Is This What Being Vulnerable Feels Like?

Twilight

The fresh springtime air flooded the house when she woke up. Every gust through the window was like a wave on the beach, cool and full of life. She took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. Just a quiet moment, all her own.

She got dressed and went downstairs to check on the hoard of teens that had crashed in the living room late that night. They were all still there, and still in relatively the same places she had guided them to, Wind, Wild, Hyrule, and Four curled up on their bedrolls on the floor with Warriors beside them, even though Malon had offered him the couch. Said couch had been given to Legend, who Wars said had been complaining about his back again. Legend had been pretty out of it by the time they all arrived, and likely would never know about the whole exchange. Twilight and Sky were asleep in the two armchairs by the long-dead fire, wrapped in a blanket and sailcloth respectively. Lastly, her Link was in the big bed upstairs, still asleep. The quiet wouldn't last long, she knew. Hylia or whoever was behind their whole adventure would send another portal soon, and they would leave her alone with the ranch once again. But these brief moments of rest were precious, and so not a moment would be wasted.

She had almost finished the morning milking by the time Twilight joined her in the barn. Wordlessly he grabbed a spare milk pail and squatted down by the last of the cows. Malon smiled, knowing that there was nothing she could do to dissuade him. When they had finished with the milking and turned the cows out into the pasture, Wild and Wind came out to join them, rubbing the sleep from their eyes. Then Malon and Wind took the milk inside while Twilight and Wild went to water the horses.

Four, Hyrule and Warriors were also awake and had started cleaning up the bedrolls. Malon left them to it and focused on getting the milk into a large double-boiler pot for later. Once that was done, Malon gave the pails back to Wind to wash and put away. Then, she went into the living room again and gently shook the dozing Legend. He muttered something unintelligible and turned over onto his side, but Malon could see the tiniest slit of his eyes and so she continued. "Would you like somethin' for your back?"

He grunted again, then sat up with difficulty, propping himself up on his hands. "No."

He was lying, she could tell, but she decided to let it lie for now. "Alright then, breakfast will be in a few minutes."

Wild joined her in the kitchen, and they began to cook some eggs. After a few rounds of cooking and stacking on the largest plate in the house, bribes were passed around to get more from the coop. Malon rolled her eyes as another round of bribes was passed to wake up Sky.

It was Twilight who caved when the pot held more than 50 rupees (courtesy of Warriors, naturally) he came back with around 20 fresh eggs, which Malon gladly took and cracked into the pan. Beside her, Wild was furiously piling eggs and fresh bread onto plates. Malon handed full plates of eggs to Four and Wind, "Take these to the table!"

"Yep!" Then they scurried away plates in hand. Malon turned her attention back to the eggs, which needed flipping. By the time the cooking was done, her Link had come downstairs and Sky was also awake, but had made no move to get out of his cocoon. Malon looked wearily at the kitchen. It was a disaster, but it could wait.

The meal was eaten in far less time than it took to make it, which made Malon only slightly flustered. She handed the dishes and clearing up to three of the boys and returned to the milk on the stove. She normally sold most of her milk, not really needing it when Link and the boys were away, but now they needed milk for drinking, cream for all-purpose sauces, butter, and cheese. Of course, she could go out and buy some, but she had time on her hands, and more importantly, she had help. "Any of you want t' help with the milk?" she called, not caring who took her up on the offer. "I'm makin' cream, butter, and cheese."