Hey everybody! Thanks for the reviews. This chapter's sort of a more carefree one, I hope you like :).

16th Entry: A Race

November 2nd, the 7th year in the reign of King Ganondorf I

Dear Diary,

Once again, I cannot tell you how well everything has been going.

Dad came back a couple of weeks ago, and was...less than happy to hear about Ingo's actions while he was away. After Ingo apoligized to him about a thousand times however, Dad finally forgave him (Dad couldn't ever hold a grudge anyway). We had a big supper, and Ingo and I explained to Dad how Link came back and helped us. I could tell Dad was confused at first (I think he was trying to picture a Kokiri child appear threatening enough to scare Ingo), but I quickly explained to him that Link was not a Kokiri, but a Hylian (you can be sure I left out basically everything else Link had told me).

Since dad's been back, the work load has become much lighter. I guess I never realized how worn out I was until we went back to the schedule we had originally. Ha, now I think I almost have too much energy.

Anyway, as I'm sure you've already suspected, Link came by yesterday!

That morning, a family came to our ranch from Kakariko Village to ride the horses. The kids had a lot of fun, and asked if they could watch me jump one of the horses. It wasn't a problem, so I got some of the fences out of the barn and set them up arond the corral, so they could really see the horse jump. It was very entertaining to watch them, everytime the horse jumped they would jump up and down and clap. It made me feel good to know they took so much pleasure in watching.

They left in the middle of the afternoon, and I was just starting to put the fences up.

"What's with all the fences?"

I turned around. Link was coming up the entrance to the ranch, Epona following close behind.

I smiled mischievously. "What's with the blue clothes? Cold resistant, perhaps?"

He shook his head. "No, they let you breathe water."

I sighed. "I'm not even going to ask." he gave a smile. "So did you save the water sage?"

He laughed. "Yeah, I found her. She hasn't changed much in seven year either."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.

"I knew her when we were kids." he answered. "And she's just always been, well..." he laughed again. "Maybe I should just leave it at that."

I couldn't figure out for the life of me what he meant, but I decided to leave it at that.

"So you still haven't told me why you have the fences out." He brought up again.

I smiled. "A family came by to ride the horses, and the kids wanted to see me jump the fences. So I did a few laps for them."

He looked at me. "Are you really good?" he asked.

I gave a beamed. "I hold the course record. I've even beat my dad's time."

He gave a mischievous smile. "And so very modest." I stuck my tongue out at him. He laughed, and gave a low bow. "So may I have the honor of trying to challenge the great Malon's record?"

I laughed. "Sure, if you want. My record is fifty seconds."

He looked at the course. "One lap in fifty seconds doesn't sound that difficult."

I laughed. "One lap? Link, the record is TWO laps in fifty seconds."

"Oh." he said with a nervous laugh, "Well, that doesn't sound too difficult either..." he trailed off.

He mounted Epona and set off. I must admit, I haven't seen anything funnier. (Well, maybe the race with Ingo, but this was pretty funny too) He could handle all the fences fairly well, except for the very last one. For whatever reason, he just couldn't seem get Epona to jump that one. But the more he messed up, the more determined he came to beat my record. All the time, I just sat on the corral fence, watching, extremely amused.

After an hour of trying, he brought rode Epona over to where I was sitting. "Are you sure you did all this in fifty seconds?" he asked, exasperated.

I gave another smile. "Yep, positive." He gave me a scowl and went back at it.

Finally, after two hours or so, he had had enough. "I'm going to do it this time." he said with determination.

"Whatever you say." I said with a laugh.

And sure enough he did. Forty-eight seconds, the new course record.

He dismounted Epona and walked over, a wide grin on his face. "So are you impressed?"

"Nope." He stared at me in disbelief. "I'll only be impressed if you can actually beat me in a race."

"But I beat your record..." he said in return.

"Even so, I'll only be impressed if you actually beat me." I said with a smile. I think we're both a little too competitive.

He set his jaw in determination. "Fine, I'll do it."

I went into the stables and got out one of my horses, Dancer. I walked her over to the corral and mounted her.

"You ready?" I asked Link.

He gave a smile and nodded.

"Alright then. On your mark, get set, GO!"

To make a long story short, he didn't stand a chance. He cleared every fence with no trouble whatsoever, but, nevertheless, I beat him.

After dismounting our horses, he walked over to me, disappointment in his eyes.

"But how-I beat your record." he asked.

I gave a sympathetic smile. "Link, the record you broke was my record from seven years ago."

His mouth dropped. "From seven years ago? You mean you set that record when you were eight?"

I nodded my head. "During the past seven years I really haven't had any time to try and break that record, so technically, it was the course record."

He gave me a smile. "Well you have every reason to be the champ."

"Why was it so important to you to try and impress me anyway?"

He shrugged, and gave a sheepish smile. "I don't know."

I gave him a smile. "You don't have to beat me in a horse race to impress me, you know. You're saving all of Hyrule! Why wouldn't I be impressed?"

He laughed. "Well, if you look at it like that..."

"C'mon. I assume you're staying for supper." I said.

He gave a smile, and followed me into the house.

We had a good time at supper. I got to reintroduce my dad to Link, and we all talked about old times together. The next morning I woke up early, so I could tell Link good bye.

"So where are you going this time?" I asked him, while helping prepare Epona for travel.

"The shadow temple. It ought to be...interesting." he replied.

"Well I'm sure it's not anything you can't handle." I said with a smile.

"Thanks." he said. "Take care of yourself, okay?"

"You don't need to tell me that every time, you know? I'm a big girl." I said with a laugh.

"I know. Just be careful, okay?" I nodded. I gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek (which he blushed at) and he went on his way.

A very fun day, indeed. I'll write back soon.

Malon Astira

What'd you think? I got an idea for the next chapter while writing this one, it ought to be fairly interesting. I can't tell exactly what's going to happen, but just remember what you have to do before you enter the shadow temple :p. Think about it!