Courage

Some Deity of Courage she turned out to be!

Farore wiped her tears away from her eyes, but it was no use- more tears replaced them.

Din looked straight ahead, obviously struggling not to show emotion. "We should stop for the night," she said. "Come on."

It wasn't long before they found a patch where the grass grew over their heads with a clearing in the center. It would provide good shelter, Farore noted through her misery. You could hear your enemy coming, but they couldn't see you until the last minute. She rolled out the first blanket she had packed and sat down on it.

"This sucks," she said.

"I know," Din agreed. "We've gotta keep going. And we're not going anywhere without a good night's sleep." She lay down on her own blanket and pulled a second blanket on top of herself to keep herself warm. Farore did the same, rather grudgingly, and dropped off to sleep.

Only seconds later, a green-gold glow tickled the edge of her eyelids. She sat up, annoyed, and opened her eyes.

A beautiful girl, about seventeen, floated in the air before her. She had long, ivy-green hair that cascaded down her back and touched the back of her thighs. She wore a tight green tank top that looked like it had been woven from several different leaves of varying shades of green. Her pants hugged her thighs and flared out from her knees down. Her feet were hidden in petal-like shoes. Tendrils of ivy snaked around her arm. She blinked with emerald green eyes.

Oh, and her skin was honey-colored.

Farore blinked sleepily. "Who're you?" she mumbled.

The girl smiled. "I'm you," she said simply. "My name is Farore."

Farore didn't get it. "What are you, me from another dimension?"

The girl's shoulders jolted, as if she were trying to keep in a laugh. "Not exactly. I'm not really you… I count on you to keep me here."

Farore stared at her blankly.

"It's okay to cry," the girl said. "Especially when you think what you think now."

"I don't cry," Farore snapped. This girl was weird. "Why would I? I'm the Oracle of Secrets, the Deity of Courage."

"Exactly," the girl said cheerfully. "You are the Deity of Courage. I am you."

It finally dawned on her. "Fa…ro…re?" she said slowly.

"Well, you call me Courage," the girl smiled.

"But… but…" Farore sputtered. "How are you here?"

"There is but one thing that still connects me to this world," Courage explained. "The Stone. And only barely."

"What stone?" Farore said, confused. "You mean the booger-rock?"

Courage sighed, pressing a hand to her face. "You cannot be this dense. Look, the Stone isn't enough, and its power is dying. You need to find the-"

Her image suddenly fuzzed.

"Courage?" Farore said urgently. "What do I need to find?"

Courage sighed as she came back into focus. "I can't speak any longer. The Triforce is the strongest link. Hurry! You can do it. I chose you for a reason…"

She faded away, and Farore woke up as the sun rose.

Hero

Link reached the edge of Hyrule Field. A little further and he would cross into Pirogga Plain. From there, it wouldn't be too far on Epona to get to Labrynna. He started forward, eager for a new adventure.

Epona suddenly reared back, obviously frightened. Link fought to stay on, looking around for whatever had startled his horse. He saw nothing, yet something with very sharp claws tore him off Epona, sending him flying to the ground.

He got up a bit shakily, drawing the Master Sword. He looked around, looking for whatever hit him.

It attacked again, from behind, but he saw nothing. An invisible enemy?

When the concealed creature finally had enough of playing with Link, it threw the battered boy aside like a crumpled piece of paper. Shaken to the bone, Link scrambled to his feet and ran as fast as he could. Whatever that… thing was, he did not want to run into it again.

Power

Din woke up and found Farore already packed and chewing on some of the salted meat. "You're up early," she observed.

Farore opened her mouth, about to say something, but she apparently thought better and closed her mouth.

"What happened?" Din asked.

"Oh, nothing," Farore said, looking off into the distance.

Din laughed. "For the Oracle of Secrets, you're a terrible liar. What happened?"

"Nothing," Farore repeated, looking Din in the eye. "Nothing happened, okay?"

Din wondered what was so important that had to be hidden. "Fine," she said. "Nothing happened."

Farore handed Din a piece of meat. She accepted it and chewed thoughtfully.

"We should keep going," Farore said. "Hyrule's a long way off."

Din stared at her.

"What?" she said, offended.

"You were a crying mess last night," Din said. "What happened to you?"

"I came to my senses," Farore muttered. "Besides, crying isn't going to solve anything. So let's get to Hyrule and maybe our mission won't be a total waste of time, right?"

Din nodded with approval. "Excellent idea." She packed up quickly, and the two Oracles began the long trek across Pirogga Plain.

They came to an eventual stop at a nearby village around high noon. The sign they read upon entering read Lolvia Village. While Farore stocked up on supplies, Din asked around to find out about nearby regions.

"The Woods of the Deep are just west of here," one man said. "But it's a bad idea to go inside."

"Why's that?" Din asked.

"It's impossible to find your way out," the man explained. "Somewhere in the heart of the forest lies the race of the Regulas. They look like humans, but with wings!"

A race of over-sized fairies, Din guessed. The next man she spoke to had information about the mountain range in the east, the largest being King's Peak.

"There's said to be a temple at the tip of King's Peak," the man explained, "but it's guarded by terrible monsters! It's no place for a lady to go."

"I can take care of myself," Din replied sharply.

She spoke to a woman next, who was quite helpful in explaining where the river went.

"The river feeds into a lake northwest of here, called Dyloki Lake," she told Din. "It's rumored it has an underwater passage to a lake in the nearby kingdom."

Lake Hylia, it would seem. Din joined Farore at the local bar and told her what she had found.

"Hyrule is directly north of the Plain," Farore explained, showing her an updated map. "Check it out- this one even has that underwater passage mapped out."

Sure enough, Din could see a thin blue line leading away from Dyloki Lake and off the map in the direction of Lake Hylia.

"Now these Regula don't sound too worrisome," Farore went on. "However, I did some digging in one of the Tome volumes I brought, and it says that Regulans are very territorial, but they can grant any wish- for a price, of course."

Din nodded, impressed. Farore was well known for her amazing research skills. "Anything else?" she asked.

"Not much," Farore admitted. "I couldn't find anything on that temple up on King's Peak. Do you think it could be a Shrine?"

"Maybe," Din sighed. "It's possible."

"We'll look into it, then," Farore said, rolling up the map and closing the book. She dropped them both in her Leafsatchel. "We should stay the night, I guess. It's nearly nightfall anyway."

"Agreed," Din nodded.

Courage

Farore woke up only when Din shook her awake. She'd been up late the night before, sketching in one of the blank scrolls she'd bought. She only fell asleep when she realized she was sketching Courage over and over.

"What are these?" Din asked, rolling through the sketches.

"Not important," Farore said, feeling her face grow hot. She grabbed the scroll and dropped in the bottomless pit of her Leafsatchel.

The two Oracles bathed quickly and dressed so as not to look out of place among the villagers to keep the questions at a minimum- there had been quite a stir the day before when two girls wearing shorts had come to town. Instead, Din wore a pink dress that went down to her knees, and Farore wore what she usually did- a green dress with a blue apron-like covering.

"I hate this," Din complained as they left the inn. "I don't like the feeling of my bare legs. It makes me feel exposed. I like pants better."

"Keep your skirt on," Farore scolded. "At least put up with it until we're a good distance from the village. Then you can change." She handed Din a bandana, who took it and tied her hair back. "I want to find out a few more things, and then we can leave."