"I can't believe I get to meet the princess of Hyrule! THE princess Zelda!"

"She's a little tired. Do you have any place she could rest, Malon?"

"Certainly. She can stay in my room! Right this way, your highness."

Malon was a ranch owner's daughter and lead a simple life. If there was anyone we could trust, it would be her. Once the two of them disappeared into the room, My mind began to wander.

Now that I've attacked Mido, the other Kokiri kids will never forget it. Even if I explain, they'll always think of me differently. I was like a little brother to all of them. Soon I'll be bigger than they are. Still Saria will always be on my side. Saria... she wasn't in the forest. I may not be able to fully understand her but I can still try to contact her. I took out my ocarina, but was interrupted.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the forest boy. You certainly do travel with interesting companions," said a sneering voice. "This little tidbit of news may be very interesting to... certain people." I turned to find myself face to chest with Ingo, the ranch hand. I felt a strange tingle in the back of my neck. My sixth sense was acting up again. "Still the strong, silent type? That's fine. Talon says you may stay as long as you like. You are our... honored guests." He turned and walked out the door without a sound. I remembered a time soon to come when Ingo had become a pawn of Ganondorf. I knew that we couldn't stay for much longer.

Zelda awoke after an hour or so and sent Malon to retrieve me. I was a little ticked at being summoned in such a manner. It was a little degrading, but a princess will be a princess after all so I tried to ignore it. I walked up to her door and knocked lightly. Soon a small sounding, almost distant, voice beckoned me inside.

"You feelin' any better?" I asked.

She smiled and said "Yes, thanks to you. Your vocal skills have vastly improved since we first met in the courtyard."

An image of Navi floated into my head but I pushed it out. "There's been a change of plans. Impa is not the only one that has disappeared. A friend of mine, Saria, is also missing. I tried contacting her while you were asleep but there was no response."

"Is there some sort of connection between the two?"

I thought for a moment about whether to tell her or not. If I tell her, will it affect the future? As far as I know, she had no idea about any of the sages until she became one. Maybe she knew and didn't tell me. She did seem to withhold a lot of information from me as Sheik...

"Link! Are you paying attention? I asked you a question."

"Sorry... I... never mind. Look, I know you don't understand but we have to get to Zora's Domain. There is someone there who I suspect will disappear soon." She made a face that was seeping with annoyance, but I couldn't tell her anymore. "You'll just have to trust me on this one."

Her face neutralized after a second, but her voice inherited the acidity from it. "Fine then. At any rate, when will we be off?"

"I figure we'll be safe for at least another day."

"Do you feel that we are being pursued?"

"Not sure. We'll leave tomorrow morning just to be safe." I was about to leave but then I added, "Don't spend the whole day cooped up in here. It's beautiful outside."

I opened the door to find Malon staring at me. While I was still too shocked to speak she smiled innocently and said: "Uh... hi! Just came up to see how the princess was doing."

"I'm fine, thank you," Zelda said. "Link was just leaving. Is there anything you want to talk about?"

"Nope, just wanted to check in."

"I think I'll go get some fresh air then would either of you like to join me?"

"Absolutely... You OK, forest boy?"

At this point I finally shake off my paralysis. "Uh... yeah sure." I began to move away from the two girls. The last thing I heard was Zelda saying: "It appears that you've surprised 'The Unflinching Link'.

I wandered off into the pasture and found Epona, Lon Lon Ranch's youngest pony. "They must train you well for you to get so fast in the future," I said softly. "You may not know it yet, but, in seven years, you'll be the fastest horse alive. I'll come back to get you."

"I thought I was the only one who talked to horses," Malon said, once again catching me by surprise. "I guess it figures. I've never really heard you say much to any human. Must be because of where you're from."

"Uh... well it is... sort of." I told her about my fear of fairies.

"Ohhh... that explains it then, huh? Come to think of it, I haven't seen your fairy friend around. Did something happen to her?"

"We... parted ways." Come to think of it... she wasn't in the forest either... I thought to myself.

"I guess we'll be parting ways soon too..."

"I guess you heard while you were 'checking on Zelda.'" I chuckled lightly. "Yeah. We leave tomorrow morning."

"Who's following you?"

"Not entirely sure. Just do me a favor: if anyone comes looking for me, anyone at all, don't tell them anything. You promise?"

"Cross my heart. By the way, I came to tell you that you're staying in Ingo's room tonight. I hope you don't mind."

My heart rose into my throat. "Not at all."

"OK, then. Also, Epona's old enough to ride now. Why don't you give it a try?"

"All right!!" I couldn't help but feel excited. Technically, it was the first time I had ridden Epona so I assume it seemed natural to Malon, but it was strange to me to be so thrilled about something I had done so much in my past. In retrospect, I suppose it was the fact that I was going to do something purely for pleasure. It had been a while...

"Hop on," Malon encouraged. "Don't be afraid; she likes you." I hop nimbly onto place then with a "Yah!" and a light rap to her bottom I was off. I did a few laps around the corral and everything was fine. Then I became a little brazen. A spotted a small fence that I had never noticed before. It had apparently been constructed recently. I tried to guide Epona to jump over it but she stopped dead on her tracks.

"What's wrong Epona?" I asked. "I know I didn't get the angle wrong. You should be able to jump this with no problems."

"What are you doing, Link?" Malon yelled out. "For a beginning rider, you're pretty confident. You've really never been on a horse before?"

As I opened my mouth to speak, the bay of a wolfos floated to our ears. "Wow! It's pretty late!" I said quickly. Malon tilted her head to the side slightly and gave me an inquiring look. "We should probably head back. Besides, I need you to show me where Ingo's room is."

"OK. Come on." I felt as though I had dodged a hail of arrows. I'm a terrible liar and Malon would have likely seen straight through me.

We finally arrived at the door to Ingo's room and said our goodnights. Just when I was walking over to the bale of hay that had been prepared for me, I remembered something. I opened the door and said, "Did you call me Link?" but by the time I had run outside, Malon had already disappeared into her father's room. I had no idea where that was and I was in no mood for a treasure hunt. I retired back into Ingo's room and searched for a place to sleep. As I was searching I felt a presence behind me. My hand began to itch for a hilt, but I kept my cool. This is not the place to strike without thinking; it may be one of the farmers. I'll wait and see what they do and be ready to dodge if necessary. I moved towards the middle of the room to give myself more room. As I walked I checked my peripheral vision to try and catch sight of the source of my discomfort. I didn't see it but I heard it move so I decided to try to talk. Apparently I was a little late.

"If you need a place to sleep you can take my bed." Ingo. No wonder I was so anxious.

"Thanks, but I'll be fine."

"At least make yourself a bed from this hay. Wouldn't want you to be uncomfortable."

I did make a bed and I did lie down, but I didn't really get much rest. There was still a tingle in the back of my neck. Ingo was not to be trusted.