Something put Samus on edge here. This entire place had a feeling that put

her at ease – Quaint, an amusing relic of the past, something from thousands

of years ago. Everyone and everything here looked harmless and cute, but so

did Link. And she had learned the hard way what happened when you

underestimated him. Those swords looked like they couldn't cut dinner, but

even Power Bombs couldn't destroy some of the things she had seen him cut

through.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts, and went back to studying the

map. It took a lot of concentration to use something as clumsy and primitive as

this, and she couldn't afford to have her mind on other matters. There was a

point marked on her map with no additional information, and no key to be

found, but she had to assume that was Link had been talking about when he

had given her the leaf and her instructions. As she progressed, she watched

a small icon in the shape of her suit's head move as well. She ignored it,

dismissing as one of too many contradictions in the land of… what had he

called it? Hyrule?

As soon as she reached the marked location, her sensors went into overload –

every statistic and counter skyrocketed and dived at random, but none could

tell her anything. All she saw on visual was a glowing white ring around one

particular patch of grass, and a glowing speck of the approximate same color

dashing from place to place.

"Hey! Are you Samus Aran?" The voice came from what was apparently a clod of

dirt, and with her sensors out, Samus had no way of checking its true

nature.

"I am," she replied, after failing to come up with a better reaction.

"Good," the voice replied, this time coming from a patch of grass. "The

Great Fairy told me to guide you through the Sacred Realm."

"Great," she replied dryly, "but it's hard to guide someone who can't even

see you." At that, the speck she had noticed earlier flew up until it was

right in front of her visor. Now that she could see it detail, it turned out

to be a tiny human with gossamer wings – like something out of ancient

storybook. She had no doubt it could disembowel people with bits of wood, or

some other odd and unexpected ability, but it still almost managed to

convince her it was just a harmless little apparition, maybe up to a bit of

mischief. "Ok, fine, so how do we get to this 'Sacred Realm'?"

"Through the portal, of course." So saying, the little creature flew over

and started buzzing around the halo on the grass. "We have to go through

together though, because this one will disappear as soon as we use it."

Obligingly, she walked over and stood next to the odd ring. "Ready? On my

mark, now!" The creature flew over the ring at the same time as Samus

stepped onto the grass, and the world seemed to blend into itself. When the

vertigo effect or whatever it had been had faded, Samus was standing once

again in the desolate area where she and Link had landed.

"You call this a Sacred Realm?"

'It was defiled long ago, and now serves as a prison for evil powers. If you

seek them, something must truly be wrong. Pray tell, what trouble drives you

here of all places?"

"I don't know. One of your citizens, Link by name, gave me a map that led

here." Samus pulled the map to demonstrate, and was only half-surprised to

find she was holding a map of the Sacred Realm and not Hyrule. She found

another mark not far to the north in place of the portal-marker.

"I see you have a Moon Pearl," the fairy remarked. "You are able to keep

your true form here."

The Moon Pearl… Link had mentioned it earlier. She supposed it was the orb

she had been given. Deciding inquiring what it did would merely work against

her, she asked of the fairy, "What is your name?"

"Name? I suppose you can call me Gaid," the little creature said.

"Guide? What kind of a name is that?" Samus asked, eager to gain insight,

any small bit of understanding, of these seemingly incomprehensible beings.

"Well, it's just a coincidence really, that almost all fairy names end up

telling something about them." Or not. At that point, Samus thought of the

almost confortable feelings she had had around Link – she didn't understand

any why's or how's, but she knew what he was capable of, and she knew how to

speak in terms he could understand. Of course, the Hylian translation chip

in her suit and her own rudimentary knowledge of the language helped as

well.

"Fine, if you insist, I don't have much choice but to believe you. Let's

just get this finished – there's a galactic threat roaming through space,

and I want to know where they are and how to stop them." Samus reached for

the map, but Gaid interrupted.

"There's only one place in the whole Sacred Realm to go for knowledge – and

of course it makes sense, if Link sent you. I'll show you the Triforce!"

With that, she sped off into the distance, leaving Samus to run after her.

"The scenery's pretty creepy," Gaid told her once she had caught up, "but we

should be fine as long as we don't run into any monsters."

Finally Gaid stopped in front of an enormous building that once again set

Samus scanners off in a hundred different directions. "The pyramid, or the

Temple of Time in the regular world. Where the Triforce has been kept for

the longest amount of time, though of course it's been held other places for

decades at a time, and –"

"I'll come back to take the tour later," Samus interrupted. "Just tell me

how to work it."

"The Trifoce is inside," Gaid said, clearly annoyed she'd been interrupted.

"Excuse me for trying to spread a little knowledge. Speaking of knowledge,

once inside, you'll have to use the Triforce of Knowledge to find the

answers to your questions. The other parts of the Tr--"

"I don't need the whole story of your divining artifact or whatever it is, I

just need to know how to work it."

"No, you don't," an unfamiliar voice said to Samus, "you just need to open

it for me."