The plot thickens! What's going on with 'the spirit within Link' and Vale? What will Ezlo find out in all of this? What is the ancient battle? Well, regardless, there's still one stonified princess to save. Sorry for how long these next chapters took! Homework was a disaster... Full list of excuses on next before-chapter notes. So,

in the last chapter...

Link literally ran into Vaati, hiding Ezlo from him. They fused the violet-lilac kinstone and all three of them saw the spark that floated to the sky. Strangely enough, Link noticed that Vaati felt as if he were four separate Vaatis, yet all the same. Upon seeing Ezlo, Vaati instantly became bitter again and Ezlo's plan failed spectacularly! Their warring feelings made Link feel sad. Vaati followed the kinstone all the way to the top of Mount Crenel, where he really began to wonder if power really was the answer he was looking for, and why that little kinstone which had fallen into his palm seemed to represent so much. Back at Smith's house, Ezlo learnt about Link's illness and Link faced the nightmare once and for all, meeting Vale, Vaati's older brother, who warned him that Vaati, Link and Zelda were all part of an ancient, timeless battle...


Chapter 12: Shoes for the Sticky Swamp

Link woke up, feeling better than he'd had in a long while. He noticed he was holding Ezlo as if he were a soft teddy bear and dropped him, tucking him up in the bed before leaving the room, giggling at his snoring, which was a lot like his grandpa's snoring. Link went inside the bathroom and changed into his non-burnt tunic before heading downstairs.

By the time Ezlo and Smith woke up, Link had already made breakfast for everyone.

"I didn't know Link could cook." commentated Ezlo after he got downstairs via being carried by Smith.

"Niether did I." added Smith, putting Ezlo down onto a nearby chair.

Ezlo couldn't help but wonder what else Link was hiding from everybody...

...but his cooking was delicious. They all -even Ezlo- helped with the dishes once everyone was done eating, and two minutes later Ezlo was back on Link's head and the two of them were heading off to... wherever the next element was! ...hmm...

Outside, it was sunny as per usual, and Link opened his map to see where to go next. Ezlo didn't bother asking Link where he'd learned how to cook. The kid wouldn't answer anyway.

One of the elements was in Lake Hylia -therefore unreachable due to Link's inability to swim- and the other was somewhere below Castor Wilds, a terribly dangerous swamp, in a blank space on the map.

"Well, Boy! Looks like that's where we're off to!" announced Ezlo, tapping the picture of Castor Wilds with his beak. Link nodded.

The two of them started by going south, then west, across the river. It wasn't the right way- a wall of trees blocked the path. So next, they went north, then west again at the entrance to Hyrule Town, but the bridge to Western Wood was ruined. Reduced to a lot of wood floating down River Hurry-Up.

"Well... I guess we'll be going through town, Boy!" Commentated Ezlo. Link nodded and ran through Hyrule Town, past I-Insist,-Call-Me-Tim into Trilby Highlands, following the map down a ladder and into an underground cave. Inside, there were some magic tiles in front of a huge, solid, concrete block that Link could never move on his own. He tried anyway but failed.

"You're going to need another you for that, Boy!" grumbled Ezlo. He looked down at Link's face and saw him slow-ly smile.

He then took out the White Sword from his bag and used the tiles to, indeed, make 'another him'. The clone helped him push the block out of the way before disappearing. Link put away the White Sword in his bag before climbing up the ladder behind the block to see a new area of Trilby Highlands, a lovely green field with clear blue patches of stream, so shallow that they hardly reached Link's ankles. There were also two large, brown pig-monsters with spears. Link drew his sword and sliced at their backs, defeating them.

After that, Link continued to follow the map into Western Wood, along the west wall of Hyrule Town. Just then, Link suddenly felt... a rush of power, like echoing waves, searing across the path from the north of Hyrule. It made him and Ezlo vibrate all over, yet it felt oddly like... Vaati. Ezlo felt it too and recognised it as the echoes of a very powerful, ancient spell which went beyond the basic laws of magic, something which should NOT, under ANY circumstances, be messed with. So of course Vaati was messing with it. Honestly, how did Vaati even know about it? What else did Vaati take from behind his back?

Link and Ezlo looked around. "Eh? What a strange feeling. I just sensed something coming from the castle's direction. Hmm... Maybe it's just the wind... I hope nothing bad has happened." Ezlo was trying to reassure himself more than Link, though he knew something bad had to have happened from this kind of magic... "Anyway, we need to look for the next element. The map says it should be nearby somewhere..."

Further down the path, Link was attacked by a bunch of huge crow-like monsters. He slashed them all with his sword as they dived towards the map, claws outstretched. They, like all the other monsters, went poof.

Along the path, Link picked up a large rock and put it in his bag. When they passed a thick, long and sturdy stick, Link picked it up and put it in his bag. When they passed a fallen tree, Link cut a huge section of tree as big as him and Ezlo put together and put that in his bag too. He wanted to use them to see if what he'd read about Castor Wilds was true... Ezlo was just confused about him as usual. They then crossed the bridge into Castor Wilds.

Vast areas of sticky, smelly dark-greeny-mud-brown muck surrounded them on all sides, with spiky, tough old swamp-weeds growing in it. Link and Ezlo were on a small island of hard, solid -if a bit smelly- land. "So, this must be Castor Wilds..." Commentated Ezlo, looking at the map before Link put it away. "It's a nasty, dark place filled with swampland and mire... But we know there's an element somewhere here, so... into the muck with us!"

Link took the large rock from his bag and threw it into the swamp. It sank.

Next he threw the tough, sturdy and long stick into the swamp short-end first. It sank.

Finally, he threw the bit of tree as big as himself and Ezlo put together into the swamp small, flat end first. It sank.

Ezlo and Link watched as the bit of tree slow-ly sank into the swamp, deeper, deeper, deeper, until the last bit of tree sank just below the surface of the swamp, and the last tiny twig-leaves sill attached to the last tiny twig attached to the bit of tree gently stuck to the surface of the swamp and then was pulled below the surface with a little 'bloop'. You could have heard a leaf fall.

"I get your point." said Ezlo, "We can't run fast enough to cross this swamp... We'll have to find a way to get across safely..."

Link left the swamp the way they'd come into the swamp. This time, Link stopped to read a sign he'd missed on the way in. It read, 'Danger! Don't forget your pegasus boots!'

Link knew what pegasus boots were. Ezlo didn't. Link ran as fast as he could to the shoe store hanging onto Ezlo, who was complaining, "Where are we going?! Oh, surely you can SAY, right?! RIGHT?!"

Link had run right back into Hyrule Town and into Rem's Shoe Store- but it was far too late. Rem the shoemaker had collapsed onto his work desk, fast asleep. Link sighed. He then looked onto the desk and saw three little picori wearing little blue coats and hats with bobbles on the end of Rem's desk! Across the room was a giant, up-side down pot. It felt like magic... Link smiled. Ezlo tried to figure out what he was up to, thinking that pegasus boots must be a kind of shoe. Link jumped right up on top of it. Ezlo felt its magically-charged power (not to be confused with magic power) and shrank them both.

"That's right!" said Ezlo, trying to sound like he knew what he was talking about, "Even some human objects are portals to The Minish World! Us minish may not look like much but we sure are crafty!" Link giggled a bit at Ezlo's inner pressure- the way he thought he had to keep up his reputation of being smart even though his reputation with Link was just being a funny hat. He carefully climbed up to the top of Rem's desk, where the picori greeted Link and Ezlo.

"Hey, hey! You're Link and Ezlo, right?" greeted the middle one, "You're the ones who brought the sword to Master Melari! You're on a quest to help the princess, aren't you? I wish I could go on a quest, but then who'd make Rem's shoes for him?"

"Trust me, you don't want to go on a quest with this kid..." grumbled Ezlo under his breath before speaking louder, "Well anyway, we need a pair of pegasus boots to cross Castor Wilds."

"Ho, ho! You need pegasus boots?" asked the one on the right, "Why, you're just on time! We made a pair right now while Rem was sleeping. But only Rem can put the finishing touches on them..."

"Ha, ha!" cut in the one on the left, "That sleepyhead Rem is nearly impossible to wake up... If you want to wake him, you'll need to get an item from Syrup's Hut."

"Who's Syrup?" asked Ezlo. Link had heard of Syrup. She wasn't very popular because she lived in the woods and made potions. Nobody liked potions unless the minish made them, apparently. He'd often wanted to say hello one day.

"A human witch who makes useful things!" explained the picori in the middle, "It's a bit of a trek but I'll mark it on your map."

Link passed his map over to the minish and the minish marked Syrup's Hut on there before giving it back.

"Good luck!" finished all three of the minish.

"Thanks." replied Ezlo, "Well, let's get going, Boy!"

They did. According to the map, Syrup's Hut was past Lon Lon Ranch and all the way in a corner of Minish Woods. It really would be a bit of a trek... if they were minish-sized. Luckily they could grow to be bigger.

Link set off again, following his map. He went past Grandpa Smith's House and Eenie and Meenie's Farm before reaching Lon Lon Ranch, where Link's friend Malon lived. Seeing the ranch made Link think of the way Malon always complained about school- she was a ranch girl through and through, she always said, and school doesn't teach you how to look after cows and horses. There, there was a bit a problem going on between Malon and her father, Talon.

"I lost my key," Talon was saying, "and I can't get inside. And the spare key's in the house!"

"What a pain." replied Malon, "And I was thinking of going into town to sell more Lon Lon Milk." then she noticed Link. "Oh, hi Link! Did you overhear that? Dad's gone and locked us out of the house again, I'm just going to try and find a way into the house. Could you help?"

Link spotted the magic amplifier behind her and nodded. Malon was just as used to Link's silence as everyone else was, so she just replied, "Great! Thanks a lot, Link!" She left to go find a way into her house. Link curiously felt her embarrassment.

He then went straight to the magic amplifier and climbed on top of it. "Oh, come on, it could take us ages to find that key! What are you planning to do, sneak inside the house?!" complained Ezlo. Link nodded, happy at the chance to help someone out. "I asked you to stop doing that..." grumbled Ezlo, a little rattled. Link proceeded into Malon and Talon's house through a crack in the wall, then used a nearby pot-amplifier to grow again. He then went over to a nearby, smaller pot and picked up the spare key from inside. He then unlocked the front door from the inside and went back out again.

"Oh! You got our one and only spare key!" gasped Talon in surprise, "I don't know how you did it, but I can't thank you enough! Thank you so much, Link! Malon will be so pleased..." Link gave him the spare key and he left to go tell Malon the good news.

Ezlo couldn't help but feel happy inside. Though he hadn't done much to help, it felt nice to see Link's random act of kindness. After all, he could have ignored them and climbed over the fence. Link went through their house, but soon faced another problem- there was a deep, small, lake of water blocking the way to Syrup's Hut.

"Well, now what?" grumbled Ezlo, "Maybe there's another way across." Link looked around and saw a small hole in front of a tall area of land, where there was a whirlwind! He used the cane of Paaci to get up there, before using the whirlwind to fly over the water, using another whirlwind along the way.

After the two of them landed safely on the other side, Link bashed a couple of red rock-shooting monsters. That's when Ezlo noticed that Link was still using his regular sword- was he trying to protect the sacred one? They soon got to Syrup's Hut via a corner of Lake Hylia.

Syrup's Hut was not exactly the most common-looking house around. It looked a bit like a mix between a very thick tree and a giant mushroom, though it seemed perfectly normal on the inside.

"Ah, please look around..." said Syrup the witch while mixing some sort of funny-smelling potion.

"See over there?" asked Ezlo, gesturing to an odd looking mushroom. "That's a wake-up mushroom. One whiff, and you're wide awake! That's exactly what we need!" One whiff of said mushroom and Link wasn't feeling too good... It smelled a bit like rotting food, a pile of stinky trash, and a small bowl of chilli powder combined in Grandpa Smith's furnace. Ezlo didn't seem to notice. Link started to cough as he picked up the disgusting-smelling mushroom.

"Oh? The wake-up mushroom? Would you like to buy it for 60 rupees?" asked Syrup. Link nodded and handed her the rupees, putting the stinky mushroom in his bag. Link decided that Syrup was obviously not as bad as everybody thought. She just happened to run a shop in the woods for travellers. In fact, she seemed just like her house- a bit odd on the outside but perfectly normal on the inside. Link made a mental note to encourage Zelda to encourage the king to get people exploring Hyrule a little more before setting off to go back to Hyrule Town.

He went back through Eenie and Meenie's field and through South Hyrule Field before running directly back to Rem's Shoe Store. "If I recall correctly, and I guarantee that a do, my boy... You need to place the mushroom in front of the sleeping person." advised Ezlo.

Link bent over Rem's desk, where the three minish were all hiding inside a spare uncompleted shoe. With them safely out of the way, he put the very smelly wake-up mushroom on Rem's desk, right in front of Rem, who bolted awake at last!

"Whaa-!" Exclaimed Rem in surprise, "What is that terrifyingly bad smell?!" his eyes focused on the horrid-smelling mushroom right in front of his face and on Link and Ezlo behind it. "A wake-up mushroom?! I should have guessed! So you woke me up, Link? Thanks, I just remembered I have something urgent to do!" That's when he spotted the pair of pegasus boots the minish on his desk had made. Link took the mushroom off of the desk and back into is bag, just in case he had to wake someone up again. "?! What now? There are more new shoes!" Rem commentated, "You probably won't believe this, but I have a habit of making shoes in my sleep! So you must have come here because you want some of my shoes, right?" Link nodded. "Tell you what! Because you were nice enough to help me out on numerous occasions, you can have 'em! Hold on a sec, though, I just need to finish this one last bit..."

He flipped the shoes up-side down and fixed something into the soles. "...and there you go... Here, take these. Those are my special pegasus boots! They're so light, you'll feel like you're walking on air! Ooh, I need to hurry up and get working on that special order... The king asked me to make some shoes for Princess Zelda, you see. Thanks for waking me up. Come back if you ever need my help with shoe problems!"

After putting on the shoes, which were a perfect fit, and putting them in the magic bag Link headed back to the smelly, sticky, and all-round deadly and unpleasant swamp known as Castor Wilds.

Once he was back at the sticky, smelly place, he clicked the buttons at the heels of the pegasus boots and ran, the tiny wings causing him to run uncontrollably fast across the mud and muck of the swamp, sending sprays of said substances everywhere and easily dirtying his white-turned-smelly-and-brown leggings.

Needless to say, Link was grinning like a maniac with excitement and hanging onto Ezlo, who was trying to hold onto Link for dear life.

Also needless to say, Ezlo was not enjoying himself.

"Well, my boy," said Ezlo once they'd reached the next bit of dry land, "we should start searching. You go look for the element and I'll sit up here and watch for danger."

Link went inside a nearby cave. Inside were some snake-like monsters which tried to bite him, but he was too fast for them and whacked them with his sword. Like with all the other monsters, they simply went poof. Down a set of stairs, through a long corridor, and through another door was a room with a treasure chest at the centre. But then the chest disappeared and a great big monster with white amour, a great big cloak and a great big sword and shield appeared!

"Hmph! So a guardian is protecting the treasure? Take care while fighting it." instructed Ezlo, rather unhelpfully. Link took him off and placed him at the side of the room before drawing his sword and getting his shield of his back, preparing some sort of battle stance.

He then leaped into battle, sword at the ready, and smashed that monster's helmet before it could blink. Ezlo stared, beak hanging open, as the helmet split right in two and fell off, revealing the monster's pig-like face. It was quite similar to the pigs with spears, though it was clearly a bit smarter than them.

It swung around, trying to hit Link, who was far too fast for it to catch. He slipped around to its back and stabbed his sword through its cloak, striking the monster from behind, then while it was reeling from that last attack, Link bashed it on the head with his shield. The monster, along with the broken bits of armour, went poof in a cloud of white smoke. All one could hear was Link's sword clanking to the ground.

(...I should be used to that sort of thing by now...) thought Ezlo, (...but did he seriously learn that from regular old sword fighting lessons?!)

Link picked up his sword, then Ezlo, as the treasure reappeared at the centre of the room. Inside it, Link found a golden kinstone, or half of one. Strangely, its feeling was a message that only Link could hear. I am one of the three keys... The feeling of the kinstone seemed to say.

"How rare! A key kinstone! They can open hidden pathways if you find their pair, commonly known as the gate kinstone!" Commentated Ezlo.

After they left the cave, Link climbed up a nearby plant to the higher ground and and tried to figure out where to go next. He went across the bridge to his right and then climbed down another plant. There, there was an evil-looking statue with one, huge, eye taking most of its face. "Now that's one nasty-looking statue!" pointed out Ezlo, "That eye has such an evil glower to it..."

"Hisss... Hissss..." [Really? I never bothered to look.] A small snake with sharp, poisonous fangs and swampland-green scales slithered around the base of the statue. Its voice was a smaller, more innocent type of voice- obviously this was a young snake.

"Well, yes, I'd say so." replied Ezlo. Link looked down to see the little snake and smiled at her.

"Hisssy Hiss, hiss?" [Isssss that human your friend, Mr. Hat?] asked the snake, "Hiss. Hissy hiss!" [I like humanssss. They give me food!]

"Yes, and its not 'Mr. Hat', its 'Mr. EZLO' to you." explained Ezlo, a bit grumpily. The little snake blinked, then smiled. That's when Link picked the snake up, gently. The snake tilted her head.

"Hiss Hissy, Hissy!" [Nicccce to meet you, human!] The snake was rather friendly towards him. Ezlo wasn't really surprised, that snake seemed just as trusting as Link was! Did she not even know that hats don't normally talk? And since when were snakes friendly?

"His name's Link," grumbled Ezlo, "so do you know your way around here? We're looking for shiny, golden stones. Or anything useful."

"Hissy! Hiss hisss! Hiss hiss hiss." [Ssssure! Follow me! I know where there'ssss a ussseful thing.]

With that, the snake easily slipped out of Link's arms and slithered off the way they'd just come from. Link followed her. The snake led them all over the place, across bridges, swimming across areas of sticky muck -Link just waited for the snake to swim across and then used the pegasus boots again- and finally reaching... a log. Near a stump. Which happened to be a magic amplifier.

"Hissy hiss hiss..." [I know there'sssss ssssomething useful passsst that log, but you need to be a bit sssssmaller...] apologetically explained the snake.

"Don't worry, I've got that covered." Said Ezlo, "What is your name?"

"Hiss hiss." [I don't really call myself anything.] replied the snake. Link felt the snake's simple curiosity, friendliness and overall trust. Though he had no idea what she was saying, he came up with a few names anyway.

"...S-Snakey? S-Scales? F-Fang?" Suggested Link, thinking about what the snake could be called.

"Oh, please..." sighed Ezlo, "you might as well call her Venom!" Looking back a second later, Ezlo realised that pulling a word like that on a young boy and an even younger snake, both of which did not have a large vocabulary, was a bad idea.

"Hiss hissy!" [That sssssounds cool!] commentated the snake, tilting her head again, "Hissy hiss, hiss." [If you inssssisssst on names, I don't mind it.]

Link nodded happily, and for a second Ezlo could have sworn he was saying 'Good i-idea!' again. So from now on, it seemed the snake was officially known as Venom, at least in Link's mind anyway. Link climbed up onto the magic amplifier and Ezlo started the whole shrinking process. "Hissy!" [I wanna try too!] hissed Venom happily, climbing up to the stump as well so before Ezlo could protest, Venom was shrunk down as well as Ezlo and Link.

There was a corridor built into the log, so the shrunken down three went through it. Past there was a lilly pad on some water, so Link used it to cross, though Venom insisted on swimming. Link watched Venom swim and wondered how the little snake did it. On the other side of the water were some large blue bug-monsters. Link pulled out his sword to fight them, but then Venom leapt forwards and defeated them herself.

"Hissy hiss." [I don't like them.] explained Venom, "Hiss hiss hiss! Hissy hiss." [They've been messsssing things up and killing all the prey! Luckily sssssome humansssss in the woods were feeling nicccce.]

A large treasure chest appeared in the middle of the room and Link opened it. Inside was a bow, a quiver, and thirty arrows.

'Put an arrow in the string and aim carefully! Don't shoot things that should not be shot. Warning- arrows are pointy. Try not to get them stuck in your annoying hat companion! This will be useful when dealing with the evil statues.'

...read a label on the bow. Link put them all away in his bag before heading back towards a statue he and Ezlo had passed while following Venom. Along the way, Ezlo gave Venom a little crash course as to how the bag worked. Link wasn't really listening as he was too busy trying not to get lost.

"...So basically, there is a hole leading to a small, separate dimension in Link's bag." Finished Ezlo, looking proud of himself.

[Can I do magic too, Mr. Essszlo?] Asked Venom, [Alssso... What did all that mean?]

"I can't see why not..." mused Ezlo, "After all, magic works regardless of one's form... Hmm... That does still depend on wether you have the gift though, not everyone can do magic, human, minish, snake, or otherwise..."

Link shot the statue in the eye- which made it shake, then stomp towards Link very, very slowly. He didn't bother to finish it, he just ran around it and climbed up to the higher ground behind the statue, where it couldn't follow. There was a whirlwind spinning up there. In the not-so-far distance, all three travellers could see swampland, rather mucky actual water, and some old, crumbling statues, each one with something golden glittering against the sun.

"Hisss hisss..." [Golden thingssss...] Gasped Venom, "Hisssy hiss?" [How will we get over there?]

"I've got that covered too." Stated Ezlo, looking a bit embarrassed. Link looked over at Venom and patted his own shoulder. Venom was much better at non-verbal communication than Ezlo was, so she got the hint and climbed up onto Link's shoulder, curling her long-ish body around so that she wouldn't fall off. Link giggled a bit- Venom felt tickle-y! Link held tightly onto Ezlo as the hat filled up with air, taking all of them across the swamp and the mucky water, landing right in front of the three old statues.

Upon seeing them close up, Link thought they looked like they had faces on. In each 'forehead' of the stone 'faces' was a little hole which were each half-filled up by half of golden kinstones- the gate kinstones. Link matched his key kinstone with one of the gate kinstones, and the golden spark produced by it went to a huge, sold, old-looking block which was in the way of somewhere interesting -according to Ezlo translating Venom- and broke it a little making it crumble in several different places. The gate statue looked as if it were smiling now.

After that, Venom announced -Ezlo translated- [I know where the other golden thingssss are! I'll ssshow you where they are!] The little snake slithered off Link's shoulders and showed him the way to the golden kinstones while Ezlo didn't say anything. It was all very quiet. Ezlo was thinking over what Vaati might be up to now...

Another one of those stone markers exploded, Link shot another evil statue, Venom helped beat some monsters, they all went across a bridge across the higher land, Link used Ezlo as a parachute to cross more water, reaching a cave, getting another kinstone piece and Ezlo didn't even notice until he muttered, "So hungry..." and his stomach grumbled. Very loudly. "! That wasn't my stomach! It must have been the wind or something!"

Link got the message. Besides, he was feeling pretty hungry too and Venom decided lunchtime was a good time- so he stopped for lunch right then and there. Link wasn't sure what was safe for Venom to eat so he gave her a sandwich. She didn't touch it, instead going off to eat something else. After eating his food, Ezlo tried to start some sort of conversation while Venom took a nap.

"So, Link, are you trying to protect the sacred sword by not using it?" asked Ezlo.

Link didn't say anything.

"Er... where'd you learn to cook? Breakfast was very nice by the way..."

Still no answer.

"It's hard to have a conversation when you're being so quiet. Am I supposed to do ALL the talking?!"

Link nodded.

"...That's one way to get the message across... Well, anyway, do you still feel like learning magic? I think you've got potential, my boy..."

Link wasn't really listening. He was actually wondering wether Zelda was still alive or not, what Vaati was up to, wether Ezlo would ever stop asking questions and what Venom could eat. Link was hoping that things would get better again once the adventure was over and Zelda was well and truly back to her normal, loud, chatty self. Things were too quiet without her to talk his ears off again...

Soon after, Link, Ezlo and Venom left the cave, crossed the swamp and fused the kinstone piece with the middle statue. The spark the completed kinstone produced caused the large block to crack so much it looked like it was ready to explode!

Ezlo noticed that Link was rather in a hurry today. He wondered what was making the usually-overly-peppy kid like this today. Oh, well. Link would be perfectly fine. Said boy was following Venom right back to that first evil statue they'd med Venom at. Link shot it with the bow and arrow until it went poof, continued past it, and followed the dry path until he reached the third cave with the third treasure chest with the third kinstone.

Using the pegasus boots, Link headed directly back to the old statues and fused the final kinstone, its spark simply making the crumbling block of wall explode like those exploding symbol-stones. Link checked the map to see where it would lead... and saw blank empty space.

Venom looked up at the map from Link's shoulders and, once she'd figured out what the map was for, pointed to the blank empty space and said, "Hisss... Hisss." [I know what thisss issss... It'ssss The Wind Ruinssss.] Ezlo translated again. Link pulled one of his pencils out of his bag and walked onwards, labelling the new area 'Wind Ruins' on the map.

He seemed pretty insistent on attempting to map the new, unexplored area. So, while Link went around trying to make it accurate, Venom excitedly chattered about the kinds of food she could catch around here. [Sssso there'sss all thessse deliccccious kindsss of birdsss, eggsss and miccce... but don't get me wrong, I would never eat a minisssh! I'm friendsss with one around here, who taught me how to be nicccce!]

"That's nice." replied Ezlo, greatly relieved that this particular snake didn't eat minish.

Meanwhile, Link had finally done the path they were all -well, that Link was while his hat companion sat on his head and his snake companion curled around his shoulders- on, he walked onwards and forwards. Link kept on drawing it as they went along the path, not even looking where exactly he was going.

[Oh! That remindsssss me, you two need to be careful about the big red guard sssstatuesss!] Warned Venom, [They attack people that touch them or go near them!]

"Big red guard statues?!" asked Ezlo, looking straight ahead to the big red statue with a glowing yellow hole for a face holding a big red shield with ridges on it that Link was currently absentmindedly ambling torards. "LINK! LOOK OUT FOR THAT STATUE!" Link looked up for a second just as he bumped into the statue- which burst into life, holding a great big sword as well as its shield. It swung forward to attack Link... who held up his hand in a little 'please wait for a second' gesture. The red statue stopped as Link put away the map and pencil.

Venom leaned upwards to whisper to Ezlo, [Isss he alwaysss doing thingsss like that?]

"Always." quietly confirmed Ezlo, shaking his head, "I haven't got a clue how he does it."

The statue got right back to attacking once Link drew his sword and grabbed his shield, ready to battle. He tried the regular method of 'whack with sword', but the sword had no effect on the red statue's stone body. Link just kept on whacking, black eyes twinkling just that little bit. He was smiling.

[Doesss he alwaysss do that too?] asked Venom.

"Wait for it..." replied Ezlo, looking at Link's right hand, which was reaching into his side-bag and drawing a round, metal object with a fizzing fuse, "...and get down, there is going to be a big-"

BOOM!

Bits of red statue fell to the floor everywhere, the statue's shield clattered to the ground unharmed, and Link just stood there grinning for a second. As usual, Ezlo was speechless when it came to the sorts of dangerous things Link did to beat tough monsters- though the red statue had been more like a machine than a monster. The somewhat absent-minded boy then got right back to his map-drawing as he walked along the path.

[Cool..! By the way, doesss he alwaysss do that too?] commentated Venom.

"Well, not that specifically, but he certainly does do a lot of crazily dangerous things without even saying anything..." grumbled Ezlo.

[Could you ssssay that again with ssssimple wordsss?] asked Venom.

Ezlo tried to simplify what he'd just said while Link absent-mindedly continued his map drawing- which was admittedly quite good for a ten-year-old. Things were going fine. Until Link stopped in front of another red statue, this time with the hole for its face not glowing. The statue didn't do anything, and it was blocking the way with its indestructible shield.

"Hisss hisss? Hisssy. Hisss Hiss!" [Ssssee that hole in the ground over there? That'ssss where my friend livesss. I think he can help you with that statue-thing!] Suggested Venom.

"Good idea! There's a portal over there too, and it's getting late. Let's go shrink and head inside, Boy!" announced Ezlo.

"Hissy..." [I'm a girl...] Said Venom, confused.

"No, that's just my nickname for Link and Vaati." replied Ezlo without thinking.

[Whossss Vaati?] asked Venom.

Luckily for Ezlo, that exact point is when Link somehow managed to shrink them all in a conveniently-placed magic amplifier. After that they were all leaping down the hole along with Link- or rather, Link was leaping down the hole and the other two were hanging on for dear life.

It really was a nice, cosy little place where a minish lived. "Oh! Hello, hello! Guests are SO rare 'round here!" squeaked the minish, super-excited. Then he looked a little closer at Link's shoulders. "Oh! You're that little snake who came 'round here! Now, did this boy manage to shrink you?"

"Yes, but I can't think how he does it." cut in Ezlo, "It took me AGES to figure it out and he just does it without even thinking!"

[Thesssse are my new friendsssss, human-called-Link and hat-called-Mr. Esszlo!] Happily introduced Venom, [They like to call me Venom.]

"A sorcerer turned me into a hat," explained Ezlo, "and would you mind if we stayed over tonight?"

"Oh! No, no, I don't mind! I've got some spare sleeping bags! My name's Chitto. Pleased to meet you two!" chattered Chitto, setting up the sleeping bags.

"P-pleased to meet you t-too!" greeted Link.

[The boy ssspeaksss!] cheered Venom, waving the tip of her tail around in celebration.

(That boy never fails to be surprising...) thought Ezlo as Venom slid off Link's shoulders and did a little celebratory dance on the carpet. Link giggled and joined in, making Ezlo thoroughly dizzy with all the spinning in the 'little dance'.

"Wow! It hasn't been this lively since Chilta moved to the big mountains and the wind people left for the great skies! I'm going to go make some food." Said Chitto, moving off to the fire-box to cook something as Ezlo hopped off Link's head, said boy enthusiastically rushing off to the fire-box so he could help.

"Thank you very much for your hospitality. Just so you know, Link is allergic to pini mushroom spores, so please don't put it in anything." Explained Ezlo before hopping off to 'sit down' somewhere.

Link thought about something Zelda had said once...

"Bad things happen all the time. But good things happen at the same time. You just need to look at it from another point of view!"

His mom and dad had always said similar things. In fact, it had been his dad's idea to teach him how to cook. Zelda had come along to learn too! Link always could remember when Zelda had been there for him. It was part of all the hundred reasons why Link was determined to save her.

Meanwhile, Ezlo watched as Link and Chitto worked together to make dinner. Venom fell fast asleep near the fireplace. Ezlo felt inspired to help people too from watching Link do it... but alas! He had no hands right now! So he couldn't help.

Once dinner was over, Ezlo and Chitto chatted a bit before Ezlo went half-inside Link's magic bag for the night and Link curled up inside a sleeping bag, his way of insisting that Chitto should take the bed.

For the first time in years, Link fell asleep and dreamed nice dreams.

As Ezlo closed his eyes to sleep, he was certain that sleeping near to Link, little tail twitching up and down, was Vaati, regular, unusual, little, minish Vaati... though the illusion faded, slipped away with the darkness as Ezlo closed his eyes.