Navi flew around Hyrule Castle Town, desperately trying to find any sign of Link. She had never been anywhere like the colorful and extremely busy town, which made her quite disoriented as she made her way around. Eventually, she happened to spot his green hat among the crowd in the central plaza and she swooped down to him.

"There you are, Link! Don't run off like that!" She scolded him.

"Oh, wow! I've never seen a fairy before."

Navi turned to see a red-headed girl around Link's age. "Yeah, yeah. That's nice. Now, Link, I think I can find a way for us to get the castle from here, though it might take a while to get there."

"Actually…" the red-haired girl spoke up, "I've already agreed to show Link the way to the castle."

"What?" Navi uttered in astonishment.

"My father went to deliver milk to the castle, but never came back. I want to go look for him but the guards won't let anyone pass. So, Link offered to help me find my father in exchange for showing him the way."

"Well, I guess that makes things easier." Navi felt a little embarrassed by how easily Link was able to find a guide to the castle while she had gotten so easily lost just wandering the town.

"My name's Malon, by the way." The red-headed girl introduced herself.

"I'm Navi."

"Well, we should probably leave now if we want to get to the castle before dark, so let's go." Malon turned around and waved for Link and Navi to follow her.

The trio made their way along a trail leading north out of town. They eventually came across a sharp right turn where they stopped.

"The first gate is just up ahead." Malon whispered. "The security on the castle is stricter than usual right now for some reason, so no one is allowed past here without special clearance. Unfortunately, we don't really have a way of going around the gate unless we can find a way up this cliff. Do you have any ideas?"

Link looked up at the cliff running along the right side of the path, examining it closely. His gaze eventually fell upon some vines that were growing up the side at one part. He walked over to them and grabbed hold of the largest vine. He tugged on it to test the strength of the vine and nodded satisfactorily when it didn't budge.

"I'm not sure that I'd be able to climb up that." Malon said.

Link walked up to Malon and turned his back to her, kneeling down slightly.

"Are you sure?" Malon asked.

Link nodded to her and Malon hesitantly put her arms over his shoulders and hooked her legs around his torso, which was hard for her to do with the long skirt she was wearing. Link stood back up with a grunt and walked over to the vines. He grabbed hold of the largest vine again and pulled himself up with great effort. He managed to make his way up slowly but surely. At last, they reached the top.

"Wow, I wasn't sure that would work." Malon said in pleasant surprise as she climbed off of Link's back and Link sat down on the cold, damp grass to catch his breath. "You must be really strong."

Link blushed slightly and scratched the back of his head in mild embarrassment.

"So we made it up here." Navi said. "Now what?"

"From this point on it should just be a matter of making our way north to the castle while avoiding the guards patrolling the main path. At least until we get to the gate just outside the castle, anyway. I'm not really sure how we'll get past that one, but I'm sure we'll find a way."

"Well if it's as easy as it was getting past the first one, then I'm sure we'll get to the castle in no time. Right, Link?"

Link fell back onto the ground and took several deep breaths.

"Or… maybe not." Navie sighed.

Malon went over to sit beside Link as he waited for his strength to return to him.

"I've never been up here before." She said. "It's a bit of a different view than from down below. Kind of nice here, actually. I wonder how many people have actually been up here."

Link rolled back up onto his feet and Malon stood up as well. They walked to the northeast, staying as far away from the main path as they could to avoid getting caught by any of the guards. The way eventually curved up northward until they reached a fork in the road. The main path went to the left, away from them, but a secondary path going right cut right across the field they were walking across.

"You know, I've never actually been down this way before." Malon noted. "I've been along the main road to help my dad with deliveries before, but this way has always been blocked off. Can we just quickly see where this leads? It might be a secret way into the castle or something."

Link nodded and Navi didn't object, so Malon headed down the right path and the others followed. They quickly came to a dead end, however, as the path led straight into a giant boulder propped up against the side of a cliff.

"I guess this is why the path is always blocked off." Malon said. "I wonder if this was an old mine or something that they blocked off for some reason."

Link spotted a sign to the side of the path and went over to read it. Malon saw him walking to it and followed him.

"Great Fairy Fountain." Navi read aloud from over Link's shoulder. "Wait, there's a Great Fairy here?"

"What's a Great Fairy?" Malon asked.

"Great Fairies are the oldest and most powerful fairies in Hyrule." Navi explained. "They say that anyone who manages to find one will be blessed with an incredible power."

"That sounds amazing." Malon said. "If only we had a way of getting past this rock, though…"

Link spotted something and ran up to the builder. Malon and Navi followed him, both curious as to what he found. Link walked around of the side of the boulder, where it touched the cliff and bent down. A small hole had formed there that looked just big enough for someone Link's size. Link waved back at the others and got down on his hands and knees to crawl through the hole. Malon hesitated, but went in after him, followed by Navi. The three were shocked by what they found inside.

Sparkling lights ran down the black walls of the cave like a waterfall of colorful starts. Ethereal blue flames also lined the walls, shedding light down onto the white tiled floor and illuminating the Triforce emblem etched into the ground in front of a pristine pool of water that seemed to emanate some sort of powerful magic.

Link and Malon both walked up to the pool and looked down into the water. There didn't seem to be anything there at first, but suddenly a small ball of light formed at the bottom and rose up past the surface of the water to stop, floating in the air in front of them. The ball erupted into a flash of blinding white light and suddenly the figure of a large woman dressed in leaves sat in the air above the pool. Link and Malon stood in shock as the woman began to laugh loudly.

"Welcome children!" The strange woman said. "I am the Great Fairy of Magic. It's been a long time since I've had any visitors here."

"That's probably because of the boulder blocking the way." Malon pointed out.

"Is that so?" The Great Fairy asked, bemused. "I wonder how long that's been there."

Magic sparks flew from the Great Fairy's hand as she flicked her wrist and the boulder at the cave entrance suddenly shrunk down into a pebble.

"Well, now that that's taken care of, what can I do for you lovely kids?" The Great Fairy leaned forward in the air as if she was lying on top of some invisible platform and folded her arms in front of her.

"Well, we were looking for a way to get to the castle without getting caught by the guards." Malon explained. "I'm looking for my father and Link here needs to speak with the Princess."

"Is that all?" The Great Fairy acted as if what they were asking was nothing at all. "Very well then, I can help you with that. But before that, I want to thank you for pointing out the blocked entrance way to me. How about I give you this?"

The Great Fairy snapped her fingers and some sort of red crystal materialized in the air above her hand and floated down to Link. He reached his left hand out to take the crystal, which dissolved at his touch. Link felt a sensation pulse through his body that felt like he was engulfed in flame, though it didn't hurt at all. A moment later and the feeling was gone.

"That was Din's Fire." The Great Fairy explained. "It's powerful magic spell that will allow you to create and control fire. It will be a while before you will be able to make use of it, but I'm sure that it will be helpful to you later on in your journeys."

Link opened his mouth to thank the Great Fairy, but Navi interrupted.

"Thank you." The blue fairy said. "You are too kind."

"It's nothing at all." The Great Fairy laughed. "Now, let's get you to the castle. Ta-tah, for now."

The Great Fairy reached her hand out and the trio of Link, Malon and Navi were enveloped by an orange light. The next thing they knew, they were standing in a dark, damp corridor. The only source of light they had was the faint blue glow emanating from Navi.

"Is this the castle?" Navi asked, confused. "It's a lot… gloomier than I expected."

"I think she may have sent us to the old dungeons below the castle." Malon said as she reached her hand out to feel the cold stone wall.

"Why would the Great Fairy do that?"

"Well, we did say that we didn't want to be caught by the guards and as from what I've heard these dungeons have been abandoned for ages. Maybe she thought that the best way for us to sneak in was to make our way up from here? What do you think?"

Malon turned to Link, who was staring at his left hand, which he held up as if he was holding some invisible object that neither Malon or Navi could see. Navi was just about to ask him what he was going when suddenly a small flame flickered out of his palm for a second.

"Wow!" Malon said encouragingly. "You really can control fire now!"

Link tried again and another flame flickered in his hand. This one managed to last several seconds before going out. He tried a third time and the fire stayed, dancing around his palm as he held his hand out to light the way ahead. Now that they had two sources of light, Link, Malon and Navi were able to make their way through the dark corridors as they tried to navigate around the abandoned dungeons. They eventually stopped as they reached a small stream running through some kind of gutter along the side of the hallway.

Link turned in the direction that the water was flowing from and motioned for Malon and Navi to follow him. They continued to walk for what felt at least half an hour before finally reaching what appeared at first to be a dead end. There was a small opening at the bottom corner of the wall where the water was flowing in from that was blocked off with iron bars. Link lifted his hand to illuminate the rest of the wall, where they found a wooden door.

"Do you think this could be the way out?" Navi asked the others.

"There's only one way to find out." Malon walked up to the door and tried to open it. The door wouldn't budge at first, but then Link extinguished the fire in his hand and went to help her push it open. Their combined strength proved to be enough to force the door to swing open.

The light was blinding at first, but once their eyes adjusted, Link, Malon and Navi found themselves just outside of Hyrule Castle, between the moat and the perimeter fence. Navi flew up and looked around for any guards, but the only person in sight was a plump middle-aged man in a red shirt and blue overalls that was sleeping beside several large crates of milk.

"Daddy!" Malon ran up to the man and shook his arm until he finally woke up.

"Huh, what's that?" Malon's father mumbled as he got to his feet. "Malon? How did you get here?"

"This boy helped me find you." Malon pointed at Link. "You didn't come back after you went to deliver the milk so I thought you might have gotten in trouble because of the extra security at the castle. But instead, we found you out here taking a nap again."

"Oh, right." Malon's father blushed and stroked the back of his head. "I, uh, was feeling kind of tired so I stopped to rest my eyes for a moment and I guess I must have dozed off."

"I can't believe you!" Malon screamed furiously.

"Now, now, there's no reason to raise your voice. It was just an accident. Now come along. I managed to get the milk here where they're going to pick up later, so we should be heading back now."

Malon's father grabbed her by the hand and the two started to walk off. Before they left, Malon turned back to Link.

"Thank you for helping me!" She called out to him. "Good luck with the princess!"

Link waved goodbye until they went around the corner to the front of the castle and were out of sight, then turned his attention to the castle itself.

"Well, now that that's over how are we supposed to actually get in here?" Navi wondered aloud.

Link looked around and spotted an opening in the wall where water was flowing out that looked like it would be just big enough for him to fit through and one like the one leading into the dungeons there were no bars blocking it off. All Link had to do now was find a way to get to it.