Chapter 12: Seamless Invasion; 'Them' and a Wagon Ride
Reunion with a Friend Arc
Disclaimer: I don't own The Legend of Zelda, this is just a Fanfiction.
Featured Music: "Ranked Amongst the World's Best" - The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass OST. Chapter Briefing.
"Romani Ranch" - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask OST. Scene 1.
"Night Ambience (Field)" - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask OST. Scene 2 (Second Half) and 3 (First Half).
"The Monsters Raid" - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask OST. Scene 3 (Second Half).
"Event Clear" - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask OST. Scene 4 (First Half) and 7 (First Half).
"Cremia's Wagon" - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask OST. Scene 5 (First Half).
"Chase" - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask OST. Scene 6 (Second Half).
In their exploration and conquest over the land of Weybour and Snowhead, Link and Tatl manage to overcome the infection that Skull Kid and the nefarious mask he wears has breathed into; in having defeated the evil spirit possessing Goht, Masked Mechanical Monster, the two heroes save the land from its artificially-induced winter and successfully bring Weybour into its much-needed spring.
Truly, a victory won with great cheer and admiration by the Goron people still living.
In celebration they choose to continue with a Grand Prix tour that the multi-national conglomerate 'Prima' are running, aptly titled; 'The Weybour Winding Warpath'. Having earned his new license to carry Powder Kegs, courtesy of Medigoron, Link opts to blow the gigantic boulder blocking his way into the race hall itself. With the urging of Darmani's old little companion Taba, Link agrees to take part in the race; the first prize being Laminite Gold Dust of the highest quality.
With his winnings he uses the Gold Dust itself to upgrade his already upgraded Razor Sword into the 'Gilded Sword'; a weapon whose power compares perhaps even to the legendary Master Sword itself. Surprisingly however Zubora and Gabora, the resident mountain blacksmiths, offer to work on the young hero's tool for free; a sentiment that does not go unnoticed by the personable Link.
Carrying his Powder Keg license with him he turns his attention to the blocked off 'Romani's Ranch'; a nearby farm, not unlike that of Lon Lon Ranch within Hyrule, that has seemingly been obstructed by a gargantuan piece of debris. When entering the place however the wide-eyed Link finds himself surprised by the people he encounters.
Cremia and Romani, two fire-haired twins that bear an unmistakeably familiar resemblance to his former lover, Malon. In a remarkable coincidence it would appear that, just as with the former residents in Termina, Cremia and Romani would be mirror images of his own companion in Hyrule. Although the revelation had not been as shocking, even within the borders of Clock Town, Woodfall and Weybour, the mere sight of Malon's face and on two people to boot managed to bowl the normally unflappable youth completely over.
When he pushed past his shock and made his introductions, the two sociable farm girls opened their house and heart to him, perhaps in gratitude for opening Milk Road's previously blocked path. While there, Romani fills him in and Tatl in on the most curious and outrageous revelation indeed; strangely, during the approach to Clock Town's 'Carnival of Time', it would appear that Romani Ranch are being attacked in night by a group of unknown assailants.
Romani refers to them only as 'them'.
Having displayed his previous relationship with his recent re-acquisition of Epona, and her former owner, Romani pleads for his assistance; something that Link, of course, chooses to help with. Although his information is, as seemingly always extremely limited, he grits his nerves and prepares. He prepares...
For 'them'.
Scene 1
"L-Look...!"
Sure enough, just as she said the words, there it was; the sight – and sound – of his old companion across time managed to make him widen his eyes in surprise.
"H-Hey, wait!"
Cremia's flustered exclamation, so hurried and so agitated, did little to stop the wide-eyed Link's inevitable rush forward.
Resting just ahead and past the pattering little Romani was his neighing companion and loyal friend to Lon Lon Ranch's Malon.
Epona.
He opted to break out into a sudden sprint, his eyes drinking in the incredible sight before him.
It was almost as if he had been dreaming and his whole adventure through Termina was merely a nightmare he was at last waking up from.
Especially now that he found his companion of old.
As he stood directly outside of the little horse's seeming hold, an iron barred cage, he rested his small hands across the rough surface of the bars, a growing smile upon his face.
"I'm sorry I took so long to find you...," Link opened with a smiling apology, curling his similarly small fingers through the gaps in the grating. "But all that's over now," he added, shaking his head this time in a light-eyed grin. "Besides... Malon'd kill me if she knew I ever lost track of you!"
"Who's Malon?"
Again, the blinking Hero of Time found himself lightly dazed by the inquiry, could only swing himself 'round to widen his oceanic-shaded eyes back at the two women staring back at him, one his own physical age and the other older.
And both, of course, being two perfect twins for one another.
I may as well be looking at Malon right now, he thought to himself, growing a small grinning smile in joking.
"Um...," he began, initially hesitant as he shook his blonde-haired head, as if to bring himself back to the conversation. "Just... a friend of mine is all."
2
Having successfully introduced himself to both the Romani Ranch twins, Cremia and Romani, the ever personable and charismatic Link managed to strike up a fairly reliable friendship with the two, in spite of their odd and near spooky resemblance to Malon of Lon Lon. With great charity and trust, considering their mere meeting with him minutes ago, the two Romani twins opt to relinquish ownership of Epona to him in light of his knowledge of her.
The information, and demonstration, of the horse's favourite and personal melody also greatly assisted in this endeavour.
Unsurprisingly however Link found qualities within both Cremia and Romani that seemed almost to reverberate from young and adult variations of his old companion Malon.
It was something that filled him with an oddly unpleasant sense of déjà vu.
Regardless however, now with the girls' trust, he was able to reclaim ownership of Epona and strike up a new friendship; particularly with the young and impressionable Romani. Having never had any companions her own age Romani was overjoyed to meet with the former Kokiri youth and stuck to him like glue; a fact that managed to unnerve the paranoid Link.
Although the dutiful young Hero of Time wanted at first to leave, Epona and all in tow, he very quickly learned that the his new pair of friends were dealing with their own troubles. Strangely, the young ranch owners were having vandals breaking crates of milk bottles, their livestock appearing listless and without energy. Though Cremia speculates it could be two men she personally knows it could also very well be anyone and, strangest of all...
The little Romani, with a rather well-crafted longbow, appeared to be practicing for a conflict. When she was confronted earlier over her deviating behaviour, she merely claimed it was to 'stop the ghosts'.
A puzzling concern.
Irregardless of the curious Link and Cremia's unease however Romani managed to convince her caretaker and older sister to open their house to the adventuring youth; a gesture that cemented his decision in which to assist them in their own endeavours. When Cremia managed to leave the pair of children alone however, it was then that Romani decided to fill the curious-eyed Link in on the 'ghosts' she referred to earlier.
Seemingly a collective group of odd spirit-like entities that she refers only to as: 'Them'.
These individuals appeared to be part of the same group and continually harassed the sanctity of Romani Ranch every year without fail, their motive seemingly rooted in the adbuction of their livestock. Although these eerily haunting enemies were mysterious in all senses they could think of, only one thing was certain.
They must prevent them entry.
And it was in that, that the ever-faithful Link agreed to help Romani deal with these baffling creatures; a promise made to meet fairly late at night, when 'they' also arrive.
"What's a hug or two matter?" Tatl taunted him with, a light grin on the milky shade of her lumination. "Besides... you're a boy! I would think you'd be ecstatic at contact with a girl like that. She's pretty cute!"
Link groaned back, rolling his eyes in his frown as he rested on the big brown crate in the middle of Romani Ranch's field, passing the time by practicing on the Ocarina of Time itself.
"No reason." He answered her fairly brusquely in an attempt to draw the guardian fairy away from her taunts.
In actual reality he felt oddly guilty for the sudden close contact and affection that Romani was gifting him with, given his already existing closeness with Hyrule's Malon.
It somehow felt like he was cheating on her and it made him feel horrible.
It certainly didn't help when the amused Cremia chose to take a pictograph of the two together.
"It'll be fine," he thought to himself in a quietened huff, casting his frown forward as he lowered the instrument from his lips. "She won't even see it probably."
"I wonder what Romani even expects us to find out here," Tatl spoke up, breaking the inevitable silence between them and pulling him out of his frowning thought. "I don't know if I believe all of that stuff she told us."
"You better," Link batted back, gaining a light grin as he pulled the Ocarina of Time from his lips again to rest behind his holstered weapons, back into his inventory. "If there's one thing I've managed to learn it's that you can never ever be sure of anything."
"Not even a hundred percent?"
"Not even a hundred percent."
His unusually witty remark managed to make the normally superior conversationalist employ her annoyed frown.
In spite of his usually irritating way of communicating his thoughts he was right; he knew it.
He had seen it time and time again.
Whatever's going to happen tonight, not even Navi'd be able tell me, he thought.
"Psst... hey! Grasshopper!"
Link's thin blonde-haired eyebrows shot up in recognition and, like a sharp-eared dog, turned in response to its master's call.
It was only when he realised she used the nickname she blessed him with upon their meeting, however, that his face dropped in an irritated frown.
Sure enough though there stood Romani at the house's ajar door, seemingly having gotten up from her bed to come down and join him. She carried the well-made, light-yellow longbow that she was sporting when he first saw. As she slowly and carefully shut the ajar door to leave the house behind her quietly however, she eventually turned back her body and stepped forward to join him.
"It's almost time!" She whispered up at him atop the hardwood crate he sat upon. He swung his grass-shaded body 'round to face her before swiftly hopping himself off of it to stand on level with her similarly short form. "You take care of things outside, Grasshopper!"
"What are you gonna do?" The young blonde asked her curiously, placing a hand to rest on his hip as he usually did, one of his thin eyebrows rising up in intrigue. "Can you use that thing?" He nodded down toward the beautifully-constructed longbow she carried with her.
"Not as well as you can, sorry," Romani frowned back at him in a simple shake of her head. "But it won't matter to me!" She insisted, this time in a hardened frown. "I'll be inside the barn, sitting with the cows to make sure they don't try to slip by somehow," she explained very briefly before narrowing her azure-shaded eyes forward. "You make sure they don't get through the ranch itself!"
"Ain't no problem to me darlin'...," the ever overconfident Link shot back in a typical wide grin before soon regaining his old curious frown to his expression. "But are you sure you'll be okay in there alone?"
"I-I'll be okay...," she murmured out, her earlier determinedness soon fading to an awkward and gleeful giggle, swivelling her eyes from his as if in embarrassment. They soon found themselves constantly raising up to meet him however, before swiftly swerving out again to match the red shade her cheeks took. "I mean... I got you to protect me, after all."
His ego having been stroked, he could only inflate his usual confident grin to extreme fashion, eliciting an ever popular reaction by his guardian fairy; her exasperated rolling of her eyes.
"Better 'n any bodyguard'll buy ya; I guarantee it."
"Now remember Grasshopper!" Romani responded her voice this time a concentrated, narrow-eyed hiss. "They'll appear all over the field!" She claimed, nodding her fire-haired head across the large expanse of the ranch; he followed her gesture with a frowning blink, as if looking for their seemingly formless figures. "And when they do the first thing they go for is the barn!" The young farm girl explained.
"Got it," he retorted in a positive nod of his own, his grin ever returning to his face. He spun the Hero's Bow expertly 'round his left fingers. "I won't let 'em through; I promise."
Romani, staring back into his cerulean-shaded eyes for an uncomfortable length of time, could only make the watching Link raise a curious eyebrow.
What's she looking for, he thought.
Does she think I'm lying to her?
It was only when she leaned forward however to assault him with an abrupt embracing hug that he widened his sky-coloured eyes, successfully taken completely by surprise.
She shares that with Malon too, he grumbled silently to himself.
"Thank you... Grasshopper...," she gasped in his small and pointed ears, an odd kind of melancholic tone within her soprano; he distinguished it with a curious narrow of his own eyes before he eventually decided to return her embrace. "Thank you so much..."
3
"Oh, thank you so much Grasshopper(!)"
Tatl's oh-so-obviously spoken sarcasm was one that did not go unnoticed by the listening young Link; he rolled his eyes in a lightly-silent smirk of his own, undeterred by her attempted advances to embarrass him.
"Oh, Grasshopper I love you!"
"Come on now; she never said that," he reasoned with her in his own lightly sociable grin as he leisurely strolled around in wait, the ambience of the nearby crickets and wildlife echoing out all around them; the many sounds of Terminian nighttime. "Now you're just lookin' to poke fun ain'tcha."
"Maybe," the listening Tatl batted back, seemingly of similar banter and with a noticeably small grin in the tone of her voice. "Maybe I like to."
Odd, the young Hylian thought, his own grin slowly growing as he narrowed his eyes thoughtfully at the little guardian fairy.
This feels like she's flirting with me.
That can't be right, surely.
It was only when his oceanic-eyed gaze caught the sight of what looked like a bright orange light descending down from the sky that he double-took, turning his attention toward it. Seemingly, at first it was simply a singlular orb of light, eventually and soon as well more took its place. In their stands came very strange and eery forms indeed; these alien-like lifeforms appeared to resemble the Poe-class adversary that he was so well familiar with. Purple in colour their forms seemed to float in the air, similar to their ghost-like counterparts, and oddly carried claws of all things that hovered at their front.
That's definitely different, the watching Link thought to himself, brow furrowed and all in shock.
Just as with the large orbs of orange light came the similar projection of Aegir from them, manifest via what seemed to be an aura of melon-orange, similar to the foreboding spheres of quintessence that descended down upon them. In their eyes, akin to the spheres they rode in, appeared to be two glowing rays of flourescense that complimented well with the light they travelled with.
Whatever they were, they weren't of this world, the frowning Link thought.
"W-What the-?"
Tatl's wide-eyed gasp caused him to swing his blonde-haired head 'round half-way to face her, a similar frown on his own face.
"I-I know Romani talked about all of this b-but...," the little guardian fairy murmured out, turning her eyes around continually on the slow-approaching forms of their new enemy. "I never thought it'd be real!"
Link, eyes narrowing and his jawline shutting as slowly as he turned back to face forward, glared ahead in a determined stare. "It's real all right...," he answered with before quickly revolving his head back 'round to face her. "Get ready; we're goin' bombs deep!"
BOOM
The little Tatl, gasping and hacking from the smoke and aftermath of the sudden explosive assault Link visited upon their antagonists, could only turn her flight path away from it in order to stay afloat.
"Link!" She called out angrily, coughing one last time before sweeping her eyes in search of the fleet-footed youth. "I didn't realise you were being literal with that!" She exclaimed, clearly annoyed by his pyromaniac behaviour.
"Hey, ease up," the grinning Link replied, his form at last becoming visible past the dissipating cloud of residue, sitting atop the jogging Epona. "How was I to know these things weren't gonna be affected by-"
"BECAUSE ROMANI TOLD YOU OTHERWISE!"
The listening ex-Kokiri couldn't help but hold back a laugh from the sudden fiery scream she rent him with; a far contrast to the quiet and tranquil response she gave him earlier.
"Okay, okay!" He finally relented, not without a good degree of inward amusement, filling his words with a raise up of both his small arms almost as if to ward her anger off from him. "I know now not to use bombs; gotcha."
The lividly-silent stare he received from her not only entertained the grinning-faced Link, leaving him shaking his straw-haired head in a deluge of laughs.
I'm definitely gonna pay for that later, he thought.
Might as well enjoy it while I can.
As he began to quickly close the gap between the ghost's position and himself far across the ranch's southern area, he shut one of his sky-shaded blue eyes as he pulled out his Hero's Bow. Nocking an arrow back as Epona's hooves knocked noisily against the grassy surface beneath him, he narrowed his one remaining eye open forward to get a good line of sight and eventually let loose.
SCREECH-EECH-FLASH
In two screams of what sounded like an otherworldly kind of pain, the ghost reeled back from the well-fired arrow and as its body shook terribly from the assault, it very quickly flashed in and out of itself before abruptly disappearing.
Wow, the watching Link thought, his eyes re-opening in surprise.
I guess Romani was dead on the money.
"These things are weak to arrows."
With that rumination finishing off his telling thoughts, the young Hero of Time set his eyes narrowed one final time before swerving Epona in her jog to turn their attention to the remaining ghosts littered around the farm's field.
4
In a single sigh, just as the sun rose up on the beautiful farm they fought on, the little Romani found herself letting out a long exhale, almost as if she had been doing all the legwork on the ranch itself.
"We did it; we won!" She exclaimed out, a wide-open grin written across her young face.
"Ain't bein' funny baby but with me you only need-"
He grunted in surprise when he felt her collide her small form into his in what seemed to be a simple hug; realising she was attempting to show her gratitude toward him he could only roll his oceanic-shaded eyes, halfway in annoyance.
"Thank you..."
The whisper in his small ear that she graced him with caused him to grow a shade of embarrassed red under his cheeks, holding himself back from groaning when he caught the smirking form of Tatl hovering over them.
"No-one else believed me...," she began again, her little soprano a mere promise to come for the former Kokiri. "But you did..."
On the inflection of her sentence, he felt her squeeze her fingers across his similar-bodied back; a gesture of affection and a need for friendship.
It managed to surprise even him.
In response the newly-frowning Link decided to raise up his own arms to rest behind her back softly, his earlier annoyance at her very swiftly melting into patience and understanding.
Take it easy, he thought.
Think back to Zelda; Romani'll be feeling almost exactly the same way. Having no-one believe you is tough.
"She'd certainly know..."
When she pulled herself back from his neck to flash him an oddly shaky kind of smile, her similarly chestnut-brown eyes shimmering with tears, he truly understood the poor young girl's state of mind.
She must have been really desperate, he thought.
I guess it must feel really alone when your only living relative doesn't believe you though.
Maybe that's why.
"Thanks...," she spoke again, her voice a light squeak before she chuckled in his face, as if he had just told her a bad joke. "Grasshopper..."
Before he could even flash her his usual boyish grin back in response she leaned forward and planted a light kiss upon his cheek.
"Wh-?"
He reeled back, surprised, raising up his left hand to the area she touched with her lips. Tatl couldn't help but widen her grin as she watched and, just like a child, the smiling Romani turned on her heel and ran off toward the house. Left in her wake the young blonde could only blink back at her before narrowing his oceanic eyes in thought.
She is just a kid, he thought; in body and in mind. She ain't like me.
"Which means it was just an innocent gesture of friendship."
His final rumination concluded his inward dilemma, allowing him to spread a weak smile of his own across his expression. In spite of his recent realisation that Romani was separate to Hyrule's Malon, he couldn't help but draw paralells when she leaned in like that.
Odd, he thought.
"So..."
Tatl's knowing and mischeivous tone told him he was about to experience some form of retaliation for his earlier teasing.
"Shouldn't you go upstairs to join her?"
DAWN OF THE SECOND DAY
-48 Hours Remain-
"Grasshopper, grasshopper! Come join us!"
It was merely a few hours later that the smiling Link had re-entered the barn that Romani had previously been holed up in, only to find her beckoning toward her. Seemingly the two sisters of the ranch themselves rested within; Cremia sat upon what appeared to be a small wooden crate, applying some kind of lotion to the loudly mooing cow that stood before her. Romani, seemingly having called the smiling Link over, stood only a few steps away from her next to the clucking cuccoo that pattered about around her.
"'Grasshopper' huh...," Cremia repeated, a lightly-amused grin on her face as she turned her fire-haired head 'round to face the two. "I guess you two are becoming fast friends then."
Link let out a knowing chuckle of his own as he exchanged his confident look with the abruptly embarrassed frown on Romani's.
"You could say that." He answered, his own toothy smirk ever plastered upon his young expression.
"Well, good morning either way," the chortling Cremia laughed lightly in response, taking care to the sensitive animal before her. "You're both up early, I must say; it's six am!"
"Evil never sleeps," he shot back, placing one of his small hands across his hip as he did, before swiftly swivelling his straw-haired head 'round to exchange his knowing grin with the listening Romani. "Right?" He added, almost as if some kind of rhetoric question.
Although she averted her oak-brown eyes away from his sky-blue, he couldn't help but chuckle anyway when he caught the light shade adorned on her cheeks.
"I'm just attending to the cows this morning," Cremia spoke up, a newly sociable smile written through her words. "I'll be delivering a shipment of our milk to the Latte tonight," she claimed, turning her head 'round to face him as she spoke. "If you'd like to come along?"
"Oh yeah?" He batted back, raising up his own head as if to press her. "What time?"
"Should be six tonight; around sundown or so," she claimed, smiling as sociably as she ever did. "It'll be the wagon I'll be taking into Clock T-"
"Romani'll be taking the cow's milk to Clock Town too!"
"No! You can't!"
Romania and Cremia's sudden outburst caused the grinning Link to drop his expression in favour of a surprised frown, swerving it 'round between the pair to find them arguing.
"Why not?"
"Because the cows would be all lonely otherwise, okay?" Cremia responded, her tone somewhat softer as she turned her crimson-haired head 'round to face her younger sister.
Perhaps it was an attempt to settle the argument that brewed before it even started.
"YES, sister..." Romani at last surrendered, raising her rolling-eyed frown up to rest on the well-built ceiling that looked down upon the group of four.
"Can't be that bad a run with her in the back, can it?" The grinning Link chose to banter back, raising up his arms to rest sociably behind his blonde-haired head. Romani, in a surprised open-mouthed frown, soon registered her annoyance with the youth by swiping at him angrily. The little green-clothed menace couldn't help but chuckle in response as he quickly leapt to his right in evasion to avoid the angry assault.
"I'd rather not risk the chance...," Cremia replied, a light smile on her face as she watched the pair interact. "There's a lot that could go wrong, specifically on the road itself."
Link's brow furrowed in realisation when he looked through the big pools of Cremia's worried eyes; there was definitely something to what she was saying, he thought.
Maybe it has something to do with that giant boulder that blocked the ranch off?
Possibly.
"Yeahhh she's probably right Romani," Link answered, a casual tone to match his favourite pose; raising up his arms to rest behind his blonde-haired head. "You should listen to your big sister!"
Although the rolling-eyed sigh from the listening little Romani was his prize for a sensible remark, Cremia cast him a thankful smile as she mouthed a soft response to him.
'Thank you'.
"Well... if Grasshopper's gonna be free until six tonight..."
Romani's knowing and morale-regained call made the listening Link rise up his thin eyebrows in response, surprised. Cremia, somehow in knowing herself, could only grow her smile into a restrained grin.
"Then I've got some cool ideas to pass the time!" She finished, casting the groaning Link a wide smile of her own as she joined her small hands behind herself.
5
NIGHT OF THE SECOND DAY
-36 Hours Remain-
"Thanks for that...," Cremia called over her shoulder as the grunting Link climbed up aboard the large wagon behind her. She smiled over at him as he stood up to his full height, frowning as he rubbed himself off as if any dust had collected on his tunic. "Romani has no-one her own age to play with," she admitted, resting her wrists across the hardwood wheel she used to steer the wagon with. "It's a nice thing to do for her."
"Yeah I'll bet," he mumbled back in a half-annoyed frown, having just recovered from the twelve hours he spent with Romani. "She's a hellraiser."
"Is that so...," Cremia grinned back at him, raising an eyebrow up at him for curiosity's sake. "There's something I wanted to ask you..." She began again, regaining her simple smile as she turned back to the front, readying the wagon's horse to start moving forward.
"Yeah?" He asked, raising his own straw-haired eyebrow upward in response.
"You mentioned the name... 'Malon' earlier when you first arrived here..."
The listening Link couldn't help but freeze in place, knowing exactly of whom she spoke.
It was certainly a spooky kind of déjà vu.
"Y-Yeah...?"
"You seemed to mistake me for her," she claimed, raising another eyebrow as she pulled very lightly on the wheel before her. In response, the horse ahead began to slowly stroll forward, its hooves clipping and clopping. "She's not a looker, is she?"
The odd banter she grinned his way made the listening young Hylian quip an eyebrow of his own upward. "I mean... she's my age but..."
Cremia waited, her open mouth signalling a saucy little grin.
"Yeah I guess you could say she is." He finished, this time with a bantering smirk of his own.
Cremia, of course, reacted as instantaneously as the listening Link had expected; in a clamorous laugh she pulled her blazing-haired head backward, as if the joke he told was legendary in nature.
"I'll take that as a compliment," she grinned, lowering her head to set her gaze forward as the wagon moved with it. "You're an odd one for a kid...," the woman began again, an eyebrow shooting up once more as she spoke. "You're certainly not average; that's for sure." Cremia claimed, her grin quickly shifting into a simple smile.
As the horse pulling their fully-loaded wagon picked up in speed Link chose to lean back across the floor and amidst the many bottles of milk and Chateau Romani, hands resting behind his back as he watched the stars in the sky behind him.
"Ain't no secret," he batted back, smiling similarly as he felt the rhythmic bumping the wagon gifted him with. "And besides, much as I love to joke around with...," he began again, a chuckling grin adorned onto his next words. "I ain't anywhere smarter than the average person." He admitted into his well-intended chortle. Cremia smiled in response, her chestnut-brown eyes shifting to their sides as if to face him in spite of their positions.
"Well, we appreciate it at any rate; I appreciate it," she spoke, swinging her fiery-haired head 'round temporarily to flash him a light grin before re-facing the path before her. "It's nice to have someone looking out for you."
"Hrm...," the newly frowning-faced Hero of Time hummed out thoughtfully, icy-blue eyes watching the bright stars of the sky. His smile soon returned however when he saw a particular constellation above, re-opening his mouth as he did. "Yeah...," he agreed, a light laugh in his tenor. "It definitely is," he grinned in his chuckle, lowering his eyes as if to face the driver of the wagon. "So it's just been you and your sister then huh?"
"Yeah," she threw over her shoulder in a light smile of her own. "It's been tough these last few years... being the caretaker is difficult," the young woman admitted, her smile slowly morphing into a sombre frown. "I don't know how dad did it in all honesty."
Link couldn't help but drop his own smile, sitting up from his lying position to fully face her; a sign of respect.
"Things around Romani Ranch have... been getting unstable lately."
Curious, the frowning Link rose an eyebrow upward as he replied. "How do you mean?"
"The cows, they...," she began unsurely, shaking her auburn-haired head in a similarly frustrated sigh. "They seem so agitated and troubled... I keep thinking it's the Gorman brothers but any time I confront them they act like I'm crazy," she said, narrowing her eyes forward as she shook her head a second time. "Then Romani of course tells me it's the 'ghosts' that are trying to kidnap them...," Cremia continued, another disheartened exhale upon her lips. "I at least figured the Gormans were behind the broken milk bottles but... Giants only knows anymore."
"Gormans...," Link parroted, lowering his oceanic-eyed gaze in brief thought as he hovered his form up via his small hands behind him, propping his stature up. His memory went back to the man that resembled Ingo, dressed rather lavishly, within the borders of Clock Town. "So there's more than one huh?"
"Yeah you must be thinking of the third Gorman," Cremia smiled back, briefly eyeing him before returning her attention forward. "He left for the city in search of riches; I legitimately hope he failed, as cruel as that sounds."
Link couldn't help but chuckle in response, cracking a small grin in response. "Nah you're right," he agreed lightly, a kind of glee in his tenor. "Screw 'em all."
Cremia, grateful for his patience and humour, could only turn back to face him with a thankful smile upon her complexion.
"You came from Clock Town as well, didn't you?" She pressed him lightly as she returned her attention forward once more. "What are the people saying about that big moon back there?"
Link found his eyebrows raising up in conjunction with his blonde-haired head, his newfound frown casting his surprised look skyward. Sure enough, there it was, as ugly as it always was; the gargantuan scowling-faced moon staring back at him.
"It's bigger than it was yesterday, isn't it?" The young rancher commented on, curious and all as she tore her eyes from it to focus on the road ahead. "I hope it won't... fall."
Link's glaring oceanic-eyed gaze narrowed determinedly back at the contrastingly wide-eyed scowl in the moon's similarly giant eyes.
You have no idea, he silently responded back.
"Speaking of Clock Town...," she began again, a lightly sociable chuckle on her mezzo-soprano. "There's a friend I have there; I'm quite close with her."
His curiosity piqued and he swung his head back up from his laying position. "Oh yeah?"
"Her name's Anju...,"
Realising who she was referring to, Link's wide-eyed memory soon recalled the woman working in East Clock Town's 'Stock Pot Inn'.
Odd, he thought. She reminded him of the woman living within Kakariko's borders; the one always having trouble with the nearby cuccoos.
"The day after tomorrow's supposed to be her wedding," Cremia began her explanation, the wagon behind her trundling along as they at last began to approach the entrance pathway to Romani Ranch. "I can't even begin to imagine what sort of distress she must be going through...," she lamented sadly, a melancholic shake of her head as she spoke. Link listened quietly and intently, recalling the woman's issues in finding her fiance. "I wonder if it'll fall...,"
The listening youth swivelled his head up to exchange his hard-eyed stare with the moon glowering on back down at them, narrowing and all.
"That thing...?"
A gasp escaping from the wide-eyed form of Cremia as she halted the wagon's marching progress made the blinking Link prop himself up on his elbows to cast his frown forward.
"T-The road..."
Sure enough, just as she said it, there appeared to be a dirty great fence in the way of Milk Road; as Link pulled himself back up to a sitting position he narrowed his icy-blue eyes forward in suspicion.
I don't remember that being there, he thought curiously.
So then how are we gonna-?
"Link...,"
Cremia's quiet call made him pull himself out of his ruminations, eyebrows rising up in concern.
"Do you have a weapon other than that sword of yours?"
Her query, so odd, could only make the narrow-eyed Link further curious.
Was she expecting a fight?
"Yeah I mean...," he began in response, reaching back into his inventory for the hardwood Hero's Bow he procured from Woodfall. "I got this but..."
"Good," she nodded back as she watched, a lightly-satisfied smile upon her face. "That'll about do it."
With that, she turned the wheel she regulated, a newly-gained smile on her complexion. As the pair began to turn into what seemed to be the only remaining road left to them, Link's brow-furrowed look started to realise where they were exactly.
"Isn't this...?"
"Yeah," Cremia answered him before he could even finish, an affirmative nod on her words. "It's land belonging to the Gorman brothers."
Which means they obviously planned this, the frowning Link wondered silently to himself.
Just as he thought the road ahead, unlike their previous route, was pristine; other than the western side there was no blockades or obstacles in the way of their new avenue.
"I'm really gonna punch it through here," Cremia warned the frowning Link, her head half-way turned to eye him as he began to stand back up to his feet. "I'm gonna need your help."
Uttering a little confident chuckle, Link merely dusted himself off as if to ready himself for the engagement in which they were preparing for.
"You nearly caught me at a bad time...," he bantered back as he cricked and cracked his neck, rolling his shoulders as he reset his grin forward. "But I can deal." He finished with a wink, drawing a quietly-restrained laugh through the young woman's nose, a smile dotting her amusement.
"Thank you for this... Link," she smiled on as she faced him. "If we can get through here... I'll have a big thanks for you!"
6
Almost as quickly as the pair shot forward in a resuming of their march did the true culprits at last reveal themselves; a similar duo on horseback that approached with ruthless malevolence. Seemingly male, as their builds appeared to suggest, they carried pitchforks and rose them up to cry out as they approached as if in war. On their heads they wore identical-looking masks; a design in which the narrow-eyed Link had not seen yet.
"Those are... Garo Master masks!"
The frowning Link found himself narrowing his cobalt-blue eyes back at the floating Tatl next to him, eager to hear more. However, with little time to respond, he rose up the Hero's Bow and nocked back an arrow before letting loose at one of their fast-approaching assailants.
He found himself wincing however and faltering greatly when he imagined the arrow tearing through the men's bodies.
"What are you waiting for?! Shoot him!"
"Link, hit him!"
Cremia and Tatl's similarly frenzied calls did little to assist him; in a wincing blink he let the arrow go and it managed to successfully make contact with the man's pitchfork. In the collision his tool was fairly swiftly tossed aside, having expertly been pinned to the darkened road behind them.
"What the hell was that?!"
Tatl's exclamation, so shrill and piercing, could only remind the grimacing Link of the very companion he was working so hard to find.
I wonder who I prefer at this point, the groaning youth thought to himself comically.
"Fine..." He shot back in a hardened tone of his tenor, narrowing his eyes back at the flashing milk of Tatl's light. He stood up fully within the confines of the wagon that Cremia drove behind him and glared back at the rapid-approaching forms of what he could only assume were the Gorman brothers themselves. As the former Kokiri rose up what appeared to be a miniscule item within his right palm, he tilted his head at the two men before him.
"Link what are you doing?!"
This time he opted to ignore his guardian fairy's anxious calls; as the two Gormans made their final arrival, the standing Link cast the pair a single grin before at last dropping the tiny article within his grip.
FLASH
"Yaaargh!"
"Agh!"
"Hyaaaagh!"
In amidst the Deku Nut's inevitable bright-white flash of light came Cremia and the two brothers' cries of surprise and consternation. Although Link's option in halting their pursuers progress by impeding their sight succeeded, it also managed to hamper his own ally's; Cremia's.
Certainly not something he planned.
He reached back and, frowning forward, placed a hand atop the grunting Cremia's fire-haired head softly. Although she gasped from the sudden contact he gifted her with, she remained silent and waited.
HUMMMM...
Surprising both the watching Tatl and the shut-eyed Cremia was a dull hum that echoed out from what seemed to be a similarly translucent aura of Aegir, both emitting from the standing Link's form. As he stood over the frowning Cremia's sitting form, he appeared to be passing something over to her.
"It's okay," he spoke, frowning down at her. "You can open your eyes now."
Like a child having been given a directive by its guardian, the wincing Cremia, in great disdain to the anxious chase they had been previously engaged with, very slowly and carefully opened up her eyes to regain her sight once more.
Sure enough, in spite of the earlier great flash that Link's Deku Nut gave off, she could see clearly.
Even through the intense white light.
When she turned to blink back up at him, surprised and curious, he only gave her a grinning wink as if in knowing somehow. When he turned back to cast his grin behind them, he couldn't help but feel some sense of triumph in watching their pair of assailants stumbling around blindly as they screamed, presumably in an unhealthy mixture of distress and urgency.
That triumphic feeling carried their wagon the rest of the way through the otherwise hostile road.
"I can't believe that worked...," Tatl gasped out as the youth hopped off the back of the wagon, now parked directly outside of Termina Field's East Clock Town entrance. "I was expecting us to crash after that little stunt."
Link couldn't help but grin back at her as he re-opened his mouth to respond to her. "Oh ye of little faith," he bantered back in his chuckle. "You should know by now I don't fail baby," he smirked, casting her a light wink in a similar fashion. "I'm the-"
"'Hero of Time'...," Tatl sighed, rolling her eyes as she followed him dutifully. "I know...," she groaned, clearly exasperated. He opted to leave the conversation lying, chuckling as he did. "But... how did you-?"
"Aegir transfer!" He answered her over his green-clothed shoulder, flashing her his usual sociable grin. "Looks kinda complex but a lot easier 'n it seems," the youth explained as he marched 'round the corner of the wagon to walk toward the step ahead. "Impa taught me."
"Thanks... Link."
Surprising both the listening Tatl and the young speaking Hylian himself, Cremia's softly-subtle smile opened the way to a new dialogue; she stood directly next to the wagon she once commanded, her hands joined at her front neatly as she cast her shut-eyed smile down at him.
"Mr. Barten was happy to get his first delivery in quite a while!" She chuckled happily enough. Link couldn't help but beam back in response, happy for her. "Really; thanks again," the young woman smiled down at him gratefully. "Without you... we definitely would have lost our shipment to those terrible people."
"Ain't no skin off my nose darlin'," he shrugged back in response, a shut-eyed grin adorning his face as he did. "I'm one hell of a problem solver."
She couldn't help but cock a somewhat amused eyebrow up at him, chuckling. "You are at that...," she batted back, a light laugh in her tone. "We were blessed to have you on our farm, really though..."
"Hah!" Link laughed back, grinning amidst the red shade his cheeks took. "You gon' make me blush!"
"Well, if that's the case, then..."
In wide-eyed surprise, the young Hylian could only widen his icy-blue eyes as the smiling Cremia stepped forward to close the gap between them; sure enough, she leaned ahead and pulled him closer to her.
A simple hugging embrace.
For once, the normally overconfident Hero of Time had easily been taken by surprise, and registered it with a single gasp, his cheeks' shade intensifying as he drew closer to her slim and warm form.
Weird, he thought.
"She smells just like Malon does."
I guess it's normal that she does though, ain't it.
Memories of sleeping within the woman's arms floated in and out of his groggy-minded daydreaming, his sky-blue eyes closed and leniently quiet from the embrace that she gifted him with. It was only when she pulled back from the hug that his world returned to him; a fact reflected by the near stumble he embarrassingly made when she did.
"I left a little something in your inventory as a gesture of gratitude," she spoke gratefully, nodding forward, almost as if to point her decision out to him. Surprised, Link cast his frown over his shoulder and reached back, only to produce an oddly-shaped cow-like mask. "With every good deed, a child takes one step closer to adulthood," she explained, a simple elucidating smile upon her face. "That mask there is only given to a limited number of adult customers," Cremia claimed, nodding her fire-haired head back down at it once more, as if to highlight its exclusivity. "It's proof of membership... as well as-"
"Proof of recognition of adulthood... huh?"
His impudent and, even rude interruption, caused her to falter but only briefly; in an eyebrow-risen frown she relowered them before regaining her smile once again.
"You're smarter than even I thought...," she chuckled well-naturedly, her smile soon curling up into an entertained little grin. "I can see why she likes you."
"Uh?" Link merely frowned back, a simple blink on his puzzled expression. "Why who likes-?"
At last Cremia laughed, almost as if having held the howl in; she gripped her side as she threw her auburn-haired head back.
"Not too bright though."