Alright, here is the second chapter after way too long. I have no excuse except life can get busy and keep you from doing things you should and/or want to. I want to keep updating, so here is the first one. It's been a while since I proofread it, but it should be pretty much error free. Here we go to chapter two.
Close Encounters with the Ranch Kind
Once out into the vast and seemingly endless Hyrule Field he looks out over the horizon to the faraway castle. Clouds float above in the clear blue sky, and the few trees that are left over from the forest line his small ravine-like path. He takes a few steps on the grass, hearing it crunch softly beneath his brown boots. Before long he breaks into a run as fast as his stubby ten-year old legs will carry him toward the stone building way across from his home. If only he had a faster, more effective way of traveling around, especially since the field so huge. The dirt path that leads the way there comes into view, and he assimilates onto it so he doesn't run off course while not paying attention to where he is going. That happened once. When he first stepped foot out here everything was so big and different it amazed and scared him at the same time. While looking around he ran off the path and ran into a sign. No one was around so at least his pride wasn't hurt.
To the right across Zora's River are the stairs that lead up to Kakariko Village, the place where Zelda's attendant was born and raised. Behind in the backdrop is the mountain range that is home the Gorons, the tallest peak among them being Death Mountain. That name is quite fitting for it is an active volcano that spouts lava every few minutes. His journey up there was to obtain some magical power from the fairy that lives in a cave next to the entrance to the volcano, so he experienced its fury first hand.
Reaching the top of a small hill he stops and looks at the castle, which is now marginally closer. 'I'm never going to get there,' he thinks to himself. 'The first time I went this way it didn't seem like it was taking this long.' A small breeze picks up and rustles the tree nearby. Some leaves and pine needles fall from it, but he pays no heed as he is too busy trying to figure out what to do so he doesn't get caught out in here when the sun sets. When that happens those Stalchildren, supposedly the kids who get lost out here, spring up from the ground ready to attack. He can well enough defend himself. It's just…well, they're pretty annoying. After slaughtering ten one about three times the normal size appears trying to be a bigger threat. All it really is is a bigger annoyance.
So caught up in his remembrance and trying to figure out what to do now he does not notice a shadow fall over him. The tree rocks back and forth, making it lose some more of its foliage. The large owl smiles at the boy clad in green. He never did pay much attention to his surroundings. That's why the Goddesses saw fit to send him as the hero's guide. Clearing his throat, he says,
"Hoo-hoot!" in a voice loud enough to shake the surrounding area. Link looks up in surprise at the monstrous brown owl.
"Kaebora Gaebora?" he asks incredulously. "What are you doing here?"
"Hoo-hoot, my young friend, why have I ever appeared to you?" He doesn't answer. "To help you, hoot."
"Help me what? There aren't any big bad guys to defeat anymore."
"Your inner demons count, too, my boy. Hoo," he explains as his head spins upside down. That always frightened Link.
"So what are you going to do? Give me a ride to the castle?"
"No, to the ranch."
At that notion he feels a strange embarrassment rise up within him. The ranch itself doesn't cause this. It's the people living at the ranch. The owner is a short plump man named Talon sporting overalls, a mustache, and a bald spot. His young daughter who is the same age as Link is a girl named Malon. He first met her at the market in Castle Town. She was a perky girl, standing in the middle of the chaos of the shoppers and singing her song while swaying back and forth. She was wearing a simple cream-colored dress with blue symbols running around the trim on the bottom, and clasped around her neck was a monster pendant. It seemed out of place on her, but what really caught his attention were her blue eyes. They expressed everything he could possibly ever need to know about her. She was so innocent and curious about him. She dubbed him 'Fairy Boy' because of his pixie partner, and he found himself unable to speak.
When he met her again after his seven-year slumber he was again entranced. Still being the innocent and curious person he first met she now had a certain spark, a fire in her personality that he thought matched her fiery red hair perfectly. Even after the bad conditions she had to endure while he was gone she had not let it beat her. She's the reason he's nervous to go to the ranch. Even though she doesn't remember anything,he does.
"If I remember correctly," the owls voice interrupts his thoughts. "A horse lives there, and she's very fond of you. You could go travel much faster with her, and you could go much farther. After that you can visit the princess to let her know of your departure."
"That sounds better than walking there. I don't think I'd make it before sunset anyway," he agrees.
"Hoo-hoot, then grab onto my talons, and I'll fly you there. Hoot." Link does just that, and before he knows it he is flying toward the west to the ranch that lies in the middle of Hyrule Field. At the entrance where a large sign is hanging up the owl drops him and without a word further flies away into the distance as he always does. Link looks up to read what it says: "Welcome to Lon Lon Ranch. With nerves still overcoming him he steps inside to go get his horse-if her owner will permit, anyway.
Walking past the barn and the ranch house,he's tempted to go in and see Ingo, the ugly ranch hand who took it over after throwing Talon out because he was frustrated with doing all the work and getting none of the glory. He even gained the favor of King Ganondorf during that time for the fine horses the ranch raised, even though that credit should have gone to Malon. Some mooing can be heard from inside the barn as well as some complaining. After he liberated the place in the future Ingo was humbled, but that no longer exists, either.
After not long of a walk it opens up to a large field where in the middle it is fenced off with a gate in the middle to allow movement in and out of the pasture. Around it horses gallop freely, and cuckoos, those annoying little chicken-like creatures, bounce around near the tree next to the house. Getting those things angry is not something one wishes to do because they call their friends and attack in large swarms. Avoiding the one horse that almost always tries to run him down he walks up to the opening and hesitates about walking into the field to go meet her. Essentially he is a seventeen-year old adolescent in a ten year old body, and the crush he had for her developed into the feelings of a young man who quite possibly could fall in love, even though he wasn't conscious to experience his body and mind develop to that point. Now he has to wait seven plus years to see if she feels the same. The Goddesses truly are cruel, he thinks. To leave him like this, with not even Zelda, the only other person he went through the experience with, understanding.
"Hello," someone says. He snaps out of his thoughts and looks at the young girl in front of him. He also then realizes he is in the middle of the pasture. Mouth slightly agape in confusion he stares without speaking. "What are you doing?"
"Uh…" he stutters. "Well, I kinda was wondering if maybe I could…talk to you." For a moment she stares back at him in silence before that innocent smile appears on her face.
"Sure. What's your name?"
"Link," he manages to get out.
"Link? That's different. And why are your clothes so weird? You're not from around here, are you?" Almost the exact same words she said last time, he thinks. "I know, you're from the forest, aren't you? But where's your fairy?"
"Yeah, I'm from there." To tell the rest of his history would be unbelievable to most everyone else so he keeps it brief. "And my fairy went missing a few days ago."
"You must be sad, but I think I'll call you Fairy Boy, anyway." She 'tee-hees'. "Oh, I didn't even tell you my name, did I?" He answers no. "I'm Malon. Nice to meet you." She reaches out her hand, and after hesitating he takes it. She giggles again. "So, Fairy Boy, what did you want to talk about?"
"Well, I heard you guys raise good horses, and I was kind of needing one. If you don't mind, I mean."
"Really? What for? Are you going off on a quest?" She imagines to herself her favorite fairytale about a certain hero. Her mother used to tell her it, and as many little girls do she thinks about and hopes when she's older a knight will come and take her away on his horse.
"Yeah, you could say that." Interrupting him from further explanation is the insistent neighing and nudging of a horse at her side. She giggles again and looks at the reddish-brown foal with white hair. That horse was the most beautiful one he'd ever seen when she was full-grown. She was fast, too. It was with Epona that he beat Ingo in a horse race and saved the ranch. The poor fool didn't know what hit him until after he'd lost twice, and then he got angry because he could never tame that horse. To keep Epona so Ganon would not get angry he locked Link in here. The simple remedy to that was to jump over the back wall. It was about a fifty-foot drop, and he still wonders how she was able to make that jump and land perfectly. But that horse is amazing, after all. She had a good owner who raised her well. Link reaches out to pet her, but she whinnies and runs off, leaving him looking hurt.
"Don't feel bad. She doesn't like anyone except for me, and she only comes when I sing the song my mom taught me."
"Was that what you were doing? Were you singing that song?" He already knows the answer. After all, she did teach him the same one. That's how Epona was able to tell it was him after seven years and how he was able to tame her and beat Ingo.
"Yes," she blushes that he heard her. He pulls out his beige Fairy Ocarina to spark the event that will lead to him getting the horse. "Is that an ocarina?" She takes his bait.
"Yeah, it is. My friend gave it to me." Saria suddenly enters his mind, another person he lost because of destiny…
"Do you want to play along with me? I can teach you my mother's song."
"Sure." She begins to hum softly, and he puts the small instrument to his mouth. When she stops holding back and singing he starts to play along with her voice. For a moment he isn't so sad and gung-ho about leaving. Before he would like it to be the moment is over, and what he does not notice is his owl friend fly above the ranch, looking down on the pair. He pulls the ocarina away and stares at it in his hands. Epona suddenly runs up to and nudges him. Malon giggles again. "Oh, Epona. She's grown fond of you, Fairy Boy." Continuing with her motion she keeps pushing him until he moves and backs away himself. Then she simply goes to graze on the grass. Relieved he looks back at Malon who has started to sing again and who has apparently forgotten that he wanted to borrow a horse. The only trick now is getting her to let him borrow that particular horse. She won't part with her so easily.
"Um…about that horse I wanted to borrow." She looks back at him. "Do you think…maybe I could borrow Epona? You said she likes me, right? And I know she's your favorite horse-"
"I never said she was my favorite." Link realizes he made a mistake and quickly tries to think of a way to fix it so as not arouse suspicion.
"Well, I'm just guessing because you have a song for her and everything. Anyway, besides that she's the only foal around here that I can actually ride." Malon looks at the innocent little horse eat her snack in peace. After that she'll take to running around playfully as if she was unhindered by the fences that surround the pasture. Getting out would be good for her, that's one thing she knows. But to have this strange boy she just met a few minutes ago take her away from the ranch is something she isn't sure about. The boy is nice, though, and he is an aspiring hero. And for some strange reason, she feels like she does know this boy, like she's met him before, and like she owes him so much, all of which is pretty much impossible. Epona also took a liking to him, and even though he had just played Epona's Song, she still would not approach a person unless she felt comfortable. Besides all of this, she's a nice person. Her dad always taught her to be.
His eyes, she now notices, seem pleading silently to her. It makes her nervous in a way she never has been in her ten years of life. The blue, as deep as the waters of Lake Hylia, convey so much, and yet she knows not what any of it means except she cannot deny him his request.
"Please, Malon. I promise I'll take really good care of her, and I won't be gone too long. She'll have fun with me. Really, it'll be okay." Even with his reassurance she stares not knowing whether or not to agree. Besides Epona being her favorite horse, she is also the girl's best and really only friend. To lose her would not be easy, but to make this boy happy would make her happy, and while she is away maybe she can get better associated with some other animals and hopefully even people.
"All right," she concedes slowly. "You can borrow Epona." She emphasizes the word borrow so he understands the ranch is the first place he is to bring her when he comes back.
"Really?" he asks as his face lights up. "You mean it?"
"Yeah. But you better take care of her or else, Fairy Boy."
"Of course. I promise." To show his sincerity he lifts up his right hand and puts his left on his chest. She giggles again at his actions. "And when we get back I can tell you all about my adventures," he adds, recalling how she told him in the future how she dreamed of going on quests and risking her life for fun. She always found it fascinating, and he never told her this, but he found her fascinating, too. At his prospect, she looks excited.
"Yeah, that'd be cool. But you better not make me wait too long before coming back." When they both realize what that sounds like they blush a bit. "I mean…you better not keep Epona for too long."
"Of course not. I wouldn't dream of it." A silence falls upon the ten year olds, and Link clears his throat before looking over at Epona, who is still eating away. That soon is interrupted when he plays the song, and she runs up to him again. He hops on with relative, ease, making Malon wonder where he learned that. She figured she was going to have to teach him a few things before he departed. Link looks back at her. "Thank you," he says sincerely. "She'll be perfectly fine with me." She crosses her arms.
"She better be," she says indignantly. "And you be careful, too." Her tone suddenly changes. Why she cares about this boy as she does is something she does not understand and expects not to for some time, if ever.
"I will. Bye." Without wasting anymore time he lightly kicks her to get her moving, and she whinnies and takes off.
"Bye, Fairy Boy!" she calls after him as she waves. "Bye, Epona! Be careful!" Out of the pasture do they ride as well as out of sight. When they are completely gone she looks around in despondency for something. Snapping her out of this is her father, Talon's voice. She looks over at the older man who appears confused.
"Malon, why did that kid in green just ride off on Epona?" His hands move to rest on his hips. She stares at her father, not quite sure what to say or how to explain. Either way he won't be pleased. He'll get over it eventually as he does most things she does. She is his only daughter. He can never stay truly angry with her because of that reason and because she has many a time forgiven him when he didn't always deserve it. Still, that doesn't help with her ideas for an explanation.
"Well, Dad, you see…."
Alright, so now Link has only one more stop on his way before he heads out in search of his lost friend. I hope this chapter was interesting since it was my version of how Link got Epona since no one remembered anything from his Hero of Time days. Comments and criticism welcome. Thanks for taking the time.