Chapter Text
The sound of laughter broke through the quiet atmosphere of the ranch. Malon looked up from her cooking and smiled at the sound. The heroes had been at the ranch for a couple of days now, and it was now a hub of activity and noise.
Malon turned to the scarred young man helping her, who had been gazing longingly out the window for the past couple of minutes. “Why don’ you go ahead and join ‘em? I’ve got everything under control here!”
A few more nudges was all it took to convince Wild to discard his apron and dash out the door, whooping like a madman as he did.. The call was answered by another hero and some of the horses as well. Malon let out a chuckle at the boys’ antics before she focused her attention back on the meal. She was making a large picnic lunch today for the fishing trip at Lake Hylia they had planned.
The lunch consisted of fried cucco with a wild green salad - courtesy of Wild’s large collection of herbs and plants from his Hyrule - as well as a hydromelon that she had bought the other day at Castle Town during her weekly deliveries. The kitchen door creaked open, and Malon was snapped out of her thoughts as Link entered. He stopped next to Malon, before giving her a quick peck on the lips and surveying the spread of food before them. Malon smiled up at him and began gently rubbing his back. "Did you manage to find enough poles?" she asked, just noticing the slightly haggard expression on his face.
He sighed. "The fishing poles weren't the problem, it was making sure the boys didn't kill each other as they figured out how to use them." He leaned into Malons touch slightly, enjoying the gentle massage. But before too long he straightened up and began to pack up the food. "Now how can I help you carry all this outside?"
As the two of them carried the food outside a breeze whipped past Malon, blowing her skirts around and teasing her hair as she shifted the basket in her arms. She surveyed the boys as they were finishing up chores. War and Legend were arguing about something as they worked to repair a fence that they had broken earlier in the day while they were sparring.
Wild was being caught up on how to use his fishing pole under the careful tutelage of an exasperated Four, who looked like he was on the point of breaking his pole over Wilds head. Sky and Hyrule were feeding the cuccos. Actually Sky was the one feeding the cucoos while Hyrule watched nervously from a safe distance away. Wind and Twilight were hitching the horses up to the cart they were using to transport both them and the abundance of food she had made. Wild had offered to store all of their food in his Slate but Malon had declined, still not quite trusting such a mysterious magic item.
“Let’s head out as soon as possible, we have a bit of a walk ahead of us” Link's voice rang out with the tone of a practiced drill sergeant and boys hastened to finish up.
***
They arrived at Lake Hylia around noon, and several of the boys immediately ran into the water for a swim. A water fight ensued almost immediately. Wind and Wild took it upon themselves to give the rest of the boys a dunk in the water much to Legend and Warriors sputtered protests, Hyrule and Four managed to fend them off for the most part although both parties did not escape without several gallons of water being upended on them, Malon quietly watched the going ons with an amused smile on her face, rejoicing in her decision to stay out of the water today. Her husband on the other hand seemed to not be so fortunate; he and Twilight had immediately gone to one of the several fishing spots in Lake Hylia. They had waded a little bit off shore to where the water only slightly came past their waists although they were still quite a bit aways from the group.
The youngest shared a smirk with Wild and with no further communication between them they split up and began to slowly sneak up on the two older men. Malon debated on letting the two know that danger was slowly sneaking up on them like a shark its prey, but she decided against it. Seeing the expressions on their faces were worth far more than any brownie points she could earn by warning them. The trouble-making duo crept closer and closer to the other two, stopping every so often to gauge whether or not they had been noticed, then slowly wading forward again. Malon tensed as the boys got within feet of their elders, watching as they hesitated for a second, calculating what was needed to bring them down into the water. Then with a blur of movement and several large splashes everything happened in a second. Wild had leaped slightly before Wind and the full force of his body collided with Twilight, sending the latter face first into the water with almost no chance to fight him off., Wind, however fared slightly worse, the moment in time between Wilds’ tackle and Winds’ gave Link enough time (wink wink) to get on his guard. When Wind collided with him, he turned the tables and sent Wind splashing into the water. Unfortunately before he could celebrate his victory, Wild made his presence know and pulled Link down to join the rest of them in the water.
After several minutes of coughing, splashing, and general chaos, Time managed to disengage with the other boys, wade back to shore, and make his way over to Malon. Procuring a towel from one of the many baskets they had brought along, Malon handed it to him as he sat down.
“Enjoy your fishing?” she asked with only the smallest hint of teasing in her voice. The dry look she received was answer enough and Malon could no longer keep from laughing.
“Aren't you supposed to be nice to me now that we are married?” he pouted as he rubbed at his straw colored hair with the towel
“Oh we both know that's not how that works” Malon smirked at him, about to continue before he gave her a very big and very wet hug, She squealed and tried to push him off but he kept holding on. “Get OFF you big lug” she cried before giving up and bursting into laughter again. The two of them stayed there laughing until Malon was gasping for breath. And when she pushed him this time he let off of her without much of a fight. “I swear being incorrigible must be a qualification to be a hero.”
“I honestly wouldn't be too surprised if that was the case,” he mused as he finished toweling off. “We all have a little bit of a mischievous streak running through us.”
Malon nodded in agreement, turning her attention back on the boys in question. Legend, Warriors, Wind and Wild were still in the throes of a truly epic water fight, while Four was swimming more sedately with Hyrule. Sky had not gone into the water at all and was instead taking a nap in the midday sun on the bank.Twi, after drying off, had elected to join him.
Malon sighed in contentment and leaned her cheek on her husband's shoulder, relishing in his presence. She figured they had a bit before the rest came looking for food, but nothing made someone hungrier than a good swim so Malon knew to cherish this moment of quiet before they were swept up in the bustle of eating and then packing everything up again. Time moved an arm to curl around her shoulders and Malon leaned into his touch. They stayed like that for a while just basking in the silence and the company of others.
Unfortunately they were eventually interrupted by the chatter of several hungry teenage boys who had just finished seeing how much water they could upend from the lake at once. Malon reluctantly pulled away and started unpacking the food that she and Wild had made earlier. Time helped her, getting out the plates and such, and like that they had everything set up just in time for several black holes to devour the food, Malon was quite sure that Wind and Legend did not even chew as they gobbled the spread before them. She looked on with a fascinated sort of horror as a great amount of food vanished in a concerningly short amount of time.
Eating her own food at a more sedate pace Malon enjoyed the layers of flavors as they swirled around her tongue. It truly was a very good dish made even better by Wild's expert hand, and Malon made a mental note to ask him for names of some the herbs that went into the salad as some of them were completely unknown to her. She would be quite sad if she couldn't make the salad again soon; maybe she could convince Talon to eat his vegetables for once. Malon sighed in exasperation at the thought of the stubborn old man. He constantly turned his nose up at vegetables to the point where Malon was considering treating him like a stubborn kid and hiding them in dishes instead. She had heard from one of her customers in Castle Town, a lovely young mother, that broccoli could be hidden quite well in brownies.
Hyrule interrupted her musings by lavishing her and Wild in praise for the meal. Malon waved him off, saying that he should thank Wild for most of it, who in turn said that he should thank Malon instead for the meal. That little battle of humility sent a round of laughter through the ten Hylians.
Four and Sky offered to clean up and shooed the rest of them away, Malon took the chance to wade into the water to start the thing that they had originally come to Lake Hylia: fishing. This trip was actually a yearly occurrence, a tradition that Talon had started when Malon was only knee high. It almost always went the same way, with swimming then lunch and then the rest of the time spent fishing. As the rest of the boys joined her she felt a sense of contentment rise in her with the chance to be able to share this part of her life with the Heros who became family to her in such a short period of time. It seemed to be only yesterday when she had seen the nine of them come into view for the first time. But they were family now regardless of blood or the barrier of time.
The tug on her line alerted her to the fish that was currently chewing on it. Malon hurried to pull it from the water. She had caught a good sized Hylian bass and she hummed in appreciation of its large size. She waded back to shore and dumped the fish in a bucket they had brought. Inside it she saw that there was already several smaller bass and a couple catfish. While she was busy with that she heard distressed shouting coming from the water and she turned just in time to see Wild throw a strange blue sphere into the water. Twilight and Time had clearly tried to stop him, but now that he had thrown it in they moved back in apprehension. She looked at it in confusion wondering what kind of object it was to cause them such distress.
She didn't need to wonder for much longer because the blue sphere glowed brighter before, then with a loud noise and plenty of displaced water, it exploded. After the water calmed down she saw the boiled bodies of several fish float to the surface and realizing what had just happened she could not keep herself from laughing. Of course the young man that she had grown close to in the hours they spent together in the kitchen would use bombs to fish.
Wheezing from the gales of laughter that shook her form, Malon sat down hard on the sandy beach. Through the tears forming in her eyes Malon could see Wild swimming out to get the broiled fish, with Twi and her husband running around like headless cuckoos on the shore.
A couple minutes passed before her husband came to join her, he was grumbling something about “not real fishing” and “sacrilegious” under his breath but she didn't catch all of it.
“No point in grouching abou’ it now, you’ll get wrinkles in your pretty face” Malon murmured teasingly. She patted the ground next to her and motioned for him to sit next to her. A noncommittal grunt was her response as he plopped himself down beside her, leaning a cheek on her shoulder. She laid her head on his, and closed her eyes as she savored the moment. The smell of cooked fish and water in the air, the soothing warmth of her husband beside her, and the sounds of her boys.