Link grinned at Sidon, way more excited than the occasion probably deserved. He watched as a batch of Minish unloaded themselves from the mouse cart, and finally the person driving it signaled for the waiting people, Link and Sidon included, to come forward and board it.

Why yes, after they had finished eating and gotten ready to continue their journey, a helpful Minish had stopped them and informed them that the mouse cart to the next city should arrive within the next ten or so minutes. Obviously they had chosen to wait for that instead, both because it saved them a five hour walk and turned it into a two hour ride, and because of course they wanted to try the mouse cart when the opportunity was there. Link had no way of knowing for sure, but he trusted that none of the Minish they had dined with were Vaatians; surely they would have caused trouble already if they were going to. So, sitting in the cart with them for about two hours didn't feel like an awful idea this time around, unlike the ride from the Capital to here would have been.

Link and Sidon were guided to sit in the middle of the cart for balance reasons – Sidon was about three times the size of an average Minish, after all – and soon enough the cart was full and the journey began.

It was very similar to traveling on a horse cart, except for the fact that the ride was bumpier and faster, as the mice pulling the cart scurried along without the proper rhythm that horses were trained for. It was still a cool thing to experience and Zelda would no doubt want to try it.

The beginning was quiet, as both he and Sidon were preoccupied with the experience and watching the quickly passing scenery. But eventually Sidon turned to him, and to his surprise started signing.

'There's something that has been bothering me, but I don't think it should be talked about out loud', he said, and Link frowned. He had no idea what to expect.

'Okay? What is it?'

Sidon looked around, probably to check for eavesdroppers – as useless as that was – before continuing. 'Librari was telling us about the Minish Cap and Ezlo's family right when we got attacked. It seemed important, but I forgot to ask her about it before we left, so now I'm wondering what it was she was about to reveal. Do you remember her words?"

Link certainly hadn't expected this topic; he could honestly say he hadn't given a single thought to that subject in the first place. He made a "hold on" gesture and thought back to that situation. At least juggling different quests during his grand adventure had taught him to remember everything said to him really well. Hmm… They had been looking at the Cap, and Librari told them it was a fake one. The real one was with Ezlo's descendants, a family heirloom. And… And she had said that they just might need this information. Something about a funny coincidence. Then Ezlo's grandson was the one who did something, but she never got to tell them what that was.

He nodded at Sidon, and signed the main points as a reference in case he didn't remember something or remembered the details differently. Sidon nodded seriously.

'That's what I recall as well', he said, and looked around again. Really, he sucked at being sneaky while talking about sensitive subjects; it was damn good that nobody around understood sign language, because otherwise everyone and their mothers would surely eavesdrop simply out of curiosity. 'So, if the Cap's whereabouts is something we might need to know and it's a funny coincidence, what do you think it means?'

Link wasn't sure that was the part she referred to with the coincidence. In his opinion it was about Ezlo's grandson, or his line in general. She thought they needed to know that the Cap was with Ezlo's descendant. And then it was coincidental that the grandson did something. He signed his thoughts to Sidon and then tried to puzzle it out. What did the grandson do? Or rather, "was the one" who did something, he thought were her exact words. What would be a funny coincidence that presumably had something to do with-

Oh!

His eyes widened and he turned to jolt Sidon out of his own deep thoughts.

'The only thing Librari really knows about us is our current journey', he signed urgently. 'She knows our main goal is finding Slateri the First. So if the Cap's whereabouts might be important for us to know, it has to have something to do with that.'

Sidon's frown of concentration cleared into a look of understanding. 'Which means Slateris are Ezlo's descendants and have the Cap! Slateri the First probably has it on his person!'

Link nodded enthusiastically. 'Ezlo's grandson was the one who created the Vertical Shift rune for the Sheikah Slate! Ezlo could shrink and grow the Hero of that time, and the rune does exactly the same thing. It makes perfect sense.'

Sidon's grin was miles wide and he looked ecstatic at their collective deductive skills, and probably at the prospect of potentially getting to see the real Cap.

Link shared the feeling… until his thoughts came to a screeching halt as a terrible realization hit him.

They had told practically everyone they met that they were looking for Slateri the First. The news of their arrival and some details of their journey had traveled ahead them and become common knowledge among the Minish. The Vaatians had heard the same speech the two of them had just puzzled through, and one of them had gotten away. There was no reason to believe that they wouldn't reach the same conclusion he and Sidon just did.

That meant, if the Vaatians were after the Cap, Slateri the First had a big target painted on his back now. And he was headed to the Lost Woods, where the Vaatian hideout was rumored to be.

Link paled, and quickly patted Sidon's arm to get his attention again so he could share his worrisome epiphany.

Sidon's exhilaration turned into dread as fast as Link's had. 'We need to catch up to him and warn him! If he's been safe and unbothered until now, he has no reason to be on his guard. He could be ambushed easily!'

Link nodded seriously, and turned to look at the road ahead of them, wishing the mouse cart would go faster.

It looked like their leisure sightseeing trip was officially over.

ooooo

The two hour ride through what was basically a deep misty canyon in their current size felt much longer than that when one was very anxious to reach the destination, but finally it was over. They had reached the gate to the Lost Woods. After a week of wandering the Minish Woods, the forest scenery in the horizon felt shockingly different – where before it had been regular green trees and lush grass and pretty flowers, ahead of them was deep mist, darkness and huge dead trees. The place looked even more imposing now that everything was gigantic and Link couldn't see as far ahead as he had been able to as a big person.

He wondered if the Minish were taken back to the gate the same way the big people were if they got lost in the woods. They would absolutely have to ask someone before they entered, assuming that Slateri wasn't conveniently in this city, which he doubted. They couldn't afford to be taken back to the starting point, not with how long it took to cross any kind of a distance in their mini state. Mind, Link knew exactly how to navigate in the forest as he had done it a few times before, but it was always good to know the risks. ...And he actually didn't know if the forest would guide them the same way it did with big people, now that he thought about it. The Minish might even have their own paths or ways to travel there for all he knew. He half hoped that to be the case, as it would make their journey much easier.

The cart stopped at the edge of the Minish city, which was located at the base of the stone gate. The Minish passengers got off and wandered back to their homes or wherever, but the few people who wanted to take a ride to the camping site had to wait for the mouse cart to be prepared again. From what Link saw before he and Sidon left the area, the mouse and the driver got replaced. Well, for them it was a solid four hour drive back and forth, so that was perfectly reasonable.

Link turned his attention to the city ahead of them. Most of the buildings here resembled toadstools, or at least he really hoped they simply looked like them and weren't actually poisonous mushrooms that had houses carved into them. If that was the case, it sounded like a major health hazard. Although maybe the Minish could actually eat toadstools and it was just Hylians that got sick from them? They'd have to be careful what they ate here, in that case. Regardless, the houses were really charming in their own way.

The two of them walked further in and yes, the buildings were actual mushrooms. Did the Minish use magic keep their houses from rotting? That had to be the case, otherwise it would be simply impractical to live like this.

"The Minish here are very pretty", Sidon stage-whispered to Link, who took that as his cue to stop admiring the architecture and pay attention to the people. When he did, he couldn't help but do a double-take; not because Sidon was necessarily right about the prettiness, but because there was definitely a distinct difference he hadn't been prepared for.

About every other person was a… regular Minish, for the lack of a better word. But the rest looked different. They had roughly the same build, although maybe they were kind of… spindlier, like spiders. And their skin was a sickly shade of blue-ish white and had a different looking texture from the kind of fuzzy skin the Minish they had gotten used to had; it looked slicker, kind of like a frog or a slug or something. Their ears were shorter and their eyes seemed to glow. Now that Link thought about it, they actually looked a bit Zora-like, in a way. It certainly explained why Sidon found them pretty. Link preferred the regular kind, though.

It was weird that there were plenty of the regular Minish here, but they hadn't met a single one of this new kind in the other cities, not even in the Capital, which was both the biggest city and the one closest to this place. There hadn't been any in the camping spot, either. Was there a reason for that?

"Greetings, big people!" a voice said, and the two of them turned to look at the source of it.

The person they saw was the tallest, gangliest, and weirdest looking Minish Link had seen so far. They were one of the new kind, but to Link they looked less like a Zora and more like a blue Moblin with how long their limbs were. They were wearing a leather robe and a tall hat, which Link took to mean they were someone important – the taller the hat, the higher the position seemed to be the theme with the Minish.

The Minish smiled at them, and thrust out a hand eagerly. "My name is Misteri, and I'm the mayor of this town. Pleasure to meet you!"

Sidon took the hand and gave it an enthusiastic shake. This Minish, Misteri, was nowhere near as tall as Sidon, but they were the tallest person they had met, so for once it wasn't completely awkward and inconvenient for Sidon to shake their hand. Sidon introduced the two of them, Link shook Misteri's hand as well, and then they went right to business.

"I came here as soon as I received word of your arrival", Misteri said, looking proud of themselves, probably for their punctuality. "I would like to have an official meeting with you two, and serve you a dinner while we're at it. How about it?"

Link grinned. They had questions that this person could likely answer, and he wasn't going to say no to a free dinner!

He liked this town!