The rainfall stopped after what Link estimated to be two full hours of pouring buckets. His sour mood had evaporated during it, and the two of them had had a hearty mushroom meal while waiting for the skies to clear. He was kind of done with mushrooms after a third shroomy meal in a row; they had, after all, been hanging out under mushrooms a lot lately and had obviously used the opportunity to eat as much of their shelters as they could and had packed some more with them.

The last minutes of rainfall had been spent munching on honey candy contently.

Now that the rain was finally done for the moment, they hurriedly continued their trek.

"The town should be very close by now", Sidon said as they practically climbed the steep hill whose base they had been hanging out at.

"I'm not sure whether to be relieved or frustrated by that", Link said, smiling. "On one hand, it'll be good to finally reach the town instead of spending any more time under mushrooms or leaves. But on the other hand, the knowledge that we were so close to the town and still had to stay under a leaf for two hours…"

Sidon chuckled.

They made their way up without incidents and almost immediately after the climb Sidon spotted the town under a huge tree.

They had been maybe an hour, tops, away from it the whole time.

Link may or may not have swore a little on their way towards the town.

ooooo

The town was curious. Sidon had seen a few leaf houses from the distance and they had assumed that to be it, and the town to be the smallest one yet. They had been mistaken.

Turned out the houses by the tree were just the surface part of a much larger town that was mostly located underground, between and beneath the tree's massive roots. The earth this close to the mud lake was rich in clay and – according to the locals – perfect for underground dwellings.

The Minish were dressed in woven yellow-ish grass tunics and wore acorn hats on their heads. Link wagered the tunics were more durable in the long run than the leafwear from the other towns, especially if one did a lot of digging. Maybe he'd buy a set if they found the shop that sold them.

The few Minish they met directed them to a tunnel that would lead them into the underground town. Sidon eyed the entrance tunnel with a troubled look.

"It doesn't look as big as the one between Stable Town and the stable", he said worriedly. "I wonder if I will be able to walk upright."

Link hopped into the tunnel and looked around. The tunnel was wide enough for two or three Minish to walk side by side, and tall enough for Link to have more than enough headroom. However, when he raised his arms he was able to touch the ceiling without issue.

Sidon was almost twice Link's height.

'That would be a no', he signed after returning to the entrance. 'You're going to have to stay hunched to walk here.'

Sidon groaned and looked at the surface town with a slightly desperate expression. They had been told that the local inn was underground and all the houses on the surface were private dwellings. It seemed like he was contemplating just randomly knocking on a door and asking for a place to stay. Link knew he would be considering that in Sidon's position.

After a moment Sidon sighed and gestured for Link to move along. "I couldn't possibly impose on someone without at least trying the tunnels first."

Link shrugged and went further in so Sidon could come down. Sidon followed slowly, clearly reluctant.

Link had been right: Sidon had to bend his back considerably to fit in, and just looking at the angle and thinking about maintaining it for who knows how long was painful.

'We could still go back up', Link signed after a couple of minutes of watching Sidon try to adjust his posture into something workable in vain.

Sidon shook his head. That, too, looked uncomfortable; especially since it made his tail flop to one shoulder and that was sure to cause him neck pain in the long run if he didn't fix it. Thankfully he did.

"No. I can manage. Let's see what this town has to offer."

Link shrugged, again. 'It's your back.'

He made a mental note to give Sidon a back rub once they reached the inn.

ooooo

The tunnel was illuminated with lanterns that had Fire Chuchu jelly in them, and the ceiling continued to be low. The walls were a mixture of brown and gray and were occasionally reinforced with wood logs. The air was musty and earthy and a bit hotter than comfortable.

Sidon seemed to be suffering greatly, but he wasn't saying anything about it so neither did Link, despite his worry. He really hoped the inn had a higher ceiling and maybe even a bath of Sidon's size.

Unlike the busy tunnel back at Stable Town, this one was eerily empty and felt monotonous and endless because of it. If they hadn't been specifically directed here by a local, Link would be thinking they weren't in the right place.

After what felt like hours of walking in a never ending loop, but was probably just minutes in a simply boring tunnel, they came across something new. They arrived to a spot where the tunnel split into three, and there was a directions sign on the wall.

They eagerly approached it in hopes of figuring out the easiest way to the inn or the local shops or possible other points of interest. At this point they weren't picky about which came first.

There were helpful arrows on the sign to indicate which tunnels to take to get to specific places, but the writing was in Minish. To them, written Minish meant illegible gibberish.

'That's very helpful.'

"A simple setback", Sidon said, and stretched his neck to his best ability in the cramped space. "We can just pick a direction and then ask the locals once we run into one."

So far they hadn't met anyone in the tunnel. Link was a little skeptical.

"It's lunch hour", Sidon said, like he was reading Link's mind. "People are probably eating at their homes. Besides, this tunnel seems to only lead outside; maybe the Minish who dwell down here don't feel much of a need to go up. We will likely meet lots of people in these other tunnels."

Fair enough. Link walked up to each tunnel and listened carefully. In the left one he heard a lot of noise. In the middle one he heard a bit less noise. The right one was practically silent save for a weird scratching sound.

They chose the left tunnel.

As they advanced the noises got louder. It was clearly chatter and children's shrieks of merriment, although the sounds sounded a bit muffled. At the very least they would find people in this direction.

Soon there started being doors with plaques, presumably name tags or addresses, left and right. The noises were coming from the other sides of the doors. Link wagered they were dwellings, since they lacked any signs welcoming people in or hinting at what kind of things were being sold like shops would have.

"Do you suppose we should knock on one?" Sidon asked after they had passed countless same-looking doors and no variety had presented itself. There didn't seem to be an end to the doors; the tunnel kept going forward as far as Link's eye could see. If they were all houses and they were all occupied, the town had a huge population. He didn't particularly want to find out how huge, especially the hard way.

'Might be for the best.'

They approached the nearest door and knocked, and the chatter they'd heard from the inside quieted almost instantly. There was a pitter-patter sound, then the door was opened a little bit.

First came the smell of food that made Link realize he was hungry, then a tiny Minish peered at Sidon curiously with huge eyes.

"Hello, we're-"

"Mom!" The tiny Minish called before Sidon could finish his sentence. "There's a huge red person at our door."

They hadn't even noticed Link with their eyes glued to Sidon. He could hardly blame them: Sidon was a sight to see, especially to someone who had most likely never seen a Zora before.

Another Minish, a bigger one, walked over. They, too, stared at Sidon.

"Hello, we-"

"Beanpaste, there really is a huge red person at our door!"

Link snorted. This was getting good.

Another Minish arrived, took one look at Sidon, and shook their head. "You sure are huge and red. You need something?"

Link lost it. The laughter poured out of his mouth with zero restraint as he leaned against the speechless Sidon, gasping for breath between peals of merriment.

"There's another one!" The tiny Minish squealed. "It's not red! Or huge!"

That absolutely didn't help calm Link down. He was wheezing at this point.

"Please pardon my friend", Sidon said with a smile in his voice, and patted Link's shoulder. "Let me start over. Hello, we're travelers and we find ourselves a bit lost in these tunnels. Which way should we take to get to the inn?"

"What are you?" The tiny Minish asked, but got hushed by what Link now assumed to be their mother.

"Depends on which way you came from", 'Beanpaste' answered. "Did you walk by a three way crossroad?"

So there was more than one entrance. Link supposed he should have taken that much for granted; cave-ins would be devastatingly deadly otherwise. Still, it was nice to know.

He was starting to regain his composure and breath by then and could pay proper attention to the conversation.

"Yes, we did", Sidon said.

"Oh goody! Just go back there and take the middle tunnel", Beanpaste said with a smile. "That's the way to the town center. All the shops are there."

'What's on the right?' Link signed. He got met with questioning looks, as per usual nowadays. It was starting to really grate on his nerves. He sighed, frustrated, and repeated his inquiry to Sidon, who asked it out loud for him.

Beanpaste cringed. "Ah, you will not want to go there. Just trust me on this one. Was there anything else?"

'That's not an answer', Link signed with a frown. 'Just tells us.'

Sidon shook his head, though, and smiled at the Minish family without voicing Link's request. Link's attempt at repeating his question was flat out ignored.

"Thank you, we'll keep that in mind", he said. "We won't keep you longer. Please go back to your lunch. Thank you for the help."

"No problem! Enjoy your stay at our town."

After the door was closed, Link heard a muffled "But I wanted to know what they were!" from the other side. He sympathized with the child. With that thought, he turned to glare at Sidon as they began walking.

'Go right ahead and silence me, why don't you?' He signed, fuming. 'It's so much fun to not be understood without aid and then my only means of communication starts deciding what I get or don't get to say.'

Sidon looked taken aback. "What? I didn't mean it like that. I merely didn't want to press the subject since it didn't seem to be a welcome one. It was clear they wanted to get back to their meal quickly."

Link's glare deepened. 'It's irrelevant whether you meant it or not. You didn't want to press the subject, but I did. You don't get to decide for me.'

Sidon shook his head. "My apologies. I didn't want to be rude to the people who were helping us."

Not being rude to strangers was apparently more important than not leaving Link flailing. Link was getting really damn sick of flailing, too.

Princely fucking manners.

'The only reason you got to come with me instead of staying at the Stable Inn was because I need a translator', Link signed heatedly. 'You don't get to choose when my words are allowed just because you don't agree with me.'

Sidon stopped walking with a shocked look.

Link realized what he just said.

Shit.

'Sorry!' he signed immediately, but the damage was already done.

Sidon took a deep breath and tried to straighten his posture, only to bump his head to the low ceiling. He frowned and then visibly pretended that didn't happen, which Link was perfectly willing to go along with.

"I see", Sidon said calmly. "I thoroughly apologize for failing at my one job. I shall endeavor to do better from now on."

Link cringed. Sidon's words just brought more shame on him instead of making him feel like he won the argument.

'I didn't mean it', he signed, looking at Sidon imploringly.

Sidon's face was expressionless. "Sure. Let's go back to the crossroad."

Link watched Sidon's hunched back as the Zora started walking away from him.

Shit.