Chapter Two: Trapped With A Rook
"Why in Hyrule did you put the crates down here in the stable?" Malon asked as she and Rook made their way down to there. "Wouldn't it have been easier if you kept them up by the kitchen?"
"There wasna' any room," Rook replied, pulling open the stable door for her, "after you Firefly."
"I thought I asked you not to call me that," she said hotly, brushing by him with a muffled 'thank you' for holding the door for her.
"Ye did," Rook grinned, "but I'm not known for listening to people all the time."
Malon let out a little groan and looked around the barn, not seeing any crates.
"Where are they?" She asked, crossing her arms in front of her impatiently. Rook left the doorway and walked over to the small storage area off to the left.
"Um…in here," he said and scratched the back of his head and running his fingers through his rich, dark brown hair. Malon came over and glance around behind him. Inside she saw a good fifteen crates stacked to the ceiling of the little room.
"That's a lot more than I was expecting," she said her eyes a bit wide. Malon glanced up, and her gaze caught Rook's as they stared at each other for a moment. She was the one who broke the trance.
"Um, yeah, they've been collecting for awhile now," he stammered, the image of her soft face and beautiful blue eyes piercing into his still frozen in his mind.
"I can see that," Malon retorted. "Well, shall we get started?"
Rook watched her for a moment, admiring her strength and the feminine air about her. Her bright red hair hung carelessly over her shoulders and her simple skirt played around her ankles. She lifted one of the crates in each hand, holding tightly into the rims.
"Well?" Malon hurried him along.
"Oh, yes of course," he snapped out of his fanciful daydreaming. "At your service lass."
He brushed beside her and piled three boxes on top of one another and lifted them onto his shoulder. He turned around to see her still standing in the storage room with him, only she was looking out the door and staring blankly out at the path they had just come down.
"Ye ready Malon?" Rook nudged her softly at which she quickly turned around.
"Yeah, sorry, I got lost for a minute," her voice was still a bit far off.
A light breeze swept through the stables and rustled the straw that was strewn about the horses' stalls. It continued down the long room, picking up power as it went along from the other open doors and windows. It reached the far end of the stable and without either of them realizing it until it was to late blew the storage room door close.
"What was that?" Malon exhaled, a bit startled to find herself surrounded in darkness suddenly.
"Hmm, must have been the wind," Rook replied and went to open the door. He leaned into it, but found it to be stuck. "Uh-oh…I think we've got a problem Firefly."
"What? What's the problem, you can open it right?" She demanded to know. The last thing she wanted was to be stuck there with him right now.
"Hate to tell ye Firefly, but it looks like we're stuck here."
***
"You're not serious are you?" Megeara knitted her eyebrows and looked closely at Loraefin. "You know what Grandmother said about them, even what your grandmother says about them. Why in the world would you want to see them?"
"Because I don't think they are how everyone makes them out to be," Loraefin said simply. "When I was at the temple with Link, I saw two of them and I was fascinated with them. They're not evil Megeara; they're part of us, our heritage. Haven't you ever been a bit curious about them?"
Megeara sat and stared at her friend for a moment, slowly letting a smile creep across her face. She glanced over in the direction of the village, seeing it off on the distance in the brilliant afternoon light.
"Of course I have, that was given," she turned to her, "but I've always felt as if I saw them, maybe even met with them, I would be betraying my grandmother and all the others that left all those years ago. I don't know if I can do that."
"Yeah," Loraefin said slowly, "I know what you mean. It was a stupid idea, forget I said anything about it." She inched forward, allowing her legs to hang and swing over the cliff.
"It wasn't a stupid idea Fin, you're right, they are part of us despite what we've been raised to think," Megeara swung her legs over likewise. "The trouble of being raised apart from the world," she laughed softly, "is that you're subject to all and every misled idea that your parents have, and never get a chance to figure them out for yourself."
"Hopefully our children won't have that," Loraefin laughed, "there's talk about revealing ourselves to the rest of Hyrule again. Wouldn't that be great? So many new things we can learn and see."
"I hope that happens soon, now that we know we can get out, I'm starting to get stir crazy in here," Megeara threw a rock over the edge, never hearing it land they were up so high.
"But," Loraefin began again, "we could lose all of this in the process." She let her hand skim over the valley, taking notice once again how quiet and beautiful it was. "Would we want to risk people taking over this? We'd lose as much as we would gain I think. If you think about it, we've made our own culture here, to reveal ourselves could mean losing that."
"True, but we can't hide forever," Megeara answered. She leaned closer to Loraefin, letting her voice go soft and deep and she spoke in a very grave tone. "Besides, how many more generations do you think we could have here? You know as well as I do that all of our generation are cousins to one another, even you and me. Another one couldn't possibly work, if any we need to reveal ourselves for the continuation of our families."
"Then we really do have no choice then," Loraefin spoke softly too, wondering why for they were alone with no one around them. What were they afraid of? Balius and Xanthus hearing them? "It's going to be a big change. I bet the elders never thought when they came here that the existence of their great grandchildren would be so heavily effected."
"Let's go," Megeara said suddenly. Loraefin gave her a puzzled look.
"Go? Go where?" She asked curiously.
"The Gerudo Fortress, I don't know anywhere, just out of here."
***
"Sorry Link, Malon hasn't got back from the castle yet," Talon said a bit worried. "She doesn't usually take this long, it's getting to around three o'clock, she left here around ten."
"Maybe there was a long line at the castle kitchen," Navi piped up.
"That might be true," Talon sighed and watched as Ichiro helped Sabooru lift a heavy beam and carry it over to where the new roof was being built. "If you're not doing anything Link my boy, could you go try to find her, I'm starting to get worried."
"Sure Talon, not a problem," Link mounted Epona and rode out of the ranch. "That's odd, I've done the deliveries with Malon before and it never takes more that two hours, three at most."
"Like I said," Navi continued, "there could have been a line."
"I doubt it, there never is."
Link's ears picked up an unusual noise as he rode further. It sounded like woman and Link couldn't help but to go and investigate. He turned Epona around and had her trot over in the direction of Kakariko, where as he approached, he saw a small cart parked next to the bridge, but no one was with it. Link could still here the noise though, what sounded like muffled groans and gasps. He rode faster; thinking someone was hurt and needed help. Epona stopped and he dismounted, looking around for the source of the noise. As he went around to the other side of the cart, his eyes went wide and his jaw almost dropped at what he saw.
"Well don't just sit there and stare!" The woman groaned and tore at the grass she was sitting on, "get me some clean cloths from the cart! Hurry!"
Link did as he was told quickly, so quickly that he hadn't realized he'd done it until the woman was firmly clamped onto his arm, breathing hard.
"Oh Nayru, here it comes again!" She groaned and shut her eyes tightly. "Din, give me strength to do this!"
"Are you alone out here?" Link asked panicky as he watched, holding tightly onto the woman's hand.
"No," she gasped, "my…my husband went to get the doctor…we didn't think it would come so soon."
"Are you alright?"
"I will be, just as soon as this thing is out of me!" She yelled and pushed again. "This is your second Ashan, your second. This one is easier than the first," she talked to herself.
"How many months are you?" Link started to calm down and get a better grip on the situation.
"Eight months, almost nine," she gasped as another contraction took over. "Where is that doctor?!" She yelled.
"I bet he's coming, don't worry," Link tried to comfort her. She looked at him, her face pale and sweat beading her forehead and smiled faintly.
"Calm down, I'm the one who's in labor," she said, noticing how pale he had become too. "Just be ready to catch if he doesn't get here in time, can you do that?"
"Yeah sure," he replied absentmindedly, not moving from her side. By the Goddesses what was he doing there he thought?
"You're going to need to be at the right end," she said calmly and as relaxed as she could be. Link stared blankly for a moment. "Have you ever done this before?"
"No," Link replied.
"Then just do as I tell you and this is going to be okay," Ashan tensed and pushed again as Link went and crawled down by her legs. He knew what to do from here at least, but he was hesitant to do so.
"You're going to have to see what you're doing!" She groaned loudly. "I don't care! Just lift up the skirt! I'm busy with other things now!" She screamed again and stomped her feet on the ground. Quickly, Link flipped up her skirt (not particularly wanting to, but knowing he must) and tried to prepare himself for what was going to come next.
"You're um…doing fine, just keep breathing," he sounded choked. Sure, he had seen his share of blood in his lifetime, but the excess of labor was something completely new to the Hero.
"What's you're name kid?" Ashan moaned and relaxed as the contraction quieted. "Don't forget to count how far apart my contractions are."
"It's Link," he said, now counting intervals in between. Ashan's eyes went wider than they already were.
"The Hero?!" She gasped. "You're the Hero of Time?"
"I guess you could say that. Um…something just broke I think," Link went pale again. Ashan laughed.
"I can't believe the Hero of Time is delivering my baby! Nayru, what am I going to tell my mother?" She threw her head back.
"Ashan! What just broke!?" Link asked again in alarm, thinking something was terribly wrong.
"My water, I guess it came late this time. Here comes another, how long was that?"
"Two minutes."
"It'll come soon now. Oh, where is Matthiessen and that damn doctor!" She screamed. "It shouldn't take this long to get a doctor!"
"Navi! Go see if you can find them! Hurry!" Link yelled, trying to do the best he could. Navi flew off quickly.
"The Hero of Time is delivering my baby," Ashan laughed again.
"You're doing great Ashan, just fine. Keep pushing!"
"I thought you said you've never done this before."
"I'm improvising."
"Why in Hyrule did you put the crates down here in the stable?" Malon asked as she and Rook made their way down to there. "Wouldn't it have been easier if you kept them up by the kitchen?"
"There wasna' any room," Rook replied, pulling open the stable door for her, "after you Firefly."
"I thought I asked you not to call me that," she said hotly, brushing by him with a muffled 'thank you' for holding the door for her.
"Ye did," Rook grinned, "but I'm not known for listening to people all the time."
Malon let out a little groan and looked around the barn, not seeing any crates.
"Where are they?" She asked, crossing her arms in front of her impatiently. Rook left the doorway and walked over to the small storage area off to the left.
"Um…in here," he said and scratched the back of his head and running his fingers through his rich, dark brown hair. Malon came over and glance around behind him. Inside she saw a good fifteen crates stacked to the ceiling of the little room.
"That's a lot more than I was expecting," she said her eyes a bit wide. Malon glanced up, and her gaze caught Rook's as they stared at each other for a moment. She was the one who broke the trance.
"Um, yeah, they've been collecting for awhile now," he stammered, the image of her soft face and beautiful blue eyes piercing into his still frozen in his mind.
"I can see that," Malon retorted. "Well, shall we get started?"
Rook watched her for a moment, admiring her strength and the feminine air about her. Her bright red hair hung carelessly over her shoulders and her simple skirt played around her ankles. She lifted one of the crates in each hand, holding tightly into the rims.
"Well?" Malon hurried him along.
"Oh, yes of course," he snapped out of his fanciful daydreaming. "At your service lass."
He brushed beside her and piled three boxes on top of one another and lifted them onto his shoulder. He turned around to see her still standing in the storage room with him, only she was looking out the door and staring blankly out at the path they had just come down.
"Ye ready Malon?" Rook nudged her softly at which she quickly turned around.
"Yeah, sorry, I got lost for a minute," her voice was still a bit far off.
A light breeze swept through the stables and rustled the straw that was strewn about the horses' stalls. It continued down the long room, picking up power as it went along from the other open doors and windows. It reached the far end of the stable and without either of them realizing it until it was to late blew the storage room door close.
"What was that?" Malon exhaled, a bit startled to find herself surrounded in darkness suddenly.
"Hmm, must have been the wind," Rook replied and went to open the door. He leaned into it, but found it to be stuck. "Uh-oh…I think we've got a problem Firefly."
"What? What's the problem, you can open it right?" She demanded to know. The last thing she wanted was to be stuck there with him right now.
"Hate to tell ye Firefly, but it looks like we're stuck here."
***
"You're not serious are you?" Megeara knitted her eyebrows and looked closely at Loraefin. "You know what Grandmother said about them, even what your grandmother says about them. Why in the world would you want to see them?"
"Because I don't think they are how everyone makes them out to be," Loraefin said simply. "When I was at the temple with Link, I saw two of them and I was fascinated with them. They're not evil Megeara; they're part of us, our heritage. Haven't you ever been a bit curious about them?"
Megeara sat and stared at her friend for a moment, slowly letting a smile creep across her face. She glanced over in the direction of the village, seeing it off on the distance in the brilliant afternoon light.
"Of course I have, that was given," she turned to her, "but I've always felt as if I saw them, maybe even met with them, I would be betraying my grandmother and all the others that left all those years ago. I don't know if I can do that."
"Yeah," Loraefin said slowly, "I know what you mean. It was a stupid idea, forget I said anything about it." She inched forward, allowing her legs to hang and swing over the cliff.
"It wasn't a stupid idea Fin, you're right, they are part of us despite what we've been raised to think," Megeara swung her legs over likewise. "The trouble of being raised apart from the world," she laughed softly, "is that you're subject to all and every misled idea that your parents have, and never get a chance to figure them out for yourself."
"Hopefully our children won't have that," Loraefin laughed, "there's talk about revealing ourselves to the rest of Hyrule again. Wouldn't that be great? So many new things we can learn and see."
"I hope that happens soon, now that we know we can get out, I'm starting to get stir crazy in here," Megeara threw a rock over the edge, never hearing it land they were up so high.
"But," Loraefin began again, "we could lose all of this in the process." She let her hand skim over the valley, taking notice once again how quiet and beautiful it was. "Would we want to risk people taking over this? We'd lose as much as we would gain I think. If you think about it, we've made our own culture here, to reveal ourselves could mean losing that."
"True, but we can't hide forever," Megeara answered. She leaned closer to Loraefin, letting her voice go soft and deep and she spoke in a very grave tone. "Besides, how many more generations do you think we could have here? You know as well as I do that all of our generation are cousins to one another, even you and me. Another one couldn't possibly work, if any we need to reveal ourselves for the continuation of our families."
"Then we really do have no choice then," Loraefin spoke softly too, wondering why for they were alone with no one around them. What were they afraid of? Balius and Xanthus hearing them? "It's going to be a big change. I bet the elders never thought when they came here that the existence of their great grandchildren would be so heavily effected."
"Let's go," Megeara said suddenly. Loraefin gave her a puzzled look.
"Go? Go where?" She asked curiously.
"The Gerudo Fortress, I don't know anywhere, just out of here."
***
"Sorry Link, Malon hasn't got back from the castle yet," Talon said a bit worried. "She doesn't usually take this long, it's getting to around three o'clock, she left here around ten."
"Maybe there was a long line at the castle kitchen," Navi piped up.
"That might be true," Talon sighed and watched as Ichiro helped Sabooru lift a heavy beam and carry it over to where the new roof was being built. "If you're not doing anything Link my boy, could you go try to find her, I'm starting to get worried."
"Sure Talon, not a problem," Link mounted Epona and rode out of the ranch. "That's odd, I've done the deliveries with Malon before and it never takes more that two hours, three at most."
"Like I said," Navi continued, "there could have been a line."
"I doubt it, there never is."
Link's ears picked up an unusual noise as he rode further. It sounded like woman and Link couldn't help but to go and investigate. He turned Epona around and had her trot over in the direction of Kakariko, where as he approached, he saw a small cart parked next to the bridge, but no one was with it. Link could still here the noise though, what sounded like muffled groans and gasps. He rode faster; thinking someone was hurt and needed help. Epona stopped and he dismounted, looking around for the source of the noise. As he went around to the other side of the cart, his eyes went wide and his jaw almost dropped at what he saw.
"Well don't just sit there and stare!" The woman groaned and tore at the grass she was sitting on, "get me some clean cloths from the cart! Hurry!"
Link did as he was told quickly, so quickly that he hadn't realized he'd done it until the woman was firmly clamped onto his arm, breathing hard.
"Oh Nayru, here it comes again!" She groaned and shut her eyes tightly. "Din, give me strength to do this!"
"Are you alone out here?" Link asked panicky as he watched, holding tightly onto the woman's hand.
"No," she gasped, "my…my husband went to get the doctor…we didn't think it would come so soon."
"Are you alright?"
"I will be, just as soon as this thing is out of me!" She yelled and pushed again. "This is your second Ashan, your second. This one is easier than the first," she talked to herself.
"How many months are you?" Link started to calm down and get a better grip on the situation.
"Eight months, almost nine," she gasped as another contraction took over. "Where is that doctor?!" She yelled.
"I bet he's coming, don't worry," Link tried to comfort her. She looked at him, her face pale and sweat beading her forehead and smiled faintly.
"Calm down, I'm the one who's in labor," she said, noticing how pale he had become too. "Just be ready to catch if he doesn't get here in time, can you do that?"
"Yeah sure," he replied absentmindedly, not moving from her side. By the Goddesses what was he doing there he thought?
"You're going to need to be at the right end," she said calmly and as relaxed as she could be. Link stared blankly for a moment. "Have you ever done this before?"
"No," Link replied.
"Then just do as I tell you and this is going to be okay," Ashan tensed and pushed again as Link went and crawled down by her legs. He knew what to do from here at least, but he was hesitant to do so.
"You're going to have to see what you're doing!" She groaned loudly. "I don't care! Just lift up the skirt! I'm busy with other things now!" She screamed again and stomped her feet on the ground. Quickly, Link flipped up her skirt (not particularly wanting to, but knowing he must) and tried to prepare himself for what was going to come next.
"You're um…doing fine, just keep breathing," he sounded choked. Sure, he had seen his share of blood in his lifetime, but the excess of labor was something completely new to the Hero.
"What's you're name kid?" Ashan moaned and relaxed as the contraction quieted. "Don't forget to count how far apart my contractions are."
"It's Link," he said, now counting intervals in between. Ashan's eyes went wider than they already were.
"The Hero?!" She gasped. "You're the Hero of Time?"
"I guess you could say that. Um…something just broke I think," Link went pale again. Ashan laughed.
"I can't believe the Hero of Time is delivering my baby! Nayru, what am I going to tell my mother?" She threw her head back.
"Ashan! What just broke!?" Link asked again in alarm, thinking something was terribly wrong.
"My water, I guess it came late this time. Here comes another, how long was that?"
"Two minutes."
"It'll come soon now. Oh, where is Matthiessen and that damn doctor!" She screamed. "It shouldn't take this long to get a doctor!"
"Navi! Go see if you can find them! Hurry!" Link yelled, trying to do the best he could. Navi flew off quickly.
"The Hero of Time is delivering my baby," Ashan laughed again.
"You're doing great Ashan, just fine. Keep pushing!"
"I thought you said you've never done this before."
"I'm improvising."