"Hey Malon!" The carmine haired girl's father yipped as he darted into the stable, almost startling her for it was very uncharacteristic of Talon to be so high-spirited.

      "Yes, father?"

      "I have great news!" He pranced around happily. "There's going to be a grand open-air bazaar in Hyrule Castle Market all week! And they want ME to have an egg AND milk stand for it!"

      Malon beamed with glee. "That's great!"

      "I know! We'll make bundles!" Her father's smile then faded slowly.

      She caught sight of that and began to worry. "What's wrong father?"

      "It's a week-long bazaar," Talon replied, "And I'll have to be there the entire time. And I'll need someone to be here, looking after the ranch while I'm gone..."

      Already, Malon understood. Neither she nor her father will ever in a million years leave Mr. Ingo alone on their beloved ranch. If they did, they might as well sell it to Gerudo Thieves themselves. "I understand," she said with a low sigh.

      "Are you sure? I can always give up my stand spaces if you really don't want to be lonely."

      Malon shook her head and smiled a forced smile. "It's no big deal. It's just a week, right? I'll be okay."

      He nodded to her and apologized for leaving her like this. She reassured him that she will be fine and wished him luck at the Bazaar. Afterwards, Talon left his daughter in the stable. Alone.

      Three days passed and as expected, nothing interesting happened on Lon Lon Ranch. Malon spent most of her time clearing the stables, packing hay, milking the cows -- anything, just as long as it kept her mind off of being lonely. But it didn't work. She wanted desperately to talk with someone. ANYONE. Ingo only spoke to her when he didn't know of which chores to do. And if he DID converse with her, his conversation material left Malon thinking it was best if she spoke to herself instead.

      With all of her chores done, Malon slumped down on a block of hay in the middle of the corral and preoccupied herself by looking at the horses run around. When they made her dizzy from their crazy zigzag run patterns, she put them into their stables for nightfall came seemingly minutes later. "Gods. I hate being lonely," she said to herself, sitting back on the hay block. She missed her lazy father; she missed her good friend Link who went off to adventure with her favorite horse Epona. The thought of that elegant horse made Malon smile softly and begin to sing the song that her mother had taught her which Epona had grew fond of almost instantly. She began to think about the first day she met Epona. A mere pony, Epona would never approach anyone except Malon's mother, who sang the very same song and instantaneously tamed her. Her mother taught her that song after telling her of its origin. "It's the Knight's favorite song," she had said. "He heard the fair maiden sing it and he loved it almost instantly!" This prompted more questions from the young Malon and it led to the telling of a simple, but favorable tale of a Knight in Shining Armor sweeping a Fair Maiden off of her feet. Needless to say, Malon loved the story. Though it was just a fantasy story told to young girls throughout Hyrule, Malon had always wished for a knight in shining armor to come into her life. The only person she'd ever met that was close to a knight was Link.

      "Hee hee.. Link." She beamed just thinking about that Kokiri-raised "fairy boy". When they were about 7 years younger, Malon had somewhat of a crush on him. Like a typical boy, he was too busy with his adventuring to even notice it so she said nothing about it to him. In his 7 year absence she convinced herself that she had gotten over the crush. But when he showed up years later unforeseen, all handsome and well-built, that crush came about again. It was probably even more than that now...

      Malon snapped out of her daze when she saw the light in Ingo's room flicker out. That meant it was nearly midnight. "Gee! Have I been thinking about him that long?" she could have sworn she was out there a little bit before 8 'o' clock.

      She fumbled to a stand. "I better go get some rest," she said to herself. As she began to step out of the corral, she was halted by the sound of something...familiar. Music... Ocarina Music...

      Zealous, she spun around. Indeed, Link was there, playing some sweet tune on his Ocarina. His fairy Navi was nowhere in sight. He stopped playing when he saw her and smiled. "Hey there Malon."

      Malon felt so happy to see him that she wanted to wrap her arms around him and hug him to death. She refrained herself from doing so, however, and just smiled. "Hi Link. What brings you here?"

      "I was traveling around and I came by to pay you a visit," he replied. He sat on the stack of hay. "When I was walking up here, I noticed you looked very thoughtful. What were you thinkin' about?" he asked.

      His red-haired friend suddenly flushed. "Oh! Uh... nothing."

      "Nothing?"

      "That's right. Nothing."

      "Oooookay," Link said. "Where's your father?"

      "He's out at that Bazaar in Hyrule Castle Market," she replied.

      "Oh that's right... I forgot about it," Link flicked a blond bang out of his face.

      Malon nodded.

      "So you're here alone, eh?" he asked her.

      She nodded again.

      "Okay. Something's wrong."

      Blinking, Malon looked at him then furrowed her eyebrows. "What do you mean?" "The Malon I know is never this quiet," he replied.

      "HEY!" Malon huffed.

      Link grinned. "That's more like it."

      "Why you--!" Playfully, Malon pretended to fire an imaginary arrow off at him which, in return, Link pretended to get hit by. He even threw himself off the hay block, holding his 'wounded chest'.

      "Argh! I've been hit!" he yelped in between laughs. "Is this how the Legendary Knight of... Whatchamacallit is going to die!?"

      At this, Malon's giggles softened. She looked off to the side, biting on her lower lip. "Yeah. Heh... knight."

      "What? You have something against us knights?" he asked, trying to get humor out of the situation.

      "It's not that," Malon shook her head then glanced at him," it's quite the opposite."

      "Care to explain?"

      Link waited a few moments before Malon finally found the courage to tell him. "I..want my knight," she said softly.

      "Your knight," Link began," in Shining Armor, right?"

      "How do you know about that?" Malon was surprised that Link knew of such a thing.

      "Uh, it's very common for girls to dream about that kind of stuff. I hear about it from Saria all the time," he said. He didn't want to tell her the truth. When he was a boy, he used the Sheikah's 'Mask of Truth' to read the mysterious Gossip Stones. It was all done out of harmless curiosity, of course. One day, he happened to hear one of the Gossip Stones outside of the Temple of Time mention Malon's dream. He was too young to comprehend that but as he matured, he finally understood. He acted ignorant of it so as to not sadden or anger his good friend. He also wanted to know if it was indeed true...

      "Oh," was all Malon said.

      "Can you please continue?"

      Malon nodded and then proceeded to tell him the story. "And ever since then," she said at last," I've wanted to be like that maiden. I wanted to have a knight to sweep me off of my feet."

      An uncomfortable silence fell upon them both. And both of them, especially Malon, fidgeted awkwardly. "Dang... now he probably thinks that I'm a sap or something!" she thought. She silently cursed herself for telling him that. Malon averted her gaze from her feet to look at him, hoping he wasn't doing anything rash or looking at her with some weird gaze. Instead, he had his Ocarina to his lips, ready to play. Link closed his azure eyes and rocked back and forth to the side, and soon, Epona's song could be heard from it. The white-maned horse's gallops were coming closer and closer until she was finally adjacent to Link in the corral.

      Smiling, albeit sadly since this meant that Link was going to leave, Malon stroked Epona's fine mane. "I'll see you some other day girl. Don't worry," she murmured softly as Link mounted Epona.

      He was still silent, even when Malon bid him good-bye. He simply nodded to her, his countenance austere. As Link began to leave, she turned her back to him, closing her eyes at the sound of Epona's hooves thumping the ground. She wanted to cry. And she might have cried if she didn't notice that the horse's footfalls were becoming louder, closer, at an angle from behind her. Malon yelped (not loud enough to wake Ingo up though) as both of Link's hands reached down and snaked around her waist firmly. With astonishing strength and coordination, he managed to set Malon on the saddle behind him while maintaining control of Epona at the same time.

      "Hang on," he said with a grin she couldn't see. She wrapped her arms securely about his torso, and found herself pressed against a body like molded steel. Everything was happening so fast for her that she wasn't aware of where Link was taking her. She didn't care either...

      "Lake Hylia?"

      "Yup," Link replied, reaching up to help Malon dismount Epona.

      She refused his help and hopped off. "Why did you bring me here, hm?"

      "Well, you wanted a knight to sweep you off of your feet right?" Link grinned. "So here I am. Sorry if my armor isn't shiny enough for ya, Malon. It's Kokiri after all."

      Suddenly Malon blushed. "I... thank you, Link.." At a loss of words, she simply hugged him and he returned the embrace.

      "No problem," he gave her an affectionate peck on her cheek. He gave Epona a Snooze Carrot (a carrot that works much like a sleeping potion) and she instantly settled herself to sleep. Then he motioned for Malon to sit down on the grass with him.

      "It's pretty here," Malon looked around after she took her seat next to Link.

      "If you think this night is pretty, you should check out the sun rise," he said.

      "How much until sun rise?" Malon asked him.

      "Oh, about 5 hours give or take a few."

      Malon groaned. Snickering, Link draped an arm over her shoulders, pulling her closer to him even if this proximity was making him as red as the Goron's Ruby. "You can sleep if you want. I'll wake you up a little bit before sun rise. I don't want you to miss it," he said softly as she rested her head against his shoulder.

      "You're not going to sleep?" Malon asked.

      Link shook his head. "Nah. A Knight has to watch over his Fair Maiden, even in her sleep, right?"

      The carmine-haired girl smiled gently, nuzzling his shoulder before she rested her head against it once more. Ingo would probably be upset that she left him at the ranch alone, but she didn't mind. She finally had her Knight.

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