New chapter is up and ready. I hope you will enjoy this one it's rather interesting seeing what they really think of each other.

My Darling Malon,

Today I write from our bedroom. I sit before the window, looking at the snow and wishing as you have in the past that we could be here together. I know as I write this you are picturing my apartment above the bank. This time you are wrong. I now sit with paper on my knee in our new home, having just moved in yesterday.

I fear we will hear nothing but echoes for the fist year, until we can afford some more furniture and rugs, but I'd rather shop with you and at a time when it will not cause a financial burden. The only thing I truly fear is loneliness for you. As of this writing we have only one neighbor, they are an older couple, very dear, but you are used to being surrounded by loving family, and I do not wish you to pine overly for them.

At that point Malon had to stop reading. She was too overwhelmed to go on. The house was finished! She was not going to be married for six weeks, but her home was waiting for her. She smiled when she thought about the lack of neighbors. Didn't Ralph understand that she was coming there for him? Malon understood that she might be a bit naive about the future, but she was going to be married to the man she loved, and a lace of neighbors seemed of very little importance at the moment. She had to read on.

Our home sits on the road that leads to Richard's ranch, so I expect we'll see quite a bit of him. Maybe he will take a wife from one of the women at church I know you'll meet some women of like interest, and I shall always have a buggy at your disposal. You might feel a little shut-in during the winter, but our snow does not remain on the ground as long as it does in Kakariko Village. Maybe God will bless us with children our first year, and I will never have need to worry for you loneliness again.

I count the days until we can be together and look forward to my return trip to see your family. You have all been in my prayers. How are tings with Zelda and Link? I have praised God many times that her heart has become kinder.

Please tell Romani that I received her letter and will be writing her soon. She told me about some cookies she was baking. I hope she'll make some more after I arrive. Thanks your mother for setting things up with your Uncle Error so that Richard and I will not have to stay at the hotel. I will book a room for wedding night, but the apartment above the store is much more practical for the week before the wedding.

A verse from Philippians says, "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you." My heart could feel no less. I love you, Malon.

Yours always,

Ralph

Malon's eyes slid shut, and a huge sigh escaped her lips. He was so wonderful, and if he thanked god for her, Malon nearly shouted her praise to God for him. She would have liked to lay on her bed and pray for the next hour, but Zelda came in. Malon wasn't angry over the interruption, but she decided right then to write Ralph after she'd asked Zelda his question.

"Hi," Malon said, sitting up. "What's up?"

"The sky" was Zelda's reply before she grinned. Malon laughed and wondered at the change in her in the last few weeks. She wasn't anywhere near as moody as she had been, and her attitude was softening toward everyone in the house.

"Ralph asked about you in his letter," Malon told her.

"He did?" Zelda seemed very surprised.

"Yes. I talk to him about everyone, and he wanted to know how you were feeling about Link these days."

Zelda looked away for a minute, "I had a long told with Mother about it, but I don't know."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I was going to be kinder to him; I mean, I wasn't going to hold his hand or anything..." Zelda's face was comical. "Mother made me see that he didn't deserve to be treated to way I've been treating him."

"So what is it that you don't know now?"

Zelda shrugged. "He hasn't been around. I think I've only seem him twice in the last month. The first time he was all the way across the church, and the other time he walked by the store but didn't come in."

Malon nodded. "This really isn't a very good time of year for socializing."

Zelda's gaze turned to the window. "I think the snow is going to be here forever."

They were quiet for a time before Malon spoke.

"What changed your mind about Tag, Zelda? What was it Mother said?"

"She didn't really say anything." Zelda now looked at Malon, her voice quiet. "I waited on Link at the store one day, and I was so irritated that I grabbed a collar pin from his hand and poked him in the finger. He bled, Malon." Zelda's voice was tortured. "I've never been so ashamed in all my life. He didn't get angry or anything. He just wrapped it in his handkerchief and went on his way."

Malon thought that sounded like something Link would do, but Zelda wouldn't have known that about him. It was very exciting to Malon that her younger sister might be giving the man a chance. Not that she was hearing wedding bells or anything quite so dramatic, but Malon saw Link for the fine man that he was, and she knew that Zelda was going to be lonely when she moved away to Hyrule.

"The time will come for you to talk," Malon predicted. "Probably at church or maybe at the store. You'll see."

Zelda nodded, and her gaze went back out the window. It was hard not to know, but at the moment she was amazedly calm inside. The meeting probably would be when she didn't expect it, but maybe that was best. A spark of fear and then anger lit in Zelda's soul. Fear threatened to choke her-fear of his rejecting her, laughing in her face, or treating her like a child. The only way Zelda knew to fight that kind of fear was to get angry at it and everyone around her, but she didn't want to do that again. With one small hand clenched in the folds of her skirt, she managed to tamp the feeling down. It took a few minutes, but at last she was calm.

There's no pint in getting all shook up, Zelda, she said to her self. It's impossible to know when or where, so you might as well relax. But Zelda found that this was easier said than done, and as the end of January gave way to early February, which gave way to the middle of the month, Zelda wrestled almost daily with her feeling.

(&)

"We have a special guest this week," Miss Impa Bradley announced on Monday morning. "Mr. Link Taggart is gong to be observing us all week," She looked at Link. "I'm proud to tell you, Mr. Taggert, that this class is full of the brightest students I've ever taught. They do not always apply themselves," she added almost dryly, "but their potential is tremendous."

"Now," the teacher's voice turned more serious as she again faced the class. "Many of you may know our guest on a first-name basis, but this week his is Mr. Taggart. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Miss Bradley," chorused the occupants of the room.

"Now, to start off, Mr. Taggart is simply going to observe, but beginning this afternoon I will be choosing student from each form to sit in the back with Mr. Taggart and explain a subject to him. You will speak clearly if you are spoken to while still at your desk and answer all questions to the best of your ability. Let us begin."

Zelda had never had such a hard time with concentration. She was as aware of Link's presence as anyone could be. Questions plagued her, tortured her even. Would he try to humiliate her or get back at her for the way she'd treated him? If only she'd had a chance to talk to him before.

Zelda was completely unaware of the way her thoughts showed on her face. She felt as vulnerable as if she'd been asked to sit in school in her underclothing. Her tormented thoughts eased a little when she was Link put a hand on Agithashoulder and more when she saw him smooth Sari's hair, but she was still in a panic. In fact, she was so troubled that unknown to her, her eyes pleaded with Link when he came by. He hadn't planned to stop, but her eyes were so miserable that he paused.

"How's it going?" he asked her voice low and completely normal. Zelda trembled with relief.

"Its fine," she told him softly and was rewarded by his kind smile before he passed on to the next row.

The day got better from that point, and Zelda even managed to thank Link for the ride home. His eyes were warm but not teasing as he acknowledged her words, and Zelda went into the house feeling like she'd been given the day.

(&)

"I ate lunch with Agithatoday," Aryll told her brother. They had gone into the barn, but cold as it was Aryll seemed in no hurry to rush inside. She stood in holding her books in front of her, her hat and mittens still in place.

"I saw you." Link stared at her over the back of the horse.

"He said something about Zelda."

"Oh?"

"Yes. He wondered if the tow of you might be seeing each other. He said she watched you the whole morning."

Link nodded. He'd been more than aware of her gaze.

"I don't think she hates you anymore, Tag," Aryll continued.

"I don't think she hates anyone anymore."

Link came out from the stall, patting the roan-colored rump as he passed. He stopped before Aryll.

"Maybe she's growing up a little."

"Maybe. She still doesn't have many friends, though," Aryll said sadly.

"It takes time for a person to live down a bad reputation. Sometimes it never goes away."

"But you've never been angry back or hated her, have you Tag?"

"Well, not for long. Where Zelda and I are concerned, I brought some of her feeling on myself. I pushed in and teased her, and hurt her in the process. I know better now."

Aryll suddenly had to hug her brother. "You're going to make a wonderful teacher, Tag. I know that with all my heart."

Link gladly hugged her in return. Nothing else she could have said would have warmed his heart more.

(&)

"Zelda you will go to the back now with Mr. Taggart. Please explain the Upper Form mathematics. Go over what we've been learning and be certain to take your book."

"Yes, Miss Bradley." Zelda's voice was subdued, but she obeyed. Her legs shook just a little as she rose and turned to the back. Zelda sat in the last seat so she didn't have far to go to the table and two chairs that had been set up at the back. Link was waiting for her, ready to hold her chair. Zelda thanked him in a soft voice and waited until he sat opposite her. She thought they would get right down to business, but Link surprised her.

"What do you suppose Miss Bradley chose you to tell me about this?"

"Oh." Zelda faltered for a moment and made her hands lie still on the table. "Well, I think maybe because I'm good in this subject."

"Is it your favorite?"

Zelda looked into his eyes and then down, feeling very self-conscious.

"No, but I like it all right."

"What is your favorite?"

"World history."

Link smiled.

"Mine too."

Zelda bit her lip, but her smile stretched through. She forced herself to ask, "Did you want to hear about math now?"

"Sure," Link answered easily, and Zelda felt herself relaxing. She knew, however, that Link would have been just as content to sit and talk about something other than math. She opened the book, and Link leaned forward intently.

Zelda was very good at explaining things, and everything was familiar to Link, who was also good in math. He couldn't have said exactly when she lost him, but at some point the younger man stopped listening to math and started listening more to the young woman.

The sound of Zelda's voice and the way her slim-fingered hands moved captivated him. The deep blue of her eyes was nearly hypnotic, and Link wondered with his feelings for her had moved from concern to something deeper. He was still concerned for her and cared more than he could tell her, but there was another feeling sinking deeply into his heart.

The funny part was that Link didn't know why. Zelda was not sweet and gentle like Malon, or sensitive and kind like Ruto, but she was Zelda-just Zelda. She was a girl in whom Link had seen serious faults, but he still cared. And although she tried her hardest not to disclose herself, he also saw vulnerability in her that tore his heart nearly in two. Maybe she was like the students he hoped to teach one day. He simply ached to "take her on" and help her to be all she could be.

Link now forced his mind back to the book Zelda was holding. He was going to have to go slowly here, and well he knew it. His emotions could easily take him out of control. he knew this because as much as much as he wanted to teach students of all shaped and sizes, he didn't have the desire to kiss any of them the way he did Zelda Fontaine.

"Did that make sense?"

"Yes." Link swiftly gathered his thoughts. "Yes, it did. Now will you be through with this book before the year ends?"

"I don't think so. We have some more difficult steps coming up." Zelda swiftly turned to the back of the book. "See? Right here. Miss Bradley says we'll be taking extra time on these."

Link studied the pages. Really involved fractions. This too was familiar. He then thanked Zelda and asked her if she would want a ride home.

"I'm not going home today," she told him. "It's my day to work at the store, but thank you."

"I can swing you by," Link offered and watched Zelda's cheeks flush.

"You don't have to," she told him and closed the book.

"Well, it's up to you. I won't do anything you don't want me to do."

There was something in his tone and the way he said the words that made Zelda think he was talking about far more than a ride in the wagon. She stood swiftly and pushed her chair in. Link rose also.

"I'd appreciate a ride," she nearly whispered, her eyes not readable. "Thank you, Link." With that she slipped away to her seat, and Link was left to wonder just what he had said.

A new chapter is all ready under way it should be up soon.