Seven Years 19.5
You stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid little arrogant self-righteous maggot… you ROYALLY screwed that one up Zelda, and there’s no turning back…
It was actually the most charitable thing she had though about herself since chasing off Toran. Sighing, Shiek kicked agitatedly at the ground. Why in the world did she feel the need to shoot herself in the foot all the time?
She was back at Lon Lon Ranch, and trying desperately to erase Toran’s face from her mind. He had been so calm, yet the hurt in his eyes had been clear and deep. Growling, she leapt up and grabbed one of the low-hanging rafters of the loft. She began pulling chin-ups as rapidly as possible, vainly attempting to sweat the idea of Toran out of her head. She had only completed ten reps when she heard the door burst open. Shiek had absolutely no desire to talk to Malon, so she quickly flipped herself on top of the beam and blended into the shadows.
It was Malon that burst into the barn, but rather than her usual flouncing step, the ranch girl stumbled in and fell sprawling to the floor, as though she had been shoved violently through the door. She let out a sharp cry of pain as she hit the ground and skid several feet. Shiek started, eyes widening as she watched Malon push herself back to her knees.
“I TOLD YOU NOT TO GIVE THAT HORSE ANY FOOD!”
Malon’s large eyes looked up, a flash of anger tinting the blue.
“You’re going to kill her! Just because Epionia won’t let you ride her doesn’t mean you’re allowed to starve her!”
Indigo stormed into view, his short figure coming in close to Malon’s kneeling form.
“You little slut,” he growled, weasel-like features contorting with rage as he grabbed her arm roughly, “you act so high and mighty, but you just low filth!”
His arm whipped around in a vicious backhand that connected with Malon’s face, snapping her head around. Malon sagged back, and probably would have sunk to the floor if Indigo hadn’t been pulling her upright. Shiek gasped audibly as Indigo lashed out again, the smack horrifyingly loud.
“Don’t think I haven’t seen those boys sneaking around here at night. Don’t act like you’re better then I am, you slut! I swear I’m gonn’a turn that horse into hamburger and force it down your throat!” Indigo punctuated his threat by pushing her roughly back into the boxes of milk crates.
Shiek felt frozen. She sat on the rafter, eyes wide, staring in shock at the scene below her. She had seen Moblins, Lizardmen, and Skultiods do horrible things, and even her share of Zora, Greudo, Shiekah and Hylian fighting, but this was the first time she had witnessed a Hylian man beating a defenseless victim. Shiek knew she should help Malon, but her arms and legs refused to respond. Icy fingers of fear gripped her heart as Malon looked up to Indigo, a small trickle of blood rolling down her face out of her nose. The ranch girl was trembling slightly, and her face was already showing the signs of taking several blows, but a defiant, angry, gleam still shone from her eyes.
“I care what you do to me, but don’t you dare touch Epionia!”
“Don’t talk to me, slut!” his hand shot out again, sending Malon back to the floor. Malon’s body had just hit the ground when the door opened again. Before any of the three had time to react the new comer was in the room and had grabbed Indigo by the straps of his overalls, lifting him clear off the ground.
“Look, pal, you want’a hit someone, you can try and hit me…”
Shiek gasped again. Link had returned to Lon Lon.
His tone was steady and collected, but there was fire in his eyes and a murderous undertone to his words.
“Fairy Boy!” Malon gasped, a hand drifting to her mouth.
Link slammed Indigo back into a beam, almost snarling as he glared down into the rancher’s beady eyes.
“I said, you want’a hit someone?”
Indigo’s brown eyes narrowed as he glared back at Link.
“Back off boy, you obviously have no idea who I am! Gannondorf gave me this ranch; I am one of his favorite servants!”
“You’re in with Ganny? Why doesn’t that surprise me… but here’s some news for you, pal, someone’s about to finally step up to your boss, and trust me, I don’t plan on losing.”
“Please Fairy Boy, don’t kill him!” Malon cried, pushing herself to her feet, keeping her balance by leaning on one of the support beams, “He’s right; if you kill him Gannondorf will burn this ranch to the ground! All the horses will die!”
Link scowled at Indigo a bit longer, and it was quite obvious he thought this was more then fair trade off. Finally he whirled, using the momentum to throw Indigo clean through the door back to the outside. He turned to face Malon again, concern in his eyes.
“You ok?” he asked reaching out to steady her. Malon staggered forward to cling onto Link, clutching the tunic at his chest and snuggling into him.
“I am now,” she breathed, and it looked as though she was beginning to cry. Shiek felt her heart freeze as Link’s arms began to encircle Malon, his right arm around her waist while his other hand gently stroked the long red hair at her back.
“How long has this been going on,” Link asked, a trace of raw hatred in his voice.
“Ever since daddy’s been gone… I don’t understand, Indigo used to be such a nice man, but now he’s always angry, and it’s been getting worse…”
“You’ve been very strong, not everyone would have stood up for the horses like you did…”
“Knowing you were back gave me strength…” the Ranch Girl whispered, burrowing deeper into his chest.
“Uh, yeah, well, I need to get on… I came back to see if I could get a horse. I’m guessing that Indigo wouldn’t miss a few of them.”
“Oh, no he wouldn’t… Epionia would still remember you, if you want her,” Malon replied, an odd tone Shiek had never heard before in her voice.
“Yeah… hey, I’ll see you later, ok?”
Malon nodded and stepped away, tears shining in her blue eyes. Link reached out and wiped the trickle of blood off Malon’s face. Turning to go, Link smiled back over his shoulder.
“Don’t worry about anything Malon… I found some stuff when I was in the village, and things will get better…”
With that Link turned and exited the barn.
Shiek wasn’t sure how to read what had happened. On one hand it seemed obvious that Malon was very attracted to Link, but on the other hand she didn’t act anything close to how she acted around other guys with him. Also, Link seemed to be concerned about Malon’s wellbeing, but Shiek wasn’t sure if that necessarily meant he loved the ranch girl. Maybe they had been very close friends before, and were just watching each other’s backs in this dark time. Dropping out of the loft, Shiek landed next to Malon, causing the startled ranch girl to gasp.
“Shiek! Where did you come from?”
“Just around,” she said, smiling slightly. She always got a thrill out of making people jump, “I’ve been helping Link, so I have to follow him around a bit.”
“You’ve been stalking Fairy Boy?” there was something akin to incredulity in her voice.
“Not stalking, following,” Shiek said giggling slightly; she did have to admit it must seem a bit odd.
“Well, you can just about back off Shiek.”
Shiek stood, her mouth slightly agape, in shock. Malon’s arms were crossed over her chest, a dangerous gleam in her blue eyes. Maybe her worst fears had been right; Malon liked Link more then as a friend, and certainly more then the men she used to fill her emotional void.
“Um, what do you mean?” she asked, stepping back as Malon edged in closer, still glaring murderously.
“Fairy Boy is mine Shiek… The one thing I have left. Plus I saw him first; I’ve been his friend for many, many, years. There’s no way you could love him as much as I do!”
Malon directness caused a flare to go off in Shiek’s mind. She was only an inch or two taller then the ranch girl, but Shiek tried her best to tower over Malon.
“Is that so? Then how become you were bedding Draq the whole time I was waiting for Link to return?”
Deep hurt flashed across Malon’s eyes, and Shiek honestly regretted the comment. However, the pain was almost instantly overshadowed by raw anger.
“Some of us didn’t have the benefit of knowing he was alive, Shiek… and it’s not like I don’t know what you and Toran do together! How dare you!”
Malon had no way of knowing just how hard this comment was going to hit home. Shiek was already feeling guilty about her attachment to Toran, and the last thing she needed was Malon stoking the fire. Clenching her fist at her sides, Shiek’s red eyes burned with anger.
“I don’t want to hear it from you, you slut-” even as the last word fell from her mouth, Shiek remembered why it sounded so familiar. Malon’s blue eyes narrowed, clouding as she nearly snarled in response.
“Yeah, sure, you gonn’a hit me too?”
Malon whirled and stalked towards the door, leaving Shiek standing mutely in the barn. Shiek knew she had overstepped her bounds, but could think of nothing to say that could possibly redeem herself.
We’re acting like immature little girls, both of us… surly we could have worked that out, right?
As if in answer the barn door slammed shut, leaving her alone once again. She had definitely seen better days then this one…
posted by Czar at 4:42 PM
4 Comments:
Thanks for posting!! You’ve giving me a reason to live for Mondays again… ;)
Shiek’s fear in this passage is striking. It seems that she just got done being so impulsive and emotional by throwing Toran out that she would be on the brink of doing anything that came to her mind. I think her freezing up when witnessing the assault of Malon is telling: that she is still shocked by bad things in the world, so in spite of all she’s seen, she’s not callous; I don’t think she feels a need to defend Malon (which is crystal clear at the end of this section); and I think she is still afraid. She probably feels more alone right here than she ever has, and it’s interesting that it constricts her instead of liberating her to do crazy things. What I mean is, in a lot of movies, it’s when everything has been lost and gone bad the main character before they’re willing to take up arms and fight sometimes. It almost seems Shiek is losing her resolve because she feels she doesn’t have anything left to fight for.
Speaking of fighting for things, why doesn’t Malon fight? Why doesn’t she get out of the ranch, or is it because of the horses? She seems to have as much reason as the others. What’s her deal?
The conclusion of this section was good. It’s interesting how we always second-guess the end of conversations like this, but I think often times when we think we’ve said too much, we should be thankful we at least had the guts to speak the truth. We should always speak the truth in love and with a measure of gentleness, which was not there in this case, but I found this an interesting dissection of the famous female cat fight.
I was not expecting this interaction. I knew it would come between Malon and Shiek and I wanted it to happen – I wanted Shiek to realize what she was doing and that Link may not be just waiting around for her. It does seem like Shiek would consider more seriously the fact that Malon and Link may like each other. While she has contemplated it in her thoughts, it does not seem like she has very seriously thought through the possibility.
Not that I want to justify Malon’s behavior with other guys, it is interesting to note that she did believe Link dead and was moving on with her life. Moving on in a way that Shiek could learn from. While it might have been necessary for Shiek to continue believing Link would return, she is so tied to the past she is having a hard time moving forward and seeing her life for what it is.
I cannot wait to read what Impa will say to Shiek.
OH…by-the-by, you say that Impa is around 45 and then you say that her husband died 37 years ago. Do you mean to say 27? Because if you actually mean 37 she would have only been 8 when her husband died and you said that they spent their teen years together. Just thought you might like to know… *smile*
Thanks for posting this part and please, while we all cannot wait for the next section, don’t write it if you are horribly busy. *small smile*
yeah, chronlogical mishap on my part... make meantal note that that's not ENTIRLY acurate
*gasp* The Czar is not accurate???
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