Buffy frowned skeptically but did as he said, triumphantly stepping back onto solid land and following the river somewhere she'd never noticed before. "Isn't it kinda strange that the open country has walls? I mean, there's this epic field… the school I can understand, but there are those pointless stone fences in the middle that don't lead anywhere or keep anything in. And then there are these high walls. You just kinda wonder why they're there."
"Looks like you've gotten bigger and stronger already," came Drusilla's shaky voice quite suddenly from above. Buffy jumped in surprise and then took on a look of minor indignance.
"I just saw you. Like, less than an hour ago. You brought me into town. Plus, I'm a forestfolk. I don't grow."
"Zora's Domain is up ahead. They serve the royal family."
"We've been over this already. Anything else?"
"Daddy and I would always try to get in. Got to get to the Zora people. They taste so lovely…"
"Euurgh, too much information."
"But the doors wouldn't open. There was a funny box symbol… only those associated with the Royal Family can enter. Not even dress-up can fool the door, oooh…" Drusilla wailed and then turned and flew away into the darkening sky.
Buffy shook her head and bombed the line of rocks in front of her without saying anything. Angel frowned. "Well, that makes a lot more sense than diving into the river and trying to swim against the current."
"Is that what you did back in the day?"
"Sadly, yes."
"I thought vampires were supposed to be cunning."
"Me too."
"…Angel…"
"Hmm?"
"Why is there a kid running around these rocks?"
"I… don't know. Maybe he belongs to that guy." Angel indicated to their right and Buffy caught sight of a somewhat overweight and entirely shirtless man eating beans from a bag.
"I don't mean to interrupt your… meal, sir," Buffy said as she approached the man, "but is that your child over there?"
"Chomp chomp chomp. I have magic beans. They aren't selling very well…"
"That's nice. I was just wondering if that was your kid…"
"I'll sell you one for ten rupees."
"One child or one magic bean?"
"Chomp chomp chomp."
Buffy frowned and leaned toward Angel, talking out of the corner of her mouth. "Why is he speaking the sound effect of his eating? I don't get that."
"Me neither. Maybe just buy one of his beans."
"Okay. Here's ten rupees for you," she said hesitantly, handing the money to the man. He brought out a magic bean and it flew above her head. Angel grinned and took a deep breath.
"You got a magic bean!"
"Angel, I swear to God, if you tell me that this bean is for eating, I'll smack you across the face."
Angel stared and continued in a very loud and fragmented voice. "Put it in a soft patch of dirt and maybe it'll grow!"
"…Oh. Okay. Neat." The bean flew into her hat. "Does this count?" she asked, pointing at a soft patch of dirt."Yep," Angel said. The bean guy no longer seemed to notice that they were there. Buffy put the bean in the ground and crouched over it as it immediately grew into a tiny sprout. Buffy waited, but nothing further happened.
"That's it? That's all it does?"
Angel shook his head and sighed, but not in exasperation. It was more a sad sigh. "I didn't think it would really do anything yet. Magic beans tend to grow into magic lily pads, but not for years."
"So basically that was an excellent waste of ten rupees."
"For your purposes, yeah. But maybe you helped someone in the future."
"Will they pay me ten rupees?"
"No. Probably not."
"Well then." Buffy raised her eyebrows at the kid and contemplated taking it with her, but decided not to in case it really did belong to the bean guy and she'd be charged with kidnapping. She jumped across the river at the narrow diagonal bit and started running up the hill. An octopus-looking demon jumped out of the water and spat something at Buffy, but she kept running. She jumped a gap in the river, and then jumped another, and followed the elevated platform until it came to an end. She jumped down and rolled out of the fall without any hesitation. Angel followed her hesitantly and finally spoke up.
"Are you… mad?"
"Hmm?" She looked over at the fairy in surprise, and then smiled kindly. "No. I'm just… thinking. Not really paying any… any attention to where I'm going… how did I get here?"
"You ran. With a vengeance."
She smiled again at her fairy and climbed up the ledge, crossing the river without difficulty. "I was just thinking about this trek and how weird it is. Everything's totally changed for me. I was really happy in my forest with my best friend, not really doing anything, arguing with Harmony as much as possible, but now… I don't know. I see everything differently. I miss Xander and I miss the forest but I think that when I go back I'll get bored and have to go off on occasional trips to see everything again. With you," she added with fondness in her voice. Angel glowed with pride.
"Or after we get the third stone and you go home and rest for a while, we can go on new adventures. Like…Lake Hylia. That was my favourite place as a human. I used to spend hours just basking in the sun and fishing."
"Is it pretty there?"
"Gorgeous. Words can't describe you."
Buffy's head suddenly snapped toward Angel. He grew concerned. "What's wrong?"
She stared for another couple of seconds. "Nothing. It's just… what did you say?"
"I said words can't describe it."
"Oh. Oh. Okay. Sorry, I heard something… totally different." She turned and surged forward again, jumping over another part of the river. Angel hung behind and watched her carefully before following her again.
"You all right, Buffy?"
"Yeah. Just kinda starting to think that this adventuring is driving me a bit loony… whoa." She stopped in her tracks to behold the waterfall in front of her. The sun was rising behind her; flying specs of water sparkled in the glow. Paths crisscrossed their way up to a platform directly in front of the waterfall. Buffy leapt over a gap and stood in front of the cascade, vaguely aware of the crescendo of music from somewhere behind her as the sun rose.
Angel glowed green around her feet. "I don't want to ruin the moment, but this plaque is prompting a messenger of the Royal Family."
"Mmhmm. I'm getting to it," Buffy said absently. She reached out and caught a bit of the waterfall in her hand, splashing it across her face and smiling as she remembered the times she and Xander used to wander around the Lost Woods and take a break by the watering hole. They always used to be mystified by the passage that appeared to be at the bottom of the deep pond, but neither of them were skilled enough swimmers or brave enough to dive way down to see where it led. Buffy turned and instinctively looked to her right. "That pond there… does it lead to the Lost Woods?"
Angel flew over and peered down. "Yeah, I think so. Yeah, yeah… Drusilla and I were up here trying to figure out how to get to the Zoras when that girl who killed our kind came up behind us. The only way out was down here, and… then we were in the Lost Woods. I thought the girl had just worked some kind of spell on us and put us there for some reason."
Buffy smiled and faced the falls again. The sunlight reflected off her face in such a way that caught Angel off-guard; he hovered above the pond to watch her for a second. "The Lost Woods is filled with many a mystery," she said nostalgically. Then her expression faded into seriousness and she stood up straight. "All righty then, magic door… ouvre, par puissance du roi."
The waterfall parted, revealing a passage in the rock. Buffy smiled again and looked back at Angel. "Coming?""Yeah." Angel flew back toward Buffy as she jumped the gap and walked into what could only be described as an aquatic wonderland.