16 Sylvanus, Part II: The Boy without a Faerie

by Amorphous Blue Blob

Quasi-novelisation of Ocarina of Time. Sylvanus is the history of a world, in four parts. Reincarnation-fic. I've finished writing the first two parts, but not the last two. Rated T for Ocarina of Time.

6. Friends, Old and New

Chapter 5: Friends, Old and New

He awoke when the sun was high overhead. He had not had that nightmare, although he was uncertain as to why not. Something about the energy of the place was different from how it had been at night. It seemed to quiver in excitement.

He stretched carefully, his arms hitting the roof of the bridge, the collision silent but painful. He rolled out from under the bridge, and stood.

"Well, it's about time you woke up!" said a familiar voice, with a childish giggle. Zelda peered down at him from the edge of the platform where they had had their previous conversation.

"I got a good night's sleep for once…" he murmured, voice filled with wonder. Had it somehow been the fact that he had slept within the castle he routinely dreamt that he was without? Or…had Zelda's presence at the crucial moment when the dream would else have plagued him kept it from arising, somehow?

He glanced over at the princess, thinking that it should come as no surprise that she knew that he had been here. Impa would scarcely have let her enter the courtyard, regardless of habit, until she had ensured that it contained no threats. Unlike the average castle soldier, it would occur to her to look under the bridge.

He crawled out of the water, reaching towards the higher platform upon which Zelda stood, his back stinging, the water exacerbating the wounds from the fencepost that he had almost forgotten. Hard to remember such minor problems after those horrors….

He shuddered, and Navi tightened her grip on his shoulder. She'd slept under the collar of his shirt, but climbed out once he'd turned to face Zelda. He wondered if he had woken her, and felt a twinge of guilt at the thought. Navi had already been an amazing assistant, and the quest had barely begun.

"I wanted to speak with you," he said to the princess.

"Yes…. Not that I mind seeing you, but you're back very early," Zelda said. Her brows furrowed in that familiar maddening look of concern. She'd seen him shudder, then. Great. "Also…is your back bleeding?"

Link honestly didn't know. It smarted, true, and his back was wet, but he wasn't sure if the blood she saw on his back was from today or yesterday.

"I fell on an iron railing," he said, tone bland, as if this were an everyday occurrence.

Her eyebrows rose, and she opened her mouth, as if wanting to ask how that had managed to happen. But, she seemed to consider it too rude, and her mouth closed again, without the question being asked. "…Is there something that I can do to help you?"

She was still thinking about his injuries, but Link took the opportunity to change the subject.

"I need to speak more with you about what being the 'Royal Family's messenger' means. And, I think we should do that outside of this courtyard. Think about it! You spy on Ganondorf through the window—who's to say that he doesn't do the same?"

She gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. She clearly hadn't thought of that. Navi tensed on Link's shoulder, her gaze suddenly fixed dead ahead. Link suspected that she was considering his words. Meanwhile, Zelda turned to the entrance to the courtyard, sea-blue eyes wide with something like a burgeoning panic.

She extended a hand to help him out of the water, but her gaze was fixed on Impa, who had appeared out of nowhere whilst Link had been looking elsewhere. He took a moment to question the propriety of such familiarity, but then shrugged. He could always blame it on the ignorance of a childish outsider. He took her hand, and she hauled him from the water, with surprising strength. He reconsidered her, re-evaluated her. She seemed a helpless damsel, but perhaps there was more to her, as there had been more to Tetra. He found himself smiling, and wasn't sure why. It was a depressingly small, wistful smile.

She missed it, too focused on his words, and upon Impa. He followed her to the mouth of the tunnel, nodding to Impa.

"Oh, Impa!" Zelda wailed, and Link winced at how desperate and pathetic she sounded. "I made a terrible mistake! Why didn't I think that Ganondorf might be able to hear us through the window! I'm so stupid!"

Link sighed, looking down at the ground. Navi was still tense on his shoulder, thinking. "It wasn't stupidity…he might not even have heard us. He'd need phenomenal hearing to have heard anything truly important…."

"He would have heard enough to know we're looking for—I mean, he'd know our plans!" she finished in a whisper, rounding on him with a tear-stained face. Wait. When had she started crying? Oh, he was so far outside of his area of expertise here. What did he do?

"Uh…" he said, smartly. He shook his head, and forced his mind to focus. He reached out a hand, unthinking, to rest it on her shoulder, a silent show of support. "Uh…well, but he'd be able to figure that out, anyway. I mean, he'd only be spying on you if he knew that you didn't trust him, and if he knew that, your father must have said something to him…. And, he'd know how we would best thwart his efforts of world conquest. He already knows how to open the Door to the Sacred Realm; it's why he curst the Great Deku Tree.

"And…uh…well, that story you wanted Navi and me to keep secret didn't seem that novel. He must already have known, or he wouldn't have come to Hyrule to begin with. Just…if we make any other plans, we should do it out in town. He'll have a harder time justifying his presence there.

"Let's just…discuss it more in town. Relax a bit. Let's just pretend that we're ordinary kids, without the weight of the world on our shoulders, and have fun in town. Then, we can discuss the quest without arousing suspicion. Just…please, don't cry. Ganondorf is obviously tricky. It's not your fault. Please stop crying."

Zelda sniffed several times, and then wrapped her arms around him in a brief hug. He froze, uncertain as to what he could or should do. Before he could make up his mind, she drew her hands back.

"Oh! Forgive me! How inappropriate of me. I'm so sorry."

"It's fine!" Link said, quick to reassure her. "Don't worry about it. There's no one here to see you act like a human being but we four. You don't have to apologise for having emotions, you know!"

He gave her a small, tentative smile, and she returned it. Her smile was much wobblier, and shallower, but it was there, and she wasn't on the verge of tears, anymore. Now, they could turn their thoughts to the task at hand. How would they get into town? Would anyone recognise Zelda?

Of course, Zelda was decked out in familiar royal regalia. It screamed "Princess!" despite a lack of any jewelry. She was apparently a rarely seen personage, but her outfit was too distinctive. And then, there was Impa…

"You two had better wear some sort of disguise, if you're going into town," he said, turning to address Impa, hand still on Zelda's shoulder (how had it stayed there through that hug?). She glanced at him, and nodded. She seemed to have followed his reasoning, and agreed.

He slowly let out a breath he hadn't realised he was holding. "Be careful. There's an old man folklorist in the market, somewhere, dressed all in blue the last I saw him. He's studied the sheikah. He'll recognise you by those eyes, at the very least."

Impa bent over to the ground, picking up dirt to smear in her white hair to stain it a brownish colour. At his words, however, she snapped the fingers of her right hand, and something appeared in them—two sheets of dark blue glass. When she settled the glass bands across her eyes, her eyes seemed to turn blue. Sheikah magic? She plucked a hooded brown cloak from midair, and settled it about her shoulders.

"Wait here, princess," she said. "I will find attire more suited for an ordinary child exploring the town."

She bowed deeply, threw something at the ground, and vanished. It occurred to Link that Impa was giving him a sign that she trusted him greatly. She was, after all, leaving him alone with the princess, for however long it would take her to find such clothes. Which wasn't that long, but still.

"Thank you, Link. And, thank you for the warning," Zelda said, curtseying. "Hyrule already is in your debt. I will tell you what you need to know. Is there anything that I can do for you while we wait?"

Link shook his head, right hand again at his hip. "I don't think so," he said. "The only other thing I thought of to ask you was if you had a wallet that could carry more than two hundred rupees. All kokiris have adult wallets. Which works well enough for them, but I'm expected to buy a hylian shield before I go up Death Mountain. I don't know how much they cost, but from the way that the guard at the Death Mountain gate speaks of it, they're very expensive."

Zelda looked down and away, a faint smile on her face.

"Yes…we do have something you might use. And, as you undertake this mission as our messenger, we will help you by providing funds, when you need the money. We're trusting you on this, mind," she said, with a small smile in his direction. She clasped her hands before her, as if praying. "Please don't abuse our trust. Here! You can take my wallet, for now!" she cried, and handed over a pouch filled with rupees.

His brows creased as he pondered what had just happened. Why had she given him her own wallet, brimming with rupees? He sent her a questioning look, but she looked up at the sky, and didn't answer. Her right hand clutched her left elbow tightly.

"…Thank you," he said, uncertain of how else he ought to respond. Navi giggled again, and he tried not to frown, lest the princess think he mocked her. She smiled, and hummed softly under her breath. He easily recognised the lullaby that Impa had taught him.

A few rather awkward minutes later, the Sheikah woman returned, carrying a bag, and still wearing that cloak. Zelda opened the satchel her guard handed her, and frowned, brow furrowed, as she cocked her head, looking up at Impa.

"You would never successfully pass for a peasant," said the woman. "But, we might be able to pretend you are a member of the upper class, or a wealthy merchant's daughter. I know that you have always wanted to see how it is for those less fortunate than you. But, the king would never forgive me, were he to learn that I had permitted you to wear such clothes as this, and there is greater risk of him discovering them, if I had had to seek out such clothes. I shall accompany you as your bodyguard and tutor. They will less readily notice any mistakes we might make, with you passing as a noble, rather than as a peasant."

Zelda's eyes widened, and she nodded, and closed her eyes. The familiar—the far-too-familiar, if he were honest—pink-and-white dress and headdress were replaced by a much plainer blue dress, with long, flared white sleeves, as the goddess Nayru's, and a v-neck collar. Her hair was now uncovered, and was revealed to be a much lighter, yellower strawberry-blonde than his own. It fell just past her shoulders, tied back with two locks of her own hair.

She smiled at him, and he couldn't help blushing…that was stupid. Why should he react that way? She was only twelve, wasn't she? He'd better remember that he was seventeen. And who knew how old the real Link was? But, it was hard to keep track of all that.

He refused to gawk at her as they made their way through the passageways, occasionally glancing at her when he thought she wasn't looking, trying to accustom himself to her new appearance. She looked very different, this way.

---

Zelda didn't seem to realise that it was safe to speak in the secret passage without fear of being overheard. It gave Link peace and time to organise his thoughts, and to decide what he ought to do. Just a rough sort of plan, really.

The moment they emerged in the back alley, Zelda shot him a broad smile, saying eagerly, "Oh, it all looks so beautiful, doesn't it? Hyrule Castle Town really is something else…where are we going first?"

She was practically bouncing on her feet. Link wasn't sure, but he thought that Impa might have been smiling, slightly. He took a moment to wonder whether the king hadn't forbidden that his daughter leave the castle. Well, they were technically still within the protective walls of the castle—they were just outside of the keep.

"First," he decided, seeing how happy she looked. "I think we should explore the town a bit. I suppose you need to know what it is that we're fighting for, too. But more than that…you've had a lot to worry about, lately. You need some time to just have fun and recover, you know? I'm sure being royal comes with a lot of duties."

Zelda's shoulders slumped. What duties were there for the princess heiress to the kingdom? How much time did she usually have to herself?

"Dad's been in so many negotiations, lately, and my foreign relations tutors are necessarily experts in their fields. Thanks to all those meetings, I haven't had any training lately…just the usual subjects… history and geography and etiquette and…. Well, it all makes me feel that I've neglected my duties. If I stay out here, I might miss my lessons…."

"Nothing could be respecting your duties and role more than trying to save Hyrule from a man who wants to conquer the world," said Link, turning to her with a small smile that he hoped gave her some strength, at least. He reached for her shoulder, again, hesitated, let his hand fall. So little of courage about him, now. "If you do something fun for a while, and just think about that, it'll help you to think about other things. Trust me. You might even figure some things out, without trying. You're just wasting energy, fretting all the time. We can talk about the serious stuff at lunch…whenever that is."

Since Zelda's head was bowed, and her eyes downcast, he looked to Impa for approval. She nodded, almost imperceptibly. Well, that was a start.

"Come on! The guard whom I showed your letter to asked me to get a mask from something called the Happy Mask Shop…. Aren't you curious about that?"

Her enthusiasm returned to her, and he felt himself relax. As with Tetra, he felt a need to try to protect her happiness, at least while he could. Maybe, something resembling his dream was fated to come true, but that didn't mean he couldn't try to find some way to cheer her up while he could. That deeply pained expression haunted him, even now, thinking of her, turning back, pleading silently with him, as the white mare carried her from sight.

He shook his head, and led the two of them out into the market.

There were few people out and about at the moment. It was now approaching noon; perhaps, people had gone to get something to eat. There must be someplace that sold meals for travelers and the like, right? A…(what had Sturgeon's books called them?) tavern? But, Impa might know more. He glanced over in her direction, but for now, she kept her silence. Probably, she knew that there was some matter in which he sought for her advice, but couldn't discern what.

The Happy Mask Shop was distinctive, and easy to find. An elongated shape of a face stood above the door, the upturned mouth located just above the door itself. From afar, it seemed as if there was a smiling face atop the building. Fitting.

Inside, a red-haired man—his hair red-orange, as Malone's, rather than the blood-red of Juna or Navi—sat behind the counter, elbows resting on the desk, with a grin so wide that it looked fake spread across his face, crinkling his eyes until they couldn't be seen. There was something eerily familiar about this man, a feeling of déjà vu, a presentiment of danger, that this man was more than what he seemed. Why such a feeling of foreboding from such a pleasant-looking man?

Zelda had no qualms about running past the tall plank of wood, painted over white with black letters explaining the shop. Link had time only to glance, as Zelda walked up to the desk. He followed her, more slowly.

"Ah, are you two children interested in becoming happiness salesmen?" asked the man, his voice chipper and gentle, if a little patronising. "When you pick a mask, I will tell you how much it costs. All you need to do is borrow a mask (only one at a time, and you'll need to work your way up to the most expensive mask, as you prove that you can be trusted) and wear the mask to show it off to potential customers.

"Eventually, someone will want to buy the mask. When that happens, bring the money you make from the sale back here, to repay the mask you borrowed. If you talk to people whilst wearing a mask, you might get a response. Interested people will offer to buy it from you. If you sell them these masks, you'll make them happy. If you sell every type of the masks, you'll be happy yourself! The purpose of this shop is to bring joy to everyone!"

Zelda hung her head, and Link wondered what thought upset her now.

"That sounds wonderful," she said, softly. "Unfortunately, someone in my position…I won't meet many people, or have a chance to find many customers—"

She did not finish that, as crown princess, she would hardly be allowed back here again.

"Don't worry about it. Keaton is quite popular! I'll start you both off with a Keaton mask, and you see how you do. They're only ten rupees, so don't worry if it takes you some time to find a buyer. Just have faith…."

He reached behind him, and pulled out a yellow mask with narrowed eyes, a pointed nose and ears similar to those of a fox, and an invisible hole for the mouth. He handed it over to Zelda, who took it with something like reverence. He was essentially telling her that she could keep it, and that it would make her popular. Perhaps, he sensed how lonely and distant she was from her peers, to the extent that she had any. Zelda stood there, holding the mask in her hands, staring at it as though it would disappear. Then, she laughed, and fitted it over her head.

"It's really cute," she said, giggling a little. "I bet I look completely different while wearing it, though!"

She already looked completely different. Link gave the salesman a grateful nod, as the man handed over a second mask. He just had to remember to pay the man back twenty rupees, when he returned, after selling the Keaton mask to the guard at the trail gate.

"Have fun, kids. Don't worry too much about selling the masks. Just have faith…."

Link shrugged off the persistent feeling of familiarity, and a slight wistfulness, as if Keaton and he had been friends, once, and he had forgotten about him. Had he heard stories about this "Keaton" as a child? Had he been Aryll's imaginary friend, or something? The weight of the mask was familiar in his hands, and the flash of purple against the red-haired man's satin jacket had seemed so appropriate….

He shook it off, leading Zelda back out into Market.

---

"Well, that was…unique," he said, staring fixedly at the ground, scuffing his shoes. What was there to say?

"It was wonderful, Link!" Zelda said breathlessly. "I had no idea that there were so many new experiences to be had at Market…I knew the world was wide, and that there were many things I wanted to learn to do, of course—they teach weaving and embroidery to all noble girls at the castle, and I learn politics, too, but I've always wanted to learn how to fight as men can. I want to learn how to shoot a bow, and how to sneak around, as you must have to get to the courtyard. I want to learn magic, and push my body and mind to their limits…. They'll never let me do that at the palace, though…."

She hung her head, her shoulders slumping, as the enthusiasm visibly drained from her frame.

"Well…" Link began awkwardly, and her head shot up, as she fixed him with an unreadable expression. He found himself unable to speak. His trail of words ended there.

"Well…?" Zelda prompted gently, as he looked back down at his boots, wandering aimlessly in a random—or maybe not-quite-random—direction. Her voice was laced with an unnatural degree of patience for one so young, and Link almost forgot that she was several years his junior. There was something so…mature…about her, despite her sometimes childish antics.

"Well…I…I was planning on practising using my slingshot later on, at the shooting gallery. But, if you wanted, you could practise with it."

He could feel Navi's silent laughter. But, he ignored her. Zelda's eyes lit up, and she clasped her hands together in front of her, beaming at him.

"Would you do that? Really? Oh, thank you, Link!"

He didn't lift his eyes from the bricks beneath his feet. "Well—I mean, it's not the same as a bow, but—"

"Oh, Link! It would be wonderful. I just wanted some idea…of how it felt, I suppose…."

He turned his head to the right, and there was the giant bull's-eye marking out the shooting gallery.

He tilted his head to look at her, but opened the door, stepping aside to allow her and Impa to enter first. The woman's expression as she passed him was completely unreadable, but he had a sense that she approved. Perhaps, that was just wishful thinking.

Behind the counter was a burly man, wearing black overalls, and nothing else, with bulging muscles and a dark beard.

"Well, hello there, children! Welcome to The Shooting Gallery, famous throughout all of Hyrule. If you've got some sort of projectile weapon, we'll give you fifteen shots (supplying the ammunition) and you just try to hit the targets (they look like rupees). If you hit every one of them, we'll give you an upgraded version of whatever you're using to carry your ammunition. We've got deku seeds, too, if you're wondering. Never seen a forest kid in here, before, but I knew it was best to have some of them deku seeds, anyway. It's twenty rupees a play. What do you say, kids?"

Link turned to Impa, who said nothing, observing in silence. He nodded to the man, and reached into the new wallet for a red rupee, and then four more. If the guard at the Death Mountain gate knew that he was a kokiri, then the Hylian shield couldn't cost more than two hundred rupees, ordinarily, and the guard seemed convinced that the Bazaar owner would give him a discount. Nevertheless, he decided he would reserve at least three hundred rupees, both for food come lunchtime, which was soon, and for the shield.

"My friend doesn't have a weapon…would it be alright if she borrowed mine?" Link asked as politely as he could.

"That's fine, that's fine," said the shooting gallery's owner, waving his hand dismissively. "As long as she has some sort of projectile weapon, that's all that matters, even if it's borrowed. Just as long as we aren't expected to lend her one. We'll just count her successes towards you, if you like."

"I think she deserves her own reward, for however well she does," he corrected the man, quietly, glancing in Zelda's direction.

He handed a red rupee to the man, and received fifteen deku seeds. He turned to Zelda, who seemed to have realised that she didn't know how to use a slingshot; she was biting her lip, hands clasped before her lap, as she sent him an unfortunate, pleading look. His shoulders slumped.

"Alright, Zelda, pay attention," he said, belatedly wondering why it didn't occur to him to call her something else. How common was the name, "Zelda", anyway? But, a surreptitious glance at the owner of the game showed that the man either wasn't paying attention, or thought nothing of it. Nevertheless, Link winced at his own carelessness. Zelda's brow furrowed, as if she were trying to discern his reason for wincing, but she said nothing.

"You haven't used a slingshot before, have you? And one thing I wanted to do was practise using the slingshot on my own. So, Navi, if you could stay over by the counter, or something."

Navi sent him an exasperated look, eyebrows raised as high as they could go, with arms crossed, leaning back in the air. She crossed her legs, and frowned. "Link—" she began, but Link shook his head, sharply.

"There might come a day when we're separated," he said, trying to convey what precisely he meant by emphasis alone: what if I go back; what then?, and saw what he interpreted as resentful acknowledgement before her expression turned more neutral. "Besides, it would never do to work you harder than I had need. I'm sure there's enough times that I'll need your help as it is—but I can aim the slingshot faster than you can fly across a room…and I still remember how tired you were in the Great Deku Trees bole. This way, we'll both win. I'll grow more competent, and you'll get to rest more. Besides, I think it might be cheating, if you helped me here."

No, the shooting gallery owner was definitely not paying attention to their conversation, although he did seem to be wondering what was taking so long.

Navi huffed, crossing her arms and looking away, but said no more.

Zelda cocked her head, watching, as he fitted a small seed onto the faerie slingshot, pulling back on the string with his finger, making sure to keep the seed nestled against the string until he was ready to shoot. He stepped onto the plinth, and waited. It didn't take long for the first giant "rupee" to appear. This one appeared dead in the centre of the field, and was bright green, as a common rupee. He hit it from this distance in only two tries, but already, he suspected that he wouldn't succeed. Only if every rupee was that easy to hit, and there were seven or fewer rupees, could he expect to win this. More likely, he'd return several times to practise, and maybe, eventually, he'd succeed.

Zelda watched with rapt attention, and it was almost distracting, how she cheered when he hit one, and made disappointed groans when he missed.

"I'm still new to this myself, as you can see," Link said, stepping away when he'd spent all fifteen seeds, and only hit five targets—including the first. "Why don't you try?"

He pressed the slingshot into her hands, and handed over a second red rupee, turning to glance around for Impa. The gallery's owner handed over the fifteen seeds, and Link poured them into Zelda's hands. Navi flew back onto his shoulder, staring, unblinking, at the proceedings. She seemed to still be analysing what was going on. He left her to her thoughts, biting his lip as he hoped, despite himself, that Zelda did better than he. He sensed that she could use the acknowledgement that she, too, had skill. She seemed to need encouragement.

Impa was still watching him; he could feel her eyes surveying the area, returning to puzzle over him, perhaps, before scanning the room again. Link watched not only Zelda's shots, but her aim, and posture. He wanted to see if he couldn't learn anything from how she played this game.

He noticed that she took very careful aim before loosing any seed, so that sometimes, the "rupees" had disappeared before she could draw and hit them. She had three shots left, when the last rupee vanished. She'd hit only four targets, but two of those had been on the first try. Maybe he should take more time aiming, too.

She beamed at him, and handed the slingshot back over. "Why don't you try, again?" she asked, apparently unfazed by her failure. He took the slingshot carefully back from her, glanced down at a brooding (sulking?) Navi, and returned back to the owner for another fifteen seeds. He had to hand over the three he still had, first, of course.

---

As they played the game, Zelda gradually relaxed (which definitely gladdened Link's heart; he had been hoping to cheer her up, and seemed to have accomplished just that). Impa had vanished, at some point, when he hadn't been actively watching her—a typical sheikah trick. After playing ten rounds, they decided that it was lunchtime.

While Zelda had improved little over the course of her five rounds of practice, Link had also improved about as much—he now hit an average of seven rupees per round. He liked to think that he was a quick learner, and this lack of progress gave him pause. Still, he reassured himself with the knowledge that this was the first weapon since his transfer to this strange place that he had never encountered before, and thus his incompetence did not indicate a sudden drop in skill, as his lack of proficiency with the bow did.

Zelda followed him out the door, listening to his explanation of how he was deciding his expenditures, that he was saving two hundred rupees for the shield, just in case, and a hundred more besides. They'd spent two hundred rupees just now, at the Shooting Gallery. He considered going to the Bazaar now, but decided against it.

Instead, he and Zelda (and Impa, who had suddenly and mysteriously reappeared), exited the Gallery, and began to wander through town. At last, sighing quietly, she led them to a building with a picture of a pure white dog above it.

Inside, he found a surprisingly neat little tavern, where he and Zelda sat in a corner, he deep in thought, she looking around, almost spinning, seeming to try to take in all of the new sights around her. He grinned at her enthusiasm. It reminded him of Tetra.

At this thought, he sighed, frowned, and looked away, missing Zelda as she stopped spinning, and swiveled her torso to face him, brows drawn once more in concern.

"Link, are you alright?" she asked, but he nodded. How could he possibly explain the problem? Only Navi had believed him; his story was too inexplicable, and incredible. Zelda narrowed her eyes, gave a flickering, dying smile.

They sat down at a table in the corner, near the door, so as to be able to monitor all who entered.

Link glanced askance at Zelda, still wearing the Keaton mask, but not encountering much curiosity owing to its presence. Perhaps, it was because, as the mask salesman had said, Keaton was currently popular. Maybe many of the people in market owned such masks, even if they weren't wearing them right now. Still, he wondered if she was going to take off the mask to eat, or how she would eat otherwise.

He waited until they had ordered food before turning to Zelda, who plucked at her long sleeves as she spoke for the first time since they had entered the tavern.

"You said that, at lunchtime, we would speak of more serious matters," she said, her countenance grim and focused again now that she had calmed down and remembered the matter at hand.

"It occurred to me after I had already left the courtyard that I didn't know what I was doing," he explained. "Just what is the 'Royal Family's messenger'? What does it entail?"

He frowned as another question occurred to him, one he left unvoiced, for the moment: How does Impa know the song?

Zelda leant back in her seat, looking up at the ceiling of the tavern, her hands behind her back. She seemed to be thinking about what to say.

"The messengers of the Royal Family…historically, they were members of the Royal Family—princesses and princes, the younger sons and daughters of kings and queens—sent as ambassadors and representatives to other lands, to speak on the king's behalf. However, during the war of unification fifty years ago, the fighting was so widespread…even my grandfather was killed in battle…and his siblings, also, died in combat. My father was an only child, and, for whatever reason, he never married. I am his only child. About my mother, I know nothing. I've asked Impa time and time again to tell me about her, but she claims to know nothing."

Zelda sent an accusatory stare in the woman's direction, but Impa's face was as smooth as marble, and didn't change at all. "If I have other relatives than my father living, I do not know of them. The Royal Family at the moment has no official messengers. However, there is some precedent for people not of the Royal Family being made into messengers for us—as during the war, and in the years following, when members of the Royal Family were scarce, but official messages important. A mere courier could not be entrusted with such news. And thus, my father and grandfather picked out certain soldiers whom they trusted, and taught them the melody of the Royal Family. I believe Impa is one of those."

Ah, there was the explanation, with no need to ask. Impa sat there, stolid as ever, arms crossed, head constantly searching the room for threats. The only other messenger of the Royal Family, hm? But not in any official capacity. As with him himself.

"As for what they did, they were messengers, diplomats, and warriors, all at once. Perhaps, it was presumptuous of me, but the Deku Tree appeared to have chosen you for his own representative. And, to judge by the sword and shield you bore, I assumed that you were a warrior. Please forgive me, if I was mistaken."

Navi cocked her head, as if a thought had occurred to her, but said nothing. Link folded his arms, brow furrowed in concentration. He was a diplomat-messenger-warrior? Perhaps, then, not too different from the role he had played on the Great Sea. He could do this after all. The expectations were more familiar than he had expected.

"Then…I arrive at Death Mountain as your ambassador, and request the Spiritual Stone of Fire, and have the authority to make decisions and speak on the Royal Family's behalf. But…surely they'd expect the Royal Family's messenger to look…older."

Zelda clasped her hands on her lap. "It cannot be helped. We are the only four who believe in the true threat to Hyrule, as far as I know. And the situation may be direr than I thought yesterday. I have come upon troubling news."

He leant forward, trying to silently urge her to continue. A frown settled onto her face, and, as she turned to him, clearly showed her concern. "We receive weekly reports on the well-being of our ally-states. Although the zoras' and gerudos' reports have arrived, we have not had our weekly correspondence from Death Mountain. The messenger may merely be late…or something may have happened to the message. If Ganondorf is active on Death Mountain, the gorons may have attempted to send word of his actions. He would need to eradicate this proof of his treachery before my father's mind might be swayed.

"It may be nothing, but I fear the worst. If the leader of the gorons feels that the king my father is ignoring his plight, and they are truly in danger…more may be at stake here than merely the Spiritual Stone of Fire. It might foment rebellion—an uprising, another war."

Her gaze dropped to her hands, now clenched into fists, one on each knee. Link reached out, almost out of habit, and then was unsure as to what he ought to do. What would reassure her? What good would it do to reassure her? What she said was true.

"Then I will go right to Death Mountain," he said.

"Wait until tomorrow," Impa suggested, "and we will reimburse the costs you have taken thus far. Nor should you rush into this. If there is any other matter that might distract you from your responsibilities, you should see to those other matters first. Your attention should not be divided. Have you returned home, yet?"

Link blinked furiously, looking over at Impa, startled by her words, and knew that she was remembering what he had said of his nightmares. The only thing he knew of that calmed him was Saria's Song…. I hope that when you play this ocarina, you'll remember me, and come back to the forest to visit, Saria had said. And, he'd hardly be at his best, worrying about whether or not the kokiris had all died because he hadn't saved the Great Deku Tree. And, if he could learn that song, somehow…would it help to dispel the nightmares? But, what if the gorons were in mortal peril? Could he justify haring off to the other side of the kingdom?

He glanced at Navi, whose arms were crossed tight across her chest. She shook her mane of red hair, and turned to him. "You'll do no good to them if you're falling asleep in the middle of negotiations. Impa is right. We should go back to the forest. It's never a good idea to foster regrets, and I can tell that you're harbouring some. You might not have been in Kokiri Forest long…but I could tell when we left that there were people you cared about there…such as that green-haired girl, Saria."

"You're right," he said to Impa, nodding to Navi, as Zelda continued to stare down at her hands. "I just don't see how I could justify the several day long journey back to the Kokiri Forest, and then the return journey…. I'm going to go to Death Mountain first, and see what the situation there is, if I can. I can check on the forest later."

"Link," Navi hissed, shooting him a glare. "That's not really healthy. If you want to protect Hyrule, you should look after your own wellbeing, too."

"Maybe there, I'll discover that there's no pressing need to make haste and save the gorons from Ganondorf's schemes…or maybe I'll discover that somehow…I left something behind at home that I need. But, it wouldn't sit right with me, with the strong suspicion that something is wrong, to instead go home. At least if I venture to Goron City, even if there's nothing I can do, I'll know what is wrong, and can send word."

Perhaps, the corners of Impa's mouth turned down, slightly.

"So be it," Impa said. She turned to Zelda, and then looked away again.

"Was there more that you needed to know?" asked Zelda, looking back up at him, but her gaze was distant, and he sensed that she was still dwelling on whatever plight the gorons might face.

"Who holds the final spiritual stone?" he asked, promptly.

Zelda leant back again, arms crossed behind her back. Then, she returned her hands to her lap, staring straight ahead, and spoke as if reciting from memory.

"The zoras hold the Spiritual Stone of Water, called 'Zora's Sapphire'. They're ruled by their King, known only by his surname, 'Zora'. He has a daughter who's about a year my junior, named Ruto. The zoras are the stewards of all the waters of Hyrule. If you follow any river upstream, it will eventually lead you to Zora's Falls. There's a portal that leads to the falls at Lake Hylia, if you accidentally go the wrong way. I think the main waterway runs under the bridge to Kakariko, and then into the moat for our castle. But, Zora's River has many tributaries. You can probably follow any of them to the falls. Zora's Domain is to the northeast. If you head west, you'll reach Gerudo Valley. Given the circumstances, I suggest you stay far away from there. And, Kokiri Forest lies to the east—in case you had trouble with all those directions."

She gave him a strained smile, and he nodded, looking down again. "Was there anything else you wanted to ask?"

Link shook his head. He knew that he'd need more information, but for now, it could wait. Zelda brightened as she saw an opportunity to move the topic of conversation away from such grim thoughts. "Tell me, then—what's it like, in Kokiri Forest?"

---

After Impa had paid for their food, and they had left the tavern, they thought they might as well stop by the bazaar. The shopkeep was another man wearing only a pair of overalls. When asked about hylian shields, he gave a suspiciously surreptitious look around the room, but seemed to think nothing of the young girl and her protectress, as they lingered near the door. The price he first named for the shield was two hundred rupees—a sum Link could barely have paid with his old wallet, if it had been full. When Link mentioned that Cuton said that the shopkeep owed him, the man paled, and frowned. "Well, if Cuton sent you, then I have to give you a good deal. Just don't tell anyone. One hundred and fifty rupees, please!"

Link's eyebrows had risen of their own volition at that. He'd cut a quarter of the price! Were these shady dealings here, or if not, then what? But, he wasn't inclined to complain. The guard had done him quite the favour.

He took the shield from the man's outstretched hands, holding it up to look at it in the dim light of the shop. He'd have to look later. He stored the shield back in his inventory with little more thought about it, for the moment. Navi promised him that she'd explain how to change equipment, later. Somehow, it was different from accessing his inventory, and he suspected that he knew how. After all, unlike his inventory equipment, he carried sword and shield on his person at all times.

Zelda had informed him, with what seemed to be great regret, that she had best return to the keep before her father could miss her at dinner. She'd lifted up the Keaton mask and given him a quick kiss on the cheek (which Navi had teased him about for hours), blushing, as she backed away, begging him to come back to the keep, if he had the opportunity, to show him the other masks the Happy Mask Salesman sold.

It gave him yet another excuse to check up on Zelda, and to ensure she still hadn't been kidnapped, so he agreed. He was glad that she didn't see the way he stood there for several minutes after she'd left, wondering just how he ought to react. Navi's teasing didn't help.

"Look, Navi, that's not how it is," he'd said, gaze fixed on the ground. "She's far too young for me, anyway, and—"

"Too young, ha!" Navi said. She seemed to have recovered her good spirits, which was perhaps unfortunate for him. "She's only about five years younger than you. I don't know how old the other Link is, but you're only seventeen! Hylians aren't even considered adults until they're twenty-five!"

And that effectively distracted him, as he pondered this sizable difference between societies. Or, was it between societies? Everyone outside of Outset had treated him as if he were a child, barring those his own age and younger. Was it only that Outset's tradition was so familiar that he'd assumed that the rest of the world thought the same?

He hounded Navi with more questions about the subject, both to keep her from teasing him more, and out of genuine interest. As they'd talked, he'd made his way back to the back alley, and this time, found the entrance to the secret passage much sooner.

Link hid under the bridge that evening, again. And, he was grateful to have the space under the bridge for a bed. Zelda had admitted to him, when he'd asked her about the courtyard, that it seemed to have some sort of magical protections about it. He still, privately, suspected that it was the knowledge that this place was the origin of Ganondorf's defeat, or even the simpler knowledge that his future victim was still safe, that chased away Link's nightmares. Perhaps, somewhere below his conscious thoughts, he heard the way that Zelda's Lullaby resonated from the very ground itself.

He left fairly early the next morning, after Impa had paid him back the four hundred fifty rupees he had spent the day before. His mind was already fixed on his target. He followed Impa back into the wall of the castle, paying closer attention to the turns they made, now that he'd trod this path several times without a proper guide. He noticed where they emerged, and the entrance to the second maze, which led to past the drawbridge. He'd nodded, thanked her, and been on his way.

And, it had taken far too long to reach Kakariko Village, despite all that. It was sundown when he returned. He hadn't hesitated to approach the gate to the Death Mountain Trail. Mindful of the Happy Mask Salesman's words, he called the Keaton mask back into his hands, and put it on as he approached the bored evening guard.

"Wahhaha! Back again, Mr. Hero! Did you think you were in disguise—ha! It's—eh? That's the mask my son was after me about…the one with that popular character…Kee…something. You have to sell me that mask."

He leant forwards, clutching his spear. His expression was very intent, and tightly focused. Link's eyebrows rose at just how determined the guard seemed.

He handed the mask over to him without a word. The guard nodded, put the mask on "for safekeeping, until I can get home", and handed over a yellow rupee, and a blue one. "Wahhaha! You really are Mr. Hero! Thank a lot, kid—by the way, if you bought the shield I told you about, you'd better equip it before heading up the mountain…wahhah!"

He was still chuckling as Link pushed past him, starting up the trail.

"I think I'd better teach you how to change your equipment, now," Navi said, fluttering in front of his face, as if to keep him from moving forwards. "It's easy. It's just the same as changing your inventory, except that you have to will whatever equipment you're replacing back into your inventory at the exact same time you will whatever you're equipping to its proper location. At your side, if you ever find another sword. On your back, in the case of these shields. And, I've heard they make specialty clothes, somewhere…you saw how Zelda changed her clothes in a snap. You can do the same. Try it now!"

Link thought he understood her instructions well enough. He closed his eyes, trying to divide his attention between sending away the deku shield, and calling the hylian shield in his inventory. It was a greater effort than he thought. But, it was the exact same process as retrieving and sending away other items; Navi was right. Not long after, he felt the great weight of the shield settle on his back. His staggered as his back bent under the suddenness of its weight. Why hadn't he noticed how heavy it was, earlier? It hadn't seemed to take that much effort to lift it over his head….

He nodded to himself, redistributing his weight, and willing the shield onto the ground before him to examine it more closely. There was just something familiar about it….

He hadn't had the opportunity of analysing it earlier, thinking about gorons and Zelda, and planning what to do next. Now that he was on the trail, with his mind made up, and no other people impatiently waiting for him (except for maybe Navi) he felt free to stare at the shield.

There was something too familiar about the design—the red bird stretching its wings up towards the yellow triangles of the Triforce…even the way that the shield rose in concave arches to a point at the top…almost, he felt as if he had seen it elsewhere. But, where? He shook his head, grabbing onto the strap on the back, taking a moment to wonder just how the shield stayed settled on his back. It must somehow be the magic of the kokiri tunic.

He willed the shield to return to his back, bracing his legs to take the added weight. It wasn't as bad as it had seemed at first.

When he felt it secure, and he thought he could keep going, he started up the trail. A short way ahead was a monster that came to his knees, with four spindly, jointed legs, a square red body, and a small red eye in the middle, centred in the almost planar front of the body.

"It's a red tektite!" Navi cried, launching herself from his shoulder, and glowing yellow as she flew over to the monster in question. "Watch out! These things can jump really far, and it hurts to have one land on you!"

Link drew the Kokiri Sword, and approached the monster, which began bounding towards him in tall leaps. He slashed at it, cutting through its eye, aiming for that as a weak point almost out of force of habit. But, the surrounding skin was also soft, and he cut through with ease. But, if there was one, there would surely be more. He kept his sword drawn, as he climbed the steep incline of the path.

After an hour or two, and three more tektites, he came upon a great boulder next to a sign that read, "Dodongo's Cavern". He turned to head up the path, but just then, a shape he had dismissed as just another rock unfolded itself, standing up on two tiny legs, equally skinny arms hanging at its side. It had a triangular face, and a very round body, and beady blue eyes. Link tensed, but Navi was glowing blue, which must mean that he was safe.

"Hello! Who might you be? I am a goron of Death Mountain. I came here to watch any progress on exposing the entrance to the Dodongo's Cavern…as you can see, this huge boulder is blocking the entrance. It was bad enough when the dodongos suddenly started appearing in huge numbers, making even entering the cavern dangerous. But then, that gerudo in black armour sealed the entrance with the boulder…we can't even get in, anymore. This place used to be vital to our very survival. We are a rock-eating people, after all. If you want to know more, you should head up the trail to Goron City. It's the path to the right, when it forks. It's not much further, even on foot. It shouldn't take more than a couple more hours to get there. If you want the latest news, you'd better head up the trail."

Link hesitated. He looked at the boulder blocking the cavern, and then at the goron, who had curled over back into a ball, arms and legs hidden. He could be mistaken for a lump of clay. He considered asking for more information about this "gerudo in black armour", but thought that if the goron knew more, he would have said. If all else failed, he could backtrack. And, the goron was probably justified in thinking that there would be those who knew more in town.

He called out his thanks, and turned around the trail heading up, which was at the edge of the cliff that had been to his right on his way up. It made something of a vertical zigzag shape.

He had to run to avoid a rapidly rolling rock that almost crushed him on its way down the mountain. Of course, following it with his eyes, he heard the sound of an explosion, and then the "rock" unfolded itself into another goron. Link was fairly sure that the goron hadn't meant to crush him, but all the same, wasn't about to backtrack to speak with him or her.

---

He continued up the trail until he came to the fork in paths. The left hand path led up steeply to a road blocked off with boulders; the right-hand path led upwards at a much lower grade. He followed this latter path, until he came to a gaping hole, a tunnel cut deep into the heart of the mountain. He was in a wide natural cavern that bored through the mountain in a shape resembling an elongated arch. The tunnel leading into the mountain was set into the far wall from where he stood, but to his left, he could see daylight.

Curious, he followed the light onto an overlook, that provided a vantage lookout for the Dodongo's Cavern. A ripe bomb flower grew amidst a pile of leaves. Next to it, a goron lay curled up, blocking some of the the sun from the plant. In his experience, plants usually grew better and healthier with increased sunlight. Obviously, this goron was guarding the precious, and dangerous, commodity, but why was he (Link assumed that the goron was male, just for the sake of having a pronoun to use) curled up where he was?

Link stared at the bomb flower, thoughts already turning in his mind…but he rather suspected, judging by the size of the bomb flower, and his own memories, that the bomb would be too heavy for a child such as him to carry. He frowned. How would he lift the bomb flower out? He slowly approached, casting surreptitious glances at the goron, and tugging as hard as he could at the plant. He couldn't even budge it.

The goron guard unfolded himself from his curled position. "Those are the goron 'special crop', the bomb flowers. They like shade and dark places, so I'm helping to protect it from the light of the sun. It's rare that they grow in such a place, and they need special care. But, don't worry. If you picked one, it wouldn't take long for another to grow up in its place. They grow very quickly. But, they only grow on this mountain…it makes them a very good crop to trade. Only we know the secret of curing bomb flowers so that they don't explode soon after being picked. You can go ahead and pick one, if you want. You wouldn't be able to carry it far enough for us to worry about lost profit!"

Link absorbed the new information, contrasting it with the information he had from his previous adventures. First, he recognised that this bomb flower was growing in what was more-or-less shade—and apparently, normal bomb flowers grew in dimmer conditions. But, the bomb flowers on Dragon Roost had seemed to thrive in sunlight. Then, he had never heard of gorons before, but, apparently, these gorons were responsible for all of the bombs in Hyrule. It was strange to think.

He stepped past the bomb flower, still thinking, and peered over the edge of the overlook, down at the Cavern below. He'd probably end up in the Dodongo's Cavern, sooner or later. But, how to do that when he couldn't even lift a bomb flower? Perhaps, he could learn more in town.

He called out his rather distracted thanks, and finally approached the entrance to Goron City proper.

Through the dark tunnel was a vast cavern, dimly lit by the lights of torches on the walls. A goron was curled by the entrance. There was a ring around a hole in the ledge, leading down to the lower levels. From this level, he could see a series of ropes leading out over the air to a platform suspended from three or four of the ropes. They must have been very sturdy indeed, because he could clearly see another curled up goron waiting in the centre, as well as some sort of decorative stone monument that probably only came even to his waist.

Link moved further into the city, watching in fascination as the goron next to the entrance unfolded himself at Link's approach.

From this goron, he learnt that there was a food shortage of some sort in Goron City, because they could not enter the Dodongo's Cavern, and they'd become picky eaters who refused to eat any rocks save for the "nutritious and delicious" rocks of the cavern. Because of this, people were very hungry. The Dodongo's Cavern had been their main source of food, and now they felt unable to get food elsewhere.

He cautiously trekked across the rope to the heart of the city, doing his best to avoid looking down. Nevertheless, he saw the base of the city, far below, and two other semicircular rings of floors between the entrance floor, and the bottom floor. There was a goron rolling around in circles in the floor just below that of the entrance. Of all the floors, only this one had a complete ring for a ledge—and that ledge had to bore through a tunnel.

From close to, he could see the design engraved into the small, low niche in a mound rising up, carved of the same rock as the platform, in one piece. When he looked more closely, it might not have been a decorative engraving, but rather a sort of setting for whatever belonged there.

Just then, the rock next to the monument unfolded itself, and this time, Link noticed a black mark, perhaps a tattoo, in the same shape as the indentations in the low rock before him, decorating his upper right shoulder.

"I bet you came out here to eat the red stone that was lighting up the city! Well, tough!" said the goron in the most accusatory tone Link had heard yet. Link's brows furrowed. Red stone…could it be?

"Actually, I'm looking for the Spiritual Stone of Fire. I didn't come here to eat any rocks."

The goron's beady blue eyes narrowed in suspicion. "'Spiritual Stone of Fire'?" repeated the rockman. "You must mean that red stone that had been lighting up the city…well, I came out here last night…I was so hungry that I thought no one would mind if I had just a taste…but Big Brother had already taken it away! He always says that everyone is after that stone…he locked himself in his room, though. I heard him say as he entered, 'I will wait in here for the Royal Family's messenger'. Nor has he left since.

"None of us know quite what he meant, but he can be really scary when he's angry…we left him alone. If you want to know about this 'Spiritual Stone' you're talking about, then I recommend speaking to Big Brother. He'd know if anyone."

Thus, this new information in mind, Link convinced himself to make the slow journey back to the entrance hall. Thence, he began to make his way down to the lower level, unable to think where else a chief might live. He climbed down several flights of stairs, but stopped by a tunnel boring straight through the earth, blocked off with a landslide, and with an entrance flanked by two unlit braziers, and another goron, who stood up as he approached.

"Hello! I'm sorry…it's too hard to think and be polite…as with everyone else here, I feel faint from hunger. The only reassurance I have is to sit here outside this tunnel, and let the strange music wash over me. It helps keep me calm even in the midst of these troubled times. I know Big Brother likes the music too…but he hasn't been seen at all, lately."

Curious, Link approached the landslide, and could distinctly hear Saria's Song filtering through the trees he could see before him. He blinked, trying to understand whence the song came. He, too, felt the reassurance that only Saria's Song seemed able to bring.

He needed to go back to Kokiri Forest, to check on his friends. He felt a strange pain strike him as he thought of Kokiri Forest. Surely, he didn't miss the place. It was the other-Link's home, and it was ruled by Mido. Probably everyone there he knew was dead, after the Great Deku Tree's demise. Still…he felt the urge to return.

Instead, he jumped down over the cliff, and rolled at the bottom to redistribute the shock of his landing.

The bottom level was different from the others not only because the floor of it covered a circular area, rather than a rim, but also because of the door to his right, with lines engraved and then inked in with red. He recognised the triple triangles, but the meaning of the lines radiating from them was less obvious. Still…this must be the path to the goron leader's room.

He approached a decorative rug with the triple triangles emblazoned on it. The sign of the Hyrulean Royal Family. The leader had said that he was waiting for the Royal Family's messenger, and Link now had some notion as to why. He pulled out the faerie ocarina, eyeing the stone slab blocking his way speculatively. But, he'd seen many doors open at a single word. This would probably work similarly.

He stepped onto the mat, and played Zelda's Lullaby. As the last note drifted into the open air of the huge cavern that was Goron City, he saw the great slab before him rise into the ceiling, revealing a short passage into a room for the moment beyond his sight.

He started forward, up a flight of stairs, and into a huge round chamber. There was a door off to the right, leading to what he suspected were the goron leader's private suites, but no need to intrude upon them. The man himself stood before a decorative statue. Or…Link assumed that the goron with the spikes of light brown hair sticking out around his head was Darunia. The man also had deep purple eyes, and an impressive scowl. His arms hung loosely at his sides, but Link could tell that the man was quite angry indeed, just by those glittering eyes, and that deepening scowl.

"Hey, kid, what are you doing here? When I heard the melody of the Royal Family, I thought their messenger had arrived…but you're just a little kid! Has Darunia, the leader of the gorons, really lost so much respect, to be treated with such contempt by his sworn brother, the king? Now, I'm really angry! Get out of here, right now!"

Link backed away, despite himself. But then, he forced himself to stop, and turn to the goron. Navi seemed to be holding her breath for the imminent confrontation.

"Maybe, I can help you with the situation. I've heard—"

"What would a kid understand about these matters? It's not just the one problem: ancient monsters have infested the Dodongo's Cavern. We've had a poor harvest of the goron special crop, the bomb flower. And, because we can't enter the Dodongo's Cavern, we're faced with mass starvation…but, even still….

"This is a goron problem. We don't need any help from strangers! Get out!"

The goron's hands twitched, as if on the verge of throwing him back out of the room. What could Link do? He had no idea how to handle such a situation. He couldn't even lift a bomb flower, to help with the harvest. Nor could he enter the Dodongo's Cavern without the use of a bomb flower. It seemed hopeless.

He trudged back out of Darunia's chamber, thinking.

Darunia was a truly frightening presence when angry. He would have offered his assistance, if the leader hadn't cut him off. As he exited Darunia's chamber, the door slid down slowly after him. Great. Well, now he had no choice. He'd have to find a way around his limitations…maybe if he cleared the monsters from the Dodongo's Cavern, it would put Darunia in a better mood. But then, how could he enter, without a bomb flower?

"Hey!" he called to the goron sitting outside the caved-in tunnel. The goron rose to his feet, groaning, but didn't seem to be worse than slightly inconvenienced. "Isn't there some way a kid like me could lift bomb flowers?"

The goron scratched his side, pensive. "There is a treasure passed down among the gorons that Big Brother Darunia has, the Goron's bracelet. If you wore it, even a little guy like you could pick up and carry bomb flowers."

Great. Somehow, he had to talk sense to the leader of the gorons, after all. But, how….

Hadn't a goron said that the leader liked the song coming from the forest? …Maybe, if he returned to Kokiri Forest, he'd find some way of learning Saria's Song, himself. He knew that it always calmed him.

He gave his thanks to the goron by the landslide, noting the bomb flowers strategically positioned behind him, growing almost in a straight line behind the rockfall. He wandered back up several flights of stairs set into the walls of the cavern, heading back up to the entrance.

He seemed to have no choice, he thought, as he exited the City, returning to Death Mountain. He began to trudge back down the mountain, relieved at the complete absence of stalchildren. But, he paused when he came to the signpost indicating the destination points for the two paths leading up Death Mountain. He stopped, not because of the sign, but because of the bird clinging to it, with an oddly acrobatic arrangement of his talons.

"Link! Wait up, friend!" the owl called, and Link sighed. The last thing he needed was a lecture of several hours to add onto the already lengthy journey back to Kokiri Forest. The owl didn't seem to hear him, because he continued on in cheerful tones. "The gorons are a proud people who have lived here on Death Mountain from time immemorial, just as with the kokiris. However, now, they are facing a crisis, and much less hospitable than they would otherwise be."

It was impressive, how the bird seemed able to limit himself only to the things that Link already knew. "The gorons hold the Spiritual Stone of Fire, which is accordingly know as the Goron's Ruby. It is kept by their leader, whom they call 'Big Brother'. I have heard it said that although he may not seem the type, he loves to dance! I wonder what that looks like? Well, if you're headed back down the mountain, perhaps I could give you a lift." And then Link found it hard to dredge up any resentment towards the owl for the interruption.

"Could you take me back to Kokiri Forest?" he asked hopefully. Navi fluttered back to her usual perch, head cocked in what seemed to be an appraising way at the usually long-winded owl. It was as if he knew.

"Hoo hoo hoo! Naturally, friend. I was heading to the Lost Woods, anyway. An owl as big as I is used to carrying much heavier loads. Grab onto my talons, and hang on tight."

Yes. Link was almost sure of it. The owl had been waiting for them. Strange that he seemed to know what was happening even underground, though….

---

The experience of flying borne on owl's talons was different, if similar, to the feeling of flying by Deku Leaf. One decidedly happier property of it was that his arms weren't as tired. The talons had latched onto his shoulder as he'd grabbed onto them. But, he had the sense that there was some special magic of the owl that helped to redistribute his weight to avoid the strain.

Flying borne by Kaepora Gaebora, they reached the Kokiri Forest in only a couple of hours. The owl was fast! He dropped them off in front of the tunnel leading to the bridge, and flew off towards the left. Just then, Link heard the sound of stalchildren pulling themselves from the ground. Of course….

He ran into the tunnel, and back across the bridge. Even though it was now almost dawn, he headed right past the hill leading to the training grounds, and then paused. If Mido had banished him, he should avoid returning home to sleep. Instead, he turned to his left, staring at the cliff behind Mido's house—just low enough that a determined child might jump up it—and approached it, instead.

He climbed up this first ledge, and saw a vine-covered wall to the right, leading up a second cliff. He might have considered that incredibly convenient, except that he was well aware by now that the Kokiri Forest had a mind of its own. The vines were likely a product of the need of certain kokiris to access this higher cliff. Link had never been to the top before, but he knew what he would find there—the entrance to the previously forbidden Lost Woods.

He grabbed hold of the vines, and pulled himself up the cliff. At the top, there was a short slope, which wound around in a semicircle. At the very top of the cliff was another of the statues with the crying eye on them. So, there were gossip stones in the Kokiri Forest, after all.

A sign next to a hollow log cutting a hole through the rock wall facing him was a simple sign, reading "The Lost Woods".

There was no reason for him to avoid it, now. He ran forwards, into the darkness of the Woods.

---

There was a strange, omnipresent green light flooding the small room-like meadow in which he found himself. A thicket of tree trunks serving as tunnels leading to left, right, and dead ahead, provided ways further into the forest. Heading to the left, first, he saw a strange figure, dressed all in red, with a black mist for a head, playing a flute. Link turned to Navi, still perched on his shoulder.

"It's called a skull kid…is this what happens to kids who get lost in the woods? He seems lonely…I think he'd be our friend if we gave him a reason to trust us…."

"'A reason to trust us'," Link repeated. Such as…?

Navi shrugged.

The clearing in which they stood was large and strangely square, with actual walls to the right of the entrance, and straight ahead of it. A winding pathway led to the left. Link followed it, and was surprised to find himself at the top of a cliff, overlooking the bridge leading to outside of Kokiri Forest. He'd been here before, but he hadn't noticed this ledge before…or the ladder leading up it. It was probably because it had been his first night on the road, and he'd been distracted, and tired.

He turned back around, heading back to the entry chamber of the Lost Woods. He turned right, this time, instead, and found himself at the top of another cliff, leading down into another meadow. From here, he could tell that it was devoid of anything of interest. He shrugged, and walked through the hollow log to his left.

Now, he could hear the faint strains of "Saria's Song". Before him was a solid stone wall, with an arch leading to a caved-in tunnel. Could it be…? No. This was far too close for it to lead to Goron City, wasn't it? But, there was no way to know for sure, past that landslide.

He looked back and forth between the other two winding paths to the left and right of the hollowed log through which he'd entered this clearing. He approached the one on the right, and noticed that the music seemed slightly louder. Was Saria playing, hoping he'd follow her song?

He wound his way through the twisted path, and shortly thereafter found himself in a clearing surrounded by a tall circular ledge. There was a pool with a tall stone pillar sticking out of it. He went over to the edge, and peered down. Down far, far below was a hole in the pillar. He knew that, since his arrival in Kokiri Forest, his ability to hold his breath was greatly reduced. He'd never hold it long enough to dive down to investigate that hole far below.

He turned aside, and forced his way through the path of trees to the left of the thicket through which he'd entered.

Perched on top of another hollow log was Kaepora Gaebora.

"Hello, again, Link!" called the owl, and Link reminded himself that he should be grateful for the journey of several days that the owl had saved him. Even if he took several hours telling Link whatever he thought Link ought to know, it was still less time than if Kaepora Gaebora hadn't helped.

Navi put her hands on her hips, staring fixedly at the bird.

"You must have come here looking for your friend, Saria. She is waiting for you in the Sacred Forest Meadow, the heart of the forest, where few men have ever trod. If you want to make your way there, simply follow the sound of her song being played on her ocarina."

Wait…Saria was still alive? Did that mean that the other kokiris were still alive, too? Hope bloomed in Link's heart, and relief. When he'd first entered the forest, he'd automatically behaved as if they all still lived, and had only remembered their presumed death wandering around these Lost Woods. Just as well that he hadn't gone home. If he'd screamed in his sleep, and Mido still lived, and had banished Link, and Saria were here, "in the heart of the forest"…well, Link didn't want to think about that confrontation.

Meanwhile, as he was thinking such things, Kaepora Gaebora continued to speak.

"…many such songs of power hidden across the land. They are always present, even if we don't hear them. But, some are able to sense them well enough to figure out the notes, and transcribe them for others to learn and to invoke. Such magical songs will have certain effects even outside their proper domains. You should memorise all of these songs. They will prove most useful on your quest."

The owl lifted off from the tree stump, flying off who-knew-where. That hadn't taken half as long as Link had thought it would.

He approached the hollow log, suspecting that, of the three logs positioned in the three cardinal directions (west, north, east?) this was the one that led further into the forest, towards Saria. He walked through, and found himself in another four-way path, with brambles all around, and paths organically weaving through them to the left, right, and straight ahead. Link approached each path, listening closely, only somewhat surprised when only the northern path carried Saria's Song more clearly to his ears. It was as if the wall of brambles were actual solid walls.

He proceeded in this way for several hours, until at last, he emerged from a winding path of brambles into a vast clearing, with a rock wall dead ahead, the pass through it barricaded by an iron gate.

As he stared at the incongruous metalwork, a huge beast appeared out of nowhere, fully as tall as he, when it stood on all fours, loping towards him, with a tufted tail, bright, blue-green eyes, tufted ears, and bulky muscles. He avoided looking at those slavering jaws.

"I doubt you know what this is, either. I don't recall you mentioning them." Navi launched off, flying towards the monster. "It's called 'wolfos'. It's simple enough. Block its blows with the shield, and attack when it lowers its guard!"

That meant that he needed the deku shield. He didn't dare to close his eyes to better focus, instead just willing away the hylian shield, and calling the deku shield into his hands, as the wolfos continued its approach. It rose onto its hind legs, swiping at him with its claws. He dodged, and its momentum carried it so that its back was briefly turned to him. He took the opportunity to stab it as deeply as he could with the Kokiri Sword, pulling the sword free, and jumping clockwise as it tried to turn around to face him, trying to keep its back turned to him. But, it was too fast.

He blocked the blows of its powerful hands, and quickly counterattacked, the Kokiri Sword slicing deeply across its chest. It erupted into blue flames, and vanished. Shortly thereafter, the gate barring the way further into the forest retracted into the walls. He saw no trace of it as he passed deeper into the forest.

"Oh, no!" Navi groaned, as she returned to him. "It's a maze…! I'll fly up above, and tell you where to head, and if I see any enemies. Keep your eyes open, and your wits about you!"

Navi flew up, and Link cautiously started walking along the path to his right—the path to the left seemed to dead end in a pool of shallow water.

Navi came back in time to warn him of the deku scrubs lying around the corner. "And, unlike the ones we encountered in the Great Deku Tree, these have gone evil…you'll have to kill them."

He wondered how she knew, until he saw their glowing red eyes under their pile of autumn leaves, and their green skin. Ganondorf's corruption at work?

But, it was easy enough to bounce the deku nuts back at them, and to follow that up with a strike from the Kokiri Sword. The maze was, accordingly, a bit of a slightly more dangerous version of the run through the castle courtyard, except that he was constantly replenishing his supplies.

He knew that he was almost to the end when he saw the tall flight of stairs—stairs—flanked by two pillars. A ladder led up to a higher area of the maze. It had never occurred to him, with those walls reaching up towards the sky all around him, that there might be a way to avoid the monsters by climbing up above them, out of reach. Deku scrubs, he'd quickly realised, could only fire deku nuts at a slightly downward angle. He'd be safe up there…unless there were more monsters there.

He shook his head, climbed the stairs, and finished off the last two deku scrubs lurking in the narrow defile leading towards what must be the Sacred Forest Meadow. Why were there so many monsters in a sacred place, anyway?

At the other end of the narrow path, he found that the forest opened up into a walled structure, with tall grey bricks stretching high into the sky, their height hidden from sight by the strange, distorting green light of the Lost Woods. In the far wall was a peaked roof, with a doorway right beneath it. A tree grew up in front of this doorway—the tree itself long dead, and in front of the tree, a column supporting the floor of the portico before the gaping hole in the wall was crumbling away and crawling with ivy. This structure must be very old indeed.

There was a huge tree stump standing nearby, and upon that stump was a girl, sitting with her eyes closed, playing a faerie ocarina, instead of resting, despite the late hour. Link craned his neck around, taking in all the details of the clearing—or rather, the ruins of some long-since crumbled building. He took note of the gossip stone in the corner, there, and of the strange doorway beyond the dilapidated portico, visible only when he tilted his head all the way back. He wondered what lay beyond, but assumed that it was unimportant. Navi alit upon his shoulder, staring around in awed silence.

"It's beautiful…" she whispered, almost sounding reverent. A sense of wonderment and awe clung about her, evidenced by her solemn quiet, and the unnaturally loose posture, as if she'd turned into a bag of grain.

Link noticed Saria, playing the ocarina on her tree stump, and trudged over towards her, considering whether he ought to let her continue playing until she noticed his presence, or interrupt her. It was a strange sort of place, this Sacred Forest Meadow, as Kaepora Gaebora had called it, that urged piety even over necessary haste. He waited, and did not wait long. As if she sensed him, Saria abruptly cut off in the middle of a note, sapphire blue eyes opening as she raised her head to look at Link.

"I've been waiting for you, Link," she said, but there was no accusation in her voice. Link stared at his feet, shuffling them guiltily anyway, unable to meet her gaze.

"I'm sorry," he said. "With the Great Deku Tree dead, I thought all the kokiris died, too, and I couldn't bear the thought of coming back. And, I've had much besides to think on."

He kicked a tiny grey rock—a bit of rubble, he realised—but didn't watch it as it skipped a few times against the grass, but never made it to the wall behind Saria.

Saria cocked her head, brow furrowed, frowning. "But, you're a kokiri, too. Even though the Great Deku Tree enabled you to leave the forest, you'd still be bound by all the other rules of our kind. If you still lived, you should have known that we did, too. But, with the Great Deku Tree gone…monsters have started already to appear in greater numbers, even down the steps in the Lost Woods's final defence of the Sacred Forest Meadow."

Link did not have the heart to correct any of her assumptions. He'd already explained to her when he'd first awoken that he was not the Link she knew. He hadn't convinced her then, and he wouldn't now.

"I didn't know that," he said, still looking at the floor. He heard Navi give a mournful sigh, at his side.

"How can you let him be such an ignoramus?" asked an indignant voice, as if it couldn't help contributing to the conversation. It belonged to a woman with long blonde hair, and a sleeveless green dress, surrounded by a green halo. Oh, right. Link could see through faerie halos now…and, apparently, understand their language.

Wait. Had Gatrice just insulted him? He began to tense, as if bracing himself for a confrontation.

"Now, Gatrice, that isn't very nice," Saria said, her voice severe with reproach. She turned her attention to Link, and he could feel her eyes boring into him. "Anyway, Link. I've been sitting here since you left, playing the ocarina every day for most of the day, hoping that you would return. Now you have! I knew I'd have to guide you through the Woods with my magical song.

"This is the Sacred Forest Meadow. It contains a ruins of long-ago, now crumbling and forgotten. It was a very important worship site for long-ago people…but it's long since been forgotten. This place is still sacred ground. It's my special place, but I'm glad to share it with you. I feel…I feel that this place will be very important for both of us…someday….

"I wanted to teach you my song. If you play this song, you can communicate with the forest spirits. Also, you can talk to me—no matter how far apart we are. The forest is mysterious, after all, and contains doorways to locations throughout Hyrule. Through these doorways, my song can reach to most anywhere in Hyrule. If you can hear my song, and you're outside of the Woods, then you must be near such a portal. The forest facilitates travel across great distances. What do you think, Link? Will you play the ocarina with me?"

Link paused, uncertain and self-conscious (this was not meant for him), but then pulled out the faerie ocarina.

Saria beamed. "That's it, Link! Try to follow the tune I play on the ocarina."

She began to play the self-same song that she had before, to provide solace for him after his nightmares. He recognised it right away. It was fast-paced and loud, with a strong backbeat. This was the song that he'd considered begging her to teach him, but it seemed that Saria had planned on teaching him all along. To wait as long as she had for Link to come….

It was so fast, with so many notes, that he questioned how well he would do, at the start. But, he put the ocarina to his lips, and did his best to remember how to hit each note. Saria waited until he'd played it through on his own, twice, to acknowledge his success. So, that was "Saria's Song". He felt oddly cheered, even following along on the ocarina.

"Link…promise me you'll remember this song. Promise you won't forget," Saria begged, clasping the ocarina to her chest, eyes once more closed.

"…Sure," he said, at a loss as to what he should say. This seemed to be acceptable, because Saria relaxed, lifting the ocarina back to her lips, nodded to him, closed her eyes, and began to play once more.

---

Link waved goodbye to Saria, and turned to head back. Only when he was at the bottom of the stairs, and was climbing the ladder to the second level of the maze, did it occur to him to check to make sure that he could talk to Saria via faerie mindlink this way.

Sure enough, Saria's voice came to his mind, as with the telepathy that Mosia and Sturgeon had taught him. She giggled, saying that while she liked communicating via faerie connection, she much preferred talking to him face-to-face. Link shrugged off her comments, just grateful that the song did what she had said that it would. Perhaps, this song would help to alleviate or even prevent his nightmares. He could hope, couldn't he?

But, after he had put the ocarina back away, and was climbing the ladder, he paused, in the middle of reaching for the next rung. He had the impression of eyes following his movements, and ears listening to him. He scaled the rest of the cliff, and looked around him, as if merely surveying the woods from this new angle. He saw no hints of whatever watched him. It was more a feeling, a sense of being watched, than anything else.

He stood on top of the walls that had restricted his movement when traveling up to meet Saria. From above, only the distance between the walls caused by the path he'd followed below created barriers for him. He could see tall trees growing off beyond the ledge walls to east and west, and the way that the entrance to the maze sloped steeply, as mountains seem to, viewed from afar. Peering over the edge showed him the grassy path he had trod, the pond he had been forced to swim through, and the remaining autumn leaf piles in which deku scrubs had lain in wait. Of his mysterious watcher, he saw no sign. Before him was a small pit, and in the pit was a black hole leading deep underground. Perhaps, his watcher was there, but….

How would they watch him from the depths, below?

He jumped into the hole, and a beam of yellow light slowed his descent.

He landed on a stone path surrounded by columns supporting a circular roof. In the fountain flew a dozen or more faeries, all with pink halos. From a distance, that was all that he could tell of them.

He noted to himself that he no longer sensed that he was being watched, despite the many bodies before him.

"Say, Navi, does it hurt faeries, to be kept in bottles?" he said, recalling the winged woman with twin buns and a black wand, who had healed his grandmother, and then vanished.

"'Kept in bottles'?" asked Navi, wide-eyed. She started, shook herself, and settled on his shoulders. "I hope you're not thinking of doing that to me! But no, it shouldn't hurt them. Faeries are hardy creatures, and can go a long time without needing sustenance. Of course, that's assuming they're actual faeries…there are places where the land itself concentrates life energy, and you can tap into it with a Song of Power. I suppose you've never seen them…those balls of pink light, that don't have any wings or bodies. They're a sort of proto-faerie, if you will. Given long enough, they'd grow wings and a body…but they'd never be truly living creatures. If you see a lot of faeries that look the same, they're just the ambient energy of the land, given form. If I were going to put a 'faerie in a bottle', I'd aim for one of those. See, look at him!"

She pointed to a male faerie with dull black iris-less eyes. A pink halo surrounded him, and he wore a white shift-like garment. He floated aimlessly around the spring. Looking around, Link did see several others identical to this one. The real faeries avoided them—not quite giving them a wide berth, but not acknowledging their existence, either. By contrast, several faeries of both sexes called out greetings to Link and Navi, not straying from the confines of their pool. Navi nodded, seeing that Link understood the difference. Determined to find the watching eyes, he stepped back into the light, too busy thinking to wonder if he were perhaps being rude.

Was the watcher friend or foe?

He landed on the floor of the pit, and immediately felt the attention of…something…fixed upon him again. He reached for the third rung of the ladder leading out of the pit, and began to pull himself out.

"Who plays the spirit song of the woods?" demanded a low voice, at last. A strange nagging sense of déjà vu assailed him as he paused in reaching for the next rung of the ladder. He turned to Navi, brow furrowed, trying to silently ask her if she heard the voice, if she knew what it was, and what he should do, but not daring to formulate silent words, for he knew that the voice that had spoken to him had not been heard with his ears.

"I think…it's the spirit of the Lost Woods," said Navi. "That's what Saria said, right? That you could use her song to speak with the spirits of the forest…and this seems to be the forest's heart. You'd better answer it."

Link had no idea how to go about doing this. Always before, he had used telepathy to direct his speech to an individual person, one whom he had seen and heard speak, whom he could imagine. This forest…how would he speak with it? Still, it was easy enough to direct his mental messaging to "whoever spoke to me" or "the spirit of the woods". Then, he needed an answer.

He jumped across the first of the gaps connecting the walls of the maze as he came to a reply. "I'm Link Sylvanus of the kokiris. I'm a friend of Saria."

He had the sense that the mysterious entity was analysing his words. Warmth stole up his feet, easing away fatigue with a gentle touch.

"If you are a friend of Saria, then welcome, Link Sylvanus," said the Lost Woods. "Few make this trek, deep into the Woods, to the Sacred Forest Meadow. Truly, you possess great courage, child. We will await your return, for return you someday must. We see greatness in your future…."

The forest cut off, there, and with it, the feeling of being watched dissipated. Link felt his shoulders relax, and frowned, having not realised how tense he had become. Why did this all feel so familiar?