"What do we do?"
"What do you think, greenie? Run!"
In a panic, Saria and Martha began to run like the wind, but Mari halted them before they could go too fast. Link, on the other hand, stood his ground all the way.
"No! You can't outrun a grizzlemaw! Back away slowly, no sudden movements, no loud noises."
Putting his shield between himself and the mama bear, Link edged backwards toward the mouth of the cave. After the group shimmied back into the blizzard outside, the bear seemed to lose interest. Roaring at the children one more time, the beast turned back into its cavern.
"Well isn't that fine and dandy. We're in the cold again!"
"Better than being the breakfast of a bear."
"Well, now that we're back out here, how long until we get to the springs?"
Furrowing her eyebrows towards the mountains ahead, Martha scanned the rocky hillside.
"Hmm... roughly a day's hike."
"A day?"
"If you're hiking."
"If you're hiking? What is that supposed to mean?"
"It means I've got a faster way up there."
Pulling off her backpack, the girl dug through until she found three peculiar contraptions. How many goodies were hiding in there? When Link identified the tools, his face brightened.
"They make these things for fishing, but I've found them quite handy for scaling things. They call them hookshots, and these babies should make climbing much easier!"
She chunked one device to each of the children. Saria glanced over the peculiar device, and pulled the trigger, sending a pointed hook flying through the air, with a chain attached. If that didn't startle the girl enough, the hook caught on the top of a tree, and yanked her into the air after it.
"Yaaaagh!"
After hurtling through the sky, Saria landed in the tree where the hook had caught on. Link stifled a chuckle, but Martha unleashed a full laugh at the girl's folly.
"Ahahaha! That was rich, greenie! They've got some kick to them! Hahahoo!"
Now a good forty feet in the air, Saria clung to the snowy birch as the wind swayed her back and forth.
"Yeah, that's funny and all, but maybe you should have told me that before handing it to me?"
"I was getting to that, but then you pulled the trigger!"
"Right, I guess I did... how do I get down from here? The limbs on this thing are too far apart for me to climb down."
"Jump! The snow will catch you!"
"Er, Martha, maybe we should come up with a slightly less-"
Before Mari could finish her thought, Saria was in the air again, though towards the ground this time. Both Link and the fairy looked on in horror as their friend landed face first in a snow drift.
"Saria!"
They both ran over to the girl's aid, but before they could reach her, she burst from the pile of snow with a laugh.
"Yeah! That was fun!"
"Oh greenie, you really are a riot, you know that?"
"For the love of the goddesses, please don't do that to me, Saria. Stop being so reckless."
"I'm sorry Mari, sometimes I just can't help myself!"
"I can tell."
"Okay okay! Before anyone decides to pull another trigger, can I please explain how to use these things?"
"I think I already figured it out, but if you must."
"Two big rules. Number one, don't drop it! These things are really hard to get your hands on, and I don't want one of them breaking because someone had butterfingers!"
"Fair enough. How did you get your hands on these?"
"Long story, involves a few sunken boats and a lot of smelly fish."
"Er... okay."
"Number two, don't let go!"
"I thought that was the first rule?"
"No, that one was don't drop it. This one is don't let go. Trust me, if you fire one of these and let go midair, it's not going to be pretty."
"Oh, point taken."
"Now that we've got that down, who's ready to scale a mountain?"
Without answering the question, Link aimed his hookshot up at a rock formation up the hill, and pressed the trigger. He was pulled through the sky, several hundred feet up the mountain.
"Hey hey, somebody looks like a natural!"
Squinting through the blizzard, Saria started to point her arm straight at the rock, but before she could fire her chain, Martha ran over and grabbed her arm.
"Woah, careful there greenie! You're aiming too low, you aim there, you're gonna smack straight into the middle of the cliff!"
"Ouch, then where do I aim?"
"From this far off, that thing is going to start arcing with gravity, you've gotta aim a bit over the rock."
"Ah, thanks."
"You're funny, greenie, but I'd hate to see anything happen to you."
Pointing her hookshot upward once more, Saria soared through the air and landed with her hook hanging to the edge of the cliff. From atop the massive rock, Link hoisted her up top, Mari buzzing not too far behind.
"Good job Saria! Don't let go of her Link."
"Do you think he would let go, Mari? Do you really have to tell him not to?"
"Better safe than sorry, I guess."
After everyone was safe on the snow covered stone, Martha's hook clamped onto the hard surface, and she zipped towards them with a long whoop. She pulled herself up, and chuckled to herself.
"Heh, that never gets old."
Throughout the day, the children scaled the mountain leap after leap. Distance flew beneath their feet as the soared over rough terrain. Mari eventually got tired of flying after them every time they used the hookshot, so she tucked herself into Link's hat for the ride instead. After hours of flying up the mountain, however, everything began to feel miserable again, their faces were covered with frost and wind every time they soared through the air. The mountain domain of the Zora soon came into view, indicated by two banners that adorned a cave mouth.
"There it is! That's the entrance to the mountain springs!"
"Heh, good luck getting in there, the Zora are a pretty tight knit community. I've heard they've even kicked some of their own out of that place!"
"Hm... so how do we go about this?"
"That's your problem."
"Huh?"
"I've tried sneaking in there before, I think I've gathered somewhat of a reputation with them."
"My Martha, you really are a wild child!"
"Either way, I'm not sure they'd be so gracious if they caught me sneaking around here again. I think I'm heading home."
"That's it? You're leaving?"
"Hey, it's already been fun, plus, a sled from the top of this mountain is a blast! Besides, you two have your swords and stuff, I'm not much of a fighter."
"Well... I suppose you'll want your hookshots back."
Saria started to hand the tool to Martha, but she pushed her hand away.
"Nah, you two keep em, I only need one after all. You can keep the snow clothes too."
"Thanks, you have been a lot of help, Martha."
"As cold as it was, I think it's been fun..."
"Well... I guess this is goodbye."
"Yeah, I guess it is..."
With a sniffle, Martha started to turn around, but stopped short. Tears in her eyes, she ran back and hugged Link, nearly knocking the boy off his feet.
"Please, for my grandmother's sake... bring the fairies back..."
Stuttering for a moment, Link tried to figure out what to do to send off the girl in comfort. Doing the only thing he knew how, he returned the hug and sighed.
"I will..."
Saria couldn't help but feel a sharp pang of jealousy at Link's words. The boy hardly ever graced even her, his best friend, with a word, and here he was, speaking to a total stranger. Breaking the embrace, Martha stepped back and put on a smile once more.
"Take care of Link, greenie. And fairy, never get a sense of humor."
Drawing a flat piece of wood from her backpack, Martha sat on her sled, and pushed off.
