Link quickly crossed the village common, and entered the small inn house where Talon had been staying the past two months. The house was a single room affair, measuring forty feet square. It was occupied and run by a husband and wife. The lodgings were very simple. Curtains separated each bed from the others. The guests took their meals in common with the innkeeper and his wife, or ate at the tavern down the way. They voided themselves in a common chamber pot, and washed in a common bowl, if they washed at all. For in these times, only Kokiri and nobility bathed with any frequency.
Link knew the sound of Talon's snoring without question. He walked to the bed in the corner furthest from the door, pulled the curtains aside, and pulled the pocket cucco chick from out of his tunic. He held the chick over Talon, and it crowed loudly! Talon sat up with a start, and exclaimed, "What in tarnation? Can't a person get a little shut-eye around here?"
Link answered, "Not this morning, groomsman! For I have returned Lon-Lon Ranch to your hand! Malon is safe, and waiting for you! Ingovard has been chastised severely in his treachery! He will no longer burden or betray you, but only do the work you bid him do!" The rancher looked at Link in utter amazement!
He said, "How am I to believe you?"
Link answered, "I have no time to go about boasting of false stories! If you seek your proof, go to Lon-Lon! At the foot of the Kakariko Steps, you will find your daughter's wild horse! It will not come to you, or mind you! But I rode that horse here! Your daughter presented me with that horse when we were both children, and I've now claimed it!"
Talon looked at Link and decided the young warrior was telling the truth! He had to be! Talon believed that Malon was Ingovard's prisoner, and in a way, she was. He didn't care about the loss of the ranch. But he was horrified at what might happen to Malon! Talon was not a complicated man. He was at the last measure of desperation, and he seized upon Link's words as a drowning man would on a life-ring!
Talon exclaimed, "Did you save Malon?" Link nodded in answer. The groomsman exclaimed, "Thanks! I'm goin' back to the ranch, then! Yeehah!" Malon quickly pulled on his boots and left! He was in such a hurry that he didn't bother to collect his other suit of clothes, having worn one set minus the boots to sleep in. He was out of the door in less than a minute!
The innkeeper and his wife were also awakened by the commotion. It took the innkeeper a minute or two to work up the courage to approach the young sword-carrying man. But the idea of having a stranger invade his inn and his house, even in these times had him furious! He approached Link and said, "Kind stranger. We don't normally like to be awakened at the crack of dawn. My wife and I are even more offended when our guests are run off without paying what they owe!"
Link replied, "What does Talon owe?"
The innkeeper answered, "I was boarding him as charity after what Ganondorf had done to him. But he would have owed three hundred rupees!"
Link reached into his moneybags. He had three hundred eighty rupees on him between his two moneybags. He wished that he had drawn some rupees from his accounts with Arthur before he'd left that morning.
He drew three hundred fifty rupees from his moneybags and handed it to the innkeeper. Link said, "Here's what Talon owed you. I will not take charity! I'm giving you fifty rupees more to deliver the rest of Talon's belongings to Lon-Lon ranch! If that isn't enough, please let me know!" But as Link handed the innkeeper the money, he dropped a gold curse-spider token on the floor. Link thought to himself, "Damn! I thought I had deposited that with Arthur!" He reached down and picked up the token. But the innkeeper saw the large token, and recognized it for what it was!
He said haltingly, "Stranger, how did you come by that golden spider?"
Link answered, "It's none of your concern, but I took it from the bosom of a curse-spider for Jardain and his sons."
The innkeeper was terrified! He breathlessly asked Link, "Kind sir, would you know the Duke of Hyrule?"
Link was starting to lose patience. He answered sharply, "Does any man really know his father, sir? Take your tariff and be done with it!"
The innkeeper dropped to the floor and grovelled before Link saying, "I meant no offence, your Majesty! Please, have mercy!" Link was startled! But he realized what he had to do. He reached down and gently touched the man's shoulder. He said, "Kind innkeeper, I took no offence. I'm only in a hurry because of what I must attend to! And I'm still only a duke. Zelda lives as yet!"
The innkeeper stood up relieved! He said, "My lord, thank you! Your appetite and desire for a bed are good here, and those of your riders. But your money is not! We owe it to you to help however we can! When Ganondorf destroyed Hyrule Castle Town, he ruined my fortune, and killed my son! Anything I can do to bring justice upon the Beast's head will be a duty and a pleasure! I am Alois, son of Uther. My wife is Matilda. Would his lordship care to break fast with us?"
Link replied, "Alois, I've already broken fast, and I'm short of time. But I will break fast with you another time. And you will take my money! Save the worry for his daughter, Talon knew no privation while he boarded with you! I insist you know no privation either."
Alois collected the rupees from the floor where he dropped them and said, "Thank you, my lord! May fortune ride always with you!" Link collected the pocket cucco and replied, "And may it stay with you, Alois." Link walked to the door, and left the inn.
He walked briskly across the village common, and up the stairs to the House of Jardain. He knocked on the door, and entered. Arthur met him at the door, surprised that Link was returning so soon. He asked, "Did you forget something, my lord?"
Link answered, "Yes. I forgot to deposit this with you." He handed Arthur the curse-spider he had dropped in the inn. Arthur said, "Of course. Is there anything else, my lord?"
Link answered, "Yes, two things. First, I need to draw out two hundred rupees." Louis quickly handed two hundred rupees to Arthur, who handed them to Link. Link said, "The second is, Thank you again for being so patient."
Arthur replied, "You're welcome, my lord."
Louis added, "We owe you our lives, my lord! Whatever we can do to help you is only a small payment on that debt!"
Link said, "I must leave. Go with fortune, friends."
Arthur answered, "And you, my lord."
Link left the counting house, and walked to the cuccoo coop. The lady who tended the cuccos was just arriving. She said, "Good Morning, Link. Did you find your heavy sleeper?"
She was pleasantly surprised when he answered, "Yes. See for yourself." He handed the lady the young hatchling. It clucked in her hands with utter contentment! She said, "Amazing! You must have had this chick awaken a statue!"
Link replied, "No. Just a very heavy sleeper!"
She said, "You're a great cucco keeper! I'll give you a rare, valuable cucco, if you're interested. His name is Cojiro. He used to be my brother's cucco. Cojiro's blue body is quite charming. He's so cute!" She set the young chick in the pen, and called, "Cojiro! Here, chick, chick, chick!" A small blue rooster hopped over to her, and she picked it up. She handed the bird to Link.
She said, "Since my brother has gone, it's strange, but Cojiro has stopped crowing. Do you want to keep him?"
Link answered, "Yes, and thank you! He is cute! And I'm sure I'll enjoy his company, whether he crows or not." He gently put the bird in his jacket, and it went to sleep.
He said, "I need to travel. May fortune stay with you!"
She answered, "Go with fortune, Link!" He walked quickly to the Kakariko steps and ran down them to where he left Epona standing.
Epona waited patiently for him. She was fine, but she had a red rag tied to her saddle horn. Link looked at the horn and asked silently, "What's this, Navi?"
The fairy answered, "Talon checked on Epona, Link. He's illiterate, and had nothing to leave a note with, even if he could write! But that is the rag he used to wipe the sweat from his brow." Link mounted Epona, and rode to the Lost Woods Bridge.
He rode like the wind, without thought or word. He was apprehensive at what he knew he would find. For this was the land of his youth, and his people! The Forest, above all of Hyrule, was the place most honoured and loved in his heart. The ride took over an hour and a half to complete, even at full gallop! He quickly dismounted, just steps from the Lost Woods Bridge. He ran into the woods. As he crossed the bridge, Cojiro crowed loudly! Navi said, "Cojiro senses his old keeper!"
Link entered the village. At first it appeared unchanged since he had last been there. But there were no Kokiri to greet him! A Deku Baba pounced on him from his right. A quick swing of the Master Sword silenced the evil flower. Navi exclaimed, "We have no time to fight! We have to find the brother!" Link turned to his left, and jumped up onto the ledge leading up to the Lost Woods. He climbed up the vines on the next ledge, as he and Saria had done so many times. He ran up the start of the path. A mad deku scrub waited in ambush as he turned the corner to the top ledge overlooking the Kokiri Village. But Link ran so fast that the monster didn't have time to fire a shot! Link quickly wheeled to his right and entered the Lost Woods!
He ran to the first clearing, and turned left, like he was going to visit the Skull Kid. He entered the Skull Kid's clearing, and he found Cojiro's keeper, leaned up against the tall stump the Skull Kid was fond of dancing upon. The half Sheikah half Nipponese man, who was only in his late twenties, looked at least forty years older than that! Link ran to him. The Hero of Time said, "Hey, friend?" The carpenter's son continued to sleep. Link took Cojiro out of his tunic and held the bird over the man's head. Cojiro crowed loudly, waking the man up! The carpenter's son looked up, and Link handed the cucco to him. He told the carpenter's son, "I believe this cucco is yours."
The carpenter's son was ecstatic with having Cojiro again! But he was also declining horribly. He said, almost talking to himself at first, "Cojiro? Why? Normally only a nice guy like me can tame you. Which means…" He looked up at Link and said, "You… You must be a nice guy! Must be! You must be! Please Mr. Nice Guy! Please! Deliver this stuff to the old woman in the potion shop in Kakariko Village! This stuff will disappear if you take too long, so you gotta hurry!" He handed Link a large Dove Mushroom! Then, Link realized why the young man was aged so badly. The Curse of the Lost Woods had him in its grip! His legs were already paralysed, so he couldn't walk! It was only by luck that he even found the Dove Mushroom!
The Dove Mushroom was called that because it could be made into a potion healing the Curse of the Lost Woods… if the potion was taken in time! Otherwise, the victim would become a Stalfos, cursed to wander the woods forever in war gear, until it was broken with cold steel! And, even though Link had the strength to carry the man with him, it was out of the question. For attempting to leave the Forest once the curse took hold would only make it work much more quickly; Link would hold a Stalfos in his very arms ere he mounted his horse if he were fool-hardy enough to try!
Link asked, "How did this happen to you?"
The carpenter's son answered, "I came to the woods from time to time to escape my melancholy. I felt so bad because everyone I knew except my sister and grandmother was repulsive to me! Even my mother and father disgusted me! But the last time, I fell asleep here! I woke up, and couldn't find my way out! My legs quit working only this morning, and I've been here for months!"
Link said, "I know of your grandmother's potion shop! I'll ride there right now! Just outside of these woods, I have the fastest horse in the realm! And I was raised in these woods! I'll never lose my way. But you must stay awake! Think happy thoughts, and keep your strength up until I return with the potion!"
There was no time to waste! Link ran out of the clearing, but ran to the south, not the east! He ran into the next clearing, which overlooked the Lost Woods Bridge itself! Saria had had him plant two magic beans in the Lost Woods, before he left for that fateful encounter with Ganondorf! He came upon one of them now! It, like its sibling in the Kakariko Graveyard, was the size of a large tavern round table, but barely came up to his ankle. He stepped onto the edge of the magic plant, and it quickly took off! It carried him across the clearing, and over the Lost Woods Bridge! Link jumped down to the bridge, and ran out into Hyrule Field!
Epona waited patiently right where Link left her. He mounted the horse, and rode like the wind to the Kakariko Village steps! Epona sensed the urgency of their ride, and took fifteen minutes off of the trip! Link dismounted with a jump, and landed on the stairway itself! He sprinted up the steps and into the Village Common. He ran to his left, ran up the stairway to the north, and ran to the potion shop! He quickly entered and ran through, saying "Hello!" to the shopkeeper and nothing more! He ran out the back door, and jumped to his right, rolling to break his fall. He ran to the steps leading to the door of Granny's Potion Shop and sprinted up them! He turned to his right again, opened the door without knocking, and entered the shop!
The potion shop was one room, forty feet to each side. But only the half closest to the door was open. The rest of the shop was closed off to public view by a long counter, and a curtain behind that. No sunlight entered the building. Two magic torches illuminated the room from behind the counter. The floor was covered with a fibre mat, with a runner rug leading from the door to the counter. The walls and the front of the counter were covered in parchment or velum, with a design of alternating red bamboo bars and red vines with red flowers running from the wood planked ceiling to the floor. Two pots of magic potions, each one holding at least thirty gallons simmered along the wall to Link's right. Two more pots of magic potions were behind the counter, one on each side of the room. The one on the right side was the same size as its siblings. The one on the left was almost twice that size. A single pot lid made of deku or oak wood set against the wall between the pots and the counter. A shelf was mounted high up in the left corner of the room on Link's side of the counter. A strange stone container sat atop the shelf. "Granny" herself stood behind the counter, petting a cat that rested on the top of the counter in front of her.
She sniffed the air as a form of introduction, and said, "I smell something interesting you have."
Link said, "I found your grandson in the Lost Woods."
She replied, "That fool had to go to the Lost Woods!"
Link said, "He sent me to bring you this Dove Mushroom! He's in terrible shape!"
Granny said, "I see… You must give me the mushroom right now!" Link handed Granny the Dove Mushroom, and she almost vanished, so fast was she to go to her mixing room behind the curtain. Link waited patiently for the next half-hour.
Granny came back out, and said, "If you see that fool, give this to him. It is the strongest medicine I have ever produced. However, this potion will not work on a monster." She handed Link the peace potion, which was a gelatine like paste wrapped in a pouch of velum tanned in deku leaf juice.
Link answered, "If I find him, and he still lives, he will have this potion today! If I save him, I'll also bring him back here."
Granny looked at Link with sadness in her eyes and said, "They say that there is no medicine that can cure a fool, my lord. I guess that's true." Link didn't ponder how the woman knew who he was, without their ever having met. He didn't have the time! Even though his father foretold that Link wouldn't arrive in time, he was determined that he would! He wheeled about and ran out of the shop!
He turned to his left and jumped off of the stone porch of Granny's Potion Shop, landing by the ladder up to the back porch of the Hylean's Potion Shop. He climbed the ladder as fast as he could, and ran through the Hylean's potion shop, this time saying nothing at all as he passed through! He ran out of the door and to his left. He jumped down each of the two flights of steps to the main Village Common of the terraced village! He turned to his right and ran with all the force he could muster. He ran to the Kakariko Village steps, and jumped down them.
He mounted Epona and took off at a full gallop! They rode like the wind, slowing for nothing until they reached the threshold of the Lost Woods Bridge! Link dismounted with a leap and landed on the bridge itself! He thought of jumping the rail of the bridge but decided against trying. The rail was still enchanted, that no Kokiri of any size could vault it! He sprinted into the village of his childhood! He ran to his left, before the reborn deku baba could strike at him! He climbed up each terrace overlooking the village like a rocket. He ran so fast that the mad scrub waiting in ambush didn't even wake up! He ran down the path to the first clearing! He turned left and sprinted the length of the last path, hoping that victory would be his!
But it was not meant to be. The carpenter's son was gone! In his place stood a Kokiri girl of about ten years. Link walked to his kinswoman. She looked up at him and said, "He isn't here anymore."
Link asked, "Young maiden, where did he go?"
She answered rudely, "Anybody who comes into the forest will be lost. Everybody will become a Stalfos. Everybody. Stalfos. So, he's not here anymore." She laughed the laugh of one whose mind was broken and asked, "Are you, too?" She cackled again, the pain, terror, and grief plain now in her laugh! Link looked quickly into her heart! Laura was indeed just ten years old. But her father had been killed in battle two days ago, and her mother died of grief the next morning! Children normally either died of grief themselves, or more often grieved, but got over the loss. This is why the Kokiri had an orphanage with orphans living in it. But Laura was too old to recover and too strong to die! Her mind had snapped!
The peace potion would not be wasted. But it would not cure the curse of a Sheikah! Link only hoped that he was in time! He grabbed Laura, slapped her twice, and roared at her! She started to scream loudly at the sky, mouth wide open, which was exactly what Link needed her to do! He took the peace potion out of the velum pouch and stuffed it into Laura's mouth, and crammed it down her throat quickly with his fingers! Then, before she could gag, he forced her mouth closed, and gently but firmly nodded her head down, forcing her to swallow the potion! Then, he held her gently in her arms.
At first, she beat on him with her fists and tried to bite him! But then, the potion healed her fractured mind and heart. She hugged Link tightly about the neck, and cried uncontrollably for several minutes. Finally, she came around and looked at Link again. She said, "Mister, you look like the life-mate of the Wizard's Daughter. But he was never so huge!"
Link answered, "Young Laura, my papa was not only Hylean, but he was a giant among them! My heart is Kokiri. But my size is not."
She kissed him gently on the cheek, as a daughter would kiss her father. She said, "My lord, my heart is still heavy with grief. But you've healed it, and my mind." She paused, and asked, "Do you think they've already been put on the pyre?"
Link answered gently, "Yes, young Laura. But as they look down from the realm of the dead, they will be so happy that you are not joining them, and that your mind is healed, that they won't mind."
Link then asked, "Can you find the rest of our people on your own?"
She answered, "Yes, my lord. But they would be overjoyed to see you! Could you help me find them?"
Link replied, "I can't. I have to claim my father's great sword, and free Saria from the Forest Temple. But after I've freed the Temple, Saria and I will return. I'm told cleansing the Temple will also remove the monsters from the village."
Laura said, "Then I must let you go all the more quickly! I'd have no one share my grief, and the longer the village is overrun with monsters, and the Lost Woods filled with Stalfos hordes, the more Forest People will die!"
Link asked, "Do you know if the Sheikah who was here left a saw behind?"
Laura answered, "Yes, my lord! He had been leaned up against this stump, shivering. All of a sudden, he dropped the saw that he held, ate the cucco he held in one gulp, and ran off the way you came in!" Link let go of Laura. She walked the two steps to the stump, reached down into the grass, and picked up a poacher's saw. It was almost heavy enough to be a weapon in its own right! Its blade was three feet long, and its pole handle another two! She lifted it by the blade and held it out to Link. He took it by the handle, and she let go. Link attached the saw to his t-frame
Link said, "I must leave now, young Laura."
She answered respectfully, "I'll be fine, my lord! Go with fortune." She then played her song on her ocarina as if to say, "I can't find you. Where are you?" She and Link both heard the answer. Link noticed that the ocarina sounded like one of a child, one like his child would be playing now, if Saria had become pregnant from their coupling, and the child lived. But a warrior played it, not a child! And that warrior was short of extra patience at the moment. It seemed to say, "We thought you had died or worse! Follow my song to safety and mourn with your brothers and sisters, so we don't have to mourn you!" She walked quickly to the sound of the music. She played her song on the ocarina again, saying "I'm coming, Mister Warrior! My heart is still heavy with grief, but is raised up by wonderful news!" The distant ocarina answered, "Wonderful. Follow my song to safety, brave child." Laura walked out the way Link came into the clearing. Link ran to the next clearing, stepped onto the magic bean plant, and rode it to the Lost Woods Bridge. He leapt down to the bridge and ran out to Hyrule Field. It was one hour past sunset.