(Author's Note: GRRRRRRRRR! I went back and reformed some of the gunk in the earlier chapters because, well, it was a mess and it left a couple of holes. Mostly I fixed spelling errors. And, errm, I'm embarrassed to ask this, but... does anyone remember which of the Twinrova sisters is Koume and which is Kotake? Sad I'm asking, isn't it?)

Spinning Slash, Chapter 6: BASH! CRASH! SMASH! (The Adventure Begins)

Saria had been thoroughly up-in-arms when Link had told her they were leaving the next morning, and even more livid when he told her about the sword. It had been a hasty scramble to grab his mirror shield(lucky for him they were discussing in the storage room where he kept all of his old gear) to avoid the issuing blasts of snapping green lightning. He tried his best to look worried and very nervous about the whole ordeal in order to satisfy her, thought it wasn't working. He kept breaking out in an overconfident grin and getting smug glimmers in his eyes when he thought she's wasn't looking, only to turn around and ask her scowl, "How long have you been there?" Then it was back to ducking behind the shiny polished piece of iron. Elaine, spending the night over, had known Posie long enough to be used to her parents' squabbles. She didn't exactly favor them like that, but neither did she wholeheartedly favor the way they were when they didn't fight, rather gushy if truth be told. Neutral moments. Rare, but to be savored.

Eventually though the air stopped searing every minute or two with electricity and the two came to a common agreement. Link had already promised that he'd bring his ocarina with him, and that he'd use it to return if things got a little too hot to handle. Now he was promising to regularly contact Saria via communication magic, as well as several other things. Some were very specific, like ".And TRY to get to a village every four days or so to restock, I think Parapa is on the way, if you take the route leading to the old castle over that way.," while others were a bit more open-ended, like, "Avoid standing under a cliff for very long!" One of the things she said was downright a threat, of sorts: ".And if you let ANYTHING happen to our baby."

Posie cringed. She hated it when her parents called her that, despite the taunt she had shoved in Tony's face the week before. She may have looked a little like one, but she most certainly was NOT one. She then went outside with Elaine, who, before they had come inside to eavesdrop at the first whirring of thunder, had been watching her perform fancy jabs and slashes on a bag of straw. Saria caught the two of them out the window and abruptly stopped for a moment. She considered the sword to be the all-out worst part of Link's whole plan, but silently admitted to herself that Posie's skills were, as of late, looking purely divine. She'd be as good as if not better than her father when she grew up. She screwed her face into an uncomfortable vortex and went back to screaming.

She seemed to feel bad about her temper tantrum when it was all over and in a form of apology fixed up a splendid dinner consisting of all Link and Posie's favorites as well as Elaine's, and didn't even feel the least bit guilty when the slightly lanky young brunette scarfed several peanut-butter-with-chocolate-frosting cookies when she "accidentally" wasn't looking. One might as well indulge one's self before fleeing civilization for what looked to be a good two-week trip. She then found Posie tugging at the hem of her skirt, asking for a third helping of the spicy stew that would later be hailed as "an edible excuse for a four-alarm fire, but tasty, true," by one of those friends of Link's who he'd never thought he'd have, but somehow did. Everyone praised her excellent cooking(which was no surprise, seeing as even the Head of the Royal Kitchen considered her the best in Hyrule) and soon the stew was nonexistent, the breads were mere crumbs, the pasta was hasta la vista and the desserts were certainly gone. Full and sleepy, everyone turned in early to prepare for the next day, save Saria who sat pondering on the edge of the bed as she looked into Link's sleepy face.

My love. she found herself gently tousling his thick, but soft, hair. For the first time in five years, we will be apart for so very long. and this time, you also separate me from my one other true love, little Posie. She had been but a newborn last time you left. but now she will not be here to keep me thinking of other things. She peered delicately into his face. You are truly an angelic soul, Link, even though it is not what you appear to be. Some find you so unconventional, with your "no one can be sacrificed" attitude, but... isn't the soul of a single person worth just as much as the soul of the whole? Sages tend to think very loudly, and Link winced in his sleep. Something in his dream had no doubt changed to reflect her mind, especially with her hand on his forehead.

Link. if you are listening somewhere, off in that deep, dark pit of the subconscious, please listen to me. I know sometimes I act like. well, I act like I'm some sort of etiquette teacher trying to keep you in line, or a lion tamer attempting to make you tame, but. I really do love you, Link, with all my heart and soul I do! Your little ticks have always struck a nerve or two, but it's where your heart lies that counts, which is why I think this now: If home is where the heart is, then I will never truly feel like I am where I belong here until you have returned, for my heart is always with you. Get back quickly. Please.

A smile, from a swamp which no human being has ever trodden when they have been in control of their minds, seemed to confirm her thoughts. Not wanting to dwell on her breaking felicity any longer, she climbed into bed and slept in horrible fits, waking up and falling back asleep in jerks that once even found her on the floor. Uncomfortable. Yet another found her missing the sensation in her hand, only to find somehow Link had grasped her wrist and was cutting off the circulation. Sweet of him, even in sleep, but still not a pleasant sensation. She wrenched his fingers off in a way she hoped was at least a bit shameful of herself, then turned over and saw on the clock that it was five thirty in the morning. It seemed pointless to try and get back to sleep, but it still seemed too early to get up. Her busybody logic prevailed. Soon she was up and dressed in her normal long- sleeved green shirt, ankle-length green skirt, and of course green medallion on a gold chain, preparing several draughts of various potions for Link to be equipped with on his trip. A bit of sun-on-the-valley infusion in case of colds, dragonmoney poultices for helping wounds heal, and Goddess-eyes antidotes in case of poisoning. The warm, sickeningly sweet smell of her herbal workshop drifted all down the hallway.

Link, Posie, and Elaine now stood, hair still disheveled from the night and pouchy eyes half-closed, in the fastly bluing light before Kakariko Village, mostly empty as the Kakarikions either slept in or made pilgrimage to the Temple of Time in the nearby Castle Town for the Sunday morning service. Link rarely attended, feeling like he'd had one too many encounters with the power of the Triforce already, but he almost always said some sort of small prayer to himself before doing anything most Sundays. Today it had been a traveler's prayer, before the rather short but deeply poignant parting ceremony Saria had shown them. She was almost in a state of mourning as she passed between each of the three with her blessings and wishes. She had come to know Elaine almost as well as Posie, and gave the girl a nod and a hug for her troubles. She wished her Goddesspeed and maneuvered over to Posie. For her daughter she sobbed a little and embraced her intensely, kissing her on the cheek and telling her, through the tears that clogged her speech, to "Listen to your father. keep tabs on Elaine. be good and stay out of trouble. and. have fun, I guess."

Saria and Link exchanged no words. Instead, they pensively stared into each other's eyes for a moment before they flung their arms around each other's necks and kissed intimately, clasping each other for at least a minute before excruciatingly pulling away. Then she whimpered a small "I love you" in his ear before they departed, leaving her to begin her full wails and sobs at the pain of letting them go.

There is something about being separated from someone vastly important to you that makes you terribly alert, even in your grim mood. Indeed, only Link seemed fully awake among the curious trio. In his agitation, his right temple felt hot and itchy, and he raised an arm to scratch it just in time to sense what felt like a small winged ember graze past his scalp. He had a sneaking suspicion that he had a stowaway on board his gear, but he didn't want to make any sort of sudden move just yet. Better to figure out first which tagalong they'd picked up as they'd left. Atahl? Not likely. They'd already know by now if the sarcastic male fairy was with them-he was horrible at keeping silent. He was quite clumsy for a fay, even one who was ten-thousand, eight-hundred and seventy-two years old. Spryte? No, she was a castle fairy. She'd have to have been following them since they'd left Hyrule Castle the previous day. Tatl or Tael? Those two were always up to no good, and were also masters of stealth. They were rarely seen even on the unusual occasions they came to the house. But, then again, last he'd heard of them they were putting their (semi)knowledge of Hyrule's bestiary to good use guarding the Forest Temple, so, scratch them off the list. No, the only fairy who lived at the house, was quiet enough to follow, and with enough motivation to do so was Navi. She'd given Link no end of trouble since he'd discovered her accidentally sewn into the rim of his hat, a mistake which he still couldn't understand how he'd made. Well, he could play at that game too. Navi didn't have to know that he'd caught on.

Forget Navi for the moment, though. He had other matters to attend to. He had chosen Kakariko as their starting place for a number of reasons: One, scaling Death Mountain, despite the danger, would shave considerable time off their junket. Two, even though Saria had been generous with her supply of potions, he admittedly didn't have a clue as to how to use a single one and wanted to stop by the Potion Shop, to snare a couple of more familiar remedies and to get instruction from Tagan, the shop owner, as to what to do with his wife's confounding concoctions. And thirdly, he had a last-ditch effort idea that might get them out of this whole perilous journey once and for all.

The night before, Link had secretly gotten up in the middle of the night(though plannedly, unlike Saria) and made out a few letters he thought might help him put a premature end to a rather risky plot. He wasn't too sure about how things would work out with his first letter, as it was addressed to a ghost who lived inside the volcano. Naturally, he was having it delivered to him by hand-or rather talon, bless that Kaepora Gaebora-but just to make sure, he wanted to pop in and see if he could get the scoop face to face just in case. The letter was rather blunt anyway, and was a bit open ended:

Dear Dad,

Hi, it's me, Link. Things are going fine for me, how are you? I'm not too sure if you're going to get this letter, because I've never tried delivering to a ghost before. Anyway, I was wondering if you could tell me just exactly how the family technique-you know, the spinning slash-is supposed to work. I might be speaking with you in person soon, so don't worry about writing back for a week or so. Talk to Kaepora.

Your son, Link

At least Link knew where to tell Kaepora to look, but chances were perhaps even riskier on the second note. Although he could tell the owl who to seek, he could not tell him where to find. He happened to be dealing with a very jumpy target in this scenario. The receiver in question lived with Link's uncle, who liked to move all over the place in Hyrule and was, at least, hard to find even when you needed her. If only their grandmother hadn't died! Then she'd still be living in that wonderful quiet seaside town. Where their mother had lived before meeting their father. Link went into a whit more detail for this particular letter:

Ari,

This is Link. I haven't talked to you in ages. How is everything going with Uncle? Where has he got you now? I hope wherever it is, you're comfortable there. I'm afraid I have a few questions for you. Have you ever used a sword? I mean, with Uncle being in the army and all, I think you'd have access, but I'm asking anyway. Have you ever tried anything fancy with one? I think I've told you about the family trick, the one where you can make a sword turn almost into a magic wand of energy, haven't I? You've seen me use it. You should be able to perform it, if you try. Borrow Uncle's sword and go outside, and try to focus your inner magic on the sword. See if anything happens. I'm sorry if I'm asking the impossible-but I sincerely hope I'm not, because if you can do it, then so, theoretically, should Posie-you remember your niece, don't you? Sorry to be bugging you, sis, but it's important. Have Kaepora help you reply.

Big brother, Link

PS-There's always Uncle to ask. According to him, the slash used to belong to all Hyleans, but only the Blades continued the tradition, which isn't what Dad told me but it's as good a story as any.

One of Link's theories as to possible reasons why Posie couldn't perform the slash was that she was female. But he didn't think that the Goddesses, of all divine beings, would have been sexist when they blessed the first Blade with his power, so he decided to test his sister Arril. Funny, he thought, if she'd known how to perform the slash when that bird had swooped down on her she might not have been kidnapped. But then again, that girl was full of surprises, the first of them being her mere existence. It had something to do with ghosts being able to come back to life on Halloween and his mother having been pregnant when she died. Magic was most confusing at times.

So after he had seen the giant brown owl out and away from the window, he yawned and turned back to bed. He stole a quick glance at Saria-her hair was dishelved, her skin sallow and blotchy, and her eyes were reminiscent of a raccoon's. But it was in these moments, he thought, that she was even more beautiful than ever-for then was when you had to look into her heart to see her beauty, and her heart held reams and reams more than skin could carry. She couldn't have been having a good night. He swore she had been talking to him in his dreams, telling him how much she really loved him. Right back at ya, then, he thought, and held her wrist as he closed his eyes and drifted off once again.

Normally Kaepora could be seen winging his way lazily over Kakariko in the mornings, but not this morning for he was busy with his deliveries. Dropping a letter into the volcano was easy enough, but finding Link's sister wasn't. He was scanning an area of Hyrule known as the Charred Forest for her at this particular time. All that Posie could see anyway were the toes of her boots and the grass beneath them and she hung her head, half asleep. Elaine was pouchy-faced and her mood was sour, and she was constantly grumbling about "not getting to have any breakfast."

Link was in a half-good mood, though. Now that the initial wrench of leaving Saria behind had passed, the contagious atmosphere of adventure had finally gotten to him and he certainly looked more alive than he had the day before. He had a big heavy pack stuffed with supplies on his back, and his fingers were wrapped around the shoulder straps as he inhaled deeply. "Take a whiff of this fresh morning air, girls. Doesn't it make you feel invigorated?"

"I smell a cow," mumbled Elaine.

Link wrinkled his nose as his nostrils probed a little deeper into the breeze, but brushed it away as he turned to look down on Posie. "Well, I'm sure you understand, don't you, Pose? The spirit of the hunt! You're a Blade; you feel it, don't you?"

"No, and I can't feel my feet, either. I wanna go back to bed!"

"No can do, kid. You've gotta start early if you're gonna make good time. We have to climb Death Mountain, and that's gonna take us all morning not including the time we spend visiting your uncle."

"My uncle?" Posie asked sleepily. "I thought you just had your one sister, Auntie Arril." She was noticeably not looking up in Link's face, but into his calf. She looked about ready to fall into it.

"Well, not your biological uncle, no, but we're Sworn Brothers as far as he's concerned. Which is as close as you get! Don't worry. His size may be a bit daunting to you-which makes two of us-but really, all that extra bulk is all heart. Gorons are nice folk, you know?"

"Woah. Your uncle's a Goron. Now I've heard everything," said Elaine listlessly and without emotion.

"Awwww, don't be so put off, girls! Look, we've got to head off to the potion shop, and there's a million and one interesting and mysterious and captivating things there that'll catch your eyes and snag your senses and'll have you up faster than you can say 'bottled fairy.' And if that doesn't do the trick, the somewhat overpowering scent of herbs will."

No laughs, unlike he'd expected.

"Oh, c'mon, gals! Up and at 'em! Forget how tired you are right now and let the essence of excitement fill your bones! Sing with me! Hyrule, o'er the mist, lie there you cloaked, in won'drous mystery, lest deep within thy soul, magic be thy true goal, then there you be, rising straight out-the-sea! Hey!"

Posie burbled a few notes that might have been the starting riff in Hyrule's National Anthem, but for the most part they were incomprehensible.

"Hey, I'm not gonna make a fool outta myself if you girls won't join in. Come on, singing will get air in your lungs and help you wake! And what better song for a grand adventure than the Anthem? Hyrule."

Posie seemed distraught with her father in a rare moment. "I don't know this man," she leaned over and whispered in the haggard Elaine's ear, and she nodded somberly and without energy.

A dusty-looking man hauling a pair of overflowing water buckets on his broad shoulders strutted past, and Link cheerfully called out, "Hello there! Good to see that I'm not the only one around here who believes in getting up at dawn!"

The man with wavy red hair and an inward-curving nose paused in his step and turned with inquiring gray eyes. "Oh, g'morning there! If it isn't Link and young wards Posie and Elaine!"

"Yes, just off on a little journey, nothing special!" Link called back. "But praytell, my good man, how did you know their names?"

"Girlfriend's the schoolteacher," he replied as he set down his pails. "Been giving me tabs on Posie and Elaine since day one. I'm a teacher too, you know; first grade. Telling me which of their antagonists to keep an eye on next year and which ones only pick on 'em cuz they're afraid of being bullied themselves. Relayed the whole dramatic scene of last Friday to me in all the gory detail. I'll say, didn't surprise me too much. Kid who looks like, dresses like, and acts like, every once in a while even, you has gotta be your kid. You know?"

Link, however, had Hookshot into a previous statement and missed everything below it as he rappelled of the paragraph. "Bullies? Picked on? Woahwoahwoah waitaminute!" He squinted his eyes as he lowered his head, brandishing his palms. "Since when? Posie never told me about any bullies. Or being teased. What's this about, kid?" He looked down his side into an empty tussock of grass.

"Kid?" His chin clicked up a level. "Elaine?"

"Bwa ha ha ha!" Pejin chortled as he hoisted the pole on to his back once more. "Kids these days. Can't stand still, can they? Made a remarkable recovery from their comatose state as soon as I mentioned the way they get harassed, bless their little souls. Didn't actually see 'em sprint, though. Oh well. The grass is dewy, it holds footprints well! Shouldn't be too hard to find a pair of munchkins in a lazy little town like this on a Sunday morn!" And with those words he waddled off, just like that!

"Aye no. this can't be good! Girls!" He put his hand to his mouth and called. "Posie! Elaine! Girls?"

"Hey, quiet you! Can't a guy get a little shut-eye?" A man leaned from an upper-story window and glared at Link.

"Sorry! You see two little girls run passed here?"

"No, I WAS sleeping peacefully until YOU started shouting! Go away and keep it down, will you? There are people SLEEPING here!" An angry shutter slammed and roused a Cucco who hadn't been early enough to greet the sun, who in turn cawed fussily and pecked one of its dozing fellows. The angry hen started to squabble at the bird who had given her a rude awakening, and soon their wings were whipping and their feathers flew. The noise woke a dog somewhere at its master's feet, and it howled in distress. This woke the dog's keeper, who was now doing the barking at his animal. An interrupted cow mooed and kicked over a heavy metal milk pail, and soon all the village was braying and steaming and moaning along.

"Not anymore," Link mumbled sheepishly before her stuck his hands inside his belt and shuffled slowly onward.

He didn't have the foggiest on how he was going to find the girls in all the madness he'd stirred up, but at least he figured it wouldn't hurt him to shout after them anymore. Problem was, he probably wasn't going to be heard very well in that hullabaloo. Well, searching the deepest nooks and crannies was a specialty of his, so they couldn't hide for long. But why had they taken off like that when Pejin began to talk of happenings at their school? If they really were being made fun of, logic presented that they'd want it to stop as soon as possible, and Link would have certainly helped with that. Hadn't he told Posie just before school had begun that she could ask his help if other kids picked on her? Unless she was embarrassed. Or frightened that he might not accept this? Poor kid. So confused. Even she had her misconceptions about him. She still had the funny idea he was invincible, as it was. Well, then again, she'd never really seen him in action against anything but Deku Scrubs and Deku Baba, plus the occasional Stalchild. Soon that would change, though. Soon she'd watch him take on Dodongo, Gleeok, Moblin, Wolfos. and all the rest of the evil team. Bigger... badder. bloodier. He cringed as he stepped. Not the sort of thing you'd normally expose a little girl to, now was it? And she'd be stuck just on the Tektites. She'd leant her bow to Elaine, though, since the brunette didn't have any weapons of her own. Somehow, though, he knew she'd manage.

BASH! CRASH! SMASH!

Uh-oh.

"I told you not to touch it!"

"I didn't think it would hurt to just tap the glass!"

"Tap the glass? You tried to grab it off the shelf!"

"Stop raising such a stink, y'know? You said we could hide in here!"

"I said you could stay here for a little while if you promised not to touch anything! Now look, it's knocking everything down!"

The din above nearly bleached the voices into more white noise, but the extra zeal in Hylean ears just barely told Link of Elaine, as well as Tagan the potion-shop keeper, and some high-pitched giggling accompanied by glass shattering on a high-polished wooden floor. A telltale ploosh sounded like potion splashing out of a bottle on to the ground. The steamed stamping was the shopkeeper without a doubt, and a bit of frightened whining probably belonged to Posie. He heard as well a third, childish voice, very squeaky and almost inaudible. It reverberated like a little girl's might, but it was unfamiliar and very raucous: "Free! Free! Heehee! Take that, you meanie," and another tinkling of glass broke against his ears.

"Gawdesses, what sort of fruit do we have here?" A pitched squawk of a voice clambered onto Link's shoulder and mused this.

"Hullo, Navi, weren't expecting you," Link lied feebly and sarcastically as he sensed the miniscule being cloaked in a pulsing bluish- white glow out of the corner of his eye.

"Sorry to burst in on the shindig, Mr. Hero, but you and your daughter are definitely the most disaster prone duo out there, and when you've got the other half of Posie's schoolbound gruesome twosome under your wing things aren't lookin' up. I came to make sure the younguns don't stray too far from your clutches and see that they get proper lecturing on the dangers of the various flora and fauna of Hyrule."

Link answered without looking to his right, where Navi perched with her wings buzzing. As a fairy, and an old one at that(though as far as the Fairies were concerned, she was still somewhat young), she had a great knowledge of Hyrule and had been Link's first assistant in adventure. He owed much of his knowledge of his enemies to her, and though she had disappeared shortly after his first quest had been completed, he later found her stuck inside the rim of his hat. Rather than bother to ask how she had got there, he welcomed her again with open arms, only to regret it very quickly. Navi loved to boss people around, and though she tried to be polite about things, her constant prattle of "Hey! Look! Hey! Listen!" was enough to strike just about anyone's nerve. True, she was better than her younger sister Navu, who Link had thankfully only met once. Yes, she was CERTAINLY better than Tatl and Tael. But. there was a fine line. A VERY fine line.

"You're telling me I can't teach my own kid about the evils of the world well enough?"

"You'd make a worse case of it that Tatl, that's for sure."

"So what was that whole thing about. fruits. anyway?" Link actually looked the tiny human frame as well in the eyes as he could now, though he had to squint to see Navi's body amidst her somewhat blinding glow that normally masked her body from view. Though those who didn't look hard enough could be lead to believe she didn't have one. But she did, and if she completely doused her catching aura, her features became completely visible. Her earthen-brown hair, flecked with sun-gold highlights, was done up in a bun with strands of spider silk. Her cheekbones were high and her eyes a watery blue, with a delicately bridged nose and similarly fragile- boned limbs. Her rosy skin was clad in wrappings of ever-green vines and maps of miniature ivy, though truth be told if she were a full-sized human these trappings might be considered risqué. Her feet were bare. Atahl, Saria's male fairy, had slightly better taste and always wore shoes and pants, though the pants had badly fraying edges and he didn't have a shirt.

"Oh, I just hear a fairy by the potion center, that's all. Sounds like a really young one. Can't be more than five hundred years old. Young lady, and I use the term 'lady' loosely. Seems to be causing old Tagan a spot of trouble, and I daresay the children as well. Shall we, Link?"

Navi launched in front of Link's face as she spoke, and when she finished Link nodded. "Let's find out why they ran and get our potion fix while we're at it. I need to ask him what to do with these blasted elixirs. all I know is red is for wounds, green is for magic, which only I'll really need to worry about, and the little satchels cure different sicknesses and poisons. I have no idea which is which though."

"Aww, that's easy," said Navi and she pointed to Link's backpack. "The bluish tinted ones are for general venom and the yellow powder is for magic poison. The thick leaves in the green gel are for the eyes, you wash off the gooey stuff and chop up the stems for the sap. Excellent for soothing wind-stung vision. The little leaf rolls are another kind of healing agent, except you crumble those over cuts instead of eating them. And the-"

A tremendous howl of shattering crystal and a wave of liquids gushed through the village and battled with every other noise until it had beaten them into submission and was the only wailing therein.

"MY-SHELVES!"

Link began to make haste without even bothering to interrupt Navi and tell her that he "had to fly," to coin an appropriate phrase.

The floor of Tagan's Apothecary was a multichrome mess of sour- smelling tonics, strangely flickering cloudy essences that hovered purposelessly over the seething sea, scurrying bugs and flopping fish, and glinting shards of glass and spongy cork. A pure white light guffawed maniacally as it whizzed around in circles near the ceiling, blowing small raspberries and taunting, "Oooh! Who's bad now? Who's tight? Spell it baby! Ecks, Eye, Aye, Ell, Ecks, Eye, Aye, Ell." Sopping about below and looking about disdainfully were the long and red-haired Tagan, his blue vest splashed with a couple of substances that seemed to be chewing through his gold buttons, and mucking about on the floor below Posie and Elaine, their clothes tye-dyed in various brews and torn into shreds at the edges by the broken glass. The pandemonium had begun when their teacher's boyfriend had practically sung about their daily ribbing, and before they could be called in for interrogation they fled. They knocked on the door of the first public building they came to and asked if they could chill inside until the coast was clear, and the shopkeeper had approved, much to his dismay now. Elaine had been intrigued by a bottled fairy standing imprisoned in its prism prison on a lower shelf, and had attempted to reach up and bring it down. Instead she knocked over the bottle, breaking it and setting free the devilish fairy inside. Haughty and none too happy about being trapped, the fairy then efficiently proceeded to destroy everything in the shop. She had finally managed to dislodge the beam supporting all the shelves, causing the whole structure to simply collapse. This was the humongous smashing sound Link had heard a moment before.

Link opened the door on the whole caddy-wompus situation just as the painfully bright young fairy blitzed out the open window, after turning to the building's innards, giving a small nod to Elaine, and cheering, "Thanks kid! My mistress will be so horrified to see me-what fun! But she'll be grateful anyway, I'll bet. Ever need help from Fairith or Xial, just holler!"

"What on earth happened in here?! Looks like a couple of hippies melted down!"

"Not quite, sir, just a little girl set free a. good Goddesses."

Tagan was hastily and haphazardly trying to scrub his front of the acidic mixture as he answered; he looked up and saw Link standing their so that his heart skipped a beat. Link normally visited the shop of Tagan's brother Telun, so the younger of the two had had less experience with the celebrity. But, because Link was on his way up Death Mountain, he had stopped here for a change, much to the shopkeeper's surprise.

"'Ello," Link said with a humble and hunched little wave. "I uh. came here to get a little potion advice, perhaps buy a few wares, but it seems my plans for the latter have, uh, shattered on the floor? Heh heh heh."

Tagan went scarlet. Apparently he didn't find the humor being injected into the situation funny.

"Well, I am certainly willing to help you, Sir Link, but. I'm afraid I have a few. small problems." He pointed down to Posie and Elaine.

Link followed the natural arrow down to the floor. "Oh! There you are. Do you know what a riot I raised trying to find you two? Look at your clothes! Elaine, you're wearing a white dress! Potions stain! Your father is going to kill me when he sees that you've ruined your best outfit, you know? And Posie! Your best tunic! Tsk, tsk." He clicked his tongue in disapproval. "Honestly, I would have expected better from both of you. Clothes can be replaced, but if you'd run when we were out in the wilds! There are things out there that would find you the perfect breakfast treat! If you're going to behave like this all the way, we might as well turn back this instant." He made curt gestures with his arms and hands, indicating the door.

"Ah. you know these children?"

"Yeah I know 'em. Little one's mine, Elaine is her buddy. I'm showin' 'em the ropes of my business, but all they've learned so far is not to bolt like they did, I hope."

Posie gulped.

"Hmm. They seem awfully young, don't you think? Not like I'm telling you how to raise your children or anything such, but, if I were you I'd wait a good five years."

Link made a satirical face. "Don't think I'd have the patience for that."

"Don't have the patience! Listen to you. The way you handled those two you must be kidding. You were firm and you certainly showed them who's who, but in your shoes I would have complete blown up! You barely fizzled."

"There's more than one kind of patience, Tagan. The kind that keeps your temper under control, and the kind that lets you wait. I'm completely lacking of the second."

Fifteen minutes later Link waved goodbye to the merchant, his remaining hand coiled around his backpack strap and Posie and Elaine returned to impressions of the living dead. A little wangling with the guard at the gates barring normal citizens from the volcano, and they were making the winding hike up the fiery mountain, the cliffs and ditches sculpted from hardened lava eons in the past. Though Hyrule's clocks only wound back 520 years, historians and theologians alike seemed to agree it was much older than that. The Great Fairies, elderly avatars of the Goddesses themselves, so it was said, claimed to be at least a million each. Atahl, a one-time guardian to hundreds of Kokiri, had recently celebrated his 10,872nd birthday, and if the fairy race was created at the same time as Hyrule, then something was amiss in the tally of the years of Ebridane.

Perhaps a bit of background history is in order here about Ebridane. Those who brought Hyrule to the world would have us believe the Three Golden Goddesses only created a land called Hyrule. But that is not true. In reality, they formed an entire continent dubbed Ebridane, which is located in the Indian Ocean and is slightly larger than Australia. Ah, but how come I've never seen it on a map, you say? Well, Ebridane is a very delicate land because it holds the only remnants of the precious force known as Magic. The ancient race of the Quentopi were adept in the use of this force, though it could not save them from being annihilated by a great meteor that fell from the sky into their society. Only their descendents; reptiles, birds and dragons exist today.

Now because the Goddesses created this land to house all remaining magic, it was very important it stayed magically pure. So a mist surrounds it-an invisible mist, but one that keeps all those who don't believe in magic from seeing, smelling, hearing, feeling and even tasting the place. Of course, the Ebridani are one up on much of today's nonmagic culture, for they can see the rest of the world, and have envoys in nearly every country except a few small territories. They blend in almost perfectly, except for their elongated ears which they must either hide with their hair or have surgically changed, usually by the occasional outworldly doctor who, in all their medical knowledge, somehow has room for belief in magic and knows that Ebridane is there. They've borrowed what inventions they can-light bulbs, telephones, gear mechanics and radio to name a few- but magic and electricity counteract each other badly, so it is difficult to work these contraptions. Currently, most technology cold be found in Koholint Island, which had the annoying habit of disappearing due to the fact it was mostly the fabrication of a restless whale deity closely related to Lord Jabu-Jabu of the Zoras, and Fungi Isle, which rested on the very limits and had the distinction of having almost completely different fauna from the rest of Ebridane, full use of electricity, and citizens that actually did not bear pointed ears. Koholint housed a few of its more curious creatures-walking mushrooms, snapping plants, phosphorescent squid and flying fish, and caterpillar-cacti. But that was about it.

And with "about its" on the mind, in the slowly(but not slowly enough) mounting sun, Posie and Elaine were getting rather fidgety as they trudged up the barren surface of stone, barely managing to struggle up to Link s the soles of their feet wore down and their rages warred up.

"I'm melting! When are we gonna reach Goron City? I want something to eat!"

"Soon enough, Posie, soon enough. We can have lunch as soon as we get there. Your mom was grateful enough to pack us plenty of food, and a good thing since Gorons eat rocks. Just keep trekking!" He looked over his shoulder to shout this at the girls, who were falling rather behind, and then turned back again to mutter at the road. Or as much of a road as there was-centuries of Gorons pounding down the slopes had worn down a fine, shiny path, but it was slick and slippery, and it was a long way down.

"Posie." Elaine's lanky arms dragged near the ground as she was bent almost double, panting like a dog and mopping her scarlet-brown bangs from her chestnut eyes. "I can't take much more of this insanity! Why did I agree to do this?"

"Umm. because you're my best friend and best friends always stick together?" Posie mumbled into the blank air, her expression granite. "Besides, you're not the one lugging an extra eight pounds of metal with you. I'm starting to think all this equipment is useless-after all, we've been up here for hours and we haven't seen a single."

A leather thong swished, a long shaft of wood with a sharp metal tip whistled, and something squealed with a warbling, squeakish voice. Caught in mid-pounce from the cliffside, a four-legged, box-shaped insect, with one glowing red eye and a rusty, scaly exoskeleton, plummeted to the canyon floor and spasmed madly before it stilled with a sick crunch of its flailing limbs.

"Tektite," mumbled Link, who could flare from a passive, loving gentleman to an aggressive, hardened warrior in less time than it took a nanosecond to wink. He concealed his bow behind his pack and walked up to the carcass of the spider-creature, where he hauled it from the gross corpse, covered in stick purple fluid. Posie and Elaine watched in disgust, fighting back the natural urge to cry out exactly what was on their minds: "Ewwwwwwwww!"

He admired the arrow, twirling it around in his fingers like it was a rod of gold. "See what I mean about the things out here? And let that be a lesson to you both. That thing nearly jumped me. Tektites are one of the things out there that aren't quite smart enough to form intricate plans and ideas of good an evil for themselves, but have just that sliver of a mind enough to be swayed into doing the dirty work of whoever wants to exploit them. Mind, some choose our side-I met a guy once who kept one for a pet. But those that go bad go bad. You get it?"

Posie's face was nearly the same shade as the cleaner parts of her tunic, but she nodded. Elaine was too busy massaging her stomach.

"I always speak too soon," said the little blonde girl sickly as she stiffly began after her father again.

"Please don't speak at all; then I get obliged to reply and I feel like if I open my mouth one more time, I'm gonna hurl-" -then she closed her face with two twisted pink zipper lips.

"Maybe I don't have the stomach for this business," Posie mumbled.

Elaine glared at her darkly.

The single red specimen hadn't been the only Tektite to ambush them up the polished path. No less than four other of the creeping pseudo-arachnids hopped up-or rather, down-from the most peculiar places. One more tried the cliffside, two more were tucked inside wilting ferns that had sprouted up on small ledges, and the fourth somehow wedged itself into a tiny crevice even too small for Posie. Horrified, she gazed grimly transfixed as Link ran them all through with the same ugly mauve arrow, while Elaine's weakening constitution had taken all it could handle. She jerked her head away whenever Link drew his bowstring and quickly fixed her attention on the sky, lazily(and desperately) watching a pair of oddly disfigured birds glide and swoop above. She blinked as she thought she saw a dark oval shape plummet through the heavens, but in an instant it was gone, and there were only the birds again, one apparently squawking at the other. C'est la vi.

Posie was so disconcerted that she ran smack-dab into a fair sized boulder straight in the middle of her path as she attempted to leave the repulsive cadaver of another felled Tektite behind her. Her "Oohk!" as she stumbled was enough to make Elaine and Link circle about behind them as she dizzily wove back, vision fuzzy, then shook her head to clear her line of site and set rite her swimming senses.

The "boulder" she'd collided with was a curious one-it had the right texture to be sure, but it was a completely different color from the rest of the landscape. While the stone she stood upon was a strange gray- brown-black hybrid, this was the golden brown of a freshly baked pie. And though it looked rough from afar, she found, when she cautiously approached and put a hand up to the rounded side, that it felt soft, leathering, and. warm.

A strange, deep rumbling gurgled from somewhere beneath the stone, and suddenly a pointed head capped in gray, with long, muscled lips and limpid blue eyes, vaulted up from it sleep and gave a sepulchral giggle. "Hey, that tickles! Stop it!"

Posie was frozen by the creature's cerulean gaze for a moment, then she threw up her arms in front of her, bent back, and shrieked. She seemed reluctant to turn her back on the rock that had just come to life in front of her, but nevertheless she did so without hesitation and tripped and scrambled to get away as fast as she could.

"Hey! Hey! Where you goin'?" The creature had limbs that almost seemed too skinny to support its weight, but it pulled its burlesque self to comically large feet and lumbered slowly after the vainly fleeing child and grabbed her by the back of her collar and spun her around, panting.

"Get away from me!" Posie took a few steps backward, hit her heel on a pebble, and fell.

"Well what did I do?" The miffed sandstone man put his lean hands on his portly hips, cocking his head to examine the pygmy girl and squinting his eyes as if trying to probe into her mind. "Geez, are all you humans born that small or are you just an exception?"

The thick mucus sliding down her throat made it hard to catch a decent breath and reply. "E-e-exception."

"Heh, figures. Mah uncle's the only other human I ever met, and he's only half as big as Dad! I'm named after my uncle, you know. He and I are both heroes, you know that too?"

Posie rapidly shook her head. All she knew about Gorons was that they were huge and ate rocks, but she'd never actually seen one before. So naturally, she had no idea what she was looking at.

"That figures too. Well, nice to meet you, Mr. Human. Or are you a Miss Human? Dang, I have no idea how to tell what gender you guys are." He scratched his head. "My dad would know though-he knows all about humans. Well, my name's Link. And yours would be.?"

"L-L-Link? B-b-but that's my d-d-daddy's name."

"Daddy? Wait a rock pickin' second. your name's Posie, isn't it? Isn't it?! Hey, I know who you are! You're my cousin, my Uncle Link's daughter. Aren't I right?"

"Umm. your daddy is named Darunia, right? Then. I guess so. but. Daddy?"

"Way ahead of you, sweetheart." Link was now fleetly striding down the treacherous slope, never once loosing his footing to the almost glasslike surface of the slim walkway. The Goron Link thunderously took several rumbling steps just to turn around, then took a deep breath and made a "gron" sound deep in his throat.

"Hey Uncle Link, whatcha doing all the way up here? And why didja bring your kid? And. woah, who's that one? Wait, don't tell me. female, right?"

Link pulled a squirrelly smile. "Um, yeah. You got it. Right. Hey, the trio of us were just heading up the volcano, and we were wondering if it'd be too much of a bother if we could, you know, stop by the city and all on our way. That fine?"

"Sure; you know Dad lets just about anybody into the city these days. if they can make it up here, they're obviously good with the Royal Family, so they're alright, yes? Hmmm. but, you know."

"What?"

"Well, the other day a really freaky looking bunch- they might have been humans, but I'm not gonna count on it-stopped by here the other day demanding to search the city. They had huge eyes, wore funky purple cloaks, and not to mention those noses! They were all green, like frogs. Got into a fight with Dad when he wouldn't let 'em in-one of 'em flung some strange clear stuff at him that looked like a rock, but when I got up to touch it, it was REALLY cold and it. turned into something that looked like lava, but was see-through and stung to the touch. Eventually they left, though. Said they didn't find anything. And good riddance-I didn't like them one bit!"

The "strange clear stuff" Goron Link spoke of sounded like ice, which explained why it puzzled him. There was none on the ever- blazing Death Mountain. But a froggish creature that threw ice? Perfectly senseless. And what would it want in Goron City? Apparently nothing, Link's namesake had said they hadn't found anything. but for some reason, he was strangely suspicious. those frog-things, whatever they were, could have been looking for something there was plenty of in the City, something they could take without anyone noticing. Like stone, or sand, or lava or ash. But what would they want with any of THOSE things? Stone was only useful for making tools, but you could get it anywhere, along with sand. Lava was too hot to move, especially for something specializing in ice. And unless you were a desperate soap maker, what on earth could you do with ash.?

Link shook his head. No point in letting his mind wander, it could get lost. Besides, the young Goron was probably exaggerating-he could do that at times, though he really was a good kid at heart. "Well, thanks anyway, but we've really gotta be going now. See you soon, nephew Link. Posie? Elaine? Come along."

"Hmmm. I'm a tad suspicious, Link."

Navi buzzed in his ear again.

"Suspicious? Suspicious of what?"

"Well. a green thing with big eyes, a big nose, and that throws ice? Doesn't that sound just a bit shady to you?"

"Whaaaat? You've lost me, Navi. Go bug the kids if you're so bent on teaching them about Hyrule, anyway."

Navi sighed to herself at Link's thick-headedness, and fluttered back to where Posie and Elaine paced away from the waving Goron- Link.

"Hey, what's with the Glowball?"

"And that will be enough of that, miss Parkerstine, for I'll have you know that I, Navi, will be your guide throughout this little trip, and I will personally take the liberty of teaching the two of you when to look but not to touch, so you'd better listen or else you'll get digested!" The plucky little fay hovered inches in front of Elaine's face, though she was hardly still as she had to constantly skitter backwards so she didn't slam into a nose like a fly to the front of a carriage. Not far enough apparently, as Elaine's speedy hand whisked up to try and smack the tweedling speck out of the air.

"I oughta clip your wings."

"Hmmph! Such aggression, young lady! I ought to tell your father!"

"Go ahead, tell 'im! Fifteen seconds of listening to that awful tilted voice of yours is enough to make anybody want to squash you!"

"Aww, cut it out, both of you." Posie snarled first to the pinioned pyre and then to the choleric child, hand behind her back and threateningly on her blade's hilt. "'Lane, I've put up with Navi twenty- four seven times fifty-two times five, in case you haven't forgotten, and I haven't tried to kill her once. Threatened to maybe, but even so, daddy would kill me afterwards! She's a part of the family, after all. though to be honest, I much prefer Atahl."

"That's because Atahl lets you get away with things you aren't supposed to, urchin," scolded Navi. "And even without his egging I'd bet you'd still be an awful pill. I don't know who causes more trouble, you or him!" She had bolted from Elaine's face to Posie's side, much to Posie's distaste. The two of them had always gotten on bitterly.

"Need I remind you, Miss Perfection, that it was not he or I but you who tried to heal that Deku Scrub with some of Mommy's herbs and ended up getting it utterly stoned? As in, volcanic granite?"

"Well ex-CUUUUSE me, but I didn't know they were enchanted laurels intended to protect houses!"

Lass and fairy never ran out of things to argue about for all the rest of the hike up, Elaine injecting occasionally with her eyewitness reports and Link looking over his shoulder by the bye to grouse at them to stop arguing(which never worked). It managed to keep Elaine and Posie's minds of the heat and the soreness inside their shoes, but then again it had them catfighting constantly in the chicken-like manner that was, if at all possible, ten times worse than the original, moaning "I'm melting!" Link wanted to plug his ears with corks to shut out the sound, but, he reminded himself, he had to keep alert. No telling what lurked on these mountains. Tektites, Dodongo, ghosts. well, so the ghosts weren't all that bad. Though there were so darn many of them it was unsettling: the volcano claimed a lot of unwary victims. Albeit one of those victims had been stabbed in the chest first before being tossed into the lava by a cruelly laughing former friend-but that was a completely different story altogether. And that same one had been brought back to life once by a spell writ to break the curse that bound a ghost to the place of its death. There were also traces of his spirit lingering inside a burned-out mansion in the middle of an even more blackened forest. And it couldn't be forgotten.

"Hey, look at that! Wow, is that the way in to the Goron place?"

Link had been so spaced out thinking of the puzzling life-and death-of his father that he hadn't the cavernous entrance to the Goron City looming ahead in the distance and stopped short his train of thought. Elaine's outburst was a pleasantly happy cheer among a village full of cantankerous cursing, and the gateway a welcome oasis in the broiled obsidian. Link clothed himself in an almost absurdly silly face, biting his tongue and raising his face so it looked like he had only half as much eye. And he was tickled pink that the journey so far had been so breezy and tidy-well, except for the morning's incident with the potion shop and a few Tektites, but nothing major. Now all he had to do was wheedle a pair of child-sized Goron tunics from his Sworn Brother and the gang would be all set for a bit of sizzling spelunking!

Speaking of sizzling, what was that smell?!

"Oh gross! Something really stinks!" Posie's voice was constricted; clearly she was holding her nose.

"Ahh, I really have, sniff, no idea, huff, what it is," ad libbed Link, caught with egg on his face and without a few handy words. Egg.? Yes, rotten eggs. That was that smell! But a Cucco, on Death Mountain? But the only other thing that smelt so strongly of rotten eggs that wasn't rotten eggs was sulfur, and Goron City was much too far from the main cinder cone of the volcano for a stench that powerful to permeate all the way down here. But then again, there were Dodongos.! Dodongos were based on sulfur rather than carbon, and could be found en masse on the lower levels of the mountainside. Even young Dodongos, which frequently exploded when they died, left a powerful reek in the air from the dusty yellow ashes of their combusted bodies. But the big ones were worse, because they carried decay as well as the slowly burning fire of sulfur within them. So, the logical answer was, dead Dodongo. But since when did Gorons get brave enough to tackle the wingless dragons on their own?

As it turned out though, it was sulfur, and an awful stinking lot of it. Apparently it was the limburger cheese of the Goron world. A huge mound of the crystals were mounded in the huge pit in the middle of the city, with round, froggish Gorons pacing to and fro to the heap and back, grabbing and snacking on the yellow mineral. The pungent aroma was overpowering to the three humans, who were all respectively holding their noses.

"Gross! Reeks worse than the fish market back at Grandma's old town. What's that yellow stuff they're eating?!"

"Uggh, smells like rotten eggs! Hey, I thought your grandma was dead."

"She is, you twit, but that doesn't mean the whole place died with her!"

"Enough arguing, girls," Link whined through his mouth as his fingers pinched shut his nostrils. "Those are sulfur crystals. Wonder where they got those from; I though most Gorons were afraid to venture into the volcano."

"Most of us, but we didn't have to. those freaks tried to butter my people up with rare delicacies to try and gain entry, but still I wouldn't let them! They forced their way in but didn't take anything. and they left the food. It doesn't seem to be poisoned, so I figure we might as well indulge ourselves. What ho, Brother!"

The earth trembled with the mighty voice of a creature so gigantic that even Randy Parkerstine would feel dwarfed by his presence, and to the girls, Posie even more especially than Elaine, he was a mountain of leathery, nut-brown flesh, a shock of spiky sand-colored hair, and towering muscular limbs that could easily heave small boulders about. They possessed what would be the strength of an average man donning the magical armlets known as Golden Gauntlets, which would give them the power to lift and heave spectacular columns of granite twenty feet high around twice their length. More powerful than a double-powered Power Bracelet, but a bit weaker than Power Gloves. It all fell gracefully into a form-fit niche in the magical hierarchy of strength-boosters.

Posie felt the gigantic shadow fall over her head before she saw the man-beast that created it, for he had slyly sidestepped right behind the three of them and in front of the door. His domed face had a sly grin hewn from his unusually thin lips, his dark eyes craftily analyzing the two unfamiliars stuck like steamed rice to the almost-family. The one right in front of him. unusually long limbs, cropped red-brown hair, similar eyes and a white dress. hrumph. He hadn't a clue in the Dark World who she could have been. But that other one, sickeningly cute with such large blue eyes and baby-fragile blonde hair-yet dragonly daring, toting about a miniature sword and shield. And who else-besides a rabid fanatic-would wear the same sort of Kokirish tunic?

Link seemed to forget entirely that the room stank and he released his nose from their vice, turning round to see his old friend with outstretched arms. "Darunia!" he exclaimed, jogged around the girls, and flung himself as best he could around the bulging torso of the portly-yet brawny-Golem of flesh. Of course, being hugged back was a different matter entirely, which was why it way important to pull back as soon as possible because no Goron could resist a good hug, no laughing matter considering the horsepower packed into their arms. Darunia did look disappointed. Link looked relieved.

"Heh. Brother. It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Several years. Not since the little Wizrobe incident."

"Yeah. not since the Wizrobe incident." For having been the one to plan the meeting, Link was remarkably at a loss for words. And Darunia, who hadn't been expecting him at all, was as fully articulate as always. Perhaps one of the perks of being leader was learning how to be a good impromptu speaker. "Ssssso. How's it been, eh?" Link pulled his hands against his sides and flexed open and closed his fists, like he was trying to grab Darunia's words out of the thin air into which he breathed them.

"Oh, so-so. We've given a little, taken a little, put up with the rain up here at times. rejoiced as dark clouds have passed. The only things worth noting have been with Biggoron finally making a pair of safety glasses big enough for him to wear and of course, them."

"Them?"

"Ah, blasted hags. Would you believe those terrible Dragmire sisters had the nerve to show up here the other day? You know, the ones who call themselves Twinrova?"

"Twinrova! Foul creatures!" Link's face imploded as if he'd just scarfed a dozen lemon candies. "Your son mentioned that a couple of what he called 'frog-like things' showed up but I never would have suspected those two!" Navi rolled her eyeballs. "What'd they want anyway? Link mentioned something about searching the city."

"They wanted to get in. said they'd repented and turned over a new leaf, and wanted to show us just how good they were by walking freely among the city and not harming a soul. Didn't believe that Moblin-wash for a second! Then they tried bribery. sulfur is a rare treat for my people. Tried salt, too. We like it just as much as you humans do. Though we'd never bother using it for money. But I still said no, so that one of 'em blasted me with ice and forced her way in. In about an hour she came back, holding a jar. it wasn't one of ours, but I don't remember her having it when she first came. Then she and her sister left. Nobody was missing, nobody hurt, nothing stolen. I could have been wrong, I guess, but still. I'm suspicious. What do you and your senses say, Link?"

"I'd say something fishy is up, alright, and those two are just plotting. Trying to make themselves look good. But I wouldn't worry too much. With Ganon dead and gone, the power of evil in Hyrule is about ninety-nine point nine percent less potent. And don't even get me started on Veran, Onox, Agahime, the Nightmares. they're has-beens."

"The world is in safe hands with you as its champion, Link," Darunia chuckled. "Who knows, perhaps Hyrule may even have two saviors!"

It was Link's turn to laugh. "Yeah, in another hundred years. Only one Hero of Time per century, remember?"

"Maybe," mused Darunia placidly, "But. nobody ever said anything about Heroine of Time, did they?" His eyes drifted blissfully down to a stunned Posie, whose mouth had been agape as she listened to the fascinating exchange between her father and her "uncle." "I think your little one here-no offence, kid-has the same fighting spirit in her you have. I can see it in those scheming eyes. Oh, does she ever have your eyes!"

"Uhhh...." Posie was a tad unsure of how to act. Did she act cute, saying, "Izzat s'pposed to be a compliment, mister?" or did she act more like her real self, saying, "Well gee, thanks, but I've heard it a million times before"? This was supposed to be a friend of her father's.who obviously knew who she was. so it was probably a good idea to protect his rep, and hers at that. She opted for the second.

Darunia bemusedly contemplated her reply. "And your cheek, it appears. Has she been training long or is this a recent engagement of hers?"

"Well, roughly since you and I last met, which could be recent or whilesome depending on whose time frame you tally it from. Three years is an awful lot of time to a child," he sighed. "But to me, it's fairly recent. Even more recent to you. Those I'll tell you, she's awfully good. Now she's got her own little sword and everything. Don't tell her I said this, but it makes her look so darn cute!" he whispered to Darunia, who gave a small, belly-chuckle.

"I think if there was meant to be a Heroine of Time, Posie would certainly be it! With your blood, and a Sage's, no less, I can imagine no one more qualified, with a proper bit of training! I can easily see her just as famous in the future as you are right now... a Hero to top all Heroes!" Darunia's voice was full of earnest confidence.

"Much to her dismay," Link mumbled. "She hates fame. Wars with it like a Zora with a Gerudo. Besides... I hardly think I'm anything compared with the Heroes of Time of the past. Like Titan Paulat. If you want my opinion, he was the greatest Hero of Time there ever was. As some say these days... he had 'mad skills.'"

"'Mad skills!'" Darunia scoffed. "So maybe he stopped a couple of civil wars of olden times and was the guardian and mentor to the first King... did he ever save THE entire world, and I mean Ebridane and everything beyond it, from the grip of an evil pig sorcerer, or re-align the seasons, or travel to the future and back to free the world from a malicious curse only to be returned to the body of a child with nobody except his two best friends and a couple of strange lunatic beings who practically worshiped him? No Hero's ever done all the things you have! Why do you think you're so famous?"

"'Cuz I got lucky," and soon the both of them were laughing and slapping their thighs and holding their faces and enjoying each other's company again like the old friends they were. The girls, who had watched, but not heard much, looked on bewilderedly having assumed them both to have spontaneously gone crazy. Link's many appurtenances were clanking and rattling as he shook, creating a racketing clamor that surprisingly left most of the Gorons unfazed. Elaine swung her finger in a circle about the side of her head, and the lopsided motion acting alongside her tripped grin had Posie smiling broadly and sunnily. She pinched her eyes shut tight so she wouldn't wobble apart as well.

Darunia wiped an absurd tear from his eye with a massive finger and bit his own tongue to stop himself from trembling. His foot- stamping was carrying on through the cavernous mountainside, after all. "Kuha! Well, this has been a pleasant meeting, after all. But seriously. Is there anything in particular you were after, in coming up this way?"

"Oh! Right!" Link put his hand up behind his head and grimaced stupidly. He had completely forgotten about what he'd come up here to ask about! "Well, you know, we're on this adventure, see..."

Link proceeded to explain to Darunia that the three of them were hunting for the Scholar's Tomb atop the icy Mt. Ipanajou, in which they believed the ancient relic known as the Sword of Obedience was housed. He explained how Posie was troubled by her inability to perform the spinning slash, who Elaine was and why she was there, and Saria's rigmarole on ev-ry-thing they were to do until they were able to return home. The day ere, Posie, feet feeling several hundred degrees below zero in her boots, had made a quip about "likely cutting more grass than beast hide" once she had finally acquired the knack for this Blade technique. It had been a last ditch effort to avoid going, one that failed miserably. She could feel the pit of her stomach hit rock bottom when the wisecrack hadn't served her. Now it was beginning to dig as Link asked if it was possible to borrow a set of Goron tunics so that her and Elaine would be able to accompany him into the volcano.

Darunia held his bristly chin as he pondered this request. "I think I just may have one in Elaine's size, but it's old-can't remember for the life of me why I ever had it made. But Posie, on the other hand, well... that may just be a bit more of a problem. Though I'll tell you, It'll probably do those girls some good to get out of what they're wearing now. What happened to them, anyway? Did they fall into a rainbow-berry bush?"

"Long story," said Link with his palm halfway cupped around his mouth. "To make it short, BASH, CRASH and of course SMASH. Tagan equals angry, potion shop equals destroyed and the girls equal soaked. Look, just lead the way to your room, will you? Posie and Elaine are getting antsy back there."

This was only halfway true, as the reality was Posie and Elaine were trying to giggle as quiet as they could as they each pulled funny impressions of the bumbling grown-ups who talked in whispers and were so insistent on reminiscing on silly things and people of the past. A soul could only take so much of a little girl parading about with her chest out, waving a sword and saying, in a deep, raspy voice, "Take that, Moblin muck!" before it said to itself, hey, that's amusing, and started to chortle.

"Fine then, let's get a move on," mumbled Darunia. "Come along, girls, it's a bit of a trek down to my room. We've got to descend into the belly of the cavern, and as you can see, that's a long way down."

Elaine gulped and peered cautiously at the unguarded precipice, save for a few stringent ropes that warily suspended a waning wooden platform. "Gulp... ya mean, we're gonna go down in there?"

"She's kinda claustrophobic," hastily explained Posie.

"Aww, it's an open top! What are you worrying about? It gets smaller as you go down, not bigger! The walls aren't going to collapse on you!"

"Pipe down Navi," and Elaine sniggered coyly when Link and Posie both instinctively snapped back at the fairy retort in unison.



"So, Brother. Pick up any good gossip lately? Maybe something down at Kakariko Pub..."

"Aww, Darunia," Link flushed, "you know I never listen to, phesh, gossip-half of it is about me anyway! Can't keep up with the stuff anyway. I try to go, pari passu-and if I try to bring something up, the ladies give me the litany on talking about last week's news. Why do you ask? I mean, the girls probably know more than I do, seeing as kids, well, you know, mouths at sixty miles per hour. Get it? Sixty miles, sixty minutes, mile a minute... ehh heh."

A big, pudgy, Goron grin replied, "And I see your attempts at humor are still as sour as ever. It's better than the famed 'ghost jar' incident, but-"

"Goddesses, must you remind me? I get a guilt trip every time I think of it. Worst joke I ever made; 'just trying to keep my spirits up,' and really... Can we pick a new subject? Why did you ask me about gossip?!?!"

"Oh, clues. As to what Twinrova could be up to. You never know. I've seen Moblins pop up there before, and them typically being either in league with those two bug-eyed hacks or mercenary, well... maybe they know what's going on?"

"Naw, Koume and Kotake are too smart to go telling their plans to a bunch of toadies. Besides, you try getting even a smidgen of information off a drunken Moblin!"

"Fair point. I've seen those disgusting pigs churl more ale in one night than a whole army can in a week, and even that only begins to toy with their thinking. It's why I never hire them to guard the city even when the offer... moreover, they'd probably be spying. And why don't you drop that heavy backpack and let me carry it? It must weigh such an awful lot to your body; you'll throw out your spine in a couple of days even as it were!"

The wicked steps jutting out from the floors and tunnels that zigzagged down and up, left and right were enough to slice even the best leather boots into strips of furred leather in no time. Unless, of course, they'd been pretreated and doused in a pool of forest magic beforehand. But that didn't stop Posie's feet from dancing in red flames as she laboriously crawled up stair after stair. Day one, barely ten 'o clock, and she already had blisters on her feet. In the dry, parched conditions that smothered the mountain, aloe plants should have been a staple shrub, but the soil, where there was any, was far too rocky and hard for even the desert weed's hardy roots to crumble through. And Link thought she was only getting lessons from him. Well, he didn't know that she'd been keeping a close eye and spongy mind on Saria's potions-brewing! There were far too many complicated recipes, requiring adequate motions of the hand and corresponding magic tweaks, for her to remember them all, but simpler mixtures Posie had written by rote on a notepad in her head. Aloe was excellent for soothing blisters, insect bites, and burns just by itself, she proudly remembered. If she could just get her hands on something for her howling hooves...

"How much farther, Uncle Darunia?" she questioned.

"We're about three fourths of the way down, kid, so hold your horses. We'll be there soon enough. Say... speaking of horses, Link..."

"I've decided I'm not going to take the risk." Like any old friend, Link was an ace at filling in the blanks Darunia finished his sentences. "Epona's a good old horse, and ever faithful, but she's fourteen now, which is about middle age for a horse. We're going over and up mountains, you know! Not even, say, Terut would be up to a glacial cap swarming with Freezzard and Wolfos and heaven knows what else. And he's ten years younger than her. It's not much of a place for any horse, really. So I won't chance either of them getting seriously hurt."

"And you're worried about the horses..."

********************************

"Gah-a! This thing is itchy!"

"Well, Elaine," Link said calmly, "it's got Dodongo skin woven in among the fabric, which is very very rough. But if it wasn't there, these clothes wouldn't protect you from heat. And without that defense, you can't go into Death Mountain Crater, can you?"

"Death Mountain Crater? Whoever said I wanted in?"

Posie was silent, but judging by the way she constantly tugged at her collar and discreetly scratched her back, she agreed wholeheartedly. It had been just her luck that the Goron Chieftess was a collectors of dolls, and one of them just happened to have a genuine Goron tunic for an outfit. Elaine looked silly out of her dress, but at least she was clean. Darunia held their soiled clothes draped over his arm, where they could properly dry(without sweaty bodies to hinder the process) before they asked the Great Fairy for use of her cleansing fountain. It was easy to get the feeling she didn't like to give away its use for tasks as trivial as washing clothes, but potion stains could be awfully stubborn...

"I'll face my fears, I'll face my fears, I'll face-"

"Hmmm?"

"Eheheh, nothing," mumbled Elaine to herself followed by what sounded like a "shoot." "I'm just gonna go explore the lower level now, if that's alright. And Posie's coming with me, right, Pose?"

Posie looked a little blank, not having recalled discussing any such plans, until Elaine hissed into her ear, "I need you for moral support." Then, for reasons which neither Link or Darunia could fathom, her mouth ringed in an "O" of recognition and she began to nod. "Yeah, right. That OK, Daddy?"

"Fine," sighed Link, and he took their clothes and his own(he, too, had changed into more heat-suitable wear) from their muscular rack. "I'll be in here. You know which doors are which. And stay on the lower level!"

"Kids," he laughed to himself as they scurried off to wonder in the pit of the city, no matter how bad it smelled. "I just hope they don't cause any trouble."

HISS.

"You brats! What are you doing?! Didn't your mommies ever tell you not play with-"

KABOOM!

BASH! CRASH! SMASH!

"It was an accident!"

The winded Goron puffed a damaged little bit of smoke before he choked and collapsed.

What was the point in hoping they wouldn't be a pain to the locals when it was their natural lot in life as kindergartners? Link took a heavy whiff of the smoky air. "Sorry, Dari, but I'm afraid there are a couple of Bomb Flowers out there that need a quick replanting..."