Chapter Text
As far as they could tell, the Chain were somewhen between Four and Time’s eras; Hyrule was a small kingdom in an age of peace, and the locals were more concerned with farming methods than fighting monsters.
At the very least, it gave them a good opportunity to restock and resupply while they searched for any sign of why they were here.
Time took Wild and Hyrule while the other six did their shopping in town, intending to talk with the farmers and ranchhands - those out in the country would have different information than those in villages. Plus, that many people made those two twitchy. Best to keep them out of town, to keep them out of trouble.
Luckily, not too far down the road, they came across a ranch that made something in his chest relax. As they passed through the gate onto the property, a middle aged gentleman stood from his seat on the porch and eyed them with caution.
“You folks looking for trouble?”
“Just a group of travellers,” Time replied, holding his hands up in a gesture of peace, “looking to buy provisions and trade information.”
“I’m happy to sell. What are you looking for?”
“Milk or cream,” Wild cut in, “butter, if you have it. Cheese, if possible.”
“Don't make cheese, but I may have some extra butter around,” the man said, waving them inside.
“That's fine, anything you can spare would be much appreciated,” Time replied before turning to the two fidgeting teens, “you don't have to come in, but be respectful, alright? We're guests here.”
It was as much a dismissal as it was a reminder; between eras, there was no local hero to bail them out of trouble. The two nodded before scurrying off to probably attempt to pet the cows.
“Anywhere have any monster sightings we should be aware of?” Time asked the owner, “we didn't see any on the way in, but we're not from this area.”
“Hmm, well I don't know which direction you're headin’, but I'd avoid goin’ too far east, a coupla fishers came back complaining of strange monsters in the waters there.”
“Thank you, we'll keep it in mind.”
“Hired sword like you seems an awful lot for two capable fellows like those,” the gentleman said as they stepped inside.
“Ah, I'm technically retired,” the hero waved him off, “I still occasionally do freelance bodyguard work, but only when my wife allows it. The rest of our party is in town, picking up some odds and ends, but I prefer to buy direct from farm whenever possible. My wife owns a ranch, back home, and she's been scalped too many times to count.”
“Ah, I know what that's like; thank you kindly for your business,” the owner said, beginning to portion out three sticks of butter, “what you travelling for?”
“Religious pilgrimage,” Time said, as simple and vague as he could be while still answering truthfully, “do you sell your milk pre-bottled, or do you need ours to fill?”
“Yours - if you're from that far out of town, I don't expect it would be easy to return them.”
“Understandable,” he replied, ducking his head back out the door to call, “Wild! Bottles!”
The cook hurried inside, looking like he had been crawling around on the ground but much calmer than before, and began to line clean milk bottles from his Hyrule on the table.
“Better?” Time asked him.
“Yeah,” the teen replied, “they got a barn cat.”
“You encounter many people selling pre-bottled milk?” The farmer asked as the tenth and final bottle was placed down.
“Depends,” Wild replies, “it's easier where I'm from because most of the merchants are selling their wares out the back of their wagons to other travelers.”
“And where are y'all from?”
“Oh our groups from all over,” Time cut in, “Ordon, Labrynna, Holodrum, Calatia…”
“I'm from Hateno,” Wild answered, dodging the boot Time subtly tried to press into his toe.
The owner hummed but said nothing, filling their bottles from a familiar clay pitcher, glazed in white and blue with sapphire chips to keep the contents cool.
“Say, you seem to be a well travelled bunch, yeah? Maybe one of you could help me with something.”
“We can certainly try.”
“See, I’ve lived on this land my whole life - family ranch, you understand - and this spring, a plant I’ve never seen before popped up in the ditch on the south-eastern edge of my pasture. I’m worried it’ll hop the fence and poison the cows; I already cut it back once and it just came back twice as many. Any chance one of you would be able to take care of it for me?”
“You want to take a look, Wild?” Time asked, “You're the one with the best chance of identifying it.”
He casually but firmly tapped at his hip, silently giving permission to use the Sheikah Slate if necessary. The other hero nodded and sprinted out the door.
“I swear…” the farmer sighed, “you remember being that young?”
“Yeah,” the hero answered, “I think it's karma for all the grief I gave my older brother.”
The ranch owner chuckled, and they exchanged stories - watered down but still plenty interesting enough on Time's end - until Wild came racing back in.
“It’s fennel,” he reported, “It won’t hurt your cows, in the unlikely case it makes its way onto the pasture; they might nibble at it when it’s young, but it won’t hurt them. It likes damp soil, which is probably why it popped up in the ditch. It’s also perennial - it will keep growing there unless you dig up the roots. Most importantly though, it’s edible.”
“Oh? How so?”
“Well most commonly its seeds are used as a spice,” Wild said, “but my favorite way to eat fennel is in fried greens, or in a soup.”
Time let the two talk - especially as the gentleman pulled out a stack of recipe cards and a pen - turning instead to Hyrule as fae wandered in.
“Have fun?”
“Yeah,” fae said, “maybe it's just the cows, but this place reminds me of Miss Malon.”
That sparked something in the older hero's memory; while he didn't think they were in the right area for this to be his LonLon ranch, Malon had told him that the ranch used to be much further north before the crown had paid the Lons to move for the big castle town expansion more than a century back.
He hadn't realised before now because he was a sentimental fool, and lots of things reminded him of Malon in some way, but looking around, a lot here reminded him of home - too much to be a coincidence. A bunch of the furniture, some of the loose decor, even the layout of the house, to some extent.
The ranch owner looked like he could have been Talon's half-brother. The pitcher that had filled their bottles was a perfect match to the one Malon brings out when expensive clients visited.
The recipe cards the man was writing on were straight out of Malon's family cookbook.
Time mentally reviewed their entire interaction with the man so far and figured that nothing he had said was likely to cause a paradox. Not even Wild mentioning Hateno, this early in the timeline, thank the golden goddesses.
Those recipe cards though… Didn't Malon make something with fennel seed? What was it again?
Biscuits and Gravy! It was one of his comfort foods, and Malon had undoubtedly shared the recipe with Wild.
And watching Wild get handed what looked to be a jar of tallow, most likely in thanks for sharing that very recipe with her ancestor… He hissed through his teeth as quietly as he could manage.
This is the Song of Storms all over again, isn't it?