* * *
Seven weeks and it was time to go back to Hyrule.
After the first seal had been placed on the Forest Temple, Saria and Vaiya had indeed felt the drain on the land's natural magic forces. April, however, had not. This was probably due to the fact that she had passed out right afterwards, though.
Eventually, they had gotten back to the other Kakariko and spent the next seven weeks preparing April's magic stamina. The training during the past three years seemed to have been focused more on the mental and physical aspects of the skills April would need, with the magic being used more as a tool for these. Impa had said when they first began her training that the spells would be helpful to the Princess in the future, though they hadn't been sure exactly what type of magic she would need to be familiar with.
After completing the Seal, however, Vaiya had come to a conclusion as to what types of magic April would need, now that the knew for sure that she was the Seventh Sage.
Impa had had a hint for a while now that Zelda was the Seventh Sage, but now that it was a known fact, they thought that magic should be a higher priority for them.
Vaiya had also begun to get a sense of who the other Sages were. Though none of them had heard Rauru's call, and nobody but Saria had a creature like Mori who was so close to nature, Vaiya was almost certain that they at least had an idea of their role in Destiny, that voice in the back of their minds that told them they were different. She knew that Darunia, the leader of the Gorons, was the Fire Sage. Because of this, that was to be their next stop.
Of course, April already knew who all the Sages were, but keeping that knowledge to herself was a bit difficult. She had thought that if the names should slip, she could always blame the Triforce of Wisdom and her own Sage knowledge. Though, she had to confess, she did not know if she would know who the other Sages were would it not have been for her experience in the past. Or the future, it might be thought of as.
'Whatever...' April thought, as she contemplated this issue for what seemed like the hundredth time.
As the morning of the day they were to go to Death Mountain dawned, April was surprisingly already awake. She had gone out to the kitchen to sit at the table, as she could not go back to sleep.
"I'm almost surprised to find you awake at this hour," Sheik said, sitting at the table which was her destination.
"Huh," April murmured, sitting down. "Dèjá vu..." she mumbled.
"Can't sleep?" Sheik asked.
"Nah," the Princess replied.
There was a brief silence. And then...
"You can't sleep?" April asked.
"I'm usually awake at this time, anyway."
"Oh." April said. "Picasso said sleep was a waste of time..." she muttered.
"Who?"
"Ah, never mind."
Another silence.
"I need coffee..."
"What?" Sheik asked.
April sighed.
* * *
A few hours later, April found herself on the path up Death Mountain. Vaiya was accompanying her again, both of them finding it rather odd that there was a giant, dark cloud over the top of the volcano. April hoped that it wasn't going to erupt. Also, Vaiya and the Princess both agreed that it was much too hot to be possible. Not only that, but it was hot and humid.
"I think the heat is melting my brain..." April mumbled as they approached the Goron City.
"As much as I hate to admit it, I agree with you." Vaiya exhaled deeply as she brushed the bangs out of her eyes.
"Suddenly I feel extremely guilty for making Link come here..."
The two of them arrived at the giant cave that was the entrance to the city. Death Mountain was a really a mountain in comparison to the tiny little hill that she had seen in the game. 'In fact,' she noted, 'nothing is really the same in terms of appearances...'
They entered the Goron City, and all at once felt that they had walked directly into a refrigerator after being in the Sahara Dessert. April was greatly relieved at the change in temperature, and she lets this be known.
"Gorons! I love the Gorons! They have air conditioners!!!" The Princess grinned stupidly and spun around on her heel.
Vaiya only blinked and began to walk towards the staircase, to the lower levels of the City.
The city was very large, and consisted of about twenty or so different levels. April assumed that Darunia would be at the bottom of the city, but she was not sure. Goron City was not yet abandoned, and so April assumed that there was not yet a demented, fire-breathing dragon about to eat a dozen or so Gorons.
After what seemed like an eternity of descending stairs and asking the various living rocks where their "Big Brother" was, they reached a large stone door, ornately carved and decorated with a carpet in front of it, which was covered in Triforce symbols. Vaiya pulled out the Ocarina of Time and handed it to April.
As the Seventh Sage, apparently the Princess was the guardian of all the songs of the various temples, as well as the Song of Time and her own Lullaby. April had, in years past, figured out that she already knew how to play the Song of Time and Zelda's Lullaby, but during the last seven weeks she had started to play around with the Minuet of Forest.
And so now, she put the Ocarina to her mouth and played Zelda's Lullaby.
Oddly enough, nothing happened for a moment. April half expected a synthesized chord of strange music, but then she heard the grind of stone on stone. It was not very different from the sound she had heard in the library at Hyrule Castle, when she had opened the secret passage for the first time.
The pair peered into the darkness for all of two seconds before a loud, gruff voice called out "Enter!!"
April squeaked, and Vaiya dragged the Princess into the tunnel.
In the fact that Darunia looked like a living rock, he was no different from the other Gorons April had seen today. But that was basically where the similarity stopped. The Goron leader was at least a foot taller, and had an impossible looking beard, also made out of whatever rock substance the Gorons flesh consisted of. His eyes had a sharp intensity that was completely different from the dull, happy-go-lucky look that many Gorons possessed. April almost preferred their sleepy contented-ness, however, in the presence of the intimidating Sage of Fire.
Oddly enough, however, Darunia began to smile as soon as the Princess and her attendant came into view.
"If it isn't the Princess Zelda! Alive and well!" Darunia said in an oddly gentle voice, even if it did seem to shake the floor itself.
"Alive, well, and in disguise," Vaiya added, smiling.
"Of course," Darunia said knowingly, still grinning. "But Princess! We had not heard what had happened to you. I am glad to know that there is a light of hope left. I've heard about the Castle, and the Town..." The last note had been added in a more subdued tone.
"As nice as it is to be able to catch up with friends of the past, is it all right if we get to the point, and tell you exactly why we are here?" Vaiya asked.
"Of course. I have not forgotten the alliance of Hyrule and the Gorons. If you are in need of any help-"
"Actually, we came here to hopefully offer more hope," April began.
"And speaking of light," Vaiya added. "I have to ask, have you noticed an elusive one in your dreams lately?"
Darunia looked lost in thought for a moment. Realization came over him. "Indeed, I have."
April looked at Vaiya, asking an unvoiced question. Vaiya nodded.
"Do you know of certain people who are known as Sages?" April asked.
"Of course, I know the legend well."
"Well... that 'legend' is about to unfold itself." April took a deep breath. "And we are trying to help the Sages to protect their Temples while the Hero of Time is still... indisposed," she decided.
At this, Darunia looked very curious. "How do you plan to do this, Princess?"
Vaiya decided to answer.
"We'd like your permission to enter the Fire Temple. Also, we would like you to escort us there, to help us with a spell we would like to perform."
"Magic?" Darunia asked, his nose crinkling comically. "What would be this spell you have in mind?"
"It's a Seal that will keep dark forces from the Temple, or at least discourage them from totally talking over."
"I see," Darunia said.
'So we're not telling him that he's the Sage?' April asked Vaiya silently.
'Not if he doesn't already know. I don't know what that would do... The only reason Saria knew was because of Mori.'
'Oh...'
* * *
In little over an hour, the group of three had been to the entrance of the Fire Temple via the hidden entrance in Darunia's room, performed the spell via Vaiya's knowledge as a Sage and from having seen what Mori did at the Forest Temple, thoroughly confused Darunia as to why he had to be there in the first place via the fact that he still did not understand that he was the Sage of Fire, and were on their way home via the path down Death Mountain, both feeling the drain on the land this time.
April had realized by this point that the songs of each Temple were used in the Seal, as she had heard the Minuet of Forest used when Mori had used the spell, and the Bolero of Fire when Vaiya had done the spell just then. She thought that they must be something like folk melodies in that many people seemed to know them already, but they were different in that they had a certain significance. She thought that they probably had power when used for a purpose such as a spell, or in the case of being played on the Ocarina of Time, they would transport the player to the stone tablet at the entrance to the Temple. Otherwise, she thought, they were relatively harmless melodies. It was easier on her mind to think of the Song of Time in this way, as well. If played on anything other than the Ocarina of Time, it had no power.
Her "modern" world knowledge and skepticism sometimes led her to doubt some of the things that were the foundations of Hyrule. The fact that nobody but the Royal Family and those they had chosen were allowed to play Zelda's Lullaby was a bit hard for her to accept. But then again, maybe if someone played it on anything other than the Ocarina of Time it wouldn't be useful to them in any way. Back before Ganondorf had taken over Hyrule, it probably would have gotten one arrested for playing it. But now, she was sure that if any one of Ganondorf's many spies head one playing it, it would get one killed.
At the moment, she was having a conversation with Vaiya on this train of thought.
"And what about the Song of Storms?" April was asking. "If it was played by just anyone, it would be raining all the time. And I don't even want to think about the Sun's Song..."
"You just gave me the explanation for that, Zelda." Vaiya sighed. "You said something about the Song of Time not being effective on anything but the Ocarina of Time. It's the same thing. Hyrule is built on magic in many respects, Zelda. Is it so hard to accept?"
"For someone who hadn't really been around magic most of their life, probably," April muttered. "It's not that it's hard to accept. I know most of the people here know that magic exists. It's just that most of them have probably never seen it used, let alone used it themselves before."
"That's why only certain individuals know how to use it," Vaiya said, like it was obvious. "It would not be useful if everyone knew it. The songs are melodies taken from existing ones, and enchanted when it comes to being used in certain things, and played on a certain instrument."
"You make it all sound very simple."
"It is."
April sighed.
* * *
***La la la. So, this story is going to get finished eventually. I know what's going on. And these chapters don't have much going on in them, but that's because I'm using them as a setting. So you'll just have to wait until this little mini series is over. Click the little button and tell me what you think! Thank you!