The Legend of Zelda
Ti'ana's Story
__________by Ti'ana MYST
Part I
Chapter One
Ti'ana stretched and yawned as she gazed upon the large crowd in Hyrule Castle Town. She shifted around on the large crate she was seated on, fiddling with the emerald on her silver-chained necklace.
'What's all the fuss about now?' she thought. She straitened out her green outfit and dug her hand deep into her pocket. She emerged with a small drawstring suede pouch.
I wonder, how much do I have? She loosened the string on the bag and dumped out 8 different colored rupees onto her lap.
"Hmm..." She looked over them. "Two green rupees, three blue ones, two red and a purple one. How much is that?" She counted it up quickly. "One hundred seven rupees..."
Suddenly, Ti'ana looked back up at the crowd. A young boy was being forced out, and he landed hard on his back.
"Yeah, well... I wasn't gonna buy anything, anyway!" He huffed, stood up, and dusted himself off. Then he walked towards Ti'ana, muttering, "Stupid adults. Hmph!"
Ti'ana snickered. "Hey Taabu."
The boy looked up. "It's not funny 'Ana." He crosses his arms.
Ti'ana rolled her eyes. "Oh come on Taaby. You're too serious for your own good." She then motioned towards the crowd. "What's going on over there?"
"New potion shop," Taabu said. "Selling weird stuff, mostly fire, red potion, green potion, fairies, that sort of stuff. Very expensive, though." He sighed. "Hey 'Ana, what time is it?"
"Ummm..." She looked up at the position of the sun. "About... three o'clock, why?"
Taabu looked shocked. "Already?! Talon sent me out almost an hour ago then, I was supposed to buy feed for the horses!" He slapped his forehead and probed deep into his pocket. Emerging with nothing, he threw his head back and moaned. "Great!! Talon forgot to give me money for the feed." Quickly, he put on an innocent smile. "Ti'ana, how much you have?"
"One hundred and seven rupees," she said. Then she sighed. "How much do you need?"
"Uh.. how about 80, that's how much Talon was supposed to give me." Ti'ana gawked at him. "I'll pay you right back, I promise. As soon as I get to the ranch."
"Ugh, fine. I'll come with you." Ti'ana hopped off of the crate. They walked off in the direction of the barn store.
Taabu turned to Ti'ana. "Hey 'Ana, guess what? One of the mares had two fillies."
Ti'ana looked over at him. "Really? What're they're names?"
"Epona and Flicka," Taabu said. Then added quickly, "Malon named Epona... Talon named Flicka. They were born about two weeks ago."
Ti'ana huffed. She never much liked Malon, for reasons Taabu never understood. Girls were beyond his comprehension, and most of the time, he thought it best to ignore their "odd" ways.
"I'll go get the feed, you can stay outside. I know you don't like the smell in there."
Ti'ana nodded in agreement, even though she didn't really mind the strange scent of the barn store. Taabu stepped inside the shop.
Looking around, Ti'ana wondered how she and Taabu became friends in the first place. They had almost nothing in common. Ti'ana was Kokiri, and Taabu lived in Hyrule. They both liked different things, but one thing they both loved was animals. That's why Taabu took a job offer at Lon Lon Ranch (also because his parents forced him to).
Ti'ana was different from the other Kokiri. She didn't know why, but they all said she was diverse from the others. She was compared to one boy, Link, who was one of her closest friends. Unlike him, though, she always had a fairy, Nuli.
After about ten minutes, Taabu finally came out of the store with an angered look on his face, and a large bag of oats in his arms.
"I can't believe them!" he exclaimed. "They called me little. They weren't gonna sell this to me because they said I'd pull a muscle or something. And they laughed at me!"
Ti'ana sighed. "Taaby you make it seem like you've never been laughed at before, or called small." She smirked and poked him in the stomach.
Taabu huffed, held his stomach, but didn't respond. He started heading out of the town, dragging the back behind him and almost ignoring Ti'ana. She followed close behind.
***
They reached the ranch in about a half hour. They alternated who carried the feed every so often. The bag weighed more than 50 pounds, and even when they alternated they had to help the other carry it.
Most of their journey was done in silence. Every once in a while Taabu would complain about his back hurting, and how Talon wouldn't send Ingo out instead of him.
"Just 'cause Ingo's sick don't mean he can't go get the feed himself. I'm supposed to be feeding the horses an' cleaning them, not carrying a thousand pounds of their food!"
Then Ti'ana would tell him to shut up. After that, Nuli would usually chime in: "You're a boy, you're supposed to be able to carry the heavy bags and let the lady walk!"
After the second time Nuli said that, Taabu dropped the bag (on his own foot) and swatted at the annoying fairy.
Talon greeted the two at the entrance.
"It's about time, Taabu. I sent you out almost two hours ago." He crossed his arms.
"Sorry, Talon. You forgot to give me money, and I had to find Ti'ana to borrow some from." He glanced at Ti'ana with a "please don't tell him the truth" look.
Ti'ana glared and him, and then turned to Talon. "Yeah, Taabu was pretty intent on taking my money instead of going back to the ranch." Taabu shot her a nasty look, and Ti'ana just smirked.
Taabu leaned towards Ti'ana and whispered harshly into her ear, "Smooth 'Ana, really smooth."
Then he said to Talon, "Oh yea, you owe 'Ana 80 rupees."
Talon smiled. "Well hello Ti'ana. I haven't seen much of you around Lon Lon for a long time." He dug into his overall pockets and emerged with three red rupees, and handed them to Ti'ana.
Ti'ana took the rupees and smiled. Even though she didn't like Malon, she always got along fine with her father. "How's Ingo?"
"He's fine. Just a touch of the flu, he'll get better soon."
A singsong voice called from the corral. "Daddy! Where are you?"
Talon turned around, then back to Ti'ana and Taabu. "Pardon me for a moment, Malon is calling."
Taabu still had the bag across his back. He threw it down. "Ti'ana, help me bring this to the stable?"
"Sure." Ti'ana took one end of the bag, and Taabu took the other. Together they hauled the large bag into the small stable.
Taabu told Ti'ana where to bring the bag to. She dropped her end of the bag, and closed and opened her fists. Then she shook them out. "That things heavy. I don't think I'll ever get the feeling back in my hands."
Taabu dragged the bag to the back of the stable. He opened it up and grabbed a bucket near him. "Hey 'Ana, can you get me that scoop-thing over there?" He pointed to what he was talking about.
Ti'ana picked it up and brought it over to Taabu. "This?"
He took it. "Yea." He dipped the scoop into the bag and dumped the contents into the bucket. "Can you help me with my work?"
Ti'ana nodded. "Good," Taabu said. "Take this bucket and put the feed in that trough." He motioned towards the nearest stall.
Ti'ana did as she was asked as Taabu went to get another bucket. He filled that one up with water from a water pump. Along the back of all the stalls was a separate trough, in which he dumped the water.
Ti'ana finished before Taabu did. As he continued to work, she sat on an upside-down bucket and took out her ocarina. She played a simple 16-note tune her friend, Saria, had taught her. The song could be heard throughout the Lost Woods, one of Ti'ana's favorite getaway places. When she finished, she played another song, one she came up with, but it sounded very familiar, like someone had taught it to her years ago.
Taabu turned around and watched Ti'ana play. He always admired her, the way she put up with the taunting of the other Kokiri, the way she played her ocarina; everything. In a sense he liked her, but never said anything for fear of losing her friendship.
Malon stepped into the stable, snapping Taabu out of his trance.
"Why, hello Taabu!" She said enthusiastically, entwining her fingers in her red hair. "How are you?"
"Fine," he mumbled.
"Oh and Ti'ana, how art thou? We haven't seen much of you around the ranch lately.
Ti'ana scowled. "Yes, well, I've been rather busy elsewhere, so side trips to the ranch are out of the question." Even she didn't like the way that sentence came out.
Malon knew Ti'ana didn't like her, the reality of it was Malon didn't like Ti'ana either. She liked Taabu, and she knew he liked Ti'ana. Ti'ana knew Malon liked Taabu, which was why they never got along.
Ti'ana stood up and put her ocarina in her bag. "I'd better go, Taabu. Nice seeing you again, Malon."
"Oh, leaving so soon, Ti'ana? Wouldn't you like to see the new horses?"
Sighing, Ti'ana reluctantly said, "Okay." If there was one thing Ti'ana loved, it was horses, even if they were Malon's.
Malon led Ti'ana to the middle of the corral, where two little horses were chasing each other around. They looked very much alike, except one of them had a marking on her neck that looked like the sacred Triforce, and on her flank what looked like a paw mark, similar to the symbol which each of the Gorons bore.
Malon walked over to the one without the symbol. "This is Epona, my favorite horse in the whole wide world!" She patted the horse on the neck. She then walked over to the other horse. "And this is Flicka, my other favorite horse in the world!"
Flicka seemed too busy looking Ti'ana over to be bothered with Malon. She rubbed her nose against Ti'ana's bag, and knocked out her ocarina.
Ti'ana giggled. "You want me to play for you?" The horse whinnied, which Ti'ana took as a yes. She then began playing the mysterious melody she had played before in the stables. This song seemed to make Flicka energized, because she began running around the corral, and then back to Ti'ana. She pushed her with her nose and whinnied.
Malon looked shocked. "Wow I've never seen Flicka act like that! What a weird song, where'd you learn it from."
"I didn't," Ti'ana said in a-matter-of-fact kind of tone. "Well, if I did learn it somewhere, I certainly don't remember."
"Why don't you try playing Epona's Song? It's a piece my mother compose." Then Malon began singing the tune. Ti'ana almost covered her ears, not liking Malon's annoying singing voice.
Then she brought her blue ocarina to her mouth and played the song Malon had just sung, though it sounded much better on the ocarina. This gave Epona the same effect it had on Flicka.
Malon gave Ti'ana a puzzled look. "Maybe that mysterious song you played before should be called 'Flicka's song', since it seems to make Flicka act the same way Epona does when I sing my mothers song."
"Maybe," Ti'ana said. "Well, I'm going to go say 'bye to Taabu now, I have to go. G'bye Malon." She then started to head back to the stables, but just before she left the corral, Malon called her back.
"Look, Ti'ana," she said. "I know you don't like me and all (Ti'ana nodded), but we could at least try to be friends, couldn't we? I mean, I know the only reason you refuse to befriend me is because you like Taabu and he likes me."
Ti'ana whirled around. "That's not the reason I don't like you, the reason I don't like you is because you expect the world to give you what you want! You want a knight to come riding into this corral and sweep you off your feet, when you know as well as I do that will never happen!"
Malon gasped. "How did you know that?"
Smirking, Ti'ana answered, "The gossip stones tell all, m'dear. And you can have Taabu! We're... just... friends!" Ti'ana could barely get the last part out before she left the corral, passing Taabu, who had finished his work in the stable, on her way.
Malon rolled her eyes, then smiled at Taabu, who gave her a puzzled look.
"What happened here?"
"We had a little argument, that's all..." Malon thought for a moment, then added, "About you."
"Me?" Taabu pointed to himself.
"Yes, Ti'ana was saying...., um, how she didn't want to be your friend anymore, and I was standing up for you." She nodded. "That's what happened. And Ti'ana said, 'You can keep him I don't like him anyway!' and then stormed off like that."
Taabu looked dismayed. Was Malon telling the truth?
"Y-you're lying Malon. Ti'ana's my best friend, she wouldn't say something like that." Not wanting to hear anymore, Taabu turned away and ran all the way back to Hyrule Castle Town.