***gentlerain***

Link quickly ducked behind an unknowing guard.
It was another dark, cold night....
He was infiltrating the castle....
He was going to tell her....
Tonight....
Was the night....
He was going to tell Zelda that he loved her....



Meanwhile, Malon lay in her bed, cold, but still feeling unusually peaceful.
She was thinking warmly about Link... The last time she had seen him before his unusual disappearance.
Malon was 15, she was thin, and surprisingly somewhat tall for her age (of course, she apparently stopped growing since then, as she was now strangely short). It was summer, and while the daytimes were unbelievably hot, as soon as the sun set, nights were cool and refreshing. It was at this time, that Link himself had lived at the Lon Lon Ranch. He had outgrown his home in the Kokiri Forest, and while searching for a new house, he slept in the hay alongside the chickens. Link and Malon saw each other every day.
While neither of them really realized it, they were both madly in love with each other. They were at ease together, they were happy together, and they were passionate together.

One particular night, they had the ranch all to themselves... Talon and Ingo were gone on business.
Link wiped a bit of sweat from his brow as he set down a large bag of cuckoo feed.
"I think I'm going to have to go to bed soon," he said tiredly.
"Aw, so you're just going to leave me alone the rest of the night?"
"I'll just be in the cuckoo shed."
"I know, but still..."
Link and Malon both stepped into the shed, and Link plopped down into his corner.
"I guess I'll see you in the morning," Malon said. Link sighed a little.
"Nah... I guess we can sit here and talk for a little bit."
"About what?"
Link laughed. "I don't know."
Malon sat down next to him for a second, then let her head fall onto his shoulder as he slid an arm under her. She heard him inhale deeply.
"Did you just smell my hair?" she asked.
"No, I didn't."
"You know, before she died, my mom told me that a guy who smells your hair then pretends not to is a sweet guy."
"I didn't smell your hair!"
"Whatever you say..."
Link grabbed her hand.
"Why do you never take off your gloves?" she asked.
"I don't know, I just like my gloves."
"Don't you ever at least think of taking them off?"
"Not really."
After that, their dialogue trailed off, and they fell asleep together on the hay.

Malon realized something in bed that night: In her childhood, she never really did have any friends... just Zelda... and once she became too old to play anymore... there was Link.
So she asked herself something. If she had never met Link, would her childhood be so miserable? And now that he came back, would she be happy again?

But what puzzled her most off all...

What happened that night in the chicken shack... what did that mean to their relationship? Ever since Link had gotten back, he had hugged her, and held her shoulders, and things like that, which he had never done before.

Malon fell asleep pondering such matters.