Princess Zelda suddenly takes the four Links off the trail of the Wind Waker, for one of Ganon's elusive strongholds has been found, down south near the Faron Woods. For the sake of their sanity, she's sent them on the scouting mission. Impa will worry about getting the baton into Zelda's hands. The change of air should be welcome, but what will they find that Ganon's servants are up to?

It was six hours' ride southward to the village of Glensight, across the flats, rolls, dips, knolls, and hills of the field. The road led them by ranches and farmsteads large and small, stands of trees that sprouted on the plain, nobles' estates and hamlets, all the way south until the Lost and Faron Woods first appeared as a dark smudge on the horizon. The trees became more apparent as they approached, along with the buildings of the village and the fields surrounding it. Glensight was an important source of lumber for the kingdom, and its wooden structures were of high quality.

The party rode in without fuss and sought out Sir Bornelle, who could be found stationed at the town's small barracks near the mayor's office. He was a cousin to Captain Barrit who could have passed as his brother, sharing pigmentation and similar stature but forgoing his commander and kinsman's choice of facial hair. The knight read the orders they bore in writing from Barrit, and they took an hour to rest after the ride, enjoying the modest but warm hospitality of the mayor. Afternoon was late now, and Sir Bornelle saddled up to lead them three miles away from Glensight, into the forest where the three already-arrived scouts were camped. He checked in with them, reminded the assemblage that they could call on him at any time in Glensight, and returned to the village.

After Bornelle's departure, the new arrivals received their own orientation. The scouts' camp was obscure, tucked into a large bramble stand some five hundred yards back from the forest's fringe. A stone's throw from the camp ran a stream. No fire burned at the moment for the purposes of stealth. The terrain was a slope here, dropping generally towards the east but broken up by wooded ravines. Heroes and new scouts were shown the spots they watched Ganon's stronghold from. The entrance was a cave that drifted back in a spot where the hill was more a cliff. It was about a mile from the campsite through the trees and over uneven ground.

At the moment it didn't look like much, but movement had been seen. Before their arrival, three humans two of the scouts had followed here had exited the cave and headed east, towards the road that ran north (onto the field and towards Kakariko) and south (sometimes flanking and sometimes cutting through the forest, heading down through the province of Ordona's eastern side and leaving the kingdom). Ganon's agents had their old tails following them again when they left; where they went next, the princess would be informed. A pair of bokoblins had come out and made a patrol earlier, but no sentries stood watch at the mouth of the cave, and none had been found in the surrounding forest.

This was part of the forest the split hero wasn't very familiar with. They knew they were actually near the Four Sword Sanctuary—it stood south and east of this cave (The road was the same one they'd ambushed the troop of lizalfos on. This stronghold had likely been their destination). Westward of Glensight, more towards where the Faron Woods became the Lost Woods, had been their haunt before the division, before finding himself lending his service to the crown. The Links' knowledge of the area was imperfect, but their expertise helpful in tightening up the camp and building blinds for the night watchers to survey the cave from. It felt a bit strange to draw on these skills from before the split, something that all four of them still shared.

Darkness came on fast with the tall trees to screen out the sun, and a low fire was built. The group ate, and some went to sleep while one stood watch over the camp and two others went to the blinds to keep an eye on the cave. The night hours were chill and filled with the chirping of crickets, the calls of owls, one wolf howl deep in the forest, and the other noises of nocturnal life. Sentries were relieved and vigilance maintained while the moon made its slow turn through the clear sky.

There was no sign of life at the cave all through the night. Morning came with still nothing to report, and the scouting team was almost all up with the dawn. Blue occupied himself with building a lookout platform hidden in a tall evergreen tree by the camp and was content for quite some time as he worked. Green was relieved at watching the cave and returned to the camp to find the skinny tinker high up the tree, binding the small platform in place.

"Got another experiment," he called up to him.

"What's that?" Blue led him on.

"Red, count how many times he wrapped the rope around that timber there."

"Which one?" the giant asked.

"The one on the edge, there, right at the corner."

The large one peered at the indicated coils of cord. "Um… Six? I can't really tell." He scratched the back of his head.

"Four," said Green.

Blue hooked his grapnel around the trunk of the tree and leaned out from the platform to count. "Four it is. Your vision, huh?"

"Yeah, I kept picking up details while I was watching the cave."

"Then you're a good choice to test out this thing. Climb up here and have a look around."

Green deftly scaled the tree. His thin counterpart had tied and braced a series of branches cut from dead wood to the trunk to almost form the rungs of a ladder. Combined with the fir tree's living branches chosen and marked for their strength, he'd laid out a sequence of hand- and foot-holds that made the climb easy. In short order he slipped through the hole in the platform and climbed up next to Blue. "Is this strong enough for both of us?"

The tinker bent his knees and focused his weight onto the platform. It gave a single creak. "This is the weight limit right here, you and me, but it'll do. Take a look around."

The archer did so. Blue had set the platform low enough that it blended into the canopy of the forest to hide its occupants, but it still afforded an excellent view. All around was a roiling cloudscape of green, puffs of oak, beech, ash, Deku-kin, and other deciduous trees, spiked with tall needleleafs. It went south and west for not far, since taller trees and rising ground created a close horizon, but he knew that the trackless woods went on for miles upon miles. To the north Hyrule Field spread wide. Death Mountain, Snowpeak, and Hyrule Castle stood against the skyline. Towards the east the forest sloped down and ended, and over the tops of the last trees he beheld the sea, reaching out farther than even his eyes could reach. Green took it all in, awed by the beauty, and began paying attention to the details and naming them to Blue.

"I can make out a bit of Glensight, just over the top of the forest. There's a farmer out in one of the fields—wait, no, I think that's a scarecrow. There, I see a person, he's doing something out there." He turned more eastward. "On the road towards Kakariko, I see a dust cloud. Maybe a wagon…" he was silent for several seconds as he watched it. "Going. It's going north, getting farther away… I can't see the cave, too many trees in the way. That would have been handy. I see a bird's nest in that tree, over there, and there's one looks like it was struck by lightning…" He fell silent, still surveying, and Blue grinned.

"I think the hypothesis is proven. I'll leave you alone up here for a while."

"Yeah, sure… Thanks."

The tall one changed the shape of his grapnel again and hooked it on the edge of the platform. He dropped the rope over the side and then climbed down it to the ground. Then he jerked the rope, making the hook fall after him. "He's happy," he said to Red.

Green spent nearly an hour up on the platform before climbing down. He took his bow and left the camp to practice for some time and explore. Blue left his tinkering to take a shift watching the cave, and Purple approached Red.

"Can you give me a hand with something?" the child asked the giant.

"Sure, what's up?"

"I want to try this outside the forest, actually. Bring some of those sticks Blue had left over."

Red was curious as he and his small counterpart each took a small armful of wood. The mystic led the way, and they made the more than quarter-mile walk out from under the trees to the open land to the north. Purple dropped his load of sticks at a point several yards outside the border and turned to his companion to explain.

"I think I've made a magical breakthrough," he began. "Those books I've been looking at hold some spells that we probably couldn't have done before the split, but I think I can manage them now. I'd like to practice."

The giant nodded at first, encouraging and impressed, but then stopped. "Wait, what did you need me for, then? A target?"

"Oh, no, nothing like that. There's just three of them, and one that I need you for. It's the hard one, really. I'm going to go over there," he pointed to a spot a little further out into the field, "and I want you to throw a stick at me. I'll try to stop it."

"Okay… Are you sure about this?"

"Yes," Purple replied, already jogging to his spot. "Don't worry about me, just give me a good throw."

"All right…" Red picked up the least gnarly stick in the pile and gripped it at one end. He waited until Purple came to a stop, faced him, and took a couple of calming breaths. "Ready?"

The mystic rubbed his hands together, shifted his feet, nodded, and made a beckoning motion. "Ready."

Red pitched the stick at him. As it left his grip, Purple's hands moved and he spoke the words of the spell. He was suddenly enveloped by a large crystal, gleaming blue, intricately faceted. But it was only there for a moment, materializing and then shattering forcefully. Its sharp, thumbnail-sized shards flew in all directions. They might have harmed Red, but Purple had picked his distance carefully, making sure that the crystal shrapnel disintegrated before being of danger to his companion. It vanished, and he dodged to one side to avoid the stick.

"My fault," he called to Red. "I cast too soon."

"What was that? Did it work right?"

"Nayru's Love. It worked, I just cast it too soon."

"Wait, really? Isn't that spell a legend?"

"Well, yeah, but it's real, you just saw it. Let's try again."

Red reached down and picked up another piece of wood, then stated, "I'm seeing a myth brought to life, and I'm throwing things at it."

"I'm pretty sure the princess can do it. Okay, I'm ready."

He threw again, and Purple cast the spell. He waited longer, but was still too quick, nearly getting hit.

"Gotta get the timing down. Again."

The third time, he was late, and the stick hit him in the forearm before the spell was complete. He rubbed the impact and Red asked him if he was all right.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Nearly had it. And don't try to miss me, it's got to be heading towards me. Wish Blue was around the camp, I could've asked if he had a potion for spellcasting. Okay, again."

The fourth casting was on. The blue shell of magic encased him, the stick thunked against it and bounced back, then the crystal exploded. "Yes!" said Purple, raising a triumphant fist as Red did the same. "Two more, then I should try the next one." The fifth was slightly early. The spell shattered before the stick hit, but the shards knocked it safely out of the air. On the sixth attempt, the timing was good once again, the projectile blocked by the magic shield.

"I'll need to practice more," Purple said, shaking his hands out.

"But you're getting it!" the giant said in encouragement. "What's next? More sticks?"

"No, no more sticks. That was the tricky one. This one just needs concentration." He centered himself with a deep breath, momentarily closing his eyes. Then he worked the spell, its gestures and words markedly different from the first, and turned in place. It was almost as if he twisted himself out of existence, for he vanished with a faint flash of green, and reappeared the same instant to Red's left, closer to the tree line.

"Whoa!" said the giant. "What's that one?"

"Farore's Wind," Purple replied. "Need to practice that one, too. It's scary, it would probably be really bad if I teleported into a tree or solid rock or something." He took another deep breath and rubbed his head, starting to feel the strain of the heavy magic use, then smiled at his companion. "Want to guess what the last one is?"

Red only had to think for a moment. "Din's Fire?"

"Din's Fire."

Purple made its obeisance and invoked it, then threw out his hand towards the spot he'd been testing the first spell on. A fireball the size of his fist shot from his open palm and streaked out to a distance of perhaps twenty yards, where it detonated mid-air into a large explosion with a fwoomph noise.

"That's why I didn't want to try it in the forest. But I guess I probably should have sent it the other way, just in case anyone was looking out at the cave."

"Good thought," said Red, and looked at him. "Do you think you have one more of those in you?"

The child nodded slowly. "One more, yeah, but I was hoping to keep something in reserve."

"If I throw a stick, you think you can hit it?"

Purple grinned. "Okay. Let's give it a shot."

Red hurled the stick high and far. The short hero watched it, then sent out another fireball, heading to intercept it. It chased the piece of wood momentarily, then exploded, splintering and charring its target. "Nice," the giant said to him, to which he inclined his head in thanks.

"That's my limit for now, at least until I have one of those potions. Let's make sure we won't have any grassfires, then get back." They gathered the kindling they'd brought and confirmed that there was nothing smoldering from the two explosions (the large one's nose was helpful for that), then started back towards the camp.

"Hey, Red? Thanks for your help."

"You're welcome. Thanks for showing me that."

It was roughly noon now. The party had eaten lunch and Green was back up in the perch. He may have stayed up longer if he hadn't spotted something, called down softly, "Sir Bornelle's coming," and descended. The knight rode into the camp quietly, cloaked in dark gray, wearing a sword at his waist and a light chainmail hauberk on his torso. Tucked under one arm was a small wicker cage that contained a homing pigeon. Red held his bridle as he dismounted.

"Good afternoon, Reconnaissance. Anything to report?" he asked, stroking his horse's neck. Shaking heads and 'no, sir''s indicated negative. There had been no new developments since Bornelle left the night before. "I have news, though. Pigeon came from Castle Town a little earlier, from Captain Barrit."

He removed from his pocket the small leather tube that had been bound to the bird's leg and extracted the rolled scrap of paper. The knight read aloud its words to the assemblage: "'Bornelle—Expect twenty cavalry arriving at Glensight later today to await further orders. Four arrests in Kakariko when conspirators arrived from your area. Proclamation on Ganon and Vaati made, handled well so far. Young girl missing from Lake Hylia village, probably Vaati. Send pigeon immediately if there's anything to report. Arrests may lead to action soon. Captain Barrit.'"

The knight handed Red the cage with the bird. "Send him if there is anything, he'll come to me at the village and I'll relay to the castle." He stayed to let his horse drink a bit and take a breather, and then he was gone again.

With Bornelle gone, Green began pacing. After a minute of watching his agitation, Blue, who had returned from his shift on the cave, asked, "What's wrong?"

"That little girl," the archer replied. "She must be the first one Vaati's snatched, but there'll probably be more. And here we are, waiting around and just watching this cave where nothing's going on."

"Green, nothing was going on at the castle, either."

"My point exactly! The only thing that's changed is the scenery, and Vaati's taken a girl. I'm starting to wish we'd stuck with getting the Wind Waker and focusing on him."

"You heard the princess, she'll need time to work with it anyway."

"Maybe not. Maybe we could still beat him, or at least keep him from kidnapping anyone else, the sword might be enough for that. It probably is. This doesn't feel right, what if we're being set up again?"

Blue could hear the first hints of a frenzy in his voice. He kept his own tone calm when he asked him, "Why would you think that?"

"I don't know! But I can't just wait around here while that demon grabs more little girls."

"Green, look at me. Look at me." The tinker stood, took his slightly-stockier counterpart by the shoulders, and forced him to meet his eyes. "I understand how you feel. I do, I mean that. But we have to wait. She'll be okay, and we'll take care of him soon. Quickly, even, the princess will probably figure out the baton in no time."

"How do you know that? And how can you let him run amok while we sit on our hands? Are you my cowardly side?"

Blue's jaw gritted and he dropped his hands. "That's not true, and you know it." The shooter sniffed and looked away, saying nothing. The tinker folded his arms, frowning, giving up on tact. "All right then, Hotshot. What would you rather do? You got a plan, or do we just charge across the countryside looking for the Wind Mage and pick a fight? Meanwhile, Ganon does whatever he wants here and we know nothing about it."

Green was silent for a moment before he made his suggestion. "We should get this over with, this cave, and get back to the Wind Waker or hunting him down."

"What are you saying, we charge the cave with the four of us and eight scouts? That's crazy, don't you remember what the old fort was like? A dozen guys wouldn't have stood a chance there, and Ganon's probably only increased his guard."

"What have we seen here? Two bokoblins and three humans before we even arrived. What else? Nothing. Not even a mean rat."

"Doesn't mean anything, we have no idea what might be waiting in the cave."

"And we won't find out if we just stay here."

Blue stared at him for a beat. "I know you're bored, but I didn't think you were suicidal."

"You got a better idea?" The agile hero folded his arms across his chest.

"No, Green," said Red, coming into the argument. "We're under orders: just watch."

The shooter looked to Purple for support, but the child shook his head. "We can't go in blind."

"Look," said Blue consolingly, "Twenty knights are on their way to the village. With them, we'll stand a better chance against whatever's in there, and orders to attack will probably come soon. Just not now."

Red dropped his voice low, glancing at the scouts who were trying to appear oblivious to the argument. "And we can't ask these kids to throw their lives away like this. Have a little patience, have a little faith."

The archer broke away from them roughly, boiling with frustration. He snatched up a piece of firewood and swung it into the trunk of a tree, snapping it in two. Then he stalked off in a show of temper.

About fifteen minutes later he returned, cooled down a bit but still speaking to no one. The archer sat in front of the cold fire ring and drank from his waterskin. His companions let him be.

A further two hours passed with Green's disgruntlement unvoiced but apparent, and the rest of the camp lapsed into quiet. Blue continued to tinker, Purple sat in meditation to refresh his mind after his earlier spellcasting, and Red patrolled the surrounding woods. The idleness was beginning to grate on all their nerves, truth be told, and everyone began to look forward to new orders or some news.

Then the scout standing watch on the lookout perch hissed down, "Green! I think I see something, come up here quick!"

The archer's brow furrowed as his head turned towards the scout. He stood and drew the hookshot from the small of his back. He took aim and its end shot out, catching purchase on the platform's edge. It pulled him up forcefully, he grabbed the edge with his free hand, and climbed up. His green eyes peered intently in the direction of the cave, and his lips pursed.

"What is it?" Red asked.

"Big group heading towards the cave. I can't make out much, but I don't think they're friends. We need to get over there, now."

He and the scout scrambled down from the platform while the others grabbed their gear together. The four Links and the Recon dashed quietly through the woods towards the blinds where the two watchers already were.

They looked around at the very faint sounds of their approach and beckoned emphatically. It was a sobering sight that greeted them when they peered through the camouflage stand at the approach to the cave.

Monsters were arriving. A party of travel-dusted bulblin raiders emerged from the trees at the far side, astride huge boar beasts and laden with bows, clubs, and curved blades. Moblins made wide strides among them, thick arms bearing long spears. There had to be at least sixty monsters, a quarter of which were the hulking moblins. But worse than their numbers and their arms was who they brought with them: prisoners.

The frightened population of a small thorp was tied wrist-to-wrist in a chain, women carrying their small children and supporting the men too wounded to walk on their own. Green counted fifteen adults and guessed half again that many young ones. Many still cried, all stumbled from weariness, and monsters on bulbo-back drove them with harsh, gargling shouts and willow switches probably cut for just this purpose. The humans were driven en-masse into the mouth of the cave and were followed by the monsters, growling amongst themselves and shifting weapons from hand to hand.

When they disappeared underground, the scouting team slipped back to confer in hushed tones.

"We have to send the pigeon," said one of the scouts, Rael.

"What do they want with those people?" wondered his brother.

"Food?" guessed Terry, the one who'd spotted them coming. All glanced towards the mouth of the cave.

Green's eyes were hard as he looked at his counterparts. "We have to do something," he said through gritted teeth.

"I agree," said Red softly. "When it was just us at risk, it was one thing. But this… This is something else."

"Hold on, we can't go in there with just us," Blue whispered. "You're right, we do have to do something, but we're going to get slaughtered… Do you think those knights arrived at Glensight by now? We'll need more men if we're going to stand a chance against all that."

Green smiled predatorily. "We've got another edge. I found a hole over that way. I didn't check it out thoroughly, but from where it is I think it might be a back door they don't use or know about."

"Okay, great," said the tinker. "But we'll still need to wait for the knights."

"There may not be any time! There were wounded," Rael hissed. He said to his sibling, "Orret, I thought I saw Gwyllis in there. That might be her village!"

"She's our cousin," Orret explained in a worried grimace. "Rael's right, they looked like they've been traveling a long way, and the monsters're probably hungry. We can't wait long."

"We can start in," said Purple. "It may take a bit to sneak in."

"Okay," said Green. "I think I have a plan. Recon, you guys send the pigeon to Bornelle and tell him to get here fast with the knights and whoever else he has over there. We'll check out this hole. If it works, we'll wait one hour for you to get them in place, and then we hit them from both sides. If we can't get through… We'll figure something out. Does that sound good?"

The team glanced around at each other, and though apprehensive, they nodded. It would be very dangerous, but it might work, and it might be the best chance they had to help the prisoners before they came to further harm.

"All right, that's what we'll do. Tell him to get them here quick."

The group split, scouts running for the camp and the Links following Green's lead to the possible back door.

AN: Once more, we're going underground. How nice in the games when we can spelunk a dungeon that's partially open-air. You'd think I'd take that as a clue, huh? No, you'll see.

I did indeed use the SSBM versions of the goddess's three spells for Purple. I really like them, and he's got other tricks available that emulate the OoT versions. But the scene of him testing them out with Red was nice to write. All four of them are still exploring their capabilities as a split being.

One note on the previous chapter: I should have written homing pigeon, not carrier pigeon. Now working to replace all the following references; that's what I get for not doing my research.

Also, keep an eye out for a oneshot I've been waiting to release, later this week.

We're back underground, but reviews can follow into the earth if they dare!