Hestia greets her son on the porch with a squeeze of relief.

"Oh Laurel, you're alive!" she sobs. "I dread to think what could have happened to you…"

"I'm fine, Mother." he assures her. "I've faced much worse."

Right on cue, Cecilia emerges from her own home, accompanied by her elderly parents.

"What happened? Did you kill it?"

"No." Laurel confesses.

The Mayor and his wife gasp in horror. Cecilia unleashes her fury. "You knew about it, didn't you Laurel? You were out there waiting to strike while the rest of the village slept!"

"Easy, Cecilia!" her father says calmly. "Laurel had his reasons. He didn't want to cause panic, and rightly so."

"Thank you, Mayor Burriji." Laurel addresses him. "Yes, I wanted to go after the beast myself and protect the village. Unfortunately, it got away."

"In that case, we should put this whole place on lockdown until it's dead." Cecilia orders.

"As the Mayor of this village, I will be the one to call such action, Cecilia." Burriji reminds her. "Why don't you go to bed and leave this business to the adults?"

Cecilia stands gobsmacked at her father's patronising words. She saunters off in a huff, chased by her doting mother. The Mayor turns to Laurel and Hestia.

"I think we can all agree that the creatures of the Lost Woods have caused enough turmoil to this fair village. We enacted the ban on hunting to appease their nature, yet now, they return even bolder than before. We may have no option but to lift the ban."

"That won't be necessary, Burriji." Laurel states with confidence. "My associates and I will have this issue under control before any further action needs to be taken."

"I do hope so, Laurel." Burriji warns. "Otherwise the people we hold dear could be in danger."

The Mayor hobbles back to his abode. Hestia escorts her son inside and brews him a warm elixir to ease his nerves. Beside the hearth, Ningan, Dakota and Ezra eagerly await the news.

"I don't know what happened." Laurel admits. "I just saw a green light, and it was gone."

"You say you saw a 'green light'?" Dakota frowns.

"Yes." Ningan confirms. "I saw it too. Like some kind of magic."

"Perhaps it was magic." Dakota ponders.

"Don't be absurd!" Ezra chortles. "A magic wolf in the woods of Ordon?"

"We've witnessed much wilder things in this world, Ezra." Ningan recalls.

"Don't you think this is all too coincidental?" Dakota embarks on a proposition. "Hestia claims that Wolfos never come around these parts, then as soon as we arrive, one shows up in the village? And it's a magic one that can vanish whenever it pleases?"

"What are you suggesting, Dakota?" Laurel asks with his hands cupped around a mug of elixir.

"It's something to do with the Medallions." Ningan concludes.