"Drop your weapons and surrender or else your friend gets it!" a Vaatian shouted at Link, Sidon held at swordpoint. All the while the other enemies were approaching him slowly, deliberately giving him time to choose his action rather than forcing him to fight.

Link's feet were walking him backwards, away from his pursuers, without a conscious thought.

"Run, don't worry about me!" Sidon shouted, and got poked by multiple weapons instantly, although none of them pierced his scales – but that could change in an instant if the Vaatian in charge so commanded.

Link wanted to fight. He wanted to destroy his enemies and save Sidon in one fell swoop. He was severely outnumbered, but he could probably still win when he was this motivated to – it wouldn't be the first time he defied the odds when he was cornered, and hopefully wouldn't be the last time either.

The problem was that if he attacked the Vaatians, they in turn would hurt Sidon, maybe even kill him.

But to run and leave Sidon behind? That wasn't an-

All of a sudden, there was an explosion and green smoke filled the area. Link heard coughing and swearing and shouting from the smoke cloud, which meant the Vaatians were equally surprised. He shielded his mouth and nose while also holding his sword at the ready, but then he was grabbed from behind. He struggled, but long vines tied his arms and sword to his torso and then he was lifted and spirited away from the scene.

ooooo

"I must say, I'm rather disappointed in your performance, hero", the person carrying Link said as soon as the smokescreen was well behind, panting from the exercise. "One would have thought you would know to expect an ambush since you made it this far."

Link was tentatively assuming this person wasn't a Vaatian, but he had no clue whether he was with a friend or a new enemy. He held off on struggling for the time being though, as the best he could accomplish right then was being dropped mid-run, which would only harm him and give the Vaatians time to catch up, but not really do much to whoever this was.

He was worried about Sidon, but had to assume he wouldn't be hurt when there was nothing to gain from it with Link gone. The Vaatians had wanted a hostage and had one now, so they should be moderately satisfied and not waste their hard-earned edge.

He hoped.

"Oh, my strength isn't what it used to be. It's time for you to run on your own, for we still have distance to cross before we're safe", his captor said, stopped in their tracks, and set Link down. Link mentally prepared to escape or fight if necessary as the vines unraveled, but what he saw froze him on his spot.

Before him was an elderly Forest Minish, dressed in a green robe, carrying an old looking bird-beaked staff and a Sheikah Slate on his braided belt, and wearing a green, brightly glowing cap.

Ezlo.

No. Why did his brain even think of that one first?

Slateri the First.

"I see introductions aren't necessary", Slateri said, "Now hurry up, we need to get to the shrine before little Vaati realizes I'm gone!"

Wait, what?

He could have left anytime he wanted?

"Don't just stand there, hurry up!" Slateri said, and pushed Link to take the first few steps until he caught on and began running alongside Slateri.

'I need you to explain a few things', Link signed, after doing a little wave to catch Slateri's attention.

He hoped...

"I see what you're doing, but I'm afraid I can only read the alphabet, not individual words."

That was actually better than Link had dared to expect, given his experience with the Minish world. Now he was glad he had had the Minish sign language lessons with Librari, because while he had done most of the teaching Librari had returned the favour by teaching him the Minish sign alphabet, which was somewhat different from its Hylian equivalent.

He could actually communicate with Slateri, even with Sidon gone!

Well, somewhat anyway.

'You escaped?' he spelled out slowly and laboriously, pausing whenever Slateri had to glance forward to see where he was going.

"I was never captured, if that is what you're getting at", Slateri said. "I was waiting for you at the shrine, because that was easier than outrunning the Vaatians back to the city, and a kinstone merge showed me a vision of you and the Princess being here with me."

Link stumbled in shock, but managed to get his balance back. The Princess? Was Zelda here? What was going on?

'Princess?'

"Oh, she'll be fine; Vaati wants a hostage to trade for my cap, so as long as she goes along with them and waits for your rescue they won't harm her."

What?

Link inhaled the wrong way and started coughing, forcing them to stop. He felt faint for multiple reasons.

Slateri patted his back. "There there. We're almost at the shrine, so get your coughing out now. You'll need your breath to do heroics soon. There are bad guys to fight and a Princess to save."

'Princess?' Link asked again while trying to breathe.

"I don't understand your question. I must admit though, I was surprised she wasn't a Hylian. Did someone in the royal Hyrule line marry a Zora recently?"

...What?

Wait, wait, wait. A Zora Princess that needed to be rescued? Was... Was Slateri referring to Sidon?

Was this karma for Link's inability to tell the Minish apart? This had to be karma for Link's inability to tell the Minish apart.

At least this meant that Zelda wasn't suddenly here and in trouble, so Link would take it.

"Anyway, you're no longer coughing, so hurry up!"

Slateri pushed Link back into a walk and then run, and Link was gobsmacked enough to simply comply.

As his legs ran, his mind raced. Hero? No other Minish had figured that out on their own, but Slateri had immediately known or assumed it. He had also assumed Sidon to be the Princess of Hyrule, which was less right but not that far-fetched in the grand scheme of things. How much did he know about the happenings in the big people world and how?

"Stop, we're here!" Slateri whisper-shouted, and his staff appeared horizontally in front of Link. Link didn't have the time to stop his momentum, so he bent over backwards and limboed under the staff before standing back up, flailing his arms to get his balance back. He managed it after just a moment of back and forth swaying.

"Now that was impressive, bravo!" Slateri said, then hushed himself for being too loud, presumably. He continued in a whisper, ignoring Link's glares. "The shrine is right in front of us."

Link turned his gaze to the direction the damned staff now pointed at and indeed saw an enormous, mountain sized, no, larger than any mountain stone wall. On the right it was stone as far as his eyes could see, and on the left he could see a more manageable but still high platform behind large blades of grass.

"The Minish entrance is on the ground level over there, beginning at the shining blue path", Slateri said, pointing the direction for him. "I'm taking a secret maintenance passage, but you'll need to run past the Vaatian guards and be seen by them so Vaati doesn't realize there's another way in and out. Don't fight them, just rush past them and come to the shrine so we can plan the rescue with Vaati knowing about you, so he can plan his move in turn."

Slateri had clearly spent his time waiting productively. Link wasn't sure if he liked giving up the element of surprise though.

'Surp-' he started signing, only to notice that Slateri was already gone.

That bossy, bush-bearded busybody-

Well, Link didn't have much of a choice anymore, now did he?

Although he did need to sit down, drink some water, and wipe sweat off his forehead, the back of his neck, and the small of his back. The adrenaline rush from being kidnapped and running had kept him up and moving, but now his legs felt like cooked noodles and he wasn't sure if the sweat was from running – which shouldn't leave him out of his breath like this – or if he was feverish again. He hoped it wasn't the latter. He was pretty sure it wasn't, but the fact he wasn't completely certain was worrying.

He rested until he was no longer actively sweating and until his legs felt like they could carry him again, and then got back up.

He felt faint.

Still, he had to make his move before Slateri returned and whacked him with the staff – that was what he was expecting anyway.

He took a deep breath and sneaked through the tree sized grass to take a look at what was awaiting him.

There were two spear wielding Vaatians standing next to the blue path Slateri had mentioned. Said blue path was one of those mysterious patterns decorating every shrine he had seen, which made him wonder if all of them included a Minish side accessed by following a specific pattern. He would have to investigate in the future.

For now though, he nocked an arrow on his new bow and shot it upwards and to his left. After a few seconds it dropped noisily down into the foliage, making the Vaatians turn to look. That was Link's cue to draw the Master Sword and run towards them. His diversion bought him a good few seconds to get closer before the Vaatians noticed him, scrambling to ready their spears…

And he simply swept one weapon to the side with his sword, dodged the other, and kept running past them. He heard them yelling at him or maybe each other – he didn't listen to the actual words – and then hurried footsteps started following him.

That was when his throat started to itch and he found himself fighting back a coughing fit while trying to sheathe his sword so he wouldn't drop it if his grip loosened. Knowing this to be the perfect opportunity for his enemies to attack he dodged to the side, just in time to avoid a thrown spear. The sudden movement caused him to take an unwise gulp of air, and his lungs were instantly made of sand and fire and his body began repelling them via vigorous coughing. His running slowed as his legs stopped cooperating, and finally he tripped face first into the ground, cushioning his fall with his arms the best he could. The stonework of the shrine wasn't the most pleasant surface he had fallen to, but at least it wasn't jagged rocks or a cliff, so it wasn't that bad. The only problem was his enem-

"Incoming, stay down!"

What?

A storm of green, fluttery things rushed towards him, so he ducked his head back down, letting the torrent go past him above his prone body. The Vaatians behind him yelped and crashed into something, potentially each other from the sound of it. He looked up again and saw Slateri walking towards him, the bird beaked staff pointing over Link's head at his enemies and surrounded by an imposing green glow.

"You are not welcome to the shrine, Vaatians! Turn back now or I'll unlock its power and force you out!"

Link got to his knees and rubbed his arms, his ears perking up at the sound of scrambling and running behind him. He glanced over his shoulder and saw the enemies retreating, which was a relief. His coughing was dwindling down too as he caught his breath.

"That's twice already that I've had to save you", Slateri muttered, shaking his head. He extended a hand at Link to help him to his feet. "You really need to start pulling your weight and be the hero you're supposed to be. We need to do something about your cough too, otherwise it'll be difficult for you to battle the Vaatians."

Link had many questions and none of the patience necessary to spell them out the hard way.

"Now come on, let's get to the shrine proper, medicate you, plan our side of the conflict, and wait for Vaati."