Link and Sidon walked over to Lizari's stall, both wearing friendly smiles due to feeling like they were already acquaintanced with her simply because they had heard nice things about her. Or at least that was Link's reason; Sidon was just always polite anyway.

"Hello there", Sidon said as soon as the previous customer moved on from the stall and freed room for them.

"Hello, would you- Oh. Wow. Tall", Lizari said, giving Sidon a wide eyed look. Link snorted. Yeah, that was one way to put it.

"Thank you", Sidon said with a laugh. "I get that a lot. I'm Prince Sidon and this is Link. Are you by any chance Lizari?"

She nodded, still staring. "Yes. Is that a tail fin on your head?"

Link had to actively fight back giggles.

"It is. I'm a Zora. A big person", Sidon said, completely unbothered. "We met your wife, Wanderi, earlier."

Lizari nodded again, now visibly starting to get over her initial shock, and an excited smile bloomed on her lips. "I hope she didn't talk your ears off. ...Do you have ears?"

This conversation was bizarre. It was two conversations at once as far as Link could tell. At least two.

"I do, but not the protruding kind", Sidon answered. "Wanderi was nice. She suggested we drop by your stall to buy food supplies. What have you got?"

Smooth. Link looked at wares and noted that yes, they really did need guidance here: the table had baskets and small shelves filled to the brim with little bags and jars of finely ground, diced, sliced, or crushed things. Some things were clearly plants and some were probably meats, but they were all cut so finely that they were unrecognizable without any hints, and the labels were in Minish writing and thoroughly unhelpful.

"How sweet of her. Where do the Zora live?" Lizari asked, and then started cheerfully pointing and naming her wares while still keeping up the questioning every time Sidon answered her previous query. Link stopped paying attention to her curiosity and focused on the foods, since that was why they were actually here. Sidon could easily take care of the talking part, and quite frankly had to, since Link wouldn't be understood anyway.

Lizari had all kinds of exotic spices Link had never heard of and would have really liked to try, but now was not a good time to get a spice collection to haul around. Maybe in the future, if they met again. She had powdered vegetables, berries, and roots that would make instant meals when you just added water, and took very little space in the bag compared to how many meals you got out of them. Seeing how they were in a misty, damp forest where acquiring water was not an issue at all, they were perfect. Link bought an entire variety of those. She also had a very large selection of air dried meats, including a single jar of finely ground, dried shrimp. Sidon purchased the last item immediately, absolutely overjoyed – it was finally some real Zora food instead of the endless frogs he had been sustaining by.

All in all, having a few words with the endlessly curious and admittedly very pretty Lizari was a good time investment that totally didn't count as a side quest they didn't have the time for. Success!

...Well, at least if Link could actually separate her and Sidon now that they had bought all they were going to.

"Interesting! And the Octorok balloons can float objects? Do you suppose-"

"I see! Yes, I do think that would be possible, but how would you get down?"

"Oh, I know a guy-"

Link watched Sidon talk animatedly and really wasn't sure he had the heart to interrupt. He seemed to be getting on with Lizari like a house on fire, and unlike most of the other friendly Minish they had met, Lizari wasn't a fixed presence here – she traveled around the world with her wife, and the chances of seeing her again when Link and Sidon returned here were slim.

"-and the beanstalk was high enough to reach the clouds! Rumor has it the Deku Tree still-"

Though since Sidon was going to apprentice under Mageri for an unknown amount of time, Link supposed he had a decent chance to be here when she returned?

A traveler's life was complicated when it came to reliably meeting other travelers again.

"Link?"

Link snapped out of his thoughts and looked up at Sidon, who was frowning at him and searching his face with his eyes.

"You spaced out. Are you alright?"

What? Why wouldn't he be-

Wait. Spacing out. Ohh, Sidon probably remembered when Link did that back in the Hero Museum with the odd pseudo-memory.

Though now that Sidon mentioned it, the beanstalk story sounded vaguely familiar. Ugh, nope, no thanks. He didn't like this whole flashback thing he apparently had going on here.

Oh, and he now didn't have to worry about interrupting the conversation! How convenient.

He nodded. 'Just thinking. No worries. Maybe we should move on?'

There. Zelda would be proud of him for being this responsible.

Sidon's eyes widened and he looked at the sky. "Ah, you're right! I lost the track of time entirely."

He turned to Lizari, who was giving them a questioning look. "My apologies for cutting our information swap short, but we're actually in a bit of a hurry. It was a pleasure talking to you and I sincerely hope we will meet again when we've got more time to spare."

"Oh… What's your hur- No, no more questions", Lizari said, bumping the side of her head with a fist and laughing. "I'm sorry, I'm too curious about everything. Wanderi has to drag me away from things and people at times. I'll let you leave now, and I hope to see you again one day. Now shoo before I get started again."

They did as prompted, not keen on testing how literally she meant her words. Although Link did wonder how Wanderi, who had been plenty curious and talkative herself when they chatted, supposedly kept her wife in check when she was hardly any better herself. Hmm, maybe Wanderi's curiosity was satisfied faster? Or her chatting stamina was lower? Whatever the case, at least the two of them really went well together, as both were eager to learn new things and share their gathered knowledge with others; that meant neither was driven up the wall by the other's antics and they had a lot to talk about every day after their separate information gatherings.

Actually, that reminded him of someone…

Oh.

Link suddenly had the thought of throwing Histori into the mix to travel with these two, and he blanched. She was a force of nature – specifically a hurricane – on her own, so hooking her up with two equally curious people…

The world would not survive that.

He vowed to keep that idea firmly to himself and never put it out there for the universe to hear, just to make sure it wasn't forwarded to the Minish in question. For the greater good.

ooooo

"Such a shame to leave Fog City behind already", Sidon said mournfully, looking back at the gates that were rapidly getting swallowed by the mist as they ventured forward to the Lost Woods. "I bet there were many interesting places we could have seen and equally many people we could have met. Mayor Festari for one."

'We will return one day when we're not in a hurry', Link said, feeling like he had said that phrase a million times during this adventure, both out loud and in his own mind. But it was the sad truth.

Another sad truth was his poor feet having to endure the bog flippers again, just as he had gotten used to walking without them in the city. But even though Misteri had given them malicious directions on their map, she hadn't been lying about him needing the flippers to make it through the swampy terrain; just looking at the path underneath his feet made him feel like he was sinking into it. Without the flippers he'd likely be up to his armpits in muck, trying to wade forward. That, or Sidon would be carrying him, which wasn't a good solution in the long run.

He hoped to never have to do this part of their journey again. If he needed to visit the Minish cities in the Korok Forest in the future, he would just get into the Korok Forest as a big person and then shrink down, he swore to Hylia.

"You're right, of course", Sidon said, and turned to look forward into the endless mist again.

They walked in silence for a while, but Link could see from Sidon's expression that he had something on his mind and was likely to spill it as soon as he had thought it over. So he waited.

"Link?"

There it was.

"...Yes?" he asked, making the conscious decision to vocalize now that they were alone again.

"My apologies for trusting Misteri", Sidon said with a mild frown. "I really should have known better."

Link had to admit that he had been expecting this ever since he saw Sidon's guilty expression in the abbey.

"It wasn't your fault. She seemed really nice and helpful", Link said, and would have patted Sidon's arm reassuringly if it didn't take way too much extra effort with the damned flippers. As it was, he just smiled at him. "She is the mayor, so she should have been someone that could be trusted. That's just a reasonable expectation. Your only mistake was saying anything in the first place; not your choice of person to confide in."

Sidon groaned and rubbed the underside of his forehead crest. "That's not nearly as reassuring as you likely figured it to be, Wildberry. I shouldn't have said anything, regardless of who we were talking to. I would have spilled everything if you hadn't stopped me at the time, and that is a worrisome thought. One should think that my training in diplomacy would have prepared me to watch what information I disclose to individuals. Muzu would be very disappointed in me."

That was… a good point. Link could see the grumpy old manta ray's deeply seated disappointment in his mind very clearly. Oh wait, that was just Muzu's default expression. Never mind.

"I won't tell him if you don't", Link said with a mischievous grin. Sidon only gave him a small smile back, so Link wracked his brain for something actually comforting to say, while taking a sip of water from his canteen to soothe his throat in preparation for more talking. "Hey. The Vaatians were going to find out sooner or later. They heard Librari at the museum, so it was only a matter of time. Or they might be dumb enough to not put the pieces together. And… For all we know, Slateri might always be careful because of, you know, and probably knows how to take care of himself."

He wasn't sure how much he was willing to believe these things himself, but none of it was blatantly untrue. He was also aware that he may have a skewed point of view when it came to other peoples' competence in protecting themselves, what with everyone needing him to do everything for them. Then again the Minish had proven themselves to be reasonably independent and capable many times now.

Sidon looked at him with a grateful and relieved smile, which made Link stop worrying about his own conflicting beliefs. The main point was that Sidon found his words comforting and had the guilt lifted from his broad, handsome shoulders that Link may or may not want to nibble on now that he had thought about them. Maybe once they camped for the night.

"Thank you", Sidon said, and reached towards Link to gently brush his cheek with his knuckles. Link turned his head to drop a quick kiss on said knuckles, which earned him a startled little laugh. "Oh, that was cute! Regardless, I feel better now. Mistakes happen and I simply need to learn from them and not repeat them. Isn't that right?"

Link nodded, satisfied.

With one less burden with them, the two of them continued their journey.