The Temple of Light, perhaps because of the resident shard of the Triforce with me, seemed to have a healing effect on me as I descended once again in blue light to the Chamber of the Sages, this time facing of course the red fire design that Darunia was rising out of.
"Well Silver, look at you now," he said without preamble, his great voice echoing through the chamber. "Not just once did you save the Gorons, but twice! And to think, I'm the Sage of Fire! For a creature from beyond Hyrule, you turned out to be a real man!"
"Least I could do for my Sworn Brother, right? Just answer me one thing, Darunia? How did you recognise me? Last time we met..."
"You were a Hylian, I know. But I heard rumours of a strange creature in green seen in Kakariko calling itself Silver, and I know only one person that could be. Then of course I held a brief communion with Saria just as I awakened, and that little forest girl told me the rest just now."
"I should have guessed, I suppose. I seem to attract attention anywhere I go."
"You're a hero – it goes with the title. Now, Hero of Time, accept this medallion filled with my power and the power of all the spirits of fire!"
I collected the medallion and light claimed me to take me from the Sacred Realm back to Hyrule, revealing the blue light once again, now depositing me just outside Death Mountain Crater, not far from Biggoron.
The flared orange ring above the mountain flared even further, then a pillar of flame shot out of the crater. As it retreated down again, the ring gradually turned back into the normal ever present cloud-ring that always sat above Death Mountain.
"There's another Great Fairy in the crater," Navi said. "I think."
"You think?" I asked. "Well, best to check before I go back to my green, I think. Red doesn't really suit me."
"Maybe we should go check on Scourge too," she continued as I headed into the crater again. "Just to make sure he's alright."
"Never mind him. He managed to get through seven years just fine without me, I'm sure he'll be fine now."
"I was thinking of something else. He has a fake image just like you use to, right?"
"Sure, that's why he still looks Hylian."
"Wouldn't he find it a bit awkward if we brought him out and it 'happened' to disappear on him? Your magic does tend to have that effect, you know."
"It'd take several trips," I mused thoughtfully. "It took me at least three – going to Lake Hylia and back through the Zora shortcut and once proving myself to Ruto. Oh, gods, Ruto – I hope she isn't still planning to press her suit."
"Don't bet on it," Navi laughed. "She was one determined little Zora then, and she's grown up now. I wouldn't put it past her to still be set on you."
"Please, don't remind me," I said in a pained tone. I used the hammer to destroy a string of rocks that were resistant to bombs, revealing the entryway to the Great Fairy's Fountain.
"No worries there, she'll do that all on her own. Anyway, if it takes three trips to remove an image, that's simple – one from wherever he is to the temple entrance, then walk outside. Take another one from there to the top of the crater where we just came in, outside again then a third one down to Kakariko."
"And if it takes a few more?"
"Well, the next temple is the Water Temple, which means we'll have to go to either Zora's Domain or Lake Hylia. We'll just use it to hop around a bit more, and pretend not to notice as his image slowly fails on him. And even better, he can't use the Temple of Time to restore his one, because it only works on yours."
"We don't know that for certain, Navi."
"I think it'll work that way. We might not have to worry anyway, he might not think to go there. Especially with the Redeads around."
It had possibilities, at least. Where the Kokiri were concerned they'd just assume he'd fallen foul of the same 'curse' I had when he left the forest, but the rest of Hyrule would probably have a little trouble accepting him. If nothing else it would annoy him, and that was something I decided not to pass up.
Zelda's Lullaby summoned the Great Fairy, who appeared like any and all others, greeting me as the Great Fairy of Wisdom – again.
"Don't tell me," I said. "You're twin sisters, like the Great Fairy of Magic?"
"Is that what she's been going around telling people?" The Great Fairy asked, amused. "Actually its far simpler than that. We each have several fountains, and not just in Hyrule either. Our sisters keep watch over far-off Termina instead, but Hyrule is ours alone."
"I wonder if Ganondorf's influence reached this Termina."
"No – but it had its share of problems five years ago. You dealt with that too."
"I dealt – but how can I, I've been stuck in the Temple of Time each time... unless this happens after I go back again for the last time."
"Something like that. You'll understand closer to the time. Now Silver, allow me to enhance your magic further, making it possible for you to channel the spirit of the Hero within you in two ways – one of which you learned from the Great Fairy of Power outside."
She made a strange gesture with her hands that didn't seem to make much difference to me at first, until an orange light descended, wrapped around me, then vanished. I didn't feel any different.
"That hit me as well," Navi remarked. "I feel more powerful than I did before."
"You share some of Silver's abilities, little one," the Great Fairy explained. "But you weren't on the same kind of level as him. That evened it up slightly."
"So it wasn't something for me?" I asked.
"Not so. Face the exit of my fountain and swing your sword, Silver – the Master Sword, for it will not work for any other blade."
I drew it and made a slash in the air all in one movement. As the swing faced away from me, a phantom sword leapt from the Master Sword flying straight and true.
"Now that is useful," I remarked. "Good substitute for an arrow if I start to run out, I should think."
"Doubtless you will find it useful. This effect works on its own, but there are other ways to channel the spirit of the Hero. You will have to find those on your own, though they all work only with that blade. Now go forth Silver – the Zoras await your aid."
When I turned back to the fountain, she'd already gone.
"I wonder how exactly I'm meant to use this 'spirit of the Hero'," I mused.
"It'll come to you," Navi replied. "You've certainly shown your creativity with your sword. Maybe that's what you'll be passing on to the next Hero."
"Tails," I agreed. "I hope he makes good use of them."
No worries about that, as we know.
Despite my reservations about the idea, I decided it was at the very least fair to find Scourge and let him know he didn't have to wander aimlessly around the Fire Temple any more before I headed off to find out what had befallen the Zora people.
Farore's Wind, by now almost certainly the most over-used magic I'd picked up, took me back down to the temple and then once I found him up in the room I'd obtained the hammer from I was quickly taken there by it.
"Silver!" he exclaimed, jumping back. "Don't appear out of nowhere like that! You almost scared me out of my skin!"
"Only almost?" I quipped. "I'll have to do better next time."
"Very funny. What are you doing here? I thought you didn't want me to travel with you?"
"Oh, I just finished here in this temple so I thought I'd let you know – and offer you a quick way back out. That, and I changed my mind. I'd rather have you where I can keep an eye on you than constantly having to worry about where you are."
"You? Worried about me?" he said derisively. "Pull the other one."
"Well don't mention it or I'll come to my senses. Now, want a lift out or not?"
"Same way you got the Gorons out, no doubt," he said somewhat sourly. "It isn't going to work though."
"It doesn't use my mind, Scourge – it uses magic instead." Privately though I hoped that since the two came from the same source, this wouldn't work on him either.
"Oh, go on. Lets get this over with, if nothing else so I can get out of this oversized tunic."
I hadn't noticed before but his remark prompted me to look to see what he meant. The tunic, of course, was adult sized, and Scourge's Hylian image remained a child. He'd had to tuck it up a fair bit to make it fit him.
Somewhat to my slight disappointment, magic ignored the mental block on him allowing me to take him to the temple entrance. His image flickered slightly, but not enough to fail or to reveal what he looked like underneath.
"Have to go outside next," I told him. "Once there I'll get us up to the top, we'll go outside and then down to Kakariko."
"Why not do it in one leap?" he asked, not seeming to have noticed what had happened to him.
"Because it doesn't work that way. It's limited to the area I'm in."
Scourge did not look convinced but he did humour me. His apparent image flickered even worse after the second transport, momentarily revealing a green hedgehog underneath the image. Just like his mind, he looked identical to Sonic – except for the colour, and what he wore. It had been to brief to make out any more.
Again he appeared not to have noticed, watching me suspiciously as if expecting me to pull some kind of trick on him – which ironically I was, just not the way he was expecting me to.
Once outside the crater I took us right the way down Death Mountain, setting us down just around the corner from Kakariko. I didn't think it would be a good idea to startle the townsfolk by our appearance, let alone what happened to Scourge. This time he definitely noticed, though I also noticed his image seemed more resilient to my own, or maybe the Zora magic on their shortcut had weakened mine more.
It gave me the opportunity to see his real appearance better before the image finally managed to stabilise again, showing a black jacket worn over his green tunic with a flame on either arm, white gloves like... well, everyone else like me I've ever known, and footwear that matched his colour. It was interesting to see his own affections only appeared without the image, worn over the tunic he'd been given but otherwise unseen.
"What did you do to me?" he demanded, watching the effect before it settled again.
"Nothing to do with that," I lied. "All I did was bring you along with me."
"You knew this was going to happen, didn't you!"
"Don't be silly, if I'd known I would never have done it. It's bad enough I get strange looks from the locals now they see me like this. You'd just make it worse."
"So how did you lose your Hylian appearance then?"
"I never had one to begin with," I lied again. "I turned into this a few years back."
"That's not what Ganondorf told me – he said you'd been hidden just like I had."
"That just proves he knows how to be wrong as well," I shrugged. "Might as well walk through town, it'll attract less attention and I want to check up on my horse anyway."
Scourge didn't seem convinced, but I pretended not to notice.
"Since when do you have a horse?"
"Since I won her off Ingo over at the ranch. I paid someone here to take care of her for me while I went up the mountain. Have to settle accounts anyway, there's no point in trying to take her up Zora's River."
"Oh, great. From the heat of a volcano to the cold of Zora's Domain," he complained, shrugging himself out of his tunic. He'd left his green one on underneath. "What am I going to do with this now? It's not like I'll need it again."
"Give it here, I'll store it for you."
"What about you?"
"I'll change later," I brushed it off. "It won't make all that much difference."
The people of Kakariko regarded Scourge with suspicion anyway as we passed through, but it was once again late evening so there were few people around. Given the reaction to him, I started to doubt they'd even notice if I'd made him show his real self.
I did check in with Epona, who was a little restless from having to wait, but well cared for at least. The sleepy stable hand assured me I had enough on the account to last at least another week if I needed it.
Since Zora's River was only a short walk from Kakariko I didn't use Farore's Wind again until we were actually on the way up the path beside the river. There was a distinctly cold breeze coming downriver toward us here, setting Scourge to shivering slightly. Oddly, the Goron tunic seemed to keep the cold away from me just as it had the worst of the heat, perhaps an unintended side effect.
I warped us up to the top of the river where the waterfall was still rushing past, though there were now chunks of ice occasionally rushing down to the water below, which also had ice starting to form on it.
Scourge's image gave out entirely this time, revealing the green hedgehog for all to see, now shivering even more in the definitely colder air that even I started to feel now. I started to suspect I knew what I'd find in Zora's Domain itself as I parted the waterfall with Zelda's Lullaby.