The next morning rose bright and early. The sun poured into the window and found the children snoring gently into one another. Surprising to both of them, Link was the first to arise. Usually it took a few whaps to the head for him to wake up.
"We need to go!" Navi squeaked, flitting about their heads impatiently. "We must speak to the princess! Princess Zelda needs to speak with us!"
"Yes, Navi, we know," Sakina was unusually grouchy at this time of the morning. Both children were hungry and wandered downstairs quickly, hoping to find some food. They found some cold soup on the stove and a loaf of bread. They didn't eat too much and left still hungry. There still was no one at the ranch as far as they could see. They left about ten minutes after they had arisen, hearts pounding anxiously, unsure what to expect for their next adventure.
Hyrule Market was a busy place, crowded with people buying and selling, running and laughing, crying and screaming. It was as though their heads might pop with the activity. Link and Sakina grasped the other by the hand for fear of getting lost. Their eyes were wide as they looked all over the place. A girl chasing a dog nearly bowled them over.
"Watch it!" She scolded them, and continued her attempt.
Sakina frowned and shook her head.
"Where are we going?" Link asked in a low voice.
Sakina shrugged and looked around the noisy streets. She pulled Link along with her and tugged on a beefy man's sleeve.
"Excuse me, sir," Sakina started respectfully, "but can you tell us…."
"No time, you pesky kid! No time!" He bounded off, glaring at her from over his shoulder.
"Jeez," Sakina frowned. She spotted a girl her age leaning against the wall humming a tune to herself. The red-head was smiling pleasantly but looked somewhat bored too. Sakina and Link started towards her. Link let go of Sakina's hand, not wanting to look afraid in front of this pretty little girl. Sakina didn't even notice. "Hi," she started.
"Hey!" The girl grinned brightly at her. "My name's Malon!"
"My name's Sakina, this is Link," she motioned to her silent, blonde companion. "We were wondering if you could help us."
"Sure!"
"We were wondering how to get to the castle…." Sakina looked anxiously at the red-head.
"Right this way… come with me!" Malon led them through a pass and out into a courtyard. At the end of it stood a gate guarded by a knight. Malon looked at him and looked as though she were off in a fantasy world at once and started humming again. Sakina followed Malon, staring at her unsurely. "Oh, and if you're going to the castle…." Malon snapped out of her reverie.
"Yes?"
"My father, Talon, is in there. I think he may have fallen asleep." Malon's eyes looked smilingly at Sakina. "Hey! You're a forest girl! Where's your fairy? She turned and saw Navi floating overhead. "Oh, well… do you share a fairy?" She asked Link.
Sakina shrugged, not feeling like saying that she didn't have one. Malon was a bit of an odd one, but perhaps it was something that happened outside of the forest.
"Well, anyway, if you see him, could you wake him up? Just slap him on the face and tell him it's from me. We need to get back to the ranch. Mr. Ingo can be silly with the horses."
"Oh!" Sakina blushed. She and Link exchanged sideways glances, not wanting to say anything about staying at their ranch. "Sure. We'll find him for you."
"Kay!" Malon smiled. "I'll be out in the market!" She wandered off, humming the same tune.
"She's a funny one." Sakina mentioned awhile after.
Link nodded, watching the pretty red-head as she left.
Sakina raised her eyebrows but didn't say anything. She pushed Link towards the gate.
"Excuse me, sir," she spoke to the knight in an official tone, feeling a bit affronted at Link nearly ignoring her.
"Yes, ma'am?" The knight smiled down at her.
"We need to see Princess Zelda. It's urgent."
"Haha!" The knight laughed. "Sorry, no visitors."
"But…."
"Sorry, little miss. I just can't let every kid in that wants to see her."
"But…." Sakina was blushing angrily now.
"Go on now. Your mother will be missing you."
"This is important!" Sakina stamped her foot. Navi was flying around the two children's head impatiently.
"Go." The knight waved a hand.
"Ugh!" She spun on her heel and stormed off, tears of frustration brimming in her eyes. Link hurried after her.
"Kina," Link tugged on her sleeve.
"What?" She turned to him, lower lip trembling.
"We can still get in," Link said slowly.
"How?"
He pointed to the hill above their heads and the vines trailing upwards.
"Oh,"
Link started climbing first and got all the way up. Sakina followed soon after. They stood at the top of the hill and trekked carefully across. There was a guard at the other side.
"Now what?" Sakina whispered.
Link got down and crawled towards a ladder which led into the garrison. Sakina was beginning to feel a bit better. Link managed to find a path that weaved through the guards without getting them caught. Sakina watched butterflies flit about them and the flowers on the ground. The trees made her feel a little more at home. Then their path ended at the moat.
"We'll have to jump in." Link said hesitantly.
"Okay," Sakina slid in first, wanting to make up for her unhappy behavior earlier. Link followed soon after. She welcomed the water flowing about her and making her forest tunic cling to her form again. She swam quite easily, occasionally surfacing for a controlled breath. She looked behind her and saw Link splashing almost noisily. After they had gotten far enough around, they climbed out. Sakina gave Link a hand out. They sat on the ground, drying out. Sakina squeezed her two braids and shook her head, spraying the ground with water. Link removed his cap and shook his own hair out. They looked at one another and giggled. He put his cap back on and they stood.
"Look at your butt-print," he pointed.
"Yeah, yours is bigger though."
"Is not!"
"Is too!"
Their joking argument was interrupted by a loud snore. They walked carefully over and saw a man sleeping on the ground.
"Talon?" Sakina spoke near his face. He didn't respond. Sakina poked him and repeated his name. Finally she slapped him rudely across the face, sincerely hoping that this was Talon and not some other man.
"HUH!? What in TARNATION!?" He sat up, knocking Sakina back onto her butt.
"Are you Talon?" Sakina asked, rubbing her butt.
"Yes?" He contracted his eyebrows.
"That was from Malon." Sakina said.
"Oh, I'll bet she's angry at me! Ooh, am I gonna get it from her!" He stood up. "Thanks a bunch!" And he ran off, arms waving over his head. Sakina got the impression of a wild moose tearing through the forest, if there weren't any trees in the forest and a moose wore a pair of overalls. She shook her head.
Link was pulling a box, to her surprise, towards the water.
"What are you doing?"
He just grunted and pushed it in and climbed up.
"Come on,"
Sakina didn't argue and took his hand. He pulled her up, with assistance from her scrambling legs. There was a hole in the wall, a steady flow of water coming through. Soon after Link crawled through, Sakina was through as well.
They emerged inside of the castle in a pool. As far as they could see there were no guards. For awhile, at any rate. It was about half an hour until they managed to sneak past the rest of the guards and finally get into the courtyard.
"Gemini's toothache!" Sakina cursed as they arrived in the courtyard. "This Zelda girl had better listen to us because that took too much of my life."
Link laughed and then they saw a girl looking through a window, completely oblivious to the goings-on behind her. Link and Sakina approached cautiously, skirting around the flowers. They started up the stairs and then Navi flew forward and squeaked a hello at the girl.
The girl turned around, blue eyes wide and her hand shot to her mouth in terror.
"Who… who are you?"
"Are you Princess Zelda?" Sakina asked bluntly. The girl nodded. "Well, this is my friend Link and he has some important stuff to tell you."
Link blushed, half-hoping that Sakina would take care of business like she usually did.
"Well… um… we have the Kokiri emerald…."
"Oh!" Princess Zelda smiled broadly and clapped her hands together. She went on to tell the duo about some dreams she had been having about riding away from the castle, on a horse and there would be a boy… Link, actually, standing there with…. "You,"
"Me?" Sakina was aghast.
"Yes, two Kokiri children! It was always after Ganondorf took over…."
"The man with evil eyes?" Link asked quickly.
"Yes, you have seen him too?"
Link nodded.
"Well, I haven't," Sakina quickly jumped back in, feeling left out.
"Look… through there…." Zelda guided Sakina with a patient hand towards the window through which she watched. She looked through and saw a handsome, lean man. His hair was a dark red color, darker than Malon's and his face was sharply arranged. He turned to face Sakina, and when she saw the mulberry color of his eyes and how the flashed at her, her heart turned and tried to flee from her ribcage. She fell backwards, face blanched from terror.
"He looked… straight at me!" Sakina whispered.
Princess Zelda nodded at her. "I think he's trying to take over the kingdom… actually… all of Hyrule." She went on to describe the Triforce to the terrified Sakina and perplexed Link.
"Wow. How would he get that?"
"I don't know, but we have to stop him. Will you help me?" Zelda's eyes pleaded with them.
Link and Sakina didn't even hesitate to nod.
"Thank you both so much!" She beamed. "You need to get the other stones. One of fire and one of water. Here, I'll write you a note to get you into the Goron city." The princess pulled a pen and paper out of her robes and began to write. "And we can't have you getting into trouble with the guards… Impa will take you."
Link and Sakina were greeted by a tall, muscular Sheikah with white hair and yellow eyes. It was with her that they learned the royal family's song and with her that they traveled to Kakariko Village for the first time.
Equipped with a new shield, the two friends set off the trail to Goron City. They had been in the village for long enough to know that it was lazy and half-built. Fat, hairy and sweaty men ran around shirtless pretending to do work. Manly women stoked at fires and a weird lady with a cuccoo allergy worked with cuccoos.
"That's one whacky place," Sakina grinned as they walked up Death Mountain Trail.
"Yeah, I don't like it much."
"Really?"
"The bearded-ladies scared me." Link admitted.
Sakina giggled. "Do we know why Impa had a cow in her house, by any chance?"
"No." Link laughed. They stopped in mid-laugh as something huge with too many legs pounced at them. Sakina followed Link's lead and removed her weapon. She was carrying the Deku shield now and he was using the Hylian shield. They blocked themselves and jabbed at the green-blooded tektite in terror. It died soon afterwards, burning up in green flame.
Link and Sakina stared wide-eyed at the other and in a silent agreement, ran as quickly as they could up the rest of the pass.
Falling rocks, sleeping furry creatures and caves were everywhere. They almost missed the entrance to the city. Inside were more sleeping furry things.
"I wonder if they're Gorons…." Sakina whispered as they passed their fourth one. It sat up, groaning. They both jumped and held their weapons out warily.
"Yes, they're Gorons." Navi squeaked irritably.
The brown critter blinked hazily at them.
"I'm so hungry I can hardly move." The Goron moaned.
"Would you like some food?" Sakina offered shakily. They had brought some bread with them from Kakariko. "I have some fresh-bread."
"No… I want rocks… the good kind… but the Dodongo's have taken over the cavern…."
"Great," Sakina muttered as Link and she wandered away. "I'll bet this means more monsters."
They were led into Big Brother's room by more nearly useless Gorons. He let them in on account of their knowing the Royal Family's song.
"You need what? The Fire Stone? Well, I can't just give that to you."
"Why not?" Sakina asked stubbornly.
Big Brother looked hard at her. "I just can't. There was a sorcerer in here not too long ago asking for it too. He cursed the Cavern. Say," he got a glint in his eyes. "That's an idea! If you can make the Cavern safe again, I'll give it to you."
Link nodded. "Of course."
Sakina sighed inaudibly, sensing this trip would be more painful than the Deku Tree experience.