A hot, tired and irritable Zelda rode with her head low on the heels of her companion. They had been riding since the sun had risen and still, in the mid-afternoon, the mountain peak had only just become visible as it rose from the surrounding hills. As the terrain had become rocky and steep, the number of trees and bushes that had shaded the travelers shrank and decreased, and now both Link and Zelda felt the full force of the heat from the early summer sun. From this height, Zelda could see the red roof tiles of Kakariko a few hundred feet down. Aside from her agitation with the saddle and the elements, a melancholy air had still lingered with the princess since the forest ruins. As she felt the skin on the back of her thighs chafing she groaned atop her horse.
"How much further is it, if you had to guess?" Asked Zelda, her voice exasperated.
Link glanced over his shoulder at the princess. She looked utterly miserable.
"Probably about three more hours at this pace, a little less if we speed up… Are you okay?" Said Link.
Zelda sighed overtly and pushed the hair that had loosened in the wind from her face.
"Yes. I'm just overtired. I have never ridden like this before… I'm sore and I have never felt so dirty as I do now…" She cleared her throat, her mouth was dry as the dust over which they rode.
"…the heat is terrible through here." She said, straightening in her saddle.
Link reached behind Epona and handed Zelda the half empty canteen.
"Well, it is a volcano, princess. They tend to be a little hot."
Zelda nodded her thanks and took it, drawing a deep drink and delicately wiping her lips. She turned to him, sighing again as she shifted against the saddle.
"I am sorry. I should stop complaining, I chose to come." She said as she handed him back the canteen.
The boy gave a quick shake of his head.
"Don't be sorry, you're actually doing really well. I would've never expected a princess to just get on a horse and ride for hours and hours. Here you are though, you're even keeping up with me, on Midge. That's a feat, your highness." Said Link.
Zelda smiled and let her head fall forward for a minute.
"I have had quite extensive riding lessons, I'll have you know." She said.
"I can imagine..." Link slowed Epona a slight to match the gelding's pace and ride abreast of his companion.
"How old were you when you started to learn?" Link asked.
"Seven, I think." Answerd Zelda, her eyes still on the path ahead.
Link shifted in his saddle a bit as her looked aside to the girl.
"You were young. I think I was at least about ten when I first started riding. Or at least that's when I got Epona." He said.
Zelda glaced at the boy, meeting his eyes for a moment before she let her gaze wander the mountian scenery.
"Was she a gift?" She asked.
Link gently touched the horse's snowy mane.
"She was, actually. She was only eight months old when Roland brought her to me..." Link paused, uttering a soft laugh
"We kind of grew up together, I guess. She's honestly one of my best friends." He said.
Zelda smiled to herself as she watched the boy lovingly scratch behind the ear of the young mare.
"She reminds me a bit of one of my father's horses. She was positively beautiful but she hated everyone except my father...and later, me. He trusted her enough to teach me to ride on her back. She looked like the moon. I miss her." She said
Link turned to her in the saddle, a warm and earnest smile pulling his cheeks.
"Yeah?"
Their eyes met for a moment before Zelda turned hers back to the trail with the whisper of a grin on her lips.
"Yes, actually."
They rode on talking quietly up the mountain for a moment, Zelda feeling a slight refreshed by the light conversation. The entire day had been riding with random transitory breaks here and there, but for better part of the day she and Link had not said much to each other. Mostly, each of them had mused respectively on the extraordinary events of the night before. Now they trotted, side by side at an almost leisurely pace.
"What was it like? Being a kid in the palace, I mean." Asked Link, looking sidelong to the princess on his right.
She thought for a moment, wanting to give him an honest answer that was short at well.
"Mostly full of schooling and ethics. I learned the skills I would need to become a diplomat and a few other things my father insisted upon, like riding... and weaponry. Impa taught me magic. I spent a lot of time learning about the Goddesses, the Triforce...the legend... learning of my duties as the one day queen... learning languages, conduct, things like that. I didn't have time for much else, other than an occasional game of chess…" She paused, remembering what Link had said to her the night before they reached the ruins.
"You said the other night that it seemed to you that I had been lonely. What made you say that?" Asked Zelda.
Link glanced to her and then back to the trail.
"Because it does. You seem like you've had a lot of people around you constantly but never anyone you'd really call a friend." Link replied
Zelda smiled wanly.
"I had my books and I had Impa. She became a mother and a companion of sorts after my own mother passed. There was truth to your words though, I suppose. Outside the sons and daughters of the noble families whom I seldom saw, I did not have a confidant my own age, and I was often alone…"
Link looked at her, his eyes finding hers and the girl stiffened slightly in his gaze.
"That sounds pretty rough, actually..." He said.
Zelda chuckled anxiously, gently pulling her eyes from his.
"Rough..." She repeated.
"I have never heard my life described as such." She said, staring a head at the trail.
The boy looked at her.
"I imagine being a princess can be kind of hard sometimes."
"It is a duty. I will one day rule this realm and protect these people. They come berfore all things." Said Zelda, her eyes still gazing forward.
Link raised his eyebrows.
"That's... a lot of pressure...especially while not having anyone to talk to. You kind of have to put up a front for everyone, huh?" He said.
The princess glanced quickly to the boy, making a small noise of discomfort as she quickly turned back to the path.
"No... never mind...I shouldn't have said anything." She said, her voice far more dismissive than she had meant it to be.
Link raised an eyebrow in confusion at her words. He found himself wondering if he had said something wrong. He looked back to the road and they were quiet for a moment, the tenseness radiating from the girl beside was palpable. Zelda cleared her throat.
"I do not wish to bore you with the details of my life. I do not want your pity either. I am in no position to bewail my life to you." She said
They rode on in silence for a time. Both of them now had a sheen of sweat like dew on their foreheads as they climbed higher into the mountains. Looking across to the princess, he spoke at last.
"...You can talk to me, Zelda. We're caught up in all this together, so we might as well get to know each other." He said.
Zelda quickly glanced to him and then again to the road.
"I am sorry... I am on edge. I did not mean to be rude to you, Link. Nothing like this has ever happened to me before."
Link smiled.
"Well... we have that in common."
She looked up at him, their eyes meeting once again.
"That we do..."
She paused, and thought for a moment.
"... I am sorry, if I appear cold at times. I do not mean to be." She said.
Link regarded her with a sense of curiosity. She was mysterious, strange even. Her manner of speaking and the nearly inhuman grace with which she moved was so unlike any other person he'd met during his life. The Princess of Hyrule, the only daughter of King Daphnes. This odd, demure girl that had volunteered herself for guaranteed peril. Besides the day she had walked out into the field in her quest to find her guardian, this had probably been the first time she had ever left the steps of the palace without an armed escort. The first time she had ever been alone and unsupervised with someone her own age. He glanced aside to her, her face like smooth stone though her eyes were bright with passing thoughts. She must have been terrified. She had ripped herself from her world of books and towers and involved herself in this potentially calamitous task. A bold deed, one that would no doubt leave rashes on her delicate skin and callouses on her soft, white hands.
"You don't seem cold, Zelda. Maybe a little out of your element, but not cold." Said Link.
They rode on as the path began to steepen; carrying them closer to the peak of the mountain and the city of the Gorons. As he had with Roland during the tiresome jaunt through the field on the day that had begun this unexpected journey, Link reached into his saddle bag for the flute. Zelda watched him, a little smile creeping onto her flushed and sunburned face.
"You play?" She asked.
"I do, since I've been old enough to really be helpful on excursions out of the village. I always take it with me. It really helps with the longer, more tedious rides. I get bored easily, and it gives me something to do with my hands. I used to fidget a lot as a kid when we'd ride. Roland stopped me once when I was eleven or twelve on one of our trips to town and gave me this pipe...told me to sit still and learn how to do something useful." Said Link.
Zelda chuckled.
"What songs do you know?" She asked.
Link grinned.
"Lots."
The boy brought the instrument to his lips and began a song he had heard dozens of times around many fires. Zelda smiled nostalgically as she herself remembered the tune. While Link played, she began to sing along.
"Come gather ye your trillium and o'er tables throw,
The lively spring now opening her leaves and bowers low.
Roses bright and summer night hang deft upon the dew,
And violets cover winter's pall, her nightshade and her yew.
Softly come the rains, grow the iris fair and tall.
Softly come the winds, stir the grass withal.
A health to those who meet the year,
A health to those who fall…"
Her voice was sweet and elegant, keeping pitch with the notes of Link's flute like the strings of a well-tuned instrument and he could hardly keep the smile from his lips as he listened. They went on up the mountain at ease this way for a time. Zelda occasionally requesting a melody and Link amiably obliging her. The sun was beginning to sink lower in the sky, casting long shadows of the titanic rocks down upon them as they passed. Nearing the gate to Goron City, Zelda suddenly brought Midge to a stop. Link pulled Epona's reins and looked back at the dismounting princess.
"What are these?" She called.
Link jumped down from his saddle and walked to Zelda's side, a grin spreading on his face as he saw now what she spoke of.
"These things? Here, I'll show you." Said Link.
He took one of the round, blue plants in his hand, ripping it from its vine and tossed it as hard as he could down the path. Zelda watched with interest as it rolled to a stop down the mountain pass and lay there, reddening with each second. At length, it exploded, kicking chunks of rock and a cloud of dust into the air. A small hole in the side of the mountain now yawned where the plant had blasted apart. The boy laughed.
"We used to love it when Roland would bring these things home when we were kids. They're bomb flowers." Said Link.
Zelda raised her eyebrow, intrigued.
"I have read of these exploding flowers before, but I have never seen one until now. I had my doubts that they existed to be truthful. We should take a few with us, they might prove useful."
Link nodded.
"The trick to harvesting them is to be sure you don't pull the vine out of the bottom. Once that's gone, the elements inside come together and the flower explodes." He said.
Zelda pulled a dagger from her belt and sank down into the patch, cutting the hard, blue flowers away from their stems one by one. Link joined her, gently ripping them from their vines, taking care not to pull away the stem inside. The two of them each filled a pocket or two with them and then they once again straddled their mounts and made haste to Goron City.
At last, as the sun disappeared behind the peaks, Link and Zelda came upon the gate to the great city atop the mountain. Slouched at its entrance was a very bored, very cranky Goron. As the two humans approached, the rocky creature stood, nearly cheering in spite of himself for some possible action. The elders had charged him with this vigil at the city gates on grounds of an ominous premonition. Gor Isamu had seen, in his dreams of late, a coming catastrophe and so the young Goron had kept uneventful watch at the entrance to the city for several days. Now he crossed his arms and moved to block the pair's way to the peak, thrilled to finally encounter something after days of listlessness.
"Halt!" He called.
The two riders looked in confusion at each other, the boy shrugged and then he and the girl dismounted.
"Good sir, please pardon our intrusion. We seek council with the elders of your tribe." She said.
The Goron remained firmly planted.
"The elders told me to stand guard here and not to let anyone suspicions through. Two armed humans is suspicious enough, you're not going in." He said.
Link dismounted and came to Zelda's side.
"I am Zelda, Princess of Hyrule, this is my guardian, Link. Let us pass." Commanded Zelda.
The Goron looked incredulously at her for a moment and then busted into a great, raspy laugh.
"Ok princess. No daughter of any king I've ever heard of would come riding up a volcano on a busted old pony. And who's this kid? A goat header? I've heard some stories in my day but that's pretty rich!" Said the Goron.
Link looked on at the now fuming Zelda, trying hard not to laugh himself at the face she was making.
"You will grant me passage. I am telling you the truth." She uttered.
The Goron continued to chortle.
"Prove it, your highness." He said, plopping down before the gate.
With a sharp intake of breath, Zelda spun towards the horses. Walking briskly to Epona she rummaged hastily through Link's saddlebag and returned with his flute in her hand. She composed herself briefly and then began to play. The song pouring from the instrument was sweet and gentle and as Link watched her now, he felt something stir within him. Calmer, Zelda looked again to the Goron as she handed Link the flute. The guard sheepishly scratched his head.
"Well… haven't heard that song in a while. I guess you weren't lying, my apologies your majesty." He said, with a low bow.
"Come on, I'll take you to the elders." He said, and with that they followed him through the banner strung pass.
After they had left Epona and Midge in an alcove near the spring that gave way to a long, sweeping staircase, Link and the princess walked slowly behind the still discomfited guard. Link looked to Zelda as they ascended.
"What was that song you played? It sounded familiar..." He said.
"It is a very old lullaby. My family used it as a sort of code ages ago, no one who is not affiliated in some way with us knows of it." Said Zelda.
Link glanced to the stone steps as he thought.
"I think that I've heard it before." He said.
Zelda looked up at him.
"I am sure that you have." She said.
After quite a bit of climbing, the Goron guard now held open the curtain of beads and cloth for the two young travelers as they passed through the doorway. Seated on the floor about a low, round table sat the elders. After a moment of silent regard the largest of them stood and bowed to the entering visitors.
"Greetings humans, I'm Darnuun. What brings you to my mountain?"
Zelda returned the gesture in a low, graceful curtsy.
"I am Princess Zelda, and this my traveling companion, Link. We have a dire request of you." She said, motioning to the boy aside.
Link, taking the forest shard from his pouch, approached the Goron chief.
"We're looking for a piece of a key, like this one. We were told that it was kept somewhere on Death Mountain."
The patriarch looked down, stunned at the sight of the forest shard and the elders began to murmur amongst themselves in a language Link did not understand.
"So, it's the shard... returning at last. My ancestors melted down the gems of the three races into the key centuries ago. When they're together again they open a door to a temple that houses a book of powerful magic and knowledge. What do you want with the book?" Asked Darnuun.
Zelda stepped forward.
"My father has fallen under some kind of evil spell, and Link was told that a great calamity is going to befall Hyrule unless we can get that book and find a way to reverse it." She said.
Darnuun put his large, leather-rock fingers to his chin and rubbed it contemplatively.
"Well, if you got the first shard, there's reason not to let you take the second. Gor Isamu has been having dreams in the last few weeks about some coming danger. This calamity may be what he foretold. Though, the sun is going down and this is a matter probably best left for the morning. You're welcome to stay Princess Zelda, and your friend. We don't often get travelers this high on the mountain but we do have guest quarters." He said, and he motioned to the hoary old Goron on the ground.
He stood and joined the three of them.
"This is Gor Hiroto, he'll see you to your rooms. We'll meet back here in the morning to talk about what'll need to be done. Please relax and enjoy yourselves til then. You're safe here." Said Darnun.
They exchanged words of thanks and then with Gor Hiroto, they descended the stairs into the interior of the peak.
They walked through a corridor of tunneled rock, passing doors of plain, crudely carved wood and deep red banners that garlanded the walls. Gor Hiroto stopped and pointed to two adjacent rooms.
"You'll each have your own rooms. There are blankets on the beds, and there're towels and soap in the closets if you want a bath." He said, and Link saw Zelda become visibly pleased at his words.
The old Goron grinned.
"Good night princess, good night young swordsman. I'm sorry for the actions of the guard at the gate, he's young and not too bright." He said, and he ambled back up the stairs.
Link looked to Zelda, their eyes met for a moment and Zelda stared quizzically up at him .
Link laughed and gestured to the door.
"Well go on. I saw your face when he said bath. I've never been this far into the mountain before so I'm going to go walk around and explore this place a little, I'll be back in a while." He said, alacrity in his voice.
Zelda nodded and turned to let herself into the room.
"Come and fetch me when you're through." She said, and she turned the knob.
The room was much nicer than she had expected. A plush, ornate rug lay on the floor. Upon it was a small table with two chairs. In the corner near a fireplace there stood a small, iron posted bed and near the door there was a standing chest. She opened it eagerly and just as Gor Hiroto has said, there lay stacks of towels and a crumbled bar of soap. She breathed a happy sigh and peeled off the armor that had encased her all that day. She then flopped down on the mattress and felt as though she was sinking into feathers. How she had missed a soft bed! She lay there for a moment, and then she sat up and scolded herself.
A few nights on the ground and already so elated to sleep on a feather mattress, for shame Zelda.
She sighed through her lips and hoisted herself to her feet. She walked to the door that faced the chest, pulling the braids from her hair and shaking it loose as she opened it. She stared down the short stairway at the enormous tub and smiled. Zelda made herself a fire, drew herself a bath, lit the lamps and washed her under clothes in the filling tub with the soap that had been left in the room, hanging them near the hearth. She then sat in the steaming water and let the tension in her body seep into it. The room was entirely soundless except for the occasional splash in the dim light. Zelda suddenly found herself to be quite drained and allowed her head to fall back and her eyes to shut, she began to doze.
Her hands are wrapped in white tape as she delicately plucks the strings of a lyre near the curious and puzzled boy. She is aware of herself and yet her body is not quite hers; some magic obscures her features and she covers everything but her eyes in the gauzy white wrap. She glances to the boy as he sheaths his mighty sword. He looks down to the mossy stump on which his friend once sat and then forlornly back to her. She has grown bitter with the years of hiding and hardship but the sad confusion in his eyes moves her. She can see now, more than she had when he had awoken in the temple, that his heart is still that of a child. Though his voice has deepened and he has grown into a beautiful young man, he is still really only a little boy; his eyes innocent and full of questions. The same little boy who had sworn to protect both her and her kingdom what seemed like so long ago. Though, to him it had merely been a summer. His childhood had passed without him and he had awakened in an unforgiving, alien world. He looks back to the stump and does not speak. He looks as if he's stifling tears and guilt claws at her heart like dark insects. She says softly,
"The flow of time is always cruel... Its speed seems different for each person, but no one can change it... A thing that doesn't change with time is a memory of younger days..."
Then she plays him a song that will lead him back to the temple when the notes had rung through the magical instrument. He accepts it and he thanks her. She leaves him then. Leaves him to fight whatever monstrosity it is that waits for him in the temple; praying that he will live through it, praying that it will be enough to ready him for the final battle… enough to clean up her mess for her.
Zelda awoke in the candle it room, the water around her had cooled slightly. The dream lingered for a moment in vivid color but slowly began to dwindle back into deeper parts of her soul. She stood and shook it off, wanting suddenly to be in the light more than anything. She pulled the drain, blew out the candle and wrapped herself in the downy towel, then she walked up the darkened steps; suppressing the urge to run. Her underclothes were dry and she slipped them quickly back onto herself. She wrung her hair out into the towel and then gently brushed it with the comb she had found near the soap. She tried to recall the dream now to find that she really could not. The words and faces were gone but the feelings she had been pondering still lingered at the edge of her mind. She sighed, deciding that perhaps it was for the best she let it slip behind the veil. As she thought, she heard a soft knock at the door. She opened it to see Link, standing there with a cloth-covered object in his hand.
His face is much the same…
The internal voice seemed to come from nowhere. She shook the thought away and looked up at him. He raised an eyebrow.
"You're just getting done? I left you over an hour ago." He said, his voice playful as he shifted his weight before her.
She shrugged, suddenly very happy to be again in his presence.
"I dozed off, the water was very relaxing. I could not help myself." She said
"Do you mind if I come in? I brought some food. I figured you would be hungry by now." He said, gesturing with the cloth bundle.
She nodded and moved aside as he entered the room.
They sat down at the little table and Link untied the cords that held the cloth together, revealing a little, round loaf of bread and a small wheel of wax-covered cheese.
"I wanted to eat this before it went stale, Yolandae made it right before we left. I'm glad that we actually we got to sit down tonight. I thought for sure we'd be camping in a cave, fending off Tektites somewhere by now." Said Link
Zelda watched him as he cut the loaf and peeled the wax from the wheel. His hair was as wet as hers and he had on now a clean undershirt, slightly different than the one he had been wearing before. She must have been asleep in the bath for quite a while, though, she said nothing of the dream as they began to eat.
"So where did you go, Link? Did you find anything of interest?" Asked Zelda, layering her bread with cheese.
"Tunnels. A lot of tunnels. Though I did get a bag to carry the explosives in… and more explosives." He replied after swallowing a mouthful.
Zelda grinned.
"You seem found of those." She said and Link nodded.
"Oh I am, but we'll probably need them at some point… that reminds me. I have a surprise for you" He said, and he reached down into the satchel he now carried the bombs within.
He put a small, brown bottle and two tiny cups on the table. Zelda looked inquisitively from the little jug to Link.
"It's Goron mead. I assumed that you've either had it a thousand times or never, either way I thought I would bring you some." He said.
Zelda picked the bottle up and examined it. On the hand painted label, printed in Goron lettering read the words: "distilled from sapling special crop." She put the bottle back on the table and looked up at Link.
"What does that mean? Special crop?" She asked.
"They use the bomb flowers before they've grown enough to explode when they brew it. That's what gives it the unique flavor it has. It tastes like straight up liquid fire at first and then as you drink it, it has a really sweet taste to it. Kind of like melon but...spicy? I know it sounds weird but it's actually really good." Said Link, poking another piece of bread into his mouth.
Zelda looked curiously again at the bottle as she finished her meal.
After they had eaten, Link carefully pulled the cork from the bottle with his teeth and poured Zelda and himself a splash in the tiny cups. They took the cups between their thumbs and forefingers.
"Ready?" Link asked, and Zelda nodded.
"Ok, on three..."
The boy counted down and then he and the princess both took their sip. Instantly, the scorching liquor coated each of their throats with prickling flame and Zelda coughed while Link's eyes watered with the heat of it.
"You see what I mean?" He said, wincing.
Zelda coughed again and nodded. At length, she composed herself.
"Is that the only time it will burn that way?" She asked.
Link nodded and poured her and himself another thimble full.
"Yeah, try it now." He said, and she did.
To her surprise it was just as Link had said, it was only mildly hot and now had a lightly sweet, distinguished flavor to it. Zelda raised her eyebrows
"This is fantastic! Though, had you not explained it to me, I think I most certainly would have put it down after the initial sip." She said.
Over the reaming bread and drink, the two of them talked of their lives as they took tiny drinks of the thin, sugary liquor. They exchanged stories of their childhoods and experiences in their parallel homes as they began to slowly grow giddy with the heat of the mead. As the night wore on, each of them felt a strange sense of familiarity with the other. The conversation flowed as fluent as one between the oldest of friends and neither could tell if it was the drink or their ghostly affiliations of past lifetimes. However now, safe inside the mountain and in comfortable surroundings, it did not seem to matter.
"So how many languages do you know, Zelda?" Link asked as he leaned over the table on his elbow, his flushed cheek resting on his knuckles.
Zelda blew a loose strand of hair from her face and turned her eyes to the ceiling, counting on her fingers.
"Seven…. No eight… yes eight." She said absently.
"Really? That's... such a massive amount of information though. Can you write them all too?" He asked.
Zelda nodded and the boy leaned forward a little more.
"That's actually kind of incredible. Which language is your favorite? To speak, I mean." Asked Link.
Zelda thought for a minute, her mind jubilant and her lips pulled into a perpetual grin.
"I think I like Zora the best. It is very elegant and melodic, especially when compared with Goronic… or something as shrill and terrible as Bulblinish or any of the Moblin dialects."
Link, nearly lying on the table now, cocked his head at her words.
"You speak Bulblinish?" He asked.
Zelda giggled and nodded.
"Say something, I have to hear this." Link implored.
Zelda shook her head, the golden tresses of her hair lashing about her face.
"No, it is truly awful and I'll not be able to do it without laughing." She said
Link rested his chin in his hand.
"Oh come on, please? I have to know what this sounds like. I don't care if you laugh. If it makes you feel any better, I'll probably laugh too." He said, a wide, silly grin plastered on his face.
Zelda smoothed her hair from her face and took a breath. She began to recite a limerick in the screeching, atrocious language. Though, she could not finish because as she had predicted, both of them burst into laughter. Link put his face in his hands.
"Wow, that really is awful!" He said, his voice muffled by his palms.
Zelda wiped the tear from her eye; her face ached from so much smiling.
"It is a foul, foul language." She said.
Link looked up at her again
"I think that's the second funniest thing you've done today, princess." He said, his voice slightly husky.
Zelda raised an eyebrow.
"What was the first?" She asked and Link tittered at its remembrance.
"The face you made when the guard laughed at you, it was hilarious." He said
"And what face was that?" Asked Zelda, and Link shook his head.
"I don't know if I could reenact it. It was a look of pure fury, it was priceless." He said.
Zelda lightly slapped his arm with the back of her hand.
"Show me." She said.
Link laughed and shook his head.
"I can't, I really can't." He said
"Try!" Zelda demanded.
He shrugged distractedly and attempted to recreate Zelda's look of indignation, resulting in another round of howling laughter.
The hour grew late, and the two dizzy-headed youths at last grew tired. Link stood, stretching his arms with a yawn.
"I should be getting back to my room, it's late, probably later than I should have stayed." He said, rubbing his eyes.
Zelda stood, smiling.
"I very much enjoyed your company, thank you." She said, dreamily.
He moved toward the door, turning back to the princess once more.
"Goodnight, Zelda." Said Link.
She sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled back the sheets.
"Goodnight, Link. Sleep well." She said, and he opened the door and slipped into the hall, leaving the princess to her bed.
When he finally lay under his own sheets, Link found that now, even with the lingering fog of the mead behind his eyes that he was having trouble getting to sleep. He felt almost a sort of disbelief regarding the past week of his life and wondered, as nameless memories fought one another to surface, if he wasn't somehow dreaming it all. Wouldn't that be more believable than what was happening now? He could not decide. He sighed and closed his eyes, Zelda's musical laughter echoing in his mind as he finally drifted into sleep.
There is a blinding light as the portal opens and the demon is dragged inside. Whiteness seems to engulf him then, and suddenly she is standing in front of him; beautiful and swathed in the robes of royalty, her crown heavy upon her head. He regards her in silence for a moment, searching her pallid and lovely face for the girl he had met that day and so many days after in the gardens. The girl his child's mind had moved this strange body to find; the one he'd killed for. She smiles, and it's then that he sees her.
"Thank you, Link... Thanks to you, Ganondorf has been sealed inside the Evil Realm. Thus, peace will once again reign in this world...for a time." She says.
He moves closer to her as she begins to weep. Disconcerted, he asks softly why she is crying. She looks to him, her eyes bright with tears.
"All the tragedy that has befallen Hyrule was my doing... I was so young...I could not comprehend the consequences of trying to control the Sacred Realm. I dragged you into it, too…Now it is time for me to make up for my mistakes..." She says, her voice cracking.
She asks him for the ocarina, and she tells him that with it she will send him back. Her eyes plead with him and tears slide fervently down her cheeks. He does not want to go, his child's mind cannot understand her building sobs and only wants to be close to her until they cease. But somehow he knows, he cannot save her this time. She extends her palm to him, reluctantly he lays the instrument in her hand and she takes his own now and holds it tightly. She blinks tears away as she allows her lingering fingers to slip from his. She holds the instrument to her chest as she swallows her grief.
"Now, go home, Link… Regain your lost time. Home... Where you are supposed to be...the way you are supposed to be..."
She looks at him a moment longer, a kind of longing he does not comprehend written in her gaze, and then she clenches her eyes shut. She plays a melody that seems to pull him away, back into the whiteness. As he loses consciousness he hears her whisper one thing more as they part.
"Thank you... Link... Good-bye..."
Link was awakened by a hard knock at the door. Stirring, the dream still washing in a groundswell over him, he looked to see the old Goron. Behind him was the already armed and dressed Zelda, her hair bound with the packaging cord he had left in her room, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
"Good morning child, Gor Isamu has requested your presence regarding the key. Please dress yourself, we'll wait for you outside." Said Gor Hiroto, and then he closed the door, leaving Link again in darkness.
He sat slowly up, the dream still bright and vivid within him. The candles he had lit the night before had burned almost completely down but still cast a faint orange light about the room. Link allowed himself to be still for a moment and looked hazily at his surroundings, groggy and languidly trying to put into context the images in his head. This dream had been different than the nightmares. It had seemed solid, like he had actually been there observing it through his own eyes instead of adrift in a timeless currant he could not touch. As he thought of it, it suddenly felt as if he were grasping at air in trying to recall in detail what had been said. He could not clearly remember her face, though her tears, and the strange longing he's seen in her eyes stayed with him.
That meant something... It felt like something wanted me to see it.
As always, he shook the dream off, then he rose to dress himself and prepare to take the fire shard.
As the three of them walked back through the corridor to the main vestibule of the Goron Elders, without any words Link stole a few glances at the half-asleep Zelda beside him. She regarded him cordially and gave him a tired smile as they continued through the hallway. Carefully, he tried to piece together the fragmented images he had been shown in the hours before waking. As they neared the steps, Link searched himself for the face of the girl in his dream. She and Zelda were the same entity. He had felt it, despite the inability to remember her features. Link wondered now, as he looked to her again, if she remembered; if she knew at all why she had wept so bitterly. Perhaps he would ask her later. They climbed the stairway to the large round table, the golden light of the morning sun streaming through the arched stone windows. Gor Hiroto took a seat on the ground near Darnuun and another elderly Goron, his face smeared with coal, who Link assumed to be Gor Isamu. The boy and the princess sat down at the table.
"Good morning, young Hylians, did you sleep alright?" Asked Darnuun, and the two of them nodded.
"Very much so, the rooms were quite lovely. Thank you." Said Zelda, suppressing a yawn.
Darnuun nodded graciously to her.
"Excellent. It's all the better that you're rested. It is unknown to us what's inside the key shard. Thats's why you're up so early. Gor Isamu would like to discuss the shard with the two of you as he holds the key to its resting place. But first you have to eat! Gor Minoru's preparing a meal for you both, he says he's cooked for humans before and so I charged him with feeding both of you." He said.
Link stiffened. He'd had food cooked by Gorons a few times before; when he, Roland and Khai had occasionally come to Goron City to buy ore. They over seasoned everything and often small rocks would end up in whatever they prepared. Because the Gorons could be rather sensitive at times, it was always better to suffer and eat it than to offend them.
"Oh, no, It's okay. I've brought our own provisions, the princess and I have plenty of food." He said, politely.
Darnuun waved his hand.
"I insist, it's bad hospitality not to feed a guest at least once. Ah, here he is now." Said Darnuun, motioning to the squat, square-headed Goron who approached with a platter.
Gor Minoru sat down a plate of something that looked like biscuits with a side of badly burned sausages and a soup that smelled like pure heat. Link looked almost pained as he stared down at the spread and Zelda looked to him, wondering at his nuanced expression.
"I hope you enjoy it, I've served human travelers to this mountain in the past. I have not yet received a complaint." Said Gor Minoru, proudly.
Zelda smiled up at him.
"I am sure it will be delicious, thank you very much for your kindness and generosity. It is well received." She said, and Link nodded hastily in agreement.
He began to eat quickly, sandwiching the sausages between the biscuits then drowning them in the soup, taking the largest mouthfuls he could. Zelda watched him, puzzled. She leisurely tore off a bit of the biscuit, dipped it in the soup and ate it. Instantly her tongue was on fire as she chewed the bread she was now convinced had been made with sand, the grit crackling against her teeth. She looked at Link, who shot her a knowing glance as he quickly finished his breakfast. Gor Isamu smiled.
After the terribly unappetizing morning meal, Zelda and Link followed the tall, coal smeared Goron to a door that led out onto a balcony overlooking a large crater in the mountains. The three of them sat down in a small circle. Gor Isamu gazed upon them in silence for a moment, scanning each of their faces once or twice before he spoke.
"I must be sure that you are for certain the ones destined for the fire shard. The magic it reveals could be very dangerous in the wrong hands."
He held out his large, stoney palms.
"I must look within you." He said.
The two of them laid their hands atop the Goron's. They watched him anxiously as he began to tremble. Suddenly, he pulled away as his eyes hazily opened, a look of trepidation on his face.
"What is it? What's wrong?" Asked Link, unsettled by his fearful look.
Gor Isamu rested his head in his hands for a half a minute, at last he spoke.
"It's nothing, you are indeed the ones to who the shard must be entrusted. I grant you entry to the pillar." He said. The Goron elder lifted the chain about his waist, from it he pulled a large, tarnished key.
"Take the stairs to your right, there will be a ladder that will take you down into the crater. Look for a key hole in the earth." He said, and he handed Link the key.
Link and Zelda made their way down toward the bottom of the pit. The walls of rock seemed to rise from its floor, creating a massive bowl around the low, stoney valley. Link drew his sword and looked to Zelda who readied her bow. In the center of the crater, as Gor Isamu had said, there lay a key hole. Link, sword still in hand, went to his knees and pushed the key into the hole. To his surprise, the key appeared to be stuck inside but as he pulled, a white marble pillar rose easily from the earth. In its base was the ruby and gold key shard, glinting like crystalline blood in the sunlight. Hesitantly, Link went to it, reaching cagey fingers out to touch the glimmering key fragment. As it had the first time, the shard floated up and began to glow. Link flung himself back, and both he and Zelda readied themselves to battle whatever form it took as the cloud of light solidified. Before the two young travelers stood a gigantic salamander, its scales lustrous obsidian in the morning light. It stood there for a half a minute as it began to awaken, its eyes aglow in red and its long forked tongue flicking in and out of its mouth, tasting the air and sensing the two youths below. It drug its belly across the stones with a dry scraping sound as it turned toward Link who stared up for a moment in frightened awe at the hulking creature that had sprung from nowhere. It raised its head as the boy stepped forward to engage it. Zelda notched her bow, waiting in numb anxiety for the creature to make a move. With an earsplitting cry, its long cylindrical body shuttered and it spit a ball of fire in the boy's direction. Link dove out of the way, the blast missing him by less than a few inches. He rolled to his feet and raised his shield a little higher as he quickly moved toward the soft underside of the creature, preparing to strike. His sword met the salamander's claws and Zelda began pelting the monumental fire-beast with arrows. The creature hissed, quickly turning itself around and swiping at the girl with its long, lash-like tail. Zelda's feet went over her head and she landed painfully on her back as the creature began to climb the walls, its claws punching deep holes into the rock as it hauled itself upward. It clung rigidly to the cliff side, positioning itself to face the archer below as she got to her feet, notching another arrow. It began to inhale and Link could see the glow of the coming fire behind it's jagged teeth. Quickly, feeling suddenly as if he was controlling his body from somewhere outside of himself, he dashed across the rocky arena. He skidded to a stop in front of the princess, both of them dropping behind the Fairy Queen's shield as the booming roar of flames engulfed the two on either side, singeing the ends of Zelda's hair tossed about in the hot wind.
"We have to kill it from a distance! Zelda, when it stops, aim for its eyes!" Link shouted over the ripping fire.
At length the flames ceased and the creature began to again move along the walls. Zelda notched her bow and quickly stood, releasing the arrow into the huge, black lizard's eye. The salamander screamed and shook its head before it turned again to blast them with fire. Zelda ducked back behind the barrier, pressing herself against Link's back as blazing heat enveloped them once more. He could feel his hand beginning to burn and each of them could smell leather baking as he held the shield fast. The fire was not letting up this time. He grimaced and gripped it still. Zelda, holding back panic, thought quickly to the bombs. Swiftly, she opened Link's pouch at his side and pulled one of the volatile flowers from it, the stem had turned into something like twine overnight. Making haste, as the boy's expression told of searing pain, she wound the stem around the arrow, pulling it out just enough to detonate it. The moment that the barrage of flames ceased, Zelda shot up again and pegged the salamander in the back of the head. The giant creature thrashed violently trying to shake the arrow from its hide but it was no use, the bomb flower exploded and tore the creature's head from its shoulders in an instant. Zelda lowered her bow as Link let the now red-hot shield clatter to the ground, feeling the bright wave of pain from his badly burnt hand as the adrenaline began to slowly ebb away. He cast grateful eyes to Zelda as the salamander's body began to glow. The two of them approached the light as the creature stood.
"I am the spirit of the fire shard… Courageous youths… I am unmade by thy sharp wit and unwavering will… Take you this shard of fire to the Zora queen… I rest." It said, and just as the stag had done, it dissipated in flickering radiance.
The key shard now lay where the salamander had stood. Zelda walked slowly to it and picked it up. She wiped the sweat from her brow and turned to Link with a grin.
"Well... It seems you have saved my life twice now, I suppose that makes us even." She said, gesturing with the shard to the boy beside her.
Link smiled back at her as he held his scorched hand.
Hurriedly bandaged, and a fond farewell given to the Goron elders, Link and Zelda departed for the lake and the Zora tribe with the fire shard in tow. As they rode into the distance now, Gor Isamu and Gor Hiroto stood and watched them disappear over the rocky slope.
"What did you see when you looked into them?" Asked Gor Hiroto.
Gor Isamu sighed and closed his eyes.
"I saw great pain… buried under countless seas of years... I saw the echo of my dreams in their future. Great destruction will come… I sense tragedy brewing for both the princess and the boy." He said.
Gor Hiroto shook his head.
"Do you suppose that the old stories are true? About the hero who rises perpetually to save the land from evil, ordained by the Goddesses themselves? Legends say it has happened many times before… I wonder. Perhaps the boy truly is him." Said Gor Hiroto.
Gor Isamu slowly nodded his head.
"I believe so, his soul is bright... though… his fate was cloudy to me."