Chapter 8: Walking Tall; Easing Regrets
Winter Crisis in Snowhead Arc
Disclaimer: I don't own The Legend of Zelda, this is just a Fanfiction.
Featured Music: "The Four Giants' Theme" - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask OST. Chapter Briefing.
"Song of Healing Demo" - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask OST. Scene 2 (First Half).
"Goron Shrine" - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask OST. Scene 3 (Second Half).
In a great display indeed Termina's last hopeful two manage to free Southern Swamp and Woodfall of the infection that Skull Kid and his hellish mask breathed into and, with it, rescue the missing Deku monarch's daughter; a selfless act that similarly saves the prisoner the royal family took as payment for their seemingly kidnapped princess. The little monkey, larger than life, chooses not to hold a grudge and thanks both the young Hero of Time and his temporary companion Tatl for having kept their promises to him.
For his great service to the royal family and its nation of Woodfall the Deku king, once intensely distrustful of them, offers his apologies and chooses to venerate the pair of heroes for their contribution in saving his only child. As always in his grandiose and childish fashion Link opts to merely decline the man's offers and sets his sights on the next clue that Tael risked his life to gift the group.
'Mountain'.
With Woodfall's guardian deity, a Giant, having been awoken it would appear there are three more as per the little guardian fairy's hints. When the two heroes climb the blisteringly cold mountainous region however they find the once vibrant town of Weybour caked to the brim in a beautiful sheet of snow and ice and their residents seemingly missing. Although the young Hylian manages to upgrade his little Kokiri Sword to the Razor Sword, thanks to the nearby mountain smithies, he presses on to find the helpful owl figure that once resembled his old companion Kaepora Gaebora. The bird-of-prey soon elucidates the dire fate of the poor Goron race in Weybour and the north mountain domain that they reside within; "it will become a land where no living can even survive..."
Truly a chilling proposition indeed.
In spite of this grisly detail however Link and Tatl manage to further pass the owl's expectations and, utilising the Eye of Truth he once used in his quest as Hyrule's Hero of Time, he soon comes face-to-face with the ghostly remains of Darmani III. Seemingly a former great hero of his people Darmani once expedited across the frozen wastes of Snowhead in an ill-fated attempt to discover the cause of the unusually long winter that their city had been stricken with. This, unfortunately, seals his fate and he is blown miles off the mountainous Snowhead, ultimately dying to the harsh weather and its unforgiving climate.
It is with this startling discovery however that Darmani's once-dwindling hope is renewed and, as it is, he puts forward a request for the shining pair of heroes...
Scene 1
NIGHT OF THE FIRST DAY
-60 Hours Remain-
"Can it be...? Are you actually able to see me...?"
The ghostly form of Darmani III, of whom the nameless owl so gracefully introduced previously, now opened his otherworldly mouth to speak and greeted the shocked Hylian as such. He looked a muscled brute of a man and of Goron ancestry.
Or, was of Goron ancestry, the frowning Link amended to himself silently.
It was a sad thought indeed, to be borne witness to the man's seeming end of life; indeed, this was his time now in the afterlife.
But how did he die, the unsure Link wondered.
"Y-Yeah...," he spoke, at last answering the floating figure above him, a light wince flavouring his face as he did. "I guess I can...," the youth confirmed, a kind of nervous chuckle on his tenor as he rubbed the back of his green-capped head in a similarly sheepish manner. "Can't say I ain't any less surprised by it though."
The floating Darmani, his brow furrowing perhaps in silent-eyed scrutiny, merely remained silent as he stared down at the former Kokiri as if to ascertain whether or not he was telling the truth. When the unsure Link exchanged his blinking frown with the head-shaking Tatl however he at last re-opened his mouth to retort.
"If you truly can see my form...," he began again, nodding his spiky-haired head down at the boy. "Then follow along behind me."
"The soaring one said to me that one with the 'Eye of Truth' would come to visit Weybour today..."
As Link and Tatl strode slowly into the chamber they were previously led into by the ghost-like figure before them, the youth found himself narrowing his eyes forward at the sight ahead. The heavily-faced Darmani hovered directly above what appeared to be a rather garishly-decorated grave; even adorned on the headstone's top seemed to be a stone sculpture of the now-deceased Goron's face.
Damn, the watching Link thought, his eyebrows raising up in realisation.
He really is dead.
"If I'm honest... I didn't believe him," the Goron warrior spoke once more, bringing the wide-eyed Link directly out of his frowning ruminations. "But you have proven us both wrong, haven't you."
Nervous once again, Link laughed sheepishly back in response. "W-What do you mean?"
"I mean you're not here to help our people are you," the dead Goron claimed in a hardened narrow of his eyes. The listening Link couldn't help but wince, finding some kind of truth in his statement. "You're here to search for something else."
"In the beginning I guess, yeah...," the young Hylian murmured out guiltily, lowering his blonde-haired head as he did before soon re-raising it as he lowered his hand, a newly determined expression building on it. "But I promise you, here and now, that I will help your people."
Again, Darmani chose to restrain his worded response, and merely furrowed his brow before narrowing his eyes as if to dissect the youth's claims through thoroughly and cleanly. At last however he opted to re-open his mouth to acknowledge the boy's conviction.
"Thank you...," he frowned heavily, nodding his large form forward as he did. "As the soaring one introduced me as, I am Darmani; the Third," the large man gave claim to as he rose up his brawny arms to fold forward before him. "The lifeblood of proud Goron heroes flows through me," he declared before lowering his eyes and sighing wistfully, his eyes shutting. "Or, sorry... flowed through me."
Choosing not to be rude for once, Link merely frowned back at him wordlessly and respectfully silently, as if to give the grieving man time and space to speak.
"This... feels strange to say out loud, but...," Darmani began again, his eyes wandering away briefly before re-focusing forward. "When I was alive, I was once a renowned warrior and veteran," he explained in his folded-armed floating frown. "Yes...," he hummed out thoughtfully, his frown twitching in the briefest of moments as he let his gaze wander down to the floor, almost as if in shame. "But, alas... I live no longer..."
Link winced very softly as he listened, watching the man's eyes shut in an emotionally painful gloom. "I know I really shouldn't pry, but..."
Darmani, his curiosity piqued, re-opened his eyes to frown down at the youth silently as if to await his next words.
"But... how did it even happen?"
His question, so seemingly sudden and disarming, managed to take the deceased Goron off guard; he blinked back at the youth, as if for more clarity.
"I mean... how did you die?" The former Hero of Time attempted to elucidate his words a little more clearly, a nervous laugh in his tenor.
"Within our clan of people... we have all been driven indoors from this harsh winter; I'm sure you've seen it all," Darmani responded, frowning deeply as he did. "We'd noticed that these freezing elements seemed to be coming from Snowhead's direction, far to the north," he explained briefly. "And I volunteered to go investigate and deal with any possible culprits."
The frowning Link furrowed his own brow as he listened intently, very quickly deducing the cause.
"It was just...," Darmani started again, shaking his head as he floated up and down very slowly, controlled and composed. "Too much," he hissed out, a wistful and somewhat angry tone adorned on the odd distortion of his bass. "Whatever waits at Snowhead Temple is far too strong, even for the likes of I," he claimed in a dire shake of his head, as if to further emphasise his words. "And yet..."
The watching Link rose an eyebrow, curiosity fuelling the lowering and curving his straw-haired head took.
"As I am now...," the large Goron began again, his grunts containing a kind of otherworldly distorted echo to them; almost as if to legitimise his deceased claims. "All I can do is watch as Weybour and my people are buried in the slow-growing ice that blows from Snowhead...," he sighed out sadly, shaking his head as he lowered it in a sombre frown. "The soaring one... he told me that you have power..."
Link rose another curious eyebrow back at the ghost-like form hovering above him, staring back at his re-opened focused stare.
"Power like how?"
"He informed me that you are famous," the deceased Goron claimed, casting his unsure frown down on the youth. "That you are your country's... 'Hero of Time'? Is this true?"
In spite of his ego being stroked the youth could only smile in a saddened sense this time, casting it lowly in response to the fallen man's words.
"I wouldn't say 'famous'...," he muttered back, in full knowing of the elusive destiny that Zelda once drew up for him. "But I ain't no pushover; that's for sure." The young Hylian finished up with in a brightly-held nod, grinning as he usually did when he re-faced the floating Goron above him.
"Then...,"
Darmani's tone, so mournful and yet so urgent, made the former Kokiri reset his own grit.
"I beg of you! Use your godlike Aegir and magic to resurrect me!" He exclaimed, his otherworldly eyes narrowing down at the youth. "Bring me back to life!"
The man's incredible and even insurmountable request managed to take the listening Link off guard a second time; he widened his oceanic eyes back at the form before lowering them, slow guilt taking a hold of him once again.
If only I could, he thought.
"I'd have done it in a second's thought."
Perhaps sensing the youth's melancholic reflections, the levitating Darmani briefly lowered his own eyes with his now limp muscled arms and frowned before soon re-rising them to face him once more.
"In that case...," he began again, a pained look drawn across his expression. "Please... heal my regrets."
The frowning Hero of Time, surprised, rose both his eyebrows in tandem with his straw-haired head. He couldn't help but think back to Hyrule's ruined future that Zelda had previously dismissed him from and the death of a close companion he had made during the excursion.
He was reminded of the Goron Barkner and of his bleak if, bittersweet, fate; a man that was once murdered by his demonic second side, the villainous Kage Narumono. When Barkner was resurrected however by a deposed servant of Ganondorf however, Link found the only way to reach Barkner's fallen charisma was to appeal to whatever compassion was left within his deceased body.
And, rather surprisingly, it worked.
When Barkner made the final ascension in the alternate future that he wrote with Zelda it managed to lay out a path of further success for them.
Maybe there's an easier way to do that, he thought silently.
Reaching for the Ocarina of Time within his inventory, his limp eyes ran over it very briefly before he rose it to his lips. With his eyes shut as he frowned deeply, he played through the powerful and otherworldly melody that the Happy Mask Salesman had gifted him.
The Song of Healing.
–
2
The soothing harmony that the Hero of Time's instrument helped to create managed to pull the wide-eyed Darmani directly out of his conversation with the boy, and sent him, seemingly, into a completely different reality altogether. When he re-opened his eyes he found himself in an endless expanse, dotted and resided only by other Goron forms. Darmani's widened eyed surprise cast down his gaze to find the Goron figures as friends, family and others that he recognised.
Is this the end, he thought.
Can I finally let go?
In spite of whatever regrets and anguish that may have built up within the once-forgotten Goron warrior, he found his sadness tinged with only the slightest bit of happiness; a kind of sweet-and-sour quality that made the watching Gorons beneath him seemingly cheer for him.
Something that managed to ease his deceased soul.
It was only when the frowning face of the Hero of Time re-appeared within his colourless vista however, marked by the absence of the black and white he had known so well, that Darmani realised it was time.
He nodded; a silent gesture from one man to another and, in spite of the age difference between them, a large form of respect that they shared with one another.
Darmani reached up and scrunched his eyes shut, his soul ascending quietly to the Void.
CLACK-CLACK-CLACK...
The sound of an ethereal object, dropping noisily as a result of the melody finishing, echoed on throughout the grave's chamber, leaving the playing pair a single mask to befit its once-living owner.
"I leave my undying feelings with you..."
The voice of Darmani's ascended spirit similarly reverberated across the walls of the hall they stood in, bringing the wide-eyed Link's blonde-haired head up from the ocarina he carried.
"The deeds I accomplished while I still lived are drawn on my headstone," the man's heavenly voice echoed out. "You should read it,"
Sure enough, as Link turned his frown forward, he found the grave written in some kind of indecipherable language.
Goron-speak probably.
"And... thank you... Hero of Time."
As the frowning Link bent down to pick up the fallen Goron Mask that Darmani III had left behind, the former Kokiri couldn't help but grin in response, nodding in respect. He opened his mouth to reply to the ascending ghost before raising the mask to his face.
"No problemo."
–
3
When he stepped back outside of the grave's chamber he was dressed and even formed completely differently; a huge brute of a man stood in Link's place, muscled and brawny as the day Darmani set foot within Termina. All across his back were huge stumps of rock and boulder; the Gorons' very flesh and blood, utilised as a defensive measure itself. His hair, though bristly and light-grey, took on a lighter blonde shade to it to match its host; similarly, his fringe rested in a more faithful curtained style that hearkened back to his Hylian origins.
All across his lower section was the small underside of the Kokiri Tunic he wore so loyally, matching well with the similarly Kokiri developed boots. Resting on his arms however were two large gauntlets that would have put even the Silver and Golden Gauntlets to shame; fingerless in beginning they travelled down the hand before eventually opening up into two huge cannon-like pieces of armour.
A final reminder of Darmani III sat on similar sides upon his well-toned muscled arms; tattoos of what appeared to be renditions of the Goron's Ruby presented upon a long and feathered wreath. Resting upon his head was, as always, his faithful green cap, reaching down as far as his mid-back.
Finally a large pair of prayer-like beads appeared to be resting around his similarly toned neck; one of the many features his new Goron form shared with the deceased Darmani.
Maybe it's because this mask has his ascended spirit, the youth thought on silently.
"I hope he's feelin' better at least."
"Y-You're-!"
Link, surprised, could only rise the new flaming eyebrows which he carried as he swung his head 'round to the voice addressing him.
A Goron, wide-eyed with shocked revelation, shaking within place as if to warm himself up within the harsh elements.
"No! It can't be...!" The Goron gasped out, amazement flavouring through his speech. "Darmani...?!"
Realising he was put on the spot, Link exchanged a sheepish grin with the watching Tatl before at last responding to the man.
"Y-Yeah...," he chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his green-capped head as he did. Briefly surprised at the new deep bass his previously high-pitched tenor took, he soon shook it off, realising it was part of his new form. "Nice to... meetcha."
"B-But... then whose grave was I making?"
The Goron's question, so startling and yet so suddenly anticipated, could only make the watching Link blink his large deep-sea eyes.
"Uhhh... I guess I-"
"Darmani it's me!" He exclaimed out, gesturing toward his similarly muscled chest. "Rokuro!"
Although he can't say he recognised the man, given who he really was, the nervously-grinning Link could only nod in his similarly apprehensive cheer.
"Y-Yeah! Nice to see ya again, um... Rock!"
"You remembered my nickname!" The newly introduced Rokuro called out in a victorious laugh, smiling widely as he did. "I guess it really is you Darmani!"
Damn, that was lucky as hell, the silent-voiced Link thought to himself, his grin threatening to split his face.
"So was it the hot spring water buried with you?!" The Goron interrupted his ruminations with, widened-eyed and all. "Did it warm you back to life?"
"S-Sure...," Link chuckled back, scratching at his head a second time before he acknowledged the presence resting next to the man. "Who's...?"
"Oh..." Rokuro began, sweeping his gaze to his direct left to reveal a similarly standing man of Goron origin only, this one instead, was literally frozen to the ground.
Truly a powerful sign of the harsh weather they were forced to endure.
"I'm s-sorry Darmani...," he apologised, sneezing forward as he regarded the frozen form of his comrade and companion. "Scoria must have frozen over while we waited out here..."
Link, his aquatic eyes narrowing, set his jaw taut before taking a few strides forward to join the two.
"D-Darmani?"
The silent-eyed Hylian within a Goron's body merely ignored the gasping Rokuro's voice to step forward and, as he did, he hung one of the previous glass bottles he kept close to himself over the frozen form. He pulled the cork and, as he did, he merely cast his grin down on the ice-encased Goron as the hot spring water he collected earlier dropped down.
FSSSSSS...
The results were almost instantaneous; the Goron imprisoned within the chunk of ice widened his eyes and gasped out, almost as if having been resuscitated back to life.
"H-Hunh...?" The newly introduced Scoria mumbled out, swinging his surprised-eyed form from one man to the next. "W-What have I been doing?"
"Oh! Brother Scoria!"
He turned his blinking-eyed surprise 'round on the similar-expressed Goron next to him.
"You were frozen, but the great Darmani unfroze you!" The smiling Rokuro called out, joy flavouring his words. "Hey that hot spring water really came in handy, huh Darm?"
Link swung his gritty-haired head 'round to blink once before chuckling and nodding in quiet agreement.
"The great Darmani...?" Scoria murmured out. He scrunched half of his rocky-face in doubt as he slowly swivelled his head 'round to cast his frown forward before eventually drinking in the sight of Link's new form. "Oh good lord!"
The listening Hylian resisted the urge to roll his eyes, thoroughly over the anxious-eyed surprise he was feeling earlier.
"You're alive!" Scoria exclaimed again, his deep-blue eyes widened in a display of shock and awe. "B-But how?!"
At last, his ego receiving an opportunity to shine, the grinning Link rose up his new Goron's right muscled fist and shot up the muscle itself via his rock-like triceps.
"I guess I'm just too strong, huh." He shot back as he turned his own aquatic-eyed gaze of approval down on his own muscle, eliciting a half-annoyed and half-embarrassed roll of Tatl's eyes in response.
"T-Then a star of hope shines over Weybour!" Rokuro exclaimed out, his excitability raising perhaps from the high morale his companions showed. "We need your help Darm!"
"Yeah, I got the gist," Link responded within the confines of his new Goron form, folding his large boulder-like arms in his confident grin. "Don't worry boys," he grinned on before chuckling as he briefly shot them a wink. "You'll be sippin' tropical drinks in no time."
"Really? Tropical drinks?"
"Hey, don't blame me for tryin' to raise their spirits," Link merely shrugged the little guardian fairy's jeers off, a confident smirk as always etched across his face. "Given how damn cold it is out there they'd need some nice warm thoughts."
"Hmph," the small milk-shaded pixie shot back in her usual aloof and haughty manner. "Just don't promise them more than you can handle; a debt's the last thing you need, especially now."
"You're really givin' me that talk Tatl?" The over-zealously confident youth batted back, this time in a knowing toothy smirk. "After seeing just what I can do?"
"Ugh."
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
In spite of the joy he felt through teasing the seemingly stony-hearted guardian fairy it quickly passed when the deep echo of a baby's wailing, carried through by the similarly wide and broad halls of the Goron Shrine that they marched through.
"What in Farore's name is that?!" Link exclaimed above the din of the unintelligible bawling, a pained scrunching of his one-eyed scowl, his Goron hands risen up to block both ears; a sentiment shared by the other Gorons he passed.
"I think it's one of the Gorons' children!" Tatl called back as they made the final ascent to the torch-rested winding road. A group of large stone pillars waited for them marked only by a long and lavish red carpet leading into a darkened hallway; a telling sign that they had at last made the ultimate climb, a fact that bode well for the sudden downturn their adventure had taken.
"Ya don't say?!"
WAAAAAAAAAAA
Even as the child's incessant weeping continued Link and Tatl bore their teeth together as they marched forward through the painful lashing their ears received. It was only when he passed through the darkened hallway however, that the Gorons resting in the throne room inside all took their hands off their ears when they noticed his presence. A surprised hush overtook them and they began to whisper and, before long, each Goron next to the other did the same, their gazes fixed on the grunting and slow-marching Link.
"Darmani... it's Darmani!"
"But it can't be Darmani...! Darmani's dead...!"
"Dead or not not... here he comes..."
Even as Tatl rode with the youth along the air, rather uncomfortably at that, she found herself glancing in each noticeably staring Goron's direction as they passed them, a worried tinge taking to her normally positive light.
"Hey...!" She hissed in his ear. "What's the plan here...?!"
He turned his rocky-shaped head 'round briefly to eye the hovering guardian fairy next to him, his ever audacious grin running rampant across his expression.
"Trust me."
As always, the sheer level of confidence that bordered on near arrogance, managed to make the listening Tatl inwardly groan; indeed, she rolled her eyes in response to his simple request and closed her mouth, if only for her own sanity.
"D-Darmi!"
The blubbering voice of the miniature Goron that sat directly in front of him made the grinning Link drop his expression into a blinking frown as he swivelled 'round to face him.
Sure enough it was a baby Goron; the young boy appeared to be perhaps around five or four years of age.
"W-Where's my daddy?" The small toddler sobbed out, sniffing mid-sentence as he turned his saddened frown forward to face the curious-eyed Link. "D-Darmi w-where is he?"
In a display of uncertainty Link could only chuckle in nervousness as he rubbed the back of his green-capped head; a comfortable old habit.
"Ah I'm not s-"
"Darmani?!"
Link's sheepish smile soon took an unsure frowning turn when he similarly swivelled his head 'round to face the Goron standing next to him, watching him in a likewise surprised-eyed expression.
"But it can't be! And yet those sideburns...!" The nameless Goron gasped out, hopping around in place as if to warm himself from the extreme cold, even indoors. "It must be you!"
As before, Link issued the Goron an uneasy grin to flavour his greeting with. "Y-Yeah, hey..." He said, deathly hoping the man didn't require knowledge of his name.
"Did you see him?!" The man exclaimed out, a similarly urgent tone to his voice. "He ran off to go find you and deal with the issue at Snowhead!"
"W-Who ran off?"
"The elder Darmani...!" The Goron hissed out, this time in a narrow-eyed hiss, nodding his head in the direction of the wailing baby. "Roru...!"
Realisation hit him like the slap of a wet fish.
That must be the name of the Goron elder, he thought to himself.
"I guess I'm lookin' for Roru then."
"Taba's been missing him ever since...," the Goron continued on, nodding a second time in the crying child's direction, seemingly to indicate him in particular. "We need him back Darmani...!" The man whispered out, his eyes widening as he reached forward to clutch at the larger Goron by his arms, as if in desperation. "I haven't slept for three days...!"
Link couldn't help but cringe in response, his heart going out to the poor man.
I guess that's fitting, he commented to himself silently.
The youth, disguised by the powerful Aegir of the Goron Mask, put on a confident grin as he reached forward himself to place his strong hands upon the rocky back of the Goron man before re-opening his mouth this time to speak.
"Don't worry," he nodded forward in his grin. "I'm on it."
–
4
DAWN OF THE SECOND DAY
-48 Hours Remain-
"You're on it?" Tatl parroted for what felt like the umpteenth time as they marched through the expanse of Weybour's fields and the bridges that rested between them. "Do you realise how downright smug you sound most of the time?"
"More than you probably realise."
The smirking Link's, admittedly ironic smug quip in response, managed to make the floating little guardian fairy growl back in anger.
"You have no idea where that old buzzard could be!" Tatl continued on, her words exclaimed, urgent and pressing. "He could be absolutely anywhere for all you-"
A swift raise of the Goron Link's grinning index finger made the ranting little pixie stop dead in her tracks; wide-eyed and surprised she cast her gaze down at the youth below her before raising up a curious eyebrow at him in response.
"Now if you'd have just looked..." He began, nodding his grinning head downward from one of the platforms they walked across, directly highlighting what appeared to be a large ball of snow lying on the frozen lake beneath them.
"A giant snowball; so what?"
Link sighed and shrugged in his smug smirk, his oceanic eyes shutting in infuriating hubris, as he stepped forward to glide down the platform toward the sphere of snow.
"You just don't see the bigger picture... do ya Tatl."
FLOOF-DROOM
To mark his confidently-spoken words he grinned as he swung his new Goron fist fiercely through the air in a savage diagonal haymaker. Coated by the affinity of his Aegir, fire, it very easily tore through the beautiful white fluff of the snow before him, blowing into many pieces to reveal a surprising sight indeed.
But not before the fire that filled his arm made contact with the frozen form hidden beneath it.
FSSSSS...
Standing before the two adventurers was now the resuscitated form of the Goron elder they once discussed in the Goron Shrine earlier; seemingly the 'Roru' fellow. In a similarly surprised state, the elderly Roru turned his long-haired frown up and 'round his surroundings only to gasp, as if bewildered somehow.
"H-Hngh...? What was I doing...?" He murmured out, turning his head 'round as if in search for something in particular. "S-Step aside; I have urgent business I must attend to!"
"Yeah I got that...," the grinning Link chuckled back in response, tilting his similarly-haired head back at him as he placed a gloved hand across his hip. "I got a message for-"
The Goron elder, slow-marching in his old and decrepit-shaken figure, double-took when he took visage of the grinning Link's form.
"D-Darmani?!" Roru exclaimed out, his eyes widening with sheer amazement beneath the long white hair he sported. "B-But... how?!"
"I managed to-"
"N-No!"
Link, surprised in his own frown, could only blink in response.
"I refuse to be led astray by the evil magic that has infected Weybour and Snowhead!" The elder exclaimed out zealously, both hands risen up as if to ward the staring Link away from him. "You are but a ghost! A poltergeist sent to deter me from my true purpose!"
Although highly amused the tiny grin on the listening Link's face exchanged very slowly with the similarly silent form of the hovering Tatl next to him; she shook her form before him, almost as if to discourage him from answering in his usual rude fashion.
He, of course, obliged her.
"B-Be that as it may Mr. Roru, sir...," the low-grinning Link coughed out, his eyes shut as if to keep his laughs to himself. "Your s-" he began before re-widening his eyes in realisation. He coughed a second time to correct himself before continuing on. "Little Taba's been cryin' back at the shrine."
"No matter what you say to m-" Roru shot back defiantly, shaking his head furiously as he did. However, mid-response, he gasped and blinked back at the larger framed Goron before him. "W-Wha...? My son's crying because he misses me...?"
At long last the listening Link let his grin fall in favour of a frown as he nodded back, serious in nature and understanding and all.
"B-But how do you know that...?" Roru murmured out, pointing a bony old finger at the Goron standing before him. "You're just a ghost... aren't you...?"
Although the frowning Link made to re-open his mouth to retort, the similarly shocked old man merely followed suite and spoke once more, as if to follow up on his words.
"No...," Roru began again, shaking his head. "Be you a spectre or conceived in imagination only... it matters not," the wizened old man claimed, a dire frown adorned on his face. "If it's really you Darmani... then please... give to my son the only gift I can anymore," Roru spoke, casting his hopeful frown forward as he reached back, procuring what appeared to be a single drum as if to play it for him. "Give to him... the Goron's Lullaby."