I don't particularly enjoy sandstorms. Rain, snow, even thunderstorms I'm mostly alright with, aside from my dislike of getting too wet, but sandstorms are another matter entirely. I've learned or figured out over time how to persuade most forms of weather to leave me untouched, but when you're in a raging sandstorm all of that does no good at all. While I followed the flags that would lead to the 'river of sand' I tried not to think about the sand that was being dumped in my boots, down my back and anywhere else besides.

Fortunately it didn't impede me at all as long as I stayed low. I found very quickly if I tried to float up higher the currents in the sandstorm would blow me easily off course, but in staying low I was able to avoid that and make my way to the river of sand, which looked exactly like it sounded. A wide trough of sand, moving rapidly as if it really was a river. I can't confirm this – not without going back to Hyrule, anyway – but I suspect that the crevasse Tails saw in Gerudo Desert was this river, only without the flowing sand.

It was no obstacle to me, crossing it easily to follow the flags, leading me to a squat stone structure. I looked about with the Lens, but there was no 'inviting ghost' yet. As I circled it I found it was actually the top of an ancient tower, buried deep in the sand. This storm must have been raging for some time to manage that.

Once I got up on top of it I heard the distinctive malicious chuckle of a Poe appearing, invisible until I turned the Lens on it.

"I see you there," I called over the sandstorm. "Are you the inviting ghost?"

The Poe turned twice in the air, then announced, "So you see I am indeed, your guide along the way, but coming back I'll be here not there with no way to play, I'll show you the only way you can go, so follow me and don't be too slow!"

"I wonder if he was really that bored in life he feels he has to inflict his poetry on us in dead?" Navi wondered quietly.

"Don't say anything too loud about it," I replied, following the Poe. "I don't want to offend him and lose our guide."

The Poe led the way, twisting and turning through the desert without any apparent reason. If it hadn't been for the sandstorm this would probably have been unneccessary, and I suspected that as long as I kept a firm idea of which way was north I wouldn't have needed to follow it anyway, but magic had a tendency to disrupt these things so I trusted our guide.

We weaved back and forth, only keeping up by my floating after him until at last we came to the edge of the sandstorm and the Poe vanished with another chuckle. You could tell the sandstorm wasn't naturally caused, because it just cut off. One moment I was stood getting sand thrown at me, the next I was in dead calm air. I stopped right there to empty everything of the accumulated sand before I took another step.

As this was deep in Ganondorf's homeland I searched cautiously ahead, finding plenty of monster life, another Great Fairy who I'd see before I did anything else, and within the giant statue that was the Desert Colossus and apparently also the Spirit Temple, I picked up two more ancient entities. Unlike most other minds I touched on before these two gave off the impression of temperature, one excessively hot, the other cold. Beyond that though, there was little I could tell about them except that they were, or had once been, Gerudos.

Navi reported a plethora of monster life, including Leevers – irritating green cone-like things that dug themselves out of the sand to try to ram into me – yet more keese, and inside the Temple itself also Stalfos, Armos statues and creatures she suspected were Iron Knuckles.

"Iron Knuckles?" I asked, floating above the desert to avoid the Leevers. "What are they?"

"I've heard they're giants in armour that have a massive axe, but from what I remember that's also kind of exaggerated."

"Know how to defeat them?"

"Well, Bombchus – normal ones, not the water ones you've got – are effective, but normally its suggested to try to avoid their axe an cut the ties holding their armour on. It'll fall off and make it faster, but also make it vulnerable to attack. If we can find some Bombchu's I suggest them though, it means you don't have to get so close."

"I'll keep that in mind," I replied, throwing a bomb toward a crack in the rocky northern wall of the great desert. The cavern it opened led down into the Great Fairy's fountain, who turned out to be the Great Fairy of Magic once again, with another new spell.

"This is Nayru's Love," she informed me. "Originally intended by the Goddess to protect the Hero from harm for a short time, but perhaps you will find creative uses for this spell too."

She had no idea – particularly when I went to Termina. The three magic spells were regularly employed over there.

She concluded by confirming the Desert Colossus was indeed the Spirit Temple and to beware of the Twinrova, the Gerudo witches by the names of Kotake and Koume, who resided within the Temple, then as usual disappeared with shrieked laughter. Really, don't ask me why. All Great Fairies do it.

With that, I headed for the Spirit Temple, noting the conspicuous absence of Sheik – ordinarily she showed up just before I started a Temple, but apparently not here. The local warp stone wasn't far from the Temple, but without a song for it it wasn't useful for me. I was going to have to do without, it seemed.

The first room of the Temple was impressive, but nearly empty. It was clearly well-maintained, as the red carpet that led down the stairs from the upper level were neither worn or sandy, and the sandstone floors were kept swept of sand. Two stone snake heads were on either side of the staircase, in the 'mouth' a large tablet with carved Hylian words in them. Since I still lacked a decent understanding of the language I ignored them and moved on upstairs.

There was a hole in the ceiling reaching up, but blocked off, a small tunnel to the left that, had I come here seven years prior, I would have been able to squeeze through, to the right a massive grey block with a moon symbol on it, and several ornate pots lining the back wall – which appeared to be possessed, raising up and flying at me only to be shattered with an absent thought from me or Navi. We both struck one of them at the same time, causing it not just to shatter but to crumble instead.

"Looks like we'll have to move the block," Navi said, flying over to it. "Odd," she said then. "I can't seem to get my mind past it."

Now I approached, and saw a faintly reflective sheen on it. It wasn't just a stone block – it was a block of silver. One of only two materials that resists my touch, and the one I was named after for that exact reason – or so I was told, anyway.

"You won't be able to," I told Navi, explaining this to her.

"Can you push it by hand then?" she suggested. I tried, but the heavy metal block refused to budge in the slightest. "Maybe one of the inscriptions..." she said hopefully.

I headed back down and, after wrestling with a few of the more unfamiliar words on the nearest one, read out, "'If you want to travel to the future, you should return with the power of silver from the past.'"

"Silver from the past? Does it mean the metal or does it mean you?"

"It doesn't mean me. I remember the twins telling me once that a name is written differently. But the power of silver from the past... what could that be?"

"Maybe the other one will give an idea?"

The other inscription was slightly easier to read, giving us, "'If you want to proceed to the past, you should return here with the pure heart of a child.' Easier said than done without a warp song to bring us here," I snapped irritably at the inscription. "Now what am I meant to do?"

Navi remained calm in the face of this puzzle. "At least go back in time. We might find something there that'll let us reach here."

"It's all I can do," I replied, still bothered.

Rather than warp directly to the Temple of Time, I headed outside first, and a good thing I did too. No sooner had I taken a few steps out of the Desert Colossus than the sense of Sheik's presence had appeared, closely followed by seeing her walk past me – how the devil had she gotten behind me?

"So you too have been confounded by the puzzle of the Temple," she said, staring into the desert.

"Not confounded. Just interrupted. I have to find a way back here in the past."

"Then you need the final song I have yet to teach you."

"Well why didn't you show up before I went in?" I asked testily.

"I was investigating something," Sheik replied, unruffled. "When you use the Temple of Time to return here now, not in the past, there is something I want you to seek out for me, Silver. Hidden somewhere within the Spirit Temple there lays an artefact I have been seeking since you embarked on your journey to awaken the sages, but even now I cannot reach it. It is called the Mirror of Twilight, and it is that artefact we and the sages will need to seal away Ganondorf for all time. You must locate it for me, and when you do inscribe the symbol of the Triforce nearby and play the song of the Royal Family, allowing them and all their descendants to travel there at will."

Yep. You guessed it. Zelda and I are kinda responsible for Tails' adventure. Of course, in following her request, I also became responsible for allowing the Princess Zelda he knew to transport them all there to see off Midna, so it's not all bad.

Once she'd confirmed I really would do as she asked, she vanished not with yet another Deku Nut as seemed to be the fashion here, but with a portable sandstorm that appeared out of nowhere, engulfed her, then as the sense of her presence vanished so too did it.

"Temple of Time?" Navi reminded me.

"On the way already," I answered, playing the Prelude of Light. Those warp songs were useful, but inconveniently they only work if you're already in Hyrule. I found that out the hard way not too long ago when I decided I wanted to check up on them.


"Wait, you mean you've actually been back there?" Tails demanded, suddenly very excited.

"Of course I have. I like to drop in from time to time and see how things are going. I'll have to break off in a few years because that'll be the time when I'm running after the sages, and I know too well it's a bad idea to meet a past or future version of yourself, but I like to keep up with things."

"Then could you... I mean... I did promise Colin I'd find a way back to visit..." he left it hanging hopefully.

"Give me a little time to figure out where and when, and I'll be able to take you for a visit," Silver replied. "You too, if you ever want to go back to your Hyrule," he added to Knuckles.

"Thanks, but the people of Skyloft aren't actually expecting me to come back," he answered. "They know I've got other things I'm meant to be doing, like protecting the Master Emerald." He stopped, then with a sly grin continued, "Speaking of which... bet you never know it was involved in the forging of the Master Sword."

"We are... talking about the same sword, aren't we?" Tails said almost hesitantly. "Ancient blade, sword of Evil's Bane and all that?"

"Yeah, that's the one. I was involved in forging it. You can wait to find out about that, I'm sure – after all, Silver's got one last Temple and the final showdown to tell us about."

"And Termina too," Silver added with a declamatory finger. "Never forget about Termina. That was just as important."