Chapter 9

The two finally made it to Lon Lon Ranch by sunrise, their horses as tired out as they were. Link dismounted and lead Zelda into the stables only to stop in the doorway.

"What is it now?" Zelda asked, leaning forwards so her head rested against her horse's neck.

"There's a horse too many in here," Link said, dread filling him up. There was no way they could keep running right now. They were tired, their horses were exhausted and all four were hungry.

"At this point, I don't care," Zelda said, dropping off her horse. She pulled off the reins, getting the horse to wake enough to unclamp the bit and threw it to the floor.

Link sighed and lead Epona back to her stall only to notice Tùk in the next stall was lacking any hay. Then it hit him; they were all inside the stable. This late in the morning they should be outside grazing. Link gave Epona some fresh hey, throwing some into Tùk's stall as well, as Zelda lead her horse to the last empty stall.

"H-Hey! Who's there!?" a male voice called out, getting the two to turn and look at the doorway.

"Oto!" Link exclaimed, recognizing the teen a moment before Oto did, lowering the pitch fork in his hand.

"Link? Thank the goddesses, you're alive," Oto said, walking into the stable. He went over and poked Link's shoulder as he asked, "You are alive, right?"

"Yeah I'm alive," Link laughed. "What are you doing here?"

"Mother said she was short one hundred rubees in paying you so she sent me here, but when I got here no one was here. There was a note on the door saying the king was looking for you and they had arrested your family so I thought someone needed to keep the ranch running but I don't know the first think about ranch life, and that cucco coop sure does fall apart a lot, it's like the little guys poke the nails back out and the-"

"Breath," Link ordered, putting a hand on Oto's shoulder to stop him. "Just breath, ok?"

Oto shut his mouth as he looked at his friend.

"I wish we'd know they were arrested before we broke out of jail," Zelda sang from her spot on the floor in front of the stall her horse now slept in.

"Jail!?" Oto asked, looking at the girl then back at his friend.

Link bit his bottom lip, a feeling he knew where his family had been taken and it wasn't the dungeon.

A slight snoring took his attention back to Zelda, the girl now asleep on the floor. He sighed as he said, "Help me carry her. We'll put her in Trina's bed."

Oto put his pitch fork against the wall and went over to pick the girl up by her feet as Link lifted her from under her arms. "Who is she?"

"Sheikah warrior in training and Hyrule's future queen, Zelda," Link introduced as they made their way out of the stable and to the house.

Oto almost lost his footing before recovering as he asked, "What?"

"Right, you've gotta be caught up," Link realized aloud. The two took the sleeping girl into the house and to Trina's bed as the teen explained to his friend the past few days. By the time Link had finished he had a cool glass of milk in his hands, barely keeping his eyes opened as he sat at the kitchen table. "-hoping that Grandfather would be here and I'm starting to wish I caught some winks in prison."

"Well go get some sleep. I promise I won't lose any of your animals," Oto said.

Link smiled as he gulped down the last of his milk. His glass clinked against the table as he said, "Just get the horses and cows into the field and close the gate. The cuccos need to be feed, their food's in the barn's loft." At this point his voice was starting to slur his words together, getting a smile from Oto. "The cows need to be milked, hopefully I'll wake up in enough time to-"

"I lost you at the first cows," Oto interrupted. "Go to sleep. If anything comes up, I'll wake you."

Link nodded his head, closing his eyes only to open them and find himself alone in the kitchen, his glass rinsed out and on the counter. He rubbed the back of his neck and stood up to head to bed, once again losing himself before getting there.

-.-.-.-

Link woke up a few hours later, the sky outside his window turning orange with the setting sun. He got up and rubbed his eyes, thinking he could sleep some more but remember Oto would probably want his help. Pushing himself out of bed, Link realized he fell asleep with his boots on and his hat nowhere to be seen. He looked around the floor to find it in the doorway. Snatching it up, Link put it on his head and walked out to find Oto.

Link walked out of his house only to be greeted by Oto's scream coming from the pig pen. Link ran in that direction only to slow to a stop next to a laughing Zelda, the girl standing without her armor with a bucket of slop hanging from her hand. In the pen, trying to stand up in the mud, was Oto. Link covered his mouth, trying not to laugh at his friend's discomfort.

"Quit laughing and help me out!" Oto cried out, trying to flick mud out of his eyes.

"I'm coming," Link said, laughter evident in his voice. He carefully stepped over the thigh high fence and made his way over to his friend.

Grabbing Oto's hand, he led the teen back to the fence only for Zelda to call out, "Look out!"

Link turned to the sound of movement coming at them only to realize Rance was on his rampage again. He pushed Oto at the fence, getting the teen to topple over the wooden fence, before jumping backwards. The top of his boots caught the top of the fence, toppling himself backwards and out of the rampaging pig's way.

Rance slowed to a stop at the fence, giving out a snort aimed at Link before turning around to leave them.

Link sat up, making sure Rance was done before turning to Oto, the teen sitting on the ground trying to clear his face of the mud, and exclaimed, "Why in Hylia's name were you in the pig pen?!"

"Don't be so hard, one of the cucco's ended up getting herself stuck," Zelda said, going over to dump the pig slop into their trough.

"I slipped after I cleaned her off and got stuck myself," Oto admitted, getting up to his feet. "I've gotta get cleaned."

Link smiled at his friend, watching him make his way back to the house, shaking a leg every few steps. Link got up to his feet, brushing his butt off to get the grass that had stuck itself to his tunic.

"Really he's doing pretty good for a city boy," Zelda said, walking over to Link. "He knows a lot about how to care for the animals."

"He's come over a few times before so I'm sure he picked it up from watching me," Link admitted. "We've been friends for longer than I remember."

"So is that where he got his love for cuccos?" Zelda asked, leading the way back to the barn.

"Yeah, he was there when one of the cucco's chicks hatched and fell in love with her so Mother let him keep her," Link explained, following the girl. "Do you know if the cows have been milked."

"No, neither of us know how to," Zelda admitted. "I think that's the only think not done, but you should check with Oto."

"Send him over to the cow barn when he's cleaned up, will you?" Link asked. He glanced up at the sky, realizing it was a bit late for their afternoon milking. "I've got some unhappy cows to work with."