Guys... Guys, I'm not dead yet, simply busy. I've been sweating bullets over not posting for three weeks, so I'm greatly relieved to be done with chapter 35. As things are right now, I expect we'll be done by 45.
As always, inspired by Ocarina of Time
Chapter Thirty-Four: Of Dissonant Melodies
Link got his bath after all, two days into his time at the Long Lon Ranch. He and Ingo hauled water from the well to a tin tub in the washroom. A few drops of Ingo's blood in the tub's blood receptacle heated the water up quickly. Malon was given the first go, and she washed and soaked in the bath for a good hour, to the men's displeasure. Talon took the next bath at the vehement prodding of Ingo, and fouled the water so much the tub had to be drained, washed, and refilled from the well once more. Again, more blood was offered to the tub's heating spells, and Ingo allowed Link to wash first. The boy scrubbed quickly with a lumpen bar of rough soap, then washed his greasy hair twice to ensure it was clean enough for his standards, missing the fine soaps and perfectly hot water of the Palace. He let himself soak for about ten minutes, before climbing out and drying off. Ingo was gruffly thankful that there was hot water left over for him – magic tub or not, he didn't want to use more blood that day.
The mornings at Long Lon Ranch were early and busy, the afternoons increasingly warmer. The nights were filled with music, to Link's delight. Malon had a lovely, if breathy voice, and Ingo was fairly good on the fiddle. Each evening Talon listened quietly with a mug of beer or cider, and retired to bed before the music was over. The large man woke in the late afternoon, spent the rest of the day training horses, eating, and playing cards with his older brother.
Every morning Link ate a quick meal of oatmeal and yogurt, then helped Malon and Ingo collect the chicken eggs, milk the cattle, then feed and water the livestock. After Second Worship they ate lunch, usually consisting of bread, spiced beef sausage and cheese. Malon, Link, and Ingo spent an hour or so after lunch familiarizing Link with the horses.
Malon's favorite was a finely muscled three-year old mare, tall and fiery, by the name of Epona. She was almost doggishly devoted to the girl, but Link soon found she was fond of music, and would let him groom her if he whistled the lullaby Malon had sung to her since she was a filly.
Noticing Link's increasing fondness for the mare, Ingo took Link aside.
"You're thinking of buying Epona, aren't you, boy?" The lanky man queried, raising a bushy eyebrow.
"Yeah." Link confirmed, and Ingo shook his head roughly.
"I wouldn't." Link frowned at that, confused.
"Why not? She's got great stamina and speed."
"Ay, she does. But she's also skittish and like as not to run away from you as obey you. She's been spoiled by Miss Malon and Master Talon since she was foaled. Her performance is incredible, but erratic. Think, boy. What would she be like against a monster or bandit on the road? She doesn't take well to stalls – there aren't many ranches in Arryn, and you'd never get her in a stall in Waysken. She'd hurt herself." Ingo said firmly in his nasal voice.
"You're sure of that." Link said flatly, and the man nodded.
"Epona is a fine piece of horseflesh, and she'd cost you dearly. You're a good lad, Link. And she's worth less than she costs, unless you plan to breed her. As a riding horse now, she's useless."
"You plan to breed her then?" The lanky man shrugged.
"I've always dreamed of being a breeder. If I could find a calm, steady stallion to knock her up, the foals could really be something." Ingo's tone was wistful. Link sighed. Ingo was a fair man, he'd come to know.
"Why don't you work for some other man than Master Talon, then, instead of never being let to take charge?"
"I couldn't leave this place, not ever." Ingo said with a bitter smile, his mustache quirking up. "I was set to inherit the ranch, in my youth. But first I wanted to travel, to see the world. Our parents understood – I was the hard worker, the one who would make this place even greater than it already was. They sent me off with a full purse and all their blessings. Talon and I have always had our weaknesses – for him it is drinking and sleeping, for me it was the dice. I gambled away all my money and wages in Riverside. I was too poor to even return to the Plains Province, so I sought the help of a wise woman, who helped rid me of my need for games and cards and stakes. Then I worked for years to erase my debt. When I had enough to return home, I did so, penniless. My parents were old by then, and when they heard what I had done, they disowned me. And so Master Talon became the master of Long Lon Ranch. Miss Malon won't consider me her uncle – my brother has poisoned her against me." Ingo sighed, looking at the blue, blue sky, smiling sadly. "I could have made this place great. If I had my way I'd hire a few hands to help on the ranch, to make cheese and butter out of the milk we produce. With the money from that I'd buy a few good horses from the Gerudo Province, and improve our stock. Long Lon Ranch could be the best producer of steeds in all of Lon. No – the best in the Province. My heart has never been in dairy, anyways."
"Well, I don't know much about horses, aside from riding them," Link commented, fully in his Imally-bred persona, "But even I've heard Gerudo horses are good." Link wanted to help Ingo, really he did. He wanted to tell the man about Reya, about the swiftness of hooves on desert sand, of the strong arched necks and delicate heads and legs of his people's horses. Wanted to give Ingo a way to speak to the Gerudo, to make his dreams come true for the kindness the snarky man had shown a boy of supposedly Imally birth. But no, there were secrets to be kept, and ultimately the mission was more important than one man's smashed dreams, Link thought with regret. So he stretched indolently, reached up to pick straw from his similarly colored hair, and asked instead:
"Anyway, if you don't recommend Epona, which horse would you choose for me?"
"Deste would be best, I think. He's nice and steady, in both stamina and temperament."
"Deste? The uh, the dappled grey gelding?"
"That's the one. You can ride him tomorrow, after lunch."
"All right."
That evening they fixed the more shoddy stretches of fencing until it was dark. Ingo and Link washed of the dirt and dust as best they could with a bucket of water and a rag before coming in for supper, the fourth meal of the day. Supper that night was roast chicken, with potato dumplings, mashed vegetables, and lots of floury gravy. It couldn't compare to the kitchens of the Fortress or Palace, but the meals Malon cooked were better than hard biscuits and jerky. It sufficed.
Ingo left to speak with Talon outside, while Link helped Malon clean up after Third Worship. She looked over at him as she scrubbed dishes, then bit her lip and looked away shyly. Link cocked an eyebrow, continuing to dry the wet dishes and utensils.
"Was there something you wanted to say?" He said aloud. She blinked in surprise.
"What?" Malon asked, taken aback.
"You keep looking at me. So I was wondering why." Malon sighed at that, and dropped her soft blue gaze to the floor, absently toying with a lock of auburn hair with sudsy fingers.
"Do you really have to go to Arryn?"
"Why?" Link wondered, a dreaded realization creeping up on him. Come on – he'd only been here for eight days! Why was this always happening to him?
"I was thinking… I thought you could stay here, with Daddy, Mister Ingo and me." Link's heart lurched. So he'd been correct.
"My only family is in Waysken. How else am I supposed to make a living when I'm grown, without family backing me? Besides, my uncle said he'd take me…"
"Forget about your uncle!" Malon said hotly, a flush racing to her cheeks. "You said yourself you barely know him. We like you here. You can help Mister Ingo do the chores, and Daddy can teach you to do the books and train the horses. Maybe you can even knock away those stupid ideas Ingo has about Gerudo horses and their superiority – they're as diseased as their breeders."
"Well, what if I want to be a bard?" Link returned quietly, ignoring the sting at the casual way she slurred his people, "There's no training in that to be found in Lon."
"You don't need to learn anything more, you're already good." Malon insisted, "I know you like music a lot, but you can play in the evenings with Mister Ingo. My voice is really good, so we can sing together whenever we want…"
"What if that's not enough?" Link returned, his mind churning with the effort to fend her clinging hopes away, "What if I get sick of the plains? I like forests better."
"That's stupid. On the Plains you can see for miles around. Everyone likes that!"
"No, Malon." He said a bit harshly, "I don't want that life. We're different people, and I don't want to live here much longer. Look, you're a nice girl, but I'm thirteen – I'm too young for love and that stuff. 'Live free' and all."
"But-!" Her entire face was turning red.
"I said no." Her eyes narrowed, spilling over with tears, and then she took the plate she'd been cleaning, and hurled it at his head. He ducked aside, reflexes kicking in, and the plate shattered itself against a wooden beam that held up the wall. Malon wiped at her tears angrily, and stormed out of the kitchen and up the stairs to her room, slamming the door loudly.
Ingo stuck his head into the kitchen.
"What was that?" He demanded, and Link bent to gather up the shattered bits of ceramic.
"I don't want to marry Malon. So I said so, and she threw a plate at me. That's what." The boy said ruefully. Ingo grinned.
"I don't blame you, boy. She's always had a temper, and Master Talon certainly don't discourage it."
"I suppose. Do you think this will cause any trouble tomorrow when I purchase Deste?"
"They can't force you to stay, and we do need the business. I'll do my best." Ingo said, and Link smiled at the man.
"Thank you, Master Ingo."
The skinny man with bristling brown hair shrugged brusquely.
"You've been a great help to me, boy, I need no thanks. Tomorrow morning will be here sooner than you'd think, with the days getting longer. So we'd better rest up now while the sun's still down."
Link knew an order when he heard one.
"Yes sir." They padded quietly upstairs, to Ingo's bedroom. Ingo took the bed, Link burrowed into his bedroll on the floor.
Link was used to reading before bed, but apparently the Longhearts didn't, so he simply laid in the dark stillness of an unlit bedroom, listening to the nightsingers' caroling coos and trills that echoed through the night. Link watched their shadows fly before the distant faces of the moons in intricately swirling swarms before finally closing his eyes, and giving himself up to sleep.
Morning dawned bright and early at eight. Link was awoken not by the Fortress bugle, nor the Palace bells, but instead by the raucous shrilling of the Long Lon Ranch's resident flock of dawngreeters, birds that welcomed the rising sun with piercing cries. It was, hopefully, the last day of Link's stay at the Ranch.
The dawngreeters shrieked once more, then burst into noisy, gossipy chatter. Ingo heaved himself out of bed with a groan. Link followed after him. Stretching and yawning, he stripped out of his night clothes and pulled a new day's outfit out of his rupee-studded pack.
Ingo and Link ate a quick morning meal of sausage and stewed tomatoes, washing it down with hot tea. Link felt somewhat guilty about eating meat at breakfast, but stayed firmly in his role as a non-Gerudo Southerner. They fed and watered the livestock, mucked out the stables, collected the eggs, and milked the cows, much as they had done for the past nine days.
More yards of fencing was repaired. Link and Ingo chatted easily now, speaking of the Imally Province.
"…And the Lost Woods itself is this huge mass of trees, and the ones on the edge of the forest have black trunks – something about the reaction to outside air or something. At night lights come from the paths inside, little will-o-wisps that get you lost until the forest takes you for its own. If you live in settlements on the frontier where they clear the forest for grazing or planting land, you have to wear special cloths over your face so you don't breathe in the poisonous fumes." Link said, borrowing Sir Fran's words to describe his fictional home. "The birds there are different, too. There are great hawks called Rocs, with wingspans twice as long as a large man is tall, so large they can carry off a child or a sheep. My favorites, though, are the brightingales."
"Brightingales?" Ingo wondered,
"Yeah, they're much like your Plain's nightingales, only brightly colored – with a purple head, green body, and a deep blue chest."
"They sound beautiful."
"Yes," Link sighed in false wistfulness, "But their songs are even more so."
In this way they wiled away the late morning repairing the peeling fences, until Talon rose for Second Worship and lunch. Malon was unusually quiet as she served the men salted fish and leftover potato dumplings with a brown sauce called malka.
"Well, m'boy," Talon began after he'd taken a long pull of ale, "Your time with us is up. Have you chosen which horse you'd like to purchase?"
"I've settled on Deste, Master Longheart." Link said, his tone polite.
"A fine horse, him. Are you sure you don't want to stay? My Malon is mighty fond of you, and you've proved you're a hard worker." Malon blushed prettily at that, turquoise gaze clinging to the young teen. "Why, there might even be a betrothal in the future, maybe. Who could say no to that?" Ingo winced and Link growled internally, but kept his face polite and earnest.
"You've been very hospitable, Master Longheart, but I fear I've stayed long enough. I need my family now, and it would insult my uncle, who has already begun making preparations for my arrival. I like Deste, and I'm sure he'll easily bear me to Waysken." Malon and Talon's faces fell. Talon gave a great, heavy sigh, smoothing his bushy mustache with plump fingers.
"Then let's get to it, then." He said, his voice losing its false heartiness and taking on a rather whining tone, similar to Ingo's. Talon named an outrageous price, which Link countered with a much lower but not insulting offer. They haggled back and forth, Talon trying to raise the price above his first offer, and the Gerudo boy was grateful he'd already purchased the necessary tack from Ingo days earlier, which the ranch hand was allowed to sell, at least. Who knew what the price of Deste might be if Talon Longheart hadn't been selling more than one thing at once?
Talon seemed intent on cheating Link, so Link pulled out what the Gerudos called 'the hidden blade' when it came to dickering – a plea for mercy.
"Be generous, Master Longheart – I've been working hard on the Long Lon Ranch for two weeks now." He pleaded softly, and Talon waved it off.
"That was earning your keep, m'boy." Link ground his teeth.
I am not your boy! He thought fiercely, but his face was placid on the outside.
"Then for the sake of our friendship, sir, for I need enough money to reach Waysken. Someday in the future I might wish to visit you and Miss Malon, but if I pay your unusually high price, at this rate I'll be forced to take my business somewhere else – somewhere that does not ignore ten day's labor as a mere courtesy." Malon gasped softly, and touched her father's elbow.
"If it's such a trial to pay, why not simply stay and have no need of a horse of your own?"
"Greed is not a virtue, Master Talon." Ingo said, and Talon frowned slowly.
"Neither is gambling, Ingo. Why don't you check on the horses? Only those things concern you." Ingo flushed with rage and shame as he turned on his heel to storm out the door.
"Doesn't concern me? I'll 'concern' you…!" He fumed under his breath, slamming the door behind him hard enough to shake loose a layer of dust from between the boards of the ceiling. Malon's eyes were wide.
At last Link and Talon Longheart hammered out a deal – and Link came out ahead only by the skin of his teeth. He insisted on signing the contract right then and there, blood stains and all, so the greedy ranch owner couldn't renege on the deal.
Link declined Talon's offer to see him off – he gathered up his things in Ingo's room, and headed for the stables. Ingo was waiting for him there, Deste already saddled and bridled in pale leather tack. Deste whuffled softly as Link rubbed his forehead and neck gently, pushing his head against the boy's shoulder. Link fastened his pack to the back of the saddle with the proper fastenings provided.
The boy led his new gelding out of the stable, and let Ingo give him a leg up into the stirrup, then swung his other leg over the saddle, settling into the correct seated posture.
"You should get out, Master Ingo." He murmured quietly, "They don't appreciate you."
"It's a matter of family pride, boy." Ingo said, repeating his words from many days ago.
"Very well." Link replied, backing down. "I hope you do well." With a bang, Malon burst out of the house, running straight for the Gerudo boy and his steed before Ingo could reply.
"Don't go!" She shouted, tears streaming down freckled cheeks, "Please, Link! I'll do anything, just please, don't leave!" Talon Longheart, Master of Long Lon Ranch watched from the door.
"Say whatever you want, Miss Malon," Link said stiffly, enjoying the flinch he received from her, "You belittled my family, your father did his best to cheat me despite my days of labor on his behalf. You don't even treat your only uncle with a bit of kindness. Why wouldn't I want to leave?"
"I didn't mean it!" She pleaded.
"Life is not a drama, or some fairytale! And anyways - bah, I don't care anymore. I'm leaving. A good day to you, Master Ingo, Master Talon, Miss Malon." He nudged Deste's speckled grey flanks, and the horse broke into a trot.
Link didn't look back as he left the Ranch, stonily gazing forward. When he was a mile or so away, and the buildings of the Ranch were small, he looked back only once, then smiled to be free what had, increasingly, felt like a trap.
He felt strangely liberated, from Talon Longheart's sloth, from Ingo's self-imposed prison, from Malon's stubborn naïveté.
He was no one's prince charming.
1. "Live free and work hard." Is the motto of Imally. I imagine the people of Imally are like a cross between early Americans and Germans. Don't ask me why. They just are, in my mind.
2. On Hyrule, and throughout much of Vanity, song birds sing in the night much like they do in the mornings on Earth. Thus songbirds are referred to as daysingers or nightsingers.
3. Brightingales are parrot-like siblings of nightingales. Unlike the more drab little birds, they are awake during the day.
4. Rocs have a twelve foot long wingspan, and live in the warm climes of the South. They can be found near cliffs or high trees. Their prey is deer, cattle, sheep, and other similarly sized grazers. On occasion Rocs will become man-eaters, but most Rocs stop after the first person they've eaten – most humanoids have far too much bone and gristle to adequately fulfill a Roc's dietary needs.
5. It is only a fictional truth that roosters crow at dawn. Actually, roosters crow whenever they feel like it. Dawngreeters are little, black sparrow-like birds that sing quite prettily during the day, but greet the rising sun with very loud, obnoxious screaming. Dawngreeters are kept domestically in locales out of the auditory range of a belltower.
6. Malka is a savory brown condiment somewhere along the line between soy sauce and fish sauce.
7. As you may have noticed, I greatly prefer Zelda over Malon. For me, it all comes down to the way they react to adversity – Malon cowers and dreams of a savior, while Zelda gets up and fights back after losing everything.
8. Okay, it was a bit dramatic, but hey – these are teens. And Link isn't perfect. This chapter was actually a bit more dramatic than I liked at first, so there was a lot of editing done before I felt okay to post this – as it was even harsher on Malon than even I feel appropriate.
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