettling rumors that brewed in the back of his mind. The men said Inigo had something to do with Talon vanishing off the face of the earth, that he was doing something to keep Malon in line...not that any had any evidence they could present.

The Hylian boy frowned at the clouds as he stewed over the situation. His few impressions of Inigo hadn't been all that flattering. The man had the temper of a man three times his size, and from how he'd exploded at the cost of some replacement wagon wheels, just a touch too focused on his Rupees. However, he couldn't fault the man for being mercantile. He had a ranch to run, one of the largest, and he had some rather daunting boots to fill with Talon missing.

As the wagon continued along, Link could feel a shift in weight, the wagon leaning ever so slightly more towards the back. Looking over his own head, he could make out the top of a mane of fiery red hair peaking out over the wagon's edge. As the blacksmith raised an eyebrow, a light giggle just barely loud enough to be heard over the rolling wagon wheels.

Link looked back up at the clouds, a small grin finding its way to his lips as he shifted his arms, putting a leg over the other, trying his hardest to look like he hadn't noticed the newest passenger. After about twenty seconds, he could feel the wagon moving slightly as the redhead moved more onto the wagon, and Link braced himself for whatever was coming.

"BOO!"

Link acted the part well, sitting bolt upright and looking from left to right frantically, eyebrows comically raised before he slowly turned to look behind him, trying his hardest not to grin as widely as he could while doing so.

Sitting at the back of the wagon was a young girl, maybe seven years old, her red hair somewhat ruffled. Her skin was an oliveshade and the eyes peaking out from behind her bangs were golden. Whoever the girl was she was a Gerudo, although her tan dress andcarved wooden necklace were distinctively Hylian in appearance, much like what Link had seen on the others from the Faron Province.

A toothy smile lit up on the girl's face as she looked at Link, a sort of giddy excitement in her eyes.

"Did I scare ya? Did I?"

The blacksmith tried to keep his composure, eyebrows lowering over his steely eyes as he struggled to keep his mouth a straight line as he nodded a few times, but the girl's mouth turned to a frown as she folded her arms, making a huffing sound.

"You weren't scared, ya big liar," she said, the excitement gone from her voice. "What gave me away?"

Link's mouth stuck slightly out and to the side as he furrowed his brow, looking up and to the right as he thought for a moment about how to respond to the girl. After a moment's consideration, the boy raised up his hands and started doing the Zoran hand signals.

The girl, still pouting, looked grumpily at him. "Ya going to say anythin' or just move your fingers around like an idjit?"

Link made a silent groan, putting down his hands as he tried to figure out how to explain this to the little girl. After a moment, he opened his mouth and closed it, making no noise while pointing at his mouth, then shook his head.

The girl just stared at him, her forehead scrunched as her mouth hung slightly agape.

"I don't get it."

Sighing to himself, Link loosened the straps holding his collar together, exposing his neck. The familiar, ugly scar became visible, stretching from just below his chin on the left to the collarbone on the right, still looking for all the world like an ugly scab despite all the years he'd had it.

The girl's eyes widened as she saw the wound, a dawning comprehension coming to her.

"Oh...you, uh...can't talk?" she asked, obviously awkward. "That sucks."

Link shrugged, closing his eyes and raising his eyebrows ashe shook his right hand side to side. There were moments it was bad, when people couldn't understand him at all, but he made it work.

The girl adjusted how she was sitting, crossing her legs and putting her arms on the edge of the wagon, smiling that same toothy grin.

"Anyway, I'm Malon! You some sort of greenhorn we picked up or somethin'?"

Link turned his head slightly at that. So this was Talon's daughter? He hadn't heard that his wife was Gerudo, but from what he'd heard of the Faron province it wasn't overly surprising. Though Hyrule Castle Town was still overwhelmingly Hylian, he knew Faron had a sizable Gerudo population.

Breathing through his nose slightly, the blacksmith pondered how to explain the situation without words. He had nothing to write with and she didn't understand the signals...

Snapping his fingers, he reached over towards the bundle he'd packed his belongings into for the trip. Maybe if he showed her a piece of his work, she'd understand what he was going to be doing around the ranch over the summer.

Untying the rope slightly, Link pulled back the woolen bundle, exposing one of his more prized possessions. Carefully gripping the handle, Link delicately pulled out a sword.

The blade of the sword was 35 inches total, plus the handle, but Link held it almost effortlessly, twisting and turning it in the midday sun as the light caught the reflective surface. It wasn't the finest looking sword, but it was well built, and carefully etched just above the crossguard was a somewhat wonky Triforce symbol. Link turned the sword and put it in his lap, planning on pantomiming hitting it with a hammer when he caught Malon's overjoyed expression, the little girl looking almost like she had literal tears in her eyes as her mouth hung open. After a few confused moments, she closed her mouth for a moment, the look of amazement seeming almost permanent.

"You're a knight!"

Link's face remained motionless as he stared at the girl, not sure what to do. The sword sat in his lap, and here this girl thought he was a knight. Should he tell her the truth? How would he even do that? And even if he could...she seemed so excited to have a knight heading to the ranch, and the unsettling rumors about Inigo came back from the back of his mind. What if there was a reason she was so excited? And besides...he had sworn an oath.

Going against all of his own better judgment, Link nodded, trying to not look incredibly guilty while he did so.

The girl yelped slightly, her hands clasped together as she seemed to shake with how excited she was.

"Finally!I've been telling the other hands we needed a knight around...my pa's still missin', and Mr. Inigo..." her mouth turned to a frown and her eyes lowered. "...Mr. Inigo's been acting mighty 'spcious."

As the girl looked troubled for a moment, Link started to reconsider his lie. This girl was expecting him to save her and her father without any authority, without any leads, and he was just a simple blacksmith's son. His brother had been the knight, not him.

But as the girl's smile returned slightly, softer and not toothy and wide this time, she looked down at the bottom of the wagon.

"...We're gonna find you, pa."

Link's grip tightened on the sword's hilt as they continued down the road towards the ranch. He was no knight, but maybe...maybe just this once he could be like Ty.

Maybe this time he would be the hero.