The Legend of Zelda
Ti'ana's Story
__________by Ti'ana MYST
Part Two:
Seven Years Later..
Chapter Seven
The sun was setting over the vast land of Hyrule. Usually, this would have been the most beautiful time of day. Rarely had there ever been cloudy days in Hyrule, but, in the past seven years, Hyrule had been transformed by the new rule of the evil king.
A young man sat on the roof of the stable. An arctic wind, which was blowing from Zora's Domain, as it had been for years, caused his short, brownish-blonde hair to blow into his eyes. As a child, his hair had been darker, but the years of laboring in the sun had lightened his dark tresses.
Below him, the Great Ingo was ordering Malon around, who had matured greatly in the past seven springs. Even he had to admit she was kind of pretty. Suddenly, Ingo shot his head up towards the boy.
"Taabu! Get down now and work! I will not have Ingo Ranch behind on its work because of a lazy boy!"
"Yes, sir!" Taabu stood up and walked to the edge of the roof, and shimmied down the drainpipe. He nodded a hello to Malon, who simply smiled back. Then he ran to complete his work in the stables.
From the corral, a loud whinnying could be heard, followed by another.
Ingo's face turned red. "Malon! Go shut that Epona up! While your at it, bring the wretched Flicka in, too." Malon quickly ran off and did what she was told.
She stepped up to the near identical horses. Flicka and Epona had both grown very much in seven short years. Flicka's Goron-like symbol was fading slightly, becoming more of a dark-brown color than black. Yet the white Triforce marking was as bright white as ever. Poor Flicka, she had seemed pretty depressed since the day Ti'ana left the ranch and did not come back. Taabu had told Malon the story of that day when the Evil King Ganondorf had his minion take Ti'ana away. The day was still etched clearly in Taabu's mind. Since then, he hadn't really, truly lived.
Malon patted Epona's neck, then turned to Flicka. She went to pet her, and she whinnied and trotted away.
***
Taabu sat on an upside-down bucket in the stable. From inside the collar of his shirt, he pulled out the necklace Ti'ana had thrown to him before she was taken. He realized his time to rescue her was coming. If she was even alive, he did not know. He needed a sign to show that it was time for her salvage.
Taabu realized it was time for him to go home. He stood and walked from the stable.
"Mr. Ingo?" He called. "It's time for me to go. I'll be here promptly at six o'clock tomorrow morning."
"Tomorrow is Sunday!" Ingo yelled. "You have the day off, I see too much of you, as it is. Drop by at noon to make sure that the horses have food... Oh never mind, Malon will do it! Just get out of my ranch!"
Taabu did as he was told, and ran from the ranch.
Without realizing it, Taabu was heading to Hyrule Castle Town. He noticed this too late, he was already in the town. All around him, ReDeads stood in their zombie-like state.
"Uh oh..." Taabu muttered. "This can't be good."
One of the monsters turned to him.
'The ReDead's gaze will paralyze you, Taabu!' his mind screamed. 'Run, Taabu! Run!'
He couldn't move. It was too late. The ReDead sluggishly, almost lethargically walked to him, in what seemed like a mocking way.
'He can go as slow as he pleases!' Taabu thought. 'I can't move!' His eyes searched the town frantically, with no sign of help.
'This is it, Taabu. This is your end.' He closed his eyes, being that all he could do.
Suddenly, he lurched forward, and hit the ground with such a force that the wind was knocked out of him momentarily. He raised his head off of the ground, expecting to see the dark, soulless eyes of the zombie creatures.
Where the ReDead should have been stood a young man, like himself, wearing a green tunic, in his hands, holding a long sword.
"Taabu?" he asked. "Is that you?"
Taabu pulled himself up. "Link! Where have you been for the past seven years? And... why are you um... big? I thought the Kokiri don't get older."
"Seven years? Wow, I thought Rauru was just kidding around with me." He scratched his head. "Actually, I have no idea why I'm grown up. I guess that I'm really Hylian, and not a Kokiri. Too bad the Deku Tree's dead. I could have asked him." Taabu almost laughed at the nonchalant way Link said that.
Link put his sword away, and Navi flew out from behind him. "Link, Rauru said we should check out the forest. I'm worried about Saria."
Nodding, Link took out his ocarina. "I'll talk with her now." He played Saria's Song, a simple melody that could be heard in the Lost Woods.
"Link? This is Saria. Can you hear me?" asked Saria's chirpy voice. "Great! You're okay. I'm in the Forest Temple. I could hear the voices of the spirits calling me. But there are monsters everywhere in here. Hurry to the Forest Temple, Link!"
Link frowned. "Sheik said I can't get into the temple without a certain item. I have to go to Kakariko Village in the Graveyard.... what would be there?"
Taabu scratched his chin. "Well, I live in Kakariko now with my mom. I hear that the ghost of the grave keeper, Dampé, has a treasure that he is willing to give to the one who beats him in a race. Why don't you try that? His grave is on the left after you walk in. It has flowers in front of it."
"Great. Thanks Taabu... Um.. Have you seen Ti'ana at all since... then?"
Taabu lowered his eyes. "No. I tried to get into the Gerudo Fortress, but the bridge is broken. Not only that, when I finally DID get in, I was caught and thrown out. Then I tried again, and they locked me in a cell. I fell asleep, and woke up in Hyrule Field... No Ti'ana, though. When the bridge is fixed, I'm going back and getting her!"
"It's too bad, though," Link sighed. "Ti'ana is Kokiri, so she'll be a child forever. I don't know, though. The Kokiri who leave the forest are supposed to die or something. She left the forest a lot. Maybe she isn't Kokiri after all?"
"Whether or not Ti'ana is still a child, she will always be my best friend. I mean, it's not like I want to *marry* her or anything.."
Smirking, Link pulled out a green bottle. "Right, Taaby." He drank some of the potion and threw the thin bottle on the ground. "Look at this place. Ganondork really messed it up."
Taabu looked to the rubble that was once his house. "Yeah, I know. A lot of people died in the past seven years. Some people tried to stay in Hyrule castle town, but.. the ReDeads got to them."
"I have to head to Kakariko." Link straightened his tunic. "Come with me, and fill me in on all that's happened in the last few years. Hook up with Malon yet?"
Taabu forced a smile on his face, but the insincerity of it showed Link that there was only one person who could ever take a place in his heart. And it certainly wouldn't be Malon.