Chapter VI Meeting the Gorons
Lance managed to clumisly ride side by side with Mandy on Dandy all the way to Kakario. Emily and Leyla became best friends, chattering away at useless things while Malon dragged the whining Indigo along.
As Lance hurried ahead with Carnation, eager to reach Kakario, Mandy slowed down. She let Malon, Indigo, Emily, and Leyla pass her.
She thought, Oh my gosh, he is so hot… Mandy's heart practically melted as she stared into the back of his gorgeous blonde head.
"You can't have him," Ritl said with out expression. Mandy snapped awake.
"How did you… What?" Mandy said aghast.
"What?" Ritl asked even more confused than Mandy as she turned normal again. But of course nothing is really normal about Ritl.
"Did you just read my mind?" Mandy asked, concidering that maybe fairies really could read minds.
"Mandy, you know I can't read! Silly, silly!" Ritl said not realizing what she had done moments before.
"Whatever," Mandy said as she urged Dandy faster, leaving Ritl in the dust.
They reached Kakario late that night and they were all tired. Mandy and Lance tied up their horses, while Emily and Leyla laid out a quilt bedding for them to sleep on and Malon tried to make Indigo leave. A whole two minutes later, they were all fast asleep. All except Lance, who couldn't sleep a wink. He stayed up for hours staring at the picture of his parents that he'd found in his pack. Lance wondered if they still looked how they did two years ago. Suddenly bored, he stashed the picture back into the side pocket and resorted to exploring the small city of Kakario.
Soon Lance found himself sneaking into the graveyard. Lance had always thought graveyards to be spooky or scary or for ghosts to pop out at you and shout, "BOO!" But Lance found it not scary at all. It was very depressing to him. Although no one he knew was buried in those grounds, he felt deep sympathy for those who had lost loved ones. He did see a ghost every now and then, but they weren't your usual poe. They would slowly glide around carrying a lantern, as if searching for something, traveling through gravestones and walls and then suddenly disappear. The poes did not disturb Lance, nor he them.
As Lance wandered through the graveyard he came across the small statues with the eye carvings. Totally creeped out, Lance tried to avoid them at all costs.
But as Lance stepped around one, it spoke, "Would you like to hear some gossip?" It spoke in a high helium-like voice. At the sound of the stone, Lance jumped back and landed on his rear. Lance could have sworn he was hearing things. And then seeing things as the stone jiggled back in forth, the eye blinking intently.
It asked again, "Would you like to hear some gossip?" Lance managed to stand and brush the dirt off his back, legs, and butt. Lance was curious as well as intrigued.
So he replied, "Sure, why not?" The stone giggled and began to sway more violently as if it were excited.
Finally it coughed up, "I heard…" (more giggles) "that Emily, of the Lon Lon Ranch, dreams that one day a knight in shining armor will come and sweep her off her feet. But you didn't hear it from me!" After its last words it stopped moving and became stiff. It changed colors, then blasted off in to the dark starry sky, just another twinkling dot up there. Kind of creeped out Lance continued on his short walk around the graveyard all the while contemplating whether the stone's information was accurate or not. Not too far from the first, Lance came across another one of the creepy-eye statue things.
This one spoke too, "Would you like to hear some gossip?" Lance was less surprised this time (meaning he didn't fall backwards.)
"Okay," Lance replied, only because he had nothing better to do. Lance stepped back and waited.
"Can you keep a secret?" the stone asked, but with out waiting for Lance's answer, continued, "Anyway, the ladies in the town square are all saying that Princess Mandy has a secret crush on Prince Lance of Hyrule," it said putting emphases on the secret part. "But you can't tell anyone, I'm not supposed to know these things…" it said just before changing colors and blasting off into the night sky as the other one had. Lance nearly fell over again in surprise. Wow, did she really like him? Lance thought. Suddenly Lance was relieved; at least it didn't say that I like her, Lance thought. And he was suddenly glad Navi was asleep with the others.
"AHEM!" some one loudly cleared their throat. Lance jumped and turned around.
"Mandy!" he screeched. Lance didn't know what to do. Should he act like he knew? Like he was oblivious? Like normal? Yes! Normal! He thought.
"Hey, um, Mandy. How's it going?" Lance said almost too casually.
Mandy grew suspicious, "Hey, what's wrong?" she asked moving closer. She got him to sit down beside her on the soft earth below. Lance tried not to remember that there was probably a rotting body some three feet below them. Lance noticed Ritl wasn't with her, this was good. Lance tried to keep the stone's secret, but Lance is the worst liar in all Hyrule.
"Um, I was just…looking at or I mean…thinking about…or uh…I was just…" nothing came to Lance. As Lance searched for the perfect lie, Mandy comforted him. She placed her arm around his shoulders.
"It's okay," she said, "You can tell me anything, we're friends, right?" Friends. At the mention of friends, Lance figured it was better not to keep anything from Mandy. So he spilled it all even the part about Emily. Mandy calmly comforted him all the while slowly convincing him that the stone's information was wrong. (Or the part about her at least, she could care less about Emily and her stupid knight.) As gullible as he was, Lance believed her instantly.
"So," Lance confirmed, "it was all a lie?"
"Exactly, merely peasants gossip," Mandy repeated. There was a part of Lance that almost wished she were lying and not the stone. But Lance understood either way; there was no way he would tell her how he felt about her.
Suddenly Lance couldn't remember why he was in the middle of a graveyard in the first place. He yawned and got up to leave, satisfied with Mandy's conclusion. Mandy followed, then stopped him abruptly.
"Wait,"
Lance turned around, "What is it?" He smiled. Mandy almost lost it. His smile was to die for.
"Um, you know…if you wanted you could call me on my ocarina," she explained, "Just play my song, and we can talk—no matter when or where."
"Sure," Lance agreed. And Mandy played 'Mandy's Melody'. Although the melody sounded extremely loud in the silence and its echo carried far and wide, somehow Lance knew the two of them were the only ones who could hear the music.
"So um, yeah," Lance meant to say something more, but thought of nothing. As the silence closed in, a poe gliding slowly, flew right through them and disappeared into nothingness.
Mandy shivered, "I'd better go, I promised Jimmy… Look, I have a feeling we'll meet again, soon," she smiled and stepped back. She put the ocarina to her lips and played a song not yet known to Lance, and disappeared herself.
"Bye?" Lance tried but she was already gone. He sighed. Although he hated it, he found the only thing left for him to do once more—runaway.
Rushed, Lance shoved all his things back into the worn leather knapsack (not that he had taken much out) and found his way up the stairs across from them, through the gate and up the side of a mountain. He traveled on Carnation along a steep path that would lead him to the Goron City.
Lance didn't have to read the sign at the top of the mountain to tell he was in the right place. He could already see a few Gorons out side the city curled up and scattered amongst the quarry. In the distance a large rock rolled down the mountain and off into the bottomless pit before them.
Lance dismounted Carnation and holding her reins, lead her and Navi towards the entrance in front of them. Lance suspected that the Goron would not like a horse running around inside their city as the Kokiri and Zora didn't. Lance found a large rock to tie her to. Navi helped pull the strings tight. At that moment Lance was thankful Navi could not read his mind, for it lingered on Mandy. He was thinking of how beautiful she would look wearing…
"Lance? Are you still with me here?" Navi interrupted his thoughts.
"I'm fine," Lance returned sharply, giving her one of those looks.
"Jeesh," Navi replied as she turned and headed towards the Goron City. "I was just wondering," Navi whispered just loud enough for Lance to barely hear.
Lance ran after her, "Navi, wait! I didn't mean…" But he had to stop. When he looked around the city, he was at a loss for words. He had never seen anything like it. The whole city was inside of the mountain. The walls were many different shades of brown, and the floor kicked up dust when you stomped your feet. Not to mention the ground rumbled suspiciously every now and then.
Lance had to tell Mandy what he saw; after all they were friends, right? While Navi zoomed this way and that greeting the Gorons and saying "Hi" to old friends, Lance put down his shield and sword and rummaged through his bag for his ocarina. Once he found it he played 'Mandy's Melody' and waited for something to happen. Out of nowhere, an image of Mandy appeared in front of him.
Mandy's familiar voice answered, "Lance? Is that you? Can you hear me alright?"
Lance, excited that he managed to use his ocarina correctly, replied, "Yes! This is so cool! It actually worked! Oh, I'm here in Goron City! It's so cool here! There's no grass, can you believe it!" The words rushed out of his mouth just as they popped into his brain.
"Whoa," Mandy interrupted, "Slow down! First, yes, it is cool talking to you over the ocarina. Second, I'm glad you made it to the city safely, the climb can be difficult in the dark. And third, I know there's no grass. Gorons are rock people and therefore have no tolerance for water. Grass being a plant requires water to live. Located inside of a mountain with a controlled weather system allows no water. No water, no grass." She explained, and flashed her pearly whites.
"Smart butt," Lance muttered.
But Mandy was too quick for him, "I prefer Smarty Pants, thank you." Her smile grew even wider as she saw Lance's face rush with a false anger. They both laughed. It was good having someone to talk to.
"Where did you reapparate?" Lance changed the subject, remembering the song that she played back in the graveyard to warp her way out of Kakario. "You didn't go home, did you?" Lance worried.
Mandy looked surprised, "Gosh no! There's no way I'm going back there, not after what she did to me…" she trailed off, "Plus, I've still got an adventure of my own now, don't I?"
Lance smiled, "Yes you do, and I have to complete my adventure. I'd better go, Navi's probably waiting for me…" And indeed she was.
"Lance, who's that you were talking to?" Navi asked after Lance had put his ocarina away and recovered his sword and shield.
"No one. Now, where's the dude who's gonna' give me this ruby thing?" Lance hastily asked, not making direct eye contact with her. Navi brushed off her feelings of anger and flew over to the nearest Goron who was munching on a rock. After talking to him he pointed towards the center of the cave-like place they were in. Lance walked towards the center where the Goron had pointed. Lance reached a miniature cliff that went around in a circle. As Lance looked around he could see there were several floors like the one they were on now. The ground floor was almost three stories down.
Navi thanked the Goron and flew back over to Lance. She thumped herself down on his shoulder with so much force that caused Lance to lose his balance and flail his arms madly to try to keep himself upright. Finally finding his balance, he stepped back and brushed Navi off his shoulder.
"What was that for?" Lance asked, throwing a nasty look her way.
"What do you think?" Navi returned the look.
"So what'd he say?" Lance asked referring back to the Goron that she had talked to.
"Oh, just that King Darmani should be on the ground floor in his chambers." Navi explained.
"How we get down there?" Lance truly wondered as he leaned over the edge again.
"Down the stairs, stupid," Navi replied, laughing. As she flew to the right, searching for a stair well, Lance let Navi sit on his shoulder again to rest her wings.
Lance walked into the first one, only to find it blocked by large boulders. He stood on tiptoe to see over them. But he could only see the tops of the trees. Lance could tell that behind the boulders was a part of the Kokiri Forest. Lance turned around and began looking again for the stairs. He hit the jackpot at the next corner. In the corner of the stairs he found some rupees making his total somewhere just over twenty. Maybe he could by something later. Lance found himself on the second floor, with one more below him before reaching the ground.
Searching for the next set of stairs, Lance walked towards the middle again to see how high up he was. This time there was a fence circling the cliff. The ground beneath his feet rumbled again, except this time with more force. Lance looked up to see where it was coming from, only to see a giant rock/Goron-thing rolling along his floor with immense speed. He had only two choices. One: run towards the "thing" to get to the next set of stairs and risk getting squashed. Or two: jump the fence in front of him. Quickly going over the pros and cons, Lance decided to go with choice number two. Lance swung himself over just in time. Unfortunately, Lance had overlooked one con: How far away was the floor?
"Ow. OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!" Lance shouted in pain as he landed with a loud thud on the hard dirt floor. No Gorons were around to help, so Navi had to play doctor.
After many, "Does this hurt? And how about this?" Navi prescribed half a bottle of red potion, to ease the pain. Lance reached into his pack and pulled out the potion he'd pack all those years ago back at the castle. It was still there, just forgotten and a little stale, but it still worked.
In no time Lance was on his feet again and searching for this Grand Darmani, King of the Gorons. After surveying the entire ground floor, Lance decided the door to Darmani's chambers was in the north part of the circle. But the door was sealed shut and no knocking would reach Darmani to open it. To the left and right of the door were markings. But they were so faded and hard to read anyway, Lance could only make out four words.
"Royal family, play, ocarina," Lance read aloud.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Navi wondered pointlessly and she pressed her nose against the wall as if that would make an explanation appear before her eyes. Lance went through all the songs that he had learned in his head. Okay, there was Epona…well, 'Carnation's Song', 'Saria's Song', and Mandy's Melody. He also recalled some songs that Link had taught him when he was little; The 'Sun Song' and 'Song of Storms' and also his 'Song of Time' that Zelda used to hum.
Lance took out his ocarina and tried all the songs, but none worked. Lance put his nose to the wall as Navi had. When he did, he brushed some dirt off the wall, revealing more clues. The new word was lullaby. Of course! Lance thought, feeling silly that he had not thought of it sooner. The royal family part should have given it away. The markings were talking about 'Zelda's Lullaby.' Confident in his mother's lullaby, he managed to put the words into musical notes on his ocarina. As the song came to an end, the wall vibrated and moved away to show a pathway leading around the corner to a secret room.
Lance beckoned for Navi to follow as he quietly stepped on to the green carpeted rug that ran along the hallway. The hallway lead to a type of throne room. The room was covered in green. If Lance hadn't seen a Goron in the chair at the end of the room, he would have sworn he was in the Kokiri Forest.
The Goron had a long white goatee and green eyes, unlike the others that had deep brown and usually no facial hair. The Goron stared off into space, obviously very distracted by some thought unknown to anyone but himself. The Goron was so far from his throne room, that he didn't notice when Lance entered the room.
Lance had to clear his throat loudly three times in order to attain the Goron's attention. But once he had it, he found no words to fill the space at which he had created.
Navi found words first, "Sir, I... uh… I don't know if you remember me…" Suddenly the Goron cocked his head to the side and squinted slightly.
"Navi… Is that you?" the Goron questioned.
"Yeah!" Navi exclaimed, "And this is…"
"Link, right? It's good to see you again, my boy!" the Goron interrupted.
Lance stepped forward, "Um, I'm not Link. My name is Lance, I'm Link's son." Lance forced a smile—let's just say it didn't turn out so well.
"Are you okay?" the Goron asked as he got up out of his chair. He ambled over to Lance and put his hand on his forehead, trying to see if he had a fever.
"Oh, no…I'm fine, sorry," Lance added hastily, slightly brushing off the unwanted hand.
"Lance…" the Goron repeated his name, as if tasting it, letting it roll around his mouth. "I don't believe we've met." He held out his hand, "I'm Darmani, King, or as I prefer, Ruler of the Gorons. (King sounds like such a harsh word."
Lance took his hand and shook it firmly, "It's nice to meet you Darmani."