Link and Sidon arrived to the small Minish town roughly as scheduled. Once more Sidon spotted it first, even though this town was well hidden between flowers and large leaves. To be fair, Link was preoccupied by the enormous tree the town was under; it was taller than any mountain he had ever climbed, and the trunk was wide enough to probably take hours to go around. They hadn't quite reached the actual forest yet, so they hadn't walked directly by any trees on their way here, sparse as they were. Seeing one this close on their current size was mind blowing.
The town itself was a lot more colourful than the one next to the stable, as most buildings were absolutely coated with flower petals of varying colours. The Minish, too, favoured flower clothes over the leafwear of the previous town. Link guessed it had to do with the lack of big people close-by; no need be wary of attracting too much attention with extra colours here.
This time their introduction to the locals was easier thanks to them knowing the language and possibly because of the Minish clothing they wore that indicated good relations with the Minish. Not that Sidon's appearance didn't scare a bunch of the people off regardless, which Link found hilarious but was also sad for Sidon who just wanted to be everyone's friend.
As a side note, nobody understood Link's signing. It was really disheartening, but he refused to give up hope: there was still the capital city, surely someone understood him there.
"Where can we find someone who will sell us supplies?" Sidon asked one of the Minish who hadn't ran away. Link tried to spot any indicators to tell him whether this one was a man or a woman, but failed to notice any telling features. Sidon likely knew regardless.
"Supplies? Uh, food, then?" the Minish asked and scratched their ear in what was probably contemplation. "The traveling merchant is not here today, but I suppose you could buy some directly from the gatherers, their headquarters is that big building there. Oh! Then there's Sweeteri, she makes honey candy. She lives in the mostly yellow house over the-"
Link grabbed Sidon's arm and started pulling him to the direction of the sweets shop.
"Link! That's just-" Sidon started, then sighed and presumably turned to the Minish they were leaving behind, judging from the way his voice sounded more distant. Link didn't turn to confirm that, busy dragging Sidon towards their new destination. "Thank you! You were most helpful!"
The resistance lessened as Sidon started following Link voluntarily.
"Link, that was very rude of you", Sidon admonished.
'Don't care. Candy', Link signed, already able to smell the sweet honey in the air as they neared the house. Who had time for manners when there were sweets to be had?
"You're impossible."
It didn't take them long to reach the door, and Sidon hurried ahead to knock before Link could simply barge in. Link was pretty sure one was allowed to enter shops at their leisure, so he rolled his eyes and was about to pull on the handle when the door was opened from the inside.
The Minish looked exactly the same as everyone they had met so far. The scent of honey grew stronger, though, so Link didn't lament his inability to tell the Minish apart too much. He was much too busy drooling.
"Hello", the Minish said, looking slightly puzzled but polite anyway. "I haven't seen you or even your kind before. Did you move into this town? Oh, or are you customers?"
"Good afternoon", Sidon replied with a dazzling smile. "Are you Sweeteri? We're simply visiting your lovely village and heard of a sweets shop. Would this be it?"
The Minish's expression brightened and she opened the door wide.
"Yes, I am Sweeteri", she said and beckoned them in. Link didn't need to be asked twice. "Welcome to my home and shop. I'll get the goods in a moment, please take a seat at the table."
The house looked much the same as Slateri's had been, except more lived-in. The furniture was worn and comfortable, and there were small flowers everywhere. Link had never even seen that kind of flowers before, likely because they were too small to notice when you were big and not specifically looking for them. The two of them sat down and waited while Sweeteri bustled into another room, Link excitedly and Sidon curiously.
"I've never been to a shop that is inside one's actual home", Sidon said in a low voice, probably afraid of being offensive. "Typically shop owners live upstairs or in the back, while the shop is set up in the first room and always ready for customers. This is fascinating. Is it a common custom among other races?"
Link shook his head, then elaborated with his hands, 'I have seen this type of shop before, but it's not common. I think it's beginners that work like this and eventually set up a proper shop when they have enough customers.'
Sidon nodded, eyes filled with wonder. It showed that he hadn't been able or allowed to travel very far from his home before. Link would bet that King Dorephan had counted on this adventure being an educating experience for the prince, and that had played a large part in why he had agreed to let this happen. Even if they were currently in a deep mess, at least something was going as planned.
Sweeteri appeared at that point, carrying a big woven basket with her. It appeared to be made of grass, as opposed to straw or wicker, but otherwise looked the same as any big people baskets. Well, the weaving looked slightly different from the technique Link knew, but then again so did the Zora, Rito, and Gerudo kind.
"Here we are!" she said cheerfully, set the basket down, and started to unload it. She pulled out a pouch of what were plain old hard honey candies that even Link knew how to make, another of honey taffy, then more colourful sweets that were likely candied berries or fruits, or bits of them anyway considering their size, honeyed nuts and seeds, and finally lollipops that looked delightfully chewy.
Link's mouth watered.
'How much for all of them?' he asked, but Sidon shook his head.
"We can't carry all of them if we want to fit in some actual food as well", he said firmly.
Link pouted, but had to concede the point. He gingerly picked up a reddish candy and peered at it closely, as if he could guess what it was just from looking at it.
"That was speech?" Sweeteri asked, and then shook her head. "I've never seen anything like that. Are you unable to talk? Oh! Would you like to know what each candy contains?"
Link nodded eagerly, ignoring the question of his speaking ability completely. Sweeteri rattled off her selection, each one sounding more delicious than last. Turned out some of the colourful candies contained flower petals rather than curiously purple or blue berries, and Link was all for trying those out. The taffy came in different flavours as well. All in all, everything sounded good and there were way too many flavours to choose just a few from. Link didn't want to leave anything un-tasted and that was making the decision on what to get and what to not get impossibly hard.
"Could we possibly have a selection of all of them?" Sidon asked finally, apparently just as indecisive as Link, but with an actual plan to work around it. "Two of each?"
'Let's get a few of the Silent Princesses in a separate bag', Link added, 'As a souvenir to Zelda.'
"Oh, good idea! Should I pick something for my father? Hmm…"
Their final candy bag was larger than advisable, but neither of them backed down when the time came to pay for it. They would just have to eat a bunch to make room for real food. Link was all for that.
As they were about to leave, Link thought of something. He stopped and poked at Sidon's arm to get his attention away from the candy bag.
'Ask her how she has honey', he signed, then elaborated as Sidon looked puzzled. 'Bees are huge. Beehives are high up.'
Sidon's eyes widened and he instantly whirled around to look at Sweeteri, who was packing the remaining candy back into the basket.
"Excuse me? How did you come to acquire honey? My friend here had a very good point about bees being… rather much to handle due to their size."
Sweeteri blinked a few times, taken aback, before collecting herself and smiling. "I simply buy it from Hiveri. He lives in the next town north of here and is the one with the bee farm. It's quite the long trip to make to get the honey, but I wouldn't want to live that close to that nasty mud lake, so needs must. You should ask him if you're headed that way."
That was a lot less information than Link would have wanted, but she likely didn't know any more than they did.
"Oh, wait", Sweeteri suddenly said, just as they were trying to leave again. She stuck a hand into her pocket and pulled something out. She held it out for them to see: turned out it was two things, and they were some kind of stone coins, or halves of them anyway, one green and one red. The way they had been halved reminded Link of puzzle pieces, what with one of them having a deliberate looking triangular edge but the other having a square hole in the center of the halved part. They definitely looked like they should be united with a matching part, just like puzzle pieces. Sweeteri handed the green one to Link and the red one to Sidon. Link noted that his coin glowed for a second when he first touched it. He didn't know if Sidon's had done the same, since he only had eyes for his own piece for the crucial first seconds.
"Those are kinstones", she explained cheerfully, "If you can find the other half and merge them together, something good will happen."
Link and Sidon examined the coins, kinstones, curiously.
"What kind of good?" Sidon asked, and Link nodded.
Sweeteri shrugged. "I don't know, I haven't merged any. I got a bunch of them from Hiveri to share with my customers, and he got them from Traveri, who brought them from the capital. He said they're some kind of an old tradition that is being brought back, and that was enough for me."
Sweeteri was apparently very useless when it came to getting information. Was she truly so uncaring? Had she no curiosity? Link didn't understand her at all.
"I see", Sidon said thoughtfully, "To find the other half, must we ask around?"
"I would imagine so. They're given to people, not left lying around", she answered, "Though you don't have to bother with asking anyone in this town. The ones I gave you don't have their pairs here, I checked when I got them. It's why I gave them to you, since you're going to continue your journey and might meet the people with the other halves on your way. Good luck with that."
Link and Sidon left shortly after that, minds preoccupied. They walked in the direction of the gatherers' headquarters until Link noticed a bench and motioned for them to go take a seat. He took the candy bag that Sidon had kept on holding and opened it. He fished out two red candies that looked the same to him and handed one to Sidon, before popping the other into his own mouth. It was sweet and just melted on his tongue, a hint of strawberry coming on as soon as the outer layer of honey gave way to the prize in the middle. He would definitely visit that shop again someday.
"This is delightful, much sweeter than the fleet lotus sap we use at home", Sidon said with a satisfied hum. Link didn't think he had ever tried this fleet lotus sap, an oversight he would have to correct the first opportunity he got, so he just nodded.
"What do you think of the kinstones?" Sidon asked after they had enjoyed a couple of more sweets. "I think they sound marvelous, but at the same time I'm having doubts about them working as advertised. What kind of good things could happen from simply putting two halves of a coin together? Do you suppose they're blessed?"
Link nodded before signing his thoughts. 'Mine glowed when I touched it. Definitely blessed. I believe that they will do something.'
Sidon's eyes widened and he dug out his kinstone curiously. It glowed briefly, but instead of looking convinced Sidon just kept looking at it expectantly.
"Mine didn't glow", he said, "Maybe it won't work?"
Link was confused. Had Sidon not seen the glow? Why?
'It glowed just now', he signed with a puzzled frown, 'Didn't you see it?'
Sidon's eyes widened and he looked at the kinstone again with squinted eyes. "It did? Are you certain? I didn't see anything."
Apparently Sidon really couldn't see it. But if he couldn't, then why could Link? Was it the norm to see it or not to see it? Link had half a mind to go back to Sweeteri and ask her, but then he realized that she probably wouldn't know, since she cared so little about details.
'We could ask other Minish when we talk to them?' he suggested. 'Whether they can see the glow or not.'
Sidon nodded with a determined look, then pocketed the curious item again.
Their pile of small side quests was growing, and the thought brought a smile to Link's face.
It was just like his previous grand adventure. He may be small now, and that was new, but at least some things stayed the same.