On a warm autumn day, an old cart mounted with straw was rollicking down a dirt road of the Hyrule plain. The horse and driver were of old age and both had very similar characteristics. For example they both had white shaggy hair, they were both rather plump and were good friends since the very day they had met.
“So, my boy. Are you ready to meet your new family?”
“Huh?” The hill of hay rustled from the inside. A blonde haired head popped out, green eyes flicking from side to side, hoping to see a village or town of some sort. The boy’s name was Link Hof (Yes. I know. Strange name).
Seeing there was not a chimney smoke in sight, he slumped back into his stringy pillow.
“Sorry. What was the question?”
“I was asking if you were excited about going to see your new family.” The old man’s voice cracked as if he hadn’t had water for weeks. Link dove down into the hay and reappeared on the seat next to the driver. His green-coned hat was in his hand, his plain ragged white shirt and beige trousers were a mess and straw clung to them like a lifeline. Even though the lazy boy had all the rest in the world, he still looked exhausted.
“Well. I don’t mind meeting them, since they’re going to take care of me and all but . . .” he stopped in mid-sentence and sighed, placing his cap back on his head.
“But?” the old man persisted.
“You know what I’m going to say! I wanted to live where I used to, nothing and nobody will replace my parents . . .” he sighed once again in frustration, “Why the heck do you keep asking the same question every hour of every single day Onire (O-nigh-ah)! You do realise you are NOT a parrot!” The man barked with laughter, and Stomper the horse neighed as if to join his master’s harsh laughs.
“Because I know you are excited! I know you are eager to meet the people who so-called ‘rescued’ you from the orphanage. And I’ll keep asking the same question until you admit it you stubborn young goat!” Link cocked an eyebrow at the comment,
“Don’t you mean stubborn ‘old’ goat?” Onire barked in laughter again and looked at the boy with youthful mischief in his eyes “Well. If you’re old, where does it leave Stomper and me? In the grave yard?” Unrealistically, the horse whinnied with indignation, abruptly stopped, turned to the two Hylians and glared. He pawed the ground in earnest as if to say,
“Excuse me~! I’m right here you know.” The man and boy roared with laughter and almost fell to the ground. Tears streamed down their cheeks, not able to control the absurd hilarity. Onire picked himself up and patted the horse, “Sorry about that Stomper. Now come on, we wouldn’t want to upset Link’s adoptive parents to be!” The horse scoffed and once again pulled the hay filled cart towards the town of Mugido.

“We’ve arrived Link!” Onire called. Link was situated at the back of the cart, pulling the last few bits of straw from his clothes. As soon as Onire had said the word ‘arrived’ Link jumped off the cart with his bundle of possessions and rushed to where Stomper was standing. What he saw amazed him. There were a number of people in the market place; most people wore something close to his kind of clothing, except far cleaner, in better shape and maybe adorned with one or two jewels of some kind. There were stone mansions of two to three stories high, and a small fountain stood beside what looked like a basement (but actually it’s a bar). The ground was nothing but cobblestones. Not a single piece of dirt could be seen on the ground. The only kind of dirt the green-hatted kid could see was in the flowerpots. And the smell. That was what frightened him most. There was no scent of anything what so ever (except for the faint smell of perfume). Just the sight of the town showed that life here was royal-like, silent and clean. Link gulped.

This was not good.

The life he knew was totally different. Small mud-brick cottages with hay and wooden roofs, tending the horses, cows, chickens and pigs, playing in the mud with only dirt roads as paths and the faint smell of rotting fish. That was the life he was used to. The people around him stared. They seemed to resist the urge to keep their hands from pinching their noses. Some little kids giggled and ran behind a wall, only for Link to hear bursts of mocking laughter. Yes. This was definitely NOT good. A hand snatched at the back of shirt. Link yelped in surprise. He thanked the Three* it was only Onire. The cart was moving again, Onire knew Link would’ve still been in a trance and he was a lazy man. So instead of hopping off and push him into the seat next to him he decided to yank, heave and dump the boy onto his seat like dirty laundry. Nothing too hard. His life as a black smith had made his arms strong. Link gulped again.
“Onire?” the old man glanced down at Link “Please. I’m begging you. Don’t say this is the place where I’m going to live.” Onire scoffed,
“Well if I didn’t, that’ll be lying now wouldn’t it?” Link groaned in reply. He desperately longed for the sanctuary in the hay. But he knew Onire wouldn’t allow it. Instead, he buried his face into his ‘pack’, hoping he’d live with some old comforts of his early life. Soon, Stomper was pulled to a stop. Link looked up to see a brick wall, and next to it, an ivy engulfed stone hut was situated. Link relaxed a bit, the hut eerily reminded him of his old home. Old, little run down, small, cosy and most of all welcomingly familiar.
“Time to say good bye my little friend.” Grinned Onire.
“You do realise I’m 13.” Countered Link. The old man shrugged
“Still little compared to me. And you’re still short for your age.” He gave Link a friendly nudge on the shoulder. “Your family awaits.” That was his way of giving people a fare well. Link hopped off and jogged towards the hut.
“Aye! Where are you going?” Onire called,
“What?” Link called back, “You said . . .”
“Not that one lad! This one.” He pointed towards the wall. The ragged kid looked. And this time saw what he was actually pointing at.
“Nayru’s love . . .” Link groaned. Turns out, the wall was a stone fence. If Link had kept his face away from his luggage, he would’ve seen the wooden gates leading to a garden, then a courtyard and lastly a stone mansion.
Nervousness clenched at his guts. So. A servant here adopted me huh?
Hopefully I can take care of the horses if there are any. Link climbed over the wall like a thief, jumped onto the other side, and started towards his new home.

“Obviously, you don’t understand! One of the people who live in this castle adopted me. I was in the Hyrule orphanage and . . .” Link was about to repeat the same thing for the third time when the butler interrupted him.
“Yes. I see.” The old man was getting sick and tired of the peasant boy’s ramblings. The mistress? Adopting a child? It was simply unthinkable “I shall go to the head mistress that a young boy named . . . uh . . .” “My name’s Link. Please don’t ask for the surname.”
“Fine. I shall go tell her that a boy named Link has come.”
“Thank you.” When the butler turned, he snickered to himself. Oh he’ll call. But not the mistress. He’ll call the butcher to dispose of this dirty little fly.

“Who are you?” the boy asked. His green cone hat was resting on his head, his sack of belongings over his shoulder and was gazing up at a big gruff looking man with strong arms, a sticking out belly and complete with a dirty apron with blood all over it. One thing was for sure. This big guy wasn’t friendly.
“So you’re the little one who’s been trying to get in huh?” the man growled, Link didn’t realise that it was a warning. Maybe this was the guy that had adopted him. They do say you can’t judge people at first sight.
“Well yeah. Since I’m going to be liv . . .wow!” Link was grabbed at by the back of his shirt (again) and was being pulled away from the front door. “Hey!” he shouted, “What are you doing!?”
“Getting you off the grounds. That’s what.” Link was now officially hacked off. He swung back and forth on his shirt and with a mighty swing, kicked the butcher square in the face. As the man yelled in pain, Link dashed back to his bag of belongings. Then he had a brain wave. If he had enough attention from the castle, maybe his adoptive parent might know whom they’re messing with. His plan worked. As he dived through more hands and feet of husky servants, a shrill voice screamed to be heard. “ENOUGH!!!”
Every body stopped except Link. He jumped onto a nearby tree and took out his long forgotten adoption papers. As he looked down he saw a middle aged woman, scrawny as a scarecrow, huff towards the tree. She wore a red frilly dress making her look ancient, glasses rested on her beaklike nose and her face and pointy ears were red with anger. Obviously the mistress of this castle. “What are you doing in my tree!” she shrieked. Wow. Isn’t anyone friendly in this place?
“Hi. Is there a Miss Clarinda around?”
“That would be me!” the lady replied. Link bit his lip, trying not swear and gave a fake smile.
“Well. My name’s Link. If the name is right, you must be my adoptive parent.
Here’s my and slightly your adoption papers?”