@A Fairytale In Reality@
Ch.3-Advice from an unlikely source
by:GoldenSilence
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A/N=I have to apologize for how long it"s been since I updated this..I"ve been in Europe for the past three weeks, so I couldn't use my laptop. From now on, updates should be once every week and a half or so. To everyone that reviewed the last two chapters of this or gave me encouragement, you have no idea how much I appreciate it!Thanks.:)
Oh yeah, changed the name of Malon's horse she took with her to Hyrule Market..its' name is Ariana, and Link has Epona instead. (Confusing,huh?)
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Link had to be at his most alert to follow Malon through Hyrule Market. The market was really just one big center square. It didn't possess myriads of twists and turns like the alleyways did. It shouldn't have been that difficult to keep track of one person, thought Link crossly as he continued his chase of Malon, but it was when the person was one of many in a place filled to the brim with people, animals, and carts.
Several times Malon went out of his eyesight and Link would have to run even harder to catch a glimpse of her again, bumping thousands of elbows and stepping on thousands of feet along the way and apologizing an equal number of times with the little bit of breath in him as he raced by the indignant townspeople.
A little bit of red hair here, reflecting the sunlight, a small bit of the cheap pink material of her skirt there was all Link needed to know he was still on Malon's trail.
Link ran fast but Malon ran faster, boosted by her head start.
When Link reached the huge raised iron gate of Hyrule's drawbridge, he at last took a few second to breath in great gulps of air. Keeping up with Malon was definitely no easy job.
Malon was having a similiar struggle trying to stay ahead of Link. Her lungs were fit for bursting but she didn't dare stop. Link, far from unfit would use such an oppurtunity to catch up with her.
She ran full force across the drawbridge connecting Hyrule Market's sheltered walls to the outside plains, the plain wooden shafts clanking and grinding noisily in response to the pounding of each of her feet. Malon rushed up to the tree borderlining the moat and quickly and efficiently untethered Ariana from it.
Swinging herself up unto her broad brown back, Malon gave one sharp tightening of the reins and the horse was off at a gallop. Disturbing birds from their nests and seeming to make the ground tremor, the powerful war horse was directed on the path towards Kakariko Village.
A great whinny from Malon's horse alerted Link to Malon's escape. Dust flew into his eyes as the horse rushed past. Hurriedly rubbing out the agitating particles, Link pilled out his ocarina and blew out a few notes.
Epona didn't have to hear the song twice. Before the song could even die into just a refrain in the wind, Epona was trotting over a grassy hill towards him. He swung himself slapdash into the saddle and switched from following Malon on foot to keeping course after her on horse. Epona rose magnificently to the occasion. Unfortunately, Malon's horse was just as quick, if not faster, than Epona.
By the time Link had gotten to one side of the small stream and was facing the Kakariko Village, Malon and Ariana were already on the other side and safely inside the town.
Link was frusterated. He wanted to find out why Malon was acting this way, sure, but he couldn't go around chasing her all day like this. If she didn't want to talk to him, she didn't want to talk. Link firmly believed if he stayed away from her for simply a few days, she would see how silly avoiding him was and tell him whatever was at the heart of her doing so.
Of course, he would then be avoiding her..but that wasn't exactly something that crossed Link's mind. Zelda was waiting back at Hyrule market and his thoughts were mostly with her at the moment.
Epona's footprints on the ground covering Ariana's, Link turned his horse around and made to go back to Hyrule Market. He fought to shake the strange sinking feeling he felt in the pit of his stomach all the way there. Must just be nerves from getting prepared to propose to Zelda, he told himself..besides, Malon would come around sooner or later.
~~~~~~~~~
Malon caused quite an entrance into Kakariko village. Her horse, spurred on by the gallop across Hyrule's plains, blew past the entrance and the guard stationed there all at once.
Ariana stopped only when several stray chickens began nipping at her heels.
Stamping at them irritatedly with its' hooves, it slowed down enough to give Malon a chance to leap neatly off its' back. Leaving her horse stationary by the tree at the center of the village again, Malon headed off for the old potion shop to get the last two bottles of Lonlon milk off her hands. Her stride was brisk one. It wasn't exactly the dead on run she had been in earlier, but her stiff walking wasn't far from turning into it.
Should a certain blonde haired young man chose to show himself, she was ready to flee. Eventually though, hearing no sound of horse or running feet in pursuit of her, Malon lost her urgent pace and began walking much more slowly.
Why had Link followed her in the first place? Malon wondered as she pushed open the door to the potion shop with one hand, balancing the two bottles of Lonlon milk between her other hand and her hip. Probably just to ask her if he could have a jug of milk or something..or maybe, Malon turned to a more positive anwser...Had he come to apologize for failing to visit the last few weeks?Simply missed talking to her?
A picture of Link picking her up and swinging her around in a circle happily like she had seen other couples do in Hyrule Market crossed Malon's mind. Malon vanquished it. Nah, he would never..she was sure. A little too sure. Once Malon believed something of someone, she just couldn't imagine the opposite was true.
Madame Augusta made no move of her heard or sound from her mouth to acknowledge Malon's entrance into her shop. Trodding across the oriental carpet, Malon went past several vile pots of potions. They tasted just as vile as they looked Malon knew from her own experience. It looked like Madame Augusta was in the middle of stirring one but when Malon got closer, she realized Madame Augusta wasn't doing what she appeared to be at all.
In fact Madame Augusta was asleep with her head on the giant rim of a cauldron. Setting the jars of milk on the floor, Malon shook her by the shoulder roughly to wake her up. Wake Madame Augusta did-with a start. She jumped up int othe air and waved her laddle wildly at Malon.
"Thief!!Swindler!!Criminal always returns to the scene of the crime, I knew it! Sneaking up on me all quiet like-thought you'd steal a little something while I snoozed, huh? Hah!
Clumsy nincompoop, jarred me shoulder hard enough to break it- See what happens when you steal from MY shop. I'll bludgeon ye' to peices, strewn ye' to bits, chop ye' to smithereens.."
She said all this in almost one breath without even bothering to turn around. However, when she did, the gloating expression on her face changed completely and she ceased brandishing the laddle like a deadly sort of sword.
"Eh?Just ye' then, Malon. Too bad. Thought I'd caught that raggaband at last." Augusta muttered quite a few profanities under her breath that weren't normally associated with an old lady of her years.
Malon tried to look as if she had no idea what Madame Augusta was talking about(and furthermore, couldn't possibly know the theif personally.)
"Just came to bring you the milk shipment."
Augusta smiled at her and her wrinkles increased tenfold.
"Good grog, I know what you came for, girl. Same thing you come for every week, no different. Just because I'm old and withered, don't you go thinking my brains are. "
The woman's voice took on a whiny tone as she hobbled on her cane to the table to get Malon her change. "No one ever bothers to come visit and chat with Augusta unless they get something out of it, oh no."
"I would if I could,but.."
Madame Augusta said what Malon had been about to say in different words.
"Forgive me. I forget sometimes. You're a servant, aren't you?To that Ingo who owns the ranch?"
The word "owns" struck Malon rather hard(she still liked to think the ranch belonged to her and her father, no matter how long Ingo took control of it temporarily)but she spoke bravely anyway.
"Yes."
"Odd freedom they have. Only as much as they are gutsy enough to dare..and then the consequences are usually permanent" Augusta pondered as she continued searching her table for a few extra ruppees to spare for Malon. Augusta didn't exactly make tons of money selling her potions, Malon thought guiltily, remembering several trips to the potion shop were she had come out with more objects than she come in with.
"So what about this theif?" Malon asked abruptly the minute Augusta finished talking. She didn't have anything to say to Madame Augusta's previous statement..and really didn't want to. It hit too close to home. Obtaining a small amount of freedom as a servant by being obstinate.. dropping an egg here, sleeping in late there, lead only to pain and bruises. Malon had learned the hard way afer doing all these things.
Augusta blinked the change in subjects and it took her awhile to speak. In spite of her protesting, she was OLD..in mind and body.
"Didn't I tell you?Oh, maybe not. This thief's been stealing potions here and there-once a week. Goes by a regular schedule this thief does..always once a week" Augusta said.
Malon kept her face carefully blank, a practice she was getting better and better at, in front of Link, Ingo, and just everyone and anyone in general.
"How strange. No doubt he's trying to steal your potions to sell to Hyrule Market. They are the best in all of Hyrule, after all and would make a pretty penny." Malon added a bit of flattery to her words slyly.
"Aye, but I'm the one they should be makin' a pretty penny for, not some common thief" Madame Augusta pointed out.
"I agreed. Good luck catching him then."..and good luck to the thief to not get caught Malon thought at the same time, her thoughts conflicting with her words.
"Thanks,lass. Aha, here it is!" Augusta had found her small wooden box containing a few ruppees. Malon took the change from the old woman's hand but once Malon's own fingers were around the ruppees, Augusta still wouldn't let go.
"Pity young thing like you lookin' so spiritless and worked to death..pity. If I was a wee bit younger, I'd storm that Ingo's gates meself. Bastard if you asks me."
Malon agreed one hundred percent. She smiled privately to herself at the thought of the old lady fighting Ingo with her cooking ladle. Now that would be a sight for sore eyes! Malon gently slipped her fingers out of the woman's grasp and pocketing her money, left through the door. One Malon knew she would be walking through again, albeit more silently in only a matter of hours.
In spite of the incident in the marketplace with Link, Malon still had time for a visit to see the one person besides Link that made her emotions more topsy-turvy than an hour glass. Walking down one set of steps and then up another located in the opposite side of Kakariko village, Malon walked into a modest house and greeted the woman baking a pot of porridge over an open stove.
"Is Talon here?"
The woman laughed. "Of course!Hasn't moved nary a muscle since he came."
"I have too!Move my head every day when I turn it to go to sleep" a voice argued, more drowsily than crossly.
"I swear, you sleep more than you do anything else besides eat." As if she was scolding a small toddler, the woman's voice took on a reprimanding tone. "Why I bet you didn't even notice your own flesh and blood had come to pay you a visit."
Talon, who had been propelling himself up on one elbow and rubbing at his eyes leapt up from his straw matress at these words, showing a rare display of energy. He hadn't seen his daughter since the seperation of them both by Ingo almost a year ago. In fact, Talon had thought his chances of ever seeing her again were beyond slim. Malon had thought similiar but had never given up, asking around for months until finally a few days ago she had learned that Talon had recently come back to Kakariko village.
He had taken refuge wherever there was an empty pallet and extra food to spare. Moving around the land of Hyrule at at times even begging to make some money Talon had figured Malon would never be able to track him. Especially as he was all too sure of the fate that had befallen her. A servant to Ingo.
Malon reached out to clasp his waiting hands and for a long time both just stood in silence like that, studying the changes a year had wrought.
"How are the horses?"
The first words out of Talon's mouth were not what at all what Malon expected. Running through her veins was pure happiness at being able to see her father's face but twisted withint that happiness was a bit of anger as well. What about me?I'm the one that stayed here to become a servant while he ran off and escaped from all responsibility. Shouldn't he be asking how I'm doing? Malon thought all these things but she didn't say a word of them out loud. She didn't want to mar what was already a bitersweet reunion.
Talon's face dampened whatever anger Malon felt. On it was showed everything he didn't voice. Concern and worry for her were written all over it. By not acknowledging what had happened to her and their farm..it was his way of trying to pretend the whole thing never happened, Malon realized.
"The horses are fed well-but half of them are so worn down from Ingo's overtraining. I don't think they'll last much longer." Malon's voice broke. "He abuses them so." She looked down at her unshod feet. Malon didn't have to add the other person he abused, Talon understood perfectly.
He clenched his fists, his jaw working in much the same way.
"That no good snit!He should get the same treatment he gives others and see how he likes it, that's a fact!I'm going to teach him a lesson he'll never forget.."
Malon put a hand in her father's shoulder, feeling far more like a parent protecting a child than the other way around. "No, Don't!If you do try to Ingo will just catch you and make you a servant. I won't let that happen. Please, promise not to."
Her father's clenched jaw loosened as his anger was replaced by shame. His daughter was a servant and there was nothing he could do about it. Talon wasn't a fighter and he knew it.
Going against Ingo would only benefit Ingo's own plans.
"I promise...." Talond had a sudden cunning and valiant thought, one of the few that had ever coursed through his brain. If he couldn't protect his daughter or save the farm, why not get his daughter to do as much herself? She wasn't weak and had a will of iron tempered with a fighting spirit..or she used to, anyway. Before Ingo presumably tried to knock whatever was left of it out of Malon.
"..If you make a promise to me in return. Will you?" said Talon.
Malon sighed. "Dad, right now,I'm not in much shape to do anything besides what's required." Talon pretended not to hear her.
"Promise to take matters into your own hands and not depend on others like I always do."
"What matters?"
Talon smiled. "Why any ones you have, o'course." He turned serious. "Specifically being under Ingo's lock and key."
"But I can't" Malon started to say. Talon cut her off.
"Yes you can. You have a stronge will and a good mind. You'll find a way to escape. Just don't sit around waiting for some knight in shining armor to save you is all I'm sayin'."
"I promise" Malon said. And she left without a backward glance at her father.
The guard watched her leave Kakariko village raised his eyebrows. When she had first come thundering past him on her stallion, he hadn't noticed a thing other than her skirts and hair billowing behind her and the fact that she rode bareback...and as she left Kakariko village it was no different. The girl raced off like the devil himself was after her. The guard wasn't far off from the truth. Ingo wasn't a bad substitute for the devil..especially when Malon was late for feeding the horses their evening meal.
It was this thought that caused Malon to dig her heels into her horse's sides even harder. She was full of plans and thoughts. Most of them revolving around her escape, some revolving around how to get back to the potion shop at a suitable time for what she had no choice but to do, and only one teensy little one that she tried to push out of her head revolving around Link.
After Malon left the hut, Talon went straight back to sleep, but this time instead of a frown there was a grin on his face. She still had it in her after all. Walked out of there like she meant business. Pshaw, that Ingo couldn't keep shackles on any daughter of his and get away with it! Malon would find a way to get the farm back even if he didn't.
Talon didn't know just how hard it would be. What Malon had been trying to say earlier before he cut her off was that Ingo for all his threats had finally found the mark that would hit her the hardest. If she ran so much as five feet from the place, he had said, he would lock the older stable, full of the horses and animals she had grown up with, and burn it to the ground. No sweat off Ingo's back. He had enough money to buy a whole new team of horses many times over.
~~~~~~~
Lon Lon ranch was only a mile or so away now. A candle had been lit on one of the upper floors of the modest house and the flame coming from it reflected merrily in the window. The lit window itself was just barely visible over the craggy peaks of the walls surrounding the place.
Seeing it filled Malon with curiousity. That was where she had once slept. She privately wondered how he had changed the place. After Ingo had made her a servant she had never had a chance to find out. Malon slept in the stables now. Not that she minded too much. The heat coming from the horses kept her warm even if the hay was itchy and scratchy and not much for sleeping on. She didn't sleep much anyway and judging from how often the window shone with light well past midnight, neither did Ingo.
The horse stumbled wearily up the dirt road, refusing to go any faster in spite of Malon's consistent urgings. If she didn't get back to Ingo quick she was going to be in for it!
Ariana stopped all together right by the wooden sign at the crossroads before Lon Lon Ranch. Malon rolled her eyes, more than a little put out. Why did the horse have to choose now of all times to come to a dead stop?
"Oh for Hyne's sake, will you come on?" Malon whispered impatiently into it's ear but the horse neighed at her reproachfully and refused to budge.
"Is that you Malon?"
The sun was paling and darkness was already beginning to fall. Malon had to squint a bit to make out the form of a girl standing with a basket on one of her hips. She recognized her as Devonny, one of the random pickpockets that hung around Hyrule, immediately.
"Who else would it be?"
"Nobody"-Devonny flashed a mischevious smile-"and then again, maybe somebody."
Malon knew exactly who Devonny was referring to in spite of her trying to sound cryptic. Her business, being on the shady side, was often trading of various stolen goods done late at night with the most famous of all thieving clans.
"If you're expecting a gerudo, I won't keep you. I had better hurry and get back to Ingo.."
"Ingo" Devonny spat into the ground to show exactly what she thought of him. "Too bad you don't have a chance of escape.."
"Actually, I do. Though not much of one yet." Malon cast a worried eye at Lon Lon ranch. "Really, I can't explain now. I have to get going."
Devonny stared at her in amazement. "Escape from Ingo?Are you absolutely crazy?If he catches you, you'll wish you had never tried. You should know that from experience. Do you remember what happened the last time you carried on with your escape plan?"
"I know. But this one's different" Malon argued.
"Right then. Let me hear it." Devonny looked at her expectantly. "Aha. I thought so. Don't even have it all thought out, do you?"
"Well..no,not exactly" Malon admitted with reluctance. It was really too bad she hadn't had enough time to brainstorm a full escape plan. Devonny, being a thief and skilled on escaping from all sorts of people at a moment's notice, would have been able to point out if it was feasible or just plain stupid.
Devonny shook her head. " Do you even have any money to take with you if you manage to escape?"
"No." Malon was starting to feel whatever plan she had begun to form in her head wasn't going to work.
"Look. I think I might know a way to get your hands on some."
"I am not stealing!" Malon said, jumping to conclusions.
"No. Not stealing-though I think you would make much more that way. The midsummer festival is tommorrow..stupid excuse for nobles to take another holiday while us peasants toil . Anyway, if you like, I think I can get you a job serving. They're in sore need of more servants and the word is the pay they're willing to give is none too bad."
Devonny was right. She couldn't very well just run off and expect to find shelter somewhere when she hadn't a penny to her name. Not that she was even sure were she would run off to. Leaving Ingo, sure, no problem..but leaving the horses and the farm?That would be much tougher to do. If only there was a way to do one but not the other.
"You really believe you can get me a job on such short notice?"
Devonny shrugged. "Sure. No skin off my nose. If you can convince Ingo to let you serve at the fair on such short notice."
Malon nodded and spurred her horse on towards Lon Lon ranch, ready for the less than cordial welcome that awaited her.
~~~~~~~
Ten hours later, Malon was retracing her steps to Kakariko..only this time traveling by foot. She moved stiffly her whole body protesting in pain. Ingo had not been happy with her prolonged absense and had acted in accordance to his emotions leaving Malon with many a new bruise and welts.
The cloak of the dark starless night was a welcome friend as it made accomplishing her task easier. From her apron, Malon took out a small peice of wire and fiddled with the door to Agatha's potion shop for a minute before scurrying in. She hated to do it, but she had no choice.
After her mission was accomplished she wasted no time hanging around the place. Running out of Kakariko and sneaking past the guard she waited until she was back in Hyrule's fields before taking the small flask out from under her cloak.
The moon reflected off the glass surface as Malon downed the contents in one satisfying swig. But even the moon was not bright enough to show the changes that occured after Malon had consumed the potion. Bruises, welts, and a sprained ankle were gone, leaving unbroken skin in their place.
It was the only way Malon could keep herself healed from the pain Ingo inflicted. And if she had to steal, so be it. Giving a little shudder at the aftertaste, Malon opened the door to the barn and sank wearily into a bale of hay bunched in the corner.
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A/N=Not much to say, I said most everything in my other A/N:)Malon's eyes are indeed blue.*scratches head*..I have no idea why I put they were green..probably becuase I was writing at like, three in the morning. Oh yeah, just to warn everybody, the next chapter will be very short. I already know how I'm going to set up all the chapters and that was just the way it happened to turn out.
Ch.3-Advice from an unlikely source
by:GoldenSilence
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A/N=I have to apologize for how long it"s been since I updated this..I"ve been in Europe for the past three weeks, so I couldn't use my laptop. From now on, updates should be once every week and a half or so. To everyone that reviewed the last two chapters of this or gave me encouragement, you have no idea how much I appreciate it!Thanks.:)
Oh yeah, changed the name of Malon's horse she took with her to Hyrule Market..its' name is Ariana, and Link has Epona instead. (Confusing,huh?)
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Link had to be at his most alert to follow Malon through Hyrule Market. The market was really just one big center square. It didn't possess myriads of twists and turns like the alleyways did. It shouldn't have been that difficult to keep track of one person, thought Link crossly as he continued his chase of Malon, but it was when the person was one of many in a place filled to the brim with people, animals, and carts.
Several times Malon went out of his eyesight and Link would have to run even harder to catch a glimpse of her again, bumping thousands of elbows and stepping on thousands of feet along the way and apologizing an equal number of times with the little bit of breath in him as he raced by the indignant townspeople.
A little bit of red hair here, reflecting the sunlight, a small bit of the cheap pink material of her skirt there was all Link needed to know he was still on Malon's trail.
Link ran fast but Malon ran faster, boosted by her head start.
When Link reached the huge raised iron gate of Hyrule's drawbridge, he at last took a few second to breath in great gulps of air. Keeping up with Malon was definitely no easy job.
Malon was having a similiar struggle trying to stay ahead of Link. Her lungs were fit for bursting but she didn't dare stop. Link, far from unfit would use such an oppurtunity to catch up with her.
She ran full force across the drawbridge connecting Hyrule Market's sheltered walls to the outside plains, the plain wooden shafts clanking and grinding noisily in response to the pounding of each of her feet. Malon rushed up to the tree borderlining the moat and quickly and efficiently untethered Ariana from it.
Swinging herself up unto her broad brown back, Malon gave one sharp tightening of the reins and the horse was off at a gallop. Disturbing birds from their nests and seeming to make the ground tremor, the powerful war horse was directed on the path towards Kakariko Village.
A great whinny from Malon's horse alerted Link to Malon's escape. Dust flew into his eyes as the horse rushed past. Hurriedly rubbing out the agitating particles, Link pilled out his ocarina and blew out a few notes.
Epona didn't have to hear the song twice. Before the song could even die into just a refrain in the wind, Epona was trotting over a grassy hill towards him. He swung himself slapdash into the saddle and switched from following Malon on foot to keeping course after her on horse. Epona rose magnificently to the occasion. Unfortunately, Malon's horse was just as quick, if not faster, than Epona.
By the time Link had gotten to one side of the small stream and was facing the Kakariko Village, Malon and Ariana were already on the other side and safely inside the town.
Link was frusterated. He wanted to find out why Malon was acting this way, sure, but he couldn't go around chasing her all day like this. If she didn't want to talk to him, she didn't want to talk. Link firmly believed if he stayed away from her for simply a few days, she would see how silly avoiding him was and tell him whatever was at the heart of her doing so.
Of course, he would then be avoiding her..but that wasn't exactly something that crossed Link's mind. Zelda was waiting back at Hyrule market and his thoughts were mostly with her at the moment.
Epona's footprints on the ground covering Ariana's, Link turned his horse around and made to go back to Hyrule Market. He fought to shake the strange sinking feeling he felt in the pit of his stomach all the way there. Must just be nerves from getting prepared to propose to Zelda, he told himself..besides, Malon would come around sooner or later.
~~~~~~~~~
Malon caused quite an entrance into Kakariko village. Her horse, spurred on by the gallop across Hyrule's plains, blew past the entrance and the guard stationed there all at once.
Ariana stopped only when several stray chickens began nipping at her heels.
Stamping at them irritatedly with its' hooves, it slowed down enough to give Malon a chance to leap neatly off its' back. Leaving her horse stationary by the tree at the center of the village again, Malon headed off for the old potion shop to get the last two bottles of Lonlon milk off her hands. Her stride was brisk one. It wasn't exactly the dead on run she had been in earlier, but her stiff walking wasn't far from turning into it.
Should a certain blonde haired young man chose to show himself, she was ready to flee. Eventually though, hearing no sound of horse or running feet in pursuit of her, Malon lost her urgent pace and began walking much more slowly.
Why had Link followed her in the first place? Malon wondered as she pushed open the door to the potion shop with one hand, balancing the two bottles of Lonlon milk between her other hand and her hip. Probably just to ask her if he could have a jug of milk or something..or maybe, Malon turned to a more positive anwser...Had he come to apologize for failing to visit the last few weeks?Simply missed talking to her?
A picture of Link picking her up and swinging her around in a circle happily like she had seen other couples do in Hyrule Market crossed Malon's mind. Malon vanquished it. Nah, he would never..she was sure. A little too sure. Once Malon believed something of someone, she just couldn't imagine the opposite was true.
Madame Augusta made no move of her heard or sound from her mouth to acknowledge Malon's entrance into her shop. Trodding across the oriental carpet, Malon went past several vile pots of potions. They tasted just as vile as they looked Malon knew from her own experience. It looked like Madame Augusta was in the middle of stirring one but when Malon got closer, she realized Madame Augusta wasn't doing what she appeared to be at all.
In fact Madame Augusta was asleep with her head on the giant rim of a cauldron. Setting the jars of milk on the floor, Malon shook her by the shoulder roughly to wake her up. Wake Madame Augusta did-with a start. She jumped up int othe air and waved her laddle wildly at Malon.
"Thief!!Swindler!!Criminal always returns to the scene of the crime, I knew it! Sneaking up on me all quiet like-thought you'd steal a little something while I snoozed, huh? Hah!
Clumsy nincompoop, jarred me shoulder hard enough to break it- See what happens when you steal from MY shop. I'll bludgeon ye' to peices, strewn ye' to bits, chop ye' to smithereens.."
She said all this in almost one breath without even bothering to turn around. However, when she did, the gloating expression on her face changed completely and she ceased brandishing the laddle like a deadly sort of sword.
"Eh?Just ye' then, Malon. Too bad. Thought I'd caught that raggaband at last." Augusta muttered quite a few profanities under her breath that weren't normally associated with an old lady of her years.
Malon tried to look as if she had no idea what Madame Augusta was talking about(and furthermore, couldn't possibly know the theif personally.)
"Just came to bring you the milk shipment."
Augusta smiled at her and her wrinkles increased tenfold.
"Good grog, I know what you came for, girl. Same thing you come for every week, no different. Just because I'm old and withered, don't you go thinking my brains are. "
The woman's voice took on a whiny tone as she hobbled on her cane to the table to get Malon her change. "No one ever bothers to come visit and chat with Augusta unless they get something out of it, oh no."
"I would if I could,but.."
Madame Augusta said what Malon had been about to say in different words.
"Forgive me. I forget sometimes. You're a servant, aren't you?To that Ingo who owns the ranch?"
The word "owns" struck Malon rather hard(she still liked to think the ranch belonged to her and her father, no matter how long Ingo took control of it temporarily)but she spoke bravely anyway.
"Yes."
"Odd freedom they have. Only as much as they are gutsy enough to dare..and then the consequences are usually permanent" Augusta pondered as she continued searching her table for a few extra ruppees to spare for Malon. Augusta didn't exactly make tons of money selling her potions, Malon thought guiltily, remembering several trips to the potion shop were she had come out with more objects than she come in with.
"So what about this theif?" Malon asked abruptly the minute Augusta finished talking. She didn't have anything to say to Madame Augusta's previous statement..and really didn't want to. It hit too close to home. Obtaining a small amount of freedom as a servant by being obstinate.. dropping an egg here, sleeping in late there, lead only to pain and bruises. Malon had learned the hard way afer doing all these things.
Augusta blinked the change in subjects and it took her awhile to speak. In spite of her protesting, she was OLD..in mind and body.
"Didn't I tell you?Oh, maybe not. This thief's been stealing potions here and there-once a week. Goes by a regular schedule this thief does..always once a week" Augusta said.
Malon kept her face carefully blank, a practice she was getting better and better at, in front of Link, Ingo, and just everyone and anyone in general.
"How strange. No doubt he's trying to steal your potions to sell to Hyrule Market. They are the best in all of Hyrule, after all and would make a pretty penny." Malon added a bit of flattery to her words slyly.
"Aye, but I'm the one they should be makin' a pretty penny for, not some common thief" Madame Augusta pointed out.
"I agreed. Good luck catching him then."..and good luck to the thief to not get caught Malon thought at the same time, her thoughts conflicting with her words.
"Thanks,lass. Aha, here it is!" Augusta had found her small wooden box containing a few ruppees. Malon took the change from the old woman's hand but once Malon's own fingers were around the ruppees, Augusta still wouldn't let go.
"Pity young thing like you lookin' so spiritless and worked to death..pity. If I was a wee bit younger, I'd storm that Ingo's gates meself. Bastard if you asks me."
Malon agreed one hundred percent. She smiled privately to herself at the thought of the old lady fighting Ingo with her cooking ladle. Now that would be a sight for sore eyes! Malon gently slipped her fingers out of the woman's grasp and pocketing her money, left through the door. One Malon knew she would be walking through again, albeit more silently in only a matter of hours.
In spite of the incident in the marketplace with Link, Malon still had time for a visit to see the one person besides Link that made her emotions more topsy-turvy than an hour glass. Walking down one set of steps and then up another located in the opposite side of Kakariko village, Malon walked into a modest house and greeted the woman baking a pot of porridge over an open stove.
"Is Talon here?"
The woman laughed. "Of course!Hasn't moved nary a muscle since he came."
"I have too!Move my head every day when I turn it to go to sleep" a voice argued, more drowsily than crossly.
"I swear, you sleep more than you do anything else besides eat." As if she was scolding a small toddler, the woman's voice took on a reprimanding tone. "Why I bet you didn't even notice your own flesh and blood had come to pay you a visit."
Talon, who had been propelling himself up on one elbow and rubbing at his eyes leapt up from his straw matress at these words, showing a rare display of energy. He hadn't seen his daughter since the seperation of them both by Ingo almost a year ago. In fact, Talon had thought his chances of ever seeing her again were beyond slim. Malon had thought similiar but had never given up, asking around for months until finally a few days ago she had learned that Talon had recently come back to Kakariko village.
He had taken refuge wherever there was an empty pallet and extra food to spare. Moving around the land of Hyrule at at times even begging to make some money Talon had figured Malon would never be able to track him. Especially as he was all too sure of the fate that had befallen her. A servant to Ingo.
Malon reached out to clasp his waiting hands and for a long time both just stood in silence like that, studying the changes a year had wrought.
"How are the horses?"
The first words out of Talon's mouth were not what at all what Malon expected. Running through her veins was pure happiness at being able to see her father's face but twisted withint that happiness was a bit of anger as well. What about me?I'm the one that stayed here to become a servant while he ran off and escaped from all responsibility. Shouldn't he be asking how I'm doing? Malon thought all these things but she didn't say a word of them out loud. She didn't want to mar what was already a bitersweet reunion.
Talon's face dampened whatever anger Malon felt. On it was showed everything he didn't voice. Concern and worry for her were written all over it. By not acknowledging what had happened to her and their farm..it was his way of trying to pretend the whole thing never happened, Malon realized.
"The horses are fed well-but half of them are so worn down from Ingo's overtraining. I don't think they'll last much longer." Malon's voice broke. "He abuses them so." She looked down at her unshod feet. Malon didn't have to add the other person he abused, Talon understood perfectly.
He clenched his fists, his jaw working in much the same way.
"That no good snit!He should get the same treatment he gives others and see how he likes it, that's a fact!I'm going to teach him a lesson he'll never forget.."
Malon put a hand in her father's shoulder, feeling far more like a parent protecting a child than the other way around. "No, Don't!If you do try to Ingo will just catch you and make you a servant. I won't let that happen. Please, promise not to."
Her father's clenched jaw loosened as his anger was replaced by shame. His daughter was a servant and there was nothing he could do about it. Talon wasn't a fighter and he knew it.
Going against Ingo would only benefit Ingo's own plans.
"I promise...." Talond had a sudden cunning and valiant thought, one of the few that had ever coursed through his brain. If he couldn't protect his daughter or save the farm, why not get his daughter to do as much herself? She wasn't weak and had a will of iron tempered with a fighting spirit..or she used to, anyway. Before Ingo presumably tried to knock whatever was left of it out of Malon.
"..If you make a promise to me in return. Will you?" said Talon.
Malon sighed. "Dad, right now,I'm not in much shape to do anything besides what's required." Talon pretended not to hear her.
"Promise to take matters into your own hands and not depend on others like I always do."
"What matters?"
Talon smiled. "Why any ones you have, o'course." He turned serious. "Specifically being under Ingo's lock and key."
"But I can't" Malon started to say. Talon cut her off.
"Yes you can. You have a stronge will and a good mind. You'll find a way to escape. Just don't sit around waiting for some knight in shining armor to save you is all I'm sayin'."
"I promise" Malon said. And she left without a backward glance at her father.
The guard watched her leave Kakariko village raised his eyebrows. When she had first come thundering past him on her stallion, he hadn't noticed a thing other than her skirts and hair billowing behind her and the fact that she rode bareback...and as she left Kakariko village it was no different. The girl raced off like the devil himself was after her. The guard wasn't far off from the truth. Ingo wasn't a bad substitute for the devil..especially when Malon was late for feeding the horses their evening meal.
It was this thought that caused Malon to dig her heels into her horse's sides even harder. She was full of plans and thoughts. Most of them revolving around her escape, some revolving around how to get back to the potion shop at a suitable time for what she had no choice but to do, and only one teensy little one that she tried to push out of her head revolving around Link.
After Malon left the hut, Talon went straight back to sleep, but this time instead of a frown there was a grin on his face. She still had it in her after all. Walked out of there like she meant business. Pshaw, that Ingo couldn't keep shackles on any daughter of his and get away with it! Malon would find a way to get the farm back even if he didn't.
Talon didn't know just how hard it would be. What Malon had been trying to say earlier before he cut her off was that Ingo for all his threats had finally found the mark that would hit her the hardest. If she ran so much as five feet from the place, he had said, he would lock the older stable, full of the horses and animals she had grown up with, and burn it to the ground. No sweat off Ingo's back. He had enough money to buy a whole new team of horses many times over.
~~~~~~~
Lon Lon ranch was only a mile or so away now. A candle had been lit on one of the upper floors of the modest house and the flame coming from it reflected merrily in the window. The lit window itself was just barely visible over the craggy peaks of the walls surrounding the place.
Seeing it filled Malon with curiousity. That was where she had once slept. She privately wondered how he had changed the place. After Ingo had made her a servant she had never had a chance to find out. Malon slept in the stables now. Not that she minded too much. The heat coming from the horses kept her warm even if the hay was itchy and scratchy and not much for sleeping on. She didn't sleep much anyway and judging from how often the window shone with light well past midnight, neither did Ingo.
The horse stumbled wearily up the dirt road, refusing to go any faster in spite of Malon's consistent urgings. If she didn't get back to Ingo quick she was going to be in for it!
Ariana stopped all together right by the wooden sign at the crossroads before Lon Lon Ranch. Malon rolled her eyes, more than a little put out. Why did the horse have to choose now of all times to come to a dead stop?
"Oh for Hyne's sake, will you come on?" Malon whispered impatiently into it's ear but the horse neighed at her reproachfully and refused to budge.
"Is that you Malon?"
The sun was paling and darkness was already beginning to fall. Malon had to squint a bit to make out the form of a girl standing with a basket on one of her hips. She recognized her as Devonny, one of the random pickpockets that hung around Hyrule, immediately.
"Who else would it be?"
"Nobody"-Devonny flashed a mischevious smile-"and then again, maybe somebody."
Malon knew exactly who Devonny was referring to in spite of her trying to sound cryptic. Her business, being on the shady side, was often trading of various stolen goods done late at night with the most famous of all thieving clans.
"If you're expecting a gerudo, I won't keep you. I had better hurry and get back to Ingo.."
"Ingo" Devonny spat into the ground to show exactly what she thought of him. "Too bad you don't have a chance of escape.."
"Actually, I do. Though not much of one yet." Malon cast a worried eye at Lon Lon ranch. "Really, I can't explain now. I have to get going."
Devonny stared at her in amazement. "Escape from Ingo?Are you absolutely crazy?If he catches you, you'll wish you had never tried. You should know that from experience. Do you remember what happened the last time you carried on with your escape plan?"
"I know. But this one's different" Malon argued.
"Right then. Let me hear it." Devonny looked at her expectantly. "Aha. I thought so. Don't even have it all thought out, do you?"
"Well..no,not exactly" Malon admitted with reluctance. It was really too bad she hadn't had enough time to brainstorm a full escape plan. Devonny, being a thief and skilled on escaping from all sorts of people at a moment's notice, would have been able to point out if it was feasible or just plain stupid.
Devonny shook her head. " Do you even have any money to take with you if you manage to escape?"
"No." Malon was starting to feel whatever plan she had begun to form in her head wasn't going to work.
"Look. I think I might know a way to get your hands on some."
"I am not stealing!" Malon said, jumping to conclusions.
"No. Not stealing-though I think you would make much more that way. The midsummer festival is tommorrow..stupid excuse for nobles to take another holiday while us peasants toil . Anyway, if you like, I think I can get you a job serving. They're in sore need of more servants and the word is the pay they're willing to give is none too bad."
Devonny was right. She couldn't very well just run off and expect to find shelter somewhere when she hadn't a penny to her name. Not that she was even sure were she would run off to. Leaving Ingo, sure, no problem..but leaving the horses and the farm?That would be much tougher to do. If only there was a way to do one but not the other.
"You really believe you can get me a job on such short notice?"
Devonny shrugged. "Sure. No skin off my nose. If you can convince Ingo to let you serve at the fair on such short notice."
Malon nodded and spurred her horse on towards Lon Lon ranch, ready for the less than cordial welcome that awaited her.
~~~~~~~
Ten hours later, Malon was retracing her steps to Kakariko..only this time traveling by foot. She moved stiffly her whole body protesting in pain. Ingo had not been happy with her prolonged absense and had acted in accordance to his emotions leaving Malon with many a new bruise and welts.
The cloak of the dark starless night was a welcome friend as it made accomplishing her task easier. From her apron, Malon took out a small peice of wire and fiddled with the door to Agatha's potion shop for a minute before scurrying in. She hated to do it, but she had no choice.
After her mission was accomplished she wasted no time hanging around the place. Running out of Kakariko and sneaking past the guard she waited until she was back in Hyrule's fields before taking the small flask out from under her cloak.
The moon reflected off the glass surface as Malon downed the contents in one satisfying swig. But even the moon was not bright enough to show the changes that occured after Malon had consumed the potion. Bruises, welts, and a sprained ankle were gone, leaving unbroken skin in their place.
It was the only way Malon could keep herself healed from the pain Ingo inflicted. And if she had to steal, so be it. Giving a little shudder at the aftertaste, Malon opened the door to the barn and sank wearily into a bale of hay bunched in the corner.
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A/N=Not much to say, I said most everything in my other A/N:)Malon's eyes are indeed blue.*scratches head*..I have no idea why I put they were green..probably becuase I was writing at like, three in the morning. Oh yeah, just to warn everybody, the next chapter will be very short. I already know how I'm going to set up all the chapters and that was just the way it happened to turn out.
