Chapter Four: Lon Lon Ranch

Morning came with the screeching noise of birds twittering above in the trees. Link grunted and flopped over on his side, hoping to get a few more moments of sleep before Navi woke him up. He snuggled his face comfortably against the green cap. His eyes fell open a fraction of an inch and light flooded in, momentarily blinding him. Scowling, he turned over again with his back to the sun. The light didn't bother him now.

But something else did.

He jolted up with a sudden yelp. A face hovered above him, peering down with large black eyes. It was a girl. Her hair fell over her shoulder in long dark folds. She appeared to be studying Link with an expression of curiosity.

"Hello," came the meek voice of the girl. "I thought I saw someone creeping along here in these trees last night. It was you. But how strange you are. What is your name, boy?"

With a flash of speed, Link brought up the sword and thrust it at the girl. She squawked and jumped back a step. Link planted his back against the tree trunk, and with trembling arms, he kept the sword pointed at the strange girl.

Navi burst from her nest and zipped down, sending sparkling red dust in all directions. She landed on Link's shoulder and yelled into his ear:

"Put that down, crazy fool! She's just a girl. By Dyn, you have absolutely no sense, do you?" Link quickly lowered the sword, spluttering some sort of apology. He stood up to face the girl.

"My name's Alyanna," the girl smiled, gazing with wonder at Navi. "Wow! A fairy! Pa's told me so much about fairies, but I've never seen one before. So pretty! You must be one of the fairy children from the forest! But I thought they never left..."

Navi flew up, spraying fairy dust into the girl's face: "We are on our way to Hyrule Castle. Have you heard any news from that way?" Alyanna shrugged, smoothing out her brown dress:

"No, we haven't received any news from Hytown for many weeks now. Few people travel this far south. But Pa's planning to make a trip to Hytown tomorrow. Maybe you could go with him."

"Yes," came Navi's squeaky reply. "We would like that. We are in a hurry."

"Well, then let's go talk to Pa. He'll have more to say about the comings and goings of Hytown. Come on, fairy boy. I'm not going to hurt you, promise." Alyanna giggled and spun around, her lush hair slapping at the air as it twirled.

Link shoved his cap down over his scraggly mass of blonde hair, grabbed the sword, and made sure that the emerald was secure in his tunic before turning to follow. Navi flitted about, trying to contain her impatience.

They walked along the small river, up and down hills, and through large thickets of trees. Link's stomach growled ferociously, causing Alyanna to laugh. She promised him a delicious meal once they reached the ranch.

"We have the best milk in all the world," she insisted. "And our chickens are nice and fat. Wonderful eggs."

She led them on, chattering relentlessly about the ranch, her father, and everything else under the stars. Link listened patiently, his attention slipping every so often as they passed an interesting plant or a strange creature moving about the grass. One particular animal stood out; it was small and shaped funny, like a blob of mud. It wobbled and plobbed around in the grass, sending off strange squishy noises. Alyanna called it a chuchu, claiming that they were completely harmless and quite useful for healing purposes.

"Fairy boy," Alyanna broke Link's daydream with a soft voice, "is it true that the children of the forest have no parents? Don't you have parents?"

Link watched as a blue chuchu creature wobbled up to the river, twisted its pudgy folds for a moment, then rolled into the water with a blubbering squeal of delight. Didn't this chuchu have parents? Doesn't everyone have parents? Lynaris....

"I don't know my parents." His voice was low and distant, touched with a note of sadness. Alyanna didn't ask anymore questions.

The river wound along the hills until it came to a wide, open field. There sat the ranch. Several wooden buildings squatted close together, with the river running through them. A thick wall of trees spread around and covered most of the ranch, except at the opening, where two large poles jutted up from the ground with a wooden sign connecting them. It read "Lon Lon Ranch."

It was still early morning. They passed the large white building that greeted them first, and walked around to the barn. A tall thin man grappled with a pitch-fork, shoving hay and muttering low forceful curses. He turned and revealed a pair of black eyes that seemed to be stuck in a beady glare. A thin mustache spread downward from under his large nose. His mouth was stretched into a permanent sneer. He looked up and spotted the two strangers.

"Gah!!" he splurted forth a high shrill; his eyes bulged and he stumbled backwards, dropping his pitch-fork. Nearby, a cow gave a peevish moo in remonstrance. Link had never seen someone so tall, and so fidgety. The man recovered from his shock and bent over to pick up his tool. One of his eyes twitched as he stared down at Link and the fairy resting on his shoulder.

"What is this!" he blurted out, bringing his face closer to the small boy. Link stepped back, trying not to stare at the man's bulging, twitching eye. Alyanna stepped up:

"Uncle Gorf, this is a fairy boy from Kokiri Forest. See the fairy? They are on their way to Hyrule Castle in Hytown. Where's Pa?" Gorf kept his twitching eye bent over Link for a moment longer, then said in a gruff voice,

"He's out feeding the chickens. Left me here to do all the hard work. I do everything around here. Everything." With that, he turned and started shoveling more hay, muttering a stream of curses with each shove of the pitch-fork. Another cow sent up a disgruntled moo. On his way out, Link could hear Gorf yelling, "Shut up, Tulip!"

Outside they found a short, chubby man throwing corn to a pack of chickens that clucked and scrambled fiercely after the falling food.

"Pa! Come see the fairy boy! Look! See, exactly how you described them." Alyanna rushed up to her father, full of excitement. The small man looked over, and gave Link a warm smile.

"So, a stray Kokiri. What brings you out of your woods, my little friend?"

"We're on our way to Hyrule Castle," replied Link, motioning to Navi. "We were hoping that you could help us get there."

"Ah, the Castle. Well, you'll have to spend the night. I'm not leaving till tomorrow morning. Alyanna, dear, go tell Mother to prepare an extra dish for supper. It's not often that we get the honor of having guests. We live so far south." Alyanna sped off with the instructions.

*******

Later that evening, Link sat at a large wooden table, hungrily chomping down on a chicken leg. It tasted very good. There was also corn, and carrots, and potatoes, and lots of bread, none of which he had ever eaten. He ate it all with vigor, and once or twice caught himself smacking embarrassingly loud.

"So tell us, what exactly do you plan on doing once we get to Hytown?" Gorf demanded, jabbing a chicken bone in Link's direction. Alyanna's mother spoke:

"Let's not bother the child with questions, Gorf." She smiled down at Link. Cascades of black hair fell over her shoulders; her midnight eyes twinkled in the candlelight. Link gazed into her face. It seemed like what a mother's face should look like: very loving and kind. But there was something more hidden there, buried deep in the inky pools of her eyes. It was the same look that Link had seen in Phairyn's eyes: a look of great sadness mingled with deep wisdom.

"Aranella, dear, did you make any dessert for us tonight?" Alyanna's father licked his fingers clean, and stuffed another bite of bread into his mouth.

"Taylon, my love," Aranella said, uncovering a taki pie, "you remember what the medicine man in Hytown told you. Too many sweets will make you fat."

"Well, he's too late there," Gorf gruffed, shoving more chicken down his mouth. "He's already as fat as Tulip. Gah! Gah! Gah!" No one else laughed.

They ate the pie, talked some more, and finally settled down for the night. Link lay in his bed, looking out the window, up at the Luminore, wondering if Milon was also gazing up at the same star. Even with Navi there, he felt the cold chill of loneliness creeping over him. It was a strange feeling. Maybe that was the feeling Palara had warned him about.

Taking the green jewel in both hands, Link slowly turned it before him, watching as it glittered in the moonlight. The gift of the forest, Phairyn called it. What did that mean? Navi had to know what it was for, but why wouldn't she tell him. Maybe she was still waiting for the opportune moment. Link hoped that it would be soon.

A tree limb rustled up against the window. Link glanced over to see a dark branch scratch up against the glass. Two gold leaves pressed up against the window, flashing brightly in the moonlight. Link blinked, suddenly realizing that there had been no tree outside the window. But what just...Link shot upwards and threw himself towards the window. The dark branch was gone.

What had just been there? Memories of the previous night flooded into his mind. There had been two orbs of golden orange. Two golden leaves. Like eyes. Link shoved the curtains across the window, grabbed the sword, and placed it next to him at a safe reach. Someone was following him. But who? And why?

Far into the night Link tossed in his bed.