"There you are!" Riker sighed. "You're a little late, Link. I almost though you weren't coming!" Riker was a thin man in his late twenties, with light brown hair and long legs.

Link gestured to Todd, who could still be seen down the road, fighting to keep Boris on his farmland.

"Oh? Had a talk with you did he? Did he mention whether he was bringing Boris back later today?"

With a quick nod, Link indicated that he did.

"Good." Riker turned, and started walking towards the barn on the far side of the farm. "Thanks for agreeing to help me out today, Link. I'd stay to help you out with these chores, but I've got to go to Ordon to get this "Bull Contract" resolved. If this works out, half of the bulls leased in Ordon will be from my farm! It's a huge opportunity for me!"

Link nodded again, only half listening. Riker had always made good business in Cedar and Ordon from renting out his top-notch bulls and cows to farmers and milk-maids alike. Recently, this new contract had been all he could talk about. Even Link, who considered himself a good listener, became weary of the enthusiastic farmer.

"I see you're all set to get to work," Riker said, examining Link's shovel. "That's good, because you've got quite a day ahead of you."

Riker strode through the barn's huge open doors, taking a huge breath of air. Link followed suit, only to quickly cough and hack as the scent of dirty, smelly bulls mixed with manure invaded his nostrils.

"Do you smell that, boy?" Riker beamed. "That's the smell of money!"

To Link, it smelled more like death and rotten eggs, but he decided not to mention it.

Riker walked further into the barn, stopping at each stall and inspecting the bulls. "They're all healthy, and in good shape, but they smell something awful! So, your job while I'm gone is to clean out these stalls, wash the bulls, and let the bulls out to graze at the right times. You'll need to collect the manure into those baskets…" Riker pointed at a heap of woven baskets in the corner. "…and then take them down the road to Todd. He wants to use it for his crops, and he'll pay you for the trouble!"

Link grimaced slightly. So that's what Riker wanted his shovel for… it was going to be dirty work, but at least Todd would pay him.

"You need to wash the bulls, too. Unfortunately, you can't use the river behind the barn because it feeds directly into the water spout in the center of town. Soon, Todd's kids will have that new well up and running, but until then, you'll have to take each bull to the other side of town and wash them individually!"

That's going to take awhile! There's no way he would finish that today, especially if Todd was right about the bulls being skittish! Link watched helplessly as his hours of free time were sold away into labor hours. He didn't expect there to be this much work!

"And lastly, don't forget to let the cows and bulls eat! Don't let them stay out too long, or they'll wander. Don't bring them in too quickly, or they'll starve. You can use Epona to herd the animals into the barn afterwards. And keep an eye out for trouble! I don't plan on being back for three days, so you'll have to sleep out here with the animals to make sure they're safe. There's food in the upper room of the barn, and a bed for you too."

Now that was going too far! Link had planned on having dinner with Leanna and Sander! Link was about to voice his objections when Riker interrupted.

"I know this seems like a full-time job. I also know that you want to have some free time, but these are things that have to be done, and there's no one else available! Not to mention that you gave your word to carry it through. I'm not exactly under-paying you either…"

Riker had offered Link a whopping one hundred rupees to do this job, and he had jumped at the chance. Riker was the only person in Cedar Village capable of paying money for work because of his bull and cow business. Since Link had no money of his own, he saw it as a great opportunity to start saving money. Now that he was aware of the work involved, though, he was having second thoughts.

"Please, Link. I can't cancel my trip! Not this late!"

Link considered for a moment, weighing the options, then finally decided to help out Riker, and maybe use the money to get Leanna a present…

"Capital!" Riker cheered. He jogged over to the barn's entrance. "I'm off then! See you in three days!"

And with that, Riker was gone for Ordon.

Link hefted his shovel onto his shoulder, then turned to look at the bulls.

It was time to get to work.