Link had been right: practically as soon as they opened the door to the city hall, they were face to face with a stone wall that had an opening on it. Granted, the tiny room before the tunnel had a couple of flower pots in it, as well as a map on the wall next to the tunnel opening, but that was literally all there was. The rest of the building was inside the rock and didn't bother to pretend to be anything else.
"This is… new", Sidon said, looking around with more bafflement than Link thought necessary. Hadn't the front of the building given him a warning? Maybe Link was simply more used to spotting oddities, thanks to the shrines, the Koroks, and his general curiosity. How many hidden chests or weapons would he have missed if he wasn't good at noticing things that were off? Way too many.
He walked over to the map and sighed in mild frustration: all of the helpful text in it was in Minish, unsurprisingly and quite obviously. Oh well, he hadn't really expected anything different. At least he could try to memorize the layout and avoid getting lost; the damn place was huge and labyrinth-like, according to the map. They would need all the help they could get.
Sidon joined him, easily looking over his head at the map. "I really think I want to learn to read Minish one day. It's unsettling to not understand a single written word of a language. Before this, the only commonly spoken language I was completely incapable of understanding was Gerudo, and there's a good reason for that. Namely, my being male."
Wait, Sidon had demonstrated his skills in Rito, Goron, and Lizalfos before – Link still had trouble with thinking of that one as an actual language – but did this mean he spoke Sheikah, too? Or did it not count as a "commonly spoken language", since the Sheikah were small in numbers?
"The map itself is helpful in any case", Sidon said, and grinned at Link. "We'll simply have to ask someone for further directions. Shall we?"
Link figured he'd ask about the linguistics some other time. He smiled and nodded, and then they entered the tunnel. Thankfully it was wide and tall, so this time around Sidon didn't have to crouch at all. He did have to watch his dorsal fin, but that was comparably a minor problem. As for the tunnel itself, it was curious looking; Link had seen his fair share of Goron-made tunnels, which had been made with bare Goron fists for the most part, but this one looked… smoother. Obviously it hadn't been made by Gorons, so the Minish had to have used tools like mining picks for it. But even so, the smoothness was downright unnatural. Magic? Or simply centuries or more of constant use? He couldn't even guess which one.
They walked ahead and soon there was a door on their left. It had a label on it, but that was even less useful than the map had been. Regardless, they knocked and were bid to enter.
"Excuse me?" Sidon asked politely, addressing the surprised looking Minish inside. "We are looking for someone called Gentari. Could you tell us where we ought to go? We cannot read Minish."
Link looked around curiously, and was mildly disappointed by how boring and plain the room was; it contained simply a work desk, a shelf with books and papers, and a potted plant. This Minish had exactly the kind of job Link would rather die than be shackled to.
"Chief Gentari? Down the hall, then go right, up the stairs and… uh… I think fourth door on the left? Possibly fifth. I haven't had to think about it before. I mean, I can just read the names on the doors."
Link had to give it to this Minish: after the initial surprise, they had apparently just accepted this was the reality now and rolled with it smoothly without bothering to question anything. Whether this was their personality or came with whatever their job was, Link would never know. He remained impressed regardless.
"Thank you very much!"
They followed the instructions carefully, even though at times it took all of their combined willpower to not get distracted. One impressive set of doors had Sidon convinced there had to be a library behind it, and talking him out of going there took a moment; the fact that he wouldn't be able to read a single thing helped. Some very strange noises coming from behind another door had Link curious beyond belief and Sidon had to practically drag him away from it; Link still maintained that one little peek inside wouldn't have hurt or cost them any time at all. And they were both tempted to chat up a line of Minish who were wearing colourful cloth robes; the only reason they didn't was the fact that the Minish seemed to be concentrating hard on something, and they didn't want to distract them from whatever it was. The irony of the fact that they avoided getting distracted because they didn't want to distract others wasn't lost on Link.
Eventually, they were upstairs and contemplating between the two doors the helpful Minish downstairs had mentioned. The doors weren't identical, but they also gave no hints as to what or who to expect on the other side. Link and Sidon looked at each other, shrugged, and knocked on the first one, for the lack of better options.
"Come in!"
They entered, and saw that the room was bigger than the one they had briefly visited downstairs. Each wall was covered by floor to ceiling bookshelves crammed full with books, scrolls, folders, and random old looking items. There were two work desks that were piled high with even more books and open scrolls, and behind one sat a Minish who put down a magnifier and a scroll to give the two of them their full attention. The Minish gasped, stood up, and then actually jumped over their work desk – almost toppling over a pile of books – and landed in front of the shocked pair.
"You're the big people who shrank!" the Minish yelled in excitement. "I hoped I'd get to meet you! Oh, lucky day!"
Link kind of doubted this Minish was the one they were looking for.
"I'm Histori, nice to meet you!" the Minish said, confirming Link's suspicion. "Now, please tell me- Oh, wait a second!"
Histori ran back to their desk, grabbed a notebook and a pencil, and then ran back to the pair. Link was starting to think this Minish was a few cuckoos short of a flock.
"Please tell me everything that has happened to you from the moment you shrank to this very moment", Histori said, and got ready to write.
...Right. Link elbowed Sidon, who was simply gaping in complete confusion.
'We're not telling our life stories to this person', he signed. 'Try to get some sense into this situation, please.'
Sidon collected himself, and cleared his throat. "I'm terribly sorry to disappoint you, Miss Histori, but we're looking for Gentari. We unfortunately don't have the time to regale our adventures to you right this moment."
Histori blinked rapidly a few times, then sighed in deep disappointment. "I see. There is never the time to record history as it happens. Its destiny is to always be gathered afterwards, second-hand, through the filters of time, cooled trails and witness reports. We historians always have to battle hyperbole, assumptions, and flawed points of view."
Link and Sidon looked at each other awkwardly. It seemed they had unknowingly hit a sore spot. A very strange and specific sore spot.
"We're truly sorry", Sidon said quietly, and Link had the sinking feeling they would be spending a few hours today to tell their tale after all; at some point anyway.
Speaking of their travels, Link suddenly realized something he should have found odd the moment they entered this city: how did these people know about them before they even arrived? They had been traveling rather quickly, and there had been that rain to stop anyone else from the previous city from reasonably reaching this one before them. None of their previous stops had been aware of their existence before they were there, so it wasn't likely that someone from Stable Town had been traveling ahead of them this whole time or anything. Something wasn't adding up.
"Gentari is at behind the next door", Histori said listlessly and walked over to her own door to hold it open for them.
Link looked at Sidon, but instead of getting to exchange pitying glances with him, he saw his boyfriend's expression go from thoughtful to resolute. He knew what Sidon was going to say next. Damn it.
"Wait", Sidon said, and Link just sighed quietly. "We really want to see Gentari now, but we could tell you our story later, if you'd-"
"Yes!" Histori cried, all happy and hyper again, like her small depressed moment hadn't even happened. Had she been faking it to get them to give in? "I'll wait here for you to finish talking to him and then we can record history and, oh, we should go see my sister Librari, she's in charge of both the Capital Library and the Hero Museum, I bet you would be interested in that, seeing how you're big people, and then-"
Link snapped his fingers loudly a couple of times, and was rewarded by blessed silence. He looked at Sidon. 'Gentari now. Rambling Histori later. I have a bad feeling about something.'
Sidon looked chiding at first, then surprised, and finally concerned. "I see. Pardon Link's lack of manners, but we really do need to go now. We will return soon. It was nice meeting you."
They exited before Histori could hold them up any longer. Sidon waited until the door closed behind them, and then looked at Link. "A bad feeling? What is it?"
Link frowned. 'These people were expecting us. How? Who told them?'
Sidon didn't look half as concerned as Link though the situation merited. "That's all? I don't see how that is an issue. Maybe someone traveled ahead of us or the Chief has a method of communicating with the other towns and cities."
'I doubt that. News traveling ahead of you unexpectedly is never a good thing or a coincidence. I bet it was… the Vaatians. There's probably an ambush awaiting us at some spot.'
"The Vaatians? We haven't even encountered any of them-"
'That we know of.'
"Fair. But still, what would they gain by letting everyone know? Wouldn't it be better to keep quiet so that we wouldn't suspect anything?"
That… was a good point. Link was still convinced of his newly hatched theory, but Sidon was right. Why announce their presence to everyone? What was the motive?
Sidon placed a hand on Link's shoulder. "Link. There is no use speculating right this moment. We can simply ask Gentari for insight first. Maybe he has the answers."
Another good point. Link nodded, and they knocked on the door. They were bid to enter once again, and they did.
Gentari's office was… cluttered. There were lots of shelves and desks, all piled up with papers, booklets, stamping tools, packages, and forgotten tea cups. There was a small sitting area on the left, but even the comfortable looking couches had errant papers on them.
Gentari himself was positively ancient looking. He had a long white moustache and his face was about as wrinkled as Impa's. He had a tall red hat and grey robes not dissimilar to the giant statue's at the gates. He was clearly not the same person, however.
"Oh? You're the big people the whole city is abuzz about", Gentari said, and stood up. Link could almost hear his old bones creaking, and wished the Minish had stayed seated. But no, Gentari grabbed a staff, or rather a sewing needle with a red plaited thread hanging from it, and leaned against it for support as he walked around his work desk to greet them properly. Link noticed that he had two of those feathers that were possibly tails. A status symbol, maybe? Or more grew over time?
"I'm Chief Gentari, the leader of all the Minish in the Minish Woods", he said, and bowed slightly. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Prince Sidon and Sir Link."
He even knew their names. That wasn't alarming or anything.
"We're very honoured to meet you", Sidon said with a regal nod. Link half bowed politely. "I hope we find you in good health."
Ugh, princely manners and small talk.
Gentari chuckled, and pointed to the sitting area with his needle-staff. "Very much so, thank you for your concern. Shall we get seated? I don't like to keep my guests standing."
They moved over to the sitting area and, to Link's surprise and awe, Gentari waved his staff a few times, which caused the papers to rise from the couches, form a neat pile, and levitate over to the work desk.
"That was amazing!" Sidon said, taking the words straight out of Link's mouth. "I have never seen magic like that!"
Actually, now that Sidon put it like that… Link had seen magic like that. Master Kohga and at least one of the mummified Sheikah monks had levitated objects. He felt slightly less awed, but still impressed.
"Thank you", Gentari said, and took a seat. Link was certain he heard at least one bone popping. "That is a very basic bit of magic taught at our Magic Academy. But I doubt learning about our academy is the reason for your visit. Tell me, what do you need me for?"
Straight to the point. Link already liked Gentari.
"Ah, it is actually one of our inquiries", Sidon said, "but not the most pressing. Please tell us, has Slateri the First passed by?"