Helloooo! sorry for the wait but i'll explain it all at the end's author notes.

You want to know what makes "different" this chapter? Read it and find out!

*EDIT* Hey you! yeah, you! i've noticed that a lot of people are skipping chapter 6! why? i don't know... if you haven't read chapter 6 yet, then i suggest you that go and read it now! Thank you for you cooperation, Have a nice day :)

I opened the stable's door with one hand since my other arm was busy holding the fourth and last bucket with fresh milk of the day. As I closed the door behind me, my little sister noticed me, and left aside her chore of caressing the cows that I've already milked today.

"Hey sis! That's the last bucket today?" She said with her hands closed in front of her, like attempting to make a jump.

"Hmm, yeah" I smiled at her in response to her eagerness to stop doing the chores. "It's the last one, sister"

She happily jumped in the air repeatedly. "Yay! Yay! Finally!"

"But!" I stopped her in her celebration. "What!" She froze in midair. "What is it? Romani wants to eat now! Romani's hungry!" She finally landed her feet in the ground.

"Just put this milk inside of a container and you are free today"

"That's all? Sounds easy for Romani!" I handed her the bucket filled with milk, and she had an empty milk jug already at her side.

"I'll go and get the last cow to the stable and I'll do the dinner this fastest" I said while snapped my fingers and making a warm smile to her.

I put my hand on the door knob, but glanced at her before leave outside, and saw her that she already had the milk inside the container. "Seal it good, all right?" I said.

"Don't worry sis! Romani got this covered!" she said as she put a wielding mask on her face and got out a little flamethrower to seal good the container.

I giggled to that scene and got outside of the stable.

I sighed wearily when I remembered that the cow that I last milked was all the way south of the ranch.

(uhg… why it has to be at the very end of the ranch…)

Uh, come on Cremia, just do this last push today…

I started to walk towards the last cow against my own will. My back hurt, and so was my feet, and everything that passed through my head was the comfy and soft bed and how good it feels when you relax at your own bed.

I shook my head. I can't think about that, I won't slack off in my work, it's just this last thing today and that's all. Since the moment that our father died four years ago, I knew that all the ranch depended on me, and if I slack off just one little bit, then my worst fear could arise, the decay of the entire ranch and so of our family. And I don't want to carry with that guilt over my shoulders.

I can't help but think about that every time that I'm starting to relax.

I finally reached the cow; it was eating grass as it normally does all day. I patted her shoulder. "Come on girl, I'll take you to the stable" I said with an uninterested face. She mooed in response and slowly followed my steps towards the stable.

Everything pointed that this was going to be a normal and boring day as always, but that changed when I noticed someone's silhouette at the entrance of the ranch not too far away from where I was. The silhouette kept walking through the marked road. I slowed my walking pace to glance more carefully. I had no doubt that it was a young man with a large and spiky black hair and dressed red garments. He was glancing at every side except forward, that made him didn't notice me yet.

(A visitor?)

We rarely got any visitors around here today. Most of the time, they come only on Saturday to bet in the doggy racetrack that Mamamu Yan owns at the other side of the ranch. He looks fairly distracted though, but it's just a matter of time until our path crosses.

I acted like didn't noticed and kept walking towards the stable, but when the cow and I crossed the dirt path, the cow mooed, and attracted the visitor's attention. Then he noted my presence, but I didn't turn to him until I heard his steps closer.

"Hey Cremia!" I recognized that voice.

I turned to see the young man, and at the second recognized his face as well. He was Alex, the often willed to help me young man that worked for Mr. Barten at the milk bar. In my opinion, he's kinda handsome. It was nice see a familiar face outside of town.

"Alex! How are you? What brings you here to the ranch?"

He sighed in exhaustion, but tried to cover his weariness by casually scratching his long and spiky black hair. "Heh, I'm doin' fine!. I was wondering if you could rent me, you know, a horse..."

"A horse? Yeah! Of course I'll lend you one if you want Alex"

He genuinely smiled "Perfect!"

"Just let me get this cow to the stable and I'll show you our horses"

"Sure!"

He walked me by my side while walking towards the direction where the stable and the house lied and the cow slowly followed us. I couldn't help but notice that he was panting a little while walking.

"Umm… are you okay? You seem tired, you know"

—Really? I think that I walked a lot to get here…"

I turned to him amazed. "What? You walked all the way here from the Town?"

His expression didn't change. "I think that double of that or even more…" He seriously said, without any sign of fake on his tone.

"That is brutal! Your feet must be killing you!"

Then, the lost mare that came to our ranch started: "Neigh!"

He glanced at the mare, which was caged behind a little stable just at the side of the house. "Uh?"

"Neigh!" The brown mare made a little jump of excitement.

His dark blue eyes suddenly widened. "Epona!" he started running towards the caged horse.

"…?" I was dumbfounded.

(That's how my sister calls that horse… it's his maybe?)

I caught up on him in front of the house. He was petting the mare on its chin with a hand through the bars that kept her from flee. And the horse was calmly accepted his caresses.

The horse snorted. (Hey, where the f*ck you've been? You pinhead bastard!)

"Is that your horse?" I asked.

He stopped petting her and turned at me with a big smile on his face. "Yep! Her name's Epona. How did she get in here?"

"She came by herself to the ranch like three weeks ago. She was very hungry when she first came. Don't worry, we have taken good care of her since then"

"I'm so lucky to find her here! How could I thank you!"

Just then, my sister came out from the stable at the side of the house, and came to us. "Sister! Romani has finished sealing the cont-" She glanced at our visitor. "Hey, who are you?"

He waved a hand saluting. "Hi!"

She wasn't used to see foreigners in the ranch. "Romani, this is Alex. He comes from Clock Town for his horse" I turned to him. "This is my sister, Romani"

"Epona is yours?"

He raised an eyebrow. "How did you—know her name?"

"Because she looks like Grasshopper's horse. She's identical!"

"Grasshopper?" He said, confused.

I had to interrupt. "Romani, you see that cow there?" I pointed towards the cow that I left all alone not too far.

"Yes, sister. Why?"

"Please get it to the stable while I get the dinner ready, ok?"

"But siiisteeer-uhg!" She then headed towards the cow with an annoyed frown.

I turned to Alex who was eager to take his horse. "Sorry, but I have to go"

"No sir. You know how dangerous is travel at night?"

"Uh…" He tried to think about some valid argument, but didn't found any.

"I'll take that as a yes" I opened the door of the house. "Please, come in"

He bashfully nodded and stepped inside the house. When he closed the door behind him, he glanced all over the house. He sighed and eased his look, relieved for being inside a house.

(Giggle) "Don't be shy! Take a sit while I do the dinner"

"Thanks, but I'm not hun-" Then, his stomach growled loudly interrupting his phrase. (Yet another time you betray me, stomach…)

I giggled again and lit the oven with firewood from the fireplace. He proceeded to take off his sturdy shield and sword off his back, placing them against the stairs and finally took the seat and rested his back against the wooden chair.

"Sooo… you are finally traveling huh?" I said as I broke the eggs and placed its yolk in the frying pan.

"Yeah. I think I know a way to go back my homeland, but I needed a horse to continue further on my way, so I thought that you could lend me a horse, but what I found? That Epona was In here all the time!"

"You never told me that you've lost your horse"

"Well, anyone in Clock Town knew about a lost horse, so I thought that you didn't know either. Now I feel kinda dumb for not to ask before…"

"How did Epona got lost?" I asked.

Just then, my sister opened the door. "Romani's done sister!" and she glanced at Alex. "Ooooh! You are going to eat with us? Great!" She said as she took a sit. "Hey, Alex! How did Epona got lost?" she copied my words.

He chuckled "Hehe, it's complicated…"

Romani rested her arms in the dining table while Alex told us about how he lost Epona. I listened to every detail of his story while cooking. That he was going to a Knight's Academy but, got ambushed by some bandits in the forest, who unfortunately, ran away with her. And then he fell through a hole, and ended in Clock Town, story which was consistent to what he told me before while working in the bar.

I couldn't help but feel bad for him. He's gone through many things. His separation with his family, his lost horse, and being completely alone in a city he doesn't know must been kind of stressing for such a young man. But yet, he's always willed to help me whenever I came to the bar to make a deliver. But still tries to cover his problems with a casual smile.

"But still, I don't know what happened to the bandits, but now, I have Epona with me, and that is all that matters…"

"Dinner's ready!" I gave Romani two scrambled eggs, and gave Alex three.

"Thanks!" Both said.

Romani then started to eat, but Alex politely waited for me to sit down with my own food. I served a glass of milk to each of us.

(I hope he likes it…)

He stared at the food impatiently and obviously hungry, but to my surprise, when I sat down; he immediately grabbed his fork and started to eat swiftly. He eats like a beast! When he put the food inside his mouth, he immediately grabbed his fork to get more food into his mouth, swallowing it in a blink.

"…!"

"…?"

I stared at him speechless, and so did Romani with her fork still with food on her hand.

"Mmm… very nice!" He said between munches.

He then left the fork to grab his glass of milk, and drank all its content in one big gulp. He then grabbed his fork again just encountered with the empty plate. He chuckled sheepishly.

"Hey Cremia, it's not just for say it but, this is the most delicious food I've ever eat! It tasted delicious!"

I blushed a little. "Hehe, thanks Alex. I would like that other person could think the same way…" I said looking at Romani.

Romani just gave me an annoyed face and continued eating her own food.

I was amazed by how fast Alex eats, I haven't even touched my fork and he already ended his food. I saw this like an opportunity to talk a little.

"Mmm, well… how are you planning go back to homeland then?" I asked.

"Well, the thing is, I went to the library that you told me, and just yesterday met this mask salesman who had a wide and wicked grin on his face. He told me about a sword of an ancient civilization east of Termina that has the power to ¨travel between worlds¨ as he said. I prepared my things to leave and said farewell to Mr. Barten today, and got outside of town"

"You know Mr. Barten?" Romani said after drinking her glass of milk.

"Yeah, I worked for him some time"

"it must be hard for him to work alone again…" I said.

"What happened then?" Romani said eager for him to continue his story.

"The salesman marked the place where the sword must be on my map…" He then got out a map of Termina, extended it and pointed his finger to a certain place marked with a red circle. "Ikana Graveyard as the map says"

I shrugged. "A… graveyard?"

"WooOOOooah! That sounds spooky!"

He returned the map inside his bag. "Yeah! I don't like it either!"

"So why you stopped by here then?"

"In the middle of the way, I found a large and tall metal fence blocking my way. I found no way to get past it in that moment, but my experience told me that a horse could jump that fence if it run fast enough"

"So you walked through east and south Termina Field, and Milk Road!"

"That's Crazy!" Romani snapped.

"I'll get there early in the morning, obviously riding Epona to jump over that fence"

(Is he going there, just like that?)

He has nothing else to rely on. He's convinced that he's going to get that sword and get to his home just like that… But now that he found his horse, he looks even more convinced to go further into his adventure.

"Romani finished!" She said as she drank the remaining milk o her glass. "Romani's going to brush her teeth!" she said as she put her empty plate and glass on the sink and went to the bathroom.

"Heh, your sister is funny. She kinda reminds me of my little brother…" Alex stated.

"Yeah, I'm trying to keep her happy ever since our father died…" I stood up from my chair and put my empty plate and glass on the sink, and so he did the same.

"I'll wash the dishes" He said.

"Oh, no! You don't have to!"

"It's the least I can do to thank you for your hospitality" He said as he took off his fingerless gloves and put them at the side of the sink.

I nodded and smiled at him thankfully. A part of me didn't want to wash the dishes anyway, and I felt relieved that I didn't have to do that certain thing. I was also relieved that someone did my job just for one. Even more so that someone completely disinterested like Alex, did it just to help me a little despite him being physically exhausted.

I sat down in the dining table.

"So… you have a little brother too?" I didn't know anything else to come up.

"Yeah… Nodro. He's identical to me, with the difference that he's blonde, like my father…" He said, focused on his current labor.

I rested my shoulders in the table. "You miss your family don't you?"

He sighed. "Exactly…"

"But don't you think that going out there, searching for a magical sword and putting your life in danger with all those monsters out there are not a little too much?"

"It's way better than do nothing while lamenting myself, I wouldn't win anything by doing that. That's why I accepted go for that sword. No one is going to do me the favor to go and get it for me. I'm the only one who I can rely on…"

"…" I was shocked. I've never met someone with a stronger will. I never thought that such words could come out from such a young man like him. He's more mature than he appears.

"Besides… I wanted to stretch my legs anyway" He chuckled.

Just then, Romani came out from the bathroom. She yawned. "Romani's going to bed. Night-night Alex!"

"G'night" He beamed at her while washing the dishes.

She then got upstairs towards our bedroom, and soon as I heard the door close, he finished washing the dishes, and dried his hands with his red tunic. He turned to me and nodded in confirmation that he finished his work.

I stood up. "I'll show you our guest room"

He grabbed his pair of fingerless gauntlets from the side of the sink and nodded. I walked towards the beginning of the stairs and grabbed the knob of the door at the corner of the stairs, with him behind me. I opened the wooden door and we both got inside.

"This is it" I warmly smiled at him.

He glanced to our father's room. The gaze of his dark blue eyes passed through the big window that faced directly against the door, by the shelf with three empty drawers, and by the lit candles at the walls that lit the entire room. But he couldn't stop staring at the bed at the rightmost corner of the room. He looked at it like if he hasn't seen a bed in years, thing that told me that his body was desperately asking for rest, but didn't expressed it himself.

"Make yourself at home"

He wearily sighed. "Thank you"

"We'll be upstairs, if you need anything, feel free to go and ask, Okay?"

"Don't worry, I won't bother you"

I smiled because of his selflessness. "Good night"

"Thanks for letting me stay Cremia, good night"

After that, I got out of the room. After closing door behind me, I silently giggled.

(He's… cute)

He was totally different from the average men in Clock Town which, most of them are, fat, ugly, weird or even disrespectful. Alex was nothing like them, and I admired him because of that. Why can't more men be like him? I exhaled air and sighed, and it quickly turned into a yawn. I had to go to bed too.

I turn off the fire of the fire place and turn off the lanterns. When I was going to turn off the last lantern, I glanced at the sword and shield that Alex had left against the stairs. I better give them to him. I grabbed his metal shield and his sword sheathed on its case. They were heavy, I didn't knew how much these things could weigh, the sword and its case itself weighed like four pounds, and the shield like seven. I grabbed them with one hand, which made my body swing at my right side because of the weight.

(How can he carry this on his back all the day?)

I glanced at the guest room's door, and thought about returning him his equipment; but I decided not to. I don't want to bother him, he sure looked tired. I placed his sword and shield in the exact place he left them, and got upstairs towards my and my sister's bedroom.

When I stepped in, Romani was lying in her bed with her light-blue nightgown. She was trying to sleep; she covered her ears with a pillow when I got in, because of the screeching of the door while opening it.

"Less noise pleaseeee"

I closed the door in a way that it wouldn't make any noise, and silently turned the knob to close the door. I opened the wardrobe and got out my usual white nightgown. It had the same design as Romani's, but had different color and obviously, was larger than hers. While I was undressing from my work clothes, Romani spoke:

"And sis… what do you say about our visitor? You knew him before?" Romani said, hiding herself within her blanket.

"Well, yeah. Alex works for Mr. Barten at the town since about a month or so. He helps me while I do the deliveries getting the milk from the wagon to the bar"

"And why Romani can't help you like that? I can carry the containers too…"

I let out an exasperated sigh. "Romani, we had discussed that many times… someone has to watch for the cows…" I slipped my head out of the nightgown, and did the same with my arms.

She freed herself out of her prison of blankets. "Okay, okay! I get it…"

I sat in front of mirror and combed my long crimson hair. In the mirror I checked every detail of my hair before comb it. I had some unkempt bits of hair here and there. I traveled my hands all around those parts.

I felt quite embarrassed by having the hair like that in front of a man like Alex, thing that it's inevitable because of the constant work at the ranch. I started to gently comb my hair while watching myself on the mirror.

"Sister… haven't you noted that Alex looks a lot like Grasshopper?" My sister said.

Grasshopper?... oh yeah, I remember! That boy clad in green that became friend of my sister a year ago… He was very kind with us; he even defended me once of some bandits that threatened to steal our milk. That was sooo sweet from his part. He stayed with us a few days after the * incident and left to his "homeland". He didn't talk a lot though…

Now that I think about it, their faces are very similar…

"Yeah, they look alike"

"And don't you think that it's a great coincidence that he has a horse that looks like Epona too?"

"Very strange indeed…" I wasn't paying much attention to her because I was focused on combing my hair.

(Yawn) "…turn off the lights already! Romani wants to sleep!"

I finished combing my hair when my mind finally processed her words. (Oh! I forgot the candle downstairs) I got stood up. "I'll be back in a minute"

I carefully closed the door and got downstairs, where the last lit candle was illuminating the principal room.

As I turned it off, the darkness of the night enveloped me. But I noticed some light radiating from the inside of the guest room, where Alex was. He must've forgotten to turn off the lights and surely is asleep already.

I hesitated a moment before knocking the door. As I stared at the light coming from inside of the room there was no response.

I slowly opened the door and saw him, peacefully lying asleep on the bed, with his arms extended from side to side of the bed, and had one leg on the bed while the other one was touching the floor. He had put on a dark blue undershirt and brown shorts.

I felt relieved that he was resting after all the way he had to walk to get here.

I slowly walked towards the first of the lit candle that was at the side of the door and blew it off. Another one remained though, and was at the desk at the side of his bed. I gulped and walked in a way that my feet couldn't make any noise. When I got in front of the desk, I couldn't help but glance at him. His black hair spread around the pillow he was resting his head. For some seconds, I stared at the muscles of his strong arms, with veins marked around them. And his chest, marked on his blue shirt… When I glanced lower at him, thoughts passed through my mind. Thoughts that shouldn't be passing through the mind of a non-married woman…

(Cremia! What are you thinking! Snap out of it!)

I firmly closed my eyes and shook my head almost violently to get those thoughts out of my head while blushing. I blew off the fire of the candle and now only the light of the * passed through the window facing the door and its dim light ended in the floor. I finally had my hand on the knob on the door and turned it open, when I glanced at him for last time. He hasn't moved one bit from his position, further proof that he was indeed in a heavy sleep.

(It's a shame that he has to go tomorrow…)

I always enjoyed whenever he was around. He has something that makes me ease my mind every time we talk or met. I felt it like an escape from my constant work and problems and I must admit that… I have a little crush on him, but I don't express myself easily like my sister.

(sigh) (Oh well… he has more important things to worry about…)

I closed the door behind me.

(I wonder… if I can be happy with someone just for once…)

Sigh... i really wanted to make this longer but i left it there to upload it today. About the wait, i'm going to be honest; i lacked the will to write in these lasts weeks because of the pressure of the final exams. For example, i did the half of this chapter like two weeks ago and yesterday i wrote the other half. i wasn't sure how a Cremia's POV could end up, but i ended it liking it since my girlfriend helped me with it.

Now, i have a final announcement. i ALMOST can assure you that the next chapter will come up the next week, because it's when the things start to get epic. Someone asked me about if i was going to put some epic sword battles, and hell yeah there will be. For example, i enjoyed a lot writing the sword fight part of the first chapter, now imagine that multiplied by 10! that's what i have to say for what i have planned for the next chapter.

/Review Question/ What do you think about the Cremia's POV? did you liked it? Answer this question in a delicious review from you! Because you know, It's free!

Stay tuned, because the things will get rather interesting the next chapter. Anonymous reviews are ON. See you all next week!

-Matt