Disclaimer: I do not own The Legend Of Zelda, awesome game that it is. Mrrr.
The sun had come up sometime ago, so the ranch was already full of life. The cuckoos followed me around with enthusiasm, greedily expecting some treat. I smiled heartily, and fed them, but they continued to bother me as I made my way to the horses.
"You're so restless today," I sighed to them. They squawked unapologetically. Noisy as they were, I was quiet as I released the horses.
"You miss them, eh?" a gruff voice came sleepily from the barn door. Groggy as he was, there was a curious kind of emphasis on the word "them". It flustered me.
"Dad, I always do," I said. "But he—they haven't come by in awhile, you know."
"I heard they're pretty busy over there in the castle," he said gently. I loved him for not taunting me about my obvious sentiments.
I bit my tongue, nodded, and then made my way to the cows.
The truth was, Link had really been acting weird lately. Normally he'd swing by at least once every two weeks or something, regardless of the work that woman put him through. Then again, I knew why.
I suppose I had better start from the beginning, so I will never forget it.
I first met him somewhere near the castle, outside the nice marketplace of Hyrule. We were both kids then, probably twelve years old. Dad had gone up to the castle, but was late. As usual.
He seemed so troubled, the poor boy. It was like he was upset, determined, and sad at the same time. I cocked my head to the side and thought he was cute though. The fairy hovering around him caught my attention, too.
I smiled at him. He didn't make fun of me for singing my mother's song, either, the way the village boys did. I think (or I wanted to think) that he even liked the song.
Whatever he thought, I thought him a funny but strange boy. One way or another, I gave him a nice pocket-cuckoo. All he gave me was a strange look,but he was polite.
He made his way into the castle, to do goodness-to-who-knows-what,and a few hours or so after he went in, Dad came out.
I scolded and cajoled, but Dad didn't fail to tell me who woke him up and reminded him of his daughter, waiting for her father.
The next time I saw him was at the ranch. I never really found out what happened after he got a bottle from my dad, but heseemed sort of embarrassed whenever he looked at me.
He still refuses to tell me why, though. I hope Dad didn't offer my hand in marriage or something.
I didn't see him again for a while. But one day, probably a year or so later, he visited.
"I don't know if you remember me…" he began. I laughed.
"Of course I remember you!" I said. "Fairy boy."
He winced. I then noticed that he had no fairy with him. I immediately assumed he would rather not talk about it.
"You're also the only one who knows Epona's song, aside from me," I added.
"What about Talon?" he wanted to know.
"Dad… knows it… sort of," I laughed again. "I sing it to him, but he always falls asleep before I finish."
"Why…" he looked at me, frowning. I wanted to giggle. He's always so serious. "Why'd you teach it to me, then?"
"You?" I cocked my head to the side thoughtfully. "I don't know, actually."
This seemed to bother Link.
"So what can I do for you?" I asked, smiling. In truth, I was trying not to laugh. Here he was, a thirteen-year-old boy, and he was still wielding the funny sword and shield.
"I'd like to ride Epona again," he said solemnly.
This time I really did burst out laughing. I don't think he appreciated that.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," I said, still giggling. "Are you trying to impress your girlfriend or something?"
"…What?"
"Well, you have a sword, a shield, and now you ask for a horse. Do you want to impress somebody with the whole knight thing?"
He shook his head vigorously, too embarrassed to say anything. I hid another smile. It's fun to tease this one….
"I was also laughing," I went on. "Because you sounded so serious when you said you wanted to ride Epona, 'again'. But you've never ridden Epona. I'm the only one who's ever ridden Epona."
Link froze, and then his face cleared. He had that "Oh, yeah…" look on his face. I tried not to burst out laughing again. It was as if he really believed that he had ridden Epona before.
"I can't ride Epona?" he asked. "I wanted to borrow her."
I grew quiet. "…You're so strange, Link."
"Wh-what?" he looked taken aback.
"Well, you don't come by for about a year, and then you pop up, convinced that you've ridden my horse before. And now you want to borrow her, when I haven't let anyone else near her, because she is my horse."
I began walking briskly toward the horses. He stumbled after me.
"M-Malon… wait…"
I turned around abruptly, and he nearly crashed into me.
"Play it for me," I ordered.
"Huh?"
"Epona's song. Do you still have your ocarina? Play it for me… please?"
He looked at me, with a funny look on his face. But he took out his ocarina, and he played the song my mother composed. Epona came trotting, first to him and then to me.
"She's decided," I announced, when Link finished playing. "You can borrow her."
"…Thank you."
"But!" I faced him again, with a firm expression on my face. "You take care of her, you understand?"
"Y-yes."
"I don't want anything to happen to her!"
"Yes."
"Play the song for her while she's resting!"
"Yes."
"And…" I tried not to cry. "Bring her back…"
He must have seen a touch of a tear on my face.
"Malon… I don't have to take her if you don't want me to."
I shook my head. "She likes you, and I know you'll take good care of her," I said sincerely. "And… you know, you look really good with her? It's like you were made for each other." I smiled.
He mounted her with some ease. "…I may not be back for awhile."
" 'Bye, Epona. Take care, Link."
I kissed Epona, and they were off. Before they had gone too far, however, Link turned around to face me.
"It's not to impress a girl," he called.
"Huh?"
"I'm looking," he said. "For my fairy. That's why I need Epona."
I smiled at him warmly. "I hope you find her."
And he was gone, again, for almost another year. Hyrule prospered, but I missed Epona terribly. With all honesty, I sometimes regretted letting him borrow her.
I surprised myself, actually. Epona was probably my best friend. Why had it been so easy for him to borrow her? Did the song cast a spell on me, too?
But I waited patiently. I may have regretted lending him my horse, but it was not because I thought she was being mistreated. Link would never hurt her. I could tell.
It's hard to explain, but he played the song with such gentleness. He mounted her with such ease. Epona didn't complain at his touch.
Dad was surprised, but he kept silent. If anything, he assumed it meant I found a friend in Link. Truthfully, I can't count the times he gave me a talk on how it would not be right for me to have a horse as my sole companion. He wanted me to have friends my age, my species.
Link came back with Epona, safe and sound before I turned fourteen. I don't know if he found his fairy, or what happened to him. I didn't talk about it, though. Instead, I thanked him for taking good care of her.
"No problem," he said, looking tired. Dad and I let him spend the night. The next morning, he said he should really go back to the castle. He said that he troubled us enough.
"So we weren't your first stop back, then?" I teased. He looked at me with a kind of cynical stare.
"I should go."
"Link."
I put my hands on my hips. He was so serious all the time, and it was kind of silly.
"Come back."
He stared at me, somewhat surprised at the commanding tone of voice I used. I looked down, and used a softer voice.
"Epona likes you well enough. Don't disappear for a long time again… it's kind of insulting, Fairy Boy… You only come when you need something."
He winced at the old pet name, but he agreed to come back soon for a visit.
So he visited quite regularly, actually. Though he rarely talked about himself, I think I told him everything. It was a bit like talking to Epona.
Dad was glad I found a friend in him. He often wondered why I ignored all the other boys from town.
That's where I refused to please him. Dad was a good man, but he had no logic and common sense.
I never admitted it aloud, but I received attention from many people my age. Boys, in fact. Would-be suitors.
All of them, however, were firmly rejected. If they were smitten by my plain countenance, I assumed it was because whomever I married inherited a good business. Dad was too lazy to do anything to prevent them from wooing me, but he was just as lazy when they turned to him for approval. So I had nothing to worry about.
Also, I made it very clear quite early on that I would be choosing my own husband, thank you very much.
First of all, a lot of those "potential husbands" were the same boys who taunted me as children. Next, they couldn't understand why I loved Epona so much, or why I kept lingering on my mother's memory.
Link was different.
By the time I turned fifteen, I was in love with him.
"Do you know," I began. "You're very popular with the girls? They continue to ask me about you."
"I'm not interested," he said shortly. I forced a laugh.
"How about as a child? Didn't you have a childhood crush?"
Link turned red. As I said, I loved to do that to him.
He muttered something inaudible.
"What?" I cupped my hand to my ear, smiling.
"Yes."
"Oooh, who?"
"None of your business…!" He tapped Epona with his foot and galloped away. I mounted another horse and followed him, refusing to give him peace until he told me.
"Saria," he muttered. I blinked.
"Isn't she your friend from the Forest?"
"…Yes."
"I'd like to meet her sometime," I said cheerfully. He peered at me, with another one of his funny expressions.
"Why?"
"Oh, you know…" I said, jumping down from my horse. "I'd like to meet someone who knew you way before I did. You never actually told me what you were like as a kid."
"Why would I tell you…?"
"Anyone else?"
"What…?"
"Any other girl you came close to falling in love with?" It was a joke, actually, but his face darkened.
"Yes."
The way he said it made me hesitate. He said it sort of darkly.
"…Would you tell me who?"
"No." He got off Epona, stroking her. "Why are you asking, anyway?"
"I don't know," I said, patting the horse as she grazed. "But considering I met you as a kid and all… I'm also debating on whether it was better off to get to know you later on, or if I should have pestered you into being my friend earlier."
"…You're strange, Malon."
"Of course not," I said indignantly. Oh, how I loved him. "I'm a very sweet girl."
"Well…" he looked at me straight in the eye. "That's true."
I blushed, smiled, and it took me so long to think about it without getting all giggly.
At seventeen years old, I kind of figured it wouldn't work out though.
Link was, in a sense, my best friend. Though somewhat overly serious, he still returned to the ranch. He still came back to see Epona, and me. His mysterious aura attracted me to him even more for the first few years. The truth is, he fitted the whole "handsome stranger" thing.
But, of course, I had to get over him, for several reasons.
One reason was he, himself. Although he came back, and I knew him well enough to call him a friend, he didn't trust me with deep secrets. In fact, I was pretty sure he kept things from me. This happened especially when I mentioned anything regarding fairies, or time, or the Princess.
Another reason was the Princess.
I don't know how, but between the day he went off to the castle (and found my dad sleeping on the job) and the present, it seems Link was now a common face at the castle.
Princess Zelda called him the Hero of Time. She had a small ceremony to award him, but nobody really understood what he did. Something to do with the collection of the three sacred gems that I glimpsed at the Temple. Princess Zelda often said that those three gems were a symbol of ultimate unity between all of Hyrule.
But I saw how she looked at him, and how he looked at her. There was something there, and my best guess was that she was the one he trusted with his secrets.
That was when I had just turned seventeen. I went home from the ceremony, feeling very down. I realized just how little I meant to him in comparison to the Princess.
It took a while, but I managed to force myself not to look at him in that way. He seemed to notice it, though.
"You've been quiet lately," he said. He had been helping me with the cows.
"Oh, well," I said lamely. "Dad seems to be getting more and more concerned because I refuse to be courted."
"…What?"
"Uhm…" I set a pail of milk aside. "Well, he's always been lenient about me not liking to have to, have to marry. But I think he wants to be sure the ranch'll be taken care of."
"Marry?" Link blinked. "You…?"
"Hey," I faced him in mock anger. "Is it that hard to imagine me in a bridal setting?"
"N-no…"
"I'm just kidding, Link," I said. "Don't be so serious."
This conversation sealed up my no-more-feelings-for-him thing, actually. He expressed no sign of jealousy whatsoever. No objection to talk of me belonging to somebody else.
None at all.
So that's the timeline. From ages fifteen onwards, I was infatuated. From seventeen onwards, I was maintaining a steady friendship.
Something happened, though, the year I turned nineteen.
NOTES (which you don't have to read if you don't want to, but if you have questions I suggest you read first):
I haven't played the game in a while, so I don't know if Malon is the same age as he is. I can't just change it later on, because I need the ages to be like this.
I tried my very best to let everything remain true to the actual timeline, but as I said, I don't remember much anymore.
Now, about Link having a crush on Saria. A lot of you will complain, or whine, or yell at me. But first of all, it's not hard to imagine. Let's say Link lives in the Kokiri Forest, he has no fairy, and the exalted Mido has somebody to pick on. Here comes Saria, and she quickly becomes close to him. The others gradually accept him, because they follow her example. But Saria will always be his lifelong friend.
If you are still intolerable about it, let's just say that it's fanFICTION, and leave it at that. Mwah.
And now, the lovely Question:
"Why Malon?"
Through the game, Link has with him the faithful Epona. It's kind of hard for him not to think of Malon every now and then. Not exactly romantically, mind you, but as yet another person to fight for.
Over the years (or months, I don't remember), I've been going through fanfiction on the weband I haven't found a good Malon x Link yet. Some are OK, some are horrible, but none are good for me.
Yeah, I'm picky, but I don't know. They make it a little too easy, if you know what I mean.
I'm not saying that mine is good. In fact, mine could be a bit farfetched, but who's to say I can't have my fun?
Love ya. ;)
EDIT: check second chapter...