Link sat cross-legged on the stone floor of the Minish sized shrine. The entrance was a large stone door that could be opened with a Sheikah Slate, and the interior so far was an expertly carved and elaborately decorated tunnel with Fire Chuchu jelly lanterns on the sides. It was distinctly lacking the mystical floating rock slabs of the regular shrines, which meant the entire dungeon was on ground level, which in turn made sense considering how little space a Minish shrine logically took. His slate had gained a blacked outline of a map upon entering the shrine, so he assumed that his first job would be to find a map-granting altar somewhere nearby. ...Should he be exploring, that is, which he wasn't going to be able to do on this trip. Damn it.

Slateri had nabbed a Fire Chuchu jelly from one of the lanterns and was boiling a pot of water with some sort of medicine mixed in, planning to fix Link's coughing with it. If Link got to go through the inevitable tussle with the Vaatians cough-free, he swore he'd be a lot less sour about Slateri's bossy attitude in return.

"Alright, now this needs to boil for a bit and then it'll be ready for use", Slateri stated after a while, packing up his supplies in a green satchel that matched his hat, just without the glowing. He turned to look at Link. "And now I believe I owe you some explanations, hero."

Link agreed heartily. He nodded and crossed his arms.

"Where to begin? Hmm… Well, first of all, in case you didn't know, little Vaati is after this cap here", Slateri said, and patted the Minish Cap on his head. "He's had his cult attempt to steal the Hero Museum's copy to no avail, but now he's set his eyes on this one instead thanks to the rather revealing commotion at the museum. Poor lad is under the assumption that it'll make him as powerful as the original Vaati, which of course is false for more than one reason. He'll propose to trade it for the Princess when he gets here, and I plan to agree with the trade to ensure her safety. Of course we'll attack him and his troops as soon as she is safe, which is only fair because he'll do the same anyway as soon as the cap is no longer within my immediate reach."

That was… quite a lot of assumptions and even riskier than Link's own plans were usually – at least he generally just risked his own life, not powerful artifacts falling into enemy hands. Although Slateri did imply Vaati wouldn't become an almighty mage by getting the hat?

'Fals-'

"A-aa! Telling you now would spoil my fun later", Slateri said with a mischievous grin. Link suddenly understood Zelda's exasperation with his own unpredictability and on the spot unexplained plans – not knowing what to expect wasn't nearly as fun when you weren't the one in the know. Link made a mental note to try to do better by Sidon once their journey as big people commenced, should they run into danger again.

"So, about Vaati himself", Slateri continued, uncaring of Link's concerns. "I'm reasonably sure his spiel about the big people influencing the Minish too much is for the most part simply a front he could work with to gain followers who could help him gain power. As far as I know he's actually a descendant of the original Vaati and he wants recognition. Let's defeat him and capture him, and then I'll take responsibility for teaching him the error of his ways."

Oh. This was about history repeating itself, wasn't it? Histori would be thrilled to learn about it. It might actually be for the best if she got directly involved somewhere down the line anyway, just to avoid the repeat going in a bad way – if he remembered the story of the original Vaati correctly, Ezlo had tried to steer him into the right direction by practically stifling his growth, which had only caused him to get bitter and desperate. This Vaati was already bitter and desperate and really didn't need more of that.

"Ah, your medicine is ready", Slateri said, and beckoned Link over. Link sat down next to the pot and was instructed to breathe in the green-tinted steam for the rest of the time they were in the shrine. He did as he was told: the steam smelled very bitter and somewhat minty, and made his lungs feel cool and light almost instantly. Smell aside, it was heavenly.

"Now, what else do I need to explain? Ah, of course. I know why you were looking for me, and the problem should be easy to fix now. The local shrines have been unstable ever since the kinstone production picked up, which I suspect has been the Vaatians abusing the luck magic in order to prevent the big people from arriving. I needed to get to this particular shrine, as it contains the master controls for all the local shrines. I've modified the system to account for kinstone interference, so now I just need to reinstall your Vertical Shift rune."

Link understood nothing of the last sentence, but it sounded like their height problem would be a simple matter to correct and that was good enough for him.

"I believe that's it for the immediate explanations", Slateri said with a sagely nod. "I'll save any questions about your journey for the Princess, since your speech problems make our communication rather limited at this time."

'Prince.'

"Pardon me?"

'Prince Sidon. Zora', Link spelled out painstakingly slowly, not wishing for any confusion with the Vaatians later, no matter how funny it would probably be.

"Oh, so she- he is not, in fact, the Holy Princess of Hyrule? ...Is he the Holy Prince then? I don't think that has happened before…"

'No. Not Hyrule.'

Slateri regarded him with disbelief for a good long while, then nodded. "Zora's Domain then. I see. So the Princess is a different person?"

Link nodded.

"That's a shame. I assumed she would be your travel companion and hoped to meet her. Oh well, I suppose the rumours make a lot more sense now at least."

Link didn't even want to know.

"Now then, we should-"

Suddenly there was a loud and lingering "ting" sound in the air, and Slateri's back straightened. "That would be Vaati's entourage entering the premises. How is your throat?"

Link breathed in the green smoke, then cleared his throat to test it out, and gave a thumbs up. He didn't think there had been enough time to cure his sickness – if that had ever actually been in the cards in the first place – but he felt surprisingly healthy right then; his throat didn't itch or feel sore at all, and for the first time in days his head didn't feel any amount of dizzy. He stood up and his legs didn't feel wobbly.

"Good, then let's go, hero."

ooooo

The Vaatians had sent one person into the pathway to the shrine to deliver them the message that Vaati was expecting them at the other end of the path. Link had to give Vaati credit where credit was due: he was smart enough to not challenge Slateri on his home turf. It wasn't much, but it was enough to make him more intelligent than most of Link's enemies. Granted, most of his enemies were Bokoblins and Moblins, so the competition wasn't very tough, but it still made Vaati dangerous.

At the end of the path was a group of twelve pale faced, bleached haired, purple clad Minish, with largely unafraid looking Sidon in their midst. One of Minish, however, was dressed much more impressively than the others: on top of the purple tunic common to the Vaatians he had a deeper purple cape and a matching hat with a red gem set into its golden tiara-like trim. He looked extremely similar to the huge statue Link had seen at the entrance of the Minish Capital, which could only mean…

"Good evening, Slateri the First, Link of the Big People", the Minish said, topping his words with a mocking bow. "My name is Vaati, and I've come to bring your hiding to its end."

That sounded suitably menacing, especially when he smirked and flipped back a purplish white strand of hair like the situation was so completely under his control that he had not a care in the world.

"Yes, sure, can we get this over with?" Slateri asked, waving his staff-free hand dismissively and ruining the mood entirely. "Will you propose the trade or should I do it?"

Link heard an amused snort from the opposing group, and he could have sworn it sounded like Sidon; however, his boyfriend had a perfectly neutral poker face when Link glanced his way.

Vaati looked insulted and furious for a second, until he closed his eyes and visibly gathered his calm, before putting a smirk back on his face. "And you old people say the youth have no manners. Very well, I'll play your game. You hand over the Cap, and I'll release the Big People Prince. Nobody needs to be hurt today if you play it nice."

Nice save, although filled with lies if Slateri was to be believed. That, and Link's earlier experience with the Vaatians painted a much more violent picture.

"I'll give you the Cap", Slateri said, straightening his back and actually putting together a convincing look of a wise old sage – the look Link had expected from the beginning, but had been disappointed until now. "But it won't bring you happiness. There are no easy ways to true power and not all recognition is good recognition. You'll learn this lesson today whether you want to or not."

Link was starting to wonder if the rude, bossy old Minish he had spent time with had been replaced with another person while he wasn't looking, because Slateri seemed a lot more dignified now.

Vaati scoffed. "We shall see about that. I want Link to bring the Cap to us. Two of my followers will bring the Prince to you and release him once the Cap is in my hands. How does that sound?"

Thoroughly unfair in Link's opinion – that plan would leave Vaati with every advantage possible, from having the Cap in his grasp to Link alone being near the bulk of his troops and to both Sidon and Slateri being countered by the two Vaatians escorting Sidon.

"Link will bring the Cap, but it'll be someone else's hands that accept it at the halfway point", Slateri countered. "Princes- Prince Sidon will be brought to the halfway point and released once the Cap changes hands."

That was more like it.

"Not a fool, I see", Vaati said with an almost respectful nod and another hair flip. "That's an acceptable compromise."

Vaati lifted a hand up and snapped his fingers, which made the two Vaatians guarding Sidon move forward with him. They walked over to Vaati's side, one rod and one sword pointed at Sidon at all times. Sidon himself had his hands bound behind his back, but his mouth wasn't gagged, which meant he wasn't nearly as helpless as the Vaatians likely believed him to be – he was simply playing along. His eyes met Link's, and he gave a grave nod.

"Concentrate on the enemies in your immediate vicinity and free your Prince", Slateri said with a low voice as he handed Link the Minish Cap. "I'll watch your back, so to speak, and buy you time to win your battle. Vaati himself should not attack until he has the Cap."

Link nodded, fingers gripping the edge of the green, strangely tingly fabric. The glow on it concentrated around his fingertips, becoming almost too bright for him to look at. Was Vaati or anyone in his ranks able to see it?

Well, it didn't matter. What mattered was trying to stop the Cap from ending up in Vaati's head, freeing Sidon, and saving the day.

He turned to face his enemies and took the first step towards the final battle.