Chapter II The Horse, the Girl, and Her Interesting Family

In the center of the field was a girl, she was feeding the horses and singing an ever so weirdly familiar tune. The girl had bright red hair and was wearing ordinary, everyday farm clothes. She looked close to Lance's age, maybe a little younger. Lance, feeling strangely at home, ran to the girl smiling. She dropped the bucket milk she was holding and quickly put her hands over her mouth. Milk spilled out covering the ground surrounding them, turning it a dull white color. She looked as if she was looking at a ghost instead of the blonde boy standing in front of her.

Surprised, she gasped, "Fairy-boy!"

"Huh!" Lance replied equally surprised.

She answered, "Are you the fairy-boy in the stories my mother tells me at night?"

"Uhhh, I don't know what you're talking about…" Lance replied. Then, suddenly realizing what she meant he added, "Do you mean like a Kokiri fairy in the bedtime stories my father tells?" Confused, the girl decides to forget the fairy-boy thing for now. (He didn't even have a fairy yet.) She decided to move on to more important questions.

So, she looses her look of surprise and answers, changing the whole subject, "Who are you?"

"I'm Lance," he replies easily, "and you are?"

The girl replies, "Oh, I'm Emily."

Lance then hesitantly continued, "Who is your mother?"

"Malon. Who is your father?" Emily questioned not the least bit hesitant.

Lance knowing her reaction exactly sighed and answers, "Link." Emily's eyes begin to widen.

"Link, as in King Link?" Emily questioned.

Feeling kind of annoyed Lance replies, "Yes."

Emily, her eyes growing wider still, stutters, "Tha-that would ma-ma-make you a-a prince!" She suddenly falls to her knees in intimidation.

A young woman, resembling Emily runs out of the house and towards them and shouts, "What's going on?" Obviously worried why Emily had suddenly fallen to her knees. Lance instantly takes her as Emily's mother, Malon.

Malon got to Emily first, pulling her to her feet and saying comforting things like, 'Are you ok?' and 'It's gonna be alright.' Finally she looked at Lance.

She looked for only a moment, then said quite rudely, "Who are you?"

He replied very confused, "I'm Lance…" Malon's eyes start to grow wide, but suddenly stop and return to normal.

Thinking he looked kind of familiar, she asked, "Do I know you?"

Lance returned, "Um… no but, you might know my father."

Malon coughs, "Ahem, and who is he?" Lance answers, "Link." Guessing her reaction, he realized just how much Emily took after her mother, their attitudes, their looks, height, personality, practically everything.

"Link, as in King Link?" Malon continues.

Really annoyed now and wishing his father wasn't king, he replies, "Yes,"

Malon, her eyes beginning to grow wide again, stutters, "Tha-that would ma-ma-make you a-a prince!" Quickly switching back to her usual sarcastic tone she adds, "And, uh, no, I'm not going to fall on my knees. But I am very pleased to make your acquaintance," she ended sounding partially sincere.

Lance, trying to sound innocent, questions, "Um, and how did you know my father again?"

Malon rolls her eyes and mutters under her breath, "Talon, help me…" Lance decides to inquire who Talon is, but wisely holds back.

Suddenly, there's a loud eeeeeeee-BANG as a door opens and shuts, apparently coming from the house.

"Did someone ask for my help?" The strange looking person shouted out to them. He looked very old, he had gray hair which at one time was probably brown. He wore blue worn out overalls with a faded red shirt underneath. He also had on dark brown leather boots with holes wearing in them. His sideburns and fairly long hair made him look out of fashion.

Flustered, Malon spun around and shouted, "DAD!" Lance's question was answered, or at least one of his questions. Talon was obviously Malon's father and Emily's grandfather.

"Speaking of help, can y'all help me? Have any y'all seen any 'o' me supa cuccos?" Talon questioned as he hobbled over to the center where they were standing, all the while wondering where his super chickens had run off to.

Emily, taking her mother's tone, says, "Grandpa! Your cuccos have been gone for over FIVE YEARS now!"

Talon asks, "Where on this earth could they've gone now?"

Malon answers spelling it out, "In-di-go…" And points at a man cleaning up cow pies near the stables. Indigo looked similar to Talons age. He looked somewhat like Talon, except, Indigo was skinnier and had darker hair. Talon walks as fast as a man of his can waving his cane at Indigo.

He shouts angrily, "Wha'd you do wid me supa cuccos?"

Indigo replies calmly, "When I ran this place," He sighs, "The good ol' days… I ate those darn chickens!"

Talon shouted back, "WHAT?" And whacked him in the stomach with his cane. Talon sent Indigo to the ground, sputtering.

"DAD!" Malon shouted as she ran over to Indigo, quickly pulling him up, then pushing back towards the cow pies.

Grabbing her father by the shoulders she says, "Dad, we've been over this! Your cuccos are long gone, so just deal!"

Starting to cry, Talon whispers, "I loved those cuccos…" Malon embraced him, saying the same comforting things that she said to Emily earlier. Emily ran over to her mother and grandfather, and joined the group hug.

Seeing them together brought Lance's thoughts to his family. What were they doing now? Are they worried about me? Do they even miss me? Did they send out search parties? All these questions filled his head as his eyes began to water. Tears began to drift down his face one by one. But he forced himself to stop as Emily saw him. She quickly left her group hug, and joined Lance in a slightly smaller one. Still hugging, she hummed the tune once more. Lances not thinking about the tune stood there like a dead log. He'd couldn't remember what he was supposed to do so he just stood there and let her do the hugging. After she stopped humming… something hit him. That tune… it was embedded in his thoughts forever, never to be forgotten. Lance slowly pulled back and out of her death grip.

"What was that tune you were humming?" he asked quietly.

Emily blinked and answered, "'Epona's Song' or I guess it's 'Carnation's Song' now…" She paused, "Epona, According to my mother, was your father's first horse."

Lance, thinking really hard now, asks, "Where is Epona anyway?" He looks around at all the horses in the field searching for one that could be Epona.

Emily looked down towards the ground and said quietly, "She's passed." There was a moment of silence, then Emily continued, "But, before she left us, she gave us our beautiful Carnation." Her eyes still focused on the laces on her boots; she quietly sang the tune. The tune some how comforted this 'Carnation' and led her to them. A small pony trotted up to Emily. Emily looked up; her eyes were damp with tears. Whether they were tears of joy or grief it was unknown. She had obviously loved Epona very much. Emily stood there for a while gently stroking the small pony. Then, finally, she said, breaking the ear ringing silence, "Carnation, this is Lance, and Lance, this is Carnation."

Lance bent down to stroke Carnation. The instant his hand touched her, there was a connection. They were meant to be together, Lance and Carnation. Emily, Lance and Carnation played in the field, while Malon, Talon, and Indigo sorted things out. Playing in the field was fantastic! Emily taught Lance everything! For awhile they discussed their love for Carnation and the other horses. Then Emily told Lance what it must be like to ride a horse. Of course she had to use her imagination because she wasn't old enough yet… Almost like Lance wasn't old enough to go out on his own, he thought. Next Emily taught him how to milk a cow. Milking the cow came very naturally to Lance for some reason. After several buckets Lance happily brought the buckets inside with the help of Emily. Then they went back to the field to spend the few minutes they had left with the horses.

Malon called them in for dinner and at the same time sent Indigo out to round up the horses and put them in their stalls. Not wanting to leave Carnation, Lance let Emily go ahead and run inside. After a couple minutes of patting and encouragement, Lance kissed Carnation on the nose and hurried inside.

Just in time for dinner, Lance washed his hands and sat sown at the table with Malon, Emily, and Talon. Malon offered to say the prayer. She quietly and respectfully said an unfamiliar prayer in elfish.

She opened her eyes and quite happily added, "Let us eat!" Lance watched them eat for awhile then looked at his own food. A bowl of red potion. This was his very favorite. But, every time he had eaten it, his parents had been sitting at the other end of the table, eating it too. Lance felt alone and different… he felt like he, he didn't belong. The way they ate, how fast they ate, it was all new to Lance. At home, every Friday, at six o'clock, his parents and him would gather around the table. Zelda would be quietly eating her potion at a normal pace. On the other hand, Link and Lance would have competitions. Competitions like, who could slurp the loudest or who could finish theirs first. Obviously Malon and Emily didn't do these things… Surprised at himself for thinking those things, he partly hid those thoughts and began to eat. After dinner, they all sat around fireplace in silence. After some time, Malon, looking very pretty in with her red hair all washed and combed out started the conversation.

She said, "So…Lance, you wanted to know how I met Link?"

Hesitant, Lance replied, "Er, yeah…"

Malon began, "Well, it was kind of how you met Emily today. I was singing Epona's Song—" Epona's Song—that was the tune Emily was so familiar with. Did my father know Epona's Song? Lance thought to himself. "—And playing with Epona," Malon continued. "When this boy dressed in all green, with a fairy came up to me. After admiring Epona and the other horses, the fairy-boy asked, "Who are you?" I remember answering, "Malon and you?" He said his name was Link, but I still think of him as Fairy-boy even today." She stopped and smiled to herself. Lance leaned in closer; eager to hear what happened next, while Emily and Talon dozed off together, for they practically knew the story by heart.

Then, she continued, "We walked around the track as we talked about the different horses. I taught him Epona's Song. My mother used to sing that song to me. It had a calming effect that worked on Epona and now it works on Carnation. The next thing I knew he was gone again. I didn't know if I was ever going to see him again. He did come back though…During the Dark Ages—" Malon shuddered violently and Emily and Talon moved closer making the small circle they had even smaller. Lance listened intently, wishing to hear more.

"Those where the awful times when Ganon ruled all of Hyrule. He employed any one who swore true evil. That's when Indigo comes in, Ganon hired him to own this Ranch. Finally after five years of torture, he came back. He taught him self to ride Epona, then raced Indigo, risking Epona, the ranch, even himself. But, he pulled it off. He saved the farm and all of us! He was truly a hero. This time, he left with Epona to save Hyrule. Two years later Epona shows up on her own. Attached to her saddle was a note. It read something like:

I am finished with her. You love her and will take care of her.

Affectionately yours,

Link

That was the last I heard of him until now." Finished…he made her sound like a spoiled meal, was she that bad? "Eventually Epona gave us Carnation for her life." Her eyes grow wet as she ends, "You kids better get to bed now." Malon turns they would not see her tears. Talon gave a heavy sigh. Malon added, "Talon, that means you too."

"AWE MAN!"

Emily and Lance decided it was only fair that they both sleep on the floor, because they could both clearly not fit in Emily's bed. After Lance was sure Emily was asleep, he felt in the side pocket of his bag. It was still there; he pulled out the picture. Through blurred eyes he looked at the picture. Link and Zelda smiled back. This picture was taken right after their wedding. Link was holding his wife in his arms. Lance wasn't sure but he was almost positive he was carrying Zelda over the threshold of the castle.

This was his first night outside the castle. His parents were far away. He missed them greatly… but he couldn't go back… not yet… he'd gotten this far already. Lance didn't sleep a wink all night long. At a couple hours before sunrise Lance put the picture back in his knapsack and rolled up his mat that he slept on. Lance figured they understand. Lance snuck into the stable to see Carnation one last time. After promising to come back, he moved to ward the exit.

Almost out, he heard, "LANCE! Hey LANCE! WAIT!" Lance turned, Emily was right in his face hugging him to death. For awhile he just stood there, engulfed in hugs, when he finally decided to hug her back. "I'll miss you, Fairy-boy" Emily whispered. They both let go and Lance was on his way. Lance smiled. His smile was brighter than when he got his kokiri sword or when he beat his father in the soup races. He had a friend. Lance had a lot of firsts at Lon Lon Ranch. He met his first horse, he got his first true friend, and he learned his first clue to his fathers past.