A/N: Disclaimer: I do not own the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

A Pair of Time

Chapter 60- Requiem of Spirit, Part 7

Spirit Temple; Day

"Gotcha!" Malon kicks open the bedecked treasure chest to find the Boss Key of the temple. "Not bad, eh, Navi?"

"Hmm, well, hitting a trigger, Longshot to the ceiling, jump across a platform, flip the switch, then grab the Boss Key before the flames come back up in under ten seconds? Not bad at all, Malon."

"Wouldn't it be funny," Malon begins as they exit the room, "if instead of me and Link, it's just only me saving Hyrule?"

"Maybe. A heroine might be a nice change of pace to the legends of male heroes."

"Oh, yeah, I can see it." The redhead smiles as she glances at the air above. "The Legend of Malon. Has a nice ring to it, don't ya think?"

"Overrated."

"The Legend of Malon and Navi?"

"Well… okay. That does sound worthy of substance."

"Imagine, us being written among the history of Hyrule, being bedtime stories for little kids to hear. They'll love it, especially girls hearing how the heroine and her fairy saved Hyrule!"

"'Her'? My apologies, but I belong to Link."

"Well, ya know, I'm just thinking what it'll be like if it's just the two of us."

"It better not be that 'A Girl and a Fairy' incident again…"

"Oh, that? Wow, I nearly forgotten about it during my seven years here. How did it go…?"

"Better if you need no reminders."

"Ha… Well, let's move on!"

With the fairy's guidance, Malon clears through the next few earthen rooms. With such zeal that Navi's never seen, the redhead takes care of the monsters within and positions the mirrors inside with quick ease.

"Put bluntly, nothin' can stop me!" Malon gloats, giving a few hops to tire her excitement.

"Wow, Malon, I never had seen you so… active before."

"Being cooped up for seven years sure can build a person up, ya know? Plus, I'm aching to finish off those damn witches once and for all!"

"Okay, well… Just thought maybe you've changed or something."

"I think… I kinda did."

"How so?"

"I feel a little more… driven. It's kinda hard to explain. You just have to be in my shoes to see."

"I might know how you feel, having a past that could be similar to yours."

"We'll talk about it later. What do I do now, Navi?"

"Easy enough. Go to the main room out there and shine light on that sun crest up there. The mirrors should be positioned well enough so that the light can reach down there…"

By following her instructions, Malon causes the platform lined with the floor to sink into the antechamber below, reveal a hole in the ceiling of the room of the desert goddess. The chains holding the platform creak to a halt when the elevator is leveled with the neck of the statue.

"Next?" she asks the fairy.

"Hee, Link actually thought you could destroy that statue with frozen water."

"Um, what's the point of destroying it?"

"Oh, he thought the monster of the dungeon is that."

"… It ain't, right?"

"I don't know."

"What do I do now?"

"Huh… Light, Mirror Shield… Statue… Um, try pointing a beam of light at the statue's face."

Whether or not frozen water can work against a statue of this material, light seems to do the job by cracking apart the statue's countenance. The clay material breaks off, revealing a metal grate inside the head.

"Light?"

"I don't know," Navi answers. "I just thought what I put together was too coincidental."

Via the Longshot, the two lands next to the gate, which opens as soon as it detects their presences. Inside, the door requiring the Boss Key is revealed.

"Time to kick these hags' hindies for good…" Malon cracks open the lock, running in as soon as the door opens. There, her guts burn as soon as she descries the two women that she loathes from the moment they captured her. This time, she's ready. Unsheathing the living Master Sword, along with the shield needed to defeat the sorceresses, she forces a sound with her boot. The witch with the blue runes catches the noise and slowly turns her shriveled head around, goggling at Malon with pleasant eeriness.

"Ho ho ho!" she cackles, the same laughter that never faded from Malon's memories. "Looks like someone is here, Koume!"

The other crone bends her head around with the same, almost precise behavior of her sister. "Hee hee hee! Looks like it, Kotake!"

"I'm never gonna forgive you two…" Malon yells to them. "What you've done to me, what you've taken away from me, what you have forced me to do…" She prudently points the sword of evil's bane at them. "You're gonna pay, starting right now!"

"What a pugnacious girl she is, to actually break hold of our control… Ho ho ho!" Koume hoots while she and her sister hop onto their brooms and hover close.

"Do you think we should brainwash her again, Koume?"

"She's served her usefulness, Kotake. Actually, I think we should teach this impious virago a lesson! Hee hee hee!"

They separate, then turn to the object they were 'tinkering' with at the far end. Malon stares on in gaping terror, fearing what sits quietly on its throne. "Oh, loyal minion…" The hags near the Iron Knuckle in its slumber. "Destroy this traitor on our behalf!" After that, they shrink and disappear in their colored smoke. Forced to consciousness, the Iron Knuckle rises, prepared to wage battle on its given foe.

"Uh…" Malon watches it bring its arms up to demonstrate its power. However, it is missing a valuable asset: its battleaxe. The monster pauses, then glimpses at its hands, empty of its giant weapon. Quickly, it fillips loudly, which summons an ax out of thin air into its right hand. Now satisfied, it lifts the weapon in its two hands again, shaking it with emitting a bellow. Like the last time Malon fought one, this one makes its choice by marching towards her for a clean kill.

"Okay…" she breathes. "I'm ready for anybody… 'cept this!"

"Link's Megaton Hammer would be useful right now," Navi mutters to her. "Wait, hold on…"

"Yeah?"

"Something's strange… This is not an ordinary enemy!"

"Huh?"

"I sense something familiar from it!"

"Navi!" Malon hops back to dodge a rather quick blow. "That ain't gonna help me here!"

"Uh, uh… Aim for the back, aim for the back!"

A stab to the back plate proves that it's a heavy suit of armor of a strong metal. "Shoot, that ain't no iron!"

"Just go dodge and counter! You can see that dent, can you?"

It's not large, but it's visible, the mark where the Master Sword made contact. If it's penetrable, it'll have to do. Several endeavors break the last few minutes into eternities as Malon flies into the fray of swings and delivers cheap slashes. One more and she loosens the casque, a groan being heard from the Iron Knuckle from being induced in several assailments. The helmet, along with several plates of the mighty material, comes apart from cleaving, dividing and falling freely onto the adobe floor. The person inside, debilitated, lands on her knees and nearly spawns herself onto the ground. Heavily, she ascends her head, looking upon the armed Malon with her wide eyes.

"Unnnh…" Nabooru moans, her memory and grip on herself coming back. "Where am I…? M… Malon…?"

"Nabooru…" Malon mouths before being interrupted by a blast, materializing Kotake.

"Well, well…" the witch rattles. "Looks like she's back to normal, too… Koume…"

Another explosion announces the witch of the red runes' arrival. "She's just a little girl, but she commands a lot of respect among the Gerudos, Kotake…" The flying beldam eyes Nabooru with curiosity. "She's more important than that girl who released her…"

"Maybe we should make her work for the great Ganondorf a little while longer! Ho ho ho!"

"No…" Nabooru breathes. "I… I will never again!"

"Then we should brainwash her again! Hee hee hee!"

"No!"

"I wouldn't allow that!" Malon steps forward, her grip tightening around her armaments. "You two had your fun, now face us, ya dirty hags!"

"Malon, no!"

"It doesn't matter what you say, girl," Kotake interposes. "Who do you think is in control here? You or us?"

"Grr…"

"Let us hurry up, Kotake!"

"Hee hee hee! Say goodnight, Gerudo girl!"

They both bring spell chanting into their words, forming orbs of colored light Malon's not too happy to be acquainted with. She rushes up in front of Nabooru, yelling, "Go, Nabooru! Get out of here while you got the chance!"

The Gerudo sprints off behind her, but is a tad bit too late as the two witches throw their disappearing spells onto her. She screams, leaving nothing behind except a ball of light decomposing in the air until it compress into nonexistence.

"No! Nabooru!" Malon spins around, discovering the drabs making their escape with their own contractions.

"Malon, up ahead!" Navi buzzes to the door behind the throne. "In here! I sense the witches in here!"

The redhead and the fairy bust through the door, dash down the hallway into another panel, and enter upon a large chamber leveled with platforms a story up. Malon climbs up to the middle, then scans the room for any signs of the sorceresses.

"Look at that stupid kid!" Koume's voice blares, echoing to dislocate the source. "She came on her own to offer herself as a sacrifice to the great Ganondorf…" As each word flies by Malon's ears, the room darkens, then beams of light work its way from the ground of a pair of small, opposing pillars. One flares the color of orange and fire, while the other shines as light blue and ice. All the while, the trademark titters of the hags' echo the tight atmosphere.

Koume pops through the surface of the fire emblem, gazing fiercely at Malon. "With my flame, I will burn her to the bone!" She soars in the air with a spin, cackling when she stops to reveal her deadlier semblance with fiery hair.

"With my frost, I will freeze her to her soul!" Kotake makes her transition exactly like that of her sister. She takes on the air, transfiguring herself to have hair that is, no mistaken, frozen solid.

The witches, contorted and contented with themselves, circle around the 'traitor,' ending with a bonding of their hands. They break hold, leisurely floating around, which lights up the room with their shining hairs.

Navi, I'm really gonna depend on ya here! Link ain't here with us to take care of them!

The fairy takes flight, revolving around to Malon's ear. "Right, uh… Twinrova sisters, these witches are… Uh, well… okay, each is weak against their polar element."

"… Freeze the fire, burn the cold?"

"… In a way, yes."

"Alright…" Malon unhooks Link's bow from her side and loads on an arrow. "What do we have here…?" She keeps a sharp eye on Koume, while maintaining awareness of her sister. Drawing back the strung fiber, she pumps her libidos, forcing it to stem into the arrow. The bolt groans with acceptance, then the acute tip shimmers with blue. It disperses into a frustum, still huddling onto the missile. Drained of some of her energy to convert her arrow into one that delivers an icy skewer, Malon's aim quavers, detracting from her pinpointing at Koume. She does nothing more than rely on her accuracy when her fingers come away from the Ice Arrow's tail.

The projectile doesn't falter, and it stays true to striking its target. However, Koume nullifies Malon's extreme effort with a simple brushing away with her broom.

I WASTED MY ENERGY FOR NOTHING?

"Malon, Kotake's behind you!"

Ignorance of the other supernatural being causes the redhead to turn around just in time to see Kotake casting a spell. Her crest flashes in front of her for a moment, then dissipates into the dry straws of her broom. It freezes, giving out dust of ice. Kotake whips her new broom-turned-staff around, then aims it at Malon.

Oh, shi-

The Hylian rotates around to dodge, but the bluish-white beam blasting from the broom catches her. The next second is all blank to Malon; she becomes encased in pure, solid ice, standing on the miniature permafrost underneath. Kotake cackles in success, her cruel noise carrying through the icy sculpture of the redhead. The few seconds that come by are nothing, then a thick crack forms on the melting ice. It shatters and melts instantly, leaving behind a deftly shivering farm girl.

"Oh hoh hoh…!" Malon stutters, landing on her knees and rubbing her hands all over her body. Her body temperature dropped so low that she's suffering from temporary hypothermia.

"Are you okay!" Navi does her usual to assure.

"Y-Y-Y-Yeah… T-T-Tell that-t-t… to the f-frostbite on my b-b-butt!"

"An important rule when facing anything: pay attention, and expect surprises."

"G-Goddess…"

"I got it figured out! Since the two sisters are opposites of each other in elements respectively, you have to turn one against the other!"

Malon sucks in deep breaths before hearing a whir signaling a new spell. She faces the origin, Koume, then comes prepared as she jumps out of the way of her beam. Crouching down with her legs spread out, she utters to Navi, "Mirror Shield, right? Beams, mirrors?"

"Manifestly."

"That better mean obviously." Malon presents the lustrous protection to arms. "Watch my back."

Secured, they keep the sorceresses in view. After a tedious but tense period of watching, Koume gives a try by conjuring up her element of fire. "Malon, Koume's about to strike…!"

Malon swerves around to meet the magical beam head on. A second after she raises the Mirror Shield up, the burning ray sears through the stale air at her. However, like light, the properties of reflection instead of opaqueness force the beam to bend at an angle from whence it hit the aegis. Malon looks on in amazement for a second, awing at how such a simple thing could prevent such a dreadful conclusion. She notes Kotake stunned in astonishment and rotates the shield speedily to direct the hot magic at her.

"Yaaah!" Kotake shrieks, writhing from the scorching receiving. "Hot, hot, hot!" She falls into a pained daze, steam rising from her. Angered, she shakes her head and screams, "You contemptuous whelp! You will pay dearly for that!" She proceeds to incite another spell of the frosty temperature.

That's right, bring it on. I have a new toy that turns your magic against ya!

"Yaow!" Koume cries after feeling the power of Kotake's spell. "That's cold!" She shivers tremendously as steam from the ice thaw off of her. "Terribly cold! Grr, that's it! No more fun and games!" She faces her sister. "OK, let's get serious now, Kotake!"

"Oh, OK, Koume."

Again, the Twinrova sisters on brooms fly circles around Malon, closing in to each other. Once they're in reach, they bring their elbows together and hold them in a link. Then, they whirl around, picking up speed with each turn. At the peak of their pace, they shout, "Kotake and Koume's Double Dynamic Attack!"

Uh… fancy name…

The witches disappear in a cloud of red and blue, until it bursts, revealing not the two of them, but a single, floating woman. Obscenely garbed in the style of the sorceresses, the person from the fusion takes on a conversing fashion. Her left side is what Koume is: runes of red, burning hair, and the broom lit up in flames. The right belongs to Kotake, ice in everything with the wand of magic. A peculiar hybrid this sorceress is to Malon.

At least… she looks better than the two witches separated.

"Uh…" Malon does not know what kind of welcome should be done for this event. It's the last thing on her mind however, as the hybrid decides to wink at her, with a giggle to boot.

Uhn-uh! Just because you think you look sexy does not give you the right to WINK at me!

"What do you think of me now?" Twinrova questions.

"Ya still worse than cow manure underneath my boot!" Malon yells back.

"Oh, how boorish you are! Let me teach you a lesson!" She waves Koume's broom at her, sending out a billow of fire. Malon expectantly puts her protection to good use, but rather than reflection, the mirror starts to suck in the magic. "What the…?" She inspects the Mirror Shield, glowing red around the edges. The polished surface has an ocean of spluttering red on it, behaving like flames untouched.

"How interesting…" Navi comes in for a close look. "It's as if the Mirror Shield absorbed the fire!"

"Absorbed? You mean the fire is stuck in there?"

The fairy cogitates for a hurried second. "… I know! Try to absorb as much of Twinrova's spells as you can! When the shield can hold no more, it'll shoot out what it absorbed!"

"Wow, that's cool!"

"Speaking of which, incoming!"

Malon turns attention to the blue wand swaying in the air, then pointing down at her. Not deciding to take it, she dives away, watching while the spell creates another icy milieu next to her. Picking herself up, she easily overcomes the next fire spell, feeling the shield take it in. It glows even more, with the fire inside crowding up. Repeating, the redhead locks on, observing the next attack of Twinrova's. Ice comes down, flying at Malon. And she's ready.

Or is she?

"AAAH-" Malon is still again, frozen in an ice block like before. Struggling, she splits it apart, liberating herself from the gelid prison. Anew, she hits the ground, breathing hard to generate lost heat. "Oh… Ohh… D… D-Darn… w-w-witch…"

Twinrova chortles. "Who's the manure, now?"

"S… Shut… Shut the heck up… Yakking worse… than a Cucco…"

"Malon!" Navi appears in front of her. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, Malon! I misconceived an important detail!"

"Whew… and that would be?"

"You can incorporate the same element only! You can't blend them if they're different!"

"… Now you tell me. Why do ya always tell us the needed stuff after me and Link get the brunt?"

"It's… It's sometimes trial and error. The rest of the time I believed you could figure it out by yourselves."

"We're not as smart as ya, Navi… Move!" Malon pushes the fairy away and at the same time intercepts the incoming spell. Ice merges into the Mirror Shield, letting the edge and surface light up in blue. "Ice. That means I just keep going for ice, right?"

"Yes!"

Becoming a cycle, Malon manages to grab two more magic attacks of frigidness. Three spells are enough, as suddenly the Mirror Shield begins fanning out the pent content of ice onto Twinrova. She shrieks at contact, drowned in shock and lowering herself, drained of magic. Malon seizes the moment to leap towards her and finally deliver physical blows. She leaves a few harsh cuts on the sorceress before she regains her guard and departs from the hacking.

"Insolent, hideous wench!"

"Insolent WHAT?" Malon shakes a fist at Twinrova. "SAY THAT TO MY FACE AGAIN, YOU UGLY FA-" She's cut off as she has to catch the fire wave heading towards her. If she's not feeling as hot as the inferno now raging inside the Mirror Shield, she's not being incensed enough.

Time flies as several incantations dazzle the chamber, creating a lightning type of show. Rarely fire makes a ruby hue among the walls, but at least more than enough displays its color. The Mirror Shield is filled up, and Malon is in a mental fit to slice and dice. Few have to wonder how anybody besides she and Twinrova has to feel. Navi is absolutely rattled inside Malon's head. The Master Sword is not as enthusiastic as its current wielder right now, marked by its low humming. And Link far off on the other side of the Spirit Temple is lazily sleeping, rather comfortable with his surroundings.

"Uh-hugh!" Twinrova croaks as she receives the fiery combo from the Mirror Shield.

"Take this!" Malon wildly lets loose her frenzy, driven in the form of Link's sword. "This is for all you've done!" Again, she slashes, bringing a reason for each of the afflictions. "This is for Link…! This is for me…! This…!" She charges a stab, thrusting into the poor witch, "IS FOR CALLING ME A HIDEOUS WENCH!"

"Yaaah!" The sorceress strangles, yowling as the Master Sword draws back out. "Eeeaaah…!" Twinrova starts weltering in her levitation, then gyres swiftly. The corpus disperses in smog of trite, binary colors, which assort into their general categories. The two hazes round the battled atmosphere, until they decide to settle in front of Malon. The puffs recede within themselves, bringing back, unarmed, the Twinrova sisters.

"Shoot, what a fresh kid!" Koume squalls, waving her fists around. "This time, we'll get serious, right Kotake?" Unnoticeably to the two of them, a light blue, transparent shroud descends and surrounds the drubbed.

"What?" Kotake retorts, against the idea. She then becomes aware of a familiar, circular object floating on her sister. "Hey, Koume, what is that floating above your head?"

Haloes? Malon recognizes them, even though haloes are uncommon myths. That means…!

Koume turns to face the other witch, but is confounded with a discovery of her own. "I don't know, but you have one over your head too, Kotake!"

Startled with the trepidation that the haloes bring, the sisters glance at them one more time to verify. Suddenly, Koume begins to blubber, "But I'm only 400 years old!"

"And I'm just 380 years old!" Kotake joins in.

Malon's eyes narrow in complete stupefaction. HOLY COW… I hate to be that person that asked these two to be Ganondorf's surrogate mothers. She shudders that surely is not exaggerated. Just think of all those… wrinkles and sags! In all those… places!

"We're twins!" Koume promptly screeches furiously at her sister. "Don't try to lie about your age!"

Indignantly, the ice sorceress screams back with the same attitude, "You must have gone senile!"

"Who are you calling senile! Is that how you treat your older sister?"

"We are twins! How can you be older?" Being dunces as they are now, the Twinrova sisters don't care about what is right; it's a matter of who is right.

"Keeeyaaah! How heartless you are!"

"How can you be so ungrateful?"

"You're heartless!"

"You ungrateful…"

The altercation comes to a stop when they both freeze from a signal. Gazing up, they are smoothly lifted into the sharply lucid gap above, awing in voice. "I'll come back to haunt you!" one of them leaves behind for Malon before disappearing. The gap closes up after the dearly departed Twinrova sorceresses. The redhead sighs, snapping back into rest with the adrenaline in her body ebbing away. She permits herself to hit the ground on her behind. Still in disbelief, she closes her eyes until a certain shine of light permeates through her eyelids.

"You did it, Malon," Navi giggles. "You did it!"

Opening her eyes, things still remain the same as they were. "Wow… it did happen… We… We actually defeat one of Ganondorf's minions all by our lonesome!"

"We? Oh, Malon, it's all done by you!"

"Aw, don't be silly! Ya helped me find a way to take care of them witches. If it wasn't for you, I might not be sitting here right now!"

"Uh, well…" The fairy sheepishly chuckles to this gratefulness.

"But certainly… we did it. Not done by fairy boy, but by me." She stretches achingly, dropping the sword and the shield that defeated her foes. "Haaa… That feels great! I feel like celebratin'!"

"Let's celebrate when we pick up Link and depart from here… Well, a better idea, depart from the whole desert."

"Alright!" Malon jumps on her feet and gathers the weapons.

"Hey, Malon… Isn't that your… pack over there?"

"Hmm? Where?"

"Right there." Navi directs herself to a brown bundle like that of Link's, sitting next to a Heart Container.

"Thanks." The redhead skips to the platform holding them. "Hopefully during those seven years those witches weren't looking through my stuff."

Chamber of the Sages

"Wonder who's the Spirit Sage…" Malon mumbles to Navi as they face the platform with the elemental crest on it.

"I… have a pretty good idea," the fairy replies.

Ascending to disclose the identity, the one of judicious cause of the desert turns out to be…

"Hey, kid," Nabooru hastens to say.

"Heh… Nabooru!" Malon exclaims.

"Ain't that funny?" The Gerudo laughs. "I, the great Nabooru, am that Sage of Spirit you were looking for!"

"Somehow, I knew you were that person. I just didn't see it back then. Hee, if only Link were here to see it to believe it…"

"Ah, well, you can tell him." Nabooru waves off. "Kid, let me thank you."

"For wh-"

"Hold on." A hand gestures to pause. "Let me finish." She does a headshake, earning herself another random laughter. "Heheheh… look what the little kid has become in the past seven years: an ass-kicking woman who I can proudly say is a Gerudo thief herself! And she even looks the part, too."

"Thanks! Though, it's hard to look the part with all this armor on." The Hylian suddenly checks over her body.

"I meant you're good-lookin', kid!"

"Huh?" Malon then quickly simpers crookedly. "Oh, yeah… Um, I knew that!"

"I say that Link friend of yours is a damn, lucky bastard. Of course, looking at him, I'd also say the same about you."

"Uh…" Malon starts to redden slightly, feeling a little warm in the rather cool eternity of the chamber. "Um, enough about me and Link! Let's talk about something else!"

"Friends are friends. There isn't anything wrong with that."

"Umm… what?"

"By the way…" Nabooru's expression deepens into a downcast look, representing self-disappointment. "I really messed up… I… No, we… We were brainwashed by those old witches and used by Ganondorf to do his evil will…"

"Nabooru… It ain't our fault, especially yours. You and I know that we were forced to serve Ganondorf against our will."

"It's not that, kid. I screwed it up bad when I decided to go inside the temple to thwart Ganondorf and steal treasures while I'm at it. It's even worse to me to know that I actually sent you and your friends to get something for me, too!"

"Nabooru…"

"Kid, I've been selfish. Way too selfish that it caused us to get what's coming to me: seven years slaving under Ganondorf. My foolish pride and desire had their backfire."

"I… I…"

"But that isn't going to happen anymore! Starting today!" She wears a smirk. "I'm not going to ruin Ganondorf's little reign for myself; I'm going to make him miserable for everybody! As one of the six Sages, that shouldn't be a problem. Heh heh… Not only because everybody hates Ganondorf, but I'm going to fight to pay him back for what he and those witches did to us!"

"You said it! I can't think of a better reason for revenge than that!" Malon agrees, showing off her mirth for their vindictiveness.

"Heh… Kid…"

"Yeah?"

"No… Malon, the Heroine of Time!"

"That's all right, you can call me whatever ya like!"

"Well…" Nabooru shrugs. "Instead of keeping the promise I made back then, I give you this Medallion! Take it… alright, kid?" Her arms are in the air, beckoning with her strength the medal of her element. The element of Spirit, engraved on the bronze-colored coin.

The Spirit Medallion…

The power of the Spirit by Nabooru…

Malon relaxes as her gray transition from the Sacred Realm to Hyrule takes place, but is first interrupted by Nabooru's dismissing words. "Hey, Malon… Link's a handsome guy when I saw him some moments ago… If things turned out differently… and you weren't the Heroine of Time… I would have kept the, uh… 'promise' I made back then… You're a very lucky girl to have him, kid… Heh…"

Well, I'm just very lucky that I don't have to know what that promise will turn out to be.

Desert Colossus

The blue column of light gently disembarks the heroine and the fairy on the platform with the Spirit symbol outside the edifice. Blasted by the scorching hell in the sky and on the ground, Malon wipes away a quick sweat beading down the side of her temple. "Goddess, I've been away from the desert, no, the outside so long that I'm now unused to it. Aaah… wouldn't I like to warp away just to get out of this killing heat…" She then notices that she's still in her Iron Knuckle suit. "Holy cow, I'm still wearing this rattletrap! And it's all metal! Out here in the sun!"

"If you're thinking about walking nude throughout the desert, I highly wouldn't recommend that," Navi suggests when Malon starts to strap off her gauntlets.

"Heck no. If those… Leevas, whatever they're called, are still around, I'm not taking the chance."

Navi sighs. "Great… Link is still in the temple."

Remembering that, Malon scurries across the sand to the Spirit Temple's terrace. Looking up to the left hand of the statue, she yells, "Hey, fairy boy! Ya shriveled up there already?"

The young man in green peers from the opening next to the hand, then steps out. "It takes three days to die without water for one thing!"

"Ya nerd!"

"It's survival knowledge and tips! You should know them yourself!"

"Anyway, Link, I got rid of the witches!"

"I knew you could do it! See? Nothing to it, right?"

Ha ha, Mister Big Shot who thinks he knows everything. "The Spirit Sage is Nabooru, by the way! I got the Spirit Medallion!"

"Really? Well, tell me about it later!"

Hmm, should I tell him about the 'promise'…? Nah… Malon shakes her head. Which reminds me, I have my own… promise for fairy boy, which I'll be happy to… keep my word to when he gets down here. She giggles merrily at the titillated thought.

"Hey, Mal!"

"Hee hee… Um, yeah, fairy boy?"

"How do I, uh, get down from here?"