Legends of the Hero of Time

by Ryan-Sinclair

The Hero of Time, Link, is blessed by the Golden Goddesses with a normal existence, free for himself to rule over. He must learn the true meaning of life as he attempts to join Hylian society. Along the way, he finds a family to call his own. Protecting and loving them, as a new threat emerges, he grows to understand how he must still endure the challenges of fate.

8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

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[Time: 2:49 P.M. (Afternoon)]

[Location- Hyrule, City of Hyrule - Castle Town Plaza]

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"Twen'y pails of Lon Lon Milk…" Talon tallied up, figuring out the total price for the General Store owner. "Four hundred rupees."

Such a high number shocked Link's eyes wide open. Hearing it made the boy think it was some sort of sham, especially considering how it was just regular milk. On the other hand, the establishment genuinely needed that much to be able to sell to the citizens. The owner would probably get six hundred rupees total with the price he'd mark it up to.

It didn't stop there, though, as Talon kept going with other items. "Thirty seven and a half pounds of buttah, that's one hundred and fifty sticks, which'll add up to three hundred rupees… Yadda-Yadda… Fifteen dozen cucco eggs along with twenty cucco, headless, plucked, washed and ready for prep; eight bags of feathers and a bucket of 'Schmaltz' cucco lard from thus said cucco; three wheels each of Labrynna (Brie), Mozzarella, Holodrum (Gouda), and Ordona (Camembert) cheese; six leafs of gelatin, two buckets of yogurt ready for any garnished flavours, and a special made blueberry cheese cake for Mr. Evrardan and Mrs. Havisa's lovely fiftieth anniversary."

Mr. Evrardan, the shopkeeper, smiled wide from the thought of receiving such a delicacy. Fine desserts were mostly seen served to royalty. Talon was basically guaranteeing a happy anniversary for them. If only the price wasn't so steep for everything. "All together and added up, that'll be two thousand five hundred and twenty rupees; minus the seven percent discount for being a year-long regular, yer' lookin; at two thousand three hundred and forty four."

"Very well then…" The shopkeeper replied. "Right this way, if you will… I must thank you again, Mr. Talon. I assure you that my missus will show much gratitude for your fine sweet course." Mr. Evrardan motioned for them to follow him into the backroom. The area was basically the stock room with a tiny lounge in the corner, overlooking a safe melded to the wall.

Talon chuckled heartily as the man swiftly began unlocking the safe. "Yer' welcome! It ain't every day that yah have a fiftieth anniversary, yah know?" Mr. Evrardan happily agreed with Talon while removing a large wallet from the safe. The wallet itself was adorned with elegant engravings, which meant it was a fairly upper-class pouch; the notion being soon confirmed, as the shopkeep pulled out all the rupees requested. Ten orange rupees, an overly large yellowish rupee, and three purple rupees were removed a few at a time. "Hmm…" Talon said aloud in contemplation, taking them afterward and adding up the amount given. "Looks like I owe yah. Here's a blue and a green." The heavyset farmer said as the two exchanged more rupees. Although most didn't think Talon would be the mathematical sort, he wasn't dumb and made sure to understand how much money went between his fingertips.

Once the transaction was done, the shopkeeper closed the door to his safe and locked it. The group was just about to turn around to leave before he stopped them with the intent of more, hopefully brief, conversation. "So, who's this young fellow? Nephew or something?"

Talon shook his head as he placed a hand on Link's shoulder. "Nope, thankfully… Harr-Harr… This youngster is our new farmhand! His name's Link."

Mr. Evrardan eyed the boy from his head to his toes prior to asking "Haven't I seen you somewhere before? You look a bit familiar."

Thinking back, Link recalled how he might have stopped in there once or twice before, back whenever he was merely exploring Castle Town for the first time. Navi told him what a general store was; therefore, he felt encouraged to discover the massive amount of the items the forest didn't have. "Yes sir, I believe I purchased a coil of rope as well as a lantern from you quite a while ago."

The man glanced up, as if trying to look at his mind in order to remember while lifting his hand with his index finger extended. "Ah! I do recall that now… Didn't you have a fairy with you? I do quite like fairies, they're gorgeous little sprites and it's always so majestic how motherly they are to the forests."

It was clear that the man was subtly hinting at the fact that he wanted to see Link's fairy. 'Unfortunately, my fairy abandoned me.' The boy thought. 'She left me like I became some obsolete piece of farming equipment.' Consequently, there would be no show-and-tell for the shopkeeper, just a friendly, now feigned smile until the hero turned around and left the room without Talon or Malon. On normal occasions, he would never act so cold or rude. But, in this case, it was better than breaking down into tears or getting furious over it. His business was concluded and he was tired of chit-chatting anyway.

'It still hurts…' Link thought, referring to the pain in which he felt whenever his mind drifted over toward the subject of Navi. 'It still hurts so much.' His tears had long since dried up for her, but now there was a constant stinging sensation in the corners of his eyes. 'I have to keep it under control though… I can't let myself get upset over her.'

Before long, Link's thoughts were interrupted as he noticed a diminutive hooded figure dressed in rags standing next to the delivery wagon. At first, he was under the assumption the person was merely waiting for Talon to get back. Within the next couple of seconds, nonetheless, it became obvious that the figure was doing much more than waiting. The door to the back of the delivery wagon had been closed, as well as locked, whenever they all went inside the general store. This person appeared to be jiggling the lock, forcibly inserting what looked like two metal pins inside of the chamber.

'Seriously? Is this person trying to steal from us?' Link's head shook slowly from the discontent he was feeling toward this person and how pathetic they must be; all the way up until he heard the lock click. "STOP! THIEF!" He shouted loudly, alerting several nearby guards.

The guards themselves should have been on lookout the whole time. Other than that, part of Link felt obligated to deal with the situation on his own, which was likely why his feet were already on the move toward the thief's location. In a heartbeat, the crook attempted to take off, now realizing that he or she had been caught and that their cover was blown. Despite them being bigger than him, Link's skills of hand-to-hand combat left him with the knowledge needed to successfully tackle the thief, forcing them to the ground with their face pressed to the plaza's stone path. "You're not going anywhere!"

Instantly, the person began resisting, desperately trying to escape from my grasp."Let me go! Please!" The person said in a feminine voice, providing evidence that it was a woman. She continued to struggle, nearly lifting the boy, in advance of having him press down on her head harder, just enough to make her stop fighting back without actually hurting her.

"Be quiet!" Link demanded. "GUARDS! GUARDS! COME QUICK!" Talon along with Malon quickly emerged from the general store as city guards moved in on their position with intent to apprehend the thief.

"Please!" The woman pleaded with a crackling voice, on the verge of breaking down into sobs, if only her constant coughing wasn't getting in the way of her emotional discharge.

In a hasty decision, Link yanked the hood down to reveal a very thin and frail Hylian woman with brunette hair. Her clothing was that of a beggar, so he had a decent feeling that she was just that. Tears of a burglar weren't usually something to bring about remorse in the victim's heart. On the other hand, feeling the salty drops fall to his wrist made his mind contemplate as swiftly as possible on the subject of right and wrong. She had to know that there wasn't any money in the back of the wagon if she was watching them. From the looks of it, she was stealing food to eat.

"P-Please… *Coughs*… I won't do it again! I'm sorry!" She pleaded with Link while coughing. "I… *Harsh Cough*… I'm so sorry! I'm just a lowly peasant! Please! I don't… *Cough*… I don't want to go to the dungeon!"

Three guards approached from ahead, running to them. At that moment, Link made his decision. Leaning down further, he calmly whispered to where nobody other than her could hear. "If you ever try to steal again, you'll suffer the punishment… Now… Run."

The very second the hero let go of her, she turned around with teary eyes and a fierce look, choosing foolishly to try and strike him with a swing of her fist. Anger coursed through him as he felt betrayed. He was letting her go and that was how she repaid him. Regardless, the attempted punch was easily blocked. On the down side, she pushed him away and then darted up, extraordinarily narrowly avoiding capture from the guards as Link landed onto his side with a long skid. He had to admit that the peasant girl was athletic; being slim as she was, she slipped through the gap between two of the sentries prior to ducking into an alleyway, disappearing beyond sight.

"GET BACK HERE!" One of the guards yelled then whistled loudly following their pursuit.

Talon and Malon ran to his side as fast as they could in order to make sure I was alright. "Link! Are you alright!? Are you injured!?" Malon swiftly asked while cautiously examining me.

Link merely stood up and then brushed himself off. He waved away their concerns as he only had a scrape on his right arm; a booboo by all means. "I'm fine, I'm fine… I'm lucky I came out here when I did though, or we might be missing supplies."

The guards were all on look-out now after the slipup. As for Link, it was kind of strange to feel a sudden surge of adrenaline following a period where nothing really happened requiring such concentration. His heart was still pumping fast from the scuffle and while it may have not been anything at all in comparison to the blood-filled battles he'd participated in during the past, it was enough to make the boy's body rev up.

"I never took yah as the sort to be so powerful, Link. Well done." Talon praised.

Link raised his left eyebrow and looked at Talon with a facial expression clearly indicating that he couldn't help other than to feel slightly shocked and annoyed by the heavyset farmer's lapse of judgment. 'For the love of…' He really didn't know how much more he'd have to do to prove himself to Talon. Even though the boy shouldn't care, since he knew what was true and what wasn't, there was always a nagging voice in the back of his mind telling him that people should be more aware of his deeds. 'Do I have to literally fight a dragon right in front of him to get him to believe me?' Despite his frustration, he did have a smile and was quite glad that he managed to stop a thief. "Thanks."

As Link allowed his body to come down from its stupefied excitement, Talon inspected the Delivery Wagon to make sure that everything was still there. Just as suspected, their hero had successfully caught the thief in the act before she could take a single thing. In fact, they'd gained a little something instead of losing something; they gained the thief's ego when she dropped it.

Soon after everything was accounted for, the only thing left to do was bring the last shipment to Hyrule Castle for the Royal Family. "Yep! It's all here! Good work, Link, really good work... I'm going to take the last of what's in our inventory to the castle. You two are free to look around, but stay inside the city and don't leave the plaza. I'll be back as soon as I'm done."

Malon suddenly cleared her throat in a way that meant she wanted something. She had her hand out, extended toward Talon, repeatedly retracting her fingers. "Daddy… *Ahem*… Moolah, please."

Talon chuckled prior to tossing them both a small wallet. For some odd reason, Link didn't expect to get any money. Then again, he did do quite a bit of work. 'I deserve a little 'moolah' too, as Malon called it.' Opening his wallet, Link found it contained eight blue rupees and a purple one. The blue were worth five each and the purple worth fifty. "Whoa-…"

Before the boy could say another word, Talon interjected with a reply. "Don't go thinkin' that yer' gonna spend all that freely. The purple is for yer' visit to the doc'."

"D-Doc?" Link's surprise over the amount of rupees faded quickly as he instead grew a bit wary about why Talon wanted him to visit the doctor. He didn't have a phobia when it came to seeing one of the practitioners. There was, however, always the creepiness to them that was a tad unnerving, plus his own experience with having one attempt to 'relocate' his sprained foot.

"Yep… The sanatorium is just over there." He replied to Link, pointing across the plaza to a building behind the Potion Shop and Bazaar, closer to the Temple of Time than most of the surrounding structures. "All I want em' to do is give yah a health check. So, don't be worryin' too much." He pointed back toward the wallet in Link's hands. "There's two extra blue rupees in there too. Those are the ones that yah had on yah whenever we got yah to the ranch."

Malon, in response to hearing how much Link had, gave her dad a small as well as gentle slap on his hairy forearm. "Dad! How can you give him so much!? Come on, I just need a little more to get that dress!"

A smirk came to Talon's face as his daughter continued to pout. "No, baby doll… I didn't give em' anythin' more than what yah got. He's gonna go to the doc', so that'll be all of the purple there."

After rolling her eyes, Malon huffed, and then began walking off toward a stall next to the Bazaar. 'She must really want that dress.' Link thought. Regardless, now he had bigger things to deal with, such as the doc. Since it was just supposed to be a quick check-up, he decided to not put up a fuss and merely go for the sake of knowing his current condition.

Talon re-locked the Delivery Wagon prior to climbing up into the driver's seat. "I want the both of yah to remember what I said. Malon always stays here in the plaza, so I expect yah to do the same, Link. It's the safest area on account of the guard presence…" He stopped for a moment with an inquisitive look on his face. "Hmm… Nah, never mind. Just stay out of trouble and let me know what the doc said."

"I understand…" Link responded. "See you whenever you get back from the castle. Tell the King or Zelda that Link said hello."

Talon chuckled as he whipped the reins to get Dixie and Petey on the move. "There's no way I'mma get to see one of them!"

A small smile came to Link's face as he gave a two-finger salute to see the heavyset farmer off. Within the next couple of seconds, the clomping of horse hooves faded the further toward Hyrule Castle he went, until the sound was completely gone. Malon was still over at the stalls outside the Bazaar and something told the boy she'd likely go inside the Bazaar as well whenever she was done. Taking the liberty and time to himself, he figured this would likely be the best opportunity to do the things he wanted to do. First thing first, the doctor visit was going to be dealt with just in case Talon returned ahead of planned time.

'As soon as I'm done with Dr. Creepy, I'll see if Captain Osun is in the Training Grounds. My investigation into the Happy Mask Salesman will probably be last.' He kept his wallet string drawn tight as he clutched it close. There was no way that thief-lady would be out again after having just been caught red-handed, plus, she might have been apprehended by now. Either way, it was much better and wiser to be safe than sorry. There was, on the other hand, something else nagging him in the back of his mind. The closer to the Temple of Time, despite it being an attempt to get to the doctor, he felt like he was being drawn there instead. Any unforeseen force trying to lure Link in would find its efforts fruitless though, as the hero didn't feel like making a trip to a house of worship. The Goddesses were the last things/people on his mind.

Leaving the center plaza area, where the hustle bustle took place, most of the noise was reduced, making it slightly more peaceful. The only sound Link didn't seem to notice until then was the constant tapping from behind. It hit him like a ton of bricks when he heard a neigh. His favourite equine didn't seem interested in going with Talon toward the Castle. She'd rather stay by his side, as always, like the little daddy's girl she'd turned into over him. "Epona! Oh, I'm sorry, I nearly forgot about you… Uggh, I've got to keep my head out of the clouds!"

She responded to him forgetting her by taking his hat off the top of his head, merely holding it in her mouth to be a tease. "Hey! You give that back!" Link replied playfully, snatching the floppy green hat away from Epona to replace it atop his head. "You're going to have to do something with yourself while I'm at the doctor."

While brushing Epona's long mane, Link was getting ready to continue talking in advance of being interrupted by a male voice. "Hey, son… You can't have that horse around here. This is the inner-portion of the city; keep it to the plaza only." A standard town guard stopped him. The guy was garbed in his regular uniform; consisting of chainmail and a grey tabard (Short often sleeveless coats) bearing the Royal Crest. As usual for warmer weather, he sported a pair of greaves as well, but kept his lower thighs and knees exposed until the leather boots with shin protectors came into play.

"But, I'm part of the delivery crew from Lon Lon Ranch." Link pleaded, not really wanting to go all the way back to the stables for boarding, which would also cost him more money.

The guard kept looking at Link for a few moments before giving in. He recognized the boy from earlier. "Oh yeah, that's right. I saw you with Talon. You must be the new farmhand…" Adjusting his gear he asked. " Do you have some sort of delivery for the doc? That's about the only other establishment back this way."

Based upon his own experience, knowing that the guard in particular had the vibes of someone who'd watch afterward until he was out of sight, Link chose to tell the truth. Nothing worse could come from it in comparison to lying. "Nope… You're right; I'm going to the sanitarium."

The way the man's upper lip curled in disgust as the name of the building was said, indicated that he didn't like the place. Thankfully, however, he waved Link off. That was a good thing since the boy didn't want to take Epona back whenever he was already so close. "Alright then, go on."

Immediately afterward, Link resumed walking the last block toward the sanatorium, feeling the guard's eyes on him the entire way, just as he had presumed would happen.

'You know… I could probably skip going to this place and just blow the money on something more worthwhile.' His inner thoughts repeatedly said. Deeper down, Link subconsciously wondered if he did have some sort of fear of places full of sick people or doctors. 'Noso-… Uhh… Nosocom-… Ahh, forget it. The Know-It-All Brothers called it something… But, I need to man up and get this over with. For the love of the Goddesses, I've been through much worse than any of this could possibly be!'

Approaching from the front, the sanitarium wasn't overly creepy or discerning in any way from the surrounding buildings, other than of course the sign and Healing Triforce image, which was the Triforce surrounded by a circle with a plus symbol in the center, to designate the area as a place of recuperation. With any hopes, the interior would reflect. Regardless of the boy's expectations, he took a deep breath prior to tethering Epona to the fence post, sort of out of the way of anyone who might come down there. "Okay, you stay right here, Epona… Understand?"

The horse neighed in response to Link's question as he used his fingers to gently brush her long mane. Epona's beautiful brown eyes closed to enjoy her owner's touch until he went up to scratch her ears for her. To her, it always seemed to be a treat as she'd exhale long breaths while tilting her head against his hand. "Does that feel good?" He asked while continuing to make her happy for a minute longer. 'Perhaps later on today, after we return to the ranch, I'll groom her with the brush and have Malon help me check her ears for mites.'

Along with a smile, he kissed the horse's long snout and then walked up the small path toward the door of the sanitarium. "Be good."

The door to the building was heavy, so he had to put in a bit of muscle to pull it open. To his surprise, instead of some ungodly stench, the deep aroma of herbs drifted into his nostrils. The room the boy came into was a sort of waiting room with various chairs, yet, there was also a countertop splitting the room in half, accessible only by a door to the side. Somebody was behind the counter, hidden slightly by the sides of the walls. Only when a head popped out from around the corner did Link see that it was a woman.

"Oh… It's a child. Come in young man." She told him as he slowly walked closer. She revealed herself as a middle-aged woman dressed in a white robe embroidered with gold stitching as well as a white veil brandishing the Healing Triforce. "May the Goddesses watch over you and bless you with their righteously pure love… My name is Sister Marrie. How may I help you?"

"Uhh…" Link remained hesitant at first as he felt uncomfortable there. "I think I just need an examination or something."

She cocked her head to the side for a second before smiling to reassure him. "Examination? Wow, aren't you a smart boy… Why, of course we can give you an examination! I can do that for you… We won't even bother the doctor, unless you need or personally want him."

Up until then, Link hadn't been entirely sure if she was the doctor or not, but that explained it for him. Either way, as long as she was nice as well as gentle, he wouldn't mind having her do whatever it was that she was going to do. She walked over to the door on the side of the counters and then opened it for him. Link noticed there were more candles as he walked in. The room seemed filled with them and some of the bigger ones in the corner appeared to be burning something. 'Is she like the doctor's assistant or something?' He asked himself curiously while following the woman through the room and around a corner into a much larger area. Just before going out into the part of the area full of beds, curtains hanging up and sick people lying down, they veered off to go into a small part of the building with a single bed, some counters and several miscellaneous items. Right in advance of walking through the doorway, Link caught a glimpse of a shadowy figure far into the large chamber, working on a body while the person struggled; again, not a very comforting scene.

"Now don't you worry one bit, young man." The holy sister said, possibly picking up on his nervousness. "People come in here with all sorts of things wrong with them. Try not to be afraid. We never do anything that isn't necessary." Once in the room she closed the door behind him and then proceeded to pat the bed. "Come… Sit, please. Sell me what is ailing you and why you believe you need an evaluation. You do seem to be quite healthy from the looks of you. First though, may I please have your name?"

Sister Marrie's friendly and warm smile put off any fears Link had as he sat down on the side of the bed. Since the boy didn't know what to say or do, he decided to start from the beginning. "My name is Link, I'm ten years old, and, well… I… Uhh…" He sighed for a moment as he prepared himself to not be believed. "I'm the new farmhand for Lon Lon Ranch. I used to live with the Kokiri and even had a fairy, but I'm fully Hylian. Last week, I was found unconscious in the Lost Woods and had apparently been hallucinating. Other than that, the Kokiri gave me a tonic, which cured me from the curse, and I recovered… Long story short; Mr. Talon, the owner of Lon Lon Ranch, he wants me to be seen to make sure I'm healthy."

The sister looked stunned by his sudden deluge of information, either not expecting him to say what he had or currently under the impression that he was some crazy kid. For a while longer, she merely stared at him, his clothes and his eyes. Eventually, she snapped out of whatever trance she was in with a slightly startling question. "W-Well… I don't normally ask this. But, are you playing a joke on me, little Mr. Link?"

Link's eyes blinked a few times before it registered that she wasn't able to fully understand or didn't completely trust that he was telling the truth about living with the Kokiri and or going unconscious in the Lost Woods. "No ma'am… I swear on the Goddesses."

That look of shock on her face was enough to tell Link everything about how she felt. Then again, after she stared at his stone-cold serious face, she seemed to accept it on some level as the boy really hadn't given her any reason to distrust him. "That's quite a story…" She soon said, at least not using the terms 'dream' or 'fantasy'. "I can give you the examination, but if there's anything Kokiri related you wish to discuss, I'm afraid you'll have to talk that over with the doctor."

Following a couple of steps closer, she reached toward the corner of the small room where a rope with bells attached to it hung from the ceiling. As she proceeded to make the bells chime, Link saw that the room wasn't completely enclosed. There was a tiny gap left between the top of the walls and the roof, where fumes from the burning herbs could drift in. Once the sound of ringing bells ceased, the sister dipped her hands into the washbasin sitting on the counter-top, dried them, prayed for a minute and then turned back to LInk to move onward with the examination.

"I see her holiness, Din, has blessed you with looks. You're quite the handsome young man." She complemented Link while gently holding his chin, slowly turning his head side-to-side twice. Hearing a mature lady of the cloth such as herself say that to him was a tad embarrassing, enough to make his cheeks redden. "What? It's true…" She admitted. "Those blue eyes are very amazing and your hair is like strands of gold." She might have only been complimenting me and not flirting, yet it was still making Link uncomfortable. "You must have a girlfriend by now, am I right?"

Once she let go of his head, Link lightly shook it to say no to her question. However, for some reason, now all that he could think about was Malon. The amount of times he'd heard Talon tease him about marrying the farm girl piled up with his own endless thoughts; it made it hard to not associate Malon with the word girlfriend. "N-No." Link stuttered. "Could we… Umm… Could we just do the examination?" Finally she caught on to his discomfort and simply smiled before nodding in response as he thought 'Geez… I'm not that much of a ladies man… Am I?'

What was considered an examination seemed to be incredibly brief and common sense procedures. Link opened his mouth so Sister Marrie could see inside and even said 'ahh'. She glanced in his ears. She quickly tested his reflexes by tapping both knees with a reflex hammer shaped like a rubber tomahawk. Even the scrape on his arm from the earlier scuffle with that thief was looked at. Following that, she checked his temperature by feeling his forehead and then checked his pulse by holding both of his wrists. As soon as all of that was done and over with, she smiled, gave him a gentle pat on the head and then said. "You seem perfectly fine. Healthy and fit, but the doctor will be in to check for himself in just a minute… I will now pray to the Goddesses for your well-being. Would you like to pray with me?"

Seeing as how Link was in a house of the Goddesses, he decided to accept the sister's offer. After all, he was alive and that was definitely something to be thankful for. Malon was the one who saved his life, yet, if she didn't exist, he'd be part of the ground by now. "Okay."

Sister Marrie grasped Link's hands delicately as footsteps could be heard coming closer prior to a jingling noise. "Oh, great Goddesses. By your guiding light and protection of our people, grant us your blessings and mercy. Please, Din, give this young man strength to conquer his life… Please, Nayru, give this young man knowledge to find his way… and please, Farore, give this young man the courage he needs to overcome any obstacles. Together, may your sacred might keep him healthy and prosperous until he is ready to return to your gracious and glorious kingdom in the heavens above."

'I hope they hear our prayer.' Link's thoughts went on, unsure whether or not the Goddesses really cared about him or not. Surprisingly, he actually felt a bit better. Not his body, but his soul or spirit. Deep down, his heart could feel it; an invisible hug from above, just to comfort him and let him know that they were there. 'Either they do care about me or my subconscious is making things up to keep me from getting depressed.' Looking up at the kind lady of the cloth, he was just about to ask her whether or not it was normal to continually doubt one's own purpose as well as the nature of their so-called Goddesses, whenever the door opened. 'Oh man…' He thought as the doctor of the place revealed himself, prompting the boy to be sarcastic inside his mind. 'Just who I wanted to see.'

In advance of even stepping a foot inside the room, the shrouded man of medicine swung a golden chained censer around. The vessel spewed thick smoke scented with strange herbs. The man was attempting to purify the room from any evilness or toxicity.

"Please inhale." Sister Marrie responded, visibly breathing in the fumes.

When Link did the same, his lungs instantly heaved with a deep need to cough, to which he couldn't help other than to comply as it overwhelmed him. The sister must have been well trained, for the moment he expelled a tiny amount of congestion, she caught it with a cloth by holding it up to his mouth. Once that was completed, the doctor proceeded to come in, exposing the suit he was in; an ankle length overcoat and a bird-like beak mask being the most obvious. The medicine man also donned gloves, boots, a brim hat and an outer over-clothing garment. His overcoat had several things attached to it; a satchel, stranded cloves of garlic, and what appeared to be a tiny sheathed stick.

"Link, this is Dr. Euclid. He's going to give you a more thorough examination than I did." Sister Marrie informed the boy of the doctor's name.

Looking at the guy, Link preferred that the holy sister did the rest of the check-up. Having thought he was done, it was another surprise to hear there was more to come. He wondered what else there was that they needed to check.

"Hello." Link tried to greet the doctor, only to receive a grumble as the man continued to stare at him through a mask.

Dr. Euclid placed the chain censer on the nearby countertop, next to Sister Marrie, as he approached Link. For the next couple of minutes, he basically repeated everything the holy sister did a few minutes ago. Only, whenever he finished those did it become clear that he wasn't stopping, moving on instead to do more in-depth and methodical scrutinies. Carefully, he felt the sides of the boy's neck with both his hands, feeling the size of Link's salivary and lymph glands. Feeling nothing out of the ordinary, he then placed a wooden ear trumpet to the hero's chest and told him to cough, listening for any signs of congestion. When everything was normal, he moved on to another test by making the boy hold a glass thermometer under his tongue for a minute. The doctor seemed focused and sure of himself when he told the boy to be careful to not break the tube unless he wanted a mouthful of mercury. On the other hand, for a doctor, the man definitely wasn't sociable at all; with everything he said being monotone and nearly emotionless.

"Are you Kokiri or Hylian?" He asked in a muffled low voice.

Instead of Link, the holy sister responded. "Patient claims to be Hylian, but was raised by the Kokiri. He was found unconscious in the Lost Woods last week."

The doctor cocked his head to the side, curious from what he heard. Removing the glass tube from underneath Link's tongue, he then analyzed the contents to record a fairly accurate body temperature before rapidly shaking it to reset. "Hmm… Lift your clothing so that I may see your chest."

For a moment, Link was unsure what to do, despite hearing the instruction. He wasn't scared or embarrassed, just unsure of why he needed to lift his shirt up. It wasn't until he looked over at Sister Marrie to see her praying did he feel it was safe enough to do such a thing. First, he had to take off his belt and then he was able to lift up his tunic so that he was left only in his undergarments and boots. The boy didn't particularly enjoy being half-naked in front of strangers, but if it got the medical ordeal over with, he was willing.

"Oh my… What happened to your shoulder?" The holy sister spoke, surprised to see the long red Wolfos claw marks on my right shoulder.

The wounds had been healing up, which was great. Then again, they still stung him whenever his tunic rubbed against them or sweat seeped into them. "I was unconscious at the time." Link explained. "Malon, Mr. Talon's daughter, was the one who rescued me. She said that on the way back, we were attacked by a Wolfos until the Kokiri saved us."

Sister Marrie covered her mouth in horror from the thought. "A Wolfos! But, you're just a young boy!"

Dr. Euclid grabbed his chain censer, dangling it next to the boy's shoulder, letting it spew the burning herb smoke onto the boy's freshly-scarred wound. He seemed almost paranoid about anything related to germs or infections, going so far as to show it in his quick movements.

"I've been through much-much worse." Link replied with a shrug. The smoke didn't really sting; it felt warm and kind of good, like it was killing any germs around the area.

Once the purification of the wound was done, the doctor sat the censer back down on the counter prior to retrieving the tiny stick from within the belt on his overcoat. The purpose and size of the stick was revealed when he held it off to the side and slung it, forcing it to somehow extend into an even bigger stick, which he then promptly began pressing against Link's shoulder. Dr. Euclid fancied using the stick instead of touching his patients with his own hands. "Does this hurt?" He asked rather coldly.

Thankfully it didn't hurt, or the hero would've said something in a tone the doctor likely wouldn't have appreciated. "No, sir."

After literally prodding the scratches, the doctor leaned in closer to examine it, held the chain censer up to it one more time and then asked. "Have you attempted to treat it?"

Link gave a nod of reply in advance of saying. "Yes… I was given a Red Potion, the Kokiri put Aloe-Vera on it and then Mr. Talon has been lathering it with Healing Ointment for the last four days."

Just as Link finished speaking, Sister Marrie proceeded to use a dampened cloth to wipe off the scratches. The doctor resumed with another question. "Are you keeping it clean?"

Link nodded once more. "Yes, sir. I try to keep it as clean as I can. Then again, sometimes it's hard when I'm working around the ranch... My sweat makes it sting pretty bad."

Dr. Euclid glanced up at Link. "Keep something wrapped around it to absorb your sweat whenever you're active during the day. When it's nighttime and a little cooler, take it off to let it breathe… Understand?"

Link found it felt awkward to stare at the doctor's beak-like mask. His response was to once again nod as he was too disturbed by the mask to speak. After that, the doctor proceeded to feel the boy's sides, pressing in on them momentarily until ceasing near the lower stomach. "Hmm…"

The doctor stared at Link before grabbing the chain censer off the counter top yet again.

'Oh, come on. What now?' Link privately wondered.

Sister Marrie seemed to know exactly what was coming and began dampening the cloth in the wash basin as Dr. Euclid appeared to be screwing a thin metal tube onto the chain censer. "Mr. Link, you should try to keep your ears a little cleaner." Sister Marrie said in advance of sliding the cloth around the outside of the boy's ear, making him cringe from the surprise of her messing around with them. At least, the water felt pretty good, but he wasn't overly fond of having anyone dig around in his ears. "Our bodies are Temples of the Goddesses." The sister continued. "We should always want to take care of that temple, nourish it and keep it clean; especially your ears, for the gunk may muffle the sacred whispers."

Whenever he thought about it, Link wasn't sure that he had ever cleaned out the insides of his ears. Kokiri don't seem to have earwax like Hylians, so the hero was never taught to maintain such an area. "R-Really?" Link groaned as she tried to poke inside his left and right ear with the cloth, aiming to get as much wax out as possible.

"Of course… We Hylians need our long ears to hear The Goddesses' voices. It's so far away, from the heavens to here and yet we can still faintly pick up their whispers." Sister Marrie informed the boy.

Following a bit more digging as well as head-shaking from Link due to it tickling him, the doctor stepped closer after Sister Marrie withdrew the cloth from cleaning both ears. He had succeeded in attaching the long tube; though, it now looked almost more like a spout of some kind. "Hold very still, understand? Do not be afraid, this procedure won't hurt."

Link's eyes narrowed in confusion as well as wariness. 'From what I've heard, when a doctor says that, it's usually a lie to some misled degree.'

Dr. Euclid reached up to the pendant hanging around his neck and then pressed a button on the side of it. What Link assumed was a medallion sprung open, revealing itself to be hollow inside, containing a small candle with several magnifying glasses in front of it to focus any light being produced. Sister Marrie assisted further by using an already lit candle to light the one inside of the doctor's strange pendant device. Once the wick was lit, the illumination produced was actually fairly bright. Link couldn't look directly at it, but they didn't seem to want him doing so anyway as he instead felt something cold and metal trying to slide into his left ear. "W-What's happening?" he asked, hoping it wasn't going to be painful.

Sister Marrie held the boy still so he wouldn't move until the doctor said "Smoke Treatment for your ears."

Link wondered how the doctor was going to do that and was going to ask why in advance of having shivers sent down his spine whenever Sister Marrie very softly blew into one end of the chain censer, making the smoke travel out through the attached tube and into the hero's ear canal. "Eshh… F-Feels weird." With as much as the place uses herb smoke, Link figured they must have discovered some cure-it-all plant. Either way, it was strangely nice to feel it going into his ear. Besides the tiny whooshing sound from it being blown inside, it almost felt as if whatever amount of earwax was sort-of melting, unclogging his ear so that he could actually hear a tad bit better.

"5… 4… 3… 2… 1…" Dr. Euclid counted down until zero, when Sister Marrie ceased blowing the smoke and let the doc switch over to Link's left ear. "Resume."

Pretty much the exact same thing happened as did with the other ear. However, as she was blowing the smoke, Sister Marrie seemed to be closely analyzing the boy's ear until he realized she was looking at his sheikah earring. Again, he'd long forgotten that he had it. Whatever was so interesting to her about it, such as her being aware of its purpose; the doctor didn't take any note on it, being too obsessed with making sure his patient was healthy to pay attention to menial details. Then again, before long, the sister stopped toying with the tiny hoop and Link was left with shivers from the whooshing sensation.

"5… 4… 3… 2… 1…" Once more, the doctor counted down until Sister Mary stopped blowing the herbal smoke into Link's left ear. "Is there improvement, Mr. Link?" He then proceeded to ask.

As soon as the two stepped away, Link shook his head, scratched his ears and even dug in them a little prior to responding. "Yes sir. I feel like I could hear a pin drop now." Sister Marrie smiled, making the boy feel fairly happy. On the other hand, to his surprise, he didn't even get to close his mouth after finishing that sentence as the doctor quickly held it open with a small flat stick. "Huaa?"

Link almost gagged while Dr. Euclid held his little pendant up, giving the medicine man intensified light to see into the kid's mouth, down the throat. "Patient still has his tonsils and uvula. Both are pink and regular size, no surgical procedure needed."

Link raised his eyebrow in confusion until the doctor withdrew; tossing the flat wooden stick into a small can to the side. "Uhh… *Cough*… What?"

Dr. Euclid stared at Link through his beak-like mask, giving the impression that he didn't really care to try and explain. Turns out it was true too, as he got straight to the point by saying "You're as healthy as can be… Do make sure you keep your ears cleaned regularly; the Wolfos scratches need to be washed too, and maintain a balanced diet. This general physical examination costs forty rupees. Have a good day, Mr. Link." Following a quick grab of his beloved chain censer, Link thanked the doctor as the man proceeded to walk out of the room, leaving the hero with Sister Marrie to wrap up the transaction.

"Was everything to your satisfaction, Mr. Link?" The sister inquired prior to complimenting him. "The Goddesses certainly seem to have blessed you with good well-being."

Having her there with him as he was half-naked was uncomfortable, so he put his tunic back on, pulling it over his head, then down. "Yes, Ma'am… Here's what I owe you." The wallet was attached to his belt; as he slid the leather strap through the loops on his tunic, he removed the purple rupee Talon gave him.

She took the gem from him ahead of paying back two blue rupees. "Thank you… May the Golden Goddesses always be watching over you from above."

Link hopped down from the table, tightened the string on his wallet before walking out of the room, back out into the central chamber where the majority of the patients seemed to be kept. Sister Marrie stayed behind to make sure things were ready once more for the next person they saw. If only he had left sooner, for a sudden muffled yell of pain from down the room led him to automatically jerk his head in the direction it came from. He saw the doctor standing next to what appeared to be a sickly looking soldier, still in uniform and laying sprawled out on a simple cot. The footman hollered and squirmed, making it hard to ignore. From a distance, there were what looked like, black protrusions jutting out of his right arm. Link's eyes widened as, at first, he thought it was some strange illness. To the boy's absolute horror, the bulges noticeably wiggled and then fell off onto the ground, in a bucket, with a clear splat.

After whatever it was on his arm fell, the soldier moaned, but relaxed regardless of his hyperventilation continuing. "Fuck…" The guard cursed with multiple gasps. "Doc', I hate these leeches! Why do you use such foul creatures!?"

The doctor walked around to the other side of the bed and then closed a lid around the bucket with the leeches inside, sealing them from any attempt of escape. "Those 'foul creatures' are the saviors of your life, Sir Phegeus, for they have sucked the venom out of your body, taking their own, near insignificant lives in the process. The Chupa which bit you is the real demon in this case."

Link's eyebrows lifted in surprise, while another different Holy Sister showed up to assist the doctor. In his head, the boy wondered how this soldier encountered a Chupa in Hyrule; most of the beasts had been exterminated long ago. Other than the Kokiri Forest, they were found only deep within swamps and forests. He'd only encountered one in his entire walk through the Forbidden Forest. One was bad enough as it was quite disturbing. Reminiscent of an overgrown spider, with four creepy, slender and tubular insect legs, they transported their perfectly round, yet, hairy body along the ground or tree tops, waiting for prey to come into visual range before striking. Its head was connected by a long tendril-sized neck that lunged away from its body so that it could sink its snake-like fangs into flesh. Even if someone survives an attack, without near-immediate action, the venom from their poisonous strike forces most to succumb.

"Oh… Young man!" A woman said, breaking Link out of thought. Sister Marrie came out of the room he was just in. She seemed a little surprised to see that he was still standing there. "There you are… I have a question for you. Would you care to try and answer it for me? I'm sorry to trouble you, but I'm curious."

His eyes blinked in minor shock. Whatever it was that she was interested in; Link figured he'd do his best to try and answer it correctly. The inquisitive look on her face was too much for him to refuse the request. "Umm… S-Sure."

With the go ahead, she proceeded to ask "That earring you have… Did you happen to find it somewhere, or was it given to you?"

Hearing her question forced a small chuckle to escape his lips as Link had a slight expectation that was likely what her excitement was about. Thinking about it, he was kind of surprised that so many people had taken note of it. Back whenever it was given to him, he never assumed it would be the sole thing that made him stand out from most other boys his age. 'After all…' He pondered 'How many ten year olds do people know that have gone through the process of becoming a man by the Sheikah Rite of Passage?' Regardless of thoughts, he decided to continue being truthful. "It was given to me by Kakariko Village and Impa herself."

Following a quick examination of her expression, which was that of shock, Link turned around and finally made his way out of the building. The moment his hands touched the door, he felt relief knowing the sun was on the other side. He wasn't overly partial to being in a room filled with sick people. Now that the health check was done, the boy pushed the door open. The beloved sunshine almost instantly radiated around his body, wrapping him in warmth. Epona was still there, hitched to the fence post, enjoying the sun as much as he was prior to taking notice of his return with gleeful neighs.

"Hey, girl…" Link greeted. "Ready to go see Captain Osun?" Her response was about as he expected; excited, for she was up for going anywhere, as long as it was with her master. After he unhitched and mounted her, after adjusting his position on the saddle, he gave her some praise, petting her head and stroking her mane because she was good for staying while he was gone. She loved every second of the affection until he gave her the order to walk back toward the Market of Castle Town.

"Easy does it, girl. We don't want to run into anybody. Walk nice and slow." He made sure to be careful. Most people got out of their way anyway, but there were always opportunities to make a mistake and accidentally hurt someone.

Just before leaving the area, one last time, his eyes were drawn to the Temple of Time. The sanctuary stood proud and sturdy, with handmade bricks of Lake Hylia Clay and Goron Cement, all overlooking the entirety of the city with its overly large stained glass windows as well as the Triforce Symbol. Something about the place itself was comforting to look at. It also made the hero think of the Golden Goddesses. His mind attempted to contemplate whether or not he thought what they did, their plan, was good for him. Even though he knew better than to ever doubt them, he couldn't help other than to wonder if what they'd given him was good enough a reward for what he deserved. After all, he wasn't remembered by anyone, nor acknowledged as the Hero of Time. Now, instead of going on grand adventures to save the world, all he did was take care of livestock. His lip twitched when he mentally re-worded it to 'Instead of being a hero, I shovel shit out of a barn.'

The Goddesses obviously didn't like it that he thought in such a way. As the omnibenevolent beings they are, they did their best to make Link happy too and not just use him for their own deeds before tossing him to the side after he's all used up.

'What else could be drawing my attention to such a holy place?' Link contemplated the odd desire he had to visit the Temple of time. 'If not them, who?' Without any further objection, he felt his lips form a faint smile at the thought of the three goddesses loving him as their own child. 'If they created me with this purpose, they must have knowledge and reasoning for their actions, even if it is beyond my hylian comprehension.' The best thing he could do is leave it at that and focus on his life. 'Navi, wherever she is, probably would've wanted this, for me to be free of the burden of a hero.'

As Epona gradually made her way back toward the Market's Central Plaza, the Temple of Time went out of sight and Link slowly lost interest in thinking about philosophical things. Drifting, his mind sailed through endless reflections, almost meditating or brooding about the meaning of everything, far beyond deep-thinking.

The peace soon ended and he was brought back to reality by the familiar voice of a certain farm girl. "Link! Hey! Hey, Link! Over here!" Malon waved her arms in the air, as if to try and get his attention; like he wasn't going to notice her anyway.

It was slightly embarrassing for him to have everyone now temporarily looking at them, but he responded anyway just to get her to settle down. "I see you… What is it?"

Epona came to a stop next to Malon. Accompanied with a smile, the girl ran closer while holding up some form of metal toy looking thing. "Look at what I got! It's so cute!"

Link's eyebrow lifted inquisitively as he couldn't understand how an object could be cute. The toy was shaped like a yellow duckling, the only noticeable difference being a small knob on the side of it. Looking at it and knowing that she spent rupees on a silly little toy such as that, at her age, brought out a tiny chuckle from the boy. "Uhh… What exactly is that?"

In response to his question and laugh, she stared at him in advance of bending down to place the toy on the ground. After that, on the brick of the street, she began turning the knob, which made a grinding sound each time she rotated it. For a moment, Link wanted to know why she'd pay rupees for it to make such a dreadful noise. However, when she let go of it, the toy amazingly began walking in an awkward fashion; waddling like a duck, the creature upon which it was trying to mimic. The duck-toy continued hobbling for about five total seconds, ceased, made a weird quack like noise that barely sounded like a duck and then managed to do an entire flip before the thing powering it, the knob, stopped moving, making it stop as well. "It's a handmade toy duck… The guy at the stall said it was from the Zora Tribe, but I think some Hylian made it."

The only thing Link was able to do at the moment was stare at the farmgirl, overall surprised that she spent rupees on that. All that talk earlier on the ride there about needing to save rupees, and she went spending what she had on a senseless doodad from a shady stallsman.

Before long, she must have seen his obvious disapproval or how unexcited he was, for she stood back up with the toy and then stared at him. "What?" She asked. "Don't look at me like that… It was only a single rupee! That's way too cheap to ignore, even for this thing!"

Again, Link laughed, getting Malon to blush red. "Alright, Alright…" He said while making Epona move onward toward the Training Grounds. "It's your rupees; you spend them on what you want to spend them on."

Following another solid minute of walking beside him and pouting, she finally calmed down enough to think of other things. He didn't really want her to try and come with him to see Captain Osun, but wondered if it would be good proof; proof that he otherwise couldn't give the Lon Family. "Hey…" Malon soon spoke. "Where are you going, and how was your visit to the doctor?"

The hero looked back to see if Talon had returned yet prior to responding. "Well, the doctor pretty much said that I'm healthy. All I need to do is keep the Wolfos scratches washed. I'll have to start wearing a piece of cloth around them or something, to soak up sweat for a while, until night, when I'm allowed to let it breathe…" He momentarily stopped to clear his throat. "… But, as for where I'm going, I'm headed to see Captain Osun at the Training Grounds."

Upon hearing the destination, Malon slowed down a bit before catching up again. Everything else Link told her didn't seem to matter now that she knew where he was going. Then again, the boy guessed that it was still a good thing for him to be in tip-top shape. He wasn't ever worried about his health that much. However, earlier, he wasn't sure what the doctor was going to say and or do, so he did have a few misconceived perceptions and notions that were proved false. Despite that, there was still the thought in the back of his mind that the sanitarium might've been painful.

"Wait… What!? You're kidding! Link!" The farmgirl grew exasperated. "They won't just let you try and waltz up to The Captain! He's a very important man!"

Her concern only brought a smile to Link's face as he was sure Captain Osun could enlighten her and anyone else on how his skill exceeds that which met the eye. "Malon, calm down. I've been good friends with Captain Osun for quite a while now. He knows who I am and I'm always allowed to come and go from there freely."

Epona's Ears swiveled around as Malon spoke louder, a bit shrill as well. "What!? No way! There's no way they'd let you step one foot in there without, at least, a letter of approval from the Royal Family!"

A couple of short chuckles ensued from Link as he recalled everything that led up to his recognition with the captain, as well as how the farm girl refused to completely believe that he was the Hero or Time. Sometimes it was like she wanted to believe. Whenever she has proof she seems to accept it, but when she returns to normal, she acts like he's crazy, just like almost everyone else did. The boy would have thought that Saria might have mentioned a thing or two to her about it. On a deeper level though, it was quite possible that Saria didn't want to tell Malon because she wasn't sure if Link cared or minded about such information being revealed. "I've given them plenty of proof." Was all he said to her.

Epona turned to walk amongst the path, going by the stalls and General Store, down the road which led to a few other businesses as well as the Training Grounds off in the far corner. Malon kept trying to figure the things out that she could simply wait and see to find out the answer to. "What? What kind of proof can a ten year old give to The Captain of the Hyrulean Guard?"

Link's first and immediate response was to grunt. It got tiresome extraordinarily quickly with how often he felt as if everyone around him thought he was crazy. "Long story short, I couldn't get a letter from the Royal Family because The King wouldn't ever allow a ten year old in there; not without me proving my skill right in front of him, which was and still is next to impossible since he's always inside the castle. Plus, the whole Ganondorf thing and me having to be the Hero of Time…" He stopped to let out an exasperated sigh. "I've never even met The King face-to-face except for once and that didn't go very well since he thought like everyone else, even going so far as to laugh at me." Wincing, it was obvious the memory was rather embarrassing for him. "B-But… Uhh… Ah, I got off track. I managed to get Lord Taburi from the Taburi Clan to send a letter of recommendation directly to Captain Osun. Needless to say, that swayed him to bypass The king's orders and let me get tutored by the expert soldiers there."

Link had hoped that the explanation he provided would be enough for Malon. Unfortunately, to his dismay, whenever he turned his head to look back, he noticed that she was rubbing the sides of her head. "Ughh… All of that gives me a headache." She complained.

The boy's fingers gripped the reins attached to Epona fairly tightly as he felt further annoyance from everyone's inability to understand him. 'Now she's telling me that I give her a headache? That's not my fault she refuses to believe my words.' Letting himself relax a little, he replied "Sorry… I'll shut up then."

Malon stopped acting like he was overloading her mind and suddenly apologized. "No! No, I mean… I… It's just, sometimes I wonder why you tell me all of that stuff when you know that it's hard to believe."

'Seriously?' Link thought as they went deeper down the road. Before long, he dismounted Epona's saddle and chose to merely lead her by people instead of trying to control the filly from above. 'She should know this by now.' Occasionally, he alternated between thinking the farmgirl fully understood him to having absolutely no clue why he did the things he did. "Malon… I tell you that stuff because I trust you, as a very good friend. You always try to believe me, which is much more than most other adults ever do. When we first met, you seemed to believe everything that came out of my mouth and it made me comfortable." Getting more in-depth, it felt sort of embarrassing to be exposing how he felt, even if she, to an extent, had some form of an idea. "After all that you went though, with meeting Saria, the Great Deku Tree, surviving the Lost Woods and even being brave enough to hold your own against not one, but two Wolfos; I would have thought by now that you'd at least give me some credit until I give proof of otherwise."

The sincerity in Link's tone of voice must have been enough for Malon to finally accept what he was saying as she seemed to take the idea into deep consideration. It was going to be hard to prove he wasn't crazy or a lunatic, perhaps even impossible. In fact, the majority of hyrulean's believed there was plenty of proof against his sanity, since they never perceived any change to the time-line as he had. That's why even part of his own self was in doubt at times, as being surrounded by skeptics caused an agnostic point of view to constantly try to re-insert itself into his life. No matter how many times he temporarily cured the depressing cloud of gloominess hovering above his head, it lingered forth.

Malon, after having done all the things Link said she had done; namely the daring rescue of the boy from the Forbidden Forest, seemed to become the exception toward those who didn't want to believe, at least for now. "Fine... I trust you. And just so you know, I never doubted everything you said, just a few things." She ended the conversation there while they continued walking.

Link couldn't really help other than to wonder what she meant by that. To an extent, he had a feeling that it might have something to do with his display of skills. Though he may not have shown her his full power, or perhaps even half, she had still seen him fight off Stalchildren on that one occasion long ago, plus, was amazed whenever he was able to infiltrate the Hyrule Castle Courtyard in order to awaken the inappropriately snoozing Talon. At some point in time, if he's lucky or able, he hoped he might be able to show her his more refined combat skill.

The other way to validate portions of his story, or at the very least make them more believable, is to have Captain Osun explain a few stories of the Hero of Time. After all, The Captain's father was himself a Knight of Hyrule. Legends came and went, but the Legend of the Hero of Time remained intact throughout history. Lucky for him, Captain Osun was on his side and believed his story after doing some sleuthing of his own in order to prove a few of the boy's predictions from the future to likely be correct.

The Training Grounds soon came into sight, taking up the entire corner section of the Castle Town exterior wall. From the outside, there didn't appear to be any noticeable activity from within; no pillars of smoke from any fires, no yelling, no clanging of swords, shields or spears. Malon didn't look overly keen on walking up to the gate since it was a militarized place where children such as them didn't really belong. However, there wouldn't be any other way to see Captain Osun as Link didn't know where the man lived or his schedule. As a matter of fact, he didn't know the current schedule of the training grounds either. It was entirely possible that the soldiers might not be there at the moment, too busy, or doing something else. Regardless, the only way to find out was for them to approach.

"It's been a while since I was last here…" Link spoke aloud, to no one in general. "Hmm… Doesn't look like anything's changed."

Epona didn't seem to want to move across the narrow stone bridge which led up to the portcullis of the Training Grounds. But, following encouragement with gentle caresses from her owner, she moved on anyway. Up above, on the curtain walls which wrapped around the back of the Training Grounds, there was a guard on patrol along the rampart.

Malon, now more than ever, felt a bit nervous about being there as the guard stared at them. "Umm… Link, are you sure we should be here? This is kind of supposed to be off-limits to most citizens."

Raising an eyebrow in response to her question, Link merely turned around and walked backward the entire way across the narrow bridge. "Huh? No it's not… We wouldn't even be able to walk up to here if it was off-limits." There were a few places around there that citizens weren't supposed to be; yet, the Training Grounds wasn't one of them. He did understand her concern, as he wasn't in the mood to get in trouble either. The hero's mind was just bent on seeing Captain Osun and nothing was going to get in his way.

"Yeah, well…" The farm girl responded "Children aren't supposed to be here, even if it's not against the law. I just really don't want to get caught trespassing somewhere I'm not supposed to be. I've never come down here before."

Coming up to the portcullis, Link shrugged off Malon's concern as he was positive he wouldn't get into any sort of trouble. Behind the gate stood another guard, this one was unfortunately sleeping; not exactly performing his duties. "Umm… Excuse me." The boy said, trying to get the man's attention. The snores coming from him was a good enough response to try again. "Hey… Excuse me. Guard… Hello?" Still, the man refused to do anything other than breathe through his mouth. Part of Link grew ticked off. It was ridiculous to see an authority figure slacking off and not providing any sense of safety.

Following another minute of attempts, including rattling the gate a little, Malon took over without even being asked, using her shrill voice. "HEY! WAKE UP!"

In surprise, Link's cheeks reddened a little in embarrassment. He didn't expect the farmgirl to do that. On the plus side, it did manage to wake the guard from his slumber. As if he thought the sky was falling, the man jumped up with the spear in his hand at the ready, eyes extra-wide. "Huh!? What!? What's going on!? Who are you kids and what do you want!?" Slowly, the situation calmed down as he both relaxed at knowing there wasn't any danger.

"It's okay…" Link spoke. "My name is Link, and I'm here to visit Captain Osun. Do you know if he's available at the moment?"

As fully expected, the guard stood staring for a brief few seconds prior to grumbling. "Kid, Captain Osun is a very busy man… He doesn't have time for a munchkin like you. Run along now; go play some games with the other children." Seeing as how he thought Link was just some random boy who wanted to see the famous Captain of the Royal Family Military, the guard placed his spear back against the wall and then sat down again.

Although he wanted to get angry, Link managed to hold his tongue and use reasoning instead. "Munchkin? Hey, wait… Listen, I'm Link. I've been here before. It was The Captain himself who let me train here after receiving my signed recommendation from Lord Taburi!"

Like some sort of smug jerk, the guard smirked, leaned back in his chair until it touched the gatehouse and then rudely waved the hylian children off. "Go away, kid… I don't care about your hopes and dreams or how you're trying to fantasize about them now. Lord Taburi would never write a recommendation to anyone, even his own bodyguards. If you want to get in here to train or talk to The Captain, then you'll have to wait until you grow up and get drafted."

Link's lip twitched in response to the ignorance. 'See?' He thought on his own; conversing with himself 'This is exactly why I hate being a kid as well as getting absolutely no recognition for all the horrible shit I had to go through.' Clenching his fists, he realized another thing. Malon, who was standing right behind him, likely was beginning to have doubts again. Following a glance back at the farmgirl, to see her glued stare, he knew that he was correct. Never did things seem to go as planned whenever it came to anything in relation toward his previous quests. At times, he wondered why he kept trying when the only thing he got was a metaphorical slap to the face. 'What am I supposed to do now? Obviously, this jack-ass guard isn't going to let me through…' He sighed prior to thinking 'Maybe this was a mistake.'

"Link, I think we should just head back to the plaza. Daddy might get back soon anyway." Malon pleaded.

Amazingly, he was a millisecond away from reluctantly agreeing with her, getting ready to turn back in advance of seeing somebody walk by the open door to the barracks, which was the closest building to the gate. The figure almost appeared to do a double-take, seeing Link at the same time as Link saw him. "W-Wait… Hey!" The boy hollered "Oi! Oi! Vicente! Vicente, is that you!?" His voice managed to slip past the gate and be heard as the figure came out of the barracks, proving Link's assumption to also be correct. The tall, blonde haired Hylian-teen approached wearing standard chainmail without any noticeable symbols or emblems. For some reason, Link figured the guy would've graduated training by now. But, considering the current circumstances, he knew he should be more glad that the man wasn't.

"Well, Well, Well… If it isn't the grand-swordsman himself!" Vicente's tone was gleeful, so Link knew he wasn't really mocking. The young soldier's smile was enough to prove they knew one another. "It's nice to see you again, bud. What's up? Are you here for a re-match? I've honed my skills since the last time we spared, so don't think it'll be nearly as easy to take me down as it was before."

Even though Vicente didn't seem to know what was going on, with Link smirking and looking back at Malon, the boy saw her amazement prior to saying "You know you can always have a rematch with me, Vicente. It's not like it's going to change the end result…" The hero stopped to laugh. "How's your sword by the way?"

The Hylian teenager snorted out a chuckle before giving the gate guard a nudge in the stomach. "Hey there slick, how about you open this gate so my friend and I can talk face-to-face?"

As Link blinked and waited, he was treated to a surprise whenever the guard gave a swift salute, said "Yes, Sir." and then began raising the portcullis by use of a crank next to him.

Epona backed up some, but the very moment the gate was raised, Vicente and Link shook hands like men; a much better reception than their previous encounter. "The sword's great, you little brat." The young soldier finally replied. "I had it fixed the same day after you sliced it straight in half." Both of them shared a bit of laughter, at ease in each other's presence.

Link had only trained with them for one day, twenty-four whole hours, yet, it was more than enough to prove his skill, to hone his talents and compete with the best the army had to offer. "Ah, you should've known better than to try and parry an overhead sword strike with as much force as I was putting in it anyway."

Vicente rolled his eyes before looking over at Malon with slight curiosity. "You sound exactly like The Captain… Anyway, how can I help you? If you can't already tell, I'm The Captain's new assistant."

The promotion explained his 'sir' status when referred to by the guard, and though Link was still wondering how, when and why Vicente of all people managed to become an assistant, the hero knew he needed to continue putting forth an effort on getting to the bottom of things. "Oh, Congratulations… As for helping me out, I just wanted to talk to The Captain and let him know about a few important things that happened." Truthfully, Link knew that Captain Osun wasn't a sort of therapist for him to come running to whenever he felt overwhelmed by life. It was merely that he hoped to use the man's expertise to figure out if Termina existed or not. Being involved with the Royal Family, he knew more than the average citizen and it was far easier to reach him instead of going through a swarm of royal guards for a measly attempt at meeting The King or Princess Zelda. He was pretty much Link's last hope, other than the Happy Mask Salesman, in proving his sanity true. In addition to that, the boy felt it would be exceedingly great if The Captain expressed to Malon how he wasn't telling 'stories' like everyone thinks he is.

Clearly it wasn't going to be that easy, however, as Vicente pursed his lips. "Nnn… Sorry, Link. The Captain left to go to the Castle about thirty minutes ago, you just missed him."

Immediately, Link felt let down as The Captain was the entire reason he chose to come all the way out there. However, it wasn't the end of the world as he could probably try to come back another time. "Aww man…" Link sighed "Oh well. Is there any particular time that he'll be back?"

Vicente, being his usual 'thinks too hard' self, looked back and forth between Malon and Link in advance of saying "As for today, I couldn't tell you. Not only do I not know, but I was specifically told to not worry about it… sorta ordered."

Suddenly, Link grew a tad suspicious as he began wondering exactly why The Captain was at The Castle. Under normal circumstances, being called to the castle wouldn't be enough to arouse skepticism, not since The Captain made regular visits to update information in a face-to-face meeting with The King. Link's judgment picked up on something funky by the way Vicente said he was ordered not to be concerned. There usually wasn't a reason for a soldier to attempt to tell Link something confidential.

"Hmm… Why exactly is he at The Castle? Do you know?" Link asked.

With a raised eyebrow, the question made the young soldier nervous, especially with the gate guard so close-by, obviously listening in on every single thing they were saying. Seeing Link cocking his head to the side while staring at him, Vicente knew that the boy wanted to know. If it wasn't for Link being who he was, Hero of Time or not, the kid with the captain's respect, the soldier likely wouldn't have disclosed the information. "Uhh… Okay, listen… What I'm going to tell you is top-secret, got it?"

Along with a smirk, Link bobbed his head vigorously. Malon, on the other hand, wasn't overly up to it as she held her hands up to her ears. Once Link chuckled at her actions, she blushed and then uncovered her ears with a pouty face. "Got it, we won't say a word about this to anyone."

Vicente eyeballed the boy's smirk prior to nudging him with his elbow, getting Link's full attention again. "I mean it, Link. It's a secret to everybody."

Link's hand motioned for the soldier to continue in response as he replied "I know, Vicente. Neither of us will say a thing; right, Malon?" Both of the kids nodded in agreement.

The teenager crossed his arms, looked at the gate guard, groaned and then took a few steps forward toward them while cupping his hand around his mouth to whisper. "From what I hear, a group of these really important sages have traveled thousands of miles, across the land, to tutor Princess Zelda. The Captain went up there to meet with them and introduce himself in front of The King."

Link narrowed his eyes. Since he couldn't speculate aloud, he pondered in his head, thinking long and hard about Zelda and The Sages. 'I take it that these sages are not the same ones from seven years in the future. They're not the Sages of the Sacred Realm… They couldn't be the Sages of the Sacred Realm.' Shaking his head he thought 'Saria, Darunia, Princess Ruto, Impa, and Nabooru have no recollection of the moments which time erased, because they never happened; at least not yet. The only people aware of anything that happened or what was supposed to happen, once again, is Zelda, Rauru, and now apparently Ingo, who only has a vague remembrance with an unknown purpose.' Glancing back at Malon, he figured 'Without Ganondorf trying to take over the kingdom, however, there wasn't a need for the Sages of the Sacred Realm. Whoever these people are, they must be wise in regard to the subject(s) of what they're going to tutor Princess Zelda.'

In spite of his thoughts of contemplation, it made no difference as he was unable to see these new sages anyway. The King had made it plainly obvious that, in his opinion, Link's services were no longer required. Although the boy would certainly love to have an exceedingly lengthy conversation with Zelda, it was doubtful that he could infiltrate the courtyard again since the guards had been placed on raised alert concerning the recent Gerudo attacks. 'That's the only real way that I'd ever be able to see her again, so everything else is far out of the question.'

"Alright…" Link quickly snapped out of his inner-thoughts, not wanting to leave Vicente hanging. "Well, as soon as The Captain gets back, if you could, let him know that I was here looking for him."

The teenager's chainmail jingled as he gave Link one last firm handshake. "You know it. And, the next time you stop by, we're going to have that re-match. I'm telling you, I've improved a lot more than you might be expecting."

After shaking his hand, Link's smirk returned as he chuckled. "I won't forget. I'll have my sword and shield on me by that time; we'll have to see if your blade can handle my strike and not break like hot butter."

Vicente turned around while laughing and waving Link off. "Ah, whatever… Next time, Link!"

Just before the gate guard began lowering the portcullis, Link abruptly decided to ask the teenager one last question, only to see if he knew it. "Next time, Vicente… Oh! Wait! One last thing… Do you happen to know of a place called Termina?" His head turned back to Link with an inquisitive look following a moment he took to think. Using that time, Link figured he'd continue talking about it too. "It's bordered to the west by The Great Bay, has Snowhead Mountain to the north, swamps to the south? Clock Town? Anything?"

Vicente's lips pursed right before he shook his head. "No, I'm sorry… I've never heard of any of those places. There's a place called Trevania, but that's quite a ways west from here, over the Calatian Mountain Range."

It was a letdown, but, since there wasn't much of anything else Link could do, he merely chose to wave the soldier off. Malon was staring at the boy still, not even blinking. Truthfully, he was glad that he was able to bring her here, even if they didn't get to see Captain Osun. 'I'm hoping she'll realize that I'm not making things up.'

During the time Link began walking Epona back across the narrow bridge, his mind shifted back and forth between Malon as well as what to do next. His hopes for the farmgirl to understand him a little more shouldn't have been as important as trying to finish his last objective. There were two things that he desperately needed to do, that he'd been waiting patiently for since the moment he awoke from his coma. Malon, being so caring over him, convinced him to stay and regain strength before attempting to resume anything. Yet, he still knew what he had to do. Captain Osun and the Happy Mask Salesman were top priority in attempting to figure things out. Several times he'd been right next to the Happy Mask Salesman's shop, but each time he noticed that the place was dark; meaning the strange man wasn't in. As for Captain Osun, there wasn't anything he could currently do. At least Vicente was there, and for that, he should be grateful.

Around the time they reached the end of the bridge, Malon spoke up. "Hey, Link… Who was that guy? How do you know him?"

Her curiosity made Link a tad bit happy. He was glad she wanted to know more. Thinking of the possibility that she may eventually come to terms with him and somehow accept his words was a gracious present. Since the farmgirl's father, Talon, doesn't believe a lick of his adventuring and Ingo, despite having a vague recollection through premonition-like dreams, refuses to accept it; he'd love to have a hylian, besides Zelda or Captain Osun, which he could talk to about such matters. Considering all of that, he didn't have any issue with informing her of one of his past contacts. "That was Vicente. I met him about a month ago… He used to be one of the recruits-in-training, but I guess he got a promotion somehow. I'm not sure why; the first time we met and sparred, I ended up breaking his sword straight in half!"

The excitement in Link's voice was merely out of melancholy remembrance. However, Malon was more surprised about what he had said to even realize. "Wait…... You-... you trained with him; and you defeated him?"

Her skepticism made Link roll his eyes with a smirk and a chuckle. "More like he trained with me… Oh, and it wasn't just once that I defeated him. We sort of had a handful of rematches the same day."

To that, Malon giggled softly and even smiled. "Seriously?"

Link's head bobbed yes as he recalled his own sword slicing through Vicente's with incredible ease. "I promise… See? I told you that I wasn't making anything up or lying to you."

Although he thought she'd be happier about him being honest to her, she took it the wrong way. Her eyes blinked and she even rubbed them a couple of times, as if she was desperately trying to comprehend what she'd just seen. "Link, I told you, I never thought you were lying… It's just… Well… I… I don't know! Okay!?" She broke down a bit as she struggled. "I can't figure any of it out because it doesn't make any sense! I still can't wrap my head around you being serious-minded about this!"

The farm girl's reaction was more-or-less a greatly beneficial case in point; an example of why the Golden Goddesses had no desire for any of them to know the future. Ingo was an exceedingly strange exception, until he himself gave in and chose to deny it by believing it was 'just a dream'. The sentient mind didn't appear to be capable of such transcending thoughts, it just wasn't. There's a reason why only he, 'The Hero of Time', was allowed to travel through time. Such trauma to a normal hylian would be inexcusable.

"Your entire timey-wimey story just gets under my skin sometimes. Ughh!" She said, still trying to make sense of things.

Her description was just about as accurate as it could get too. Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey. If Link could say anything about the goddesses plan for him, describe it in a sentence, then that would definitely be it. "It's okay… I know it's too much to understand. My advice to you, Malon, is to not even try to understand it."

They soon approached the Market Town Plaza, returning to the center of the place. For whatever reason, he assumed that Malon would've been satisfied with his response; mostly because he really didn't want to talk about it with people nearby. The last thing that he wanted was for everyone to think he was nuts. Malon, however, was shaking her head. "But, I want to understand you more, Link! I-… I-… I mean…"

The way she cut herself off so suddenly made Link curious. 'Why?' He thought. 'Why do you want to understand me? Is it because of our friendship? Dare I think, you care about me a lot?'

His time on contemplating the subject was taken away whenever they approached the General Store in the Market Town Center Plaza. A woman's voice called out to both of them indirectly. "Yoo-hoo! Children! Over here!" Malon and Link both looked at the same time. There was a Zora, an aquatic fish-person complete with gills, elbow fins and long tailfin attached to her head, which was styled like hylian hair. Her skin was teal and since her species didn't have discernable privates, was free of clothing, allowing her webbed feet and hip fins to be seen. The Zora was in a booth set up between one store and the next. There were two signs on the booth, the biggest read 'Sherbet's Creamed Sorbet' and the smaller said 'Fresh ice from Zora Domain'. Clapping her hands, she responded the moment the hylian children's eyes met hers. "Hi! I'm Sherbet! Would you two like a creamed sorbet? You'll be my last customers of the day, so I'll even give you two a discount!"

The Zora woman's happy smile and eager demeanor actually made Link contemplate the idea seeing as how he hadn't had anything to eat since earlier that morning and he'd done lots of work as well as moving around since then. Following a quick glance over at the Happy Mask Salesman's shop, seeing that it still appeared to be empty and not open, Link tried to choose what it was that he wanted to do.

Sooner than later, he decided to move on. Figuring things out was much more important to him than a drink, even if it was a nice refreshing one. Although the Happy Mask Salesman didn't appear to be there, nothing was going to stop him from taking a look around to possibly find the weirdo. "No than-…" Was all he managed to get out before being interrupted.

Malon chimed in with her own reply. "Oh yes, please!" For a moment, Link stared at the farm girl, then upward in disbelief, shaking his head over her interruption. "What flavours do you have!?" She continued to speak, asking the Zora lady.

In an instant, to answer the question, a small door on top of the booth counter-top was slid open, revealing three tubs surrounded by melting ice water. The Zora lady smiled as she replied "Why, we have vanilla, chocolate and strawberry." Giddy, she explained. "I use sorbet shaved locally from the freshest ice in Zora Domain. Then, I add some flavour and milk!" Pointing to herself, she resumed. "I'm thinking of calling it sherbet after my name!"

Malon's eyes widened there for a second. With her gaze glued on the frozen treat, Link figured that the only flavour he really cared for was strawberry. Kokiri love strawberries and he did too. "Are you two together?" The jolly Zora asked, sparking a glance back and forth between the two children.

"H-Huh?" Link questionably inquired, not entirely sure what it was the lady was asking.

"Together, you know…" Sherbert giggled. "Courting? Lovers?"

He wasn't sure why it was that he was beginning to get seriously aggravated by people asking them that, or even implying it. Normally, he'd be embarrassed, but could shrug it off. Slowly but surely, he was starting to wonder why everyone was assuming such a thing. Malon, on the other hand, didn't seem to have much of a problem other than to look back at Link with this strange unreadable gaze that nearly took his breath away. Link had to look away, without any doubt and hang his head in shame.

The Zora lady must've noticed our hesitation to answer, for she resumed talking. "Come on, out with it… You two must be lovers, you look so cute together! I'll even give you another, that's right, another discount! That's two discounts!"

Malon took little to no time in dashing over to Link's side, grabbing his arm and then pulling him closer. "Yes! We will be! He's my lover-to-be! See!?"

Beforehand, Link was annoyed. In spite of this, as soon as Malon kissed the boy's cheek, letting him feel her incredibly soft lips, his jaw dropped open and his face reddened. He couldn't believe what just happened. It was plainly clear that the farmgirl only said that, plus kissed him on the cheek, so they could get a double discount. But, it still made Link feel a mixture of uncomfortable as well as happily amazed.

Thankfully, Sherbet loved it as she snickered then laughed quietly. "Oh, that's wonderful!" She said as she re-opened the small sliding door on her stall's counter top, brandishing a large scoop in the process. "How about a chocolate creamed sorbet? It's delicious!"

Again, like before, Malon took the liberty of speaking for the hero. "Sure! We'd love two!"

Link guessed it was a good thing that she answered, as he still couldn't do anything other than stare helplessly at both of them with his mouth agape from the farmgirl's affection. His boyish mind was running rampant, yet his eyes were glued on the Zora lady as they refused to look elsewhere for the time being. At some point, he knew he and Malon were going to have to have a talk about this.

For now, he watched as the Zora lady held a tall drinking glass and proceeded to scoop three scoops worth of shaved ice into it. Afterward, she bent down, disappearing for a brief moment prior to coming back up with a bottle of Lon Lon Milk, which made Malon smile. A cup worth of milk was added and Link began to wonder how it was mixed together until his question was answered by another thing she removed from beneath her stall. The device was some sort of crank which turned whisks on the end of it. In no time, the flavored ice in addition to the milk was churned together to make a creamy and frothy drink, a so-called 'Creamed Sorbet'. During that time, however, Malon made herself the center of Link's attention by her close proximity. Her arm was still wrapped around his, keeping him close enough to where he could literally smell the aroma of thyme on her supple skin.

"Alright! Here you two cuties go!" Sherbet said while sticking two drinking straws in the glass before handing it out to Malon. "That'll be five rupees, please!"

Malon, after removing a blue rupee from her wallet and exchanging it, carefully took the creamed sorbet. Link didn't know why it took them both so long to realize, but once they did, he made the decision to say something about it first. "Uhh… Ma'am, you forgot mine."

Sherbet raised an eyebrow as she stowed the five rupees beneath her stall. "What do you mean? I figured two little love birds could share it!" She and Malon shared laughter, though Malon's giggle was more or less out of nervousness in addition to anxiety. There were two drinking straws in the glass, so it wouldn't be like they were kissing or anything.

"Thank you!" Malon replied cheerfully while turning back to Link, briefly glancing at his eyes before returning to the creamed sorbet. She took a sip with a blissful look, which made the hero smile. There were a couple of tables and chairs set up off to the side. Seeing as how Link could clearly see the Happy Mask Salesman's shop from here, he felt enough at ease to relax.

"Don't you dare drink all of that…" He said in a playful manner, moving over to the seating area to sit down. "I want some too."

She giggled again while sitting near him. "But, it's so goooood!"

They both sat at the same table, across from each other. The General Store provided them with some shade. Along with the creamy sorbet, they wouldn't have any problems cooling off now. It felt nice to take a break too. Only one drawback surfaced from the rest and that was the newfangled thoughts circling around in his head, clearly due to the newly given time to contemplate.

Link didn't want to, but he couldn't stop himself from wondering what was going on with both Captain Osun as well as the Happy Mask Salesman. They were the two main people upon which he'd chosen to go to Castle Town for, despite being well aware of the workload that had to be taken care of beforehand. It was unfortunate that he couldn't visit them. At least with Captain Osun, he knew his location, thanks to Vicente. What truly made him curious was where the Happy Mask Salesman was. The strange little man had an unusual reputation around those parts, as everyone seemed to have heard of him at some point in time. From the boy's own observations, including information given to him from others, the mask man had never been known to miss a single day of work, even during the harshest of weather and worst of times for the economy. The Happy Mask Salesman never seemed to feel ill, he never got tired, never got depressed and was always there. 'He was always… happy.'

Staring at the darkened window of the Happy Mask Shop, Link tried to figure out what made this day so different. Why today, of all times, did the salesman decide to not show up? 'I hope he's alright. Talking to him is imperative in discovering the reality of Termina; whether or not it exists.' Taking a deep breath, he thought. 'Even though now every inch of it, the entire world there, doesn't make a lick of sense anymore, something inside me remains desperate to figure things out.' It might simply be his nature as the Hero of Time, to never blow caution to the wind and always learn the truth. Then again, it was also a desire, a selfish desire to understand that which he was not permitted.

The Golden Goddesses allowed him to gather knowledge on his objectives, including the reasons concerning why he was doing them. As for Termina, it confused him and twisted his mind. Just thinking about it made him nervous as his brain couldn't sustain such deeply philosophical thoughts. He knew though, that the only way to rid his mind of those thoughts WAS to comprehend them. And yet, it wasn't possible, as everyone he'd talked to thus far had absolutely no clue what he was talking about.

"Link…" Malon eventually spoke to get his attention. "Are you going to drink any? Come on, I don't bite, I promise."

Now the boy was a tad embarrassed. "Sorry, I was just thinking." She didn't seem to mind as she watched him take a sip using his drinking straw. He was actually surprised by the taste. The hero had eaten chocolate before, and though he wasn't an obsessed fan of it, it was delicious when made into a creamed sorbet. So cold and frothy, it sent shivers of pleasure down his spine.

Malon, who he knew had a sweet tooth, briefly waited a moment prior to joining. Being so close was once again frustrating and embarrassing. If it wasn't for the discount, he never would have done this.

"Mmm! It is good, you're right." Link spoke as Malon smiled and giggled more. It made his heart thump harder for a minute having her so close to him. Then, recalling her soft lips on his cheek abruptly forced me to withdraw. His cheeks started to burn red, causing him to hold his hand over his face so she wouldn't see it. 'Come on, Link. Stop being such a dummy.' The boy's mind reprimanded. 'This is getting to be utterly ridiculous.' For whatever reason that it made him get angry, he couldn't be sure. Malon was becoming someone extremely important to him, so was Talon and Ingo. At times, it really aggravated him when he felt shy, timid or flustered. One second he could be thinking about his life's goal, then the next, after being around the farm girl and having her capture his attention, he found himself unable to keep his mind off her.

"This is kind of romantic, huh?" Malon suddenly said, getting Link to look up in bewilderment. "I read a book one time where a girl and a guy were courting. They shared a meal with each other and had a lot of fun." Her attempt at conversing was welcomed, although the subject was still awkward and far from where Link liked for it to be. "He was a prince from a foreign land and she was a beggar. It's such a dreamy story."

Link's lips moved to respond, but they stuttered more than he expected them to. It nearly felt to him like his tongue was trying to tie itself into a wicked knot. "I… I am s-supposed to be your l-lover-to-be... R-Remember? Ehehe…" The boy's face was already as red as a cherry, he could tell from the warmth emitting from his head.

Malon was flustered too, only to a smaller extent with a light blush instead of a heavy one. She seemed more confident about it, in spite of Link actually trying to play it off as a joke. "O-Oh… Yeah, I'm sorry about that. I just wanted to get that discount."

Regardless of being embarrassed, the smile on his lips stayed plastered on as Link chuckled softly. "Stingy."

Thankfully, Malon giggled in response to what she'd been called. "I am not! I have to save as much as I can so I can get that dress."

Malon had mentioned the dress several times now. It definitely captured her interest pretty severely. Link wasn't overly sure why she wanted a dress in the first place. Most of the work around the ranch wasn't clean and keeping clothing spot-free is almost impossible. For her to get a dress and then run the risk of getting it utterly filthy, it didn't make much sense to the boy. He didn't think about the possibility that she was saving it for a special occasion. "Why would you want to do chores in a dress?" Link questioned due to his thoughts of wonder.

Together, looking away from each other as they did it, they both took sips of the frothy chocolate cream before she replied. "I'm not going to wear it when I'm doing stuff around the ranch, silly. It's a gorgeous dress for special occasions. Daddy usually takes me to the Hyrulean Formal Ball at The Castle the four times it comes around in a year. There are plenty of people there to socialize with, plus there's yummy food and music to dance to."

Nodding his head, Link understood why she wanted the dress now. It all became clear to him. In his opinion, Malon wanted it so people would pay a bit more attention to her. He assumed, in her fancy dress, the farmgirl would have people swarming around her. 'I bet they would too…' His mind groaned. 'Being as cute as she is, any boy in Castle Town would be begging on their knees for a date with her.'

Just then, when he finished thinking, Link's eyes widened in shock over what he was saying in his own head; calling her cute and actually feeling a twinge of jealousy toward the possibility of boys asking her out. 'Wait… What the hell!?'

Malon sighed. "The real reason why I'm looking to get new clothes might actually be because I'm tired of wearing this."

Before Link could respond or even think of what to say, he felt her foot accidentally bump into his. Something so innocent was shockingly awkward, enough to make her apologize prior to turning to the side in her seat, trying her best to hide her blush. "W-What do you mean?" The hero nervously asked.

The gloominess of whatever it was Malon was thinking about washed away her humiliation. A frown replaced her cheerful smile. "My mother made this for me; this dress."

Almost instantly, Link realized that he had to be supportive. Old wounds could always be pulled open if one was not careful. Talon, a man he never thought he'd see so much as shed a tear, was heartbroken at the mere mention of Najiya. It meant an extraordinarily lot to Link that Talon was willing to share such precious memories with him. For Malon, he knew he had to treat her with the exact same respect, like she deserved.

"Daddy said that while she was pregnant with me, she would work on making clothing for me…" Malon stopped for a brief giggle in advance of continuing "I guess she went a little overboard, because she wound up making about seventeen different things, some for me even in the future, for the same age I am now."

Things made a little more sense to Link. He wore his green tunic every day because it's the only article of clothing he owned. Malon, on the other hand, wore her dress all of the time due to the fact that it's precious to her. Malon's dress meant something that a dress bought with rupees could never ever measure up to. "I always wore the stuff she made for me, all the way up until this point. Before she passed, she even made more. Daddy said he used to tease her about how they should open up a clothing shop here in Castle Town." She stopped talking to take a sip of their creamed sorbet. During that time, Link wondered how much Malon could recall of her mother. If she was four at the time of Najiya's passing, it was pretty unlikely that she had too many thoughts or recollections regarding her. Thus, that may be the reason why she relies so heavily on stuff which her father, Talon, says.

"I used to feel safe when I wore this dress. I'd feel like she was wrapping her arms around me, holding me close and letting me know that she would always be here for me… But-… But now, I get a little sad when I see my reflection. Not only that, I also tore a hole in it by accident just the other day…" She blew a raspberry to express how she felt. "Ughh, that made me so mad."

Placing her finger in the cuff of her right sleeve, it poked out through the fabric from where a seam had been split. It looked fairly easy to fix. "Maybe I'm just getting older, you know?" Link's head nodded in silent agreement, as he fully understood exactly what she meant by that. "I still want to keep it! It's just… I… I don't want it to get torn up. It's so hard to keep it clean enough for a special occasion." Her conundrum was toward practical use versus the emotions held toward the same object. She wanted to wear the dress because it made her feel safe, yet she also knows that, if she wore it too much, it'll get ragged.

"Maybe you could keep it in a box?" Link chimed in. "Or… Uhh… How about using it as a pillow to snuggle with while you sleep?"

She seemed to think about it for a little bit, actually taking into consideration what the boy had said. "If I can get some new clothes, I'll drape it over my bed's headboard. That way, when I sleep, it'll feel like she's watching over me." The plan sounded good enough for Link, so he nodded with a smile to let her know of how he felt. "I've still got some rupees on me. If Daddy doesn't come back by the time we've finished our dessert, I'll look at some of the stalls to see what clothing they've got."

Looking at their drink, Link noticed that it was starting to melt. He took another sip, letting himself enjoy the chocolate flavour as she did the same. It was still nice and cold, refreshing to them both.

Link could have spent his time feeling embarrassed that they were both drinking from the same glass, but instead he chose to think of some topics for them to discuss. Oddly enough, he couldn't really come up with anything. They hadn't truly had that much time to just talk in the last few days. The hero would have figured that there would be something he could strike up a conversation about. There should be something. All of the time with nothing to say, it should have built up more inquiries than it had. 'Come on, Link… Think of something.'

Epona was acting fairly chill; relaxing with her eyes half-closed. Upon contemplation, Link figured it wouldn't be very cool of him to bring up the subject of work. Then again, Malon loved her work and everything she did. 'There's just nothing to talk about really that she doesn't already know. She's with Epona every day.' Suddenly, he realized that he could be the one asking a question. It gave him a slightly widened topic range, yet still not in abundance of material. Thinking about Epona led him to the thought of other horses, one colt in particular that he wanted to learn more about.

Judging by the way the farm girl was acting; squirming and looking around in an attempt to forget her sadness, Link figured she was ready to move on to another conversation. "Hey, what do you know about Mélnir?"

For a brief second, Malon wasn't sure what Link meant before it came to her. "The colt? Well… Not much… Why? Has he been really skittish when you're around?"

Looking around, the Zora Lady appeared to be packing up her stand for the day, getting ready to leave them to themselves. "Yeah, it's like he's terrified of me."

She pursed her lips while shaking her head with a low sigh. "He's that way toward men in general, so don't be too harsh on him."

"What do you mean?" The boy asked while sipping on the creamed sorbet some more, draining it down a tad passed halfway.

Malon temporarily joined in with the drink in advance of saying. "He came from another ranch. Supposedly, it was a horrible place where the ranch hands and even the owners were abusing all of their animals." Link's lip curled up at the thought. Animal abuse is the lowest form of true evil in the world. A person who hurts an animal just because he or she can, or wants them to listen, or for the sport of it, is nothing more than sick slimy scum scraped off the bottom of Lake Hylia. "I heard that Princess Zelda herself convinced his majesty to send forth an investigation, and I'm so incredibly glad she did! The owners and workers of the ranch were detained at the castle's dungeon the same day, taken away within the hour the guards arrived. Daddy offered to take a few of the horses that didn't have to be put down from malnourishment or injuries, and that's where Mélnir came from."

It was safe for Link to assume that the owner and ranch hands were male, which was why the colt was so terrified of the boy and even Ingo when he got too close. "We took three. Mélnir came to us thirty pounds underweight and nasty matted hair that took days to get cleaned. The only bad thing is that, of the three, Mélnir's the only one left. The other two passed away from a sickness. We were so scared it was going to infect the rest of the livestock that we separated them."

Now, the hero couldn't help other than to feel great sorrow for the poor colt. He'd lived an awful life, but didn't know any better because it was all that he knew. "That… That's so sad..." Link spoke. "I hope those people are still rotting in the dungeon for what they did to him."

Malon agreed with a vigorous head bobbing motion. "Me too! They deserve it for being such horrible people. I'm just glad The King revoked their farming rights. Even if they do get out, they'll never be able to lay their fingers on another farm animal for as long as they live."

After taking another sip of the melting sorbet, Link expressed surprise. "Wait… Farming rights? What in the world are those?"

She held her hand over her mouth as she giggled gleefully. "What? You didn't think just anybody could run a ranch or farm, did you?"

Looking a bit dumb, Link merely chuckled at the thought of needing permission just to be able to grow crops or take care of animals. "Well… Yeah, I kind of did."

With a roll of her eyes, she laughed at him and then explained. "No, no, no… Of course you can't. Though, I guess you could if you just wanted to be self-sustainable. No, you have to go through the Royal Family and their advisors, get registered and then pay taxes if you want to sell your crops and products to the public."

Something new is learned every day. Link never would have figured farming was so complicated to do. For the next couple of minutes, they sat in awkward silence. The boy wanted desperately for that creamed sorbet to be gone. The sooner the better. Once it was gone, they could move on to doing other things. Before long, as Malon merely held onto the side of her chair and swung her feet back and forth, the boy decided to contribute to getting rid of the frothy drink. Two sips though and his throat was cold enough to make my head hurt, like he'd been drinking from the Kokiri River during the winter months when it's ice cold.

"Oi! Hoy, Hoy! Who did this!?" A slightly feminine male voice called out in frustration. Malon and Link looked to see what was happening at the same time and both saw a short, yet thin man making a bunch of commotion. Pointing to, what appeared to be trash, some form of rubbish on the road, he continued shouting. "Hello people! The streets are NOT your garbage bin! How would you like it if I marched right on up into your house and dropped some trash right in front of your door!? Hmm!? You wouldn't like that, now would you!?" Huh!? Huh!? Ghaa!"

In one hand, the man held a small garbage can, and in the other, a pair of tongs which he used to bend down in advance of picking up the rubbish left on the street. The motions he used to perform these actions was almost as if he was trying to imitate a ballerina; swooping down like a graceful swan prior to tossing the trash into the trashcan in his other arm.

"Who's that?" Link asked Malon, getting her attention first.

Malon turned back to me, sipped on the sorbet and then said. "That's The Cleaning Man. If you ask me, he's sort of nutty. But, he's employed by the Royal Family to keep Castle Town tidy."

Link watched as the strange little man pursed his lips, tiptoed to another piece of trash and picked it up in a similar manner as before. He donned slightly fancy clothing, consisting from bottom to top, a pair of blue crakows (shoes with long toe length), white leggings, and a darker blue tunic held with a pinkish sash under a brown belt on his waist. A white ascot protruded from the top of the tunic, held in place by a small blue cape. Behind him, attached to his belt, there were what appeared to be flags or red cloths fastened to sticks.

The movements of this man were agile and fluid, as if everything he was doing was a flamboyant performance. Whenever he removed the two flag-like sticks from his back, he took them off by spinning them like batons. Through action, he showed that the sticks were a type of broom, as he began sweeping the ground with them in an almost violent, albeit artistic manner. 'There are some really weird people in Hyrule. You don't have to look hard to find them either.' All around the MarketPlace Center Plaza, the man swept like there was literally no tomorrow, getting the job done far quicker than most thought to be possible. After a while though, Link lost interest and went back to paying attention to Malon until something even bigger happened.

"MAKE WAY! MAKE WAY!" Several guards could be heard shouting before the town crier picked up on where they left off. "INTRODUCING THE HOLY MEN OF HYRULE AND OUR LOVELY PRINCESS ZELDA'S NEW TUTORS, THE SIX ROYAL SAGES OF HER GRACE! KNEEL BEFORE THEIR RIGHTEOUSNESS AND MAY THE GOLDEN GODDESSES SHINE A LIGHT OF DIVINITY UPON THEE!"

Malon, as if she'd done so quite a bit, simply got out of the chair and knelt down onto the brick pathway. Both of them were out of the way, so they weren't worried much about anything trampling them. Link interests were much more concerned with who these 'royal sages' are. The only sages he knew of were the Seven Sages who assisted him in his battle with the evil Demon King. From the sounds of it, however, these were completely different people merely declaring themselves to be sages. Link highly doubted it would be the Seven Sages anyway as three-quarters of them were no longer aware that they were sages.

The entrance leading toward the drawbridge, just out of The Market, was where most expected some form of wagon or a series of horses to arrive. Instead, very slowly, came the 'Royal Sages' of which the town crier spoke of, on foot next to each other in two lines of three. Wearing fine robes which donned the mark of the Triforce as well as the Royal Family, together, they visually seemed to almost glide across the ground. They prayed while moving, holding their hands together in the shape of a steeple as their heads hung low. From the side, it was clear they were wearing masks as well.

Everyone else was doing what Malon was doing, kneeling as the two lines of Royal Sages split to walk around the sides of the fountain in the center of the plaza. 'What in the world? These old guys are going to be Zelda's new tutors? What are they going to teach her?' Link's curiosity drove him crazy the entire time they lingered. Even though he couldn't, he wanted to know what was going on in the kingdom, the kingdom that he saved from ultimate destruction. It drove him crazy at times to be left in the dark, unlike before when he hardly knew anything to begin with.

Once the sages passed the fountain to go toward the castle, everyone returned to normal. Malon and Link both returned to their seats, yet the farmgirl didn't seem too concerned over what just happened, nor was she interested in trying to figure it out. For Link, it took a while to get his thoughts off royal affairs. At least hurrying to finish the very last of the sorbet helped.

Slowly, but surely, they both finished the icy chocolate drink. Once it was gone, Link was pretty glad that it was. For one, it was really refreshing and he felt amazingly cool because of it; two, he wasn't too keen on sharing a dessert with his 'lover-to-be', as Malon would have put it, for very much longer.

The farm girl, on the other hand, rubbed her stomach happily. "Mmm! That was so good!"

With their previous conversation complete as well as the dessert gone, they stood up from the table. The Zora Lady was gone, having packed up things prior to departing for the day with her rupees collected. Only the stall itself remained, there being a sign on the side as well as a basket, indicating to 'Please leave any used tableware in the bin beneath. Thank you for your patronage!' Malon did just as it said before they stood near Epona.

"Okay…" Malon said while using a small handkerchief to gently dab around her mouth; unlike Link, who simply wiped his mouth on the sleeve of his tunic. "Looks like Daddy isn't back yet... Ughh, I hope that man didn't fall asleep again." Link's response to that was a light chuckle. However, in the back of his mind, he was glad Talon wasn't back since he still needed to find out where the Happy Mask Salesman was. It was annoying to know he was so close to discussing something so important, yet couldn't due to unforeseen circumstances. "It's not funny!" Malon replied to his laugh. "He always does that around this time of the day. He's so lazy!" Now, she was starting to get serious; ticked off from having her father doze off when she was busy busting her rump doing chores.

"He might just be busy, Malon." Link hoped to explain. "Maybe he's talking to somebody at the castle or they have him doing a job for them. How about we go look around at the stalls near here before he shows up?"

For a moment, she sighed. "Yeah… That sounds fine to me. What are we going to do if he doesn't show up though?"

In reality, Link would simply take the farmgirl home on Epona. Though, he wasn't exactly sure if that's what she'd want him to do. He knew enough about Malon to know that she'd want him to go get her father. "Hmm… I guess I'd have to sneak into the Castle Courtyard again."

They both shared in laughter before Malon came closer to him and grabbed the boy's arm. "Oh thank you my sweet lover-to-be!"

Even though she was joking around, it still made Link feel highly uncomfortable. Instead of freaking out or weaseling away from her, he just chuckled with humiliation in his voice. "Let's go then." Epona continued to follow them around, and as long as they stayed in the Market Plaza, they shouldn't get pestered by law enforcement about the equine. About halfway past the fountain, Link managed to squirm out of Malon's grip. She gave a stare, but he pretended to not acknowledge it. "W-Where should we start?"

Looking around, there were always a few articles of clothing for sale at just about every stall. Although it would take a while to go around looking at each vendor, they would very likely find some interesting attire if they did indeed shop that way. In spite of that, there was also an entire building dedicated to clothing. It was around the corner, to the left path from the road leading to the Castle Courtyard, the same one straight across from the road leading to the Temple of Time. That store had a much wider selection.

"I know where I want to get my dress from, but… I don't have enough rupees on me. How about you get something for yourself? If I see something I really want, I'll get it. Okay?" She spoke while watching for Talon and the Delivery Wagon.

Link thought about where to go for clothing of his own and through price hunting, he found the store around the corner had better prices than most of the nearby stalls. "Umm, sure… I just want to get a couple of pairs of garments, nothing much. I need an outfit that I don't mind getting filthy every now and then." Glancing over at the Happy Mask Shop, the boy felt his smile disappear and a lip twitch take its place. He'd have to ask around to see if anyone knew where the creepy little guy was. He wondered if the man took a vacation. "Let's go to the shop around the corner."

Malon straggled for a bit, staying behind Epona. The closer they came to the location of the store, the more she seemed to slow down. It took Link a while to notice it as he was more focused on what was going on with the Happy Mask Salesman. Whenever the hero did eventually take note of it, he wondered if it was something that he had done, or perhaps even not done. 'Oh man… What now? Was it because I pulled away from her?'

Epona snorted as they went around the corner. Link didn't get much more time to contemplate about why Malon was acting upset as they approached the store instead. A sign just outside of the door indicated that there was a sale going on, twenty-five percent off all men's attire. Luck was beginning to lean toward Link side today. 'That's great…' The boy thought as they came up to the door, where they had to stop in order to hitch Epona. 'Maybe I can get several garments to use for working around the ranch.' From the looks of it, seeing a display window with three fancy dresses and a noble suit, it was mostly upscale. With any hopes, however, Link would be able to still find something worth his while. "I hope they have some clothes for working around the ranch. What do you think?"

Once he didn't get an answer from Malon, who he was talking to, Link turned around to see her standing in place, directly in front of the display window. "Malon?" Her face was fixated on a particular dress, one that was on the far right. Backing up, upon closer inspection, Link noticed that the three dresses were of varying size, presented in a way that indicated it was a set for varying ages. The one on the far right was of a child's size; right about the farmgirl's fit too. From there, it didn't take the hero long to connect the pieces and realize that the dress Malon had been ranting about, arguing about how much she wanted it and even getting upset when her father wouldn't give her enough rupees to purchase it, was the very same which sat in the window.

"Is that the one?" Link asked her, well knowing the answer.

Her response was of embarrassment as she turned to him with rosy cheeks, forcefully stuttering up a confused reply "H-Huh? What? Oh, no… T-That's-… That's just a nice dress… It's not the one I want; if that's what you're thinking!" A smile formed on her lips, but it was such a nervous smile that Link had to stifle a chuckle. "I'm serious!" Malon insisted. "Come on, let's get you a pair of clothes. T-There's a sale going on." When she walked past the boy, he could tell that it wasn't him she was upset with, it was probably herself since she now had to be in the very shop that was displaying the dress she wanted so badly, yet couldn't currently get.

'Oh boy… Let's see how this goes.' Link's mind thought as he watched the farmgirl open the door leading to the inside of the clothing shop. Right before he left to go inside, the hero's eyes glanced back over toward the display window, trying to get a look at the price for the dress. Unfortunately, it appeared to be as though the prices weren't listed upfront.

"Link, let's go." Malon hustled. "I don't know when Daddy is going to be back, let's try to do this fairly quickly."

Her sudden shift in attitude only made Link roll his eyes. It wasn't anything he hadn't heard before. "Okay, Okay… I'm coming, sheesh."

Inside of the shop, there was a counter to the right, and then wooden racks with multi-varying clothing and styles of clothing, anything garment related, all attire. Behind the counter were two people, a man and a woman, both of relatively young age. The guy, with a long nose and brown hair, wore spectacles with a necked shirt (Turtle Neck); while the woman, with long black hair, donned a simpler outfit. "Hello! Welcome to the Stitch and Seam, where we sell all of Hyrule our wonderful attire. From rich to poor, we're here for your every need." The woman said prior to the man picking up where she left off. "If we can help you kiddies with anything, just let one of us know. Our time is rupees, so please make it important if you decide to pester us."

Malon soon took Link's hand again prior to leading him further into the shop. "Here... I know where the boys' clothing is since it's right next to the girls. Most of everything is scattered about, since they… don't really have a great categorized selection." She didn't really have to point out their disorganization as it was quite clear to anyone with working eyes. With her knowing where to go, they came to a few racks of clothes, all various sizes and for either gender.

Never was it easy to get clothing, not unless the purchaser had a tailor who could fit them for their appropriate sized attire. Pre-made clothing was for the rich. There on the racks, were mostly random hand-me-downs or donated garments that people didn't want or grew out of. Linen under-tunics, wool over-tunics, a wool cloak, some woven tights and socks; nothing there was truly what Link wanted to wear. 'Do I really want to get some clothes that I have absolutely no clue where they came from or have been?'

"Hmm… It's not the best selection, huh?" Malon brought up, holding her hand to her chin in contemplation. "None of these look like they'd really look good on you."

The look of surprise on the farmgirl's face whenever Link turned his head was fairly amusing, yet, interesting at the same time. The boy was merely curious in regards to what she had said and how she said it. For one, he wasn't aware that she was trying to make him look handsome. Clothing, in his opinion, was something that should be purchased with durability and practicality in mind, not fashion. Hylian fashion, and its predominantly elegant, fancy and regal obsessed manner craze was of little to no interest to him. He was a person who had been through the harshest of circumstances, in situations where what he was wearing often meant the difference between life or death.

"What?" Malon asked. "I'm trying to get something decent for you."

"I know…" Link replied "It's just that, I'm trying to find things that I'm going to be wearing while working around the ranch. If anything, I'll wear this tunic whenever I'm not going to get dirty or sweaty."

To that, she raised an eyebrow. "Wait, what? That?" She pointed, making him lift his hands to express bewilderment.

"What do you mean, 'That'?" Link questioned with a pout. "I love this tunic, it means a lot to me. Saria and I made it together."

All of a sudden, Malon's outlook changed as she briefly glanced down at her own dress. Perhaps she then understood why his tunic was precious to him. "Really? Wow…... Hmm." With her hand back up at her chin in deep thought, she basically eyed Link from his head to his toes. "Well… Uhh… You know, I think if you found some white leggings and a white shirt, it would really add some contrast to your green tunic and peachy skin."

It was Link's turn to be surprised. "Peachy skin? Contrast?"

Malon shrugged with a light blush, trying to pass off any strange use of words. Link, on the other hand, found another thing far more fascinating. In the future that he'd changed, one that existed seven years from now, he actually happened to wear the clothing she mentioned. He donned a white shirt and white leggings along with his beloved tunic, and had always wondered where they came from.

"L-Let's just go ask the people up front what all they have that would be good. They hopefully know where things are, at least a little better than myself." As before, Malon took the boy's hand prior to tugging him through the building toward the desk, where the man and woman were.

'This girl.' Link thought while Malon squeezed his hand.

The moment they approached the counter, the lady took notice and greeted them. "Good afternoon, Malon. How may I help you?"

The lady's smile was better than the guy's, who in fact, didn't look very friendly at all as he was currently busy slumped against the counter with his head propped up by his arm. As for the lady, since she was a woman, she probably had better fashion advice than the guy anyway. Plus, since she and Malon knew each other, the farmgirl must've felt the same. "Afternoon, Ma'am. This is my friend Link. We're trying to get him something that'll suit him well for farm work, anything that's okay if it gets filthy… Oh, and if you have a pair of boy's overalls, that'll be perfect."

Link narrowed his eyes in speculation as to what it was that she meant by that last part. "Overalls? Why overalls?"

Malon only giggled before saying "Because, Daddy made all of us wear overalls when we first started the ranch. He used to say that they were the best pair of clothing he ever had, all because he had a fifteen year old pair himself. Can you believe that? Fifteen years? That pair of overalls is older than me."

The lady at the counter continued to stare at Link. Before long, the woman stepped away from the counter and walked around it, towards the boy, with a long piece of thin cloth that had identifiable markings on it. "I actually do believe that we have a pair of white overalls for any boy around your size. However, I'll have to take your measurements and design anything else for you."

Malon stepped to the side as the woman focused on Link, lifting his arms and placing the marked cloth on them to figure out their exact length. She then measured from his head to his toes for the height as well as his stomach for the girth. It was uncomfortable to have a strange lady's hands on him, but Link ignored the sensations and thought about something else. 'Wait a minute…' His mind soon interrupted, making the boy speak aloud. "Malon, if I get a white pair of overalls and put it on top of my green tunic, won't I look like Ingo?"

For a solid minute, Malon didn't respond. When she did, she first had to burst out into laughter. "You could never look like Ingo, Link. He has a ruggedness that's unique to him. Besides, sometimes he wears a pink pair of overalls too, not just the white ones."

Link shrugged toward Malon's reply. "As long as I don't look too much like Ingo, I'll try on the overalls." If he did that, he'd be able to buy at least one thing from there. He'd finally have something else to wear, other than his tunic.

The shopkeeper soon finished taking Link's measurements. Using a piece of paper, she wrote down his size for safekeeping as well as for future references. "Okay. So, what kind of garments would you like tailored for you?"

Now came the part which was really all about price and personal taste. "Hmm…" The hero's young brain thought aloud, unsure of what would look decent on him. As aforementioned, he didn't have a sense of fashion. It would turn out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy as he opted to go for Malon's advice. That coincidental choice of clothing suggested to him perfectly replicated his future outfit. "Umm… H-How about a white or off-white shirt and maybe a pair of linen pants? I don't know." Both the lady and Malon shared tiny giggles, making Link curious about what was so funny. "What? I don't know that much about fashion."

The lady suddenly walked past the kids while saying. "That's okay; nothing to be worried about. I'm a professional seamstress and an ace designer. I'll be able to make something you'll love, I guarantee. All I have is a few questions for you so I can figure out what you like."

Following the shopkeeper through the building, she continued talking. "What's your favourite colour?"

They soon came to a clothes rack with the very same pair of white overalls that they were talking about earlier. As the lady picked up the garment, Link tried to think about his favourite colour. Truthfully, he hadn't thought about it in a long time. But, like all children of the forest, regardless if he was a true Kokiri or not, his eyes had long since grown used to the shades of green. "Green… My favourite colour is green. Like the grass."

The lady bobbed her head in acknowledgment as she took the overalls off the rack, flapped them in the air to get dust as well as wrinkles off them and then held them up so Link and Malon could see what they looked like. "Green? Ooh, that's a lovely colour. Do you prefer lace or buttons?"

The overalls themselves were fairly simple, yet sturdily made. They were well suited for someone who planned to be working in them. During the time he was staring at the pair of overalls, Malon eventually took them from the shopkeeper in advance of giving them to him. "Either or, it makes no difference." The boy replied.

"Okay, last question." The lady continued to ask. "Do you have a preference for tight or bagging clothing?"

Glancing down at his tunic and then at the overalls, Link wasn't entirely sure how to answer that question. "Umm… I guess, tight fitting for the most part, except my chest… Or, no-… I don't know. I kind of like it to be loose enough to give me room."

The lady only stared at Link until the boy looked down at the pair of overalls again. The work clothing didn't look very old, thankfully. With any luck, they might even be fairly new. Bending down, it took him around a minute to take off both of his boots, allowing him to be able to put on the overalls for a test fit. He left his tunic on as he said he would in order to see how they fit together. Slipping his legs and feet into the leggings of the overalls, the hero only had to pull them up, straighten the tunic, then adjust the straps, fastening them together from above his shoulder. Since it was the first time he'd ever worn a pair of overalls in his entire life, it took him a while to do all of that and, embarrassingly, Malon had to help a bit.

"A-Are you sure that's going to be enough information for you to make me clothes?" Link said while adjusting the crotch and butt area with slight humiliation as the two giggled at his discomfort.

"Trust me, Link. I'm a professional seamstress." The shopkeeper had now mentioned her title twice.

It didn't really matter what she said, only the outcome of her actions mattered to Link. He decided to trust her only because she was acquainted with Malon. "Alright; we'll do all of this then."

The shopkeeper clapped her hands together once before responding. "Excellent… The overalls are fifteen rupees. Let's go back to the counter and I'll get everything else figured out for what you want tailored."

Taking into consideration that the pair of overalls actually fit relatively well, Link decided to go ahead and purchase them. Walking back to the counter with them, his eyes were soon drawn to the dress in the display case. He knew she wanted that dress, and she wanted it badly. 'I bet it must be an expensive dress. Why else wouldn't she have gotten it by now?'

The man with the turtleneck shirt wasn't up at the counter anymore, but Link didn't really care. As the woman walked around to the other side, he reached inside of the overalls to get to his tunic, where he could grab my wallet. Fifteen rupees wasn't bad at all, and with the discount it would be even better. "How much do I owe with the discount?" Link asked, not wanting to do the math on his own.

The shopkeeper raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Excuse me? Oh, I'm sorry… I'm afraid the discount only applies to MENS attire."

Hearing that was slightly frustrating as well as humiliating to Link. He was a ten year old boy, short and cute. His problem was that, on the inside, he was mixed up both physically and mentally. Going back and forth throughout time, from being ten to seventeen, then back to ten, it completely wreaked havoc on his developmental status. He considered himself a man after all that he'd been through. No mere boy could defeat the evil Demon King. No mere boy could be chosen by the Goddesses. No mere boy could be given the title, Hero of Time. What was being said to him now, to be considered a normal child, was just another reminder that nobody would ever remember any of his grandiose deeds of saviour.

"I… I see. Okay then, here's fifteen rupees." After removing the wallet and pulling the string to loosen it, Link took out three blue rupees to hand them to the shopkeeper. With the buy, he was down to thirty-five rupees. Not too much, but plenty enough to get something else for himself if he wanted.

"Thank you for your custom." The lady said while taking the rupees. "Here's your proof of purchase and order sheet for the clothes I'll have tailored for you. Come back in about a week, and they'll be ready. Just be sure to bring, at least, fifty rupees."

Malon's face suddenly lit up in advance of her darting away, back into the conglomeration of clothing racks. "Ooh! Hold on, Link! I saw something else that'll go perfect with the overalls!"

Link's head hung in response as he tried to not imagine what it was the farmgirl could have possibly seen. All he could do was hope it wouldn't make him look ridiculous. On the plus side, now that Malon wasn't around for the moment, he made a hasty decision to try and figure something out. "Hey, umm… Miss… How much is that smaller dress over in the window?"

The shopkeeper craned her neck to the side to see what Link was talking about, leaving the boy to point for her. "You mean the child's dress? The blue and white one?" Link bobbed his head until she told the price. "It's currently sixty rupees. Not much considering its fine make, but it belongs to a set. The entire set, if your family is interested, is priced at four hundred and twenty rupees."

Most of the shock from hearing such a high price had faded from all of the previous outrageous prices he'd encountered throughout the day. Instead of being surprised, he decided to broker a deal. "Is the child's dress available for single purchase?"

The question seemed to take the lady off guard for some reason. Hearing Malon's footsteps from behind, however, meant that the boy was running out of time to figure this out. Tapping his foot, he stared at the lady while she pursed her lips in contemplation. From observation, he watched her eyes travel from him to Malon, then back to him again. In the nick of time, right as Malon approached, the lady said. "Not under normal circumstances, no… Buuuuut… if you promise to be a loyal customer, I could-… maybe-… let's say-…... make a deal for you."

Abruptly, without warning, everything went dark for Link and he felt something slide onto his head followed by the giggles of a certain redheaded farmgirl. "There! Perfect!" She exclaimed. "Now you look just like a ranch hand!"

A smile formed on Link's lips while he pulled whatever it was up off his head to inspect. It was a straw hat, complete with a small black sash wrapped around the lower body, near the brim. The laugh that escaped his lips was from imagining himself looking exactly like a farmer now. 'People certainly won't think I'm from the forest anymore if I'm wearing this.' He thought before re-adjusting his Kokiri Cap, which had almost been knocked off by the cumbersome straw hat. "Oh, uhh… Aha! Yeah, this would be good... But, I think I'll stick with my Kokiri Cap."

Malon waved her hands in disagreement with the same smile as from before. "Nonsense! That thing can't possibly keep the sun out of your eyes as good as this hat would. Plus, it's straw. The wind will blow right through it and cool you down." She wanted him to have this stuff to help.

On a much deeper level though, Link was distracted with another thought that was circulating endlessly inside his brain. Looking at the straw hat as he very slowly spun it by the brim, his line of sight drifted over toward the dress in the window. The memories of everything that had happened flooded his consciousness like an overflowing deluge pushing its way past a broken dam. He made a constant effort to 'make up' for the disastrous adventure he put her and her family through, burdening them with rescuing him in the dead of night, from a place far more dangerous to hylians than a 'Goron gone berserk'. Still, to this very day, he couldn't seem to shake the feeling of owing them, specifically Malon, for all that she'd done.

Thinking back to the first night, when he fell asleep with thoughts of her in his head, being focused on her and her only, or even how he felt whenever he smelt the thyme that followed her trail, emanating from her hair; all of it made him want to do something special for her, regardless of how many times he'd given or done something special already.

Sixty rupees was obviously more than Link had on him, and he certainly didn't know if the dress would still be there the next time he showed up. Currently, with the purchase of the overalls, he'd been reduced down to thirty-five. If he put the overalls back, he'd have fifty rupees again. Unfortunately, that was still ten rupees short. Malon had some rupees left, but he didn't really want to use hers since it was supposed to be a surprise gift. Regardless, he had to make a decision soon.

"Link?" Malon eventually spoke, taking him out of thought as well as forcing him to choose what he wanted to do. "Are you okay? You zoned out for a minute."

The hero nodded while beginning to take the pair of overalls off, removing them until he was left in his tunic as before. "Yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking of what to do."

Both of them watched him take the overalls off. However, only Malon said something about it. "Whoa-Whoa-Whao… What are you doing?"

All Link did was smile and fold the pair of overalls over his forearm prior to handing them to the lady behind the counter. It took a lot of courage and selflessness in order to do what he was going to do. "I think I'm going to wait to purchase these until I come to pick up the rest of the tailored clothes. Could we possibly get a closer look at the dress?"

Malon's eyes shot over toward Link before she gasped softly. "Dress?" She asked curiously. "What dress!?"

The lady behind the counter made a gesture toward the window and Link gave another nod to confirm, letting her know that it was indeed the one he was referring to. "The dress in the window, the one that you've been talking so much about."

The farm girl's face lit up in excitement in advance of having embarrassment kick in. Sure, she desperately wanted that dress. However, having a boy purchase it for her; she felt awkward. "What!? No way! Link! You can't buy that!"

Link merely shrugged with the same smile plastered on his face. The lady from behind the counter ambled over to the window before picking up the display mannequin and dress, returning soon thereafter. "Why not? It'll be a present, from me to you." From closer up, without the window and other dresses in the way, they could fully see the outfit in all of its glory. For a child's costume, it was quite decorative. It seemed to have two main pieces; the first being a long white gown with neat designs on the bottom hem and sleeve cuffs. For the second, there was a light blue frock partially wrapped around the torso, extending from there to the top before draping over the shoulders. To tie it all together, literally and metaphorically, there was a gorgeous cyan stoned belt looped around the waistline.

'It IS actually a pretty good deal for sixty rupees.' Link's mind contemplated as he held his elbow with his other hand caressing his chin. 'I doubt she'd have a problem loaning me ten rupees if it's to get this, especially since she's been dying for it.' He thought, referring to Malon.

Nodding to himself, right as Link turned around, Malon spoke up even while still in complete shock over what was happening. "B-But… B-B-But! Link! Y-You can't!"

Again, Link shrugged in response as he didn't see any reason why he couldn't if he wanted to. "Sure I can, watch… I am going to need to borrow ten of your rupees though. I'll pay you back, I promise!"

Malon's face reddened tenfold as she suddenly refused. "N-No way! Link, stop! Just buy your friggin' overalls, the hat and then let's go! I-… I'm only going to wear the dress a couple of times a year; you need something you can wear every week!"

It was a bit confusing to hear her reject him, yet Link could see her wallet string hanging out of the side pouch of her dress. Taking it would be easy despite being a possible disaster in the long run. The boy wasn't sure why the farmgirl didn't want him to get the dress for her, especially considering how much he had to hear about it. Her excuse didn't add up either. Frustration tried to make its way into the picture, but Link only smiled while holding out his hand. "Malon… I don't mind, it's okay. I want to get this for you."

Once more, she refused to hand over any of her rupees, even going so far as to hold her hand over her dress pouch to keep away any possibility of him getting her wallet. "No! S-Stop teasing me!" She shouted.

Now, to that, Link raised an eyebrow as he wasn't exactly sure what it was that Malon meant by that. He certainly wasn't teasing her. In fact, he was trying to be nice and make her happy. The lady behind the counter must've found it funny as she watched them both with a smile. The only thing Link could truly do was hope that the woman's 'new customer discount' would perhaps be able to cover the ten rupees; that, or that he could somehow pay her back the next time he came there to pick up his tailored clothes. "Miss, all I have is fifty rupees, that being included with the fifteen I gave you earlier for the pair of overalls. Do you think-… I could pay you the other ten rupees the next time I visit? I always pay people back; I'm not the type of person to forget a favour."

The shopkeeper and Link stared at each other for the next few moments. She didn't look like she wanted to budge an inch on the price, unlike many other shop owners. The place wasn't partial to any sorts of bartering. Finally, however, after a brief standoff, she said "What about your lover? Does she have ten rupees on her?"

Somehow, instantaneously, the final straw was drawn in Malon's opinion, as she expressed it quite loudly in a highly awkward fashion. "HE'S NOT MY LOVER! I-… I-… I MEAN, I'M NOT HIS LOVER!" Shortly after the abrupt outburst, the farmgirl, with madly blushing cheeks, ran straight out of the building, leaving Link to pay and finish up on his own.

Link still called out to Malon because his childish brain didn't understand why she was acting strange. "Malon, wait! Come back!"

It was too late, as the farmgirl had gone out the door to who knew where. 'What is all of that about!?' Link mentally questioned himself in exasperation. 'I don't get it. She starts being so nice to me, subtly flirting with me, lets me live with her, then runs off claiming she's not my lover. I was just trying to give her a gift for going through all the trouble she did to rescue me.' None of it made any sense to the little hero. Doubts soon began forming as to whether or not he should even purchase it for her; or, for that matter, if he could buy it now that he wasn't able to get any rupees from Malon. 'Does she even want it?'

Ensuing giggles from the shopkeeper brought him out of his deep thinking until he looked back over at the lady behind the counter. He didn't get a chance to ask what was so funny about the situation. But, he did notice his own cheeks feeling warm.

"Oh my… I apologize." The shopkeeper was halfheartedly apologetic. "I only assumed that you two were together based on how cute you look next to one another."

Link's head hung in shameful embarrassment while he let out a long sigh. On top of feeling uncomfortable, just as he had felt so many times that week, he was disappointed in himself for getting a negative reaction out of something that was supposed to be so good. He thought that he should be upset over things not going the way he wanted them to. Regardless, at the moment, he only felt let down, frustrated at himself. Going with everything that had happened, it was probably best that he keep his buy of the overalls and put the dress back.

'I wanted this to be something she could feel grateful for.' Link continued to think while referring to Malon. 'I wanted her to know I felt grateful, grateful toward her for everything she'd done for me… Instead, everything blew up in my face.' Looking up at the lady, Link broke the silence again by saying "I guess we'll go ahead and put the dress back. I'll just keep my purchase of the overalls."

Out of nowhere, the shopkeeper unexpectedly lowered the price on the dress. "You don't have to do that, hon'...It's alright… You put me in a tight spot, but I'll take ten rupees off the dress as long as you promise to pay me back whenever you return to pick-up and pay for your tailored clothes." Widening her left eye, she then scrutinized Link to see which decision he'd make. "Of course, that is if you still want to buy it for your friend. She didn't seem too keen on you getting it for her."

Blinking, Link remained temporarily stunned. He felt a cold chill fly up his spine in surprise. Truly, he didn't think he'd be able to get the dress. Eventually though, before the shopkeeper changed her mind, the hero accepted the terms. "Okay, deal! Thank you! Thank you, thank you! I promise that I'll pay you back. I swear."

The woman kept her smile as she scribbled the order in a ledger. "Since you seem like such a nice boy, I'll let you keep the overalls until you can bring in the money for them too, alright? I'm not supposed to do that, so you best not let me down."

It was understandable that she didn't want to barter on the item. For her to even consider, much less give in and cut him some slack, it meant that she must've had some level of trust in the boy already. Link did have one of those trusting looks as he'd been told countless times before. Then again, she was merely doing it as a favour since it means a lot to him. Either way, he was very quick to acknowledge the deal despite already promising. "I won't let you down, I promise!"

She then began removing the dress from the wooden tailor's dummy, keeping her eyes on me in advance of softly saying "If I were you, young man, I would try to comfort Malon after this… She's a sweet girl… Since you're buying this for her, I'm guessing you might possibly have some extra special feelings for her?"

While she took a burlap sack and gently placed the dress inside of it for easier carrying while on a horse, Link relinquished all of his rupees. "W-What? Uhh… N-No… Nuh-uh… I just wanted to give her this as a gift since she's always so nice to me, a-…and I like her."

The woman shook her finger at Link with a smile as well as a tiny giggle. "Oh? You like her, huh? That sounds to me like the beginnings of a blooming relationship. You're Mr. Talon's new ranch hand, I'm assuming, right?"

It took a while for Link to respond as he had to hold his head in his hand for a moment to wait for his blush to diminish. "Pretty much, yeah…" He replied to the second question. "I just started really working there about a week ago." Now, he was starting to seriously wonder how and or why the woman knew so much about Talon and Malon. Thinking about it, the Malon did seem to know the shopkeeper too as the farmgirl was called by name upon entering the building.

"That's good." She replied. "They could use the help of a strapping lad like you."

To that, Link rolled his eyes, especially as he thought about the muscles he had whenever he was seventeen compared to what physique he had now. "I wouldn't say that. But, umm… H-How exactly do you know Malon and Mr. Talon?"

Finishing up and placing the straw hat on top of the boy's head for him, the woman revealed her relationship with the Lon Family. "Well, I used to know little Miss Malon's mother whenever she was around; may she rest in peace. I was Najiya's pupil for a while, anytime she came here to Castle Town to teach anyone willing. She used to have a class just for sewing, knitting and tailoring."

Link's eyebrows raised themselves curiously from the news. It was interesting to know how much the Lon Family had influenced the kingdom, all without having any noble power or military authority. A simple rancher and his family must've been like the jack-of-all-trades to the average citizen. Before or just around the time Malon was born, when her mother was still alive and well, the family must've been even more renowned than they were now.

Hearing all that and thinking of anything related to Malon and her late mother, Link was glad that he made the purchase of the dress. Earlier, the girl expressed a desire to wear different clothes, going so far as to pour her heart out to the boy as to why. Her mindset had shifted from wearing the dress her mom gave as a comfort item to being an item of sentimental value. She was growing up, like him, and for her to have rescued him always brought Link to this state of inner-tranquility, peaceful in thought over the farmgirl. Just as he had fallen asleep to her mildly-intoxicating aroma, was at times unable to take his eyes off her and even wanted to kiss her cheek at the ranch for all her troubles, it was obvious that he really was thinking about her a lot. The gift was for her, not only because he wanted to make up for the labour of going into the Forbidden Forest, but because he liked her.

"Alright then, you're all set." The shopkeeper closed her ledger. "Tell Mr. Talon that Eliza said hello, and don't forget to bring in the additional eighteen rupees you owe or I'll be making a visit to the ranch myself." She slid two more slips of paper toward him.

The proof of purchases reminded Link that she was giving him the hat as well. There was no way he could possibly forget about this deal. He'd have to work hard all the upcoming week to make enough rupees. That way, when he goes back for his tailored clothes, he'll have enough to get them and pay the shopkeeper back. "Yes, Ma'am! I promise you, I won't forget. Thank you so much. This really does mean a lot. I don't have much to wear either, so these overalls are perfect. Thank you so much."

Eliza waved him off with a smile as he took the burlap sack from her as well as his overalls and straw hat. "Don't mention it. Get going before I change my mind."

Following that, the hero was broke, without a single rupee to his name other than the ones back at his treehouse in the Kokiri Forest. Making an extremely urgent mental note on my debt to the kind shopkeeper Eliza, I walked out of the store with everything in my hands.

Taking one glance around, I didn't initially see where the farm girl could have gone off to. She ran off in such a hurry, I hope that she didn't go anywhere too far away. 'Oh boy…' I thought. 'What if she left me here?' Glancing over at Epona, I had the feeling that that wasn't the case as it's unlikely that Talon would leave knowing Epona and I weren't with him. 'Where did she go? I don't get it… She talked about this dress a lot, and now that I volunteered to get it for her, she yells about not being my lover. This is coming from the same girl who kissed my cheek and declared me to be her lover-to-be.

Unhitching Epona, Link and the horse both walked around together in an attempt to find Malon. The boy's heartbeat sped up as his nerves quivered from just thinking about giving the farmgirl the dress. He wanted to feel relaxed about it, easy at the thought of the smile that should have been on her face whenever she found out that he was getting it for her. Instead, it was almost humiliating.

"Malon!" Link called out, wondering if she was close-by enough that she could hear him. After a minute of no response, he spoke louder. "Malon! Where did you go!?" In his peripheral vision, he noticed there were people that were staring at him due to his volume. The hero didn't care though. There were bigger things for him to worry about than what people thought of him walking around yelling. "Come on! I got you something special!"

Only whenever he stopped near the fountain in the center of the market did Link cease shouting for the farmgirl. His eyes zoned in on the Happy Mask Shop, analyzing it for any signs of activity. There remained nothing, not even a flicker of light wavered from within; highly unusual for the zealously happy man. 'What is going on around here?' Link asked himself. 'The Happy Mask Salesman is missing and nobody seems to know where he is, a teen thief nearly stole stuff from the back of the delivery wagon in broad daylight, Captain Osun isn't at the Training Grounds due to those Royal Sages coming to town and now Malon's upset with me; Goddesses know why.'

Hanging his head, he found it frustrating to not be able to understand the things that were happening to him. At this point, he felt he might as well give up and head back to the ranch. The little bit of chores left there could be done quickly and then he'd be able to take a break again, have a bath, then hit the hay. Based upon the farmgirl's reaction, the entire idea of a surprise present had already been ruined. As kind hearted as he was, the boy felt he'd still made the right choice by getting it, since he decided Malon deserved it for all of her extra hard work. Nonetheless, he doubted that he would get any gratitude for buying it; by that point in his life, he was accustomed to his deeds going unnoticed anyway.

'Why me? Sheesh.' Link's lips pursed in irritation as he glanced up from his head-hung state. To his shock and minute amusement, off in the distance, passed the shops and down the dirt road toward the Castle Courtyard, next to the plateau, the bright red hair of a certain young girl stuck out like a sore thumb. Link could tell it was her. He could always tell it was her from the special shade of red her hair was. With that, it was practically impossible to get her mixed up with anyone else.

"There you are." The hero said aloud as he and Epona got a move on, walking past a couple of guards. The very second Malon realized that Link saw her, she retreated all of the way behind the plateau side, hiding from him. Seeing that there wasn't anywhere else to go, however, Link continued making his way toward her. "Malon… I just saw you, I know you're there. You can come on out now."

Malon didn't seem to care what the boy said as she chose to remain hidden. Epona's hoofsteps changed from a clatter to a muffled patter as the two left the brick pathways of Castle Town and made their way down the dirt road toward the gatehouse of Hyrule Castle. The equine saw the farmgirl too. Link knew he wasn't seeing things. "What's wrong?" He asked, hoping to get a response.

On another impulse decision, the hero placed the burlap bag containing the gorgeous dress on top of Epona, up above the saddle, where he got it out of sight by loosely tying it to the horse's reins. Putting his overalls on top of that, he came to the corner. He had some level of faith that the dress was hidden well enough, for the time being.

Considering the gate to Hyrule Castle was always closed to members of the public, Link knew that Malon couldn't go any further than she had. It wasn't any surprise to him that she was still there whenever he turned around the corner. However, it was a tiny jolt to his confidence to see her sitting with her back to the plateau, knees drawn up to her chest and her head resting between them, facing downward. "M-Malon?" Upon brief examination, the farmgirl didn't appear to be crying, which was a good sign. But, he still didn't understand why she was suddenly acting like she was. Numerous times, he thought they were getting along great. They had a connection, a bond with one another that he enjoyed on a very special level. Being ten years old, he wasn't entirely sure if he wanted a lover. His immature mindset hadn't contemplated it enough. In spite of that, they were always teased about how cute they looked together. He didn't understand why this time was any different.

Following a few seconds, Malon glanced up at Link, immediately eyeballing his hands in an attempt to see what he had. Her face was still burning red, rosy red, close to the shade of her hair. If he didn't know better, he'd have thought she was nearly ready to catch fire. "Are you alright?" The boy asked, trying to sound sincere and ready to comfort her if the need be.

Malon nodded in response and then wiped both of her eyes at the same time, having perhaps shed a few tears. "Y… Yeah-… I… I'm sorry, Link. I didn't mean to freak out l-like that."

Her sniffles made Link's heart sink in his chest. He hadn't really been around her when she was genuinely sad about something. It stirred pretty deep emotions from within the hero, emotions that he didn't like in the least. "It's okay. I'm just confused about what happened… All I wanted to do was buy you that dress because I know you love it and I… W-Well… I'd like to see you in it too."

Approaching her, Malon's head lifted as she tracked him, watching as he came right up to her. "B-But… Link…" She interjected. "It wasn't your place to try and buy that for me."

Link's eyes narrowed as he didn't really understand why the farmgirl would say that. "What do you mean?" He asked while sitting down next to her. "I wanted to get you a gift. Since you told me about how you wanted to keep what you're wearing somewhere a little safer than being worn and to have a nice dress to wear to extravaganzas, I figured you'd like it if I got the one you'd been talking about." The girl's gaze drifted away from his as he leaned back against the plateau. She was still highly embarrassed. Hearing him talk about it wasn't doing much of anything to reduce her discomfiture either.

"S-Still! I… I'm sorry, Link… I'm really sorry." Malon pleaded.

All of the apologizing and yet, Link wasn't even entirely sure why she was doing it. "Why are you sorry?"

Along with a sniffle, she replied. "Just, for freaking out back there. I'm sorry."

Suddenly, while tilting his head as well as staring at her, Link came to the realization that the real reason why she got upset was due to the fact that she's still dealing with her inner-struggle as a pre-pubescent girl; similar to Link, despite him being a boy. All of those emotions, they're very difficult to make sense of. Mood swings were common among hylian children. Several times Link could recall Saria and the Great Deku Tree getting onto him for 'jumping' into different attitudes. To be a ten, almost eleven year old girl without a mother, it must be hard on her.

Talon wanted Malon to learn a lesson, like every father, by making her save her money to purchase what she couldn't afford at the moment. A mother, on the other hand, especially Najiya, would likely have gotten the dress for the farmgirl the moment she laid eyes on it. To have a boy her age come along, from out of nowhere, buying her the dress she'd been ranting and raving about, it did sound really embarrassing, even to a boy like Link. There was a time, a couple of years back, where he had a fairly identical experience with a certain green-haired Kokiri girl, but now wasn't the time to think about that. This was different. He owed Malon his life. While the dress certainly wouldn't make up for it, he felt as though it was a nice start.

"It's okay…" Link spoke softly, making her look at him once again. "I understand. It's not easy to really interpret how you feel sometimes... I can be the same way. But, Malon… I want you to know something…" Her eyes focused on him as he became serious. Nervousness slowly melted away as he simply let loose what he was thinking at the moment. Difficulty didn't come into play whenever he spoke from the heart. "You saved me from the brink of death and because of that. I'll always be grateful for you. I'm never going to take you or life for granted. You truly mean a lot to me, you and your family. The dress that I got you is just my way of showing appreciation for everything that you've done."

Malon's cheeks were already flushed, but her eyes widened in advance of rapidly shifting, scanning Link and then Epona for where the dress was. 'I had a feeling whenever she didn't see it in my hand that she would assume I hadn't purchased it, especially considering the shop lady initially insisted I use some of my 'lover's' rupees.'

"W-What!? You got it!?" She spoke so loudly that the gate guard further down the dirt road, closer to the castle courtyard, jerked his head up to see what the commotion was from.

Not that Link was concerned, as they were still in open public space. Regardless, the boy motioned for her to calm down and relax a little. With a small smile on his face, he answered her. "Yeah, that is as long as you want it. If you don't, then I might be able to sell it to somebody else."

Waving her hands wildly, Malon continued speaking fairly loudly "No! I… Ughh! Link!" Grumbling and groaning, she sighed afterward as Link held back a chuckle from her rapidly changing mind.

The boy had a feeling that, in the long run, she'd want the dress. It wasn't overly surprising that she objected to him giving it away, even if at first she struggled to accept it. "What?" He asked in response to her moaning, watching her closely.

"J-Just… Please don't give it away… I…... I w-want it." Malon meeped.

In all honesty, Link felt it was good that she said that, because he doubted he could resell the dress very decently without the rest of the set. "You do?"

Malon nodded with a faded light blush. In a way, it was like she was trying to take it despite how her young mind fluctuated in thought. "Y-Yes! So, please, don't give it away. It… It was sweet of you to buy it for me."

Seriousness from within her voice was evident. It made Link's smile dissipate down to a face of awkward discomfort with the body language of someone in deep contemplation. His arms crossed themselves and he chose to direct his line of sight up toward the heavens as well as the clouds. "I thought I did something wrong…" Her eyes shifted to look at him as he continued speaking. "After what you said, or yelled…. About me not being your lover, then running away… I-… I'm the sorry one. I'm sorry for upsetting you. When I listened to you tell me about how kind and caring your mother was, how she made you clothes; I-… well-… I wanted you to feel those feelings again, just like I still want to experience them. What I said earlier, about things being hard for us because we're kids… It's true…" Following a long pause to catch his breath and figure out what he planned to wrap up saying, he moved on with a final question. "I forgive you. Do you forgive me?"

Suddenly, without any warning at all in the least, Link felt himself beginning to feel regret again. On top of that, he realized that his own mind often fluctuated just as badly as hers. That was one of their similarities. For Link though, being sorry was kind of a let down on his end. Once again, he felt as though it was his fault. Her freak out and shouting was because of him. He felt he should have known better than to try and act like it was a surprise, like it was an unknown reason.

'What am I doing? This is stupid.' Even though Malon already said she wanted it, he couldn't help but be regretful toward the purchase. Part of him wondered if she wanted it now merely because she didn't want to hurt his feelings. Sixty rupees was a big purchase, and now he's in debt, plus remorseful for his lack of ability to think more about the scenario beforehand. 'I could have bought something for myself, furniture or hobby items.'

Out of the blue, Link felt Malon's hand touching his, gently nudging him before she went further by placing her hand all of the way on top of his. At that moment, everything around them seemed to slow down. Peace and serenity floated in the atmosphere, yet Link's heart felt as though it was trying to burst out of him. The hero's cheeks seemed like they were on fire and he figured they probably looked as deeply flushed as hers did. Staggeringly, he was in a completely new territory again, metaphorically speaking. Anything to do with fighting, he was an ace at. He knew exactly where to stab someone to end their life in the blink of an eye and he knew where to stab someone to make it hardly hurt, barely bleed and not even slice any muscle. However, he knows absolutely nothing about romance and relationships. He never before had his body feel like it was going to melt just from being so close to a person he held dear.

"L-Link…" Malon uttered softly, making him turn his head to stare at her.

Being so close to him, those blue eyes of hers made Link feel lost at sea. In a way, he was afraid. Afraid if he got any closer, he might drown, not just in those pretty irises, but in the fresh aroma of thyme and gerudo soap as well. Truthfully, he wasn't able to get closer anyway as his muscles locked up in disbelief, embarrassment and humiliation.

"I do forgive you." The farmgirl continued. "B-But, I have to know something." She instantly took note of Link's intense focus and slowly wrapped her fingers around the boy's hand, holding it. "You… You got upset when I said that you w-weren't my lover?"

The question threw Link off guard as it certainly wasn't what he expected her to bring up. He cleared his throat, trying to get himself to not sound overly nervous. "Uhh… Y-You see… I... I was just trying to be mice, I mean nice! Uhh…" The child hero stopped to exhale in aggravation. "I don't k-know much about being a lover, Malon."

Meanwhile, as he was busy stuttering and making a near fool of himself with a slip of the tongue, Malon's eyes were growing as big as dinner plates, quickly leaving her to reply. "Does that mean you actually want to be my lover!? M-Maybe someday at least!?"

Her shrill voice only embarrassed Link further. He was already so uncomfortable and barely able to speak. Now he just wanted to bury his head in the sand and wait the entire thing out. If only that would work. "I… I… I… I…" The boy's mouth went on mindlessly until he could brashly think of something to say. "I thought-… Or… I used to… When-… When I was on my adventures, when Navi was asleep and I should have been too, I would stay awake and think about how life would be as an adult. Every now and then, I would contemplate how life would be with a partner, a lover, someone who loves me, cares for me and needs me, just as I would be able to say the same about them." His mouth was dry, so he licked his lips nervously. "I figured t-that I'd have a lover someday in my future."

Malon, with wide-eyes, shook her head, hid her blushing face for a moment and then stayed quiet. Link narrowed his eyes in response. Her hand was still on top of his, but he wanted to know what it was that was on the girl's mind. The only thing he could hear was his own pulse throbbing in his ear. Eventually, just as he began wondering if he should say something, she turned her head back in his direction prior to speaking very softly, to the point where he had to lean a little closer so that he could hear her choppily stressed voice. "L-Link…" Next, what she said confirmed everything in regards to her feelings toward him. Perhaps the reason why everyone teased them about being a couple was because, for fated reasons, they were a great match. Neither knew how the alchemical reaction of love worked. They might not always be aware of certain things or emotions, but Malon clearly held a crush on Link for a while. That wasn't the end of it either, for Link knew that he had feelings of his own for the farmgirl. "Link…W-Would you… Would you b-be my lov-…..."

"RAISE THE GATE!" The guard down the road shouted, just in the nick of time despite it already being completely obvious of what it was that Malon was going to say.

'She was going to ask me to be her lover. I just know it.' Link mentally stated. There was no doubt in his mind that was what she was getting ready to say before the interruption. 'Me? Be her lover?' His inner-thoughts reflected as the girl's hand pulled away from him, making him notice her looking in the direction of the gate. 'Lover? Me? A lover?' Link's mind was pretty much shot trying to comprehend the idea. Frustration couldn't even begin to describe the sensation coursing through him. It was one thing to see hints and subtle flirting. On the other hand, to have it all come out before him, to be literally asked; things were a lot different now. Although she didn't get to finish what she was saying, Link knew and considered it a question that his heart had to answer.

Before he could even think any more on the subject, Malon abruptly stood up as they heard Talon's voice speak. "Oie! There yah two are… WOOOOoooWEEEEeee! We done turned a nice profit on this visit!"

Malon, who tried her best to act normal despite still having a slightly reddened face, giggled softly prior to responding to her father's happiness. "Yay! Now we can go home and celebrate!"

Link made himself stand up as Talon, followed by Petey and Dixie as well as the delivery wagon, went under the gate and came out on otherside.

The moment the back end of the wagon was out of the way, the gate guard shouted "LOWER THE GATE!" Unlike how they slowly raised it beforehand, closing it, they simply released hold of the chain and let the portcullis fall to the ground; its spiked bottom sinking into the dirt.

Coming closer where there wasn't a need to shout, Talon gave Malon a nice fatherly hug with added enthusiasm. The turnover must've been truly fantastic since he's as jovial as he was. "I was invited in the Throne Room since I just so happen' to 'ave been there! Oh, it makes me wanna jump up and click my heels together knowin' The King is so fond of Lon Lon Milk after all of these years!"

Both of the kid's eyes widened in shock at Talon's statement. Malon soon hoorayed, yet Link remained stuck in amazement. Talon got to have an audience with The King just because his cows make tasty milk. Link, on the other hand, couldn't even get a passing glance when it came to trying to inform the Royal Family of Ganondorf's evil intentions and saving the whole kingdom. "Alright, Daddy!" Malon expressed. "That's awesome! Who else was in the Throne Room, anybody!?"

The heavyset farmer nodded as Epona huffed while staring at Petey and Dixie. "Lots of people, sweetie! They must've been havin' some sorta meetin' or somethin'. Princess Zelda wasn't there yet, she was with her attenden', Ms. Impa. But, there was these six old guys called Royal Sages who showed up not long after I arrived and they also loved the milk! Didn't say much… But, they nodded to the taste!"

Link smirked at the thought of those crotchety looking guys enjoying good ole Lon Lon Milk. To his utter disbelief, however, what Talon said next was a bolt from the blue. "The mighty Captain Osun was there too, along with the Happy Mask Salesman. Aside from that, it look' like every advisor the Royal Family ever had was there. So, whatever they doin', it must be darn well important."

In comparison to everything that had happened today, the countless times Link felt embarrassed, let down, or surprised, none of it was on par with the feeling boiling within him now. All day he'd been looking for those two, both Captain Osun and the Happy Mask Salesman, and now he's being told they were both in the same room together, inside Hyrule Castle. Talon was definitely right about something going on. Link wasn't sure at all what the Happy Mask Salesman would have to do with anything, but, knew there must be some connection.

"Captain Osun?" Malon asked inquisitively, seeing as how Link was busy brewing at the moment. "Link went to the Training Grounds to try and see him! You're going to be surprised! He actually does know people there and I think he knows The Captain too!"

Talon looked up at Link while letting go of Malon. "Is that right? Well then… Hmm-…"

That response was frustrating. Not that Link expected anything different or actually cared. Talon was likely better off not even thinking of him as anything other than the Fairy Boy who woke him up with a Cucco so Malon wouldn't strangle him for being late. Ingo's attempt to understand the altered future, to which he shouldn't even be aware of in the first place, did not end very well. The Golden Goddesses or even the Goddess of Time, they're right in their decision to keep hylians in a normal flow of reality. Time travelers such as Link were a paradox all of their own. The unstableness, the erratic and volatile state which was traveling time, could drive any mere mortal crazy. Link was lucky, because he knew the truth and knew his hero blood could hold its own against just about anything Hyrule could throw at him. Nonetheless, he always felt it would still be nice to get at least a little recognition for some of the things he'd done. "You two shouldn't be so shocked. It's not like I was lying to you the entire time."

"What was that one guy's name?" Malon interjected, asking before Talon could reply to Link's statement.

Link did sound fairly bummed out that they were so surprised. Either way, he didn't exactly know who the farmgirl was talking about, who 'what guy's' name was. "Huh? Who?"

Malon giggled at him, suddenly acting as if she hadn't said any of that stuff from five minutes ago, about whether or not the boy could be her lover. "The guy at the Training Grounds that you talked to, who told you that Captain Osun was out."

Whenever Link realized who it was she was referring to, he had to let a small laugh slip. Vicente was hardly what he'd consider a man. The teenager was so immature most thought he was a two year old. "Vicente."

Right after getting the answer, Malon turned back to her father. "There was this guy named Vicente who claimed to have trained with Link! He said Link even beat him!"

Talon chuckled heartily before giving the heroic boy a big pat on the back. "Well, I'll be! If that's true, then yah must've been some sorta apprentice! Captain Osun is a Knight of Hyrule though, so I doubt he'd take it easy on yah and let yah win."

Link's teeth temporarily grit in anger from the audacity of Talon to act as if the hero was let off easy, as if that was why Link won the fight. The Triforce of Courage may bestow upon the boy a vast knowledge of combat skills, but he trained excruciatingly hard alongside anyone with sufficient capabilities to teach him. He trained in order to hone his abilities to their current capacity. The Know-It-All Brothers, his own personal adventures, Impa, Lord Taburi, Captain Osun, and even the Great Fairies and Golden Goddesses; all of them taught him everything he needed to know. So, if there's any reason why he defeated anyone, it was because of the capabilities he learned on his own. "I wouldn't say that, Mr. Talon. The Captain and I are good friends, yet, on par in the battlefield. As for Vicente, he lost because of his arrogance and refusal to accept my talents. It was his fault he underestimated me. Only after losing to me, after throwing all of his energy at me, did he finally realize how powerful I am."

Talon's smile slowly faded as he took into account what the child before him had just said. 'Uh-oh… I hope he didn't take that the wrong way.' Link thought as Malon glared at him. Reviewing what he said, he noted it did sound slightly harsh. Of course, nothing he said was directly meant toward Talon. However, he may have suggested through tone that the heavyset farmer was also arrogant regarding Link's powers.

"Maybe we could look intah' gettin' yah a position as an apprentice again then?" Talon responded with a raised eyebrow and his hands on his hips.

Focusing on the man, Link saw that he was more confused than anything else. "Oh-… Uhh… I think I'll stick with farm work. Captain Osun will let me train anytime… At least, anytime he's there and the gate guard isn't being a huge jerk."

Malon giggled again, thankful to see the minor brewing situation diffused. "Dad, guess what! Link got me something!"

The man's giant grin returned as he chuckled loudly. "Oh, is that so? Already spendin' money on 'er, huh?"

The emotional ride Link had been on wasn't over, as he now had to switch from being frustrated as well as disappointed, to embarrassed. Bringing everything back from before, he recalled Malon's words, her question, the look in her eye that made him feel connected to her. Even though he didn't want them to, like before, it made his heart thump faster and his cheeks redden. Despite trying as hard as he could, he couldn't stop his face from warming up.

"He's so sweet, Daddy! Stop embarrassing him!" Malon smiled as she lovingly stared at her favourite hylian boy.

"W-What?" Link soon asked after Malon held her hands out in a 'where's it at' gesture.

"The dress, silly!" Malon exclaimed.

Talon's jaw dropped with a barely audible gasp. The heavyset farmer was visually stunned to hear that Link bought his daughter a dress. "A dress? Whoa now! Let's see it then!"

The boy's legs felt like they were quivering in nervousness as he was watched. Since they both wanted to see it, and especially now that Malon was interested in it, he decided to go ahead and reveal it. Taking the burlap bag from off of Epona's back, it took several moments for Link to untie it as his hands shook. Once done, he was as careful as possible to make sure that he didn't wrinkle it while removing it from the bag.

It was remarkable to see Malon's instant change in heart. Suddenly she ran over and hugged him, during which time Talon inspected the dress. "It's so beautiful!" The farmgirl cried in happiness, squeezing Link tight in her hug.

"Wait a second…" Talon muttered "Darlin', ain't that the dress yah been goin' on 'bout for the past month?"

Watching her feel and lift the dress, Link felt himself nearly become mesmerized by her luscious red hair again. Countless times he'd found himself swept away into bliss by the intoxicatingly amorous scent of thyme and Gerudo soap. Seventeen year old Link knew what he wanted to do, but ten year old Link didn't know how to interpret the signals yet or even what to do with them. His only option was speechlessness.

"Yeah! See what I mean!? He's such a good friend!" Malon gleefully replied while her hand gently brushed against the hero's chest, making his heart skip a beat.

"This is quite the surprise, Link…" The heavyset farmer said. "That dress wasn't cheap seein' how it's made a some high-quality fabric."

All Link could do was shrug. He kept watch over Talon's body language. With his hands on his overalls and chest sticking out, it almost seemed like the farmer was being defensive for an unknown cause. In advance to a chuckle, the man's big grin came back for a fourth time prior to him asking "How did yah manage to pay for that?"

The question caught Link a bit off guard as he was beginning to see how much he'd bit off, possibly more than he could chew. The hero had nearly forgotten, despite the commotion, that he was currently in debt with The Stitch and Seam; the clothing shop. "U-Uhh… I… I used all of my rupees and went a little into debt."

Malon's expression changed as she now glared at him. "What!? Link! You big dummy! I didn't want you to go into debt! How far in are you!?"

Lightly tapping his fingers together in nervousness, Link tried to not laugh as Malon had that cute furious look again. "Just eighteen rupees."

The farmgirl soon groaned before pulling out her own wallet. Link quickly shook his hands as quickly as he could while interjecting. "No, No… You don't have to pay for it! She said I could pay for it next time, when I come to pick up the clothes she's going to tailor for me." His nervous smile wasn't much in the confidence area, but he knew it wouldn't really be a gift if she had to spend her rupees on it.

Talon, on the other hand, shifted back and forth from happy, puzzled, to happy again. "Okay… Whoa now… I need ya'll to explain to me what ya'll've been doin' while I was away. First, let's get movin' from here." He stepped up into the front section of the wagon, taking the reins to control Petey and Dixie.

Link nodded in agreement prior to gently placing the dress back inside of the burlap sack, giving it to Malon thereafter. She took it cheerfully and literally skipped back to the side of the delivery wagon. "I'm still going to pay for this, you know!?" She giddily exclaimed.

As he mounted Epona, Link shook his head in disagreement. "No you're not!"

Malon just giggled, readied her wallet after putting the dress in the wagon and then abruptly took off running. "Yes I am! I want to!" Right as she passed him by, she winked while sticking her tongue out at her beloved hero. "And, I'm gonna do it right now! See you in a bit!"

Blinking in confusion, Link was just about to go after her following a gentle nudge to Epona's side. Talon had other plans, however, as he called the boy back using a serious tone of voice. "Link… Wait a second, son."

Link's eyes were stuck between the running farmgirl, who was just about to exit his line of sight, and the man who had been allowing the boy to stay at his ranch for the past week and a half. Eventually, after a brief debate, he let Malon go with a fleeting thought. 'That girl… I can't ever figure out what to do with her.' He stopped Epona to find out what the farmer had to say.

Talon was next to him at a moment's notice. In advance of moving alongside the boy, he continued speaking as the horses clomped their way toward the Market Place of Castle Town. "How'd yer' visit with the doc' go? Yah actually went, right?"

"Yes, sir. I went and they gave me a clean bill of health." Link replied. "They mostly checked on the Wolfos scratches and told me to give it some air at night. The gash on the side of my head is healing up nicely, none of my teeth were corrupted and they even cleaned my ears for me."

Talon chuckled heartily as they turned the corner, around the side of the plateau, letting Castle Town reveal itself. "Got the old dirty ear, huh? Bar-Harr… It's probably from workin' 'round the ranch or gettin' dust from Hyrule Field in them. That's good though that they said yer' a healthy young lad. Now I can dump even more chores on yah since I know yer strong!" He broke out into more laughter as Link merely scratched the back of his head with an anxious grin. "Oh, I'm just kiddin'! But, could yah imagine? Hehehe!…" Clearing his throat, he got serious again. "Onto the other thin'." Staring at Link, he asked "Yah know that dress yah bought?"

Asking such a question was fairly useless as it was quite obvious Link knew what dress it is that the man's talking about. Regardless, he acknowledged Talon to confirm.

"Yeah? Well, I was originally plannin' on buyin' that for her birthday." Talon informed the hero

Suddenly Link wondered if the farmer was upset or angry at him. Perhaps that irritated glare he gave him earlier was because he felt as though Link gave Malon the gift that he wanted to give her. Link had no clue when her birthday was, so he hoped Talon would understand. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to buy it in the first place, r-really! It was kind of a spur of the moment decision b-because I wanted to make her happy!"

Right as Link finished stuttering an apology, Talon bursted out into more laughter with a slightly raised eyebrow. "Link. It's okay, my boy. Yer' fine. Her birthday ain't til' the eleventh month of the year; the twenty-first at that. Now that I got some extra rupees though, I was gonna buy it for her anyway. Chances had it and yah done plum beat me! Harr-Harr!"

Link didn't really know why he was so humiliated over the thought of having shown gratitude toward Malon. She deserved it. Thankfully, Talon didn't seem to mind either that the boy had purchased it ahead of him. The weight on Link from wondering if he was going to get into trouble soon faded as they came back into The Market of Castle Town.

"WAGON COMING THROUGH! MAKE WAY! MAKE WAY!" The guards and town crier shouted, getting citizens out of Petey and Dixie's way.

"How much did it cost yah, by the way?" Talon asked.

Link glanced over at The Stitch and Seam, watching as the cheery fiery red-haired girl flew out of the front door with the biggest smile plastered across her face. He didn't even want to know why. He couldn't ever figure out what was going on inside of her head. Whatever it was, he certainly hoped it wasn't anything to do with embarrassing him more. "S-Sixty rupees."

The way Talon looked at Link made the boy feel as though the farmer knew the price already. "And you think yer' gonna get sixty rupees by the next time we come up 'ere to deliver goods?"

Shrugging, all that Link could really say as the truth was his plan. "Well… at the start, I… I planned on working as hard as I could around the ranch to see if you could… maybe… pay me a little more. T-That or I'd see if I could get some stray rupees I left around my tree-house back in the Kokiri Village."

Malon waved at someone prior to running straight toward Link and Talon. However, her father was focused solely on the hylian child beginning to form puppy love with his daughter. "Yer' still gonna go back there sometime next week, right?" He asked "Like yah said?"

Nodding, Link made sure to keep his voice to a minimum, not wanting Malon to hear the touchy subject. "I have to... Saria and the others need to know how I am, plus, I have to find my Ocarina and get a few things from my treehouse…" Glancing up at Talon, he added in the desire to come back. "As long as you let me, I'll be back though. I'm starting to like working around the ranch."

Petey and Dixie slowed down as Talon pulled the reins, letting Malon climb up into the steering section of the wagon. "Yah know what my answer to that is. So long as yer' helpin' out, I don't mind." The heavyset man assured Link.

People moved out of the way pretty quickly as they resumed moving onward, passing the fountain of The Market. Soon they arrived at the front section of Castle Town, where the guardhouse and stables were. With Talon and Malon occupied for a moment, Link's mind drifted into contemplation. There was a lot to be dealt with. Several issues were at hand, with many of them presenting options or obstacles which he had absolutely no clue how to deal with. Seeing as how his heart was still throbbing from previously, the red haired farm girl in the wagon next to him was one of the first things to come to mind. 'In spite of everything else… all of the questions I have, places I need to be and people I need to meet, my dumb brain keeps focusing on her!'

Everything that happened was still fresh in his memory. He could still feel her tender lips on his cheek, even though they aren't currently, at one point they were. The tiny falling-out they had thirty minutes ago whenever he bought her the dress, it was only another sign that they were both interested in each other. They were simply too young to fully comprehend that.

'She gets just as embarrassed as me.' Link thought while directly recalling Malon's blushes and the shock when someone made a comment regarding them. 'I'm not alone in that aspect. But…' Hearing one word echo around inside his skull was getting close to making the boy insane. 'Lover… W-Why would she want me to be her lover? Why am I so special?' Amazingly, the hero managed to even stutter in his thoughts while thinking about her. The signs of interest were so obvious that even Mido, the self-centered jerk, could easily be able to tell. 'She doesn't know I'm the Hero of Time legends speak of, or a champion of the Golden Goddesses… No… All of her attraction toward me is real. She enjoys being around the real me, the me that's Link, nothing more; no title and no grandeur.'

Throughout his journeys, as both a kid and a teenager, Link had come across multiple women, and even a few men, who found him to be cute or handsome. Most of the time, he was so busy he never caught flirtatious hints. But, when he did, he tried to gently push that person away. It might be because of his childhood, how he was raised by the mostly-loving Kokiri, or just because of Saria's superior mothering. Regardless of the cause, he occasionally found his mind thinking about a special person, a lover as he had said earlier to Malon.

Harlots, concubines or mistresses were for the stupidly rich and the moronic; of which Link was neither. He didn't want to be with someone who didn't truly care for him. If they were only interested in his status or something he could get for them, then they weren't truly somebody his spirit can bond with. 'From the very start, when I learned and was taught what the feelings mean, what love and passion for someone is, I wanted someone else that had these feelings, someone who wanted to share their feelings, same as me.'

The guard standing near the drawbridge gave Talon a weak salute as they approached. Epona slowed down as Link slightly pulled back on the reins. There wasn't enough room on the drawbridge for two, but the boy didn't mind hanging back to let the wagon go first. It actually gave him more time to think.

Putting aside ooey and gooey love, which was a highly embarrassing and uncomfortable field for Link to be in, he went over the fact that something else important was happening at the castle. All of the sudden, six so-called 'Royal Sages' showed up. It also just so happens that Captain Osun was there. Nothing was wrong with that, as the Captain was a Knight of Hyrule and an advisor to The King when it came to military tactics. The only thing he didn't understand was why the Happy Mask Salesman was there. From his understanding, the strange man held no official business with any member of the Royal Family. That part continued to stump him no matter how many times he tried to figure out a decent solution as to why he'd be there. It must have some connection with why Captain Osun was there, maybe even the Royal Sages.

Following the short trip across the drawbridge, as they departed from the city limits of Castle Town, out into the great wide open of Hyrule Field, Link gave a gentle whip to the reins, letting Epona know that he wanted the equine to speed up. In a short second, they were next to the wagon again, with Talon closest to the boy. "Mr. Talon. Could you answer a question for me?" He asked.

Talon agreed fairly quickly. "Sure thing."

Link knew he had to try and gather as much information as he could. "When you were in Hyrule Castle, did you say the Happy Mask Salesman was there?"

Epona snorted as Talon replied. "Yeah, he was in the Throne Room next to Captain Osun. They were talkin' to each other."

Hearing that brought up more questions, most of which Link was sure Talon couldn't answer. As far as he was aware, the Happy Mask Salesman had no business being inside the castle, as he wasn't a member of royalty or of the military. Captain Osun never mentioned him. In fact, Link specifically remembered bringing up the subject of the happy masks upon which the strange man sold; the captain never said a peep about knowing the salesman himself. 'I knew it. There must be a connection!' Link's brain mentally shouted 'Not only were they in the same room together, but they were conversing as well!'

Briefly, the hero also contemplated if there was anything those six Royal Sages had to do with whatever was going on. It was impossible for him to tell. He just had a hunch, a feeling that it was fairly important. Princess Zelda was supposed to be there with Impa protecting her. The Princess was almost never in the Throne Room unless it was a matter of affair regarding her. Those sages were, supposedly, from what he'd heard, her tutors. He just didn't understand what the Happy Mask Salesman, or Captain Osun for that matter, was doing there. 'What business do they have there?'

"Do you know if the Happy Mask Salesman will be back in his shop?" Link asked, attempting to see if Talon knew. It would be exceedingly nice if he could confirm the time the insanely gleeful man would be in his shop. In his opinion, the day was quite a letdown in terms of discovery.

Talon raised an eyebrow in advance of lightly whipping the reins a bit. "Uhh… I'm not sure, I didn't ask em'... He'll probably be back whenever he's done with whatever it is he's doin' there."

Nodding to what the farmer said and his own thinking, Link kept going at his wild speculations. 'I see. So even Mr. Talon isn't sure what's going on in that Throne Room. They probably let him in to make the delivery and then made him leave as soon as they were ready to get back to what they were doing.'

Again, the boy couldn't say for sure if there even was any correlation between either group of people. However, something just wasn't right. The sensation in his gut left the tips of his ears tingling as if he was being talked about. With one last glance back at Hyrule Castle, he figured that, at the moment, there wasn't anything he could do. Talon and Malon would never allow him to try and gain entrance to the castle. In fact, the guards wouldn't either. Even IF somehow Captain Osun was nearby and could vouch for him, Princess Zelda had made it as clear as Lake Hylia on a gorgeous summer day that she wanted nothing more to do with him. The King himself felt the exact same way.

'Oh well…' Link finally thought while holding his left hand up to his forehead, just above his eyes, shielding them from the afternoon sun. 'Whatever they're doing, there's nothing I can do about it. I'll be sure to stop by the Happy Mask Shop next time I'm in town.'

Until then, it was back to work. All of the stuff regarding his adventures wasn't important when it came to doing that. He'd grown accustomed to partially forgetting about his title during the time he was busy working. It helped him keep his head clear.

"Link!" Malon abruptly shouted "Put on your hat! It'll work better than your cap!"

The farmgirl's kind smile reassured the hero. Since he'd purchased them, he figured he might as well try it out. They had another ten minutes of riding before they got back to the ranch. The sun was definitely starting to get right in his line of sight too. "Alright, Alright." After switching his Kokiri Cap with the straw hat he got from The Stitch and Seam, he was amazed at how much shade it provided his face. He didn't have to squint nearly as much. 'Well, I'll be… I guess the Kokiri just didn't need all that much sun protection since they live in the forest. The trees keep them covered.' It brought a smile to his face and Malon noticed.

"How's that?" She asked.

Link nodded as he grabbed the overalls as well, holding them up with one hand to show Talon. "Look, Mr. Talon. I bought a pair of overalls so I won't have to wear this tunic when I work."

Both him and Malon laughed happily. "Good job there, Link. Trust me; that was a wise buy. After all, ya'll be gettin' dirty every day." All three of them shared in laughter at that before he continued. "Now, let's get back to the ranch and see if Ingo needs any help."