Link and Navi walked into the ranch. On their left was a two-story timber and wattle house with a one-story attached section built of the same materials. On their right was a stable building, built of logs. They went into the attached section of the house first. They found out that it was a cucco coop.
The coop had about twenty cuccos in residence. The cucco, now known as the Hylean Spring Chicken, is easier to raise in captivity, grows larger than other breeds, and both hen and rooster crow loudly at the rising of the sun, even when newly hatched. Though they, like other chickens are flightless, they are stronger fliers than other breeds, and they are also slightly magical. A boy or a Kokiri could use one almost like a parachute.
Talon was leaned up against a line of crates, near one corner of the room. He was enjoying a late-afternoon nap. Navi quickly read Talon's thoughts, then she spoke to Link in his mind.
"Link, I have an idea! Talon sometimes has children come up to the ranch to visit. He plays a game with them. He has three special cuccos that he is very proud of. He has the kids pick out his special cuccos from among the rest of the gaggle. If they pick the cuccos before his hourglass runs out, he gives them a bottle of milk! If they don't, they pay him ten rupees.
"See the cucco he's holding in his lap?" Link looked at the cucco. He couldn't tell the difference between it and the other ones. Navi continued, "The other two are sitting on top of the crates behind him. Here's my plan. I can tell the difference between the special cuccos and the ordinary ones! Talon is also groggy when he first wakes up. If you toss the other cuccos between the crates and the wall, they will stay there for a minute or two, and Talon won't realize it. This will allow us to pick the hybrid cuccos before the time runs out."
"But Navi, wouldn't that be cheating?" Link asked.
She answered "No more than expecting kids from the town who don't raise cuccos to pick out hybrid cuccos from a bunch of ordinary ones in less than a minute, when Talon himself sometimes has trouble telling them apart! Besides, he's short enough of fairy bottles that he won't just sell one at any price! Let's quietly get these other cuccos out of the way."
Link wasn't happy about taking advantage of Talon, but did as Navi told him. Navi wasn't happy about having Link do it either. But, she figured she was only reclaiming her own handiwork! When she and the other battle fairies had been healthy, they made the fairy bottles, bringing rupees into the Kokiri people, and providing them with the bottles as well.
But, after Ganondorf cursed them, none of them had the strength to forge and enchant the glass. Nor could they bond to a Kokiri workman to do it for them. If they had the time, Navi could have had Link make his own bottles, and she could have enchanted them through Link. But, even as quickly as he learned, it would take many months to teach Link how to work glass, time they didn't have. And only a battle fairy, or a Kokiri Warrior bonded to one could work the glass of a fairy bottle. If an ordinary Kokiri, or any other race tried, the spell and the bottle would fail. Link quickly corralled the ordinary cuccos, and then woke Talon.
Talon was groggy, just as Navi said he would be. "Mumble mumble… Huh? I'm awake already!" Talon looked at Link and said "What? Well, I'll be! If it ain't the forest kid from the other day! By the way, thanks a lot for waking me up! It took some doing, but I finally got Malon back in a good mood. So, what are you up to today?"
Link answered "I have some free time on my hands, and decided to come visit your ranch, sir."
Talon said "Got some free time on your hands, you say? Well, how about a little game? These three cuccos I have here are special super cuccos!" Talon said, gesturing to the cucco he held in his lap, and the two that stood behind him on the crates.
He continued, "I'm going to throw these cuccos into that there gaggle of normal cuccos. If you can pick out these three special birds from among the normal cuccos within half a minute, I'll give you something good. If you can't find them, I win. It'll be ten rupees… Want to play?"
Link answered "Sure, sir. I'd like to try!" Link gave Talon ten rupees.
Talon continued, "This hourglass is half a minute. You have that long! Start lookin'!" Talon quickly tossed the three super cuccos out into the middle of the empty floor, and turned the hourglass over.
Link ran to the first one, and picked it up. "That's one! Two more to find! Toss it to me." Link tossed Talon the cucco, and ran to the next one. He picked it up, and Talon said, "That's two! Now, the moment of truth! One more to find!"
Link tossed the cucco to Talon, and ran to the last one. He picked it up, and Talon answered, "Golly, I'll be darned! It's plum incredible! That's the last one! You've found them all! Come on over here!"
Link approached Talon. Talon said "Hey, you! You've got the talent to be one of the world's best cowboys! How'd you like to marry Malon? Huh?"
Link, who had just gotten married the night before, was quite nervous, but for different reasons than for a Hylean boy of his age! He started to answer "No, sir! She's nice…"
Talon cut him off, laughing, "Haw, haw! I was just kidding! Just kidding! I think you're a little young for that, aren't you?" Talon laughed a little more, and Link laughed a little with him, nodding in agreement.
Talon said "Oh! I'm proud to present to you a sample of our very own Lon Lon Milk. You'll be energized the moment you drink it! After you drink it, you can bring back the bottle and buy a refill, anytime you want!" Talon handed Link a fairy bottle full of Lon Lon Milk. Link secured the bottle to his t-frame. Talon said, "If you came to visit with Malon, she's out in the corral." He then sat back down on the floor, leaned up against the crates, and went to sleep again! Link was feeling tired then, so he quickly left the cucco coop before he joined Talon in sleep.
He walked across the road to the stable and went inside. The stable had nine stalls along the outside walls, two of which held cows. There was also a stall in the centre of the stable, which was forty-eight feet long by forty feet wide at its south half, and thirty-two feet wide at the north half. Standing next to the empty centre stall was a young man, about nineteen years old. The man had brown eyes, and dark brown hair, with a receding hairline on top. But his hair elsewhere almost made up for that. His eyebrows were long and bushy, and he had a long handlebar moustache. His chest hair stuck out of the collar of his shirt, and the hair on his arms was also thick. He was about five foot ten inches tall, and was a muscular fourteen stone.
Link walked up to the young man, who immediately complained about his fate to Link as a form of introduction. "I can't believe that I, the great Ingovard, am working on this dump of a ranch! Because the owner is so lazy, I always have to do all the work around here! I, the hard-working Ingo, should be in charge, not that lazy bum, Talon!"
Link asked, "How long have you worked here?"
Ingo answered "Thirteen years. I was orphaned in the wars. I apprenticed out to the Duke of Hyrule, who owned this ranch before. He made me his squire. I helped him care for his armour, weapons, and horses. Talon ran the ranch for the Duke then. After the Duke fell in battle, and his family was murdered, the King gave the ranch to Talon.
"I stayed on as a ranch hand. At first, things weren't too bad. But Talon has gotten lazier as he's gotten older! His wife died in childbirth and the son was stillborn. I've had to do all the heavy work by myself! He's so lazy that his eleven-year-old daughter Malon runs the ranch as much as he does! To believe that I, once assured of being a great Hylean knight, am now flunky to a lazy bum, who pays poorly, and has no gratitude in him!
"Tell him, if you dare! He is Talon, Franklin of Lon-Lon" Ingovard spat out in disgust. The sullen stable-hand stared coldly at Link.
Link answered, "It is not my place to say such a thing, whether it be true or not. I am only a child by the calendar of your people, and a travelling stranger. If you say we spoke thusly, I won't gainsay you. If you say we haven't spoken at all, I won't disagree. On my own, I say nothing at all."
The stable-hand let out a grunt of rage and frustration, and went back to work. Link left the stable, and walked out to the corral.
The corral took up almost two-thirds of the stone-ringed plateau. The ranch house and main stable were on the northeast corner of the plateau. There was a lean-to shelter on the west side of the corral, which was the inside of a half-mile oval track. There was a smaller barn on the southwest side of the plateau. Link walked to the one gate of the corral, which was at the centre of the north straightaway. He walked through the gate, and to Malon, who was almost in the middle of the corral.
Malon said, "Oh, it's the fairy boy again! I heard that you found my dad! How did you like the castle? Did you see the Princess?"
She giggled, and continued. "Dad came home in a hurry after you found him!" she said laughingly.
She then said "Oh yeah, I have to introduce you to my friend, fairy boy! She's this horse. Her name is Epona. Isn't she cute?"
Link answered, "Yes, Malon!" As Link said that, Epona ran off into the distance.
Malon said, "It seems like Epona is afraid of you, fairy boy. My mother composed this song." The gregarious Hylean girl sang a few wordless notes and asked, "Isn't it nice? Let's sing together."
Link took out his ocarina. Malon said "Oh, cute ocarina! Are you going to play this song with that ocarina?"
Link answered "Yes, Malon. I don't sing very good, but I play very nice." This wasn't exactly true, but he was much shyer about his singing voice than about his ocarina playing.
Like most Kokiri, his ocarina music was like his spoken voice, and he "spoke" the Forest Flute flawlessly and without shame. His singing voice, though angelic, was something he held much closer. Saria was the only one then living that had ever heard him sing.
She said, "OK, this is the song. She sang it through completely, and Link played it back to her. It was a simple song, calming and relaxing. When Link played the song, Epona came running to him!
Malon exclaimed, "Oh, Epona! She's grown fond of you, fairy boy." The young colt agreed completely with her mistress, nuzzling Link so vigorously that she scooted him a foot or two to the side.
Link nodded in agreement, adding, "She must have liked the way I played your mother's song. Thanks for teaching it to me. It's very pretty."
Malon blushed, and said "You're welcome, fairy boy! I have to start cooking supper now. Would you like to stay and join my father and me?"
Link answered "I would like to Malon, but I have to get to Kakariko village today, before dark if I can. Maybe some other time?"
Malon was disappointed, but not hurt or offended. She said "Sure, fairy boy! It's been nice seeing you again!"
They walked out of the corral, and towards the ranch house. As they did, Malon asked Link "You don't seem interested in me like the other boys our age. Why? Do you have a girlfriend back in the forest, fairy boy?"
Link answered, "Among my people, boys are called to be men much younger than among yours. I already have a life-mate, which is what your people would call being married."
Malon was shocked! She said "You! Married? How old are you, really?"
He replied, "I'm only eleven. My birthday was the first day of spring."
She exclaimed, "That's amazing! I'm only two days older than you, but you are already married?" She was disappointed.
Link said, "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. Can we still be friends?"
Malon was relieved. "Sure, fairy boy! I guess I never asked you if you had a girlfriend." She continued, "In a way, I'm also kind of glad you're married. You're cute, and I like you a lot, but you also make me feel like we were family. I mean like you were a brother or a cousin. Do you know what I mean?"
Link answered "Yes, Malon. You made me feel like that, too!" And Link did feel like that! He thought back to his earliest memories.
He could actually remember some things from when he was an infant! He didn't remember his father, but he remembered his mother. She gave Link the reddish-blond colour of his hair. But she wore her hair as Malon did. Her blue eyes would make a matching pair to Malon's. She even had the same shape to her face. But those memories were painful for him.
He remembered how she looked before the fire, and how she looked after! How horribly she had been burned! How she had carried him for what seemed like forever, over moonlit fields, chasing a strange floating ball of light. He remembered their entering into a dark, scary forest! He remembered how she had handed him to a small man with pointed ears, saying "Link, remember that I'll always love you. Good bye, son."
He remembered how the man tried to shield him from his mother's dying, yet how he saw, how he felt her passing! The man took him into the heart of a tree, and sat him on a bed with a girl who was just over two. He said, "Now you two behave, while I talk to the Great Deku Tree." The girl had been crying, just as he was now. The two children sensed each other's loss. The toddler crawled up next to Link, and held him in her arms. Somehow, this consoled the both of them…
"Link!" Malon said. They were at the door to Malon's house. "I thought for a minute you were sleepwalking!" she said. She then asked with some concern in her voice, "And what made you sad?"
Link answered "I wasn't sleepwalking." He dried his eyes wordlessly and continued, "When you said I reminded you of family, you got me thinking about my mother. I was very young when she died."
Malon answered "I was only six when my mom died. Dad took it much worse than I did, but I missed her terribly. I still do."
Link answered, "I miss mine, too. I guess that's something that stays with you.
The sylvan warrior announced, "I need to get going. If I may, I'll stop by to visit again."
Malon answered "Sure, fairy boy! Next time, bring your 'life-mate' with you! I'd like to meet her."
Link answered "Sure, Malon. Good bye." They each went their own way, Malon into the house, and Link towards Hyrule Field.
"Link, we need to stay here for right now," Navi said into Link's mind. "I feel the presence of a piece of heart container. It will also be a good idea to search the plateau for spiders of the curse."
They quietly and quickly moved back into the main part of the plateau. It was now dark, and they had the plateau to themselves, or so they thought. They stood by a tree next to Talon's house. Link heard the now familiar scratching sound. He looked up, and saw a gold skultullah in the top limbs of the tree. He ran into the tree, shaking it, and the monster fell to the ground. Two quick shots, and the beast was dead. He collected the token, but he still heard the scratching sound. He looked up. On the shutters of the second floor window was another gold skultullah!
"Navi," he asked silently, "How can I get that one down?"
She answered, "Right now, you can't! We might find a way to recover tokens like that later. It will do no good to kill it now, either! If you don't claim the token, the spider will just grow back." They looked around, and found no more spiders.
Navi said "The piece of life-force container I sensed was toward the other end of the plateau. I think we should go that way." They walked quickly towards the barn on the other side of the corral.
As they walked, Link noticed a large number of birds flying ominously overhead. He couldn't tell exactly how big they were, but he could tell that they were neither small nor friendly! Navi warned, "Those are keese! They will probably attack us, so be ready!"
Link started to run as fast as he could. He could see a gold curse-spider on the outside wall of the ranch. It appeared to be just within reach if he were standing by it. He was suddenly struck in the back!
The force of the blow almost knocked him down! It knocked the wind out of him, leaving him staggering. He drew his sword and turned around as the next keese came in to attack! He hit the eagle-sized raven with his sword, knocking it out of the air and killing it. This was quite an achievement since the large, raven-like bird weighed almost half of what he did! He turned back towards the curse-spider, which was now just fifty yards away. Looking at it more closely, he could see that it too was just out of reach! He ran to the outside wall of the plateau to give himself some protection form the malevolent birds. He looked around the area.
The birds seemed to be paying him little notice at the moment. He worked his way south along the wall, watching the skies carefully for the newly discovered dangers they held. They found themselves outside the small barn. As Link continued to watch the area, he barely saw the glint of another curse-spider on the back wall of the corral lean-to.
He asked silently "Navi, how close are we to the piece of life-force container?"
She answered "I sense it inside the barn. If you want to get the spider, I suggest we get it first. The life-force container will heal you when you claim it. We may need that more after we claim that spider."
Link continued to work his way around the outside wall of the ranch until he was directly across from the spider. He ran at full speed to the back wall of the lean-to. He hit the curse-spider twice with his sword, killing it. As he claimed the token, he sensed something behind him. Link drew his sword and spun around, killing a keese!
He ran across the open field directly toward the door of the barn! As he ran, the keese started to line up to attack again! He found that he could hear the rustle of the wind in their feathers as they flew in from behind. He heard the rustling, and spun! Another keese was knocked from the sky in pieces! He was obliged to kill one more keese before he reached the barn door. The last keese yielded life-force, which he gratefully claimed. The barn door was unlocked. He quickly entered the barn, gaining a degree of safety, for the moment.
The barn was twenty feet square inside, and the ceiling was at least forty feet in the air. There was one window, on the south wall, almost thirty feet in the air. The only door was on the east wall, where he had entered. There were two cows and a pile of hay in the northwest corner of the barn. There was a cart leaned against the north wall. There were numerous farm hand-tools leaned up against the walls, and there were six crates lined up haphazardly in the southwest corner of the room.
He asked in his mind, "Navi, do you sense the piece of life-force container in here?"
She answered, "Yes. I sense a chamber behind the crates." Link jumped up on the crates, and looked more closely at the corner itself. He noticed the edge of an opening hidden behind the crate that was in the corner. He jumped down between it and its neighbour to the north, and pulled the offending crate as far as he could. He jumped on the crate, and then into the corner where it had previously sat. He pushed it the rest of the way against its neighbour to the north, opening the way to the passage, which was barely larger than the one that led into the Hole of Z.
He entered the passage. He immediately saw the piece of heart at the other end of the passage, on a small pile of hay. He crawled the length of the passage, and emerged in an irregularly shaped stone room that was about twelve feet square with an eight-foot ceiling. The only things in the chamber were the pile of straw, and the piece of life-force container which he absorbed the very instant he brushed against it. Seeing no reason to remain, he left the chamber.
He asked Navi, "Did that piece of heart belong to Talon?"
"No. It was never his. He doesn't even know the chamber is here. These empty crates haven't been moved in years. If he knew the piece of heart was here, he would have taken it."
"Whose was it, then?"
"I can't say. But I'm sure they would have wanted you to have it."
Link pushed the crate back into the corner of the room. He and Navi then left the barn.
They circled counter-clockwise around the corral, staying along the outside wall to make a less tempting target for the keese, which were still circling overhead. At the west end of the south wall, they found a hole in the ground.
Navi stated, "Link, that is a grotto. Only Kokiri can see them. Sometimes, they hold things we'll need, like fairy help plants. We need to explore it."
Link asked "Ok, but how do we get out of the grotto once we've finished exploring?"
She replied, "Look down the hole. See the glow? That is a fairy step. It blocks the hole to all non-magic creatures. For Kokiri, it allows you to jump into the hole without hurting yourself, and tosses you gently out of the hole when you leave." Link and Navi entered the grotto.
Inside the grotto, there were three business scrubs. Link quickly defeated them. The first two offered to sell Link deku nuts and deku seeds at prices higher than at the shops in his village and Hyrule Castle Town. He refused to buy, and the scrubs quickly disappeared. The third scrub offered to sell Link bombs. He almost bought the bombs, but Navi stopped him.
"You have no way to carry them yet, Link! If you bought the bombs, they would all explode at once!"
After the third scrub disappeared, Link thought to Navi, "I thought you said that business scrubs wouldn't try to attack again after they were defeated."
Navi replied in his mind, "They don't! But they don't care if they sell you something you can't use, or that will hurt you, either!"
"So, it's 'buyer beware' then?"
"Yes. Let's get going" she finished. The two adventurers left the grotto using the fairy step.
They continued to circle around the corral. They found nothing else of interest, and soon were back at the ranch house. Navi said in Link's mind "Now, it's time to go to Kakariko Village."
Link and Navi ran down the path, and back into Hyrule Field. Link was attacked by several stalchildren. He quickly outran them, rather than taking the time to fight them. He ran to stone bridge over the Hyrule River that was just west of the stone steps leading up the hillside to Kakariko Village. They crossed the bridge, and ran to the Kakariko Village Steps, arriving at the village an hour and a half before dawn.