Malon heard Granny's words, heard them but denied them with a child-like certainty, there had to be
some way to save him. Link couldn't die, not when she had just begun to care for him.
"Can anyone cut the cloth away from the wound?" she asked, her voice soft and strained.
There was a long silence filled with question, and then a young man stepped closer to the dying boy,
taking a hunting knife out of his back pocket. The dried blood acted as an adhesive, attaching skin
to tunic, forcing the man to tear the cloth away and re-open the wound. Link jumped slightly at the
new pain, so Malon captured his hand in her own and, after a moment's uncertainty, let her magic
run rampant over his wounds to ease the hurt.
"Malon, you would need to concentrate for hours to heal that wound, if you try anyway you'll just
hurt yourself." There was a controlled amount of anger in the hag's voice, but she was more worried
than cross.
The young girl just smiled slightly, resting her palms against the festering gash in Link's side and
closing her eyes. She listened to the sound of his heartbeat, quickening her own pulse to match the
pace. In her mind's eyes she identified all the blood that was slowly oozing out of the injury and
imagined it stopping and slowly running back into the veins. Next she envisioned the veins coming
back together, the muscles wrapping back around the ribs, renewed.
The people of Kakariko watched in amazement as the boy's side began to rebuild itself, strands of
white magic flowing from the young sorceress' fingers. Several of the threads bound themselves to
the healed muscles and veins, making them permanent, the rest of the magical cords liquefied and
turned to blood, restoring all that which had been spilled on the ground.
Perspiration trickled down Malon's face, stinging her eyes for a moment when she opened them.
Link stared back at her, unruly blonde hair falling into cerulean eyes while the rest of his face
displayed his confusion. His breathing was returning to normal, his pale face gaining more color.
Relief flooded her and she tried to smile, but faltered as a wave of dizziness hit her and she fell
forward. Blackness swam at the edge of her vision and she tried to stand only to realize her limbs
wouldn't respond. Several people starting talking at once and Malon made out Granny shouting
something unintelligible above the clamor. A sudden, sharp pain hit her squarely in the chest and she
fell fully into the comfort of unconsciousness.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
There were voices, garbled and disembodied, they seemed to be whispering and Malon had to strive
to hear.
"She nearly died, her heart stopped and I had to shock her with a lightning spell to start it up again."
"Thank ya, will she be alright now?"
"I think so, just don't let her try another magic spell for a while, she drained herself to the point of
death and her power will take a while to build itself back up." Granny paused, then began speaking
again, her tone troubled, "I must apologize to you Talon, I should never have taught her to do such
things, she was far too young when we began and she still is now. Perhaps if I-"
"I don't blame ya." Her father interrupted softly, "Prob'ly better that ya did teach her to control it,
rather than lettin' her run 'round with it unbridled."
There was silence for a few moments, then, "She's far surpassed myself magically you know,"
Granny's voice was unusually quiet, "Talon, your daughter brought that boy back from Death's
Gate, she may very well be the most powerful sorceress in all of Hyrule."
Malon heard a bit more of the conversation before she fell back asleep, her tired mind
comprehending only once thing. She was alive.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Talon was on the very edge of his sanity. Malon had been out cold for almost a week now; she
hadn't so much as mumbled gibberish in her sleep.
The Old Potion shop keeper and the young kokiri had stayed for the first few days, but eventually
they had to leave. After all, the potion shop needed to be reopened and the world required to be
saved. Talon, however, closed down Lon Lon Ranch so that he could tend to his daughter's needs
until she recovered.
He just wished he knew how long that would take.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The Goron's Ruby was now in Link's possession; one more spiritual stone and his little quest would
be over. Zelda could seal the Sacred Place or whatever it was called from Ganondorf and the world
would once again be safe.
Then why did he feel so bad?
Navi had noticed the rapid decline in her partner's humor and mood, he had been hard to converse
with before but now it was damn near impossible to hold a discussion without him becoming
snappish. She noticed that he tapped his side every once in a while, as if he was making sure it was
really healed, and realized that he was probably just nervous.
"Zora's Domain is our next stop." She reminded him, and then waited for a response. Link simply
nodded. Navi was partly correct in her observation, Link was nervous, but he also felt guilty. Malon
had basically brought him back to life, had almost traded her own life to do so, and he had just left
her in an undetermined state.
His eyes softened as he recalled the look of relief that had flooded her dark blue eyes when she
realized she had saved him, and he felt his heart race. He stopped running suddenly and Navi had to
stop very quickly to avoid crashing into him.
"Navi," he said cautiously, his voice quiet, "Do you think we could stop by the ranch?"
The fairy blinked in surprise, then comprehension dawned and she smiled, "Depends,"
"On what?" the young hero asked.
"Why you want to go there."
"I have an empty bottle, I figured we could get some milk." He sounded irritated, "Do I need an
excuse for everything?"
"You wouldn't if you'd just tell me the truth."
He scowled at her then rolled his eyes, pawing at the ground with the worn toe of his tan boots, "I
want to go see if she's awake."
"Who's she?" the fairy giggled tauntingly.
"Don't push it." He growled, changing his course and running toward Lon Lon Ranch.
'Maybe now he'll be more agreeable.' She thought to herself, smiling happily.
