Chapter 42 is finally here! This time, we introduce a new character to the plot, and some new challenges await our heroes!
"I don't recall ever being here before..." Link muttered, looking at a somewhat tall building in Gerudo Town, along with Nabooru, Aviel, Nemisa and Saria who were all standing before it.
It was the next day after Link and Nabooru's accident in the study, and the group had all gone out to the Gerudo Library to meet with the head master of the place.
Ruto herself had already gone home to Zora's Domain that morning. She and Nemisa had wound up spending the whole night with Link, taking turns trying to see who could get him the most turned on. By the end however, they wound up completely wearing him out and just declared it a tie.
"When the town first opened we had most of the literature kept in the palace for safekeeping, and it really only consisted of the important and sacred books to our people that we took from Gerudo Fortress after the war, though most of them are considered forbidden by our laws." Nabooru explained, "We eventually moved the literature to this building and made it open to the public so they could borrow books we've acquired through trade or treasure hunts. The forbidden ones in particular however we keep in a locked saferoom here."
"And this book Dr. Sarami needs is among the forbidden ones?" Link asked.
"Yes, she believes it might help her get more information towards the strange abilities of that Hinox." Nabooru nodded, "Normally we wouldn't do something like this, but that thing's power concerns me, and I trust Sarami to not misuse the information."
"How fascinating... an entire building of books?" Saria said with awe, "We Kokiri only ever learned basic reading material from the Great Deku Tree, but I'd love to see what you have here!"
"Why don't you check out a few books while we're here then?" Link said grinning, "If you want I can help you read the tougher ones."
"I'd like that." Saria nodded with a smile.
Aviel and Nemisa both looked to each other with knowing glances as they saw their king chatting with his childhood friend.
"Do you think...?" Nemisa whispered to Aviel.
"Yeah, I do." Aviel nodded with a big grin, "Would you be okay with it?"
"Certainly, I would trust her with his life, so it's only fitting." Nemisa replied with a smirk.
"She would be so happy too... more then she is now." Aviel said.
"What are you two talking about over there?" Link spoke up to the two.
"Nothing!" The two bodyguards said in unison with innocent smiles, leaving Link a little dubious.
Nabooru meanwhile opened the door to the library and the group went inside, taking a moment to look around; there were about ten rows of shelves filled to the brim with various books, scrolls and tomes, the shelves going up to nearly the ceiling of the building.
"Wooow... there are so many books..." Aviel said looking upwards, getting a little dizzy just from looking, before she fell backwards from it.
"Sister Gutola, are you here right now? We're come for the book I asked you to retrieve for us!" Nabooru called out.
There was no response, just silence in the vast library.
"Maybe she's not here yet?" Saria theorized.
But it was then they heard a small little unfamiliar voice coming from somewhere.
"um... h-hi lady nabooru!"
"Strange, that didn't sound like the head master of the library..." Nabooru paused, then called out as she looked around, "We can't see you, where are you at?"
"b-back here!"
The group followed the woman's words towards the back of the library where they saw a bookshelf had fallen over and there were books scattered around everywhere.
"Jees, what a mess." Nemisa said looking around, then kneeling down to pick up a book, "These girls need to keep these things in better condition."
"Hey Ms. Librarian 'Head Master'!" Nabooru shouted out, clearly angry and annoyed at the library staff's neglectfulness, "Where the hell are you and your assistants? Have you seen this clutter everywhere?!"
"um... i'm down here..." muttered the small voice, and everyone looked down at the pile of books, with a hand sticking out from under the pile, "i'm kinda stuck... can you possibly help me out?" a voice called out from the books.
"She's trapped in that pile?!" Link shouted in shock.
"We need to help her!" Saria exclaimed frantically.
The rest of the group nodded and quickly went to work trying to free the girl; Nabooru, Aviel and Saria gathering up books to move out of the way while Link and Nemisa worked to move the bookshelf back to an upright position.
Eventually everyone had fixed up the shelves and books, and they got to meet the girl they just saved from the pile. The first thing Link noticed about her was that she was a Hylian, more then likely a half-blood Gerudo one; as she had pale skin and pointy ears. She had long light brown hair, and wore a traditional Gerudo silk wear in a light purple. The most unusual thing about her though was she wore a bright yellow bunny hood on her head, which looked somewhat familiar to Link.
"T-Thank you all!" stammered the girl, bowing at the waist, "I was trying to get a book from the shelf and the whole thing just tumbled over on top of me, I thought I would die before I made my debut!"
'Made her debut...?' Link thought to himself in confusion.
"It's no problem, we're just glad to see you're okay." Nabooru nodded.
"Oh wow... it's really you, Lady Nabooru... I admire you so much!" the girl said covering her eyes with her bunny hood ears, before letting go of them and straightening herself out, "Oh, forgive my manners, let me introduce myself! My name is Halei, an assistant to the library head master Gutola. It's a pleasure to finally meet both you and King Link!"
"Likewise." Link said waving his hand, "You can just call me Link. I'm honestly surprised we haven't met yet."
"Um, yes, I'm usually spending my days helping out in the library, or I'm out on assignments with Gutola to acquire new literature. It's not like I just suddenly appeared into existence to suit the events going on at the moment or anything!" Halei suddenly said in a panicky tone.
"What is she talking about...?" Saria whispered to Link.
"Beats me." Link whispered back, before speaking out loud, "So you're a half-Hylian?"
"Yes, I only just came to live here recently." Halei nodded, "I was a bit worried about living with the Gerudo because of their reputation with Hyrule... But everyone turned out to be very nice and accommodating for me here, I even got this job at the library."
"Well I'm glad to see you're taking to things well." Link nodded, though feeling a tinge of guilt still over his responsibility in the banishment, "I'm not officially king yet, but you just let me know if you need any help getting comfortable here."
"T-Thank you..." Halei stammered, obviously way too shy to look directly at him and Nabooru.
"So Halei, I wanted to get that book we discussed to the head master about before." Nabooru then brought up, "Sister Gutola was supposed to prepare it for us to hand over to Dr. Sarami."
"Oh yes, I know what you're talking about, and it's such an extraordinary tome!" Halei said suddenly with wide sparkling eyes, "While written in ancient text, it translates to 'Gerudo Blood Alchemy Arts' and written by the ancient Gerudo people thousands of years ago during the birth of Hyrule! It's a hard back book, approximately ten inches wide and twelve inches in height, and five hundred and sixty eight pages long, and is said to document many forms of advanced alchemy science!"
"You... certainly got a knack for literature." Saria said sweatdropping.
"Oh..." Halei seemed to snap out of her enthusiasm, then turned her head away blushing bight red, "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to outburst like that. It's just when I talk about books, I get all excited... it's like a defining character trait for me. I'd love to take the time to just sit down and read through the whole thing cover-to-cover, but the head master says it's considered forbidden reading material here in the library..."
"That's normally the case, but we believe it might give us information on a monster that attacked us recently, so we're making an exception for this." Nabooru said, "So if you just hand it to us we'll be on our way."
"We don't have it." Halei answered pointblank.
Everyone else promptly and collectively faulted to the ground.
"Why the hell not?!" exclaimed Nemisa in frustration.
"W-Well, me and the staff have spent the past few days going through the shelves... but we couldn't find it anywhere. We even consulted the list of checked-out books in case one of the staff lent it out on accident. After consulting our records, Gutola believes it must have been stolen sometime ago, and she's currently out investigating the theft." Halei sighed, before clapping her hands together outwards and bowing her head, "I'm so sorry we failed you Lady Nabooru!"
"Swell." sighed Nabooru rolling her eyes, "Were any other books stolen?"
"That's the strange thing... it was the only book missing." Halei said in thought.
"I wonder who would have stolen it?" Link pondered, "Sarami's really the only one here in town who would have any actual use for it."
"So what do we do then?" Aviel asked.
"Would there happen to be another copy we could acquire anywhere?" Nabooru asked.
"Actually yes, the head master consulted some sources, and says there might be a copy of it at the ancient Gerudo Hall of Knowledge." Halei said.
"The Hall of Knowledge?!" Nabooru exclaimed, "That old place?!"
"What's that exactly?" Aviel asked, "Is it any different from here?"
"It's an old temple in the far north, beyond the Spirit Temple, and was said to contain books and documents from ancient times that date back thousands of years ago." Nabooru explained.
"Then from what Halei told us about the book, it sounds like a place to check." Link said.
"Very well, we'll see about rallying some more troops and head out there soon." Nabooru nodded, "Thank you for your help Halei."
"Oh, course, and thank you for helping me as well Lady Nabooru." Halei said bowing, "I'd do anything for you after what you've done for me to settle in here."
"Alright team, let's go then!" Nabooru said. The group bid Halei goodbye, but she paused and watched them as they were walking out, before holding a hand to her chest and speaking out.
"L-Lady Nabooru!"
The group stopped and looked to Halei, who became a bit intimidated at the stare-down, but she forced herself to speak up, "Could... I p-possibly go with you to help?" she asked, fiddling with her fingers, "I feel bad for not being able to just give the book over to you..."
"I don't know..." Nabooru said, "You were almost done in by a pile of books just now."
Saria stared at Halei, before nodding to herself, "It'll be okay Lady Nabooru, I'm sure she'll be a good help, and I can protect her!"
"Yeah, same here." Link nodded.
Nabooru paused, before nodding herself, "...that sounds fine I guess, you'd have a better idea of what we're looking for anyway."
"T-Thank you, I'll do my best for you all!" Halei said, bowing her head.
The group later that day found themselves standing before the Hall of Knowledge after having journeyed past the Desert Colossus where the Spirit Temple was. It was a pretty large place with statues of an unknown woman surrounding the four corners of the building, and at the center was a giant statue of that same woman holding a giant stone stab that had been made into the likeness of a book.
Along for the trip was a few extra troops, as well as Reirousa, Link's dear friend, head of the Sandstorm Viper gang, and the current training commander of the Gerudo army. She stood alongside the group with her Bombos Warhammer resting on her shoulders and gazed up at the building.
"Thanks for coming along with us Reirousa. Since we don't know what to expect inside, we figured we could use some extra help." Link said.
"Uh, no problem Link..." Reirousa muttered, rubbing the back of her neck, "I'm not really into books 'n stuff, but I'm glad to be along for any heavy-lifting."
"Ha ha, I know what that's like." chuckled Link, remembering how he had been Ruto's shopping mule the previous day.
The group walked up the stairs to the entrance and took a look at the statue in front of the temple, and the book-shaped slab it was holding with strange writing, and large button to stand on in front of it.
"So who's the statue?" Reirousa asked.
"I believe that's Efaeme, the Gerudo goddess of knowledge." Nabooru said, "She believes knowledge is meant to be recorded and preserved, but understands the dangers of allowing just anyone to use it, that's why so many of those books we store in the library are considered forbidden by Gerudo law."
"Yes, we usually keep all the forbidden books in a hidden place in the library. We're still not sure how anyone could have gotten in there to get the alchemy book, as only the head master should have the key to get inside..." Halei said, lost in thought.
"Maybe someone stole the key and returned it without the head master knowing?" Aviel asked.
"It's possible that could be it... though I don't know how they'd steal it from under Ms. Gutola.." Halei pondered.
"Or maybe... the one in charge of the library took it herself?" Reirousa then brought up.
The group paused in shock at that idea, at a loss for words, until one spoke up.
"D-Don't say that!" snapped Halei suddenly, "There's no way Ms. Gutola would had done something like that!"
Reirousa flinched a little from Halei's outburst, contemplating what she said. The tall woman's intimidating glare, as unintended as it was, spooked Halei and she hid behind Nabooru, and it was then Reirousa sighed out.
"Uh, sorry... I was just rambling..." Reirousa said, mortified she was still scaring people just by looking at them.
"Well I don't like to think about the idea that the head master of the library would do that or why, but the possibility still exists..." Nabooru muttered.
"Maybe for now we should just concentrate on getting the other copy in here." Link said to keep the conversation from getting too ugly, as he saw how upset Halei was.
"Good thinking, but how do we get inside?" Saria asked.
The group just stared up at the temple to find an opening, but saw nothing, no door or wide enough windows anywhere.
"Weird, shouldn't there be a way in?" Aviel asked looking around with her goggles, "There's some windows, but they look too small for even me or Saria to squeeze through."
"Looks like this slab might be a door of some kind." Nemisa said, "I presume this switch here opens the door?"
She went ahead and stepped down on the foot switch, and the statue's eyes suddenly seemed to glow. Everyone stood in silence to see what was going on, but after a while saw there was nothing. Nemisa eventually stepped off the switch and stared back up at the statue, who's eyes stopped glowing.
"Strange... if it doesn't open the door, then what does?" she muttered.
"Maybe we should read what's on the slab, it might be a hint of some sort." Link said looking the slab over, "What kind of writing is this? I don't recognize it from anywhere in Gerudo Town."
"I believe it's ancient Gerudo text, though I'm not too familiar with it myself..." Nabooru said observing it as well.
"Oh! Allow me to do this." Halei spoke up, walking up to the slab and inspecting the letters. She then pulled out a book she had in a handbag hanging off her shoulder and consulted it.
"What do you have there?" Aviel asked, peeking at the book, but unable to read half the words in it.
"The Book of Mudora, a translation guide for ancient Hylian and Gerudo writing." Halei explained flipping through the pages, "It's not one hundred percent accurate because of how old the text is, but I think I can get a general idea of what it's saying..."
"Very well, good luck." Nabooru nodded, pleased that Halei came along after all.
It took some time, as Halei flipped through the pages, looking over each word on the slab and comparing it to what was in the book, before she finally spoke up.
"Okay, so it says, 'To those whom may seek wisdom of the yeast, one must decipher the griddles of each shoe of knowledge, only then shall the excretes of chime be made known'."
Everyone stood there blankly as Halei just stared at the book herself.
"What... the hell does that mean?" Reirousa asked, "Am I just slow to hear what she said?"
"No Reirousa, it just makes no sense whatsoever." Nabooru said flatly.
"You sure you're reading that thing right Halei?" Link asked.
"I-I'm sorry! I said the translation isn't completely accurate..." Halei said, looking like she was about to cry, causing the others to shut up and allow her to get back to reading.
"Um... okay, I think what it means is if we're trying to seek wisdom for the past, that we have to decipher the riddles of each slab of knowledge, and only then shall the secrets of time be made known." Halei clarified.
"That makes a lot more sense." Reirousa said with relief.
"Very well, go on then." Nabooru nodded.
"Of course Lady Nabooru." Halei said as she continued to look over the inscription and compare it to the book, "To answer the riddle, stand on the... bitch in front of the slab and... um, speak out to the hotness?"
"...I think they mean stand on the switch and speak to the goddess." Nemisa said.
"Ah, yes... that makes more sense." Halei said embarrassingly.
"Okay, so what's the riddle?" Saria asked, looking up at the slab.
"Let's see... the wording written on this slab is..."
"Be careful with your translation this time!" Nabooru pointed out.
"R-Right!" nodded Halei, as she read it off to the group.
'There is a house. One enters it blind and comes out seeing. What is it?'
Everyone paused and contemplated the words. Aviel in particular folded her arms, closed her eyes tightly and swayed her head left and right.
"Maybe... a hospital?" Aviel asked opening an eye, "One that could do medicine on your eyes to cure being blind?"
"A house isn't a hospital, and Dr. Sarami's a genius, but I don't think even she could cure someone's blindness." Nemisa said.
Nabooru paused, thinking deeply about what the riddle could be. As she thought about the part about being blind, she flinched a little, as her thoughts drifted to a distant memory of someone putting a hand on her shoulder, speaking with a sincere smile that made her the happiest she had been in so long...
"You okay Nabooru?" Link spoke up, putting a hand to her arm.
"Y-Yes... I'm fine..." sighed Nabooru.
"I don't know about that... you look a little tense, need a shoulder massage?" he proposed, "You've been doing pretty good to teach me in that."
"No, no, it's okay, maybe later. I just need to-" that's when it hit Nabooru, "Wait... teach?" she then slammed her fist into her palm, "I got it!"
Everyone watched as Nabooru then walked up onto the switch to press down on it, causing the statue to shift a bit, and the eyes of it gave off a glow, leaving the group to assume it was ready to hear the answer. Nabooru took a deep breath, and spoke out to the statue.
"The answer is a 'schoolhouse'!"
After a few seconds, the eyes glew brightly and the slab shifted as dust fell down around it. The statue lifted it up into the air, revealing a passage inside the temple.
"Hey nice work!" Link exclaimed, "Come on, let's head in and get that book."
"So how did you figure out the answer Lad Nabooru?" Halei asked Nabooru as the group started to head in, Aviel and Nemisa taking up the front to make sure everything was safe inside.
"Well when the riddle said 'blind', it meant one who's lacking in knowledge, and the schoolhouse allows you to 'see', which referred to gaining that knowledge!" Nabooru explained.
"T-That's amazing!" Halei said with wide sparkling eyes.
"As expected of Nabooru!" chuckled Link, "That brain of yours is one of the things I admire so much about you."
"T-Thank you..." Nabooru said, a little embarrassed by Link's words. This didn't go unnoticed by Halei, who looked back and forth between the two of them, then bore the slightest of smiles, while Aviel, Nemisa and Saria all looked to each other and nodded.
The group continued on through the door and into a narrow hallway, and soon arrived in a small room with a replica of the statue outside holding a slab like the one they entered the temple through, and had a foot switch as well.
"Looks like we indeed have more riddles to pass." Nabooru said.
"Okay, allow me to read it..." Halei cleared her throat and spoke the riddle out-loud by consulting her book word-by-word, once again making sure not to mispronounce anything.
"There was a green house. Inside the green house there was a white house. Inside the white house there was a red house. Inside the red house there were lots of babies."
"Another house related one? How original." Link said sarcastically, as the group went into thought.
"Umm... is it... Nemisa?" Aviel spoke up, only to be bonked upside the head by her fellow bodyguard.
"What does any of that have to do with me, I'm not even pregnant!" Nemisa exclaimed.
"Do you think it's one of those little doll things? Like the doll within a doll within a doll?" Saria pondered, "What do they call those again...?"
"I think you mean a matryoshka doll." Link said, "I admit it sounds plasable..."
"Maybe, but then what would the 'lots of babies' refer to though?" Nabooru pondered.
"Uh, could I try?" spoke up a voice.
Everyone turned to see Reirousa standing there, looking a bit awkward from the stares.
"Do you think you know what it is?" Nabooru asked.
"I think so..." Reirousa said, licking her lips a bit before nodding with confidence, "In fact I'm sure of it!"
"Okay, give it a shot." nodded Link, stepping out of her way.
Reirousa nodded and slowly walked up, stepping down on the switch in front of the slab, then looking up at the Goddess Efaeme statue's glowing eyes.
"The answer is a 'hydromelon'!" Reirousa spoke out.
With that the slab shifted and rose up, revealing another pathway deeper into the temple, indicating she was right.
"She did it!" Saria said in shock.
"Alright, nice work Reirousa!" Link nodded, as the group continued on.
"So how did you figure that answer out?" Aviel asked Reirousa, hopping around the muscular woman as she herself was walking slowly along.
"Well hydromelons got green skin, that white layer under it, and then all the red juicy stuff inside... and the seeds are like baby hydromelons... so uh, yeah."
"I gotta say, not bad Reirousa, I'm impressed." Nemisa said.
"Uh, it's no big deal or anythin', I just really like to eat those things. Back when I was living in Gerudo Wastes with the Vipers we had to stick to what we could salvage or steal, so it was pretty nice when I tried a hydromelon for the first time after coming to town." Reirousa explained.
"Oooh... so is that what the produce farmers were talking about when they said they stepped up their hydromelon production by request of the war barracks...?" Nabooru spoke up with a smirk.
"That... um... I... SHAD UP!" shouted Reirousa in embarrassment, causing the others to laugh.
The group continued on through the hall, it was another straight and narrow corridor like the last one. They soon arrived in another small room with another statue and slab with a stepping switch.
"Jees, another riddle." Aviel said, "I don't get this place, if people are smart enough to answer all these riddles, then they wouldn't need access to the knowledge here!"
"Maybe that's part of the point." Saria commented, "Maybe the Goddess Efaeme believes those who are smart enough to solve these riddles would have the common sense not to misuse it."
"That's a good assumption." nodded Nabooru, "You're quickly getting a good understanding of our people Saria."
"Thanks." Saria blushed.
"Wait, there's something different on this one." Halei spoke up, reading off what was written on the slab, "This is the final test of the Hall of Knowledge, those who lack the wisdom to progress will find themselves deemed intruders and thrown out by the hands of darkness, and banished from this temple for eternity."
"Hands of darkness... I'm willing to bet this place must have Wallmasters hiding around here then." Link groaned, recalling the horrific hand creatures that were known for grabbing people and taking them out of dungeons. He looked up and saw in this particular room there was no ceiling, and nothing but darkness above, making him think his guess wasn't too far off.
"I'll get started on the riddle itself." Halei spoke nervously from hearing Link's words, as she consulted the Book of Mudora.
"I never was, am always to be. No one ever saw me, nor ever will. And yet I am the confidence of all.
To live and breathe on this terrestrial ball."
"I.. uh... what." Aviel said blankly, as steam rose up from her head, and she started staggering around dizzy.
"Someone solve this riddle quickly, I think Aviel's brain is starting to malfunction." Nemisa said.
"I can sympathize." Link said, recalling back when he tried to help Nabooru with her paperwork.
"So anyone have any ideas?" Nemisa asked with a shiver, "I don't exactly want to be grabbed and thrown out of here by one of those creatures."
"Well the terrestrial ball is obviously the Earth itself." Nabooru pondered, "The rest of it is rather vague though, could it be referring to a person, or possibly a thing...?"
"Maybe it's a goddess like Efaeme herself?" Aviel asked, "They don't go out of their way to personally meet with us mortals."
"But it says 'I never was,' implying whoever this is has never existed." Saria said.
"Then who or what would bring confidence to all people if it can't come to be?" Nemisa asked.
Link paused, staring up at the statue, when a thought occurred to him.
"Hold on guys, I think I have it." Link said, walking slowly up and stepping on the switch to make the eyes of the statue glow.
"Be careful Link, you know what will happen if we're wrong." Nabooru warned him, but he turned his head to Nabooru and she could see the confident look in his eyes.
"Don't worry, I got it." Link grinned, and the others all nodded to return his confidence.
Link looked up to the statue and closed his eyes, thinking back to his past memories, those of some of his closest friends from throughout his childhood, until one particular memory of a beautiful woman with blond hair and draped in an elegant dress, as she held a blue ocarina in her hands. She spoke to him and smiled gently as she put the ocarina to her lips and played it...
"The answer is... 'Tomorrow'." Link said with a light smile, opening his eyes and gazing up at the slab.
It seemed nothing was happening, and the group were nervous about if they were going to thrown out the temple by the Wallmasters.
However, after a few seconds the statue's eyes gave off a bright glow, the slab shifted and slowly slid open, allowing the group to enter the final wing of the Hall of Knowledge, where the book they were searching for was said to be held.
"Way to go Link!" Aviel cheered out, rushing forward and hugging him tightly with her bird wings.
"Nice work! We finally got access to the main area!" Nabooru said with a wide smile, peering through the doorway to see shelves and shelves of books.
"That riddle was actually rather beautiful in a sense" Halei said smiling, "What made you think of that answer?"
Link stayed silent, confusing the others, until he finally spoke up.
"Let's just say I had inspiration from another time." Link said, "Come on, let's go get that book!"
And with that, the group all went through the final door and into the Hall of Knowledge.
And that ends the arc for now, next time the group investigate the Hall of Knowledge for what they seek, but might end up finding something else! Stay tuned!
As always, leave a like, follow or comment if you desire, your feedback is always welcome!