Chapter 5: Loss of Hope
The tinkling trickle of the river's water mixed with the soft singing of the leaves dancing with the soft breeze, complete with the softness of the grass underfoot was so peaceful that Malon had difficulty believing it was real. That there existed such a place of beauty and harmony in the world... a month ago, she would have never even have considered the possibility. Epona was grazing nearby, and Link lay sprawled on the grass a meter or two away. The horse sidled closer to him, finally standing over him, and nuzzled against his neck. Link murmured something incoherent and stroked her shiny, white mane.
Malon watched with a smile. Epona and Link were her best, closest and only friends she had, and she loved them with all her heart and soul. Epona wandered off once more, leaving Malon with a better view of the young man. He wore his green tunic today, with his ever-present sword and shield in a heap near his pack. Navi hovered nearby, silent for once, seeming to be making some kind of game by floating from flower to flower and perching on its petals. Link looked to be, as he usual was, lost in thought, staring up at the many clouds in the sky.
Malon wondered about him. They had grown much, much closer over the past month, and their relationship had developed into a seemingly unbreakable bond. He'd had an amazing affect on her confidence and sense of self, which was amazing considering everything she'd been through before she'd met him... again. She'd shared everything with him: her opinions, her worries, her thoughts, her life. And yet, he persisted in being silent and mysterious, even when he knew every scrap there was to know about her. She was not resentful, but she wished that once, just once, he would be open and willing to talk to her about himself. All she knew about him was what she could remember him telling her as a child. He was from Kokiri Forest, and he'd left to search for treasure. And whenever she tried to coax more from him, he would get an odd clench in his jaw that said quite plainly, "I won't speak a word."
She slinked toward him as softly as she could, leaned over him, and looked down into his face. His eyes were closed, and his breathing deep. She didn't think he was sleeping, but just to make sure, she whispered into his ear.
"Link, are you sleeping?"
He opened his eyes, and she was struck with the incredibly blue brilliance of them. She had always thought her eyes were a pretty shade of sapphire, but they were like a dull grey compared to his. He smiled, and reached up to run his hands through her sun-red hair.
"You're so beautiful, Malon."
It was then that she was struck with a sense of mischief and curiosity so strong that it was much too tempting to pass up the opportunity.
"Even more beautiful then Zelda?" she asked sweetly, hoping she had caught him off his guard. Ever since she'd seen the crest of the Royal Family engraved into the hilt of his sword, she'd had suspicions that he had connections with the Royal Family, and she was determined to discover what sort of link he had with it.
"Most definitely..." Link replied, and her heart sang. However, her triumph was very short-lived. "...you little schemer. Why the devil do you keep trying to spring answers from me?" He didn't seem very angry, only bemused. He propped himself up on his elbows and looked at her levelly.
Malon sighed. She would wager ten to one this would not go well. These talks never did. "I love you, Link, and you know that. I'd do anything for, and I don't keep anything from you. I just wish you could return the favour. I don't need for you to tell me every detail of your life, but I know nothing about you, and that bothers me, because I care for you, and I want us to be apart of each other."
He looked grimmer and more indecisive then she'd ever seen him before. It seemed as though he was contemplating whether she could handle the truth or not. Malon wondered what could possibly be so bad.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Link said quietly after a long moment. However, she caught the hint of question in his tone. He was asking her whether she would believe him, no matter how ridiculous his claim. She nodded encouragingly.
"I would, Link. You know I would."
He heaved another sigh, and looked about himself as though seeking a way out. After another long pause, he said. "I'm the Hero of Time."
Of all the things he could have said, this was the last Malon had expected. Her mouth dropped open in complete and utter shock and (though she tried to hide it) disbelief. The Hero of Time, destined to save Hyrule and the world from destruction, legendary time-traveller, breaker of all laws? He couldn't possibly be all that. Stories about the Hero of Time were all full of great adventures and evil demons and pretty princesses. The Hero certainly never fell in love with a simple ranch girl, not unless she was a princess in disguise. She told Link all this, and only when she was finished did she realize that she had been babbling.
"You have to believe me on this, Malon," he said. "Proof I have, if that's what you want, though it'd mean so much to me if you could trust me without it."
She smiled and sat down in his lap, facing him, with her arms wrapped around his middle. "I believe you." Her eyes narrowed suddenly. "Is Zelda prettier then me? Because like it or not, you and I are quite serious, and I can't have you chasing other women, no matter how... pretty..." she trailed off, drowned out by Link's lips on hers. It enraged her, and made her feel like kissing him until the end of time. Of all the ways to make her be quiet, he had to pick the most gentle, intoxicating, heart melting one there was. What did it matter, really, if he thought Zelda was prettier? The fact that he was here, now, toying with her hair and kissing her like that, was all she needed to know.
She struggled to hold her thoughts together as they were swept away in a tidal wave of emotion. The words she had been about to say seemed so small beside Link's soft kiss, his gentle touch. If she spoke, she would ruin this blissful moment. Somewhere in the back of her mind, a shout told her to hold strong, to not give in. It slowly sank in, and with tremendous effort, she pulled away, and her heart seemed wilt from the absence of the closeness that she and he had shared seconds before. "You know, that's not going to work. You can't just kiss me whenever you want to avoid answering a question." Breathlessness tinged her voice.
Link smiled his mischievous smile, that odd, lop-sided grin she'd come to adore seeing on his face and in his eyes. "Can't I?" The crash of emotions flooded in once more, banishing every thought her head had held, as he kissed her again with much more care. Malon surrendered to the overpowering feelings Link had erupted from deep inside of her. She had no doubt in her mind that this was true love, but a nagging feeling knotted her stomach. She did love Link, but he couldn't possibly be the Hero of Time. She didn't know why he would lie to her about that, but though she wanted to believe him, she just couldn't.
Three whole weeks passed without word or sight of Link, and the happiness Malon felt whenever she saw him had long since wilted. He used to see her all the time. He'd sneak into the stable and wrap his arms around her and murmur loving, comforting words. She lived for those encounters, for those quiet whispers and gentle strokes through her long red hair. But she'd not seen him in twenty-one days, and her desperation was growing each morning that she waited and waited to be disappointed each time. A bubble of fear had developed in the pit of her stomach, though she tried to ignore it. Fear that he had been pretending to care for her, that he'd just fed her a pack of lies for a kiss or two. She'd lie awake at night, those haunting thoughts floating around in her mind. No matter how hard she tried to stamp on them, they would not go away. No matter how insistent were her explanations for his long absence, they remained always.
She would pace the length of her tiny room, trying to work things out, but it led only to tears of pain and frustration. This hurt too much, more then anything Ingo had ever done to her. These doubts that boiled constantly inside of her were slowly ebbing away at her sanity, and she knew, but could do nothing to stop them, no matter how hard she tried. Three weeks doesn't seem that long to you or I, but to a young woman, forced to work under the eyes of a half-mad creature of a man who hit her without so much as a blink of his eye, it seemed like years. On top of it all, she spent her nights lying awake in her bed, tossing and turning with her troubles and her aching body, and the bit of sleep she managed to catch was haunted with nightmares. She was more miserable and depressed then she'd ever felt in her life. To have something so wonderful enter your life and disappear a month later was unbearable.
One night, after Ingo had retired to his room, Malon began to climb the ladder up to her hayloft, and paused to stare at the bloody cut on her hand. She studied it with a frown. Ingo had given it to her but moments ago, that she knew, but she could not remember why, or with what, or ... if he had done it at all. What if it hadn't been Ingo? What it had been her? She shivered. Had she gone insane? She tried to tear her eyes away from the gash, but could not. She stood at the foot of the ladder for a full ten minutes, staring at the hand that hung limply on a rung.
During that time, she was as still and expressionless as a boulder. The darkness around her was deep and penetrating, and seemed to come from her as much as surround her. The silence was eerie; the horses and cows made no noise at all. The first movement she made was to remove her hand from the ladder. She did so so subtly and calmly that she barely noticed it herself. Without any hesitation she stepped out of the stable and walked down the path.
She was stiff and erect, deadly calm and almost regal. Her boots made next to no noise on the packed dirt of the road, and her step was sure and steady. The chill of the night did not seem to bother her, even though she wore nothing but a thin, white summer dress. Moonlight peered behind a cloud down upon the earth, and the effect was so strange and spooky that anyone who witnessed the scene would undoubtedly be terrified to see a lone woman walking as though in a trance, wearing nothing but thin cloth, from the ranch down the hill and on, with eyes cold and face blank.
All through the night she walked, never faltering or slowing, never changing direction or showing any sign of life other then the movement of her legs. Her mind was as blank as her face; she just walked, on and on. When she grew hungry, she pushed the very thought away. When she grew tired, she shut out the possibility. She no longer cared for anything or anyone. She was nothing, and she had no ideas, no feelings. She concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other, and nothing else.
She didn't really understand what it was she was doing, or why. She had just come to the conclusion, after that brief period of serious discovery of self earlier on that night, that she no longer wanted anything to do with herself or her past. She was dead inside, and she wanted to get away. If Ingo... No. She would not think of him. He was apart of her past, and had no business in her reflections now. Link would... No! Link was a thing of yesterday. She had to erase everything from before. She had to get as far away as she could from that cursed ranch and that cursed life and love.
And so she walked on, past Hyrule castle, and into the forest surrounding all of Hyrule. All that night, and the day after, she continued. By dusk, she was exhausted, dehydrated and starving, but she refused to stop. She had to get away. She didn't notice when she started to slump, nor when she began to totter crazily, trying vainly to keep on her feet. Finally, she collapsed on the ground, and lost consciousness.
Blue. Red. Green. Yellow.
Blurred patches of colours clouded her vision. Her body ached terribly, and she felt extremely cold and extremely hot at the same time. Sweat beaded on her forehead, but she couldn't raise a hand to wipe it off.
"Malon? Can you hear me? Are you awake, hun?"
She blinked her eyes furiously, trying to clear the blurs from her sight. They only seemed to mould together more intricately. No smells touched her nose, and no tastes her tongue, as though her senses were not functioning. She squirmed where she laid, trying to muster the strength to sit up straight, but it was useless. Her body felt like melted butter. No, flaming butter: her limbs, chest, throat and eyes burned excruciatingly.
Where was she? What had happened? How long had she lain unconscious on the forest floor? Had someone found her? Brief thoughts slugged across the otherwise emptiness of her mind. When they did, she tried to reach out and grab them, but as soon as she caught an idea, it evaporated before she could begin to consider it. So she lay there, vulnerable and thoughtless, not able to do anything else.
After a moment, she felt something touch her forehead. If she could have moved, she would have brought up a hand to swat it away, whatever it was. The first emotion since awakening breached the blankness of her mind. Fear.
"Malon," came a murmur from somewhere over her head. "Wake up, girl." She strained her ears, trying to hear more of the voice. She didn't know why, but it was important to listen to what it said. Again, questions tried to form in her mind, but vanished as soon as she tried to grasp them.
Fear still rimmed the edge of her thoughts, mixed in with the hot and cold spells that were assailing and the pain in her limbs and head. She felt utterly powerless without sight or movement. It was more then she could bear to wait here at the mercy of whoever or whatever was talking to her and touching her. Taking a deep breath that seemed to gnaw at her throat and chest, she brought up a hand to touch the thing on her forehead. It was smooth, warm and fleshy. Ignoring the pain that stabbed at her muscles, she traced it's contour, felt the hard nails, shallow crevices, long fingers and rough skin of a hand. It squeezed her own reassuringly and a strange feeling crossed the blankness of her mind. Trust? Doubt? Terror?
Her vision began to clear, the blurs beginning to separate and become individual objects instead of one whole mess of colours. She was sitting on her back, staring up into a cloudy sky half hidden by outstretched leaves that swayed in a light breeze. She turned her head, tracing a dirt path with her eyes; it's brown ribbon led off into a bend in the forest trail. White and violet wildflowers grew on it's edge, and Malon caught a glimpse of a bird fluttering through the high bows of a tree. Such a sense of peace was almost unimaginable when there was such turmoil in her heart. Thoughts that had evaded her before were now quite present, now that her mind seemed to have cleared, and they were not happy ones.
Suddenly, she remembered the person with whom her fingers were twined, and snapped her head back so quickly she winced at the pain it caused in her neck. She took in the short brown beard, rough sun-darkened skin and soft grey eyes almost like in a dream. In an instant that seemed eternity, she gazed up into her father's face with such joy that all the pain she had suffered during his absence shrunk and paled by comparison. Tears glistened in Talon's eyes as he stroked his daughter's forehead. Words were useless, explanations were unnecessary. If Malon could have spent the rest of her life laying here crying with her Daddy for the indescribable joy they had been blessed with, she would have. After almost two years separated from him, she was finally back with her father.
The tinkling trickle of the river's water mixed with the soft singing of the leaves dancing with the soft breeze, complete with the softness of the grass underfoot was so peaceful that Malon had difficulty believing it was real. That there existed such a place of beauty and harmony in the world... a month ago, she would have never even have considered the possibility. Epona was grazing nearby, and Link lay sprawled on the grass a meter or two away. The horse sidled closer to him, finally standing over him, and nuzzled against his neck. Link murmured something incoherent and stroked her shiny, white mane.
Malon watched with a smile. Epona and Link were her best, closest and only friends she had, and she loved them with all her heart and soul. Epona wandered off once more, leaving Malon with a better view of the young man. He wore his green tunic today, with his ever-present sword and shield in a heap near his pack. Navi hovered nearby, silent for once, seeming to be making some kind of game by floating from flower to flower and perching on its petals. Link looked to be, as he usual was, lost in thought, staring up at the many clouds in the sky.
Malon wondered about him. They had grown much, much closer over the past month, and their relationship had developed into a seemingly unbreakable bond. He'd had an amazing affect on her confidence and sense of self, which was amazing considering everything she'd been through before she'd met him... again. She'd shared everything with him: her opinions, her worries, her thoughts, her life. And yet, he persisted in being silent and mysterious, even when he knew every scrap there was to know about her. She was not resentful, but she wished that once, just once, he would be open and willing to talk to her about himself. All she knew about him was what she could remember him telling her as a child. He was from Kokiri Forest, and he'd left to search for treasure. And whenever she tried to coax more from him, he would get an odd clench in his jaw that said quite plainly, "I won't speak a word."
She slinked toward him as softly as she could, leaned over him, and looked down into his face. His eyes were closed, and his breathing deep. She didn't think he was sleeping, but just to make sure, she whispered into his ear.
"Link, are you sleeping?"
He opened his eyes, and she was struck with the incredibly blue brilliance of them. She had always thought her eyes were a pretty shade of sapphire, but they were like a dull grey compared to his. He smiled, and reached up to run his hands through her sun-red hair.
"You're so beautiful, Malon."
It was then that she was struck with a sense of mischief and curiosity so strong that it was much too tempting to pass up the opportunity.
"Even more beautiful then Zelda?" she asked sweetly, hoping she had caught him off his guard. Ever since she'd seen the crest of the Royal Family engraved into the hilt of his sword, she'd had suspicions that he had connections with the Royal Family, and she was determined to discover what sort of link he had with it.
"Most definitely..." Link replied, and her heart sang. However, her triumph was very short-lived. "...you little schemer. Why the devil do you keep trying to spring answers from me?" He didn't seem very angry, only bemused. He propped himself up on his elbows and looked at her levelly.
Malon sighed. She would wager ten to one this would not go well. These talks never did. "I love you, Link, and you know that. I'd do anything for, and I don't keep anything from you. I just wish you could return the favour. I don't need for you to tell me every detail of your life, but I know nothing about you, and that bothers me, because I care for you, and I want us to be apart of each other."
He looked grimmer and more indecisive then she'd ever seen him before. It seemed as though he was contemplating whether she could handle the truth or not. Malon wondered what could possibly be so bad.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Link said quietly after a long moment. However, she caught the hint of question in his tone. He was asking her whether she would believe him, no matter how ridiculous his claim. She nodded encouragingly.
"I would, Link. You know I would."
He heaved another sigh, and looked about himself as though seeking a way out. After another long pause, he said. "I'm the Hero of Time."
Of all the things he could have said, this was the last Malon had expected. Her mouth dropped open in complete and utter shock and (though she tried to hide it) disbelief. The Hero of Time, destined to save Hyrule and the world from destruction, legendary time-traveller, breaker of all laws? He couldn't possibly be all that. Stories about the Hero of Time were all full of great adventures and evil demons and pretty princesses. The Hero certainly never fell in love with a simple ranch girl, not unless she was a princess in disguise. She told Link all this, and only when she was finished did she realize that she had been babbling.
"You have to believe me on this, Malon," he said. "Proof I have, if that's what you want, though it'd mean so much to me if you could trust me without it."
She smiled and sat down in his lap, facing him, with her arms wrapped around his middle. "I believe you." Her eyes narrowed suddenly. "Is Zelda prettier then me? Because like it or not, you and I are quite serious, and I can't have you chasing other women, no matter how... pretty..." she trailed off, drowned out by Link's lips on hers. It enraged her, and made her feel like kissing him until the end of time. Of all the ways to make her be quiet, he had to pick the most gentle, intoxicating, heart melting one there was. What did it matter, really, if he thought Zelda was prettier? The fact that he was here, now, toying with her hair and kissing her like that, was all she needed to know.
She struggled to hold her thoughts together as they were swept away in a tidal wave of emotion. The words she had been about to say seemed so small beside Link's soft kiss, his gentle touch. If she spoke, she would ruin this blissful moment. Somewhere in the back of her mind, a shout told her to hold strong, to not give in. It slowly sank in, and with tremendous effort, she pulled away, and her heart seemed wilt from the absence of the closeness that she and he had shared seconds before. "You know, that's not going to work. You can't just kiss me whenever you want to avoid answering a question." Breathlessness tinged her voice.
Link smiled his mischievous smile, that odd, lop-sided grin she'd come to adore seeing on his face and in his eyes. "Can't I?" The crash of emotions flooded in once more, banishing every thought her head had held, as he kissed her again with much more care. Malon surrendered to the overpowering feelings Link had erupted from deep inside of her. She had no doubt in her mind that this was true love, but a nagging feeling knotted her stomach. She did love Link, but he couldn't possibly be the Hero of Time. She didn't know why he would lie to her about that, but though she wanted to believe him, she just couldn't.
Three whole weeks passed without word or sight of Link, and the happiness Malon felt whenever she saw him had long since wilted. He used to see her all the time. He'd sneak into the stable and wrap his arms around her and murmur loving, comforting words. She lived for those encounters, for those quiet whispers and gentle strokes through her long red hair. But she'd not seen him in twenty-one days, and her desperation was growing each morning that she waited and waited to be disappointed each time. A bubble of fear had developed in the pit of her stomach, though she tried to ignore it. Fear that he had been pretending to care for her, that he'd just fed her a pack of lies for a kiss or two. She'd lie awake at night, those haunting thoughts floating around in her mind. No matter how hard she tried to stamp on them, they would not go away. No matter how insistent were her explanations for his long absence, they remained always.
She would pace the length of her tiny room, trying to work things out, but it led only to tears of pain and frustration. This hurt too much, more then anything Ingo had ever done to her. These doubts that boiled constantly inside of her were slowly ebbing away at her sanity, and she knew, but could do nothing to stop them, no matter how hard she tried. Three weeks doesn't seem that long to you or I, but to a young woman, forced to work under the eyes of a half-mad creature of a man who hit her without so much as a blink of his eye, it seemed like years. On top of it all, she spent her nights lying awake in her bed, tossing and turning with her troubles and her aching body, and the bit of sleep she managed to catch was haunted with nightmares. She was more miserable and depressed then she'd ever felt in her life. To have something so wonderful enter your life and disappear a month later was unbearable.
One night, after Ingo had retired to his room, Malon began to climb the ladder up to her hayloft, and paused to stare at the bloody cut on her hand. She studied it with a frown. Ingo had given it to her but moments ago, that she knew, but she could not remember why, or with what, or ... if he had done it at all. What if it hadn't been Ingo? What it had been her? She shivered. Had she gone insane? She tried to tear her eyes away from the gash, but could not. She stood at the foot of the ladder for a full ten minutes, staring at the hand that hung limply on a rung.
During that time, she was as still and expressionless as a boulder. The darkness around her was deep and penetrating, and seemed to come from her as much as surround her. The silence was eerie; the horses and cows made no noise at all. The first movement she made was to remove her hand from the ladder. She did so so subtly and calmly that she barely noticed it herself. Without any hesitation she stepped out of the stable and walked down the path.
She was stiff and erect, deadly calm and almost regal. Her boots made next to no noise on the packed dirt of the road, and her step was sure and steady. The chill of the night did not seem to bother her, even though she wore nothing but a thin, white summer dress. Moonlight peered behind a cloud down upon the earth, and the effect was so strange and spooky that anyone who witnessed the scene would undoubtedly be terrified to see a lone woman walking as though in a trance, wearing nothing but thin cloth, from the ranch down the hill and on, with eyes cold and face blank.
All through the night she walked, never faltering or slowing, never changing direction or showing any sign of life other then the movement of her legs. Her mind was as blank as her face; she just walked, on and on. When she grew hungry, she pushed the very thought away. When she grew tired, she shut out the possibility. She no longer cared for anything or anyone. She was nothing, and she had no ideas, no feelings. She concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other, and nothing else.
She didn't really understand what it was she was doing, or why. She had just come to the conclusion, after that brief period of serious discovery of self earlier on that night, that she no longer wanted anything to do with herself or her past. She was dead inside, and she wanted to get away. If Ingo... No. She would not think of him. He was apart of her past, and had no business in her reflections now. Link would... No! Link was a thing of yesterday. She had to erase everything from before. She had to get as far away as she could from that cursed ranch and that cursed life and love.
And so she walked on, past Hyrule castle, and into the forest surrounding all of Hyrule. All that night, and the day after, she continued. By dusk, she was exhausted, dehydrated and starving, but she refused to stop. She had to get away. She didn't notice when she started to slump, nor when she began to totter crazily, trying vainly to keep on her feet. Finally, she collapsed on the ground, and lost consciousness.
Blue. Red. Green. Yellow.
Blurred patches of colours clouded her vision. Her body ached terribly, and she felt extremely cold and extremely hot at the same time. Sweat beaded on her forehead, but she couldn't raise a hand to wipe it off.
"Malon? Can you hear me? Are you awake, hun?"
She blinked her eyes furiously, trying to clear the blurs from her sight. They only seemed to mould together more intricately. No smells touched her nose, and no tastes her tongue, as though her senses were not functioning. She squirmed where she laid, trying to muster the strength to sit up straight, but it was useless. Her body felt like melted butter. No, flaming butter: her limbs, chest, throat and eyes burned excruciatingly.
Where was she? What had happened? How long had she lain unconscious on the forest floor? Had someone found her? Brief thoughts slugged across the otherwise emptiness of her mind. When they did, she tried to reach out and grab them, but as soon as she caught an idea, it evaporated before she could begin to consider it. So she lay there, vulnerable and thoughtless, not able to do anything else.
After a moment, she felt something touch her forehead. If she could have moved, she would have brought up a hand to swat it away, whatever it was. The first emotion since awakening breached the blankness of her mind. Fear.
"Malon," came a murmur from somewhere over her head. "Wake up, girl." She strained her ears, trying to hear more of the voice. She didn't know why, but it was important to listen to what it said. Again, questions tried to form in her mind, but vanished as soon as she tried to grasp them.
Fear still rimmed the edge of her thoughts, mixed in with the hot and cold spells that were assailing and the pain in her limbs and head. She felt utterly powerless without sight or movement. It was more then she could bear to wait here at the mercy of whoever or whatever was talking to her and touching her. Taking a deep breath that seemed to gnaw at her throat and chest, she brought up a hand to touch the thing on her forehead. It was smooth, warm and fleshy. Ignoring the pain that stabbed at her muscles, she traced it's contour, felt the hard nails, shallow crevices, long fingers and rough skin of a hand. It squeezed her own reassuringly and a strange feeling crossed the blankness of her mind. Trust? Doubt? Terror?
Her vision began to clear, the blurs beginning to separate and become individual objects instead of one whole mess of colours. She was sitting on her back, staring up into a cloudy sky half hidden by outstretched leaves that swayed in a light breeze. She turned her head, tracing a dirt path with her eyes; it's brown ribbon led off into a bend in the forest trail. White and violet wildflowers grew on it's edge, and Malon caught a glimpse of a bird fluttering through the high bows of a tree. Such a sense of peace was almost unimaginable when there was such turmoil in her heart. Thoughts that had evaded her before were now quite present, now that her mind seemed to have cleared, and they were not happy ones.
Suddenly, she remembered the person with whom her fingers were twined, and snapped her head back so quickly she winced at the pain it caused in her neck. She took in the short brown beard, rough sun-darkened skin and soft grey eyes almost like in a dream. In an instant that seemed eternity, she gazed up into her father's face with such joy that all the pain she had suffered during his absence shrunk and paled by comparison. Tears glistened in Talon's eyes as he stroked his daughter's forehead. Words were useless, explanations were unnecessary. If Malon could have spent the rest of her life laying here crying with her Daddy for the indescribable joy they had been blessed with, she would have. After almost two years separated from him, she was finally back with her father.