Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The first time Malon met Link, they were both children.

Malon wasn’t always allowed to go on delivery trips in general, much less to Castle Town. She saw this as a special occasion, and she was practically vibrating in her seat the entire wagon ride.

“Hey dad, why aren’t there any wild horses around here anymore?” She looked up at him on the bench next to her only to see him nodding off, reins still in hand. She elbowed him in the side, and he shot up straight.

“Wha- huh? Horses? Yeah, I reckon we’ve got the best in Hyrule!”

“I already know that, dad.” She pouted, giving the most exasperated look she could manage. Being only ten, it came off as more cute than stern. “I was asking why there aren’t any more wild ones!”

Talon paused in thought, scratching the stubble on his chin. “Can’t say I know. Maybe they thinned out the herds enough taming ‘em that the rest skittered off.”

Her curiosity sated, Malon idly kicked her legs, humming a song her mother had taught her. The peace held until they crested a hill, and she saw stone walls standing in the distance. Excitedly, she tugged on Talon’s sleeve.

“Look, dad! There it is! How big is Castle Town, anyway?”

He hummed in thought, a deep, comforting sound that came from somewhere deep in his chest. “Can’t say I know that one, either. The castle’s real big, though. You could fit the whole ranch into the grounds a couple times over.”

“If it’s so big, why don’t they raise their own cows?”

“Now that one I know. Why would they bother getting their own cows, when they know their milk won’t be half as good as ours?” He grinned down at her, ruffling her long red hair.

Malon giggled and smoothed her hair back down.

Before long, they had reached the drawbridge into the town proper, and the wagon was pulled to a stop to inspect their luggage. Talon started to get down from the bench, but Malon placed a small hand on his leg to stop him.

“Don’t worry, dad. I’ll handle this.” With a put upon sigh, he sat back down and shrugged. Malon nimbly hopped to the ground, guiding the guards to the back of the cart. She parted the canvas and crawled inside, lifting the lid on one of the many crates of milk, and with a precursory amount of searching, they were let through.

Lon Lon Ranch was the main supplier for the people in town, so she followed her father through his deliveries, marvelling at the hustle and bustle of city life. But the ranch was also the supplier for the castle as well, so when all the milk was delivered to the townsfolk, Talon left her with a small satchel of rupees and told her to meet him back at the fountain in a few hours.

Malon quickly occupied herself with exploring the shops and stands around the plaza of Castle Town. Neither the potion shop or the bazaar held anything of interest to her, and all the clothing stands were nearly impossible to approach due to the throngs of people crowding them, so after visiting a temple on the outskirts of the main thoroughfare, she bought a loaf of bread and settled herself near the fountain and began people-watching.

Malon swung her legs against the stone rim of the fountain, nibbling on her bread. People came and went in waves. Merchants shouted, guards marched stiffly, children weaved through the crowd in games of tag. She made a game of guessing what each passerby was doing there; the woman in fine silks was surely a princess in disguise, the thin man with a bundle of scrolls must have been an important royal scholar, and the boy in green-

Wait.

A boy around her age stood a few paces away from her, wearing a green tunic and hat that seemed wildly out of place. It wasn’t the patchwork of her father’s clothes, and it was a far cry from the fashionable garb of the people that populated the town. He shifted uncomfortably, looking between the crowds and the guards standing at the gates leading towards the castle grounds as if he didn’t know which were more intimidating.

She watched him pace back and forth between the exit and the throng of people for a short while before she decided to intervene.

Brushing the crumbs off of her skirt, she hopped off of the ledge of the fountain. He didn’t notice as she approached, and jolted as though he was caught trespassing when she tapped his shoulder.

“You don’t look like you’re from around here. My name’s Malon” She gave her most comforting smile and held out her hand.

He shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. “I’m Link. And we came from the forest.”

“We? Are you here with someone else?” Malon lowered her hand slowly. She didn’t see anyone else with him, but maybe that was why he was waiting?

“Yeah! Me and my fairy are here on a mission from the Great Deku Tree!” The boy leaned in conspiratorily, and whispered. “We’re here to see the princess.”

Malon’s eyes widened, the bread she still clutched momentarily forgotten. “My mom used to tell me stories about you…” She leaned in, lowering her voice to match his. “Do you really have a fairy with you?”

In response, a small ball of blue light zipped out from behind his shoulder with a sound like chimes. “Her name is Navi! She’s helping me, since I’ve never left the forest before.”

She gave a small wave, and Navi bobbed in response. Before she could ask any more questions, bells chimed in the distance.

Malon gasped, looking into the sky to see the sun beginning to set. She scanned the crowd, and saw no sign of her father. “You said you’re going to see the princess, right? My dad was supposed to be making a delivery to the castle, but he hasn’t come back yet.”

“Well, since I'm going there anyway, do you want to come with me? Navi says the princess is really smart, so I’m sure she can tell us where he is.”

A fairy boy from the forest on a mission to meet the princess was something straight out of a storybook, and she would get to join him? She didn’t even have to think about it. She nodded excitedly. “Lead the way! ”

They followed the path to the castle grounds, only to be met by an imposing gate guarded by a soldier. Upon seeing people approaching he stood at attention, only to relax when he realized it was two children.

Malon stepped ahead of Link, approaching the guard. “Hi! My dad was delivering milk to the castle and hasn’t come back yet, and my friend here needs to see the princess.” She leaned forward as Link had done, whispering. “He’s a fairy boy on a mission from the forest.”

The guard laughed loudly, and Malon bristled. “Sorry, kid. I can’t just let anyone in to see the royal family. But I let your dad through, he should be back before too long. Just hang tight in town, alright?”

The girl looked back to Link for support, but he seemed distracted glancing around the pass. She began to ask him for backup, only to be cut off as he grabbed her hand. “Alright,” Link gave her an overexaggerated wink, and began leading her back the way they came. “We’ll do that, thanks for your help!”

“What was that? I thought we were going to the castle!” Malon took her hand back, shooting him a heated look.

“We are. But he wasn’t going to let us through, and there’s a tree here that we can climb to sneak in.”

Malon’s hand flew to her mouth, watching in idle horror tinged with curiosity as Link grabbed onto a low branch and lifted himself onto it. “Sneak in? You mean past the guards? Won’t we get in trouble if they catch us?”

The fairy boy smiled down at her, his blue eyes twinkling with mischief as he offered a hand. “Then we won’t get caught. Come on.”

Taking his hand, she scrambled into the tree after him. They climbed high enough to reach the top of the bluff, at which point Link hopped onto solid ground and helped Malon do the same.

Her father wasn’t lying about the size of the castle grounds. They stretched as far as she could see, scarcely populated with trees and bushes, and heavily patrolled by guards. She began to have second thoughts, but was quickly snapped out of them as Link grabbed her hand again. He held a finger to his lips to motion to be quiet, and she bit her knuckles to stifle a giggle. She allowed herself to be swept across the plain, and they dove into bushes or ducked behind trees whenever a guard would come close.

By the time they reached the castle itself, night had fully fallen and the sound of crickets permeated the air. As they neared the side of the castle however, the sounds of nightlife were drowned out by a loud, growling noise that Link couldn’t place.

Malon sighed deeply, dragging a palm across her face in exasperation.

Rounding the corner, Link quickly identified the source of the sound, as he saw a rotund man in overalls slumped against a pile of crates, snoring loud enough that it echoed off of the walls of the castle. “Is that…?”

“My dad, yeah. He’s always doing this, I swear.” She stomped over to the sleeping man, placed her hands on her hips sternly, and cleared her throat loudly enough that Link was afraid she might have alerted the guards.

Talon’s snore was choked off as he jolted into a sitting position. He looked at Link, his eyes still bleary with sleep. “Hey there, kiddo. It’s a little late for you to be touring the castle, isn’t it?” His focus then drifted to his daughter. “Howdy, Mal-” He froze, the drowsiness forced out of his features by horror as he looked at her, then the dark sky. “Aw shoot, I did it again. I’m real sorry, Malon.”

The girl put as much disapproval into her posture and glare as her little body could muster. “You’re lucky the fairy boy here was willing to help me find you. We had to sneak past the guards to get here! Do you know how much trouble we could have gotten into if we got caught?”

He looked Link over appraisingly as he pushed himself to his feet with a small groan. “Well, it’s good to meetcha, even if it’s in bad circumstances.” He shot a nervous glance at his daughter, who was still standing with her hands on her hips, tapping her foot impatiently. “I don’t think I’m gonna have time to thank ya properly, so hows about you come meet us at Lon Lon Ranch? I’m the owner, so I can offer ya some free milk by way of thanks.”

“He’s on an important quest to see the princess, dad,” She said as if this was something he should already know. “He can’t just drop that to visit the ranch.” She looked over at Link, continuing shyly. “But y’know…when you’re done, I wouldn’t mind if you stopped by.”

Talon guffawed, patting Link on the shoulder. “Well, I wouldn’t want to keep ya. But seeing as my little girl’s taken a shine to ya, you’re more than welcome to swing on by whenever ya get the chance. But we gotta get a move on, so I guess we’ll see ya then.”

Link could hear the sound of Malon scolding her father far after they were out of sight.

Link showed up the next day, telling her about how he met Princess Zelda, and was being sent to visit the gorons and zoras, and that it was a huge secret that she absolutely couldn’t tell anyone. “The fate of the world depends on it,” he told her, and even though it sounded farfetched, she hung on his every word and swore herself to secrecy.

He stayed for a few days, helping out with cleaning the stables and feeding the animals as payment for food and board. Talon insisted he didn’t have to, but he also didn’t complain about having an extra set of hands around, and Link seemed to relish in the normalcy and routine it gave his life.

When he left, it was without warning. One morning he was simply gone, the quilt folded neatly at the foot of her bed. But weeks later, he returned with dirt on his boots and stories of a city carved into the base of a volcano, of a Goron chieftain who called him “Brother” and danced madly to the music of the forest. Malon listened with shining eyes, trying to picture it all, her imagination spinning castles of fire and giants of stone.

This became something of a routine for Malon. Link would leave for days or weeks at a time, and when he returned he always had something to share. He would come back with trinkets, like a bracelet that gave him the strength of a goron or a boomerang that could always hit what he aimed at. He returned with gifts, like a piece of volcanic glass or a rock worn perfectly smooth by the river. She liked these, and kept them in a wooden box under her bed.

But more precious than trinkets were his stories. She lived for those moments between chores, when they sat in the pasture while the horses grazed, or late at night when she smuggled him into her room so he wouldn’t have to sleep in the barn. Then he would whisper about a tree he called his father, about lizards that breathed fire, about a tomb beneath a graveyard filled with shrieking zombies, about a fish the size of a house that swallowed a zora princess whole. Malon never knew how much of it was true, but she never doubted the wonder in his eyes as he spoke.

Seeking to share something in return, led him to a paddock with a foal inside, and she taught him a song her mother had taught her years ago. “My mom used to sing this song to me, and now I sing it to the horses. This little one especially likes it, and she’ll come running whenever she hears it.” She hummed her mother’s song for an audience of two, and Link joined along on his ocarina.

He laughed in amazement when, after they had finished their duet, the little foal nuzzled against his cheek and nibbled on his ear.

“That song is really important to me,” she said. “And since Epona seems to like you now, you’ll have to keep coming back to visit us.”

Link stared at her longer than he meant to, clutching the little instrument as if it were a promise. He didn’t answer, but the look in his eyes told her enough.

Malon may not have understood the changes that were to come, but she knew that he never broke that promise.

Chapter Text

The second time Malon met Link, she was a child.

Malon was sitting on a fence in the center of the ranch, idly humming to herself when she saw him across the pasture. She hopped off the fence, smoothed her skirt, and excitedly ran across the field to him. “Link! You’re back!”

He turned at the sound, and for a heartbeat her joy faltered. He smiled when he saw her, but it was small and tired, like a candle burning low. She threw her arms around him anyway, and though he hugged her in return, it was slow and hesitant, as if the motion had to be remembered rather than felt.

“You forgot to say goodbye before you left!” She pulled away and pointed a finger at him in mock scolding. “I was worried you might have forgotten me.”

Link seemed to wilt under her gaze, joking as it was, and he avoided meeting her eyes. “No.” he said, and his voice sounded different. It was subdued, sounding almost rusty with disuse, even though it had only been weeks since she saw him. “Sorry.”

Malon softened, lowering her arm. Her smile faltered, but she quickly forced one back onto her face. If Link was going to be such a downer, she would just have to be cheerful enough for both of them.  “Well, don’t worry about it. I just missed you, is all.”

A whinny carried through the air, and a chestnut foal with a white mane trotted over to the two of them, snorting softly and brushing her face against Link’s hand. A small amount of tenderness returned to his eyes, and a small, genuine smile crossed his face as he scratched the horse’s chin.

Malon giggled, joining her friend in petting the filly. “It looks like she missed you too, fairy boy.”

Link flinched as if he had been struck, and his arm fell limply to his side. “Don’t call me that.” His voice came out steely and cold, harsher than anything she had heard from him before. He closed his eyes and took a breath, forcing himself to calm down. “Please.”

“Link…” The redhead placed a hand on his arm and he froze, but didn’t pull away. “What’s wrong?”

“Navi’s gone. I just…” Link paused, his jaw working as he struggled to speak. “I need to find her.” He spoke quickly now, the words spilling from his mouth as though he couldn’t control them. “She’s gone and I have to go find her, I don’t know how long I’ll be gone, she helped me so much and she might be in trouble and I can’t lose anyone else, I can’t fail her like I-”

Tears were forming in his eyes now, and he took a shaky breath as he finally looked at Malon. His eyes were the same blue as always, but they held a depth and sorrow that somehow took her breath away and terrified her at the same time. “I have to find her.”

Malon’s throat felt tight. She wanted to tell him that it would be alright, that he would find Navi, that he would save the day like he always did in the stories he told her, but the words wouldn’t come out.

“Go find her,” she said instead, reaching up to brush a tear from his cheek. “And if you ever need to rest, we’ll be here.”

Link opened his mouth, then slowly closed it again. He swallowed hard, and simply nodded in response.

He slept in the barn that night, and when the farm girl woke in the morning, he was gone.

At first, Link’s absences were only for weeks at a time. He would return thinner and dirtier, and he would still help with chores around the ranch, and he would still share scraps of stories- He visited the forest and talked with the other forest children and their fairies. He went to the zora, and the sound of water dripping off of icicles onto the frozen river reminded him of her.

As the months wore on, his visits grew fewer. Sometimes he would leave for seasons at a time, and when he did return, his stories would be shorter. Malon noticed the way his eyes grew dimmer, muddier, and he seemed to sag under the weight of his failures.

Still, he always returned.

One day, a little over a year into his search, he sat in the pasture with Malon, quietly watching the horses graze. Link was the one to break the silence, something that had been much rarer recently. “The Lost Woods.”

Malon looked at him quizzically, but his eyes were fixed on something in the distance.

“She had to have gone into the Lost Woods,” he continued. “I can’t find her anywhere else, she must have gone deeper than I’ve been before. I’ll need a horse.”

“Link, all the horses we have right now are adults. There’s no way either of us could handle them for as long as you’d need, they’re too big-” 

Malon followed his gaze, and her stomach twisted. Across the field, a filly stood a little apart from the herd, watching them with curious eyes. Epona, like Link, had grown over the last year. She was taller and stronger than when Malon had first met the boy, but not as tall as the other mares.

“Epona…” Malon muttered, almost under her breath.

“She’s the only one I’d be able to ride.” Link finally tore his gaze away from the horse, turning to Malon. The exhaustion that had been plaguing him since the last time he visited the castle had lifted slightly, and in his eyes she saw, however faintly, a glimmer of the hope and determination he used to have.

Malon’s throat went dry. Epona wasn’t ready yet, and neither was she. The filly meant so much to her, and Link spending time with her on the ranch had practically become a necessary part of her life, so the idea of them both leaving, of the ranch feeling that much emptier without them, was unthinkable.

Malon looked to Epona, who nickered as if responding to her indecision, then back to Link. He was tired and scarred both mentally and emotionally, yet still clinging to that which caused his grief. And should the search fail, she didn’t know which option was worse- them not returning, or what would happen to Link if he returned empty-handed. She let out a deep breath, then nodded slowly to herself.

“Then we’ll start training her.”

Link hit the ground hard as Epona shook him off her back. She had been refusing to move for the past few minutes, and now apparently refused to even let him mount her, as she took off when she felt him try to hop onto her again.

His arms and legs burned from the training so far, but the tightness in his chest wasn’t from the fall. He had been working with the foal for almost a month now, and just when he thought they were making good progress, only for it to be ripped out from underneath him now. He grit his teeth and set to following Epona.

Malon was in the barn gathering cucco eggs when she heard a shrill whinny echo in from the pasture. 

She followed the sand out to the pasture, and what she saw made her stomach drop. Link was laid out on the ground, still gripping tightly onto the reins, and Epona’s ears were laid flat against her head, her tail flicking in irritation. Both of them were drenched in sweat, their movements stiff and mechanical.

“Are you alright?” She offered a hand to help Link up, and he began to shake her off, but after briefly meeting her eyes let go of the reins and accepted the help to his feet.

“I’m fine.” The boy brushed the dirt off of his tunic and wiped the sweat from his forehead. “She’s refusing to cooperate. I don’t understand why this isn’t going anywhere.” He spoke belatedly, frustration tinging his voice.

Malon walked over to Epona a few steps away, humming her mother’s song as she stroked the horse’s side. As the farm girl moved her attention to Epona’s face, however, she paused at the dull, glassy look in her eyes. “How long have you been working with her today?”

Link froze, staring at her with sweat dripping into his eyes, and that was all the answer she needed.

She whirled on him, grabbing Epona’s reins and marching over, stopping with her hands on her hips. “You’ve been going since this morning, haven’t you?” After waiting a beat and not receiving a response, ire crept into her voice. “She’s a strong horse, but she’s still just a foal. She needs a break, you can’t just keep pushing her!”

The boy from the forest opened his mouth to speak, but not finding the words to defend himself, closed it again.

Malon’s tone softened, stroking Epona’s neck until her breathing steadied, but keeping her eyes on Link. “She needs patience. If you keep wearing her down like this, it’ll end up with you both getting hurt. You have to show her that she can trust you.”

Something flickered across Link’s face- guilt maybe, or perhaps the realization that she wasn’t just talking about Epona.

“You probably haven’t eaten yet, have you?” 

Link shook his head almost imperceptively, muttering a quiet “no” under his breath.

She took his hand, Epona’s reins still in the other as she led the two of them to the stable. “I think you’re both done for the day. Let’s get you some lunch.”

Their training continued at a better pace for another month. Besides seeming skittish around Inigo, the ranch hand her father had hired before Malon was born, she was starting to see Link return to some semblance of how he used to be. Purpose and determination, something besides his mission to find Navi to focus his attention on, seemed to be doing him good. 

They had formed a new routine, too. The farm would wake at sunrise, they would eat breakfast, then begin chores. At noon they would break for lunch, and afterwards Link would train with Epona for an hour or two, and sometimes Malon would watch with pride swelling in her chest at their progress. Then chores would resume until dinnertime, at which point the animals were brought in from pasture, and after eating Malon would watch Link practice his swordplay. The two of them still stole time together at meals, in between chores, and during his training, but it was now in comfortable silence, the excited child she once knew long gone.

But Malon knew it wouldn’t last.

One night, after attempting to fall asleep for what must have been hours, she gave up the ghost and snuck downstairs and out into the cool night air. She wandered aimlessly for some time, admiring the cloudless sky, until she heard a soft, calming song echoing across the fields. She quickly ascertained its source- a figure wearing bright green clothes standing in stark contrast to the darkness, perched on the loft door of the barn.

Malon made her way to the barn, and though she was nowhere near subtle as she climbed the ladder into the loft, Link gave no indication that he noticed her, even when she sat down next to him.

She waited to speak until the last notes of the song had been carried into the night. “That’s a really pretty song.” 

Link lowered the ocarina from his lips, his voice tinged with something she couldn’t place. “It’s called the song of time. The princess taught it to me-” He paused, seeming to correct whatever he was about to say. “She taught it to me a while ago.”

Not having anything to say in response, Malon simply sat in silence with the fairy boy, staring into Hyrule Field in the distance. After a while, the cold began to cut through her nightdress, so she tucked her legs underneath her, and the motion caused her shoulder to brush against Link’s. For the first time in a while, he didn’t shrink at the contact, so she leaned against him.

Link was the one to break the silence this time, tucking his ocarina into its pouch before he spoke. “I think we’re ready.”

Malon couldn’t bring herself to look at him, instead choosing to continue staring into the distance.

“Tomorrow, I’m going to see Zelda. She’ll want to know I’m leaving.” Link shifted, bringing his knees to his chest and resting his arms on them. “I don’t know how long I’ll be gone. Maybe…maybe a long time.”

Malon’s fingers twisted into her nightdress, clutching the fabric hard enough that her knuckles turned white. She both hated and admired the tone in his voice- Hated that even though he was tearing the certainty he brought her, his voice was filled with grim determination.

“You will come back.” She finally turned to look at him, the moon highlighting the freckles on her pale face. “You have to.”

For a while he simply stared at her, his blue eyes unreadable. Finally, he simply nodded, as if her words had anchored something in him.

They spoke no more words after that, simply sitting in the silence of the loft, the sounds of crickets and the soft breathing of sleeping cows providing white noise that slowly lulled her into sleep.

When she woke up, she was curled up on a pile of hay far from the window, and Link was gone.