"She looks so cute right now, are you sure we've got to wake her?"

"Yeah, it might not look it right now, but we're burning daylight."

While it was morning, the rainstorm continued, though not quite as violent as before. Link, Mari, and Martha all stood around Saria, watching as she slept like an angel. She laid curled up into a little ball, arms wrapped around her knees, with a rather large grin spread across her face. Whatever she dreamt about, surely it was a slice of paradise. Nudging her shoulder with his hand, Link took sleep from the forest child, and she slowly came to. When her eyes opened, she stared back into Link's own eyes, and her smile became somehow wider.

"*Yawn*... Good morning Link... why's everyone looking at me?"

"No reason, my little forest breeze."

"Well, actually, it's kind of later than it looks."

"Is it still raining?"

"Yup, it shouldn't be much longer until we get high enough for snow though."

Snow. Though the strange white substance would leak into the woods at the right time of year, Saria knew very little about it, aside from that it was cold. Link, on the other hand, had experienced more than his fair share of snow, having spent innumerable nights in a loop, trying to solve the mystery of the Snowhead Mountains. Hopefully, Martha had brought him a decent pair of pants, braving a blizzard in shorts was not a mistake Link wanted to repeat.

"Hey, Martha, I just realized something. Where are we going to put on the winter clothes you brought? Because if we put them on now, we'll get soaked, and nobody wants to be soaked in a snowstorm."

"Relax fairy, there's a nice little cave not too far up the mountain. Well put our layers on there."

"If you say so... is everybody ready to get going? Got your bag, Link? Sword and stuff? Good. We're probably fixing to get absolutely drenched."

One by one, each of the campers left the sanctuary of the tent, and stepped out into the rain. While everyone stood still and took the beating of the weather, Martha had a time taking down her tent and stuffing it back into her pack. Everything was slippery and wet, she would grab a stake, just to drop it in the mud, while at the same time, the leather tarp would try to blow off in the wind. After a long and would be humorous process, if it weren't for the weather, Martha corralled the entire tent in her bag, and everyone started moving. Every second felt like an hour as the adventurers trekked their way through the forest. As they went along, they gained altitude bit by bit. Venturing higher up the base of the mountain, the wind began to whip at them violently, and the incline became more steep. All the while, the rain poured, and made the terrain slick. The three kids fought their way up the wet nightmare, and the fairy did battle with the wind.

"How... how much further?"

"Hah, we're barely even halfway to the cave, greenie!"

"I'm not sure how much more of this I can take!"

"We'll be getting into the snow before long. After that, it should just be a small hike before we get to the cave."

"You've done this before, right?"

"Yeah, when the weather was nice!"

Frankly, that was not the morale boost Saria was looking for. Now with the weight of the water, everyone felt like their clothes were ten pounds heavier, adding to the burden of the heavy equipment they were already carrying. Saria's normally chipper bob of hair was now frazzled by the weather and drooped soggily into her eyes, giving her a look somewhat similar to most the Kokiri boys' do. Link held his hat tightly to his head in an unsuccessful attempt to stave off the rain, while Martha wore a small cloak over her dress, protecting most of her face from the wet. It was a miserable walk to be sure, but even the elements could not stop the winded crew. After another mile of walking, the rainstorm began to lighten up, but the wind only grew colder and stronger. Slowly but surely, the area around transitioned from a muddy forest, to a snow filled wood. Any other day, Saria would be delighted to see so much of the wonderful fluff, but as cold as she was, it only made the walk more miserable. The others seemed to share the same feelings on snow, Link bitterly clenched his teeth as the all too familiar feeling of frosted gales cutting into his legs was relived. Martha was the only in the group to wear decent enough clothing to cover her legs from the blizzard, though she paid for it dearly in mobility, climbing a mountain in a dress was a chore. Resigning to Saria's shoulder, Mari feared that if she continued to fly with wet wings in such cold, they may damage from freezing. Another half hour in the cold, and a tunnel made itself visible on the hills ahead. Martha jumped for joy as she recognized the cave.

"There it is! Not much farther now!"

"G-g-g-g-oood-d... I w-w-as r-r-r-eady t-t-o quit a-n-n hour ag-g-g-o..."

The plucky explorers hiked up the last stretch of mountain, and finally came to rest inside of the though frigid, comparatively warm cave. Even Link shivered as he clutched his elbows and his legs swang back and forth.

"E-ee-y-ee-g-g-g-g-gh..."

"Ooh boy, why don't we get ourselves into some dry clothes? You two look absolutely frozen!"

"Y-y-y-y-a th-i-ink?"

Digging into her rather large backpack, Martha threw out three different stacks of clothes across the cave floor.

"Guess what, greenie? I managed to snag you some green clothes, since you seem to love green so much."

"A-at th-i-is poin-t-t... I d-d-d-d-on't-t even ca-a-a-re..."

"I hate to say I told you so, but a tunic, a turtleneck and a pair of shorts aren't-"

"J-j-ust g-g-g-ive them here!"

At Saria's demand, Martha slid the stack of clothes to the forest girl.

"And Link, sorry if you're a green nut too, but the closest thing I could find in your size was this blue-green jacket. You're gonna have to live with a gray pair of pants."

Did Martha really think color mattered to everyone so much? Did she really think they would care about something so silly after weathering both a rainstorm and a blizzard? Consecutively? This really was quite a peculiar girl. Regardless, dry clothing was dry clothing, it was protection from the cold too. Without any hesitation, everyone got themselves changed into their thick apparel. Martha ditched her soggy dress, and threw on a fleece pair of trousers and a warm coat. In truth, Saria was perplexed by the strange garments, but as cold as she was, she got dressed up in them with record speed. Martha started to correct her when she tied a scarf around her waist like a sash, but decided against it, it made the little forest girl all the more cute. Link was much more than gratuitous for a decent pair of pants, anything that would protect his legs from the wind and frost was welcome at that moment. Buzzing around Saria's face, Mari attempted to use her energy to warm up herself and her child a bit.

"So... d-do you think we hav-ve time t-to pitch a nice fire?"

"No, as a matter of fact, we should probably get moving as soon as possible."

"W-what? Why?"

"Because mama might wake up any minute now!"

"Mama?"

Catching onto the potential meaning of the statement, Mari buzzed up to Martha's nose and hoped to disperse her suspicions.

"You surely don't mean..."

"Yup, this is a bear cave."

"By my wings! What is wrong with you, child?! Link! Saria! We gotta move!"

"Why? W-why can't we st-tay here and warm up a litt-t-t-tle more?"

"Because! If we don't leave quick, we're no doubt going to-"

Behind the children, a bloodthirsty growl called through the cave. A brown furred beast crawled up from the depths of the tunnel, and reared up on its hind legs.

"Bear!"