He flew over Trilby Highlands and towards the north, purple cape blowing in the wind and his hair flowing with it. He had no idea of what would await him in the graveyards that an unknown person or thing told him to go to. He flew closer and closer to the graveyard, ignoring the few monsters below. For whatever reason, Vaati was told to go to the graveyard. He hoped that it would give him a clue to how to get to the Shadow Realm to rescue Twi, and if he had to, stop who was known as The Big Guy. He sighed to himself.

"My thoughts must sound like Link right now...'Save Twi! Defeat the darkness!'" He shrugged it off and looked forward.

He began to fly over a creepy haunted-looking forest when the wind itself seemed to change. He didn't understand why the wind seemed different; he just had a sinking feeling. Then, the wind seemed to halt all together and dropped the wind mage down to the forest. He watched as the dead trees' limbs grew closer and closer, he held his arms in front of him, his arms forming an X in front of his body and face as he fell through the limbs. The wind sped up only to break his crash to the dirt, and then died again, flowing like normal wind. Vaati laid on his stomach, his bangs covering one ruby eye held a few sticks. His violet hat was slightly knocked off from the fall and seemed to help cover his right eye. His visible left eye looked around the dead forest, confused. He pulled a palm-length stick out of his hair and stared at the sky. He moved his fingers through his long hair to search for stuck sticks, freeing them as they fell to the dirt, and he placed his hat back on his head as he thought.

Yea, sinking feeling it was...Why did the wind drop me like that? I didn't do that...since when does the wind have a mind of its own?

He sighed and glanced around him, seeing that he was on a path surrounded by dead trees. There were 4 paths he could take, one should send him closer to the graveyard, but the other three were unknown. Where they led wasn't his concern, his concern was which one to take. He sighed as he tried to decide. He looked at the somewhat darker sky and focused his sorcery to fly upwards again, but nothing happened. It was like he was never a Wind Mage.

How much easier his life...no, everyone's life would be if he really never was. He never would've cursed his Master, Zelda would never be turned to stone, the suffering would've never happened. He thought for a moment about that subject. And he never would've met Twi. She'd still be with her mother, happy. But no, she's a victim of his Dark self. Vaati sighed and closed his eyes, remembering how nice she was to him even though she knew right when she met him that he was a wind mage that was known for turning a princess to stone and putting Hyrule in darkness. And what she got in return for being caring and understanding was getting kidnapped. He opened his eyes again and tried to figure out what path to take. He simply just walked forward and took his chances with one. As he inched closer to the path, the wind suddenly blew to the left toward the path beside the one he was originally planning on taking. Vaati waited for a moment and nodded, deciding to let the wind take him. It was still strange to him, why the wind was suddenly leading him places.

Maybe because I'm a sorcerer of the wind? He thought to himself as he walked, But then why didn't it lead me last year? It could've prevented everything.

He walked past the dead, sad trees. It was like walking through a haunted Halloween path designed to scare the ones who decided to pass through. Vaati glanced around as he followed the breeze that was leading him. He glanced at the purple/blue-tinted trees, each one long dead and sad-looking, then at the dirt ground, cold with all the lost souls, then up at the dark blue sky, just as cold as the dirt. Even as he thought that the sky was cold in its darkness, it reminded him that he had a promise to fulfill, the reason it reminded him was unknown, maybe because his power is in the sky? Or maybe because it matched the shade of Twi's blue eyes? The wind died out as he walked, and he brought his attention back to where he was going. A few decaying trees still stood as a purple path wrapped around them, leading to the graves in the distance. Vaati sighed and walked through the path towards the gate that led to the graves, hoping that there really was something here.

Link finally made it to the entrance to Lost Woods after circling around many paths to catch up with Vaati. He looked questionably at the dead trees with his sky blue eyes.

Why would he want to come here?

He sighed and walked into the woods, hoping Vaati wouldn't fly off again before he could catch up with him. He couldn't believe that he was trying to chase his old enemy down, unlike last year when he was trying to destroy him. And what was to gain in The Royal Crypt? Link thought to himself as he walked through Lost Woods, using the correct directions that he memorized the whole way. There were only a few ghosts in that old graveyard, one of them being a past King of Hyrule and one of Zelda's grandfathers. He glanced around the forest as he walked, his thoughts wandered into wonders. He wondered why Dark Vaati chose to take Twi away instead if Zelda, Vaati had a point when he said that a princess's kidnapping is more dramatic than a new girl. Did Twi do something to anger the Dark creatures or was it the result of a secret she held? Link shrugged, unable to come up with anything. She did seem like an innocent person, then why did she get taken? Maybe it was to tick Vaati off, to get him back for escaping his prison. Link halted as he reached an opening, the path led around a few more trees and into the graveyard. His eyes searched around as he walked through the path, hoping Vaati didn't fly off again while he was walking through Lost Woods.

He searched everything, the paths, the trees, the tombstones, the mostly faded dates, and nothing came up. He sighed, kneeling on one leg as he inspected the last stone. The stone seemed to have been there a massive amount of time, the usually smooth surface had been weathered away into a textured, almost soft, surface and took the date and names with it. The last thing left on the stone was what was left of a carving of a cat stretching out, it's paws extended forward and it's tail pointing to the sky, it's body in a horizontal slope. He brushed his purple-ish hand across the cat, feeling the texture and indention of the stone. It was sad to think that a living person got this stone for their passed on loved ones, and took care for the once beautiful stone, only to also pass on and have the stone left behind to weather away and as the dates move on, it's own date of lifeline fades. Vaati stood and looked down at the stone with the feline carved into it, his hand still rested on the top of the 3 foot stone. He did feel sad, even though he had not known this person. His sadness felt strangely familiar to him, although he didn't remember loosing a loved one. He sighed and walked away.

Tombstones are contagious. He thought as he watched the path beneath him move as he walked.

"Vaati!" A voice called ahead of him followed by the tap of footsteps against the stone path. Vaati, now snapped out of his thoughts, looked up to see the hero Link himself running toward him.

"...Link," he asked as Link stopped in front of him. "What are you doing here?"

"That's my question. Why are you here?"

Vaati looked to the side, deciding on whether to tell him about the voice that he heard. He sighed and looked back at Link who was waiting for an answer. Just as he opened his mouth to explain, a sudden scream was heard. Not a loud one, but a small, almost cute, scream. Vaati and Link both looked at each other in alarm before glancing around their surroundings.

"You...heard that too, right?" Vaati asked.

"Yea, I heard it."

Vaati sighed in relief; at least he wasn't hearing things again.

"Look!" Link said, pointing towards the sky at a black crow in flight. Vaati looked closer at the crow, it held some kind of a small object in it's talons...

"A minish!" Vaati exclaimed, spotting the tiny body.

Link brought out a bow and arrow and aimed at the crow, he pulled back on the string and released. Direct hit. The arrow struck the crow in it's chest right under it's wing. The crow squawked and released it's talon's grip as it tried to fly onward before dropping dead on the path and decomposed within seconds. Vaati caught the falling Minish careful not to injure it, jumping off of a small ledge to a human is suicide to a Minish. Link ran to Vaati and looked down in his hands where the Minish was. The little Picori looked up at it's heroes.

"Oh thank you, thank you kind heroes!" It said in its somewhat high voice. "Kind strangers, thank you for saving me! I thought I was Crow Meat!"

Link looked at the small Minish, unable to see what clothing it wore to determine if it was from Hyrule Town or Minish Woods.

"Ummm...You're welcome, but...how did you get way out here?" He asked as the Minish looked up at him.

"Oh, that nasty crow carried me away from my home! Ummm...to you, I live close by, but it's like miles for me."

"You live here in the Royal Crypt?" Link asked as the Minish nodded. "I didn't know you guys can live all the way out here."

"Minish are everywhere, you know." Vaati said, looking at Link. "But still, it is pretty odd for one to be out here. GraveMinish are rare."

"GraveMinish?"

"Yes!" The GraveMinish said as it faced Vaati. "You've heard of us? I was told that no one in my village will ever see a human because they don't know about us! And here I am, saved by two hero humans!"

"Ummm..." Vaati started, looking down at the path. "Link is the one who killed the crow. I just caught you."

"Link?" The Minish asked, looking back at the hero in green. "So your name is Link?"

Link nodded, hoping he wasn't going to ask Vaati his name and then find out that he was alive.

"Never heard of you!" The GraveMinish declared as Link was caught off guard. "But thank you anyway, Lick!"

"Umm...it's...Link. There's an 'n' in my name."

"Oh right, Link! I'm sorry; I'm not good with names I never heard before!"

Both Link and Vaati blinked a few times at it's words. The story of Link and Vaati was a well-known tale, how could a Minish never have heard of the adventure that involved their own race? The GraveMinish looked back at the sorcerer in purple.

"And what's your name?"

"Ummm...V-Vaati." He tested, wondering if it was going to scream or gasp.

"Valiant?" It asked, its tiny head tilted like a puppy.

"Umm no, Vaati. Vah-Tee."

"Oh! Cool name!" The GraveMinish cheered. "Nice to meet you, Link and Vaati! My name's Darcana! But everyone in my village calls me Darc!"

"Village?" Link asked. "There are more of you here?"

"Yeah! It's pretty close if you're a human! I could introduce you to the rest of us!" Darc offered.

"Hmm...from what I know about GraveMinish, they're supposed to be rare. And also, they're supposed to specialize in multiple kinds of magic." Vaati thought out loud.

"Correct! That's what we do!"

Link and Vaati exchanged looks, unsure if they should meet the rest of the rare Minish.

Was this the reason I was sent here? Vaati thought.

"I'm not sure about Link, but I'd actually like to meet these rare Minish."

"Awesome!" Darc cheered. "C'mon, Link!" Darc ran to the edge of Vaati's palm and pointed toward a fence that circled around the graves. "My village is that way! They'll all be so excited to finally see a human!"

Vaati stepped in that direction, following Darc's directions. Link stepped after him.

"I'm coming too."

Darc led them over the fence and through the dead limbs and trees to his village. It was a very small amount of human yards away when they reached a small opening that Darc stopped them to. Vaati kneeled down and set his hand close to the dirt so that the GraveMinish could walk into his own village.

"Hey! Listen everyone! I found humans here in the graves!"

A few Minish heads popped out from their shelter at Darc's words. A couple walked into the opening followed by a few more. Soon the whole village was at Link and Vaati's feet, a population of 12 at the most.

Most GraveMinish gather in 5's, Vaati thought. This is pretty strange.

"Link, Vaati. This is my village. Village, this is Link and Vaati. The two heroes that saved me from the crow's attack!"

The crowd gasped and then started clapping, glad that Darc was saved by kind humans. An older Minish walked into the clearing.

"Humans? This is a rare sight." The older Minish said. "A sight I never believed I would see."

"Linn! These humans saved me in the graves!" Darc said to the older Minish.

"I see." Linn said, inspecting the heroes. "And why are two humans running around in the graves?"

"Umm...welll..." Link started.

"Wait a second, why is there a group of GraveMinish this size in one place? I thought there were supposed to be in rare small groups." Vaati asked.

"Hmm, you're smart." Linn said, looking up at Vaati. "But looking up at you is straining my neck. I will return shortly so you can shrink down to our size."

Link and Vaati both stared at Linn clueless as he walked into a dead log, possibly his home.

"...You know the song, right?" Link asked.

"...Song?" Vaati asked.

"Yea, the song that Ezlo used to make me Minish-sized!"

"It's a chant."

"Well, it sounds like a song to me! You know it right?"

"Didn't you learn it last year?"

"No, I was too busy being a hero! You need to use it so we can shrink!"

Vaati sighed.

"I don't know it."

"What? You were Ezlo's apprentice! Shouldn't you know it?" Link asked.

"I wanted to. But Master refused to teach me it. He said that he didn't want me getting in trouble with the humans...but that happened anyway. Besides, we'd need a portal."

"Oh..."

Link looked down, dropping the conversation. When Ezlo talked about Vaati last year, he seemed to take much pride on what he used to be. And he tried to avoid Vaati getting in trouble, too. His old partner, Vaati's own Master, seemed to be a father or grandfatherly figure to the apprentice Vaati. Linn soon returned and looked up at the humans.

"Here you go." Linn said, holding up a bottle of dust that was extremely tiny to Link and Vaati. He poured some into his tiny hands and blew it at the humans. Instead of blowing out in small dust particles, the dust expanded around Link and Vaati's bodies and circled around them. As the grayish white dust circled around him, Link's size decreased greatly until, as the dust blew away into nothingness, his body was as small as a Minish's.

Link glanced around, seeing all of the once tiny creatures suddenly bigger, not that they gained any size, but he simply shrunk. He had almost forgotten how great the world looked through a Minish's eyes. The trees were now endless, the blades of grass were as tall as trees are to humans, and a human palm sized rock was a boulder. It was truly amazing, the sight through a Minish's eyes. Link looked to the side where Vaati stood, also in Minish size. One of the GraveMinish rushed over to them and smiled.

"Pretty cool, huh? This is life as a Minish!" Darc cheered, his arm motioning toward the village.

Now that he was the same size, Link could see that Darc wore a dark red cloak with darker tinted designs of swirls located in random areas. His skin was pale from the lack of sunlight and his eyes were a stone grey. Silver hair ended at his shoulders with a simple black hat with red swirls designs. An older Minish with a black cloak and black hair walked up to the humans whom were slightly shorter than him.

"Surprized?" Linn asked. "Now, again I ask, why have you come here? There must be something you seek."