The Hyrule Castle Market Town was a lively place. Link and Navi gazed in wonder, looking at all the joyful Hylians, all the people dancing around. A man bumped into Link.

"Do you know where the "Princess of Destiny?" is?" Link asked, his eyes going up and down, looking at the bright clothing and the big bag tied to his back.

"I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date!" he sang, rushing past them.

Link and Navi stared, each looking dumbfounded. Navi shook to her senses first. She saw a small young girl with flaming red hair singing to herself.

She looks smart enough, Navi thought.

"C'mon, Link!" she called as she zipped along to her. Link came up a few minutes later.

"Oh, hello!" the girl greeted brightly. "You look...rather...you look...different...oh my, is that a fairy? Oh my goodness. Wow! You must be from the forest, then. What are you doing here?"

"We're looking for a princess," Link answered, picking his nails.

"Oh, you must mean the beloved Princess Zelda! Well, you should go right behind me, that'll lead you straight to the castle."

"Thanks!" Navi said gratefully. "Let's go, Link!"

The pair ran, leaving the girl looking confused and worried. Her father was missing.

Navi was checking out the place. She flew up high and spotted the high towers.

"Hey, Navi, I found some vines!" Link shouted, starting to climb. Navi followed Link up and met him by a Gossip Stone.

The two walked carefully over and jumped down from the hill. There were guards swarming everywhere.

"Guards!" Navi whispered. "Quick, hide behind that rock!"

Navi and Link dove into the cover of the rock.

"Hah! That guard, he never saw it coming!" Link gloated.

"No! Be qui-"

"Hey, you! Over there!" the guard yelled.

"Run!" Navi screamed. Link tried to run, but his foot got caught on the rock.

The guard marched over to Link just as he got his foot loose.

"Pure rascals, I say." the guard muttered. "I want to speak to your parents, young hoodlum."

After fifteen minutes of trying to convince the guard that Link's parents were sleeping, he finally believed him and threw him over the gate.

"Don't make me catch you again!" the guard yelled.

Link and Navi went back to the spot where the vines were growing. There were surprised to see the girl there, waiting.

"Oh, hello, " she said sweetly, "I had a feeling you were going to go to the castle. Do you think you can do me a favour and find my dad? I'll give you this. It's an egg. I've been trying to hatch it lately, but, maybe you'll have better luck. Oh, and by the way, my name's Malon. Now, shoo!"

Malon shoved an egg into Link's hands and glared at him.

Link shrugged, pocketed the egg, and he climbed the vines once more. This time, they were more lucky, and made it past the guards without being seen...with Navi's help, of course. They came to a small stream.

"Get in, Link, and swim. You see that corner? You can get off there." Navi urged.

Link jumped into the water and followed Navi's instructions to the letter and got off. Navi frowned. There was a sleeping man in blue overalls and two milk crates were cluttered beside him.

"Link, look, there's a small entrance in the spout where water's coming out. We can go through there, but you're too short, so you won't make it if you jump."

Navi looked around and spotted the milk crates again. "Yes, perfect! We can use the crates! But that man, he's blocking the way! Wake him up, Link!"

Link slapped the man in the face.

"I told you to wake him up, not slap him in the face!" Navi said, exasperated.

Link shrugged. "Well, it's not like it did any good. He's still sleeping."

Indeed, the man was sleeping just as peacefully, as if Link hadn't done a thing.

"He's a really heavy sleeper," Link commented as Navi screamed in his ear. Link went over to the stream and cupped his hands, collecting some water. He rushed back to the man and dumped it on his face. The man snorted and wiped his face with a large, burly hand.

"Wow," Navi said in awe, "he's better than you!"

Link looked affronted. "Of course not!"

They kept arguing for the entire night until dawn. As the regular Cucco crowed, Link could here a small cracking noise, and then a smaller Cucco noise. Link checked his pockets to find not an egg-but a fully grown Cucco! It chirped loudly.

The man grunted, and rubbed his eyes.

"Huh?" he said in confusion, getting up, "-what happened?"

The man spotted Navi and Link. He seemed sleepy and dizzy. "Who are you, and whatcha doin' here? I'm Talon, owner of Lon Lon Ranch. I must of fallen asleep while I was delivering milk."

"Um, we're here looking for a girl's dad. Her name's what...Malon?"

Talon's gaze seemed to sharpen. "Malon? My daughter? She's looking for me? Oh dearie, that's not good!"

He started to sweat, and fear burned in his eyes. "She'll kick me outta the ranch for sure!"

Link watched the cloud of dust disappear around the corner.

"Malon must be a really ferocious girl," Navi said uneasily, flying over to the crates. "Well, anyways, c'mon Link, let's push these crates over.

Unfortunately, Link was a bit of...weakling and was pigging out on what was left of his Kit Kat bar so by the time the crates were all in place, it was night.

Navi suddenly remembered what Kaepora Gaebora had said. Run at night, sneak at light.

She watched the moon come up. Could it possibly have to do anything with the weather?

No, she decided, it can't.

Link crawled through the small opening and was surprised to see two guards standing at attention. Link was even more surprised when they took him by the arms, dragged him out, and threw him out of a door.

Navi then realized what Kaepora meant. "Link, we can't sneak in when it's night. That's what it means! Run, run away from the castle at night, because I bet there are guards swarming simply everywhere! I bet the security's doubled! Then, when it's daytime, we can sneak in because it isn't as dangerous and there aren't as many guards! That's what Kaepora meant!"

Link's eyes burned with regret. "Oh, now you tell me! Then I wouldn't of had to been dragged by the shoulders and thrown out of a door!"

But they were both thankful that Navi had suddenly realized the truth. Link would've tried again and again and again. They waited patiently for dawn. When they heard the Cucco cry, Link clambered onto the crate and hopped into the small hollow and crawled into the entrance again.

Navi was right. There were at least half the number of guards there had been yesterday night. They made it past all the guards until they saw the last obstacle. There were rupees scattered everywhere. Blue rupees, gold rupees, and red rupees! Link's jaw dropped down. There were also ten guards patrolling that particular area.

Navi stared at Link's glazed eyes, and stared behind him. There was a staircase, leading up towards a wooden board which Link could cross towards the other side.

"C'mon, Link! Let's go up that-"

Link was running as fast as he could towards the rupees.

"No, Link! Don't let greed take the better of you!" Navi cried out, watching in dismay. "We'll surely get caught!"

But it was Navi's turn to be surprised.

Link ran like a whirlwind, knocking down various guards and picking up rupees faster than a blink of an eye. Link slowed to a stop by Navi, gazing proudly down at his bulging bag of rupees.

Navi looked at Link in amazement. There were exactly ten guards knocked unconscious.

"Let's get going, Navi," Link said calmly, walking up the stairs. Navi buzzed around Link in excitement.

"That was incredible, Link!" Navi gushed, taking another look at the fallen guards.

Link blushed as they walked into the Castle Courtyard...