Chapter Text
“Woah!”
Vaati’s eyes were wide as he stared in shock at the beast in front of him, just over a tall fence. It was fat and kind of ugly, white with black spots, and massive, brown eyes. Its nose was pink, and so were the massive udders hanging down from its underside—and it was chewing on grass! Not even the good kind the Minish usually harvested, with the sweet water inside and the crunchy stems! Just regular old grass!
Stupid cow, it didn’t even know what was good.
And this was a cow, because Wheaton had said so when they got there. He’d only ever seen the thing’s hoof before, and it was freaky then—but now it was just weird. Its eyes were dull, but he could tell those legs had power to them, ready to strike.
He didn’t know how to feel. He thinks he might like horses more than cows, if the stamp had been accurate.
“HELLO!”
He’d been so distracted by his own thoughts that he hadn’t even heard the other approach, and he fell back with a scream. Strong arms caught him, even if they felt as small as his own, and a darkly tanned face smiled down as he hung.
“Sorry there, foreigner! M’names Malon—you look a bit like a mouse, y’know that?” the girl said, lifting him onto his own feet.
Malon was taller than him by a good bit, even if he was sure she was about his age. Her arms looked strong, and her white dress was the same texture as the burlap sacks of flour that he’d help Wheaton get from the back of the bakery, even if it was significantly prettier with its red and blue patterns. Her hair was long and rose-red, her eyes almost golden hazel, and she had a prominent nose.
Then her words hit, and he immediately took offense, “I don’t look like a mouse!”
“Yeah you do,” Malon teased, leaning down, grinning, “you’ve got a pointy li’l face and big ol’ eyes! Like the li’l mice I see ‘round the barn sometimes!”
Why this little—
“I don’t, I look like any other Hylian!” He protested again, glaring, both of his eyes visible. He’d actually been very taken by the feeling of wearing the bandanna during the frosting lesson, and Pita had helped teach him how to tie it on his own. Since gold and jewels were beloved by Hylians, he found people took a liking to him when he showed his eyes.
Malon grinned, gap-toothed and missing a molar, “Whatever you say, mousy! Are ya here with miss Pita, or nah?”
He absolutely did not pout at the nickname, but nodded, “Yeah, I’m staying with her in the bakery, it’s nice there. I wanted to see the animals and miss Pita needed to get more stuff from here for the bakery, so she took me with her.”
“Oh! Was that why ya were lookin’ at the cows like they were aliens?” Malon asked, then grinned, “Ne’rmind, wanna see Epona? She’s a little baby horse, daddy bought her mama and didn’t find out there was two’vem ‘til she was bein’ born, daddy just thought her mama was fat.”
A baby horse? He nodded again, more excited, “It’s why I came! I’ve only seen a horse on a stamp before!”
“Really? Well, you’ll love’r! She’s a feisty li’l thing, been alive for two weeks an’ already tryna kick daddy when he gets too close! She doesn’t like boys much, I don’ think, but she’s just a baby and it’s just been me and daddy, so I dunno,” Malon rambled, grabbing his hand and pulling him.
She wasn’t gentle, though he wasn’t too surprised about that. Maybe she didn’t talk to many people her age? She was pulling him more like a cart than a person. Despite her very inaccurate statement about him being mousy, she was alright—enthusiastic. She didn’t look much like the Hylian children he’d seen before, though—what was she?
“Sav’aaq, little horsies!” Malon whispered loudly, standing on her tiptoes to see over the large gate, “Epona, Maqua, here, here! I know you can open the gate, Maqua, I saw you do it yesterday!”
A flash of white appeared, then ducked down, a latch rattling for a moment before the gate opened. The horse was big, with a white mane and a buttercream coat, big brown eyes and a black nose. Her hooves were dark, and she had a lighter marking on her forehead.
The horse’s ear flicked, head tilting forward, and Vaati heard.
“The desert-girl brought a boy,” her body said as she nickered and trotted forward, “here to see us? My baby is brave.”
“Good Maqua! Here, mousy, reach out your hand like this, she’s real friendly!”
He was too dazzled to start at the nickname, tentatively reaching out, palm facing up, fingers outstretched. Malon dropped some oats into his hand, and the horse, Maqua, came closer, snuffling it curiously.
Horse lips felt weird, he decided, but horses were much prettier than cows. Her teeth were large and brushed his skin a couple times, but didn’t bite. Which was very good, he didn’t want to know how horse teeth felt. They looked kind of square and thick, though, so nothing like Minish teeth. Minish teeth broke skin. He’d know, he was a biter when he was younger.
He saw Maqua’s tail flick as her tongue brushed his skin, one of her front legs lifting slightly as she finished the little snack. With a light whinny, she turned around a little, “Baby, come here! Desert-girl brought a friend!”
Much lighter crunches of the hay hit his ears, and four thin, wobbly, red legs were the source. Epona was redder than any animal he’d seen except a ladybug, with almost black eyes and a white mane. Her feet had white, thick fur just above the black hooves, and her nose was shockingly black below a white starburst on her forehead. She looked a little wild, finicky as a fawn, like she’d do well wandering through the woods, even though her colors were bright.
She was one of the most amazing things he had ever seen. She looked speedy and smart, and her wariness was endearing, almost.
“Stranger!” her pursed lips said, and she lightly scraped her hoof against the ground, tail flicking many times.
Malon, seeing her agitation, began humming a simple song, three notes descending twice in a row, then a tune he didn’t know how to describe, “None of that now, you can’t be fixin’ to run or kick every time someone new’s here!”
He tried to move his ears the way Maqua had, pointing them backward—he assumed that was friendly? He smiled, showing his teeth, and kept his hand out. After Epona was calmed with the song and seemed to catch his friendly intent, she slowly walked forward.
Her hooves were weird looking, almost spiky at the base, not fully formed. She didn’t look in pain, so he assumed that was normal. She sniffed his hand, backed away, tail flicking, then calmed again, repeating a few times. It was very cute, admittedly.
Vaati might like horses.
Epona was eventually comfortable with him as long as he moved slowly, and Malon clapped her hands lightly, “Hooray! Epona’s skittish, she doesn’t really like people, I’m glad you two are friends! Here, in case she gets a little spooked again, I’m gonna teach you how to sing her favorite song!”
So she started singing the song again, and expected Vaati to follow. After the second repetition, he joined, though shaky. It was a nice song, very simple, and after about five times together, Malon stopped.
“I’ve been trying to come up with lyrics for her, too. It was my mama’s song before she passed, and she gave it to me and told me it was for people I care about. Epona’s not a person, I guess, but I care about her! Wanna hear?”
He nodded, smiling as she began to sing again.
“Epona, Epona, where is it you roam? Grazing among the fields, never far from home! Epona, Epona, can you hear this song? Singing from my heart, all along!” she sang, and though her voice cracked a couple times, it was very nice.
Vaati clapped, grinning, “It sounds good, Malon!”
“Thanks, mousy!” she giggled, petting Epona’s neck, who had wandered closer to both her name and her favorite song.
He was starting to kind of like being called that.
Maqua let him pet her nose, and he kept talking to Malon for a long while. Then, he heard someone shouting his name.
“Vaati! Where have you gone off to—Vaati! It’s time to go home!”
Miss Pita! Vaati had almost forgotten he was just visiting, he had gotten so comfortable.
Malon looked over at him as his head shot up, “Huh?”
“Miss Pita’s calling for me,” he answered, pointing to where he heard her voice, “and I’m supposed to help with putting the stuff into the carriage. It was nice meeting you!”
“Nice to meet you too, mousy! Come back and visit sometime, okay? Sav’orq!” Malon grinned.
With a nod, he ran off to meet with Pita, who sighed the moment she saw him.
“There you are! Did you have fun?” Pita asked, smiling and patting his head.
He nodded again—he’d done that a lot today—and talked about everything he’d done with Malon. About halfway through, he remembered how both Maqua had called her desert-girl and how she seemed to know different words than he ever heard of, so he decided to ask, “Miss Pita, who lives in the desert?”
It spoke volumes how often he asked seemingly random questions, since Pita didn’t even blink, “Well, the Gerudo, mostly. They’re a society of very strong women who only have a son once every hundred years, they have very red hair and dark skin. For a while, Hyrule and the Gerudo were very close, but eventually many Hylians decided some very untrue things about them, and now they hardly visit. They’re well known for their golden eyes and very pointed noses, and for being very beautiful and muscular. Sometimes, when a Gerudo child comes of age, they decide to set off into other places to find husbands, but it’s their choice, and they can go whenever once they’re grown up. Did Talon’s daughter tell you about her mother?”
“Yeah,” he lied just a little, “I think she looked a lot like her.”
Pita laughed, “That is very true—Gerudo genes are very, very strong! If Malon ever has a great, great, great grandchild, it’s likely that child will be a redheaded girl with a strong nose and dark skin. Not always, of course, but—well, it’s the usual. My grandfather’s brother married a Gerudo woman, and so I have Gerudo relatives—lovely people, truly. Many live with the main civilization of Gerudo women, but my cousin lives only a little while away, she’s lovely. Perhaps we could arrange to meet sometime, I think she may have an adopted son…”
“What’s adoption?” Vaati asked.
“Well—” Pita seemed just a little embarrassed, “adoption is when…families take in a child that they didn’t create, and the kingdom recognizes their relationship. Most adopted children don’t have parents or homes to go back to, but there’s quite a process—I’ll tell you more another time, I suppose.”
Vaati tried not to look too disappointed as he watched the ranch get farther and farther away.