Author's Note: Wow, I thought I'd posted this long since! Oh well--sorry for the wait, folks.

I've always wondered exactly how it is that our bold little hero can run around snow-covered mountains wearing nothing but shorts and a tunic. I think that if we were to be realistic, he would need more clothes. Not only that, but even then the snow would affect him as badly as it did the Gorons, if not worse.

It's sad that I can be driven to this level of discomfort in temperatures close to late 40 degrees Fahrenheit. ;)

Enjoy!

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Link's fingertips throbbed from the bitter cold in spite of the thick gloves that covered them. Every heated breath he exhaled was a gust of icy fog to his face. His eyes and cheeks—the only parts of his face left to open air—were a raw pink, chapped with frozen humidity. Just a bit farther, he told himself mindlessly, he only had a bit farther to go.

The ocarina's Song of Soaring had brought him to the Mountain Village, a huddled array of frozen houses crowded together in what might have been one of the only flat-ish areas the mountain had to offer. It occurred to Link that he might have stayed there a while, to stock up on emergency supplies, but it was too late to turn back now: he was closer to his destination than he was the village.

It was an absurd destination, he thought dumbly, with an absurd route to it. Farore only knew how the Goron sentries had reached those heights, what with their enormous bulk. They must have taken a different route, he decided, squinting through a monocle that felt frozen to his face. Yes, that was more likely. Even he was having trouble—after all, climbing a straight-up cliff face (which was even leaning out a bit, near the end), with every crack and crevasse worn smooth by wind and slippery ice, with nothing to hold onto except invisible hand-holds was no easy feat at all. It was very convenient that the ice-cold lens he had was held in place by magic, because he wouldn't have been able to hold it and climb at the same time.

The young hero snatched one hand away from the bar it was just about to close around, shaking it so it flapped back and forth. Nearly all feeling was gone from his knees and elbows down, but he had somehow felt the cloth of his glove catch and scrape against the rock-face before him. Pausing just long enough to look at his hand, he saw a frayed hole where his patchwork cloth had been ripped and a painful scrape in the skin behind it. Link was too cold to groan. Without glancing at it again, he completed his half-finished reach, resuming his fevered climb. He had no time to worry about that now. He would find some way to mend the tear and tend to the scratch when he got to the top. There he would have time to rest, time to mend, time to be warm. Goddesses, how long had it been since he'd felt warm?

At least he knew the Gorons at the top of the mountain would be surprised to see him. Every single time they noticed him they would jump and gawk to see his puny little form struggling against both wind and gravity, clawing with skinny limbs to drag himself to solid ground. It wasn't like surprise was something he especially aimed for, or that his arrival was new to him anymore. He bared his teeth in a slightly hysterical grin no one could see--the last time he'd done it was tomorrow! Nayru, but his sense of time had been turned around, and the boy silently swore by a goddess again while his hands automatically reached and grabbed.

The top was always the hardest part to scale. The cliff-face leaned out, and he held on with grim determination and little else. By now he was feeling thoroughly numb, and he had to keep glancing down to make sure his feet hooking around the other side of the rung as they should. He had had practice with not looking down past his feet. Scaling mountains in a past life, looking past gold-covered boots at thin air, climbing Kakariko Village's watchtower… but that was another time, another place. He giggled again at these thoughts, giddy with cold, and then coughed. Puffs of mist and fog made his cheeks warm and sting more, and he stopped climbing until his breathing steadied.

No, Link suddenly changed his mind, the top area of the cliff wasn't the hardest. The last few inches of cliff where he clambered over the edge itself were the hardest. The snow he tried to hold on to would start sliding out, and his clothes would catch and tear enough to ruin them but not enough to slow any slipping. The wind seemed to pick up and teasingly push him one way and then the other, trying to slip cold fingers into his scarf and whistle down his collar. Quick panicking gasps would make his face sting and his eyes water, and he would suddenly notice he was falling back, and the distance between where he was and the ground would make it seem as though the wind really was making the world spin, and his grip would slip, and then he would suddenly fall forward onto safe ground in stiff movements that his dizzy mind hadn't even been aware of ordering.

The wind seemed to disappear as he dragged himself to safety, as though some great creature had paused to take a breath. Link lay there in the snow for a few breaths, letting his tired mind catch up with his near-death-by-falling experience. The cold had muddled his thoughts, making him overconfident: the climb was hard every time and would always be. As soon he had collected himself enough for his heart to stop pounding Link looked around.

Snow and rock sloped up on either side of his island of safety, making it look as though enormous hands were sheltering him. The sudden stillness in the air made his wind-battered sides feel tingly, but he recognized the feeling and ignored it. A stone-hewn doorway leading straight into the mountain stood before him at the other end of his little sanctuary. Huddled just inside this entrance was a pair of shivering Gorons, pitiful in their obvious discomfort.

They were twice as tall as the boy was. Both had round bodies, with twiggy little legs and arms. Their heads resembled human heads less than they did a snowman's—they were perched directly on their shoulders with a similar sturdy build. Right now the Gorons were trying to preserve their warmth by rubbing their arms. Link stared blankly at them, and since he was too tired to call a greeting, started walking forward.

The shivering Gorons didn't notice him until he was just outside the doorway. Snow had muffled his footsteps, and their eyes had been half-shut against the cold. It was clear by their slow reactions that they hadn't been expecting anyone to come.

"A h-h-human!" The one closer to the door cried, his jump of surprise almost unnoticeable amidst his shivers. The Goron beside him grimaced hugely (because his turning to look had exposed one side to the cold) before gawking. "Y-yes-s-s, a h-human!" Both engaged the laborious process of getting up. They moved side by side to block his path.

Link stopped, biting back a poorly-thought reply at their cold-induced stupidity. He was in no condition to deliver insults, and these Gorons would let him past if he asked politely. "G-greetings!" As if the cold weren't enough, he sounded like a squirrel. He frowned at his young voice, and he scowled at it and the cold combined. Neither Goron saw his expressions behind his scarf.

"S-s-small…" One Goron muttered (more loudly than he'd intended, Link told himself firmly), and the other nodded in jerky agreement. The first Goron was still gawking.

"W-w-what d-do y-y-you w-w—"

"I-want-to-see-the-great-h-hero-Darmani's-grave-will-y-you-let-me-in-please!" Link chattered in one breath, stamping his feet for feeling.

"D-Darman-ni's g-grave—"

"Yes-please-I-would-like-to—t-to--!" Link, all his movements quick from shivering, suddenly drew his head back and sneezed mightily. Perhaps stunned by the tiny human's boldness, or maybe just not wanting to be sneezed on, one guard edged to one side. Link darted forward instantly, flinging a "Wow-thank-you-very-much!" over one shoulder at two identical grunts of surprise.

His ears rang at the cave's relative silence, but he hurried on. When he heard large footfalls starting to follow him he suddenly swiveled around and cried earnestly, "I-need-to-pay-my-respects-to-the-dead-by-myself-as-per-my-really-distant-and-unknown-to-you-culture's-instructions-so-please-stay-outside-thank-yo-aaCHOO!" With a sniff he turned and disappeared down the passage, leaving a bewildered Goron behind.

Link nodded to himself once he was out of sight, feeling dully pleased with himself: that request worked every time.

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