'When I was young, I hit my head. I fell off my horse. When I woke up, I went on an adventure. My head never really stopped hurting, and ever since then, I've seen him. That man. He comes to me when I am in trouble.
But he never helps me.'
†
Link stared out over the grand field of Hyrule. The grass was a lush golden green, dotted with a multitude of colored flowers. Birds flocked across the blue sky or otherwise chirped in the surrounding trees. To the North stood Castle Town with its pristine white walls shimmering in the sunlight.
How long had he been gone this time?
His eye caught a scrap of bandage sticking out of his worn leather gauntlet. The fabric lining inside the gauntlet had weakened over time and metal plates within often dug into the backs of his hands, scraping the skin from his knuckles. Still, it was better than doing without, a lesson he had learned rather recently. With care, he pulled off the glove to fix the bandage. The blood had soaked through the fabric and so the gauntlet stuck as he pulled it away.
He winced slightly.
'Not so bad.' he thought. The bleeding had mostly stopped.
Tucking the gauntlet under his other arm, he refastened the bandage with his free hand. Epona stomped in place.
"Just a second..." Link assured her.
"Oh, you're back!" A voice from behind him called, just has he slipped his gauntlet back on.
Link spun around to see his long time friend.
"I was just thinking about you the other day. We had this big storm come through... Lots of debris and wind..." She struggled to open the gate while holding some baskets in her arms.
Link broke from his daze, and opened the gate for her. It was always a great joy of his to see her again after being away. She thanked him in one breath, before continuing her previous thought.
"Yeah so, now there's this big hole in the barn. Well, maybe not so big, but big enough to be a problem. And..."
He took the baskets from her arms and followed behind her. Reuniting with his long time friend was one of the few things he looked forward to upon his return. Reliably welcoming and happy to see him, they always managed to pick up where they left off.
"Are you listening?" she asked.
His mouth hung open and his eyes veered upward.
"I can tell you weren't. You always give me that look when I catch you not listening, even when you were little. Well, too bad. You could have listened to me explain it but instead, you'll have to hear Ingo explain it later."
She laughed, though he remained inarticulate.
She bumped his shoulder, not particularly hard, but enough to send a newly acquired wound ablaze with fiery pain, just the same. An injury that still needed time to heal.
"Relax Link, I'm just playing. I'm really glad you're here, we could use an extra hand. Can you stay for a bit to help?"
"Of course."
"We're going to the market today. Oh, I know! You should come with me. Go grab the rest of the cargo and load it, I'll tell dad you and I are going together, instead."
In the same tizzy in which she had appeared, she brushed passed him and vanished into the ranch.
††
The ride to Castle Town was a pleasant one. They spoke about nothing in particular, but laughed for most of the ride. It was moments like these that Link felt like a child again. And indeed, they had been good friends since he had returned from Termina some years ago. With no where to go, and nothing to do, he had found a second home at the ranch. Malon had become a great part of his healing, though she never knew it.
One way or another, Link invariably found himself pulled to all corners of Hyrule on all sorts of journeys. He would disappear for days or weeks. If Malon hadn't been too young to know better, she surely would have found it strange. But it became normal as they grew over the years and the nature of his errands remained his secret.
Along with the injuries he bore as a result of them.
She sighed and leaned back. With the vendor stall set up in the market square, there was nothing to do but wait for the customers to arrive and enjoy the jovial atmosphere of the bustling marketplace.
"It's nice to be around so many people once in a while. I remember how much you used to hate coming here." she said.
Link nodded.
He did, in fact, hate going to the market as a young child, though he never specifically vocalized it to Malon. At that moment, he was surprised to learn she'd ever noticed his discomfort. The memories of the derelict Castle Town market had left their mark on him. He was painfully aware of those faces he knew to have perished in that time. In his mind, he still visualized the Redeads, huddled in a fetal position, wrought with agony and groaning ceaselessly. He could smell the smoke that stained the air from the buildings burnt to the ground. It was a reality that didn't exist in the current time but for him, it was a real memory.
Even as an adult, secure in the good company of his friend, it stirred dread.
"I think it eventually grew on you though, didn't it?"
And now she turned her head towards him, her hair slipping off her shoulder.
"I guess it did." he said.
In truth, he still didn't care for the market square but it had evolved into an opportunity to spend time with his friend.
"I'm really glad you're back..." She said, but there was a sombre tone in her voice.
Link's gaze had fallen to the peak of the Temple of Time, but he pulled it back to find that she stared at the ground. A stark contrast to the laughs they'd shared on the ride over. It was like that sometimes. The older they got, the more he found she worried. In turn, the more he caught a sombre look fall over her.
"Dad has been bothering me..." She let her words trail.
"About school?"
She pulled her long hair to one shoulder, compulsively running her fingers through it.
"Um, no. No, school is ok now. It's about getting married again."
Link felt his chest clutch. Her imminent marriage was a matter he had pushed to the back of his mind for months now. He said nothing.
"He started arranging visits. He said 'you have to pick one, or I'll pick one'." She mocked her dad in a way that usually made them both laugh.
Though neither of them did this time.
"Arranging visits? Like suitors?"
"Yeah. They are supposed to come to the ranch and meet us. And then they go back home and well... the whole thing is so unromantic."
She now gripped her dress in her hands, where Link noticed soft pink scrapes on her fingers. Not unusual for Malon.
"How many men?" Link asked, unable to mask his surprise.
"Zero men, they are all boys!" She exclaimed, clenching her fists.
Malon had grown into somewhat of an enigma. Fiercely hardworking and dedicated, she was at once a scrappy and tough, more hardworking than most men, but with parallel dreams of romance and beauty. The older she got, the more Link noticed she would tend to her hair, or arrange her dress. Innocently, she may be excited if a young man spoke to her, or she may derail into a day dream about knights and princesses. It was a duality her that he adored.
With no mother, she had grown up accepting a large amount of responsibility. Link recalled, though Malon seemed oblivious to, a streak of two or three years where her father's depression debilitated him. If he wasn't locked inside the farm house, he was stumbling uselessly around the property. He drank. In many ways, much of the responsibility of the ranch had fallen to her and she felt personally accountable for the care of the animals. Even though she was older now, and her father no longer drank, she still believed somewhere inside that the health and stability of the ranch rested on her shoulders. And so, she still had a predisposition to order everyone around, including her father. An obsession as it were, to ensure that what needed to get done got done. It was to her past that Link attributed her, at times, bossy demeanour.
"Well how many-"
"I don't mind getting married, it's not that." Malon blurted. "Just not like this. I don't want to endure meetings in such a shrewd manner, as if we are selling a mare or something. That's not how you find love!"
Link smiled from the corner of his mouth.
"You think it's funny? They are all dumb boys. They see me and they think I'm just a lowly farm hand, they think I'm lucky to have them even consider me. Ugh!" She clenched her fists again.
"No one thinks that, Mal." Link said, with a chuckle. "You know that. Everyone knows how hard you work. And everyone knows how essential the ranch is to Hyrule. How could you even think otherwise?"
"These are boys. They come straight from their mothers teat and-"
Link burst out laughing once more.
"And they have no idea what it's like to work a real day in their life! What is more, they seem proud of their lazy lifestyle!"
He couldn't deny the sense of relief he felt in hearing her disapproval for the suitors.
A customer appeared and for a moment Malon composed herself, taking a deep breath before getting to her feet. Unwaveringly friendly, Malon was known for being approachable. Link didn't possess the same skill but whatever Malon had, it enabled her to talk with just about anyone. After pocketing the money, she sat down beside Link and sighed once more, having seemingly cooled off. Only Link noticed the way her soft skin brushed against his arm as she took her place beside him.
They remained silent, though Malon bounced her leg a bit in agitation.
"I don't know what to do." She stared holes into the ground.
Link couldn't offer her much comfort on this topic, and he cast his eyes towards the sky as he thought.
"Well. I'm pretty sure your dad knows that you won't marry anyone that you don't want to."
"He doesn't seem to care." She scoffed.
"Is your future husband supposed to inherit the ranch with you?"
"I don't know. Dad won't talk about that stuff."
"Hmm."
"I don't want love this way. I want to fall in love with someone I meet, not meet someone that I have to fall in love with."
Their eyes settled on a man carefully steering a horse drawn carriage into an alley, his companion shouting orders to him.
They both flinched in their seat as the carriage nearly clipped a vendor s stall.
"That was close." Malon remarked, the pair trying to maintain discretion.
"We should go somewhere, Link." She said suddenly.
"Eh?"
"Yeah, you and I. Like, an adventure."
Link didn't respond.
"I love the ranch, but I feel like I need some space. Where is a place we can go?"
"Lake Hylia? We can go fishing, like that time-"
"No!" She slapped his arm playfully and laughed. "That's boring, I go there with my dad! I mean someplace really different."
Link shrugged for lack of an idea.
"Oh come on, you are always wandering about. Where did you go this time?"
Link thought back to his previous ordeal with the Gerudo. It had been a mistake to get so close to Vooru. Ever since he had, the Gerudo had their claws in him. If he had a say in it, it would be a while before he did any favors for them again.
It felt like a stroke of luck that a rush of customers appeared. And so a good hour came to pass during which Link executed tasks of bringing deliveries to customers doors, or loading them on to their wagons. His mind was preoccupied with the topic of Malon's marriage. Though he had come to terms with the fact that he was not a healthy match for Malon, he couldn't help but wonder if he ought to make an attempt before it was too late.
His mouth became dry at the mere thought.
"This way, kid." The man directed him.
Link shimmied through the door of the newly established pub with an arm full of supplies.
"Can you throw 'em in the back yard? Thanks kid."
Kid. Even as he crawled through his late teens, he was still addressed as kid. He was indeed a small child, he knew that. But he had grown a lot since a boy of nine. He wondered how he still earned that name 'kid' after all this time.
'Boys.' he heard Malon's voice in his head. 'They are all boys.'
He had gained a reputation for being that 'mute kid who helped at the ranch sometimes'. People tended to forget about him when he wasn't around, and generally ignore him when he was. That suited him fine, as long as Malon remembered him.
Link pushed through the back doors of the bar and emerged to the alleyway behind the shops. It was always quiet there during the day time, often more rambunctious at night. He stacked the boxes carefully, taking the liberty of organizing the mess of sprawled supplies at the same time.
"Come in here right this instant!" He was half-conscious of a woman shouting from somewhere down the alley.
"Richard! Richard! Come back! Oh my poor dog!" She shouted again.
His attention piqued, Link stepped out into the alley. Richard, he recalled was indeed the name of Mamamu's little dog. A dog that he and Navi...
"Argh..." Link pressed his palm against his head as a sharp pain shot from behind his eyes. He exhaled through the it, like he always did, waiting for it to pass.
Slowly he opened his eyes to the sunbathed alley, where the cobblestone glowed from the midday sun. His eyes fell to a pair of legs, just visible from around a corner. As he numbly approached, he could see they were adorned in Royal Guard Armour. To his alarm, a wounded soldier lay collapsed against the wall.
The solider's arm reached up to Link, though his helmet shielded the details of his face. The solider opened his mouth, but only a high pitched hum escaped from it.
A hum that grew louder and louder.
And louder.
Louder until it rattled in his head, as though it might consume him or his head might burst.
"Link." A gentle voice silenced the hum. "He's not moving anymore."
With a gasp, Link stumbled backwards, falling against the coarse brick wall.
His chest rose and fell with rapid breaths.
There was no Richard. There was no soldier. There was no Navi. He scrambled to get to his feet, his legs inexplicably weak. He could feel the cold sweat on his brow.
"Kid?" A voice from down the alley called to him. "You good?"
Ungracefully, Link collected himself, returning to the barkeep, looking back momentarily to see if the body might return.
Alone. He died faceless, in an alley, alone.
"Here is a tip for you. Thanks for moving the boxes back here." The man offered Link a few rupees. He pocketed them and mumbled a thank you before brushing past the man.
Upon return, Malon sent him for more deliveries and it wasn't until late afternoon that they were able to pack up and head back to the ranch.
"Oh, here." Link fished in his pockets for the tips he had accrued over the day. "I was supposed to give these to you."
"Oh, a tip? Thank you." Malon took the rupees and dropped them into the money pouch.
The wagon slogged through Castle Town, where the crowds began to dwindle, and towards Hyrule Field.
"Do you want to head to the stream?" She asked out of the blue.
He hesitated momentarily, but nodded.
Somewhere just South-East of the ranch, there was a stream deep in the woods. The pair had happened upon it when they were young, and it had become a sort of a sanctuary for them. With a still pool of pristine water, large rocks and trees to climb, and sheltered from the world, they had occupied a portion of their free time there as young children.
Without words, they diverted their route and navigated the cart into the woods. It had been a few years since they had last visited their childhood sanctuary, and Link wondered what made her think of the place so randomly. But he didn't want to ask. He didn't want to remind her of what had happened there.
"I forgot how pretty it is here." She said, hopping off the wagon, and walking towards the stream.
It was indeed a pretty place. The woods provided shelter enough. Though rays of sun streamed through the trees at high noon, the rest of the day the place remained cool and sheltered from the elements.
Unbeknownst to Malon, Link slept here often. Bordering on the Lost Woods, there was some reprieve there for him in the form of healing waters and shelter. The time they had shared there as children had only endeared it to him further and it was a comfort to him to lay his head there.
"I wonder why we stopped coming here." She mused, now dipping her hand into the still pond.
Link sat at the base of the large tree, whose branches extended over most of the clearing. Malon joined him, sitting closely beside him, her shoulder touching his arm.
"You don't remember?"
He regretted asking.
There was silence. Malon's eyes were distant.
"I do remember." She said quietly.
Link sensed her discomfort and struggled to think of a way to change the topic, but conversation had never been his strong point.
"I remember that man appearing from the darkness. His skin was so white. Why were we here so late at night? His eyes were so... demonic? I don't know."
Link cursed himself for reviving her memory.
"When he grabbed me, it was just a blur, but I remember you..."
Her eyes were troubled and confused, and she looked to him as if for an answer.
"Did you...? That night, did you actually...?" She tried to get the words out.
Her eyes darted over his face. His dark lashes outlining his clear blue eyes, his detached expression concealing all emotion. She knew the answer.
That night, though they never talked about it, she had seen him kill a man. They were just kids. The details where a blur to her, but she remembered the result well.
Link pulled his gaze from her and started at the gnarled roots that formed a wall behind the body of water. For some moments they sat in silence.
"You know, I don't think I ever told you, but a few days later my father had gotten word of someone who was kidnapping people in the field. And he forbade me from going out. It was a big deal throughout Hyrule. Keep your children inside, they warned, don't go out alone until he's caught. But I knew there was no one out there anymore. I knew that man we saw, that man you... I knew he was one in the same. I never said anything. I don't know why..."
That was something Link was thankful for.
Despite Malon's vow of silence, his actions that night were not without consequence. Sakon, the predator who had attacked them in the woods, was a frightening character, and had scared Malon considerably. When Link killed him, it frightened her further. Link returned Malon to her father's arms in a changed state. It was a change that Talon sensed in his daughter over the next few days. Link had come to know this when Talon, only a few days later, had interrogated Link what on earth had transpired.
Whether by choice or not, Link couldn't divulge any useful information.
"This is no time to play the mute card, boy." Talon had berated Link.
This was near the end phase of Link's mutism, an affliction he very slowly grew out of, but at the age of thirteen was not fully past. Talon, however, knew full well that Link spoke normally with Malon. He'd heard them over the years talk like normal children. It was for that reason that he displayed little patience for him when he refused to comment on his daughter's state.
Link often regretted that moment. Perhaps he would have never said the entire truth to Talon. To confess that he killed a man was not something he could explain easily, considering few knew him for the exceptional fighter that he was. But he wished that he had come up with something, in hopes that it may have saved his reputation in the eyes of the father of the girl he loved.
From then on, Talon looked on Link with some suspicion. Link was always welcomed at the ranch, but in much the same way one invites a stray dog. They can stay, but they cannot come inside.
His reputation was further tarnished by his constant coming and going, earning him a reputation of being irresponsible and unpredictable, even lazy. It was a sore spot for Link, but he had to accept it. Though Ganon had long since been sealed away, Hyrule still called him to all corners of the land to do her bidding.
Link became aware of Malon's head which gently slumped against his shoulder. He cast his eyes downward to confirm that she had closed her eyes and leaned against him. He spent the next hour remaining very still. And content.