The Ocarina of Time PT III, The Hero of Time

by Earl of Rosshire

Continues from the end of PT II, The Boy Without a Fairy. Link awakes in the Chamber of Sages. His body is eighteen, his responsibilities formidible. Yet, in his mind, he isn't even twelve. How will he do what destiny requires of him?

12. The Battle of the Forest Temple

Chapter 12

Link and Navi strode into the entrance of the Forest Temple.  It was a room about thirty foot square.  The roof, had it still been in place was over sixty feet in the air.  Two massive trees had pushed through the walls and up to the sky before dying.  Woody vines grew along the walls in many places, growing alongside and above the tree on Link's right.  A short stairway was directly in front of Link at the far end of the room, rising up three feet to a massive set of doors that opened into the Temple itself.  Link started to look about the room, when two wolfos seemed to appear out of nowhere, and attacked him!

Link drew the Sword of Ages without thinking, and attacked!  Navi fixed Link's aim on the first wolfos, distracting the second.  Link swung his blade hard upon its stony hide, and cut half way through it!  The wolfos could no longer move its back legs!  It ran madly towards Link, determined to get one bite of Link, if it got nothing else.  Link swung his blade under the beast, and up.  He split the front half of the wolfos, killing it!  He then spun around as the second one was in mid-air to jump on his back!  Link angled his blade upward as he spun, splitting the wolfos cleanly in two!  With the battle won, and no other beasts laying in ambush, Link sheathed his blade.

"That was over with quickly!  How much of that was me, and how much was the sword?" Link asked Navi. 

The fairy answered, "Some of that was you.  You have increased greatly in strength, as you have in size.  But much of that was the Sword of Ages.  You cut through the hide on the back of a wolfos, which is tougher than stone!  No ordinary blade could have done that!

"On the top of the tree to the left of the entrance, there is a chest.  I think we ought to check it, to see what's inside it."  Link asked "What do you think may be inside it, Navi?"  She answered, "One thing you haven't seen yet in these dungeons is the 'key game.'  One of the ways evil wizards confounded those who would invade their keeps was by locking some of the doors.  The locks on these doors were magic, and could not be picked.  Within the dungeon, the wizard would hide magic keys.  Most of these keys were small, for opening the ordinary doors.  Each key could only be used one time, but would open any door except the last.  The key to the last door would also be hidden in the dungeon.  It would be called the 'master key' because it opened the 'master's' chamber, but no other.  It would be larger and more ornate, making it easy to tell which key it was.  The trick was that if the attacker did not travel the dungeon in the right path, or failed to find a key, he would never attack the wizard directly, and be doomed to either die or leave the castle defeated!  Ganondorf has had seven extra years to play with these temples.  Being who he is, he's sure to have done this!"

Link looked at the tree to the left.  The wall behind it was bare, and it was too smooth to climb.  He looked up.  Both trees had limbs that reached out towards each other, but the limbs were out of the range of his hookshot.  He looked at the tree to his right.  It too, was smooth.  But the vines behind it looked like they would support his weight easily, even being Hylean sized with battle gear. That tree was so close to the wall that he only needed to drop onto the top of its tall dead trunk.  He climbed up the vines to the top of the right tree, and dropped on top of it.  He saw a curse spider.  It was easily in range of the hookshot.  He shot it, and used the hookshot again to claim the golden token.

The chest was on top of the other tree, and out of reach from where he stood.  But if he walked to the end of the limb, he would be able to reach it.  He walked to the end of the limb.  It swayed a little under his weight, but held firm.  He aimed his hookshot at the chest, which was now easily in range.  He fired the hookshot at the chest to pull it to him.  But instead, he was pulled to it!  He managed to get his feet under him, and on the top of the tree trunk.  He kicked the front of the chest, springing it open.  Inside of the chest, he found a key about five inches long.  He put the key in his pocket, and wound the hookshot.  He turned around, and walked back toward the right tree.  He was able to walk to the end of the limb of the left tree.  It also held firm under his feet.  The gap between the limbs was too wide to step over.  He readied his hookshot in case he missed the far limb, or broke it.  He jumped the gap without difficulty, and walked back to the vines.  He turned around, and surveyed the room again from his vantage, to make sure that he had not missed anything.  Seeing nothing else, he climbed back down the vines.  He asked "Navi, where else besides chests will I find hidden keys?"  She replied, "If Ganondorf follows tradition, all the keys will only be in chests.  I would still be observant.  You never know what you'll miss.  The clay pots shouldn't have any keys, but will usually have helpful items.  But watch them carefully for another reason.  Ganondorf may place traps in some of the pots, and some of the chests!  If you are not careful, these traps will hurt you.  Clay pots can be enchanted to smash themselves against your head!  Chests may contain blasts of fire, ice, or water!"  Link opened the door, and they entered the Temple itself.

They entered a fifteen-foot wide stone hallway, whose thirty-foot ceiling was strangely overgrown with vines.  Halfway down the seventy-foot long hallway, a giant skultullah hung from the ceiling, waiting to pounce on Link.  Navi said silently, "Try your hookshot on it.  It may kill the beast right away."  Link wasn't as sure.  But he tried the hookshot, and it killed the monster outright!  It flopped about on the floor for a moment, and was gone!  Link and Navi looked around, finding no other threats, or anything of interest.  They walked to the door on the far end of the hallway, opened it, and stepped through.

They walked into the huge central chamber of the Forest Temple.  The Main part of the room was octagonal shaped, and measured one hundred sixty five feet long and wide, with a four hundred foot tall octagonal domed ceiling.  There were balconies on all four cardinal sides of the room, including the balcony Link stood upon.  The west, south, and east balconies were connected by a raised section of floor, and the North Balcony had a raised section around it.  The balconies stood ten feet above the main floor, and the raised floor sections five feet.  The main floor, which connected to the Northwest and Northeast hallways measured eighty-five feet wide and one hundred ten feet long.

In the middle of the room was a square section, measuring forty feet to a side.  It was ringed by a three-foot high stone wall with openings on the middle of each side, and was ringed by a five-foot wide band of gold trimmed burgundy carpet.  In the middle of the square was ornately pillared square gazebo, measuring three foot wide and long, and eight feet tall.  On each corner of the short stone wall was a lighted stone torch sconce.  Each magic fire gave off a different colored glow.  Link and Navi surveyed the scene for only a moment when each coloured flame turned into a poe!  Each poe cackled malignly for a moment, then disappeared!  Link was stunned beyond words!  Navi said silently to Link, "I'd heard the legends, but doubted them myself until now!"

Link asked, "What do you mean, Navi?" 

The fairy answered "About the last caretakers of the Temple.  According to legend, the last four caretakers of the Forest Temple turned to evil.  To protect the Kokiri, as well as to punish the corrupt caretakers, The Great Deku Tree had the temple sealed, and the main stairway broken off from the temple.  He also had forbidden any Kokiri from entering the Sacred Forest Meadow.  But this was long before the Great Kokiri Warriors walked the face of the earth!  Even the legends were forgotten by many.  Those who knew of them neither believed them, nor cared to enter the temple to prove them wrong.  The Great Deku Tree himself stopped enforcing the ban on entering the Sacred Forest Meadow when I was with my first host.  He must have thought it better that people forget, and just not go there.  Also, the mad deku scrubs encouraged all save stubborn lovers with ladders to stay out!"

Link and Navi explored the room further.  They found three clay pots each along the southwest and southeast walls of the room, but left them intact for the moment.  Link found a curse spider in the Northeast corner of the north alcove.  He killed it with his hookshot, and claimed the token with Navi's help.  The west door was locked, and the east door was unapproachable from the room.  The northeast door was blocked with a portcullis, with no obvious way of opening it.  But the northwest door was only blocked with a time block, and the north door was not locked at all!  Navi told Link silently "Let's try the north door first."  Link followed her advice, and they entered the room beyond.

They had entered a fifteen-foot wide hallway, patrolled by a large skull the size of Link's torso, with bat-like wings and a blue corona around it.  It charged at Link!  He raised his shield, and had Navi anchor it, like he was attacking a deku scrub or an octorok.  They charged the vile attacker and knocked it to the ground, extinguishing the corona!  Link drew the Sword of Ages, and dispatched the beast with one quick chop!  Navi said, "Good work, Link!  That was a 'blue bubble.'  The blue corona around it is its armour, armour which cannot be breached by sword, not even the Sword of Ages!  But your shield is enchanted now, too!  Between the magic of your shield, and the force of the blow you gave it, it stopped making its corona!  With the corona stripped, they're easily killed."

Navi went to the far end of the sixty-foot long hallway and listened for a moment.  She came back and reported, "There are stalfos in the room beyond, at least two!"  Hearing this, Link was frightened.  Navi said, "Steady yourself, Link!  I know you've heard the legends, but you're stronger than that!  Ordinary Kokiri have killed these monsters in battle time and again!"  Link replied, "I didn't know that!"  Navi answered "There haven't been stalfos in the Kokiri Forest in many years.  But even after the Great Kokiri Warriors were no more, Kokiri have had to battle them.  Remember the stalchildren of Hyrule Field?"  Link nodded.  Navi continued, "You kill these the same way!  But bombs or Din's Fire won't kill them!  They'll only die with cold steel!  And they attack with ferocity and tenacity!  You can either use your shield and the Master Sword, or use the Sword of Ages, and move quickly!"  Link pondered this for a moment, then walked to the far end of the hallway.  He opened the door, and the two adventurers went to challenge the monsters of legend.

They entered an octagonal room, measuring thirty feet to a side.  A portcullis slammed shut behind them, and they were immediately attacked by two stalfos!  Navi had Link concentrate on the one on his left, keeping careful not to be bracketed between the two fearsome monsters!  Each stalfos was over six and a half feet tall, and had it been a living person would have easily weighed a trim muscular twenty stone!  They both carried large round iron shields, and wore iron helmets.  They carried waved edge swords that were almost large enough to require two hands!  But each stalfos wielded its sword single-handed, and with great skill!  Link drew the Sword of Ages, using it as both sword and shield!  He fought the Stalfos viciously, but quickly!  He made swing after deadly swing, sometimes striking the monsters' shields, but more often striking the monsters themselves!  He quickly destroyed first one stalfos, then the other!  But the monsters themselves got in several good blows!  Link suffered sword blows that would have killed an ordinary Kokiri, but was only slightly injured!

During the battle with the second stalfos, one of the clay pots in the room was broken, releasing a healing fairy!  Link absorbed the healing life-force from the little healer as the portcullis retracted into the ceiling.  A small wooden chest appeared slowly in the middle of the room.  He walked to the chest and kicked it, springing it open.  Inside, he found another small key, which he placed in his inside pocket with the first one, giving him two keys!  He and Navi explored the room further.  The ceiling around the sides of the room was sixty feet high.  But in the middle, an octagonal section rose up to over two hundred feet!  There had only been the one clay pot in the room.  With the healing fairy from it absorbed, and the small key claimed, there was nothing else in the room worth noting.  They left the room through the only door, which they had entered from, to return to the main chamber.

On the return trip through the hallway, they had to deal with the blue bubble again!  This time, it yielded some deku nuts after it expired.  Link collected these, and returned to the main chamber of the temple.  As they stood on the north balcony, Link asked, "Which way should we go now?"  The battle-fairy answered, "Let's try the northwest doorway.  It's only blocked by a time block!  We don't want to use keys if we don't have to."  Link walked to the time block, and played the Song of Time.  The time block vanished, revealing an unlocked door beyond.  Link opened the door, and walked through.

Link was immediately faced with a giant deku baba!  This carnivorous flower was just as tall as a normal one would have been when he was the eleven year old adventurer he had been just two weeks ago, as he had lived time!  He drew his hookshot, and fired!  The hookshot found its mark, but only stunned the foul plant!  He shot it again, getting the same results.  He sensed that if it was injured at all, the injury was negligible.  He drew the Sword of Ages, and killed it with one quick swing!  He was immediately attacked by an octorok!  He quickly sheathed his sword, and had Navi anchor his shield as he approached the water monster.  With Navi's help, it killed itself with its second shot!  This allowed Link and Navi to explore the room fully.

The "room" was actually a walled garden!  The walls of the room rose up about four hundred feet!  The garden was rectangular in proportion, but not in shape.  It measured one hundred thirty-five to the east and west, and one hundred thirty feet north to south at its largest points.  Its southwest corner was noticeably truncated.  There were also several places where the walls intruded into the garden.  There was one near the northwest corner, two in the west wall, one in the southwest corner, and one in the middle of the truncated south wall.

Had this temple garden not been filled with monsters, it was beautiful, even in ruin.  The grass was perfect, kept that way no doubt by magic.  No ordinary weeds disturbed the turf carpet.  The octorok had inhabited a creek three yards deep and two wide, which looped from the north wall to the west.  In the southeast corner was a deep stone well.  It was at least forty feet deep, but Link could clearly see the bottom.  In an alcove high up on the west wall, a deku-baba stood silently.  Link turned his attention to the north.

Half way up the narrow east wall was a passageway.  The vine-covered wall would be easy to climb, once the three skullwalltulahs were killed.  Link killed the first two easily with his hookshot.  But the third was out of range!  Navi said into Link's mind, "We have to get up there!  Try a bombchu."  Link answered silently "No.  I think I can climb past it."  He climbed quickly, avoiding the gaze of the huge spider, which threatened to knock him off of the wall!  Having avoided the skullwalltulah, he climbed into the alcove.  There was a door at the end of the small alcove.  The two adventurers opened the door, and entered the next room.

Portcullises slammed shut blocking both doors to the hallway they'd entered, and a blue bubble charged in for the kill!  Link instinctively raised his shield.  The blue bubble knocked itself defenseless against it!  Link drew the Sword of Ages and attacked!  The blue bubble bounced around on the floor panic-stricken, trying to avoid oblivion!  It only gained a five-second reprieve.  Link destroyed it on his third swing!  Link sheathed his sword as the portcullises retracted into the ceiling, and a large wooden chest materialized in the middle of the sixty-foot long hallway.  Link opened the chest, and found the map of the Forest Temple.

Link examined the room more closely.  It was thirty-five feet wide, and had a forty-five foot ceiling.  In the east end of the hallway, some vines were growing on the wall and across the ceiling in one corner.  This was strange because the room was dimly lighted by magic, not sunlight.  Over the east door of the hallway was a strange seal.  Navi said silently "That's the seal of the Forest Temple, Link.  When we free the sage, the token he gives us will probably have that seal.  Do you remember the seals on the platform in the Temple of Time?"  Link answered, "Yes.  That seal was there.  There were five others."  Navi continued, "Each of the six temples has a seal.  Those seals were the designs on the platform.

"Let's go through the far door."  Link walked to the door and opened it.  He and Navi stepped through, to find themselves on a balcony with a normal sized deku-baba, which had wanted to be alone!  Link drew his hookshot, and fired!  This 'ordinary' deku-baba instantly traveled to its final reward, leaving behind deku nuts for its Kokiri executioner.  The balcony overlooked the mirror to the garden they had just left, at least as far as general shape and size.  But it was laid out differently.  The stream was wider, widening into a pool where it met the north wall.  There was no gazebo, nor was there a bridge.  There was an octorok, and a giant deku-baba, but those were not part of the garden's original design.  On the wall above Link's balcony, and above another balcony near his on the north wall, were two black and white wooden targets.  And in the alcove behind the balcony was a floor switch!

"Link.  Those are hookshot targets above the balconies!" Navi exclaimed.  "They will allow you to get to the far balcony and back.  And we need to trigger the floor switch over there."  Link aimed at the hookshot target and fired.  He was rapidly drawn over to the other balcony.  The hook pulled out, dropping him gently on the north balcony.  Link stepped on the floor switch.  He heard a rushing, draining noise come from the opposite end of the garden.  He turned around and looked.  He saw an octagonal shaped well, which had been brim-full until he had stepped on the floor switch, judging by the dampness of its walls.  But it was empty, at least as far as he could tell from his vantagepoint.  Navi flew over to the well, examined it, and flew back.  She reported, "The well is drained!  There is a ladder leading to the bottom.  We need to examine it more closely, Link.  Link had noticed the vines growing just to the west of the balcony.  He killed a skullwalltulah that was lurking on the vines, and used them to climb closer to the ground.  He jumped the last thirty feet, rolling to break his fall.

He ran past the octorok and giant deku-baba with shield raised, and quickly arrived at the well.  It was octagonal, fifteen feet across, and surrounded by a two foot thick stone wall five feet tall.  Link climbed onto the wall, and looked to the bottom.  Seeing nothing laying in wait, he got onto the ladder, and climbed to the bottom.  He and Navi found themselves in a strange passageway.  It was ten feet high, and twenty feet wide.  Fifteen of those feet were the dry walkway on which they stood.  Along the north wall ran a five foot wide channel of water.  They walked the two hundred sixty feet length of the passageway, finding two badly needed recovery hearts along the way.  At the far end of the passageway vines grew up the wall leading up to whatever was above them.  There was also a small chest.  Link opened it, and claimed the small key inside.  He now had three keys in his pocket.  He climbed the vines back to the surface.

Link climbed out of the deep well in the west garden.  He looked around, but there was still nothing to explore that he could get to from there.  Navi said, "Let's go open the west door, and explore there."  Link jumped down from the wall of the well.  He quickly dispatched the octorok and giant deku-baba, both of which had grown back.  He claimed the deku stick the giant deku-baba left behind, and ran through the door leading back to the main chamber.

He quickly walked around to the west door and unlocked it with one of the small keys.  As he did, both lock and key disappeared!  Link was surprised.  Navi said, "That's how that type of magic lock works!  When you unlock it, it just goes away."  Link and Navi opened the door, to find themselves in a hallway identical to the one they entered when they first entered the Temple, complete with the giant skulltulah waiting in ambush!  Link shot the giant arachnid with his hookshot!  The beast fell to the floor, and vanished in a puff of smoke.  Link and Navi walked to the far end of the hallway, and entered the next room.

A blue bubble charged at them!  But Link had lost all fear of them!  Though he respected the harm they could cause him, he otherwise found them a nuisance.  With Navi's help, he knocked it out of the air with his shield, and killed it with the Sword of Ages.  The room he was in was eighty-five feet wide, and sixty-five feet long on the first floor.  It seemed to go up to the very top of the temple, and looked like it had some means to get to the upper levels.  According to his map, the room was rectangular on both the first and second floors.  He climbed the ladder opposite the door he entered from.  He found himself in a small rectangular alcove, with another ladder to his right.  He climbed that ladder, and found himself at one end of a fifty-foot long hallway with an arched opening to his left.  As he turned to walk down that passageway, he noticed that he could hear other blue bubbles lurking somewhere in the room.

He turned to his left less than a third of the way down, to walk beneath the arch and explore that passage.  It was sixty-five feet long, and had numerous openings on both sides.  It also had two golden triangles inlaid to the floor.  He walked to the first one and examined the area more closely.  The triangles actually were arrows!  To his left of the first triangle, which pointed to the far end of the passageway, was another triangle pointing at him, and behind that was a huge stone block.  He walked to the second triangle, at the far end of the passageway.  It pointed to Link's right, and a hole in the floor.  It looked as if the stone would fit partly in the hole, allowing Link to climb up on it, and reach the next higher level of the room.  Link turned to his left and walked forty feet.  He stood on a wide ledge overlooking the open area of the room.  He turned left, and walked again.  Twenty-five feet later, he found a passageway to his left, and the backside of the huge stone block!

He put his shoulder to the block and pushed!  It took some effort, but he pushed the stone block in the direction of the arrows, and just a little farther to allow him to get around it.  As he pushed the block, he noticed a small alcove to his right, with a wooden ladder hidden within.  He got around the block and pushed it back to where he should have stopped.  The ten-foot cube of stone just fit through the passageway!  Link pushed it until it ran up against the far wall and stopped.  Link ran around to the open side of the stone cube and pushed again.  This time, the stone traveled into its recess in the floor, and fell in place with a loud stony crunch!

Link walked back to the alcove to explore around the ladder more thoroughly.  Climbing the ladder brought him into a twenty-foot long passageway that connected with another in a "T" intersection.  He walked to the end of the passageway and looked around.  To his left, the passageway ran for ten feet and ended, overlooking a passageway below.  To his right, it ran for thirty-five feet, and exited onto a small platform overlooking the open area of the room.  To his right was an eye switch, high up on the wall.  Below the eye switch was a stone platform that looked tantalizingly close.  But there was nothing on the platform, and though he was able to hit the eye switch with the hookshot, it did nothing.  Navi said, "Maybe you need something stronger to hit the eye switches with, Link."  The Hero of Time turned around, and started to walk back.

He took only four steps, and was even with a small passageway he had almost missed!  Ten feet down the passageway was another huge stone block!  Navi said, "Maybe we should push that one, too."  Link decided to try just that!  He put his shoulder against the block and pushed.  The block moved thirty feet, and stopped, revealing one of the gold triangles pointing in the direction he pushed the block!  He looked around, but could find no way to get around the block and move it any further!  Hoping that he didn't mess up too badly, he walked back to the ladder, and climbed down.

He walked back to the first stone block, and climbed on top of it.  He turned to his right, and climbed on top of the ledge that was there.  He turned to his right, and the passageway he was in ran for forty feet, up to the back of the second stone block!  He started to worry that he had blocked himself in, and wouldn't be able to undo the damage!  Navi said, "Calm down, Link!  We're doing fine!  You need to push the block another twenty feet, and into a pocket in the floor,  Then, you'll be able to climb up on it, and we'll be able to explore the next room!"  He walked to the block, put his shoulder against it, and pushed.  As the block started to move, another gold triangle appeared on the floor, pointing the direction Link was pushing the block now!  With his confidence restored, Link pushed with renewed vigour!  He moved the block to the end of the passageway, and it crunched into its pocket.  He climbed up onto it, and climbed up onto the ledge in front of him.

He stood alongside a stone hallway.  Fifteen feet to his left was a ledge overlooking the open area of the room.  He turned to his right, and walked thirty feet to the far end of the hallway.  He turned to his right and found a twelve-foot square alcove, with a wooden ladder against its far wall.  He climbed the ladder and turned to his right.

He found out where the other blue bubble noises were coming from.  The wide, short hallway he had climbed into turned to the right, and ran for another fifteen feet.  Two blue bubbles haunted the room it opened up into!  Link drew the Master Sword, so he would be able to use sword and shield at the same time with the monsters!  He had Navi steady his shield, and attacked the one to his right!  He charged the monster, and it ran away, trying to fly just out of reach!  While he was chasing it, he was able to knock the corona off of the other one!  It hopped about the floor, trying vainly to flap its wings and get back into the air!  Link finally caught the first blue bubble!  It took two good blows from the Master Sword, but the beast vanished into oblivion!  Link turned his attention to the second monster.  The beast had just managed to restore its corona!  It charged madly at Link, who charged with equal fury with shield raised!  Link knocked its corona out again, and dealt it two furious deathblows!  Having sent the foul skull to oblivion, Link was able to examine the room itself.

The main part of the room was seventy-five feet wide, and sixty feet long.  Link had entered through a forty-five foot wide alcove that was twenty feet deep. At the far end of the room, the floor sank down almost three feet, forming a pit the same size as the alcove.  Above the magic-locked door was another eye switch.  Link tried his hookshot again, with no luck.  He asked silently, "Navi, should we open the door now, or explore somewhere else?"  She answered likewise, "Open the door."  Link unlocked the door, opened it, and stepped through.

The hallway they happened into was twisted!  It ran for one hundred twenty twisted feet, but was not haunted by anything.  The room beyond was another story!  "Link!" she shouted into his mind.  "The next room is the lair of a wallmaster!  It's a huge severed hand that will grab you, try to crush you, and throw you out of the Temple!" 

Link asked, "How do I kill it?" 

She answered, "They can be killed, but I don't want you fighting it yet!  If you jump to the platform in front of you, turn to your right, and go through the door quickly, you won't have to deal with it, yet!"  Link did as Navi told him.  He ran the rest of the length of the twisted hallway, jumped to the platform, and jumped again to his right.  He quickly used the last magic key to open the door, and the two adventurers briskly walked into the room beyond, making sure to shut the door behind them!

They now stood on a large top landing for a staircase.  It was sixty-five feet long and twenty-five feet wide with a twenty foot ceiling.  On the far end of the room, behind the stairway on the left side of the hall, a portrait hung on the wall.  But it was the portrait of nothing!  Just a black framed canvas!  But then, for a moment, one of the poes from the main room of the Temple appeared!  The apparition quickly disappeared, but Link and Navi both knew that the paintings in this Temple were not to be trusted!  Link and Navi quickly but cautiously walked down the stairs.  They found themselves on a twenty foot long landing, with another haunted portrait!  They turned left, and walked down the next flight of stairs.

They were now in an almost square room, thirty-five feet wide and forty feet long with a sixteen-foot ceiling.  At the far end of the room, facing the stairway, was an unlocked door.  Next to that was a torch sconce.  Navi said silently, "This is the same type of torch sconce we saw in the main room, isn't it?"  Link answered in their minds, "Yes.  Does that mean we fight one of the four poes here?"  The fairy answered, "I think so."  Link opened the door, and the two explorers stepped into the room beyond.

They emerged into an octagonal shaped room, thirty feet to a side.  The octagonal domed ceiling towered over them!  There was also a thirty-two foot wide octagonal hole in the floor, and a matching platform hovering high over their heads.  But the stalfos, which charged in for the attack was Link's biggest worry!  Link drew the Sword of Ages, and met the foe!  He swung his blade with deadly precision!  But the stalfos was also clever with a sword!  Link finally killed the stalfos, but was noticeably hurt!  The monster yielded a single recovery heart, which Link claimed just as the monster's two companions rode down on the platform!  Link faced the nearest stalfos!  He and it exchanged blows, swinging their swords in unspeakable fury!  Link at last struck the deathblow to the monster, and turned his attention to the third, which had been circling around behind him!  He hit it with a jump attack, but the monster blocked his blow with its shield!  It struck Link, injuring him severely!  Mustering all his strength, Link remained in the battle!  He swung again and again, hitting the stalfos, but not nearly often enough!  By the time he had sent it on its journey to oblivion, Link was near death himself!  Navi shouted, "Break the four clay pots!  Now!"  Link broke the clay pots, which were in the four side corners of the room as a large chest materialized in the middle of the room.  By claiming the recovery hearts in the clay pots, Link was back to half of his normal health.

Link walked to the centre of the room, and opened the large chest.  Inside of it, were a bow, and a quiver containing thirty arrows.  Navi said, "That's the Great Fairy Bow!" 

Link asked, "It's great to have something to shoot with.  But what is great about this bow besides that?" 

Navi answered, "Only Kokiri can use fairy weapons.  But in the hands of a Kokiri, they are more powerful than normal ones." 

Link asked, "Ok.  How do I use it?"  Link had never shot a bow before, nor had he even seen one! 

Navi said, "Get against a far wall."  Link did this.  She then said, "Grasp the bow in your right hand.  Good.  Now, take an arrow in your left hand."  Link drew an arrow out of the quiver.  Navi said, "Place the notch at the feathered end of the arrow against the string of the bow."  Link did this.  Navi looked through Link's eyes for a moment.  She said, "Hold your right arm straight, and draw the bowstring and arrow back with your left hand.  Place the top end of the blue painting by the bow handle over what you want to shoot, and release the bowstring and arrow to shoot.  Shoot the wooden chest."  Link shot the wooden chest, hitting it squarely in the lock hole!  Navi asked, "Were you aiming for the lock hole?" 

Link nodded his head.  Navi said, "Good.  You still learn quickly.  But next time, if you care to practice fighting without a shield, do it with a different guardian!" 

Link answered, "I wasn't as quick as I should have been.  I'll need to be quicker.  Papa said that I was to fight Ganondorf's shadow with the Sword of Ages!  Else, I wouldn't have spent all the time we did to get it!" 

Navi replied, "Fair enough.  But you have only two healing fairies with you!

"We need to fight Joelle's poe, who we passed coming down here.  She hides in the haunted portraits.  We may be able to kill her with the fairy bow when she appears on one!" 

Link asked, "That was the guardian's name in life?" 

Navi replied, "Yes.  The other three guardians were Beth, Amy, and Meg."  The two adventurers walked back out of the room, to challenge the first of the four corrupt guardians.

Link crossed the room, and walked silently up the first flight of stairs, noting over his right shoulder that the haunted portrait behind him was empty.  He looked at the haunted portrait on the small landing.  It too, was empty!  He reached the landing, and aimed his bow up the stairs to the third, occupied portrait!  He fired, but hit the ceiling above the painting!  Joelle laughed at him!  This wounded Link's pride, and made his next shot that much quicker, and that much more devastating!  He hit the poe's image directly between the eyes!  The picture vanished in a puff of fire!  Link looked down to the portrait above the lower flight of stairs.  Joelle was now laughing at him from there!  She choked for half a second on the arrow Link fired down her spectral-enamel throat, before that portrait too burst into flames!  Link drew another arrow and spun around to look directly at the portrait of a more wary Joelle!  He fired the arrow into the portrait from point-blank range, and the corrupt poe jumped out of the canvas as it too burned.  The poe passed Link wordlessly and floated down into its chamber.  Link followed it, with bow drawn!

Navi said, "I'll help you target her!  But you can only hurt her when she's fully materialized, like with any other poe!  Her spin attack will be worse than the ordinary poes you've faced to now!  But, if you run out of arrows, you can kill her with either the Master Sword or the Sword of Ages!  I recommend the Master Sword, because you need to use your shield to protect yourself from her blows!  Link aimed in on the poe!  She started to materialize, and Link fired!  But he had fired too soon.  The arrow passed through her harmlessly, and splintered on the stone wall behind her!  She vanished, except for her torch, and started to spin!  But her attack was not very aggressive.  Link was easily able to keep clear, and still maintain his aim. 

Joelle started to materialize again.  But this time, Link held his fire, waiting until she had fully materialized before letting a deadly arrow fly!  He struck her in the forehead, and the poe shrieked in pain!  She vanished again, and spun furiously!  Link kept clear by circling the room, waiting for his next shot.  Joelle appeared again, and received an arrow in the eye for her troubles!  She shrieked, vanished, and spun again!  Link circled the room, waiting patiently.  When she appeared again, she received an arrow between the eyes!  She vanished, and moved to the far side of the room.  Link closed just a little, to allow Navi to keep his aim true.  She appeared again, and caught an arrow in the back of her head!  She vanished and spun furiously!  She appeared again and started to float menacingly towards Link.  But an arrow to the mouth ended her attack for good!  She vanished with one last tortured shriek, and the torch sconce beside the door lighted with a burst of flame.  A small chest appeared in the northeast corner of the room.

Link opened the chest, and claimed the small key inside.  Navi said, "The torch is lit!  This means…" 

Link answered, "Right.  Where to now?"  The fairy answered, "Let's explore on the other side of the room where you claimed the fairy bow."  Link opened the door, and the two explorers walked back into the octagonal room.  The four clay pots had come back.  But their contents did not.  Fortunately for Link, neither did the stalfos!  Link and Navi crossed the room, and opened the eastern door, stepping into the room beyond.

Beth's lair was the mirror image of Joelle's, save three clay pots against the north wall of the lower room.  Link ascended the first flight of stairs, fairy bow at the ready.  The portrait on the centre landing was empty.  He looked over his shoulder, the one over the lower flight of stairs was also empty!  He aimed at the portrait over the top flight of stairs and fired!  Beth didn't know what hit her!  The portrait vanished in a puff of flames, and Beth chortled at Link from behind him!  He wheeled about and fired!  Beth was starting to move to the third portrait, but wasn't fast enough.  The painting vanished in a puff of flames, and she was trapped in the painting over the lower stairs!  Link shot the last portrait, and Beth slunk down to her lair for the fight.

Link walked down the stairs, bow at the ready.  Navi targeted the corrupt spectral guardian as Link entered the room.  Beth had just materialized.  Link shot her between the eyes, and she shrieked in pain!  She vanished and spun furiously!  Link circled the room, keeping sighted in on the malevolent spectre with Navi's help.  She materialized again, and earned an arrow down the throat!  She shrieked and vanished again.  She materialized again as she spun toward Link.  He shot the evil spirit in the forehead, causing her to vanish again!  She started to back away, and Link closed in slightly.  She materialized again, and Link shot her in the right eye!  She spun furiously and charged Link!  He circled away as she materialized again.  This time, Link shot her in the left eye!  The evil ghost was enraged!  She spun viciously toward Link, offering no quarter, and expecting none!  This was wise of Beth.  For when she materialized again, Link shot her in the mouth one last time, sending her back entirely to the realm of the dead!  As she vanished, the torch sconce was lighted, a bundle of arrows dropped from the spectral carcass, and a large wooden chest materialized to its left.  Link opened the chest, and claimed the compass.  Next, he broke the clay pots, claiming one desperately needed recovery heart, and two more bundles of arrows.  Link climbed to the top of the stairs to explore that part of the room more thoroughly.

At the east end of the top room was a magic-locked door.  Link started to walk to it to open it.  Navi stopped him, saying, "We need to save our keys.  We'll come back to this door later on.  Seeing nothing of interest there, Link and Navi retraced their steps.  The walked back down the stairway, crossed through the stalfos room, walked through Joelle's lair, up that set of stairs, and stood in the hallway above.  Navi said silently, "Don't forget what's on the other side of the door!  We must jump to the platform in front of us, then jump to our left quickly!"  Link did as Navi told him, noticing the ladder running sideways to his left before he made the first jump, and the strange ornate chest on the wall.  He made the two jumps in order, and ran down the twisted hallway.  He opened the door, and re-entered the blue bubble room.

He raised his shield and drew the Master Sword to deal with the two new blue bubbles!  He charged the first one, which was on the opposite side of the room.  As he closed with it, it turned and floated away to his left!  He stood still for a moment to catch his breath, when the blue bubble charged him!  He raised his shield and charged back.  He knocked its corona off of it, and dealt it two swift deadly blows!  The other blue bubble had come to rescue the first!  This saved Link several minutes of having to chase it down.  He showed his gratitude to the bat-winged skull by killing it as efficiently as he had its brother.

Link now stood gratefully alone in the room, except for Navi.  She said, "Let's try shooting the eye switch with your fairy bow.  Maybe that will untwist the corridor."  Link shot the eye switch, and they heard a rumbling, twisting noise!  They opened the door, and the hallway was now straight!  They entered the straightened hallway.  Navi said silently, "Now, you will have to face the wallmaster.  First, you will need to draw it onto the floor with you.  Stand still, until your shadow starts to grow, and you hear a noise like the rushing of a strong wind through the trees.  Then, run and turn around!  The wallmaster will be behind you!  You can kill it with the Sword of Ages."  Link walked nervously down the hallway, ready but not quite eager to face this new foe.

The room was thirty feet wide by twenty feet long.  Link jumped down onto what was now the floor, and ran to the ornate chest.  He opened it, and found an ornate jeweled key that was almost ten inches long!  He quickly stuck it in the inside pocket of his tunic, and drew the Sword of Ages!  His shadow was growing!  He heard a sound like the wind rushing through the trees on a cold November night.  He ran forward, and heard the thump of the wallmaster landing behind him!  He wheeled about to face this new foe, and it withdrew itself back into the ceiling!  He stood his ground for a moment to lure the beast back down.  After a few moments, his shadow grew again, and he heard the rushing noise.  He ran forward, and spun around as he heard the beast land.  No sooner did he charge the monster than again it withdrew into the ceiling!  He stood his ground again.  This time, he tried to look over his shoulder as he ran, and he fell down a hole in the floor!

He landed hard some fifty feet below, but managed not to break or sprain anything.  He was immediately set upon by two blue bubbles!  He vainly sliced at them with the Sword of Ages, but couldn't knock out their coronas.  He put away the Sword of Ages and quickly drew the Master Sword!  With the ability to use his shield, he knocked out both their coronas with one butt of the shield!  With two swings each hitting both monsters, they rapidly became part of the sad past history of the Temple!

Link explored the room they'd landed in.  It was sixty-five feet square, with a thirty-foot ceiling.  The hole he had fallen in through was in the center of the ceiling.  A short stairway was in the southeast corner, leading out of the south wall.  The door appeared to have been blocked by a portcullis at one time, but was free to open now.  According to the map, it appeared to open into the west garden.  He climbed up the stairs, opened the door, and stepped through it.

Link stood on a ledge overlooking the west garden.  His ledge was about one hundred feet up on the west wall.  Directly in front of him was the decorative angled stone beam, supported by its three pillars.  On top of the beam were two recovery hearts.  Link jumped over to the beam, and claimed the hearts.  As he faced the north wall of the garden, he heard a familiar scratching sound.  He looked up, and saw a curse spider just within range of his hookshot!  He aimed upward, and killed the beast.  With Navi's help to aim, he shot again and claimed the golden prize.  He turned around, walked back to the other end of the beam, and jumped back onto his ledge.

Halfway down the length of the ledge, which ran the length of the west wall, a giant deku-baba blocked his path.  He raised his shield, drew the Master Sword, and closed in on the vile plant.  He ran to within striking range of his sword, getting hit on the shield once.  He chopped three times at the monster, quickly killing it!  He claimed the three deku nuts the monster yielded, and explored the ledge in detail.

There were three deep alcoves on the ledge.  The first one was the one he entered from.  The middle one, behind the giant deku baba, shielded it and held nothing more.  The southernmost one had a door at its far end.  Navi said, "I feel something like a wallmaster, but different behind this door.  We should check it out, but be ready!  Link opened the door, and walked through it.

A portcullis slammed shut behind Link!  In the far corner of the forty feet long by fifty feet wide room sat a dismembered hand, looking like a wallmaster but not trying to evade or sneak up on Link!  Navi said, "Floormaster!  You need your shield!  Link drew the Master Sword, and approached the beast, sword at the ready.  As he did, the twelve-foot long disembodied hand changed from black to green!  Navi said, "Raise your shield!"  Link did, but he wasn't quick enough!  The monster knocked him on his back, injuring him further!  He stood up and quickly rejoined the fight!  The monster turned green again!  This time, Link had his shield ready, and the monster bounced harmlessly off of it!  He struck two quick blows with the Master Sword!  The monster turned green again, and charged!  It bounced harmlessly off of Link's shield, and he struck the deathblow!

The monster, instead of dying outright, split into three little hands!  Each hand was about eighteen inches long.  Link didn't care to find out what the little hand could do!  He cast a ball of Din's Fire right where he stood!  The ball of righteous flames spread out from Link in all directions, and fried the little monsters!  Each one yielded a magic recovery jar, which Link quickly claimed.  A small wooden chest dropped down from the thirty-foot ceiling.  Link opened it, claiming the small key inside.  He and Navi looked quickly about the room, and found nothing else.  The left the room, and returned to the ledge.

The giant deku baba had grown back, but posed no threat to Link where it was.  Link turned to his right, and walked through the door at the south end of the ledge.  This brought him back to the room where he had to drag the blocks.  Navi said, "Use one of your healing fairies."  Link asked, "Why?"  The guardian fairy replied, "You're almost dead!  Haven't you noticed how weak you've felt?"  Link shook his head, then opened one of the fairy bottles.  The fairy healed him quickly, surprising him with how weak he had become!  Navi said, "We need to go capture two more healing fairies.  We'll be able to use the fairy bow to get around the great moblin safely.  Play the 'Minuet of Forest' to get us out of here."  Link did as he was told.  His head swirled, and in a second they were back in the Sacred Forest Meadow.

Link turned around, and walked toward the first of the two stone stairways leading to the meadow maze.  He stood at the top of the stairway, and aimed at the great moblin with his fairy bow.  He fired, striking the giant monster in the head!  It uttered a grunt, and started pounding the ground!  Link shot it twice more, and it died, yielding twenty rupees!  Link quickly ran down the stairs, and claimed the rupees just as they were about to vanish!  He walked slowly down the second flight of steps, and stopped.  Navi rose up and looked around.  She lowered back down and said, "The moblin is just starting to walk this way.  If you let it draw even with us, you will be able to shoot it from the side with your hookshot!"  Link stood and waited.  After a minute, the moblin started walking slowly past where Link stood.  Link raised his hookshot and fired!  The moblin let out a sharp cry, and fell over backwards, dead!  It disintegrated, and Link climbed the ladder in front of him, climbing on top of the maze.

He jumped down into the centre of the hedge, and down the hole into the fairy fountain.  He captured two fairies, and absorbed a third for good measure.  He turned around, and walked toward the fairy step.  He checked his bottles.  All three had fairies in them, and were in good order.  He played the 'Minuet of Forest,' and was standing back in front of the Forest Temple.

He drew his hookshot and fired it into the tree limb, pulling himself back up into the entrance of the temple.  He walked toward the door, and two wolfos attacked from nowhere!  Link quickly drew the Sword of Ages and sent the hell-hounds back to whence they came.  He claimed the bundle of arrows one left behind, then took the Ocarina of Time and called Saria.  She answered quickly.  "Beloved, I sense you are very close."  He answered, "I'm inside the entrance to the Temple.  Are you alright?"  Saria replied, "Yes.  But I'm trapped.  I hide from Ganondorf's shadow!  I'm afraid he may be able to hear us talk, even in our hearts!"  Link replied, "Then we'll let the connection break.  I'll see you soon enough, beloved!  There's so much I'd like to say to you."  "And there is so much I'd say to you, beloved!  Be careful."  Saria and Link let the connection break.  Link walked up the steps, opened the door, and walked through.  He shot the giant skulltulah, walked the length of the hallway, and entered the main chamber.

He and Navi noticed that two of the torch sconces in the centre of the room were now lighted.  They walked down and looked more closely at the torches.  The flames, unlike when they first entered the temple, did not vanish.  They continued to blaze in the sconces.  Navi said silently, "The torches must be lighted because two of the fallen guardians' poes are dead!"  Link agreed wordlessly.  The two explorers walked to the west door, opened it, and walked through.  Link was obliged to kill another giant skulltulah in the hallway as he walked through.  It yielded another bundle of arrows along with its life.  Link walked back into the room where he had dragged the blocks.

He killed the blue bubble with shield and the Sword of Ages.  He asked silently, "Navi, which way now?"  The battle fairy replied, "We need to open the door by where we fought Beth's poe."  Link agreed with Navi, and climbed the two ladders.  He climbed up both the blocks, and the second ladder, returning to the blue bubble room.  The two blue bubbles had grown back.  Link drew the Master Sword, and readied his shield.  With Navi's help, he quickly vanquished the two winged skulls.  He then prepared to try shooting the eye switch with his bow.  Navi silently stopped him.  "Link, the hallway may have twisted back by itself when we left the Temple!  We need to check first."  Link opened the door, and the two adventurers walked into the twisted hallway.

"You remember what lies at the end of this hallway?" Link's guardian asked.  "Sure" he replied, readying himself to move quickly as he walked down the twisted hallway.  He jumped quickly onto the platform in the wallmaster room, turned right, and jumped again.  He ran the two steps to the door, opened it, and walked into the stairway, making sure the door closed behind him!  He walked down the stairway and into what was Joelle's lair.  The torch still burned brightly, and the wooden chest still sat on the floor.

Link stepped into the octagonal room, hoping to find it empty, but ready for another fight if it was needed.  There were no stalfos waiting for him.  There were no monsters of any kind save his own fear.  He walked to his right, and broke one of the clay pots.  He felt the rush of a recovery heart healing a slight wound he suffered at the attentions of the two blue bubbles he had fought just five minutes ago.  Navi said, "Don't break the other three yet.  We may need them later."  Link asked silently, "Why do some things in these dungeons grow back, and others don't?"  The guardian fairy answered, "It depends upon what made them.  Some evil beasts are set free in a room, and sustain themselves.  Those monsters die for good once killed.  Other monsters are fueled by the master of the dungeon.  Once you kill it, most of these will perish when the master does, the rest will die for good when you kill them.  But while the master lives, these monsters will grow back again and again!  But some of the monsters we will fight were here before Ganondorf!  To destroy those monsters for good, you have to break the spell that gives them life!  But restoring the Temples, even the Forest Temple, is a quest for another year!  We need to defeat Ganondorf first!"

Link opened the east door to the octagonal room and entered what was Beth's lair.  The torch still burned brightly.  The three clay pots and the empty chest sat undisturbed.  He climbed the two flights of stairs, and was at the top of the east staircase.  Link took a quick look at the map.  He asked Navi "Do you sense anything on the other side of the door?"  She floated close to the door, hovered a moment, and came back.  She said, "I can't sense anything through the door.  But wallmasters are tricky!  There could be one in there that I missed.  Seeing that things on the east side of the Temple tend to resemble things on the right, I wouldn't take any chances.  Link opened the door, ready to run quickly.

The room was similar to the one on the west end.  But there was no central platform!  Link tried to jump to his right, and didn't quite make the jump!  He landed hard without hurting himself, and drew his sword, looking for the wallmaster.  He didn't have to wait long!  He saw his shadow grow, and heard the rushing wind.  He ran at the last moment, and the wallmaster dropped behind him!  He turned to give the vile hand a taste of the Master Sword!  But enchanted sword-iron wasn't what the wallmaster wanted to dine on.  It vanished quickly back into the very high ceiling of the room.  Link climbed the ladder that was fastened on the one side of the platform he had jumped for, made the top, and ran into the hallway beyond!

The hallway he ran down was similar to the west hallway, but it was straight!  Two winged skulls also patrolled it!  They resembled blue bubbles, but their coronas were green.  He drew the Master Sword, and readied his shield!  As he carefully advanced, he asked Navi "What are these monsters?"  She answered, "Green bubbles.  They are like blue bubbles, but they can't keep their coronas up all the time.  They are also weaker, and more easily killed!  One blow with the Master Sword should finish each one nicely.  With a blue bubble, it would take two!"  As Link neared the first one, its corona vanished!  He wasted no time in dispatching the unlucky fiend!  The second green bubble was more stubborn.  Link had to butt it with his shield to dispel its corona!  But it died just as quickly after that.  Link and Navi reached the end of the hallway, and another locked door.

Link said in his mind, "Decision time again.  We're back down to one key.  Do we use it on this door, Navi?"  The fairy answered silently, "Yes.  Did you notice the walls in the room with the wallmaster we just left?"  Link answered, "Yes.  There was stuff on one wall that should have been on the floor."  She responded, "Right, Link!  Including a hole we need to jump down!  There has to be some kind of eye switch in the next room!  If there is, we need to trip it, and twist this hallway, so we can jump down that hole!"  Link unlocked the door, and they entered the room beyond.

The room was one hundred feet square, with a sixty-foot ceiling.  In the middle of the room stood four platforms, each one eight feet square and twenty feet tall.  The platforms were arranged in a square around a small octagonal platform, which was also twenty feet tall and had a wooden torch sconce on it.  Between each square platform was a sharp stone spike!  The spikes and square platforms spun slowly around the octagonal platform in an octagonal lake of fiery looking red stuff, each side of the octagonal lake measuring thirty-five feet.  There were two other platforms in the room, each one as tall as the others.  Link stood on one, which was ten feet wide and twenty feet long.  The other stood in the middle of the wall to Link's right, right below the eye switch!  It too was ten feet wide, and reached out twenty feet from the wall it stood against.  It, unlike his platform, had a wooden ladder fastened firmly to the side that faced toward Link.  The ladder would have had no importance at all, but the eye switch was covered with ice!

Navi said, "To trip the eye-switch, you'll have to melt the ice first!"  Link thought for a moment, then spoke silently.  "Why don't we try this?  I'll jump down and climb the ladder to the other platform.  Then, I'll cast a ball of Din's Fire.  If it melts the ice, then I can shoot the eye-switch from there!  Otherwise, I can jump to one of the moving platforms.  Then, I can shoot an arrow through the fire of the torch to set it on fire on its way to the eye switch."  Navi agreed, saying, "Hopefully the Din's Fire will work!  Shooting the arrow through the flame of the torch and hitting the eye switch with it will be a tough shot, even with my help!" 

Link jumped down to his right, and ran to the ladder.  He climbed to the top of the platform, got up under the eye switch, and cast a ball of Din's Fire.  It not only melted the ice, but it tripped the switch!  Link and Navi heard the strange twisting noise of the hallway being twisted!  Link turned around.  One of the circling platforms was drawing even with the platform he was standing on.  He jumped onto it, and turned around to enjoy his anti-clockwise trip around the room.  He jumped off of the moving platform just as it drew even with the platform by the door.  He opened the door, and walked into the now twisted hallway.

They walked quickly down the hallway, dispatching the two green bubbles in passing.  They came to the east wallmaster room.  Link jumped down from the platform, and ran to his left.  He ran to a small square hole in the floor, and jumped through it, falling into the room below!

The room Link landed in was actually a large hallway.  It was forty feet wide and almost two hundred feet long.  The ceiling was forty feet high.  The floor was decorated with brown and white stone, alternating in a checkerboard pattern, each square being eight feet across.  A strange stone platform with several square and rectangular holes in it hung menacingly overhead.  Navi said, "That is a ceiling trap!  That platform will drop repeatedly from the ceiling if we get too close!  To get to the other side of the room, we need to get under one of the holes in the trap as it starts to drop!  Then, we need to run to the next hole along the way before the trap drops again!  Link looked again at his map.  He still had to cross under that trap, though he hoped he had not remembered the map correctly.  He walked to the right side of the room, and under a notch in the trap just as it fell to the floor with a bone-jarring crash!

He waited a moment, and the trap rose back to the ceiling.  He started to step to the next clear spot, just eight feet away, and a giant skulltulah dropped down from the ceiling!  Link quickly stepped back, drew his hookshot, and killed the inconvenient arachnid before it could retreat to safety.  He stood on his first safe block as the trap dropped again!  He waited, and the trap rose back up.  He walked to where he had killed the giant skulltulah, and waited.  The trap dropped again.  When the trap rose, Link ran to a floor switch three squares away, hoping that it wasn't also guarded with a giant skulltulah.  It was clear.  It also raised the portcullis blocking the door at the far end of the room!  "Don't use all your good luck in this room, Link!" Navi cheerfully exclaimed in Link's mind.  He noticed that the next closest safe block, a white one, had a shadow darkening it!  Not a good stop.  But just two blocks beyond that stood a small wooden chest, which appeared to be unharmed by the dropping trap!  He looked up, and the area above the chest, and the block to its left was clear!  He waited for the trap to drop again.  It dropped, paused, and raised again.  As it rose, Link quickly sprinted to the chest!  As he did, two giant skulltulahs dropped from the ceiling.  But Link neither stopped nor slowed down to join them in battle.  He was more concerned about the trap!  The trap dropped again just as Link made the safety of the chest!  While he waited for the trap to raise again, he opened the chest.  It contained a bundle of arrows, which he left.  His quiver held only thirty arrows, and was full.  The trap rose again.  As it did, Link noticed the square in front of the door was safe!  He ran to the door, opened it, and stepped through.

The room he found himself in was eighty feet long and one seventy-five feet wide, with a seventy-five foot ceiling.  To Link's right, was a raised platform with two clay pots on the end nearest him, an unlighted torch sconce on the far end, and a portcullis blocked door in the middle.  On the left wall hung a huge portrait of Amy the Poe!  Above him, five blocks hung from the ceiling.  On each face of four of the blocks that he could see, Link noticed that parts of the portrait were duplicated.  The fifth block was all black.  Navi said in Link's mind, "The legends said that Amy was the vainest of the guardians!  Using the picture-block puzzle proves it!"

Link asked silently, "What is the 'picture-block puzzle?'" 

His guardian fairy answered, "First you must destroy the large portrait on the wall.  Then, stand clear!  The five stone blocks on the ceiling will drop down to the floor!  You will have a short amount of time to push the four blocks with images together to duplicate the portrait that was on the wall!  If you don't move fast enough, the blocks will raise up, spin around, and drop again!  You will never fight Amy until you push the blocks together!  And we will never even see Ganondorf's shadow unless we kill all four poes!  For that cage we saw sink into the floor when we first entered the Temple is a magic platform!  We need to control that platform to enter the Shadow's lair."

Link drew his fairy-bow, and shot the portrait!  The portrait disappeared in a puff of flames, and the blocks dropped to the floor!  The first time, there was no way Link could have pushed the blocks together in time.  But he tried as best he could.  The blocks raised up, spun, and dropped to the floor again.  This time, Link was lucky.  The blocks dropped to almost form the portrait by themselves!  It took Link only a quarter-minute to push the blocks the rest of the way together!  He was rewarded for his effort with a flaming spirit-torch across the back!

He turned around and backed away from Amy as she disappeared.  Navi helped Link steady his aim on the evil spectre!  She appeared, and received an arrow in the forehead!  She shrieked, and vanished.  She appeared again, and Link shot her in the left eye!  She shrieked again, and spun furiously.  She didn't quite disappear altogether before she appeared again.

This time, Link shot her in the mouth!  She shrieked again, and vanished.  But she just couldn't stay invisible!  The fourth time she appeared, Link shot her in the right eye!  The fifth, he shot her in the nose.  It took Link less time to kill Amy than it did to lure her out!  She died, leaving behind a bundle of arrows for Link's trouble.  The torch also lighted, and the portcullis retracted into the ceiling.

Link broke each of the clay pots.  One contained a badly needed recovery heart!  The other contained a bundle of five arrows.  Link took one, and placed it into his now full quiver.  The other four vanished!  Link and Navi left the room through the door that had been blocked.

The hallway Link and Navi entered was the duplicate of the one at the entrance, and the one leading to the west room where Link dragged the blocks, down to the giant skulltulah standing watch!  Link dispatched the inconvenient arachnid, and walked to the end of the hallway.  He opened the door, and stepped out into the main room of the Temple.

Meg the Poe was waiting for Link, hovering over the top of the magic platform in the centre of the room.  Link shot her from the east balcony, but the arrow went through her without her noticing!  He jumped down to the main level of the room, and asked silently "How do we kill her, Navi?" 

The fairy answered in Link's mind, "I don't know yet."  Link charged the poe with fairy-bow raised, not knowing what else to do!  When he entered the stone wall surrounding the magic platform, Meg split into four poes!  Navi exclaimed silently, "I've got it!  Notice how the one to your left spun around as they split up?  Shoot that one!" 

Link shot the poe that spun the extra time, and Meg shrieked in pain, as her 'shadows' merged back into her!  She vanished for a moment, and appeared with her three shadows again.  But once again, she spun around where her shadows didn't!  Link turned to his right, and shot Meg in the nose!  She shrieked, united, and vanished again.  The third time she materialized, Link didn't see any of the poes spin!  He wheeled about and shot the one behind him in the mouth!  Meg shrieked in pain, united, and vanished again!  The four poes appeared again.  This time, the one directly in front of him spun!  He shot Meg in the right eye!  She shrieked, united, and vanished!  Link waited for just a moment, and Meg appeared again with her three shadows.  This time, the 'real' Meg was to Link's right.  He turned and fired an arrow into the foul spectre's mouth!  She shrieked her death-wail, and vanished for good, leaving a bundle of arrows and a fire on the fourth torch sconce!  As Link walked over and claimed the arrows, the magic platform raised up behind him.  It was now his to control!

He broke a couple of the clay pots on the west side of the room.  One contained a recovery heart, and another contained a magic potion jar.  He was now as ready as he ever would be to vanquish Ganondorf's shadow, and free Saria!  He walked to the magic platform and stepped onto it.  The five-foot square magic cage retracted into the floor of the room, and went down.  Down it went, for at least one hundred feet!  It stopped on the last room his map showed, the anteroom to the dungeon master's chamber, where Ganondorf's shadow waited even now.

The anteroom, as Link saw it, was octagonal in shape, each side measuring forty feet in length.  The ceiling was thirty-five feet high, made of a single slab of grey stone.  Save the hole for the magic platform, it was completely plain.  The walls were made of the same grey stone. The floor was made of a combination of the grey stone, white marble, and red and blue carpeting.  The centre of the room, where the magic platform sat, was covered in the red carpet.  It was an octagonal shaped rug ten feet to each side.  Runners of blue carpet joined the red one on the north and south.  The north runner led to the iron barred hallway leading to the beast's lair.  The carpet to the south led to an iron barred alcove with a floor switch.  Red runners led off of the octagonal carpet to the east and west.  On both sides, the rugs led underneath two grey stone blocks, each one fifteen feet long, five feet thick, and fifteen feet tall.  According to Link's map, there were alcoves to the northwest, southwest, and east that he didn't see!  Navi examined the blocks more closely, and the base of the walls themselves.  She told Link what she found.

"The walls are mounted on iron bearings!  You will need to push them around to get to the hidden alcoves.  Perhaps one of them will give us what we need to open the bars leading to Ganondorf's shadow!"  Link walked to the north side of the east block, and pushed. The walls rotated around the length of one side of the room!  This opened the southwest alcove!  In the alcove hung a giant skulltulah!  Link drew his hookshot, and quickly killed the beast.  He noticed a small wooden chest in the alcove.  He walked closer to it, and heard the familiar scratching sound, coming from high up to his right.  He killed the golden curse-spider, and claimed the golden token from its body.  He looked in the chest, finding a bundle of arrows.  He left them to pick up later, if there was a later.  He left the alcove, grabbed the nearest stone block, and pushed clockwise again!

This time, the east alcove was opened.  It contained a floor switch, but this switch was also protected by iron bars!  He grabbed the nearest block and pushed clockwise again.  This time, the northwest alcove was opened.  The floor switch in that alcove was clear!  Link quickly stood on it!  He heard the mechanical sound of iron bars withdrawing into the ceiling somewhere in the room!  But which bars did he open?  He walked out of the chamber, grabbed one of the stone blocks, and pushed clockwise once more.

The walls had been spun around one hundred eighty degrees.  The bars still blocked the way to Ganondorf's shadow, and the floor switch to the south.  Link pushed the walls clockwise again.  This time, the southwest alcove was opened again.  Link pushed the walls clockwise once more.  This time, the east alcove was opened.  But the iron bars protecting its floor switch were gone!  Link almost ran into the chamber and stood on the switch.  He heard the sound of iron bars retracting again!  He left the alcove, grabbed a stone block, and pushed clockwise again.

This reopened the northwest alcove.  Link pushed on the block one more time.  Now, the walls had been spun one full circle.  The bars blocking the way to Ganondorf's shadow were still securely in place.  But the bars blocking the floor switch to the south were gone!  Link ran to the south alcove, and stood on the switch.  The bars blocking the way to Ganondorf's shadow retracted into the ceiling.  Now, he could join the fiend in battle!  He walked into the hallway leading to the chamber door.

The hallway was not too remarkable.  It was thirty feet wide, ninety feet long, and had a forty-foot ceiling.  The blue carpet from the platform room continued the entire length of the hall, right up to the ornately magic-locked door.  Link walked up to the door, and Navi spoke silently to him.  "Remember what your father's ghost said!  We need to knock the real shadow from its steed three times, then stun the beast with its own balls of lightning to cut it down, without getting fried ourselves!  You have three healing fairies with you.  If Ganondorf's shadow hits you hard enough to kill you otherwise, the fairies will bring you back to life.  But you only have three!  You also have me with you.  I'll help you where I can.  Let me!"  Link nodded silently.  His mouth was dry, and he could feel the adrenaline coursing through his arteries!  His hand shook slightly as he took the ornate 'master's key' from his pocket and opened the lock!  He silently took a deep breath, exhaled, and opened the door!

The grey stone wall rose up thirty feet in front of him.  On the left at the far end of the passageway, two spears stuck out of the floor, suspending a rope at about the level of Link's breastbone.  To his right, a set of stairs rose up.  The wall was actually the side of a stone platform that stood in the middle of a cavernous room!  This room was octagonal shaped, like many in the Temple.  Each side measured fifty-five feet.

The domed ceiling was an impressive ninety feet above the room at its base, and rose an additional forty feet into the air beyond that.  The platform in the middle of the room left just ten feet of space between its edge and the wall, and rose twenty feet into the air.  Link turned to his right, and started to walk up the stairs.  The stairs curved around the platform in two shallow flights.  As he neared the top of the stairs, he was able to better see the huge paintings that hung on each wall.  Each one measured forty feet tall and twenty-five feet wide!  All of them showed the same scene, a painting of a gloomy country road illuminated by moonlight.  The pictures themselves provided part of the illumination for the room.

Link looked down at where the stairway joined with the platform at his feet.  He noticed three metal circles embedded in the stone of the platform floor.  Navi said silently, "Those are iron bars, Link.  They will rise up as if a portcullis from the floor, once you step over them.  Once they have risen, put your back against them!"  Link asked, "Why?  I'll do it, but what purpose does it serve?"  She answered, "There are eight paintings in this room!  The two of us together can't watch them all!  If Ganondorf's shadow rides from the one behind us, we will not be able to turn around quickly enough to shoot him!  If we are up against the iron bars, he will be unable to strike us as he jumps down from the painting!"  Link nodded in agreement.  Removing all emotion from his face, he calmly but briskly stepped over the bars, wary that they could be rigged to raise up as he crossed, rather than after.

Nothing happened!  Link walked the length and width of the platform with no challenge at all!  Navi said silently, "Perhaps he waits until we try to leave."  An overpowering wave of panic hit Link!  He almost ran to the exit, dropping everything he carried!  But he held fast.  He was hit again with the wave of fear!  But this time, he noticed that the fear didn't come from within his heart, but from somewhere else in the room!  Link asked silently, "Is he trying to attack us with fear?" 

"Yes" the fairy answered.  "I'm surprised it didn't work, even with you, Link," she continued soothingly. 

The Hero of Time replied, "It almost did!

"If the beast waits for us to try leaving, Navi, let's get it over with!  Every second spent here is a moment wasted because I haven't spent it in Saria's arms!  After I've freed her, perhaps we can figure out together how to end this nightmare altogether!  Link walked to the bars, and tried to cross over them, fully expecting them to block his way, and the battle to be joined.

Link wasn't disappointed!  He walked toward the iron bars, and they raised up from the floor, the centre one being slightly taller than he was!  He heard the galloping of a horse, and turned around.  Ganondorf himself sat in the saddle of the tall black steed he had ridden so many years ago!  He carried a bright golden lance under his right arm!  The lance was twelve feet long, and had a 'fleur-de-lis' type head upon it.  It crackled with electrical energy!

The apparition laughed evilly!  Then, it reached up and pulled the face off of its head!  Beneath the already evil face of Ganondorf himself, the monster's face was even more evil, in fact, it wasn't even a Gerudo face at all, but one of pure malevolent evil!  The monster, horse and all levitated eight feet off of the platform, turned around, and galloped into one of the paintings!  "Get against the bars, now!" Navi shouted into Link's mind!  The oversized Kokiri obeyed.  The two adventurers heard the galloping of horse hooves returning.  Ganondorf's shadow was galloping at them from the right and left!  Link compared the two instantly.  The one on the left looked brighter, so he aimed at it and fired!  He scored a direct hit on Ganondorf's shadow, and it galloped backward back into the painting!  It turned around, and galloped back.

Link held his aim at that shadow, even though he heard galloping coming from behind the iron bars.  He fired, and shot the wrong shadow!  The real shadow leapt over him, and fired a lightning bolt in his direction!  But with Link up against the iron bars, the evil spectre was unable to get a clear shot, and Link was unharmed!  Link heard the galloping again, this time coming from his front, and his right!  He looked at both, but they both looked the same!  The one on the left started to leave the painting in a glowing purple swirl!  Navi steadied his aim, and he fired!  He scored another direct hit on the beast, and it galloped backward into the painting!

Link drew another arrow and waited.  This time, the galloping came from in front of and behind him!  Link was frozen in indecision!  After a moment, he fired straight up in confused frustration!  But as he fired, Ganondorf's shadow was riding overhead!  Link scored a direct hit, and the horse vanished!  Ganondorf's shadow now floated alone above the platform!

Link drew the Sword of Ages, and swung furiously at the monster!  He caught a ball of lightning with his third swing and shot it into the spectre's evil face!  With swing after swing, blow after blow, he hit the evil shadow!  It rose up again, and started to shoot more lightning!  But Link had found the fury of the berserker!  He ran at the beast, and nothing would stop him, not even Navi's almost panicked pleas to withdraw for a moment, just a moment, to regroup!  He swung and swung again, first catching a ball of lightning, then catching what passed for the evil spectre's flesh!  In desperation, the monster fired three balls of lightning at Link!  This didn't faze him at all!  He kept swinging, and sent the lightning balls instantly back to their maker!  Ganondorf's shadow swung his lance, and sent the balls of lightning back to Link!  Link fired the lightning back at Ganondorf with his next swing!  They fired the lightning back and forth quickly for almost a quarter-minute, which seemed an eternity for the Chieftain of the Battle-Fairies!  Finally, Ganondorf's shadow was slow on the swing and took three balls of lightning directly in the face!  It fell to the floor stunned, and Link split it from crown to boots, embedding the Sword of Ages in the stone of the floor!  But the beast was finally vanquished!  Link pulled the Sword of Ages from the floor and heard Ganondorf himself speak!

"Hey kid, it looks like you've gained some slight skill" the Gerudo monster uttered.  It continued, "But when you fight the real me, it won't be so easy!" 

Link answered, "I should hope not!  I've barely worked up a sweat fighting your 'mighty shadow!'  By the way, have you fathered any children lately?" 

Ganondorf replied angrily, "What business is that of yours?" 

The Hero of Time replied, "When last we met, I struck some low blows!  Regretfully, I was a little short at the time.  I was just concerned." 

"Your fake worry of my well-being flatters me, kid!" the Gerudo replied sarcastically.

Changing the subject, Ganondorf said, "What a worthless creation that ghost was!  I'll banish it to the void between dimensions!" 

Link answered, "Don't be so hard on the creature, Gerudo!  You may join it!" 

As the remains of Ganondorf's shadow vanished into a glowing purple swirling cloud, the Monster of the Gerudo replied, "I ought to finish you myself, kid!  I like your style, but you irritate me!" 

The Hero of Time replied, "You wouldn't do that, Gerudo!  After all, you are 'Ganondorf, King of Evil!'  You wouldn't waste your time on a lowly teen-aged orphan!  That's why you have hired hands guarding the other temples—to allow yourself to attend to important things, not the likes of me!" 

The King of the Gerudo answered, "And don't you ever forget it, kid!  If you weren't so dedicated to opposing me, you could be my right hand!" 

Link answered merrily, "That would make you my left hand!  You could never be subordinate to anyone, much less me!"  Ganondorf's presence vanished in a huff!

Link claimed the heart of the Beast's shadow.  He felt a slight healing rush as he did this!  He had not been hit by Ganondorf's shadow.  But for an eighteen-year-old to swing repeatedly and viciously a blade the weight of the Sword of Ages was quite a strain, and Link had torn a ligament in his shoulder!  He took one last look at the chamber, and stepped into the magic portal, hoping to be reunited with his life-mate.

Link found himself back in the Chamber of the Sages, on the platform where he had stood for so many years.  But it was not Rauru there to greet him, but Saria!  He started to run to her, but was blocked by a wall of magic!  He cried out her name, as he did on that horrible day when he first drew the Master Sword! 

She answered "Link, please be brave, for both of us!  The time we had together was granted reluctantly by fate, but it was not forever!  I am now awakened as the Sage of the Forest!  I was fated to this just as you were fated to be the Hero of Time!  I will live forever, but except for these times, you may never come here.  And except for the battles with Ganondorf, and your marriage to Princess Zelda, I may never leave!" 

Link started to weep.  "Beloved, how can fate be so cruel?"

Saria answered, "I do not know.  I am stabbed with the pain just as sharply as are you!  But fate could have been crueller yet.  I could have missed you that morning on the bridge!  I could have died at birth, along with my mother!  We could never have enjoyed the love we shared while we were able to share it!  Though my time as your life-mate was short, it was more powerful, beautiful, and eternal, than many of our people have in an entire lifetime!

"I have more yet to tell you.  I have already lived our life together, but you have not!  Your quest has you live time differently than everyone else!  For the sake of the world, I can tell you but little!  By the same measure, you must not tell me anything then, which I do not know then!  Otherwise, live those moments with me with all your heart and soul!  Our quest will make those moments short, but we must, we will make them moments to last for eternity!  But in this time, we must drift apart!  For now, you are promised to Princess Zelda, and must bond with her as you have with me!"

Link said "Beloved, I… I think I've pledged any love I have left to an orphan of the Sheikahs, one who nursed me in this very Chamber while the spell was cast upon me!  For I was…"

"Beloved, I know of the spell," Saria interrupted.  She then said, "And you mustn't tell anyone of her true identity, but your orphan is Zelda herself!  How did you guess she was even a woman?" 

Link answered, "Whether it was love or infatuation, it was written clearly on her face, and her way of acting towards me!  She was clearly either a woman, or an abomination of the Hyleans that lusted after its own sex!  When my father appeared to me, he told me that she was a woman.  But he didn't tell me who she was!  He said that my knowing her identity would be dangerous for both of us!  He also said that I should not encourage a relationship between us, though I should not stop one either.  What do you know of this?"

Saria told Link "Beloved, as he knew, your father was right.  But, knowing my fate, it will be more dangerous for you not to know!  When you travel back to our time, you will have to leave any thoughts of love for the Princess in this time, should you find any.  And, in this time, you must always keep our love in the past!  But, you must also not let the Princess know that you know her identity!  For her heart is being made Kokirish, that she may be truly be a life-mate for you, not just a "wife" as is done among the Hyleans.  She must court you, that she may open her heart to you, and eventually you to her.  But, because of cruel words I spoke to her in the past, she cannot force herself to court you as the Princess!  Nor, can you think of her as a princess!  She will win your heart as a humble orphan.  And, your letting her do this, when she finds out, will finish your winning hers!

"And you must win her heart for my sake, if not for your own!  I can no longer be there for you!  And should you not take her for a life-mate, you will live the rest of these times alone!  I feel the pain of your loneliness in those later times even now!  You must allow her to ease your pain, that you would ease mine!" 

Link replied "That I will do for your sake, beloved, if that is all that can be done.  But lend me the strength of your heart, and of your friendship, for I could never leave you, save unto death.  Yet, I must leave!" 

"Beloved, you will always be my friend!  And, for our time, we will be life-mates forever!  Yet, I must remove most of my place from your heart, that Zelda may have hers!  For even your heart, as large as it is, cannot hold two women at once in this lifetime!  It would burst, killing you, and us!  But, until Ganondorf is bound for good in these times, you can still play our song, and we shall still talk in our minds, one to the other!  Come closer, and kneel that we may see eye to eye again."  Link did as Saria asked.  She continued.

"Because fate bids me do this, I give you this medallion.  My power as the Sage of the Forest is focused in this medallion, and is combined with yours!"  Saria reached through the barrier, and placed the medallion in Link's hands.  He put the medallion in his pocket; along with the medallion Rauru gave him.  Saria continued.  "Fate also bids me give you your freedom.  Though I am loath to do this, and you are even more unwilling to take it, it must be done.  For fate has levelled the house I built for you.  Though you have prospered in it, it can no longer shield you.  It was broken not by you, but by fate!  It is in another place and time.  You will have a stronger house atop the hill, which will shelter you." 

Link answered "I will take my leave, for I can not follow your house, though I want to more than anything else in any world!  But the time in your house has made me stronger.  The sadness of having our house taken from us will make me that much more grateful for times of joy, that I may live them fully!  And the joy of the times we had will lift my heart in times of sorrow!  My heart is bruised, but was not crushed.  For your heart protected it, and me from harm!  If it were possible, I would do the same for you.  For the memory of your heart will always be in mine."

"And yours in mine, Beloved!"  They found they could reach through the barrier.  They embraced, and gently kissed each other. 

Saria told Link "You must go now.  You will go back to your time, in the Great Deku Tree Meadow.  You will stay a few hours among our people again.  Then, you must return to the Temple of Time, then to our time!  For I need you there!  Good bye, Beloved!"  Link started to say good-bye, as the light enveloped him.

Mido attacked yet another stalfos.  This attack had to have been the worst to then for the number of stalfos.  They seemed to keep regenerating almost as fast as they could be killed.  But they were weaker, and less skilled for all their numbers.  They had been fighting since early morning, which was later than they had expected.  But it was early afternoon, and they were all starting to tire.  They had fought well up to this point, no warrior being injured, but he could tell that was starting to change too.  He blocked the stalfo's attack with his shield, and drew back to finish it off, when it vanished!  He looked around.  All the stalfos had vanished!

He sheathed his sword, and played "break-off" on his ocarina.  This proved to be unnecessary, though, for all the other warriors had also noticed the disappearance of the stalfos, and had not accidentally attacked each other.  Mido counted heads.  There were forty-three warriors standing.  They, plus Janus and Ethobard made forty-five.  "Are there any wounded here?"  One of the Helfdanes answered "None serious, now!  Ivano had lost an arm, and was near death, but a healing fairy had just finished healing him as you called, War Chieftain!" 

"Let us go to our families, to see that they are still safe!" Mido called.  The warriors moved to the clearing behind them, and to the hidden hole.

Mido called "All Clear!"  Their loved ones came out of the hole in twos and threes, as fast as the fairy-step would carry them out.  He counted as they came out.  None were missing.  Mido motioned for the Helfdanes to pick him up.  He then spoke to the multitude, who were overflowing the clearing.

"My brothers and sisters!  It appears that the day of our deliverance is at hand!"  The crowd cheered.  Mido bid them to be quiet, and continued.  "The attack of the stalfos lasted longer than any before it, but the stalfos were weak!  They vanished without warning not fifteen minutes ago!  This causes me to believe that all the monsters have been removed from the Forest!"  The crowd cheered again.  This time, Mido let them cheer for almost a minute, until they themselves were quiet, to hear what Mido had next to say.  "We will move slowly, with the warriors on the outside of our group, lest I be wrong.  The Helfdanes will bring up the rear, Darunia and I will lead.  We walk now to our homes, but there is more I must tell you!"  The Kokiri waited quietly for Mido to continue.

"We owe some of our survival to our own efforts.  Had we not fought here for ourselves, we would not have survived these last few months.  But we owe most of our continued existence to The Great War Chieftain.  Our good fortune tells me that he too, has won another victory!"  The Kokiri cheered wildly for a full five minutes!  Finally, Mido continued again. "I hope he will arrive soon to help us celebrate our good fortune, but I must warn you!  Though he is still truly a Kokiri, though his heart and spirit are as Kokirish and strong as they ever were, his Hylean body has grown huge!  Unless you look at his heart, you will never recognize him!  He will also not share in our good fortune right away.  In order to save our homeland for all time, he is still obliged to save the rest of the realm!  Our thoughts, our hopes, and our prayers must remain with him, until he may come home for good!  But now, let us advance with care upon our homes!"  The crowd cheered wildly as the Helfdanes set Mido down.  Mido moved to the path he chose, as the crowd parted for him. 

Darunia walked beside him and asked "What about Mama, Uncle?  Do you think Papa was able to rescue her?" 

"I don't know, Darunia.  Let us hope…"

The Kokiri followed Mido and Darunia to the village.  They found it run-down from many months of neglect and abandonment, but not a monster, not even a deku-baba, could be found!  The Kokiri returned to their homes, to start making them again liveable, and to reclaim their belongings.  The Helfdanes approached Mido.  One asked, "Have you further need of us, War Chieftain?" 

"Yes, brothers!  We must go the Great Deku Tree Meadow, and you as well, Darunia!  I have just remembered a dream, as well as legend.  We should be in the Meadow when the new Deku Tree sprout takes in his first sunshine."  The four Kokiri walked towards the Meadow.