Dusk

The shadows stretched long over Hyrule Field as the sun set behind Death Mountain. Link let out a breath he felt like he'd been holding forever. Hyrule. He was home.

He'd lost track of how many months he'd been away. It did not matter, really. Hyrule was a timeless place- maybe he only came back to make sure nothing had changed. In fact, thinking on it now, he knew it to be true. If it weren't for that nagging fear that everything would change- revert to what it had been before- than he'd never come back. He'd wander towards the horizon until there was no more, until the world ended in a cliff and a sea of stars.

But no- the before times still haunted him. Waking up a man, to a land that was dying. Much of it was vague now. Years had passed since he was sent back in time to be a child again.

One thing that did not remain vague, though: Link had caught sight of her, riding hard from the direction of Lake Hylia, trying to reach Hyrule Castle Town before the drawbridge lifted. Link's heart thrummed in his chest. He had no control over it, after all these years. He breathed a prayer of thanks to the Goddesses that he had stopped in the shadows of the forest's edge and remained unseen.

He had loved Princess Zelda once, more than anything. He would have died for her. He had proved that, every day. Their souls were one and the same, and once, they had shared a destiny together. But she! She had taken that away. Why did she blame herself for sending him on the quest when it was the only choice? None of it was her fault. What was her fault was sending him away to a childhood he no longer wanted. What he wanted was her- to be near her, to help her rebuild the kingdom. To love her. And as Ganondorf's defeator, he did have a chance at being worthy of her and winning her hand. But here? An errant knight? What was worse, he didn't believe what she believed, that by sending him back, her own timeline would be gone. Somewhere, out there, in the time that he belonged, Princess Zelda was rebuilding her destroyed world, alone.

Link took a breath, inhaled the fragrant mists rising out of the Kokiri forests, through which he had just ridden. He tried not to think of these things, even as he could still see a silhouette of her off in the distance. Maybe she was right, after all. The whole kingdom sprawled out before him in the red of the setting sun, pristine, untouched by evil hands. Maybe this was as real- more real, even- than the desolate waste he awakened to once, long ago. And if so, then the whole kingdom of Hyrule prospered, even if his heart had been broken.

Link took one more deep breath. Tried to bring himself back to the present. This was always the hardest part- these first moments of arrival, when it would all come rushing back.

Link closed his eyes. The sounds of the forest- the birds, the scurrying of animals, the whispers of the lost woods- beckoned to him, promising an evening of revelry among the pipe music of kokiri ghosts.

When he opened his eyes, he caught sight of another figure, one that had waved as the princess raced past on horseback. It was Malon, gathering wildflowers as the sun's last crimson rays slanted across the field. Taking one last look to make sure the princess was long gone, Link made his way out into the open. Malon caught sight of him and waved. He raised a hand in return.

"Fairy Boy!" She exclaimed in greeting when he was near- her voice had gained a distinctive lilt- the result no doubt of her constant singing. She reached down for her basket of heather, tucked back a lock of red hair that fell in her face, and stood, walking down the gentle slope of hill to the path to close the distance between them. Link was overwhelmed with the sudden desire to pull her into a big embrace, to lift her and twirl her around in a circle- but he held back, stopping a few feet short of her.

"Ranch girl," He said by way of awkward greeting, and laughed nervously. She let out a hearty laugh, however, and took him by the arm.

"Long time since you've been in these parts. Fancy some dinner?"

The evening lingered sweetly over good company and good dinner. Talon shook Link's hand vigorously and roared in an absent-minded, good-natured way for the cook to prepare another seat at the table. Link was secretly overjoyed to find that the ranch was doing so well. The three of them talked late into the evening about horses, dairy, Hyrule, and the business of a ranch. Malon spent much of the time in serene silence by the fire, working the wildflowers into woven bracelets. Link agreed to work for the next few days in exchange for straw to sleep on and meals- he also wanted to share some horse-training techniques he learned in Catalia- maybe they would help that rogue restless mare of theirs.

Afterward, he and Malon walked out to the stables and the pile of hay where Link would sleep.

"We have a guest room now, you know," Malon said with an amused smile, watching him climb up the stacks of hay, so high he could pick robin's eggs out of the nests in the rafters.

"Yeah, but where's the fun in that?" Link shoved his pack into a corner for a makeshift pillow. "Hey, how is that platform doing? No rot, right?" He climbed out the window onto the roof of the stables, and over to the platform. Malon met him there, using the normal way.

Outside, the moon waxed a luminous full and Link's heart felt suddenly anxious as Malon climbed the ladder and settled in next to him. They sat for a long time in silence, watching the pale face of the moon.

Malon was beautiful, Link admitted to himself. When had she become so lovely? Her eyes were bright and innocent and her voice was dark and mysterious, and she had an ease with which she moved, the grace of a dancer. And her singing! Link could listen to her sing forever. He only wondered: did she have a sense of adventure, like he…?

"Tomorrow's market day, will you come help me at the booth?"

"Of course."

"Maybe we could visit the Temple of Time afterwards, I love how that place makes even the silence echo."

Something sank in Link's heart, old memories like twisting thorns. Malon seemed to sense his disquiet- she changed the subject with a soft confession.

"I've been meaning to tell you something…" She turned to ace Link, and her eyes shimmered in the moonlight. "I- I think you should take Epona with you- when you leave next, that is."

Link was surprised, in spite of himself. "Why do you say that?"

"Well…" She tucked away a stray lock of hair. "She's… restless… she never befriended anyone, all this time- except you. And… well… she was meant for more than this small ranch life. You should take her with you. On your adventures. She will love it. And she loves you." Link couldn't tell if Malon was blushing, for a second there. "She loves when you play ocarina, after all. Will you take her?"

Slowly, he nodded. Malon gave a sigh of relief and they fell into an odd quiet after that, until Link finally said,

"Malon, have you been to Lake Hylia?"

"No… I don't really get to ride out that far, with all the work around the ranch…"

"Would your Father object to me taking you there for a day, if I stay on an extra while to keep up with the work? I want you to see it, I want you to see how the sunset looks against the waters."

He continued to describe it to her, and realized, as he did, that there was a lot he wanted her to see: the beautiful deserts of the Gerudo lands, the deep forests, the hills of Catalia, the rivers that twisted and turned and drained into the Sosarian Sea. The ghost villages of forgotten kingdoms, the empty temples and whispering woods.

They talked late into the night- the moon had set when Malon finally bid him goodnight and climbed down the ladder, returning to bed in her room. Link watched her go and, when the light in her window was once again dark, he turned back to the dusting of diamond-hard stars in the sky and, for the first time in what felt like an eternity, he felt like he'd come home.

***End***