Now, child of destiny, your journey can truly begin…

Link pulled himself off the floor. Inside his hands was the sword he had pulled. What had it been called? The Master Sword? A sword only to be used by the Hero of Time… yet he held it in his hand. He would consent now to see what this was all about. He didn't quite see himself as strategic enough to plan a war. Was that his purpose? If he was lucky perhaps there would be aid from the gods.

"I see you have the sword," came a voice.

Lifting his eyes, Link cast his gaze on the woman in black, the robe still covering her entirely. Why would she not reveal herself? Though Link still wondered this, somehow it was not bothersome to him any longer. He was sure she must have some sort of reason for keeping her identity hidden. He would no longer bother her with questions about it.

"Yes," he said, looking rather abashed that he had not believed her before.

"It's alright," she assured him in her strong voice. "We all make mistakes and do not see things clearly at times."

Link sighed deeply. He would accept these things for a while – not to say that he really believed them. He had heard the story, and it had made some sense, but it was still possible that all this was coincidence. He would simply play along – for the time being.

"What do I do?" he asked, holding the sword upright in his hand.

"You're going to need a shield," the woman said thoughtfully. "Perhaps some other equipment will also be in order, but first things first," she said. "There is a place in the middle of Hyrule field called Lon Lon Ranch. I'm sure you've heard of it."

Link nodded.

"There is a horse waiting there for you."

Link's eyes grew wide with shock. They were… giving him a horse? How could they have so much faith?

"I don't really have a lot of experience with riding horses," he said honestly.

"Go there, minding that you are not being followed, and tell them who you are. They will assist you. They are -- expecting you."

Link nodded, though he still didn't understand the trouble these people were going through.

"Be careful, Link," said the woman, and with the flash of another smoke bomb, she was once again gone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Keeping careful watch around him as Link traveled through the departing rain clouds, he had seen no one following him to the ranch. Why would someone be? Who knew he was going there? The cloud cover was good enough to keep him hidden, but still he acted cautiously, having to carry the large sword by hand.

He looked up at the tall walls surrounding the ranch. What could be inside there? Had it been taken as well? Perhaps he should hurry inside. Trudging up the hill and through the entrance, Link found himself at two tall wooden gates. Now what?

"Hello?" called a sweet sounding voice to the side.

Dragging his eyes across the way, but keeping a tight grip on his weapon, he let his gaze wander to the source of the voice.

Through the crossed poles of the gate, he could see two brown eyes, looking back at him. As he looked on, they smiled. Then they laughed. He couldn't help but smile slightly, too. Who was this?

"Hi," she said, letting out another adorable giggle. "What's the password?"

"Password?" he asked, scratching his head. They hadn't told him any… His thoughts were interrupted by her laughing words.

"I was only teasing you!" she said. "You must be Link."

"That's right," he nodded as she stepped to unlatch the gate.

"I… kind of need proof. Do you have the sword?" she asked politely.

"Right here," he said raising it up so she could see.

She nodded, and he heard the sounds of the gate unlatching. Soon, it was opened to him and there before him stood a lovely young girl of about sixteen. She smiled sweetly at him as the wind played with her long auburn hair.  

"So," she began. "You are Link."

He nodded slightly, unsure of what to say. Though the girl seemed very forward, he could not but wonder what exactly she expected to hear him say. He would hate not to live up to whatever great expectations people had of him. Then again, he wasn't entirely sure what he was doing here.

"Well," she asked finally, breaking into his thoughts. "Are you going to come inside or not?"

He shook away his strange anxiety and stepped through the gates. The girl peered out through them after he entered, making carefully sure that no one had followed. Feeling satisfied, she pulled the gates together and latched them tightly.

The sun began to peep through the dark clouds overhead, shedding light over the vast land before Link. The open field was very green, and the tender blades of grass blew gently in the wind. Butterflies flowed over the land as the songs of the birds reached his ears.

This place was so – peaceful. It was beautiful. There was no rush here. Everything took a smooth steady course and there was no one else around for miles. Yes. He could see himself here…

"Allow me to introduce myself," the girl said, stepping into his view. "I'm Malon."

The girl offered her hand and looked directly into his eyes as she greeted him. Her forwardness didn't intimidate him, in fact, he simply smiled back grandly as she blushed and laughed.

"I should take you to meet the others," she said.

"Who else lives here?' he asked, letting his eyes travel across the chickens pecking the ground as he followed Malon.

"My father, Talon," she said. "Don't ask about the 'rhyming name thing'. It's a long story."

He smiled again at her laughingly. She was quite witty.

"Then there's Ingo…" she began again, trailing off for a moment.

"Another relative?" he asked.

She shook her head ferociously.

"Oh no!" she said abruptly, seeming disgusted that he had even mentioned it. "He's a stable hand. He simply works here." She leaned closer and brought her voice to a whisper. "He's not the most pleasant person. But you'll soon find that out. They should be inside."

Malon pulled open the two large barn doors and startled some chickens on the inside floor. A few cows chewing on some grass raised their heads slightly in recognition. One of them made a sound that, what sounded like to Link, was a sort of disgruntled demand. Something to the extent of a 'where have you been?' Malon dealt with the cow quickly.

"I told you, Daisy," she began. "You cannot go outside until the milk improves. You know that."

The cow seemed to roll her eyes at the girl. Malon looked up to Link with a smile.

"That's Daisy," she said. "A little temperamental, but all in all a pretty good cow."

The girl laughed.

"But why am I telling you all this for?"

"Well, well," came a voice from behind one of the cows. "You must be the little prodigy."

Malon scowled at the man's tone, but tried to stay cheerful.

"This is Ingo," she said.

"Yes," said the slick looking man. "Link, is it?"

"Yes," said the youth with a nod, trying to be friendly, though it mattered not to him whether he made any friends or not.

Ingo snorted and curled his lip slightly.

"There ain't nothing out of the ordinary about ya'," he said. "Yet they give you a horse and equipment! Waste of time if ya ask me!"

"We didn't ask you, actually… did we?" asked Malon.

Link smirked slightly. He liked this girl already.

"Where's my dad?' she asked the disgruntled man.

"Where he always is! Asleep! You think I don't do any work around here! I pull all the weight."

"Come on," Malon said quietly, pulling Link's wrist and leading him to the side door of the barn room.

"Is he always like that?" Link asked after they had entered.

"Worse," she insisted.

She stopped abruptly and held out her arm, making Link stop his motion across the floor. What…?

"Look," she said quietly, pointing across the room.

There, lying upside down on a mat of hay was a man. The man was round, and when he would snore, his large belly would rise and fall and his mustache would wave in his breath. Malon giggled.

"Funny, isn't it?" she asked, walking across the room to her sleeping father.

Link thought it rude to laugh, but he must admit, it was a bit amusing.

"Dad," Malon said lightly. "Wake up." 

Link looked on and the man kept snoring. A heavy sleeper he was…

Malon looked around the room after giving her father a shake, to no avail. Finally looking up at Link, she smiled.

"Why don't you pick up that chicken there?" she suggested.

He looked down and at his feet there was a white chicken, walking around, pecking at the floorboards. He looked back up to Malon with hesitation. He didn't have too much of a background with chickens either.

"It's okay," she assured him, "But you have to be quick."

Link readied himself and reached down quickly to scoop up the chicken. Upon giving the hen his touch, it began flapping its wings hysterically and making quite a lot of noise. Malon laughed as Link struggled to hold on to the chicken, and slowly, her father opened his eyes.

"You can put it down now!" she told Link, as he released it and it fluttered to the ground in an ungraceful manner and proceeded to scurry into a corner.

"Malon!" said the man on the hay. "What time is it, dear?"

"It is time for you to get up," she said. "We have company."

The man's eyes trailed to Link, who simply stood there kind of awkwardly. He was unsure of what to say or do.

"Hello," said the man. "Pleased to meet you, lad."

"Dad, this is Link," Malon said, kind of quietly.

The man sat in the hay and looked at his daughter a moment. Then finally, something seemed to hit him.

"Oh! Link! Well, I apologize! Sometimes I'm just not meself!" he said with a laugh and pulled himself from the hay to shake the hero's hand.

Malon laughed.

"Trust me, he is himself!"   

Link smiled.

"The name's Talon," said the man, offering his hand. "I, uh, suppose you'll be wanting yer things."

"Things?" questioned Link.

"Sure! Isn't that what you come here for?" he asked.

"Truthfully, I'm not really sure why exactly I'm here. I was sent. They said you'd assist me."

Talon looked back at his daughter in confusion, wanting her to straighten him out. Perhaps this was the wrong Link…?

"You are here to get your things," she said. "Remember, dad. That's what that lady told us."

"Lady?" asked Link.

"Yes," said Talon. "She was wearing a black robe… kind of strange if you ask me, but she seemed to know what she was talking about. She left some things for you, and bought a horse. The stuff is in the… in… the…"

"In the stable," said Malon. "But we'll see to that later. Right now we must eat. You can't be a hero on an empty stomach now, can you?"

Link smiled and nodded gratefully.

"Thank you," he said.

"Well then," said Talon. "Let us eat!"