I'd now like to take the time to answer some of my reviewers! Well, all of them. Firstly, thank you so much for reviewing! Now, to the answers to your questions. The first two chapters are set in the 'past', like some of you guessed. I know it didn't make much sense, but it was only to introduce the story. Regarding Termina, I always thought of it as a peaceful place too. However, I wanted to add something exciting to the chapter and give Ganondorf a reason to start becoming upset (What's with this, hum? A hint?). Also, in the game, it is mentioned that Hyrule was at war and I didn't want to make up another land entirely just to say that they had a war with them.

Later, I'm going to be doing another story on Ganondorfs life, where questions regarding him will be answered. I'll probably do one on Saria aswell.

Thank you reviewers! If you guys have any questions, I'll try to answer them as best as I can.

One more thing. Malon and Link are introduced in this chapter. Finally, since the story is about her life. Link is described as having a strange accent. I always imagined him with an Irish accent, so all the "spelling mistakes' are my sorry attempt to show that.

Now, to the story.

Chapter 3

Malon woke with a start as she heard her father call her once again.

"Malon, girl, come on. We have to get goin'."

She rubbed her palms into her face and moaned. She was usually a morning person, but today they had to wake up a lot earlier to go to town.

She got up out of her bed and shivered slightly in the coolness of her room. Resisting the urge she had to get back into her bed, she walked over to the window and opened the curtains. The sun wasn't up yet and didn't look like it would be doing so for hours.

"What time is it, daddy?" She asked, still peering into the darkness of the ranch.

Her father walked into the room. He was a large man and had his brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. He adjusted the strap to his dungarees and put on a puzzled look.

"I don't know…" He said, thinking, "'Bout three in the morning."

"Why so early?" She asked childishly. She of course knew that they were going into town, but wanted to make the point known that she wasn't very happy.

Her father smiled at her. "Come on, get ready or we'll be late." He walked out of her room, letting her get ready in privacy.

Malon walked over to her oak wood wardrobe and pulled out her favourite cream dress and yellow bandana. Slipping them on over her head, she walked over to her mirror to brush her hair.

Her reflection stared back at her. She was quite tall for an eight-year-old girl. She had long, thick, red hair that reached down past her waist and she had dark blue eyes. Her pointed ears were the only things that showed beneath her hair.

She passed the brush roughly through her hair, smiled at her reflection, and ran downstairs to eat breakfast. Her father was already down there, attempting to cook. He wasn't very good and Malon had become accustomed to eating toast in the mornings.

He sat down and passed her a plate, that, once again, looked to be covered with charcoal.

"Thanks daddy." She said trying not to look at her plate so she could eat her toast without losing her appetite. "What's it supposed to be today then?"

"Can't you tell?" He asked, sounding slightly offended.

"Well…" She said looking down at the black mess, "No."

Her father mumbled something that sounded like "Pancakes."

Malon snorted into her milk glass.

"Hey! I'd like to see you make them, Missy." He said defensively.

"Toast is just fine, daddy." Said Malon, although, she would have dearly loved a pancake. She hadn't had one in years, her mum used to make them, but, ever since…

Malon let out a sigh.

"What's wrong now?" Asked her dad.

"I was just… remembering pancakes." She half-lied.

Her father seemed to know what she was thinking about and decided it was best to change the subject. He looked outside the window and noted that the sun still wasn't up yet.

"We should get going now." He said. "Do you want to get the horses ready?"

Malon got up excitedly and forgot how tired she felt, "Do I get to pick the horses?"

"As long as I take Dyna as the cart carrier we'll be fine. You can pick your own horse."

With that, Malon scurried out into the yard and across to the stables. She already knew what horse she was going to ride. Bursting in through the door and successfully waking up all the animals, she ran inside.

"Epona! Epona! Let's go, let's go!" She screamed. She undid the lock of her door and let the young, red-brown and white mare out. She hugged her pony's neck and put her reins on. Although Epona was very young, Malon had wanted her broken early so she could ride her. She loved her horse dearly and she could always be cheered up by riding her.

Dragging a tired Epona behind her, Malon walked over to Dyna's stall. Dyna was an old horse now, but still was one of the strongest. This was very odd because she was stronger than most of the males. Malon's father had told her that this was because the horse had been her mother's and had taken on some of her more dominating personality traits. Dyna had always been that way, as long as Malon could remember.

Malon closed her eyes as she thought… Just like her mother… It had been three years now since her mother had died and not one day had passed that Malon didn't think about her. Her memories were growing slowly more hazy and Malon found that she had forgotten most of what had happened when she was five. That didn't stop her missing her though. She still loved her dad, but he was different. Not like a mother should be.

Her thoughts were broken as Epona nuzzled her. Giggling she walked out into the corral where her dad was. Dyna walked over obediently to her father. He attached the cart that was filled with crates of milk to her and mounted. Malon mounted Epona in an imitated manor.

"Where do we need to go then, daddy?" She asked curiously.

"Up to the castle today. Only, you can't come all the way up."

"Aw." She whined, "I wanted to see the princess."

"One day you will." He said reassuringly, "When you take over the ranch, you'll come up here and see her. I haven't even seen her yet. Only really important people get through to see her. You'll be important."

Malon smiled. She knew that he was pulling her leg. Still, she'd love to see a real, live, princess. Not the ones in pictures, but up close.

Ingo, the hired hand of the ranch, strolled out of his quarters on the opposite side of the house, looking very tired and grumpy. Malon had never really liked Ingo, but he was a hard worker and demanded little money and her father like him for that.

"Ingo," Began her father, "look after the ranch today. We'll be back before noon."

"I will indeed, Talon." Said Ingo, somewhat bitterly.

With all that said, they finally rode out into Hyrule field. The sky was beginning to become pink to the east. Malon squinted into the distance and saw, ever so slightly, the walls of Castle Town with its towering drawbridge.

It was steadily becoming closer as they rode towards it. The sun finally rose up and lit the grassy ground. The white stone of the inclosing walls shone a pinkish-red colour in the light. They approached the drawbridge just as it was being lowered. Malon left Epona just outside the Town walls because she still wasn't comfortable around anyone else. She walked behind her father across the wooden bridge. She peered into the deep waters of the moat, catching a broken, wavy image of herself. The sun was causing orange coloured ripples to scatter across the water's surface. She tore her eyes away from her reflection and walked into the market place.

It was a large, square-shaped clearing, dotted with stores and stands of all sorts. In the center was a elaborate fountain, consisting of the triforce with clear water running down it's sides. There weren't very many people about the clearing yet, as it was still fairly early in morning.

"Now, Malon, stay here while I go up to the castle and deliver this milk." Instructed her father.

Malon sat down miserably. "Yup, I will, daddy." She mumbled.

He smiled at her. "Here, I know how much you hate waiting and doing nothing, so I got you a present." He pulled out a small brown bag. Malon opened it excitedly and tipped the contents into her hand. Four blue crystals fell out.

"Twenty rupees?" She gasped, "For me?"

He nodded.

"All of it?"

Her laughed. "Have fun, okay. I'll be back in about an hour."

Malon replaced the money back inside her brown bag and watched her dad disappear up the hill to the castle. As soon as he was out of visual range, she began to wander around the market. She looked at all the jewelry stalls but found nothing that interested her. Then, she entered a clothing store but left very quickly when she spotted that most of the dresses she liked were well over one hundred rupees.

Looking for any other store to interest herself in, she glanced into the direction of a merchant who was sitting on the ground waving his hands in the air. She walked over to him curiously and noticed that the man didn't exactly look like a man entirely. It could have been a woman. Deciding to try to ignore this fact, Malon looked down at what it was selling.

Laid out on a small carpet were a few items. Malon didn't recognize most of them, but she did notice…

"An egg!" She exclaimed, pointing to the white, oval object sitting in a bed of twigs.

"Yes." Said the merchant, his voice also sounded quite unlike any man's or women's. "That's an egg alright. A cuckoos egg. " He made a clicking noise. "Be you interested?"

"Well…" She said thoughtfully, "How much is it?"

"Fifteen."

Malon thought for a little while. She took the money out of the bag, looked at it thoroughly and held out three blue stones.

The merchant took the stones and picked the egg up carefully. "It will hatch soon. I've been taking good care of it. It will be a very healthy bird." He made the clicking noise again.

"Thanks" She said. She took the small egg and slipped it into her brown bag, which was now almost empty. She wondered what had made her buy the egg, since they had cuckoos at the ranch. She could raise it, and it could be her pet, like Epona. She was suddenly filled with anticipation and wanted the egg to hatch sooner so she could take care of it. Just like a mother. She was very happy now that she had spent her money on it. Her father would be happy too, if he came back.

She now took the time to examine the market again. The sun was at its apex now and the shadows of the buildings and people were very small. It was a lot more crowded now and Malon pushed her way through the people to the fountain. There were fewer people there and she felt she could breathe. She sat down on the rim of the fountain, held her head up with her hands, and sighed. It had been well over three hours now that her dad had been gone.

She rolled her eyes at his irresponsibility. She was only eight. What if something happened to her? What happened to him?

She rolled over all the possibilities in her head. He could have been hijacked. Milk was in high demand, right? She giggled at this. Maybe he was invited into the castle for tea.

She yawned widely. Of course, she thought, they were up early that morning and he was probably tired and fell asleep. She rolled her eyes again at the immaturity of her father then got up to buy something to eat. Her stomach growled hungrily and she remembered that the last time she ate was at three something in the morning.

She walked up to a bakery stall and looked amongst the numerous cakes and breads. She picked out a few pastries and spent the rest of her money on them. Taking them over to the fountain, she sat down and ate them quickly. They didn't seem to last very long considering their price. Malon stood up to brush the crumbs off her dress.

Now slightly worried about her father, she looked around more desperately for him. She gave up waiting for him and decided to go up to the castle herself.

She was pushing her way through the crowd around a stall when something strange caught her ear. It was someone speaking, but it wasn't that that was different. The voice had a strange accent that she had never heard before. She stopped and looked around for who the voice belonged to.

On the edge of the haggling crowd, stood a boy. He looked a bit older than Malon, though not much taller. He was wearing the weirdest clothes Malon had ever seen. He was garbed in a long, pointy hat and a tunic, both of which were green. He wore a brown, leather belt and boots, and, on his back, there was what looked to be a plank of wood. He was tapping people, trying and failing to get their attention.

"Hey, hey you! Can you help me?" He said, but was pushed away from the crowd.

"Get outta here, stupid kid." Yelled someone.

He moved around to the other side of the group and began to poke people again. He was pushed away another time. Now he looked more frustrated and tried to push his way through to the stall but was thrown out by the people.

Malon let out a short, loud laugh as she saw him stagger to a halt beside her and try not to fall from being pushed.

He whirled around and glared at her and she clapped her hand to her mouth.

"Sorry," She said, "I never meant to be rude."

The boy seemed to relax a bit and smiled at her. "I can understand why you were laughing at me. I must 'ave looked funny."

Malon looked his clothes over again. "Your clothes are funny too. I've never seen clothes like that before, even in this market."

The boy scratched his head, in what would have been a casual way, if his hat hadn't responded.

"Hey!" It yelled.

Malon jumped at the hat's ability to speak. The boy quickly pulled his hand away from his head and looked upwards at it.

"Sorry Navi." He told the hat.

Malon felt her eyes widen. This boy wasn't… normal. She took a step backwards, getting ready to leave, when a white ball shot out from the boys hat. It stopped in mid-air and fluttered around his head.

Malon squinted up at it and saw that it had wings.

"Is that… a fairy?" She asked, delightedly.

The boy swelled his chest out in pride. "Yup." He said, "Me very own fairy."

"Wow, that's so neat." She said, looking at the fairy.

"Got 'er this mornin'." He elaborated, looking content at the attention she was giving him and his fairy.

"You're not from around here, are you? You're from the forest, where all the fairies are, aren't you?"

"Yeah. I live there." He said. He cast his eyes down and sighed as though he was thinking about something.

Malon decided that she should change the subject. "So then, Fairy Boy, I'm Malon. What did you need help with?"

"Oh, I'm lookin' for the castle."

Malon raised her eyebrows and turned to look behind her. In the distance, on top of a large hill, sat, quite conspicuously, Hyrule castle.

"That castle?" She asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, that's the one." Said Fairy Boy, unfazed to her joke. "How do I get in? I need to see the princess."

"How do you get in?" Repeated Malon, dumbfounded. "You don't. There's guards and everything. You won't be able to get to see the princess." Malon laughed at his silly idea to get into the castle. Fairy Boy however, did not laugh.

"The Great Deku Tree told me to see her, so I will."

"You have a permission notice to get in?"

"Well, not exactly…"

Malon laughed again.

"Excuse me, but if you could just tell me 'ow to get up there, I'll be alrigh' by meself." He said, sounding aggravated.

"Sorry, again." Said Malon. "You go up that hill and follow the path all the way up to the gates. That's where they'll let you in."

"Thanks." said Fairy Boy. He turned around and ran quickly up the hill. Malon, feeling this was too much fun to pass up, followed him at a distance.

At the top of the hill she hid behind the rocky wall and peered round the edge to watch the boy and his fairy. She couldn't hear any words put she saw the guard laugh and point him away. Malon had just enough time to hide behind a tree before he saw that she had followed him.

"Hey," She heard the high pitched voice of his fairy call to him. "Why don't you climb those vines there, and seek around the top."

"You sure I can-?"

"Yes, yes, of course. Come on."

Fairy Boy grabbed the vines and hauled himself up onto the cliff. Then, he ran off and out of sight. Malon stepped out into the pathway and looked up in the direction he disappeared in. She wondered what had made her follow him for a moment but her thoughts were interrupted by a sharp cry of pain or anger, she wasn't sure which. Seconds later, a fuming Fairy Boy ran around the corner. Malon looked away and started to sing a tune to cover herself.

He looked startled to see her.

"What are you doin' 'ere?" He asked.

"I was, erm… looking for my dad." Malon half-lied.

"Your what?" Asked Fairy Boy.

"My daddy." She repeated, more slowly.

He continued to look puzzled. "Yeah, right." Said Fairy Boy sarcastically.

"I was, really. He went up to the castle to deliver milk and should have come back hours ago. He must have fallen asleep. What a thing for an adult to do."

"Were you followin' me?" He asked, rapidly changing the subject.

"No." Malon lied.

"Alrigh' then." He said in a tone that sounded final. He walked over to the vines again.

"Wait a second!" Cried Malon, as her thoughts clicked. "Can you help me out?"

"And do what?" He asked, sounding a little annoyed now at this interruption.

"If you see my dad, will you wake him up for me? Tell him to hurry up."

"Well, I guess it's on my way."

"Oh, here, take this too." He said, pulling the egg out from her pocket.

"Why would I want this?"

"Because my dad's a real heavy sleeper. You'll have to use this to wake him up?" Explained Malon.

"What do I do? Throw it at 'im?"

Malon laughed. "No. Wait until it hatches then make it crow to him."

"Hatch? Crow?"

"Yes." Said Malon, nodding.

"Alrigh' then. Thanks for the present." He said slowly. He turned to go up the vines.

"If you don't feel like keeping the bird, bring him back to me, alright?" Called up to him.

"Bring him back to you? Where do you live?"

"At the ranch, in the middle of Hyrule field, you can't miss it."

"See you later then, Malon." He then climbed the vines and disappeared out of sight again.

Malon turned around and walked back down to the market again. It was getting hotter now and most of the morning rush people were gone. The sun beat down on the cobble stone plaza and reflected a small haze. Malon took her seat at the rim of the fountain and waited.

She saw a dot approaching her, coming down the hill from the castle. It soon became bigger and Malon could just make out her father's structure on Dyna, the milk cart dragging behind them. She ran towards him and he stopped so that so could scramble up onto the horse.

"What took you so long then?" She demanded.

"I'm sorry Missy, but I fell asleep, and if it wasn't for that kid I wouldn't have woken up for a while."

"Fairy Boy woke you up then, did he?" She asked, impressed.

"Fairy Boy? Was that his name then?" Her father joked, "He knew you though, and told me you weren't happy with me."

Malon giggled slightly.

"So what did you spend all your money on then?" He asked her.

"Well, some food and…" She paused for a moment and thought about how she had given her egg away. "A friend." She said, knowing that Fairy Boy would be back to return her pet to her soon.

Yey, new chapter finished. At last! I'm sorry this took so long, but I went on yesterday and it said login was closed. And I was like, "Login Closed?" So it's a little late. Enjoy anyway!

At least the next one won't be as bad. Thanks for reading.

Review if you have any questions or comments or just want to make me feel better about myself.