Chapter Text
“tell me do you ever sense a strange sense of sadness when dusk falls?”
“…”
“They say its the only time our world intersects with theirs”
“they?”
“Those who left our world, they say we are feeling their regrets… that is why we feel that sudden loneliness at the hour of twilight”
“hmmm…”
“but that’s enough of that sad talk, I have a favor to ask you and your sister... but lets rejoin her, before she scold’s us for making her do all the work”
At the hour of twilight, most birds have gone to sleep, and night creatures have not yet awaken, the spirit fountain of Farone is on of the sites where travelers, workers, and creatures sit to rest when opportunity arrives, the light orange shine reflects on the water, and most travelers long to stay close by till the dusk becomes night.
At the sound of steps coming from deeper in the area both men stand up, and look at the young woman doing all the intensive labor most people expect of them, holding 12 bundles of wood in her back and 2 on each hand, but neither of them seemed to mind as they join her for the walk back to their home”
“are you sure you don’t need any help? If you keep doing all our work you will age thrice as fast now” said link while looking at his sister and laughing softly.
“HUH?!” she huffed in response. “I’ll have you know, I every time I have a good night rest I age one year less” she answered with such confidence, she left no room to argue, not that anyone would have but still.
“sure, sure” and with that Link took two bundles form his sister’s hand, and Rusl took the opportunity to take the other two in her other hand.
“huh?! Uncle Rusl its okay I can carry those bundles no problem” the girl protested about to take the bundle off his hands.
Rusl quickly moved his hands away so she didn’t take the bundles “It’s okay, I need to show that I’m not so old I cant still be a guardian here hahaha” the girl looked somewhat conflicted but didn’t protest further than that. Rusl laughed a little after seeing the girl that conflicted over something so dumb, but at the end of the day he was used to that “Epona, Link I have a favor to ask, I was supposed to take something all the way to the royal family of Hyrule the day after tomorrow…” both Epona and Link look at Rusl with interest “Yes it was a task set to me, but… would you two go in mt stead?” he both of the siblings stared at him with smiles on their faces “you two... haven’t been to hyrule, right?”
“right…” Epona answered with somewhat mixed feelings, something that Link doesn’t share at all just paying attention to Rusl talk.
And so Rusl continues “in the center of Hyrule, there is a great castle, and around it there is a community, far bigger than our little village… and greater than Hyrule is the world the gods created, I wish for you two to see it with your own eyes” Rusl looked at Epona for a moment “maybe you’ll find something of worth”
The rest of the walk home, was mostly silent, Epona didn’t reject the idea, and link was excited to travel into Hyrule, so Rusl took it as the siblings accepting the proposal , he told them both that he would make the arrangements with the mayor, and that they will know what the gifts are, the day they leave.
They walked through the forest, past the bridge and Rusl closed the gate as soon as everyone was past him, as if it was a personal ritual, Epona checked the door and pulled on it to make sure it was closed, and with that they are finally in their home. The older man, left Epona and link in front of their home, and left with his son and wife.
“buff, a long days work.” The young man sighted, he stretched a little and went up the stairs to go home and finally lay down to close the day off, when he saw his sister wasn’t right behind him he looked at her somewhat annoyed “you will take the bundles into the village?”
Epona looked a bit apologetic before answering “well, yeah, It would be a waste if I leave them here”
“We can take it to the village tomorrow, or they can come for it when its convenient… just relax a little, unless is urgent we can take care of it tomorrow, you’ll overwork yourself again”
Epona answered with a sigh “I guess you are right, I will go clean the sweat off in the spring then” she dropped all 10 bundles of wood in front of her home sign and streched too as she made her way to the spring.
“I’ll prepare something to eat then” Link smiled at his sister.
“thank you~ don’t wait for me if you are too hungry”
For Epona, not going home to home giving out the bundles of wood felt almost criminal, as if she was taking something from the other villagers, but still, she is constantly telling Link to relax more and work a bit less.
But right now, in this moment, she could force her mind to shut all the worried and complicated thoughts off, she has now time to dip herself in the water of the spring that was a step away from her home, it was basically a ritual for her, she took of her boots that went almost as high as her knee and let a sigh of relief go, she is probably, no, definitely the only person in Ordon that uses boots. She never understood why, but the cleats make life easier for her, Link tried cleats similar to hers once, but he hated it, same as all the other children from the village, maybe is just another one of her many particularities.
“maybe ill buy new cleats in hyrule…” Still, she felt conflicted, she really couldn’t put the feeling into words, but it was like, feeling uprooted, it was a favor , and it will probably take less than a week, but still, it was annoying for her.
“oh? So you really are leaving?”
“hum?” Epona turned around as she was getting her feet in the water, surprised and a little disappointed that she couldn’t take a bath in the solitude she desired she saw Illia, standing ready to enter the spring water as well “o-oh Illia, so you’ve heard?”
“yes, I did, Rusl talked to my father as I was coming to say hello” she smiled towards Epona, it was nice and sincere, and that made Epona’s ears drop, feeling a bit guilty for her own feelings.
“Well, I think it was very sudden, but I can’t really refuse uncle Rusl, I still owe him too much.” Illia walked behind Epona, as she was talking, and started brushing Epona’s tail, this was all too natural for them, first Illia would brush and clean Epona’s tail and then Epona would do the same to Illia’s hair, they have done it like that, for almost, 15 years when Epona started taking care of Illia when Bo couldn’t. “But I worry about the kids, and Fado, he can hardly take care of the goats alone”
“You worry too much, and take too little care of yourself, so much so even Link notices. I think it would do you good.” Illia took her time, both talking and doing Epona’s hair, at the end of the day tomorrow is rest day, so she could at least look pretty to day her goodbyes tomorrow. She braided into a fishtail her white hair, and left her brown hair to flow, simply removing any knots she might have. “there, perfect, maybe in Hyrule you can get yourself a bow for your tail, or something similar”
“hmm… if I see anything interesting, I will bring you something.” Now it was Epona’s turn, she sat behind Illia, splashed some water on her head and started her typical treatment, it was nothing close to be as fancy as Illia was to herself, mostly because Illia’s hair is way to short for fancy hairstyles, and honestly Epona never bothered much with hairstyles, she liked it long and that was pretty much it.
They finished each other hair, and after that they talked a little bit, about how Beth was asking to join the “spring beauty” sessions, or so the child called it, honestly Epona didn’t really mind, and Illya just thought it was weird, she saw it as a moment between friends, but for Epona it was a tradition she was keeping with the kid she took care or rather grew up with, not that it mattered right now.
With no much else to give Epona was about ready to call it a day and sleep, when at the entrance of the spring she saw Link dread filled her face, really? Right after she cleaned herself and had her hair styled by Illia.
Link saw the dread in his sister and answered before the question arrived “yep, Fado called, the goats are rowdy lately” Illia looked almost as irritated as Epona in this case, all her hard work would be gone if the goats start getting violent, and Link answered to her as well “I am sorry Illia, it’s an emergency”
“I, ugh, I suppose, but still it took me a minute to make the braid” Link laughed at this, and he was meet with Illia face, definitely offended at that “At least do me a favor, and please take the brunt of the work, I would hate for her braid to come undone”
“Don’t look at me, I don’t make that choice”
Epona put her boots back on and started walking away “Don’t worry too much, I’m sure is just Fado being dramatic, those goats are really nice most of the time” emphasis on most, there was a couple of goat she had to learn how to wrestle, it was never too difficult for her, she had the strength, she worried more about the weight and in the numbers, but oh well that will be a problem when she is at the stable, not before.
As Epona left Illia got closed to Link “I hope Epona is not… well, It’s whatever, don’t work till too late”
Link answered with a smile and a nod “if I have to bring her back by the tail I will, don’t worry” Illia laughed a little at this, and let him go off to work
Epona and Link walked back home, picked up the bundles of wood, because in Epona’s own words “its on the way so might as well” and walked into the village, Ordon village, is as cozy as it has ever been, It was late already so they where the only 2 going to work, but still it was good seeing everyone relaxed and smiling.
The wood was given to each home while they said hello and maybe a bit of small talk, they saw Sera, Beth, and Hanch, and Beth made sure to remind Epona how tomorrow’s night was DEFINITELY girls nigh, and how they had to join with Illia. They didn’t see Pergie’s family, but they made sure to leave the wood bundles in front of her home, and right after they talk with Rusl, Colin and Uli.
“I hope tomorrow night you two will be joining us at dinner” Said Uli with a smile on her face, and with a tone, that made the understand that wasn’t an invitation, it was closer to an order, Colin smiled at that Equally as excited to have them both for dinner.
“I already talked to the mayor, he said, he’ll had a card so you two can stay with a friend of his in the way to the castle”
“Oh? Thanks a lot Uncle Rusl” answered Epona, Rusl just denied with his head.
“You’re always too formal, I’ll have you know they seem the rowdy type, so you might want to relax a little” Rusl smiled at them, and then let them go to their job in the farm.
And the last person they saw was mayor Bo there was no much talk there, some small talk about the same things they talked about with Rusl, thanking them for working so diligently and telling Epona, once again to relax a little, same as always.
And finally they arrived to the farm, or rather to the great goat pen they have in the village, there Fado was waiting for them to arrive, and without much talk, other than Fado thanks and apologies, they all got to work.
For epona, this is menial work, like taking boxes from one point to another, for Link and Fado on the other hand, it was hard work, they tackled the goats in little groups, shouted and guided them towards the pen, they examined carefully how irritated was each goat and if it turned violent, they would have to lasso it or wrestle it, but they could get the work done.
Epona on the other hand, just talks calmly to the goats as the walks them towards the pen, if a goat doesn’t listen she just grabs it by the horn, and walks to the pen, as long as she is not taken by surprise or let the goat get a running start, this was a simple task, and when she is done with her lot, she offers her help, and its promptly rejected.
She acts dejected before going to sit at the entrance of the pen to wait for either the day to end or the work to be over, pretty soon tho, boredom won over, and she transformed half of the grazing area as her running area, just to waste energy or at least the energy she found by herding the goats.
Time passed, Fado and link finished their work, and both the grazing area and the pen gates, were closed. After 20 or so minutes, Link said goodbye to Fado and crossed over the gate, toward the village, and right after that, Epona jumped gate and she waved goodbye to the Shepard as she went back home with Link.