"Rodan wait, please. Slow down!" Link finally caught up to his friend. The Ordonian wore a fiery look Link had never seen in him before, and there was a dangerous glint in his eye, as if catching the light of some unseen inferno. Rodan tempered his purposeful stride, but his eyes remained fixed on the forested road ahead.

"I need to go to the Fairy Pond. You may stay or come as you wish. …You will come with me, won't you?" Rodan asked.

"Of course I will," Link said gently. There was a moment there where he really sounded like the chief. But he's still unsure of himself. "But it would be great if you would tell me why."

Rodan stopped dead so suddenly that Link almost bowled him over. He put his head in his hands and buried his face in a nearby tree. "What am I doin'? This is crazy" he moaned, rocking back and forth slightly.

Link recovered his balance and approached Rodan. He rested a hand on his shoulder. He wasn't quite sure what to say, so he simply waited until his friend was ready. Only the birds sleepily returning to their roosts stirred the calm evening air. After a few moments, Rodan re-emerged. He wiped his nose on his sleeve and said "Okay, I'll tell you why. But you have to promise me something."

"Whatever it is," Link said, " I promise I won't laugh."

"It's not that. I said I wanted you on my side no matter what. Well, what I really need from you right now, is to tell me if I'm just going crazy." He took a shaky breath and continued. "I've been hearing my mother's voice in my dreams. It started the night you came to Ordon, when we were at the Fairy Pond. I heard her speak to me, as clearly as I hear your voice now. She told me to run to my Father."

"Rodan, you're not crazy. I heard a woman's voice at the pond too! In fact, whoever it was, she helped me fight Phantom Ganon."

"There's more. Since the attack on father, her voice has been even clearer. She tells me to bring him to the pond; that she can save him. Link, I… what are we doin' out here? I tried to tell Cylia, and she told me I just needed rest. That worry does funny things to the mind. There's no point in even bringin' it up with Father. He would never agree to come. He thinks the pond is cursed."

Link considered this tactfully. "And, do you think he's right? About the pond?"

"That's what I want to find out."

"Then I think you just answered why we're out here. Come on, let's go."

Link took a few steps along the trail, then stopped to wait for the Ordonian to follow, which he did with a shake of his head and a small smile. Together, they followed the road out of town, swallowed whole by the evening gloom.

"You know, I would never admit it to Geral and Pip, but I usually hate walking this road at night," Rodan said after a while.

"Usually?" Link asked.

Rodan glanced at him but looked away quickly. "I dunno, not tonight," he mumbled.

Soon they came to an area where the trail widened briefly.

"Over here," Rodan said, pointing to an embankment at the far edge of the path. He jogged over and started running his hand across the earth, pushing aside roots and vines. "Help me look, there should be an opening here somewhere."

The moon was veiled in clouds so there was only the faintest light to work by but soon they had located the narrow, spider infested tunnel leading into the Fairy Pond.

"I'm glad you knew about this secret entrance. I wouldn't want to break the gate down a second time" Link said.

Well to be fair, I think that was mostly my fault last time" Rodan chuckled bashfully. "Oh dungballs," he said suddenly, surveying the pitch black passage, "shouldn't we have brought some weapons?"

"Honestly, if there really is some powerful magic here, I don't think a couple of wooden swords would have made much difference."

Rodan shrugged. "I guess you're right. Well, umm, youngest goes first?"

Link got down on his hands and knees without hesitation, and shoved his way past the hanging roots into the blackness inside.

"Wait for me," he heard Rodan call from behind him, already muffled by the heavy atmosphere of the tunnel.

For a while there was only the sounds of the two boy's panting and shuffling their way forward, hands groping blindly in front of them. Then, the gentle tinkling of falling water, and a dim light grew. Finally they emerged, sucking in the cool, clean air and brushing cobwebs from their hair and clothes.

"If I never see that tunnel again, it will still be too soon" Rodan said, picking a spider from his jerkin.

"Unless you learned to fly without telling me, we'll still need it to get home" said Link distractedly, examining the pool. It was as he remembered it: a sandy little pond, fed by a series of gentle waterfalls that came trickling down the high cliffs that stood watch over one side. There was also the strange collection of tall standing stones that dotted the rim of the pool. Carved with intricate detail, they were all adorned with swirling, alien patterns. Despite this, the scene was one of tranquillity. Not at all like the many dangerous places Link had visited over the years.

"You called it home."

"Huh?" Link was still busy examining the area. He hoped he might unearth his hookshot, which had seemingly vanished along with Phantom Ganon. As far as he knew, it hadn't been recovered by Ordon soldiers.

"You mean the Village, right? You said, after this we had to get home" Rodan continued.

"So what?"

"I dunno" Rodan said with a funny look at him. "I've never heard you call Ordon 'Home' before. It's just… I hope it can be, y'know? Your home I mean."

"I hope so too" said Link after a pause. He tried to smile warmly, but something made it difficult.

"Well," Rodan said, clapping his hands together brusquely, "how do we go about activating this fairy puddle thing?". Without a second thought, he waded out into the middle of the water, and cupped his hands to his mouth. "Hellooo! Fairy person? Ma'? Whatever you are, I'm here!"

There was no sound except the falling of water.

"What the hell? She won't shut up in my dreams, now she doesn't want to talk?" said Rodan, kicking up water with a splash.

Link remembered Phantom Ganon and his black horse, struggling in the sticky pool water, like flies caught in a web. "Uhmm Ro, I don't know if you want to be in the water."

"Well, what are we supposed to do? You know more about this stuff than me. How do we get the Fairy to come out and play?"

Link cast about, unsure. "Hmm, well usually I just… but I don't see…" he muttered under his breath. He paced the shore, eyes fixed on the sand beneath his feet. "Ahh but we're not in Hyrule, are we?"

"What are you gruntin' about?" Rodan said tersely.

"Shhh, okay listen, this will sound strange but, are there any songs your mother would sing to you? You know, when you were younger?"

Rodan was taken aback, but answered quickly. "Sure, some Ordonian nursery rhymes. But why?"

"Just… start singing one. Your favourite, whichever."

"I can't… sing" Rodan gaped, looking as if Link had just asked him to fight Phantom Ganon one-on-one, armed with nothing but a catfish.

"Just do it!"

Falteringly, visibly cringing at the sound of his own voice, Rodan started to sing.

When will we see those lads again

Their ploughs are unmanned

Their fields are untilled

The apples, ripe in their tree, uneaten

And the goats are bleating for their masters

The lads have all marched over the bridge

To leave their fields untended

Their wives uneasy

But their children can't stay unguarded

And the goats are bleating for their masters

"Keep going. Louder!" Link called, rummaging in his pockets. Finally, he found what he was looking for. He put the Ocarina of Time to his lips, and began to play along with the bittersweet tune. Rodans eyes widened, but having some backing music appeared to give him confidence, and together they belted out the remaining verses.

The lads have all disappeared from view

Their gleaming steel now unseen

Spirit unbroken

But their tale won't be unspoken

And the goats are bleating for their masters

When will we see those lads again

So many plots unfilled

Tales untold

But their legend is unrivalled

And all Ordon weeps for their heroes

They finished their performance with a flourish. Together, they looked around expectantly. Nothing happened.

"Well that was embarrassing," Rodan grumbled. "You picked up that tune fast. So, what, you're a musical prodigy as well as bein' good at everythin' else, huh?"

"Personally, I think you have a beautiful singing voice," Link said, a smile curling the corners of his mouth.

Rodan harrumphed, and kicked another big splash of water in Link's direction. "Well, I think I'll get out now. This water's freezin'."

Link opened his mouth to reply, but instead had to throw his hands up to shield his eyes from the intense light that suddenly illuminated the dusky night.

"What's goin' on?" he heard Rodan yell out in panic.

Link peeked through his fingers, eyes watering from the golden glare, to see his friend thrashing in the middle of the pond, trying to splash his way back to dry land. But already, a circlet of radiant light was beginning to form around the boy.

"Out of the water, quickly!" Link shouted, but it was too late. He watched aghast while Rodan lost his footing as the water congealed and sucked at his boots. He fell forward, and disappeared under the glassy surface with a strangled cry, ominously cut short.

Before the last ripples caused by Rodan's struggle had even formed, Link was almost on top of him, plunging his hand into the water where he had vanished. Link had positioned himself just on the edge of the ring of light, but the circle was expanding. "Rodan! Rodan!"

He searched desperately in the water - which felt more like tar at this point - feeling around for Rodan, so he could pull him to safety, but his fingers couldn't find anything to hold on to. For a brief second, he felt another hand grab it his own, but it was snatched away.

"Come on!" Link panted in frustration. Between his desperate searching, and trying to keep most of his body away from the sticky water, he was now practically shoulder deep, but still he couldn't find Rodan.

Suddenly, the pond began to gurgle and froth. Link felt bubbles tickle his hand, and he tried to pull back, but his arm might as well be encased in stone. He was stuck fast. A spout of water erupted from the middle of the circle, showering Link in the gloop. The weight of the stuff sticking to his body dragged him down, down, down, until he too was submerged. A laugh rippled through the pool water, as clear and shrill as a bell. It followed Link as he sank.

At first he struggled, but quickly realised it was pointless. Furthermore, he should have hit the bottom already, as the pond was waist high at most, yet still he drifted gently downwards. Link tried to still his body and mind, ignoring the growing anxiety that he was running out of air.

Rodan awoke on a comfortable bed of moss, spluttering and hacking, still thrashing wildly towards the surface, and fresh air. Except there was no surface, as there was no water, and instead the abundant air tasted as sweet and delicately fragrant as anything he had experienced in his life. It seemed almost nourishing, like a hearty bowl of pumpkin soup, and Rodan felt as if he could survive for years on nothing else. He sucked it down greedily, grateful that his lungs were not instead full of water as he expected after sinking for so long in the pond. A shiver ran down his spine as he remembered the crushing weight of the water, and his chest burning; begging him to breathe.

As the adrenaline drained from his body, now rejuvenated by the wholesome atmosphere, Rodan finally began to take in his surroundings. He studied the scene with the mindless serenity of a cow chewing cud, too overwhelmed by what he saw to register a response. He seemed to be in a forest, not unlike the one he'd just left in Ordon, and yet simultaneously like nothing he could have imagined in even his strangest dreams.

The sky was a royal blue streaked with silvery undertones, more vivid than any colour he had seen before. But the sky seemed very far away, as Rodan had to crane his neck all the way back to see past the domineering treeline. Mountainous trees of incalculable size dwarfed him in all directions. Rodan stared at the giant trunks in wonder. If Geral were here, he'd say you would need to pack a lunch just to walk around the trunk once! Imagine the kind of house you could build in one of those. It'd be more like a castle!

He was so shaken by the sheer scale, that it took him a moment to realise that the colours were wrong. Every leaf of each tree seemed to be a different hue, creating a kaleidoscopic rainbow of a canopy, while the bark was so pale as to be almost translucent. Underneath the glassy bark, Rodan could see a network of what looked like veins, pumping some sort of teal energy throughout each tree's trunk, creating the disconcerting but oddly calming illusion that the trees were undulating gently, despite the stillness of the air.

The ground was verdant, and peppered with graceful flowers of brilliant shades, that seemed like they might crumble to dust if picked, they were so delicate. The moss he'd awoken upon might have been stuffed with goose down, it was so soft. Another observation dawned on Rodan. Everything in this strange place; every rock, every tree, every blade of grass was glowing. It was so subtle that he didn't see it at first, but every surface didn't just reflect the light from the sky but actually emitted its own golden luminescence from somewhere within, that grew and then faded again in a gentle rhythm.

Interestingly the ground seemed closer to his face that he was familiar with. Rodan studied it with the same slow, calmness; the thought turning over and over in his mind. He raised his hand to scratch his chin, but his arm wouldn't bend. Rodan looked at his hands, perplexed by this…to find that he didn't have hands. Or arms for that matter.

Rodan bellowed in terror, recoiling backwards, only to trip over his hind legs and tumble on to his back. From here, he saw all four of his spindly legs kicking wildly in the air. In a flash, Rodan took in the fur, the claws, the hooves…it was too much. He yelled again, and thrashed wildly, trying to right himself, but found that something attached to his head had somehow lodged itself in the earth when he fell. He rolled back and forth on the spongy undergrowth until at last he broke free. He got to his feet unsteadily. Wobbling and tripping over his extra pair of legs, he took off into the forest at a canter, or as close to one as he could manage.

Rodan was in too much shock to think about his transformation, or even why he was running. The situation was too bizarre for coherent thoughts or strategies. All of his instincts, which had been idling while he examined his surroundings, had now kicked into overdrive, and were telling him unequivocally, "YOU SHOULDN'T BE HERE".

He stumbled his way through the gargantuan forest, his unfamiliar appendages pounding the dirt. Then, just as quickly as he'd started running, he skidded to a halt, his journey blocked by a vast body of water. To scale with the surrounding trees, it might have been no more than a large stream if this were Ordon. As it was, however, the far bank was a hazy blur in the distance, and an ocean of glittering blue barred him from reaching it. Even in his own body, Rodan wouldn't have dared swimming it.

Panting heavily, his flanks heaving, Rodan worked up the courage to step to the water's edge. He looked down. The reflection that greeted him was not entirely unfamiliar.

Two-toned horns protruded from his head, meeting at the tips to form a ring above his face, which was now elongated and muzzled. It was the face of an Ordon goat, the species native to his homeland, commonly kept as livestock by its people for milk and meat. His mother had even kept one as a pet when he was young, even though its milk had dried up long before he was born.

However that was where the familiarity ended. His body was something else entirely. Something more predatory. While his back legs were thin and cloven at the ends like a goat's, his front end was powerful and muscular, with razor-like claws on his front paws. His fur was long, and as white as fresh snow, and from his rear he could see a bushy tail that wagged lazily outwith his own volition.

Though the initial panic had subsided, Rodan still found stringing a full thought together an impossibility. What?… and …where? were about all he could muster. As he stared uncomprehendingly at his reflection, his distracted brain managed another observation. He hadn't got a good enough look in the dense forest but here where the trees were thinner and the sky more visible, he noticed that the silvery streaks in the air were in fact bands of light, moving across the sky very quickly in all directions. As he studied the sky in the mirrored surface of the river, one of the streaks of light changed course. He followed it curiously as it circled the air, almost as if searching for something. He watched it flit to and fro, then suddenly go still. No, not still. It's gettin' larger. Rodan watched as the ball of light grew and grew in the reflection until…

"Ahem, excuse me."

Rodan raised his head. A few feet from his snout, a greenish orb not much bigger than an apple was hovering in the air.

"Uhhm…" Rodan said.

"Are you Rodan? From Ordon? Son of Boru and Thria" the orb asked, a little impatiently.

"Uuhrmnn…" Rodan said again.

Though the orb had no face that Rodan could see, somehow he felt the thing roll its eyes.

"Look I'm just going to assume you are, though why you went crashing away through the forest I haven't the faintest idea. Well, you better follow me. Don't want to keep the Queen waiting."

"Queen?" Rodan managed.

"Yes, yes, the Queen of the Fairies. You know, the whole reason you're here? Din give me strength, you mortals are slow." With noises of disapproval, the orb fluttered off into the woods, back the way Rodan had just come from.

"Wait, slow down," Rodan called after the thing, as he hurried to catch up "I just came from there and I didn't see any Queen or whatever".

The orb peeked out from behind a tree, making Rodan start.

"First time in the spirit realm?" It said, voice dripping with sarcasm. "Just follow, and please keep your gibbering to a minimum if you can."

Rodan trotted obediently after the fairy, back into the shade of the psychedelic forest.