"Another shaft?!"

"Yes sir, dodongo ravine."

"Gah! We had barely begun to tap the iron deposits there!"

"Should we seal it?"

"Yes, I suppose so. I hate it, shutting down operations to this heat, but what am I gonna do if someone goes down because of it? Everyone knows my neck is at stake here, but if we don't hit our quota this week, I'm gonna have to lay off a lot of good arms."

Dartoga slammed his fist on the stone table that made up his desk. He didn't want anyone to get hurt, yet he felt like he could strangle someone at the moment. With fewer and fewer turnouts in the tunnels below, he couldn't afford to keep his mining operation going for much longer. For years it had proven prosperous, but over the course of a month, everything that could go wrong went wrong. Rockslides blocked up mineral filled caves, the iron foundry had a leak, and most of all, the heat. The lower caves were getting inexplicably hot as of late, so hot that even Gorons were having problems with the heat. Dartoga dipped his thumb in a small inkwell and smeared it on the map that marked all the shafts, blotting out dodongo ravine. It was official, now they would have to seal the tunnel up, both to remind workers that the shaft was off limits, and to prevent the heat from leaking into the rest of the mine.

"Have them seal it up."

"Right away, boss!"

Now alone in his office, Dartoga shrieked with all his might, and overturned his desk. He heaved several heavy, dry breaths to try and vent his rage. Unable to sedate his anger this way, he turned toward a stone wall and began to punch at it, several shards of granite and basalt whittle away from each impact.

"Mister Dartoga! May I come in?"

A voice squeaky and irritating sounded through the doorway, a voice he wished wouldn't bother him so often.

"For the love of bedrock, Rodergi, what is it?"

"Is that a yes or a no? Is now a bad time?"

"Yes now is a bad time! Do I sound like I'm in a good mood?"

"Not any better than you usually are, boss. So can I come in?"

"Argh, fine! Make it quick!"

The Goron paced into the office, but the sound of smaller footsteps was lost on Dartoga.

"If this is about a raise, then the answer is no!"

"No boss, it's about something better than a raise."

"For crying out loud, I can't give you more rations, we're stretched thin as it is!"

"No sir, it's more important than that."

"Would you stop wasting breath and tell me what it is?!"

"Oh, of course! Remember those heroes I told you about, the heroes who saved the mayor of Dekudeku Village's son?"

"Yes, it's hard not to remember anything you say."

"Well, it seems they would like to help us."

"Help? Did you say help? Hah! I'd like to see one of them get to even my office without overheating!"

"They did sir, they're right here."

"Huh?"

Dartoga turned his desk back over and looked around Rodergi. There stood two children and a fairy next to him. After realizing what was right in his face, the cranky boss almost tripped over backwards.

"Children!? Children!? Rodergi, what in the name of andesite is wrong with you!? If anyone hears about kids getting hurt down here, no one will buy anything from us! How can you really be so gullible as to think a couple of kids would be heroes!? Get them out of here!"

"But sir, they have a fairy with them!"

"I don't care if they've got all the fairies in Plurbiocris with them! The last thing I need down here is children!"

"But-"

"No buts, you'll be lucky if you even have a job by the time you get back! Get em outta my face, before one of em collapses from the heat or something!"

The fussy boss wouldn't even listen to his worker, nor the fact that neither of the children were drenched with sweat. Defeated, Rodergi led Link, Saria, and Mari out of Dartoga's office. After rounding a corner, the Goron let out a king sized sigh.

"I'm sorry, I should've realized boss wasn't going to like any kids down here. I guess you can't help us then..."

"But we gotta find the harp piece! There must be some other way."

"Nope, if you're going to the molten rivers, it's sealed up tight. No way I get it open by myself, and nobody's going to help us unless the boss tells them to."

"Well... I guess we're gonna have to figure something else out..."

"We can't just sit around, we gotta get down there quick as possible!"

"Why the rush, Saria?"

"Well, you know... Mandgrova said that the longer a creature possesses the harp piece, the more powerful they become. I really don't want to wait around for whatever is down there to get even stronger."

"Goodness no. We better think of something, Link, any ideas?"

Stroking his chin, Link contemplated several possibilities. They could steal some explosives, surely there were some laying around the mine? No, the risk of causing a cave in posed too great a threat. Perhaps they could bribe a few of the Gorons to help them? That could work, he had plenty of money from the archery tournament, but that would no doubt raise suspicion. The last thing they wanted was to get in even worse trouble than they already were. But maybe... perhaps there was a way to calm down Dartoga? Link withdrew the ocarina of time from his pocket and looked it over. Maybe that could do the trick... He looked up with a twinkle in his eye, and Saria knew he had an idea.

"Ooh, do you got something? Tell me!"

With a simple but confident smile, Link played the first few bars of Saria's song. Behind them Rodergi clapped his frying pan sized hands.

"You know that song too? I love that song! It makes me feel so happy, can you play it some more?"

"Ah... I think I get it. Sorta like when you played my song for Darunia, right?"

With a nod, Link played the next bar of the song. Saria drew her own ocarina and chuckled.

"Well, either we make this guy happy, or we get kicked out for disturbing the peace, let's cook us a song!"

Saria joined in with her own melody and played a stirring accompaniment, bringing out an extra air of playfulness to the song. It wasn't long before Rodergi started to dance along, his footsteps and hand claps making a sort of drum beat. Soon, the tunnel was simply brimming with noise, and other Gorons passing by would stop and do their own jig, adding to the pounding beat. Slowly, more and more happy feet drew together, causing a crowd to formulate in the somewhat tight tunnel. When the very air was shaking with excitement, Dartoga burst from his office in a fiery rage.

"What is that racket!? It better not be a work stri-"

The moment the jolly flute's sound hit his ears, Dartoga couldn't help but move his own body. Almost against his will, he broke into a feverish dance, but he enjoyed every second of it.

"Woah, yeah! This is one sick groove! Give it to me! Give it to me! ALRIGHT!"

The atmosphere of the cave was that of a dance hall, not one figure stood still. Even Saria spun around and Link moved his feet while they played. It was surely a party to remember, once more they played through the song, but the children's breath could not last forever. In a climax to put away all climaxes, Saria's song ended and the gathering of Gorons erupted in applause.

"Bravo! Encore!"

"Play another one!"

"You kids know how to rock!"

Approaching the children, Dartoga let out an incredible and hearty laugh.

"Haha! I haven't had that good a time since... well, since Rodergi and his boys played us a spell! I really do need to loosen up more often! So, you two managed to capture the hearts of my entire workforce?"

"It looks that way... heh heh..."

Saria put her ocarina away and blushed with embarrassment when she realized the magnitude of the surrounding crowd.

"Well kids, I want you two to know, if you have their hearts, you have my heart! So you're Rodergi's heroes?"

"Yes sir! Isn't it so lucky? I found them walki-"

"Just a yes will do, Rodergi. So, I suppose if you're all the way down here, you two are definitely looking for something. What is it, hm? Some fancy looking diamonds, a nice spicy emerald, maybe some fashion sense? That red tunic doesn't really match the rest of ya."

"Yes, I know... but we didn't come down here looking for those kind of things."

"Good, otherwise I would have to throw you into my dungeon for looting my mine! Bahahaha! I'm only joking, of course, I don't have a dungeon. Tell me what ya need, kid."

"Well, what we need, is passage to the molten rivers."

Dartoga raised an eyebrow, but he did not so much as scowl.

"Hey, you three want to burn to crisps, be my guest, just don't say I didn't warn you."

"And mister Rodergi here promised me a metal shield."

"He did what?"

"I'm sorry boss, you know how excited I get sometimes. I just saw her wooden one and felt sorry so-"

"It's fine, it's fine. Come, to the iron foundry! You're so small, you're gonna need a custom tailored shield. Perhaps Rodergi would like to cut the mold himself, heh."