knowlee: Here is the next chapter of Flames of Change! With this chapter the story slowly starts to unfold and some of the major, secondary and minor characters of the story begin to make appearances. I'm sure some of you might have questions regarding why Hyrule is the way it is and I promise you it will be explained as the chapters progress. I don't want to accidentally spoil something before its time to reveal it and make it seem rushed. So all I can say is just to try and stay patient.

Also on a random note, one of the characters that is revealed here in this chapter has not been inspired by a recent character addition in the Zelda series, technically its a spin-off but its still relevant. This character was thought of before this new characters addition. So they are two entirely different characters.

And as for as for another character that appears in here, yes, I do realize that canonically this person is female, but for the purposes of this story they are male. This male version is an entirely different version from his female, and canonical, counterpart although they do retain some similarities. I hope to explain in full detail more about this later on as both the female and male versions exist in how I have this figured out. But unfortunately that won't be explained until much later, not until the sequel to this to be precise. That sequel is the same one I mentioned in the previous chapter btw. (Yes, I have a whole assortment of ideas planned out! XD )

Alright, without further ado, please read and review!

DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own The Legend of Zelda nor its characters, world, etc. They belong to Nintendo. Also since this fanfic was conceived before anything huge was known about Zelda Wii U, this fanfiction shall be considered an Alternate Universe version of the game. Only one major character, one enemy, the world it takes place in and a few items are currently shared between the two versions. If there is any story, character, plot resemblances that appear between the two after more information about the game is released those are to be considered purely coincidental.

A Legend of Zelda Fanfiction

Flames of Change

Chapter 1: Beginning of a Journey

By: knowlee

[180 years later…]

A light drizzle of rain fell onto the streets that surrounded Hyrule Castle. Very few people were out and about during this dark night that had this dreary weather. They were the ones that were brave enough to step outside their dry, warm homes to do anything especially since many of the merchants that were out earlier during the day had closed up shop and headed home. Amongst those people that were out were the soldiers that had no choice in the matter since they had a job to do and were posted at the entrances to the town surrounding the castle.

There was one person though who was walking quickly and quietly along the streets. They wore a hood over their head both to protect themselves from the elements, but also to prevent themselves from being seen and recognized. The hood wasn't just there for a disguise, it was also being used to hide and protect the package that the person was carrying.

It was a baby.

The baby was sound asleep, curled up against the person's chest. The person holding it briefly looked down to ensure that the baby was still safe in their arms before covering it back up again with their cloak. They looked around to see if anyone was watching or following them and when they saw that they were in the clear they quickly turned down an alleyway that was near them.

The person continued to walk down the alleyway until it came across a building that the person recognized as the one they were searching for. Their eyes found the door to the building and walked over to it. After looking over their shoulder once more to confirm again that no one was following them, they brought out their right hand and knocked on the door.

A few moments passed before the door opened to reveal a round heavy-set woman who had dark hair and golden eyes. Her eyes widened at the sight of the figure in the doorway and a look of fear came over face as she began to wonder if she should just close the door and walk away.

Before she could decide what to do though, the figure spoke, "Please, can I come in?"

Suddenly a cry came from under the figure's cloak and the woman watched as the figure pushed the cloth away to reveal a young child being held in their arms. The babe was beginning to cry and she could see that the figure was beginning to look distressed as if they weren't sure what to do to quiet the baby.

The woman took pity on the figure and decided then to allow them into her home. "Come in, come in! Can't let that baby catch a chill now can we?"

Once the figure was inside, the woman shut the door behind them and guided them over to a chair where she motioned for them to sit. Once the person sat down, the baby held within their arms began to cry. The figure tried to hush the child in order to prevent the noise from carrying throughout the house. It was too late though for the sound awoke a man who was about to fall asleep in the next room. Wondering what the noise was, he got up from the bed and entered the main room.

What he saw was shocking to him. He saw his wife taking a young baby from the arms of a mysterious figure who was sitting at the table. His wife cradled the child and began to speak to it softly in an effort to quiet it. Shortly after doing this, the baby eased back to sleep.

"Telma? What's going on here?"

Telma, the woman holding the baby, and the figure sitting in the chair looked over at the man. Telma spoke, "Oh honey, I'm sorry, we didn't mean to wake you. This poor dear was apparently lost in the rain and when I saw that they had a child I couldn't turn them away."

The man nodded. He knew his wife held a big heart towards children. Especially since they had found out a few years ago that they couldn't have any on their own due to her having been born barren. That day was a sad one for the both of them because they really wished to have one of their own. But that destiny wasn't in the stars for them.

He walked over to the table to get a closer look at the figure whom his wife welcomed into their home. He could tell by the figure's stature and size that it appeared as if they were a woman and since they were carrying a young child around, this definitely confirmed what he suspected. He sat down in the chair across from them. "Who are you?"

The figure seemed to be anticipating this question since they didn't try to deter it or avoid it entirely. Instead the figure brought its hands up out of the cloak surrounding their body and brought it up to the hood that was covering their face and removed it.

The man and woman gasped as they realized who the figure was. It couldn't be-? The man began to speak, "You're-?!"

The figure held up their hand quickly and spoke, "Please, don't. I'm not going to be staying long. I need to ask a favor of you both."

He and Telma looked at each other, curious as to what favor this person was asking of them. Then they both looked at the child. Did it have something to do with the baby they were holding?

The figure realized that they figured out what the favor pertained to and moved their hand back down to their lap. "Yes, it is about the baby." Telma and the man looked back over at the figure as it seemed to be struggling with saying the words they wished to say. "I… I need you to watch over her."

"Her?" Telma asked taking a closer look at the babe in her arms. She moved the blanket that the person had wrapped around it off of the child's head to see its wispy blonde hair. The child stretched its arms out and opened its eyes upon feeling the cloth move and looked at Telma. The girl had blue eyes and, Telma's eyes widened, on one of its hands lay the symbol of the Triforce. She jerked her head back at the figure.

"Is she… is she your daughter?!"

The figure nodded. "Yes, she was born a few days ago."

Telma's husband looked at the figure. "Then why are you with her here?"

The figure took a deep breath in order to steel their nerves. It was now or never. "I cannot go into detail about it, but I know that someone close to me is going to make a move to harm my child. I can't allow that to happen. I would keep her myself and try to protect her that way, but I know that the best way to ensure my child's safety is to give her to someone to watch and protect. That is the only way to make sure that the person who is going to harm her may never get the chance."

The man's eyes widened. "Wait, are you saying that you wish for us to raise your child?!"

The figure nodded again. Telma spoke, "But why us? Why not someone you know personally that you know could protect her?"

The figure sighed. "There is no one else that can. It was revealed to me that she would be safe within your care and I know that I can trust my source." Telma watched as her husband stood up from his chair to look down at the baby in her arms. The child smiled up at him and the sight made both of their hearts melt.

"Besides," the two looked away from the girl and at the figure. "I don't think there is anyone I can trust that I know personally."

Telma frowned at this. She hated to know that this figure had to travel all this way just to find two perfect strangers to watch over their child when no one that they knew could be trusted to do this task for them. She looked at her husband and she saw that he had come to the same conclusion as her. They had to do this. Not just for the person who sought them out, but for the young girl who she held within her arms.

She looked back at the figure. "We'll take care of the child for you. You can trust us."

The figure smiled at this and stood up from the chair they were sitting in. "Thank you. I know that I can trust you with this. You can name her whatever you like. I was going to give her a name that had been passed down through the generations, but I felt that would have made it quite obvious as to who she was."

The person walked over to look at their daughter. The girl looked back at them causing the person's smile to grow wider. The figure reached out to touch the child's hand. "The only thing I ask though besides to take care of her is to keep her lineage a secret. Let no one know of the mark on her hand. If word of what was there was to get out, I would fear for her life. Also," the figure's smile fell at this and they took a deep breath, "do now let her know of me until the time is right. Until then for all she knows, you two are her parents."

Telma and her husband noticed a bright light coming from the child and as they looked down at her, they saw magic flowing from the figure's hand and into the child. They watched as the physical features the child possessed change into different colors. Once the process was done, the magic stopped flowing and the figure removed their hand.

"Why did you do that?" Telma heard her husband ask.

"I changed her outside looks to help hide who she is and to keep up appearances. Now she will truly look like she is your child." the figure answered.

Before the two could ask the figure any more questions, it quickly took one last look at the child, gave it a kiss on the forehead and whispered to their daughter. "I love you."

And just as quietly and quickly as the person came into their lives, they turned around, placed the hood back over their head and left out the door that they entered earlier, leaving these two perfect strangers to raise their child when they could not.

[20 years later…]

The Oocca Town Marketplace was busy with the hustle and bustle of its residents and visitors from villages that were spread across the vast land of Hyrule. Merchants lined the streets hawking their wares and a few traders could be found at some booths trying to get ample supplies to bring back to their respective homes and villages. Amongst the booths that just contained items for purchase, there were a few that were there to provide entertainment and fun for residents and travelers alike. One of which was an archery booth that contained prizes that could be won upon reaching certain scores or winning matches. One person could play it solo or it could become a competition between two or more people.

And currently there was one going on at that moment.

Two young men, both in their late teens were competing against one another to see which one was better. There wasn't really a prize set that would be given to the winner, but it was a matter of pride to be the one to have the bragging rights. One of the men bore light brunette hair and brown eyes. He was a skinny fellow but did have some muscle on him and he was determined to win against the other man. The other man had blue hair and green eyes and was boasting to the other that he would be the one winning the competition.

The other man said nothing back to him, but tried to put his focus onto the targets located in front of him. The blue-haired man saw this and decided to do the same. The owner of the booth began the countdown.

After three seconds exactly, the owner cried out, "GO!"

The two quickly began to release their arrows. There were thirty targets in total and in order to get a perfect score they would need to hit every single one. What made the game more interesting though was that there was a time limit. They only had one minute to hit them all. And that minute made things quite challenging.

The time was quickly counting down for the two contestants. The skinny man had hit a good portion of the targets, but it was obvious though that archery was not his strong point and that in order to get better he would need to practice a lot. The blue-haired man though was decimating him. He had hit nearly every single target. He did miss a few times, but he was obviously the better of the two archers.

Suddenly the bell rang out. The time was up.

The scores between the two were counted. The end result was 27 to 23 with the blue-haired man being the winner of the match. Once this information was out, the winner began his boasting once again. "Whoo! I am the CHAMPION of this game. No one can beat me in archery! NO ONE!"

His load boasting caught the ears of a young woman who happened to be walking by the booth at that time. Her curiosity peaked, she walked towards the booth and upon getting closer she saw that the blue-haired man who was standing near it was the owner of the voice she heard earlier. She watched as he began to brag and berate the other man, who from what she could surmise was his opponent and based on his previous words, he had beaten him in an archery match.

She smirked at the knowledge she just learned. She stepped forward.

The blue-haired man continued to boast as she drew closer to him. It even got to the point where he was asking the crowd for another challenger. "Alright what sorry sap wants to challenge me next?"

"How about me?"

The words came tumbling out of her mouth before she realized it, but she knew that she had the skill to back up what she was saying. She had studied archery for years and had it down to an art. Sure she had room for improvement, but if she were to compare her skills to this man before her who was saying such big words, she had him beat before they could even start the match.

"Excuse me?" The blue-haired man seemed surprised to hear a woman challenge him. He glared at her at first and looked her up and down trying to size her up. Afterwords he snorted in derision and shook his head. "Ha, you really want to challenge me, do you? Perhaps you didn't see my previous matches, but I can assure you that I am the better archer."

The smirk on her face grew wider. "Oh, from what I can tell you are good, but I have a feeling that I might be better than you."

This made the man laugh loudly. "You think you can beat me?! Sorry, but there's no way that a little girl like you can take me on! You'd lose before you could even nock your first arrow!"

His words made the woman irritated as a glare formed over her face, but she decided to keep her cool and instead prove what she was saying with her skills. She walked over to the booth and stood across from the owner while keeping her blue eyes on the haughty man. "Well, there's only one way to find out, isn't there?"

She then turned to owner and asked him what the price of a match was. "It's 20 rupees, ma'am."

She gave him the allotted rupees and grabbed the bow that the owner provided her with. She looked back at her opponent. "Well, shall we?"

At these words, a small crowd formed around the two. After seeing the man beat challenger after challenger, they were desperate to see if this stranger could best him at his own game. And with the way this woman was talking, most of the crowd felt as if they were in for a real treat.

Upon seeing that there was a number of people who were impatiently waiting to see the match between the two, the man felt pressured to allow himself to compete with her. He didn't really want to face her because a small part of him was afraid that she actually had the skill to back up her claims. At the same time though from what he could tell when he was giving her a look over earlier, she didn't appear to be better than him, so knowing that little bit of information gave him some confidence.

A smirk graced his lips. "You want to challenge me then? Alright then. But to make things interesting how about we compete for something that's listed as a prize. Whoever wins gets the item that was chosen."

"Sounds fair enough. Who's choosing the item though? You, me, or the booth owner?" The woman asked.

The man's smirk changed into a smile. "I'd figure that I'd be the gentlemen here and let you decide what we're competing over."

The woman nodded. "I see." She turned her body to face in the general direction of where the shelves were located next to the owner. She brought her left hand up to chin in thought as her eyes scanned the wares that laid on the shelves. Potions, jewels, and small nick knacks were among the wares, but none of those interested her. As her eyes traveled up though, they lit up as they saw one particular item that definitely caught her attention.

It was an arrow. It wasn't just any arrow though, it was one that was built with the latest technology that had been invented in the Oocca Tribe. And since that particular tribe was the one known for providing the best of that, she knew it had to be good. She had heard about it from a recent trip one of her fellow tribesmen had made this way and it caused her and a good many others in her profession to desperately want to own one just to see what its capabilities were. Sadly though they were quite expensive since the man who made them was highly skilled and he needed the money to help pay for the supplies that made up the item as well as for the painstaking labor it took to make them.

But, she smiled as the realization came to her, this might work out in her favor. Especially if she could pull this win off. It was risky, but she had no doubt in her skills.

She removed her hand from her mouth and used her pointer finger to point to the arrow. "Okay, how about that arrow there? Whoever wins gets that as their prize."

The boastful man followed where her finger was pointing to and gasped as he realized what the item was. His eyes widened as he gazed at the item. Just from that look alone, the woman could easily tell that the man knew exactly what that item was and probably wanted it as desperately as she did. She smirked. He'd have a tough time trying to get it though, more so specifically since she was his opponent.

"Is that okay?" she questioned him. The question managed to knock him out of his stupor and he quickly recovered by wiping his previous look off of his face and replacing it with a confident smirk. "Yeah, that's fine. But you're crazy if you think I'm going to let you win that easily with that as the prize."

She returned his smirk. "We'll see. Shall we go?"

The man reached over and grabbed the bow he had used during the last match. "You're on!"

The two took their positions and waited for the booth owner to say when to start. The crowd quickly surrounded them eager to see who would win; some even began to place bets. The man glanced over at the woman wondering once more if she was as tough as she claimed. His fear of her possibly speaking the truth came back to the surface, but regardless now was not the time to back out. The woman took a deep breath and focused on the target field in front of her. She didn't need to pay attention to anything else except for what she was aiming at. Nothing else mattered at that moment.

"GO!"

The targets quickly appeared before the two archers. They simultaneously drew their arrows and released them. More targets popped up and more arrows followed. The crowd gasped as they saw that it was even match. Neither one of them had missed a single target so far.

The points for both of them began to rise until they both were nearing the end of how many targets were left and the time was counting down to the last few seconds. The crowd watched the bated breath as the final target appeared. Neither one had missed a single target since the match began. The two combatants released their arrows and only one hit the target.

The bell rang.

Both opponents placed their bows down onto the booth's counter as the points were counted. There was no need for it though, since they both knew who had won.

"The mysterious newcomer has bested our champion by ONE POINT!" the booth owner announced.

The crowd cried out in a mixture of delight, shock and anger (for those who placed bets on the man instead of the newcomer) at the announcement. The woman smiled and held her hands out for her prize. After the booth owner placed the arrow in her hands, she gazed at it wonder. She would need to keep this close. It would be bad to lose this right after she had just received it.

"How-?" The man's words brought her attention away from the arrow and to him. She turned to look at him. "How did you do that? And without even being familiar with this game or practicing it beforehand?"

She giggled at his question. "Well, when you're a Kokiri Hunter, you have to have good archery skills otherwise there would be no way you would've made it as one."

The man and a few others in the crowd who heard her response gasped. Kokiri Hunters were from the Kokiri Tribe located in the southern portion of Hyrule and were well known for their archery skills. Now that he knew that she was a part of said group, it made sense why she was so confident in her abilities and why she was so certain she'd win. Hitting stationary targets was nothing when compared to the moving targets she'd have to deal with.

The woman smiled at him though. "But I will say that you did certainly give me a run for my rupees. You nearly had me back there. If you had made that last shot then we'd probably keep going at it until one of us won."

Upon hearing that compliment, he returned her smile. "Ah, thanks! Perhaps we could have a rematch sometime after I've practiced a bit more."

She nodded in agreement. "Sure!"

"LIN!"

The woman, who's name was apparently Lin, turned to look in the direction the voice came from. Once her eyes fell on the voice's owner, a blue-eyed, red-haired young woman, she smiled. "Hi, Malon!"

The redhead, Malon, walked over to Lin her arms crossed over her chest and a look of irritation on her face. "Where have you been? I've been looking all over for you! We need to leave soon if we plan on getting back to our homes before tomorrow night."

Lin scratched the back of her head sheepishly, having realized that she forgot all about that plan once she heard all the commotion over here. "Oh, right. Heh, heh, sorry, I kinda forgot."

She heard Malon sigh. "I figured that."

Lin frowned feeling guilty about her short attention span. The frown then quickly changed to one of puzzlement. "Wait, how did you find me here?"

Malon uncrossed her arms and placed her hands on hips. "Well, I figured knowing you, you'd probably be somewhere near either a game booth or a merchant selling hunting items. When I saw the crowd over here and figured out that it was an archery game then I had a feeling that you were part of the reason why everyone was here."

Lin smiled and removed her hand from the back of her head. "Well, you got me on that one. I was facing this guy here." She said while gesturing to him with the hand she just moved. "He definitely put up a good fight."

Upon being brought back into the spotlight, the man blushed and did the same gesture that Lin did a few moments ago. "Aw, it was nothing!"

Malon looked over at the aforementioned person. "I see. Well, congrats." Although she was desperately trying to hide her annoyance with Lin's avoidance of her desire to get moving, it still could be seen on her face. "Lin, we really need to be going..."

"Oh, yeah, right." Lin agreed. She quickly waved goodbye to the man and went after after Malon who was now disappearing into the crowd. "We'll see about that rematch sometime!"

Lin finally caught up to Malon after she managed to get through the remaining members of the crowd who were spectating during her match with the man back at the booth. "Hey, I really am sorry. I was actually headed to the Inn to get my things together but then I got distracted by the all the action that was going on there. And, well, I forgot about it."

Malon sighed again and looked over at her friend as she began to explain. "Lin, I'm not really mad at you, I just really want to hurry up and get home. Cremia had mentioned to me about needing some help at the ranch whenever I got back from the ceremony and I really don't want to make her wait."

Lin nodded. "I understand."

The two females continued to walk through the sprawling crowds that were working their way through the streets towards their destination. Lin was glad that her friend was as understanding a person as she was otherwise she'd never hear the end of it. She would admit that she had a bad problem with forgetting things and she was always getting distracted. Sometimes it made her wonder how she got to where she was when she still had this problem.

There were some people that got angry about it and thought of her as stupid. But generally most people she encountered only found it to be irritating and annoying to have to deal with. Malon was in that category. She had always been understanding about it and even though she did express her irritation about it and asked for her to get better (like earlier), she didn't hate her for it. Malon knew she didn't do it intentionally in order to make people irritated. Sometimes it just happened. This understanding quality of hers was one of the biggest reasons why Lin considered her to be one of her closest friends.

Ahead on their right, the building the two were looking for came into view. As they began their trek over to the entrance, they saw the door get violently thrown open and out came a stumbling drunken man who was knocked onto his face by a kick on his bum. The one who used the kick on him was a young violet-haired woman who was giving said man a glare. The glare was all the more intensified by her blood-red eyes.

"Don't you ever come in here again and expect to treat my friend the way you did! Paying customer or not, that is not allowed in this establishment!" With that said, the woman turned on her heel and stalked back into the building, slamming the door shut behind her.

Both Lin and Malon looked at one another with the same questioning look. Then they looked back at the drunken man who was now trying to get as far away from the building as possible to prevent another encounter with that woman.

Malon was the first to speak. "Wonder what got Hilda in such an uproar..."

Lin shook her head. Both at the situation and at how she knew Hilda could be. "Knowing Hilda, it can't be good."

The two decided to enter the building to retrieve their items and see what the fuss was all about. Once they got inside they saw Hilda over near the bar portion of the Inn talking to a young man who was sitting on one of the stools located at the bar. Both girls thought the young man looked very familiar and after a short while of staring at him to try and remember they both realized that they saw him at the ceremony at Hyrule Castle just a few hours before. He was the representative for the Oocca Tribe just as she and Malon were the representatives for the Kokiri and Zora Tribes respectively.

It took Lin a few minutes to remember his name, but when it finally came to her mind she called out, "Ravio? What are you doing here?" Then she glanced over at Hilda who had turned to look at her, "Also what the heck happened out there, Hilda? I know you normally don't throw someone out unless they've done something really bad."

Hilda was a no-nonsense kind of person and didn't take crap from anyone because of it. Having grown up as the daughter of two bartenders/innkeepers, it wasn't a surprise that she developed these personality traits. She huffed, obviously annoyed to be reminded about the guy she just banned from the premises. "Idiot wouldn't leave Ravio alone and couldn't stop pestering him." Then Hilda turned her glare onto Ravio. "And you didn't help the situation either by egging him on."

Lin saw Ravio blush under her gaze. "I was just trying to tell him the truth. Why would I take his words as fact when he really was drunker than a loon? Besides, you're always the one telling me I should stand up for myself more. I was just trying to do that."

Lin didn't know much about Ravio except for meeting him occasionally during her times here in Oocca Village, but from what she did know, he was the son of very rich merchant and due to that parent's mentality towards him seemed to have developed a very shy personality and occasionally had trouble standing up for himself, thus he tried to avoid conflict. But however, as shown by Hilda's words, when he did actually stand up for himself things tended to get a bit messy. The last thing Lin also knew was that Ravio only had eyes for Hilda. The young man had grew fond of her throughout the many times she had stood up for him and protected him from idiots like the drunken man from earlier. And from she could tell about her friend, she did care about Ravio too. Maybe not quite on the level that Ravio did, but she did consider him to be a good friend.

Hilda rubbed her forehead in agitation. "True, I did say that, but at the same time I also said that you need to pick and chose your battles. There are even times when I deal with crooks here that I have to decide whether its worth it or not to even confront them. You're lucky the guy was so drunk he couldn't even see straight."

Malon laughed at the exchange. "Well, at least it turned out alright in the end, right?"

Hilda sighed. "Maybe, but I'm going to make sure that I keep an eye out for that guy's face. He's not allowed back in here anymore."

"Who's not allowed back in here anymore?"

Hilda, Ravio, Malon and Lin all looked in the direction the voice came from to see Hilda's father, Mr. Barten. Apparently he was curious as to what the conversation was about. Hilda's eyes brightened upon seeing him. "Hi, dad! Oh, just some random guy who comes in here to get drunk every couple of days."

It was at that moment that she heard the door open and turned to see a few customers walk in. Hilda turned to the others. "If all of you will excuse me for a few moments, I need to take care of these guys."

Hilda then walked off to go see what the newcomers needed. Mr. Barten took that moment to speak to Lin and Malon. "So you ladies about to head out? I heard that the ceremony ended a while ago and I figured you two weren't going to stay another night especially considering that all of the other representatives for the other tribes, except for Ravio here, left already."

Lin nodded as she absentmindedly scratched her left hand with her right one. "Yep, that was the plan. We're going to go ahead and leave that way we can both get to our homes by tomorrow night at the latest. There are things we've got to get taken care of when we get back, so we can't afford to stay long."

Mr. Barten returned the nod. "I see."

Lin needed to return home to go see if Navi, the leader of the Kokiri Tribe, needed any help with gathering more meat to save up for the winter. Hyrule was known for having particularly harsh winters so she would need to help as much as possible to try and help get the village, as well as the vast majority of Hyrule since they relied on them mostly for their meat, prepared for this. Malon had duties to attend to as well. Her elder sister, Cremia, was in charge of helping to run the ranch that was bequeathed to them by their late parents and she mainly focused on the financial aspects of it while Malon helped with the animals and general labor since Cremia didn't quite have the magic touch she did in dealing with those aspects. Malon's younger sister, Romani, tried to help out as much as she could but since she was still just a young child, there wasn't much she could do except help out with chores. Together though the three sisters did well by themselves and could only hope to get better with it as time went by.

Malon took this time to speak, "Well, we're going to get our things from our room and we'll give you the keys afterwards, Mr. Barten."

"Take your time. There's no rush." The old man spoke while heading to the area behind the bar to go check on the supplies.

The two waved goodbye to Ravio and headed up the stairs located next to the bar to go and retrieve their things.

After making sure that they gathered everything they brought, the two entered the stable that was located next to the bar/inn. There in the last two corrals on the left hand side stood their horses, Ace and Epona. Malon went over to her horse, Ace and Lin went to Epona.

"Hi, girl!" Lin smiled and petted the mare's muzzle. Epona was a gift given to her by Malon on her birthday last year. She had always admired horses ever since she had first seen them at the ranch Malon lived at and found a connection with this exact horse. Malon had said that very few people had earned Epona's trust and when she saw that Lin had gained it only after singing a song that Epona loved to hear once, she knew that Epona should belong to her.

Lin giggled as she remembered exactly where she had gotten the horse. It was in this same exact spot. Hilda's father had invited her friends to his daughter's birthday party and since both hers and Lin's fell on the same day, the party was turned into a double one. She hadn't had a birthday party ever since her parents died, so she was excited about the idea. Her heart clenched at this. She missed her parents.

"Lin? Something wrong?"

Lin quickly turned her mind from her dark thoughts. Apparently it became evident to her friend that she was feeling upset and she didn't want to ruin their journey due to that. She turned to grab the saddle hanging on the wall next to her and moved to put it onto Epona after opening the door to her corral. "No, just thinking about things. For example I was wondering what craziness is going to happen a few months from now when Hilda and I's birthday comes up again."

"Ah." Malon laughed at remembering what she was talking about. "Who knows what might happen but I can tell you this, don't expect to get a big birthday present from me! Especially since you did actually get a big birthday present from me last year. Haha!"

Lin laughed back in response and finished latching the saddle on Epona. She then grabbed the reins behind her that was sitting next where the saddle was and put them on as well. After that she put her left foot in the stirrup and while grabbing the cantle lifted herself up into the seat. Once she got comfortable she grabbed the reins and began to lead her horse. She turned around slightly to see that Malon had done the same.

The two led their horses to the stable doors where the stable hand made his way to open them for the horse riders. After they were opened, they lead Epona and Ace out. The horses continued at a gait through the streets of Oocca Town until they reached the borders. There once the soldiers allowed them to exit they walked out into the green lush grasses of Hyrule Field.

Lin's eyes lit up and she smiled to see the sight. This was honestly one of her favorite things about traveling. She loved seeing all the wonders and experiencing new things, but being able to just gaze upon Hyrule Field and realizing how small she actually was, in her opinion, the best part.

Her smile then turned into a smirk and with her eyes narrowed, she turned to look back at Malon. "Race ya!"

She kicked Epona into a running gallop. She heard Malon call after her and Ace's hoofs pounding ground behind her. She threw her head back and laughed. All of the dark memories that she had flitting through her mind earlier disappeared and all she felt was the wind hitting her skin, making her feel alive.

A doe was grazing in the forests located past the southern most regions of Hyrule. She had been doing so for the past hour and was content to continue. She quickly brought her head up to look before her for she had sensed something coming. She watched as curious lights that appeared to be the same shade as the forest and ground below began to shimmer around in a circle for a few moments before a strangely dressed human, who appeared to be male according her limited knowledge of those creatures, appeared suddenly within the lights. She jumped back in alarm and was about to bolt before the human looked at her with their dark berry-colored eye and she instantly knew that this human had no plans to do her harm.

She watched as the human took the shiny stringed object that it was holding in its hands and attached it to something on its back. Then the human took out something else and looked down at it for a few moments before placing it back and with one last look at her to ensure that it would not do anything, the human took off running to the north.

The doe continued to watch the human until it disappeared completely from her line of sight. After a few moments was spent wondering what the human was doing, she decided that it wasn't any of her concern and went back to her grazing.