A/N: Hi, and welcome to the first chapter of The War of Many Colors! This story is set twenty six years after the defeat and sealing of Ganondorf, the King of Evil. Those who read the prologue know that Link and Malon got married five years after this happened. They also had a baby girl five years later. (Ergo, she's sixteen. Didn't you lot take math? Honestly.) This is her story.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Zelda. The only things I own are my own original characters. (e.g., Liliae or Acorn.)

Chapter One: The Domestic Life

"LILIAE! Come to the house, I need you to run some errands for me!" called a voice from the old ranch house beside the equally dilapidated corral. Liliae sighed. She was sitting on top of the corral fence, staring into space; something she had been doing since she was young. Hopping off the structure with surprisingly good dexterity, she noticed it was getting late in the morning. She tossed her mid-back length auburn hair behind her, and started to jog in the direction of the house.

She knew her mother was sending her into the Hyrule village to pick up some things; she sent her twice every week. Liliae launched herself into a loping run and snatched up her hand-made spear on the way to the house. She was good at crafting weapons out of nothing. They had served her well more than once. Hefting her spear loosely in her hand, the sixteen-year old threw it towards the milk barrel top she used for target practice.

WHAM!

The streamlined spear slammed head on into the wooden barrel, hitting the painted cow right between the eyes. This caused the barrel top to wobble furiously against the ranch house, which it was stuck against. Liliae, satisfied smirk intact, yanked it out of its indenture, around which so many holes had already been made that it was a wonder you could tell it was some species of bovine.

"And that," Liliae pronounced smugly to no one in particular, "is a perfect bull's-eye. No need to applaud, ladies and gentlemen," she bowed, also to no one in particular. There was no realization on her part that she had just made an unbelievably bad pun.

"Liliae! Are you coming or not?" came the voice again, albeit this time more insistently. Liliae rolled her eyes and grumbled about how she never got to go anywhere interesting. Sure, the market had its charms, but she wanted to see things other than a load of kids and dogs running around, with chickens to boot. Liliae had inherited her father's propensity for adventure, and was always itching to go out on her own and travel. However, with the ranch, and her parents' overprotectiveness, she couldn't see how it would ever happen. This, among other things, had made her become a little distant from her mother and father. All she wanted was to be free…

"Yes, Mother…" she groaned to herself, trudging toward the door. She pushed it open to reveal a violently red-headed woman standing next to the cooking fire. The woman smiled uncertainly at her, and gestured toward a pair of large saddle bags.

"Hey, sweetie. Would you mind getting some herbs for me? I'm running low on…"

"The usual?" Liliae sighed, grabbing up the saddlebags and standing with her hand on her hip.

Malon looked surprised. Liliae immediately cursed to herself; her mother always tried to interrogate her when she seemed moody. She quickly put on a false smile and darted out the door.

"Got to hurry, sorry mum. Bye!"

Liliae was around the corner and into the barn before Malon could even stick her head out the door. She dashed down the rows of stalls and finally came to Acorn's stall. Her large, cream colored mare tossed her head excitedly. Her brown mane and tail whipped around, nearly catching Liliae in the mouth.

Throwing the saddlebags on Acorn's back, Liliae heaved herself into the saddle and hugged the horse's body with her long legs. Liliae was of an average height and weight; she was no more than a little over five and a half feet tall. She had straight hair and a heart shaped face; no more than the average girl, really, she thought.

Acorn plodded happily through the ranch gates and out of the opening in the wall. Liliae smiled, sharing the feeling with her mare. It felt so good to be out here in the fresh air, looking out over the endless rolling green hills and rises she knew as Hyrule Field. The bright blue sky was above her, all the world ahead. The possibilities seemed endless! But then Liliae remembered her parent's rule, and a rain cloud of sorts seemed to drift over her auburn head. It was hopeless; she would never escape this boring ranch life. She would never see the world. She would never fight a real monster or villain. She would never have an exciting life. She would never-

Acorn neighed suddenly, and turned her great cream colored muzzle toward her rider, sensing her feelings. She whickered softly, and nudged Liliae's knee with her brown nose, seeming sympathetic. Liliae, at first startled by the noise, jumped slightly, but then relaxed and smiled.

"Well at least I've got you," Liliae said to her horse, stroking her neck. She felt a bit better; it was good to have a friend when you felt sad. She really didn't have many friends; all the girls her age were either married, or incredibly ditzy and girly, which she hated. Liliae loathed the fact that all they could find interesting was gossip. Why couldn't they just leave people alone? Liliae amused herself with the imagination of smacking such a one of these girls repeatedly with her spear butt. Oh, if only…

The people that Liliae considered her friends, were, well, pretty eccentric choices. Her favorite person to talk to other than her horse was an old woman who lived in the market. Not exactly your typical bosom friends. But Liliae, thankfully, usually didn't give a rat's ass what cynical people thought of her. The whole reason she didn't have many friends was that, besides being very different from others, everyone thought she was very strange. More often than not, she overheard some old biddy gossiping with her friends about "that girl will never catch a husband, always so spacey and willful." Liliae also heard the other teens talking about her behind their hands with smirks. It didn't matter to them that she was the daughter of the Hero of Time. Sometimes she would walk by and hear one of them say, "I bet they'd be better off without her. The way she dresses….you'd think she never heard of a dress!"

Again the sixteen-year old imagined a rather gory scene where she used the various teens for spear target practice. It was true; Liliae, despite the pleadings of her mother and the secret amusement of her father, hadn't worn a dress or ridden sidesaddle a day in her life. She couldn't see why the other girl her age wore them; bloody encumbering things that they were. Liliae's normal, everyday outfit consisted of tight leather britches that clung to her skin from her hips to her ankles, soft leather boots that came halfway up her lower legs, covering her pants, and a black tunic that looked remarkably like her father's green one. She wore a leather belt around her waist over the tunic, and skin-tight wrist length leather gloves that had holes for the fingers. Her hand-made dagger rested in its scabbard hanging from the belt. Yet two more straps crossed her chest, making an x-shape that more pronounced her breasts than anything else, but still holding her- yes, handmade again- longbow and quiver in place. Her hair reached about the middle of her back, its auburn color contrasting well with her hazel eyes and fair skin.

Liliae shrugged irritably and pulled out of her thoughts. What good was it thinking about that when it was such a beautiful day? What better way to forget her troubles than take a ride on a gorgeous summer day and let her mind rest? Lately, she'd been preoccupied with frustrated thoughts of self pity; she really needed to snap out of it.

Thus decided, Liliae nudged Acorn into a livelier step and admired the scenery. The sky was as blue as her father's eyes; wispy clouds were scattered here and there. She could see birds chasing each other around a lone tree next to the path to the castle as the huge gray structure loomed up ahead of her. Once next to the drawbridge, she hollered up at the window.

"Lower the drawbridge! Can't you see it's an hour after noon?"

An answering caterwaul echoed out of the castle.

"Can't you see I'm busy here, feeding my bananas? Be off with you, foul brethren of the cheese lord!" It yelped, sounding a bit drunk. There were a few resounding hiccups, and maybe a fart following this.

Liliae groaned, contemplating getting off of her horse and banging her head on the stone drawbridge landing. Why? Why did they always have to have the stupid, pea-brained guards manning the drawbridge EVERY time she came? It had to be bad karma, or she was the queen of the deku scrubs. Oh, and no, it couldn't be just be any psychotic guard, it had to be Jerald! Everyone knew he was a little loopy and liked Hyrule Special Brew just a little too much, but now Liliae knew too much for her liking. What in the bloody flaming blazes were bananas? She'd heard they grew far, far away in the middle of something called the ocean, but she didn't even know what that was.

"Jerald, you idiotic piece of dung! LOWER THE GODDAMNED DRAWBRIDGE NOW!" Liliae yelped back up at the window of the upstairs gatehouse.

A resounding raspberry came back in her direction, followed by maniacal laughter.

"MUWAHAHAHAHA! You shall never get in this love shack, young grasshoppa!"

At this, Liliae finally lost her patience. She whipped out her bow, knocked an arrow, and let fly at the wooden switch just visible though the gatehouse window. It struck home with a TWANG, snapping the lever up instantly. The entire drawbridge slammed down with a thunderous bang, causing Acorn to rear and scream and someone inside the gatehouse to yell, "PLATYPUS! She's done it again!"

Liliae dug her heels into the mare's sides, and Acorn shot over the drawbridge like a dog toward the kitchen when the dinner bell is rung. As Liliae managed to stop the terrified Acorn before she ran over some village dog in the street leading to the square, she rolled her eyes and made a mental note to poison her arrows next time she came.

The village was fairly quiet, for once, and Liliae heaved a huge sigh of relief. At least now she could get the damned groceries; taking care of Jerald had taken about half an hour of her time. She steered Acorn down the cobblestoned street, smiling when she saw an old woman come out of one of the stone houses that lined the back alley next to the treasure shop.

"Mother Arosni!" she called, waving energetically. This was one of her few friends; she was very wise and, like Liliae, didn't care what people thought of her. Liliae loved to talk to her; it calmed her and always gave her good advice. She could talk to Mother Arosni about things she would never consider talking about with her parents.

"Oh, hello, dear. Why don't you stop by after picking up your mother's things? I'll make cookies and tea," the old woman said cheerfully.

"I'd love that. I'll be back in an hour, do you mind?"

"Not at all. Come when you like."

Liliae, if possible, felt even more calmed at the prospect of tea with her old friend. Maybe she could ask her what she should do about how she felt about her confinement to the ranch. She was sure Mother Arosni would come up with something. She always did.

Liliae hopped down off of Acorn and led her to the stables so she could rest before she came back with the load of groceries. The horse whickered and rubbed her nose against the girl's belt-pouches, knowing that somewhere in there was a lump of sugary goodness. Liliae laughed, and playfully shoved Acorn's nose away.

"I'll get you some carrots with the other things, okay? No sugar today."

As she walked down the street, Liliae noticed that a lot of stalls were set up today; more than usual. The quiet market she had entered at one seemed to have been on a lunch break. The square was now teeming with people. Villager after villager shoved and tackled one another to get to items they exclusively wanted; it was turning into a regular hockey game (as we know it, anyway) and the guards were having trouble. Kids tumbled in and out of rioting crowds next to stalls, chasing dogs, chickens, each other, and who knows what else. They seemed to be having a good time.

Liliae cracked her knuckles. Same as always, she would have to bash her way through to get what she wanted. Starting southwest of the stall she wanted, she started to elbow indignant men and women out of the way.

"OW! Hey, that was my new breastplate!"

"What are you DOING?"

"Thief!"

Rolling her eyes, Liliae continued to barrel her way through.

"Augh! Stupid kid!"

"Argh! My spleen!"

Finally reaching her destination, Liliae paid for the herbs her mother wanted and got out of the furious crowd as fast as she could. She couldn't help if it she was assertive.

Liliae walked down the dusty alleyway with her bundle, looking at the doors to confirm which one was Mother Arosni's. When she found the one with the slash in its wood above the doorknob, she smiled slightly and opened it.

"Oh, hello, dear! You're a bit early. Here, sit down."

Liliae sniffed the air appreciatively as she walked into the small, three-room house. It smelled of dough and honey. She looked around the kitchen; it was a large, square room with a squashy blue-checkered couch on the east wall from the door, a small table in the middle of the room for eating, a fireplace in the west wall, and a sink, cabinet, pot hanger and counters to the northwest corner. There was also a stone oven embedded in the wall above the fireplace. Currently, the old woman was pulling a pan of fresh baked cookies out of the oven and putting them on a plate. She gave Liliae a warm smile, and her eyes twinkled.

"Come on, sit down. You have that look in your eye that tells me that you have a problem that you need me to help you with."

Liliae immediately flushed, not realizing how obvious it was.

"Sorry," she muttered, abashed, sitting at the small rectangular table and grabbing a cookie quickly. After munching surreptitiously for a while, Liliae finally let out a groan of submission.

"All right, all right! So I do have huge problems…but it's kind of embarrassing that you already know I purposely came for help." She said, nervously crumbling her second cookie. Mother Arosni smiled at her again.

"So…as the young people say these days, spit it out! What is troubling you, child?"

"Well, it's just that-that I'm sick of being caged in my own home. I want to be free. I don't want to stay there for the rest of my life, mucking stables, feeding livestock…I want to travel! But my mother and father will never let me, because they want me to marry a respectable-"-she made a face-"-husband. Well, at least my mother does. My father might let me leave…but I doubt it. I don't want to die in that stupid ranch!"

The old woman's face darkened momentarily, but then she relaxed.

"Liliae, I think you are right. But, how will you escape?"

Her use of the last word in the sentence sparked an idea in Liliae's head.

"Escape…escape! That's it! I'll sneak out tomorrow night!"

"I knew you would come to a decision eventually, child," said Mother Arosni, looking seriously into the girl's eyes. "Know this: It is better to be in danger, but free and happy, than to be safe, but imprisoned and miserable. You are like a bird, but you have a decision of whether you truly want to be free or not. Now, I think you have something to attend to..?"

Liliae jumped guiltily as she pointed to the full bags, and then to the window, which showed a reddening sunset.

"Oh, crap! Sorry, thanks for the cookies and advice gotta run!" she yelled, careering out the door and dashing for the stables. Mother Arosni smiled to herself as she watched the girl run. That child had big things in store for her…she just knew it.

Liliae threw the saddlebags unceremoniously over Acorn's back and vaulted onto her in turn. The indignant mare snorted, but allowed herself to be guided out of the stables and ridden hell-for-leather toward the drawbridge. It seems Jerald had been removed from his shift, for the guards did not hesitate to let Liliae through before they closed the drawbridge for the night.

The sky was a deep reddish pink, purple toward the horizon, and a silvery moon was just starting to peek over the edge of the earth when Liliae finally thundered into the ranch, swinging off of Acorn before she had even stopped running. She hastily unsaddled the mare, rubbed her down and shoved a carrot into the surprised horse's feeding trough.

"Sorry, Acorn, but I gotta run. I'll see you tomorrow morning," Liliae said, and ran for the house with the bundle. Malon had just opened the door to see if she was at home, so apparently she had made good time. Her mother smiled when she handed her the sack of herbs.

"Thank you so much, sweetie. It's time for dinner, come in and wash your hands."

Being tired and dusty from the ride home, Liliae complied and sat down to dinner after washing herself with water from the well outside. After a few minutes of waiting, the door opened, and her father walked in the door, looking happy when he saw his wife and daughter waiting for him. He looked pretty much the same as he had twenty six years ago when he defeated Ganon; maybe a little aged. He still wore the same old forest green tunic with the biggoron sword strapped to his back. Since he had had to lay the master sword to sleep to seal evil away, he kept this relic of his adventures, and it served a good purpose of not only defending him from enemies, but also of chopping wood.

"Hey, my little honeypots, how are you?" Link said, giving each of them a hug while Liliae tried not to snort.

"Seriously, Dad, honeypots?"

"Well, what else do you want me to call you? Booger bear?"

"Maybe not. Uh, yeah, honeypot is good," Liliae said hastily.

Link sat down at the rough wooden table and ran a hand through his tousled blonde hair. He gave Malon a soppy, love induced smile (Liliae gagged) and commenced to wolf down his food like there was no tomorrow. After a few minutes of crazed munching, he finally finished eating. With a mouth still half full, he asked, "So, what did you ladies do today?"

Malon went first.

"I did the usual chores with Liliae, and cleaned the house for a while. I also did some training with Epona's colt today. He's getting big."

Liliae thought of their little colt, Sunshine, who was the son of Epona and Brushfire. He was a light golden color with a white mane and tail. She loved playing with him. He was getting bigger and stronger every day.

"Liliae?"

"Oh, um, I did the chores with Mama, worked on the fence (her version of just sitting on it), and I went to pick up some stuff from the castle.

Link sat back, seeming to be satisfied. He stretched and yawned. He had been chopping wood all day. Exhaustion was taking its toll on him.

"Well, I did the usual chopping today. I'm tired. Thanks for dinner, sweetie, I'm going to bed."

He gave Malon a sweet kiss on the lips and whispered something in her ear (which she giggled at) and loped up the stairs. Liliae edged out of the room before her mother could sentence her to wash the dishes and ran up the stairs to her own room.

Liliae opened the door to her small, square room. A bed rested in the northwest corner, a bedside table with a lamp on it beside it. A large bookcase stood in the northeast corner, stuffed full of quests and fantastic journeys to read. A broad table was in the southeast corner next to the door; it had a huge mess of materials on it from her hobby of crafting weapons.

She trudged in the door and flopped onto her bed. How would she do it? How could she escape? Liliae turned and stared at the wall, thinking hard. Maybe she should sneak out at dawn…no, her father got up at the same time. Damn.

After a good long while of thinking so hard her head hurt, Liliae finally came up with a plan. She turned the light out and fell into a deep
slumber.

A/N: HAHA! How's that for chapter one, folks? See that cute little button down there that says review? Do what it says! It will bring much happiness to the author…and you know happens when the author is happy… She updates more! No flames, please.