Lon Lon Ranch was alive with the excitement of the people of Hyrule come to wish Talon well. Link was surprised that everyone was so devoted to the milkman, but it was a nice thing nonetheless. He quickly made note of the fact that Malon was inside tending to her father while he received guests and preparing food for her visitors. So, to be far from her, he took his children and went off to introduce them to the horses.

"This one's Epona," he told Omriy, pointing to his old horse. She was indeed an old horse now. Gray had taken over the majority of her once bright auburn coat and her mane was wispy and thin. But her eyes were as bright and wild as the day he'd met her when she was a young colt.

"She's pretty, Daddy! I want a horsie!" Omriy exclaimed.

"Well, maybe we'll see about getting you a Lon Lon horse. They're the best in Hyrule."

"They sure are."

Link jumped at the smooth familiar voice.

"Daddy! It's the pretty milk lady!"

Link turned to see Malon curtsy to his daughter, who giggled and waved. He felt like his whole body was on fire. He turned away from her and tried to look collected and uninterested but she continued to speak to him.

"So you want a Lon Lon horse? I have a newborn that she might like," she offered.

"Uh, yeah, sure. Whatever. That's fine," Link said a little too coldly.

Malon frowned. "Okay, well, I'll just take her to look at it, then."

Link said nothing, but sighed with relief. Malon was going to look at horses. He was safe. He turned around at last. And walked right into Malon.

She burst into a stream on melodic laughter that sent his senses buzzing. "What? Are you afraid of me or something?" She could barely speak over her giggles. "You haven't changed a bit, Link. Haha, your Majesty, sorry." Link was confused. He stared at her wondering what was so funny. Did she notice his uneasiness around her? He was taken off guard when she slipped her hand into his.

"Uh, Malon, I don't think-" - "Come on, don't you want to go see the horses with us?" she asked innocently. She really had no idea what she doing to him. His hand was tingling and so were his cheeks. What if Zelda saw them hand in hand? He wanted to pull his hand away but found it protested to his will to move.

"Uh, yeah, sure," she said in a voice slightly higher than normal. He watched her pick up Anuerin with her free arm and as Omriy grabbed his other hand, he had a fluttering vision of the four of them as a family. A happy, normal family. With parents truly in love and not always separated and disagreeing over legal matters that he really didn't care about.

He shook that from his mind quickly. That was horrible. He had a family and Malon was NOT part of it. But of course, at that exact moment, she tightened her grip on his hand. He could have melted.

"Daddy!" Omriy cried, pulling him from his blasphemous daydreams. "Daddy, look! Horsies!"

Omriy tore off into the field to see the creatures and Malon let Anuerin down and he crawled after her.

"They're so sweet, Link," she said softly.

"Uh, yeah," he replied.

"Are you alright? You seem a little uncomfortable."

"Oh, no! I'm fine." Why did he do that? Why didn't he just tell her he didn't want to hold her hand? Cause he did? But did he? NO, he was married. Happily. "No, I'm okay."

She giggled, throwing him into a feeling of oblivion. Her laughter was like a drug and he loved it. For some reason, it drove away all his insecurity and he suddenly didn't care about anything else. He just wanted to hear her laugh. He wanted to swim in her giggles.

"Laugh again," he said.

"What? Why?" she giggled.

"I like it."

She blushed this time and giggled some more. "I like you."

His head swam with those words. Didn't she know he was married? Of course she did! She was just being friendly. He was taking this too much to heart.

"Well, I like you too," he said, convincing himself it was just friendly.

The two of them blushed together and he mentally slapped himself for opening his mouth. Was it really friendly?