An entire day of searching yielded nothing. Zipping through alleys and people only made her head spin. She had a hard time being able to tell this shop from that shop and this street from that street. Instead of searching for her lost companion, Miro Miro spent most of the day getting lost and trying to find her way back to the gate, which she never found. Even though the city was squished between two cliffs, the tall houses, each shaped and colored differently, the clotheslines, hanging a colorful foliage of moist garments, and the overwhelmingly diversity in the culture of each store made Hyrule Castle City feel bigger than the Lost Woods.
By then, the darkened streets were no longer as crowded, and the shops were beginning to close down. Torch bearers walked into the darkness with their only source of light, and lit each night torch along the way. As people withdrew from the public back into their private homes, the darkness continued consuming the daylight until night flooded the atmosphere completely, held off only by the night lanterns burning brightly. There was no way to continue searching for her lost companion, if he was even here at all.
The worst part about it all was that it had been so long since she saw her lost companion that she could barely remember what he even looked like. Miro Miro sulked in defeat and began aimlessly floating down one one of the many similar looking streets. Where was she supposed to go next?
Rowark! She suddenly remembered that there was still someone that she knew in Castle City residing in the castle barracks! Except, she had no idea where that was …
He said it was the castle barracks. Her eyes turned upward towards the fading daylight and saw the great cliff that supported the great castle capped on the top. From out in the distance, she could see the small, faint fires dotted on the cliff, showing signs of life from within. She remembered Mido's stories about the castle, for only he had traveled outside of the Kokiri Forest. A stone house bigger than the Great Deku Tree looked almost like a glowing mountain peak at night. That must have been the Hyrule Castle. So long as the castle's walls hoisted the torches high into the sky, there was no mistaking about where to go, even if she did not know the city layout.
She began her journey towards the gigantic cliff, what she guessed was the castle, jutting out into the sunset. She hovered over the stone paved road and concentrated hard on navigating through the street. At least she had a general idea of where to go.
"Help us!" came the cry of an unseen, internal voice. It was the faint voice of a fellow fairy! But where was it coming from?
"Help us, fairy!" "Help!" "Oh please save us!" the pleas for help bombarded her head. She looked around the townhouses and shops for the source and found a door slightly cracked open. Was it coming from there?
"Your presence is nearing us! Come quick!" Encouraged, Miro Miro entered through the door into the general store.
She looked around the dimly lit store. Three levels of shelves ran along the far side wall and along both connecting sides, separated by a doorway by the far right corner. Differently sized jars filled with colorful liquids and preserved monster anatomy were lined up on the bottom shelf, smaller tools like hammers and other building materials sat on the second shelf, and the top shelf was reserved for the larger tools, decor, and some weapons and shields. Had Miro Miro not felt obligated to help her fellow fairy first, she would have loved to spend time studying each product.
Sadly, the fairies were not on the shelves, nor were they on the shelf underneath the long, maple wood counter.
"Hurry! We are in the back!" the fairy voice rang in Miro Miro's head again. She darted for the doorway but stopped short of the threshold, too scared to continue into the darkness. When she first peered in, she could only see the glow of candlelight reflecting off the wall on the other side of a stockpile of wooden crates. But as she crept towards the darkness, she found out that there was a second source of light coming from the far corner of the room. And when she finally flew across the threshold, she instantly recognized the signature bright, colorful light, which every fairy naturally radiated, reflecting off a shelf of the crates.
She recklessly darted towards the light and, upon seeing her fellow fairies floating inside glass jars, exclaimed loudly, "Brothers and sisters!"
Eight different colored energetic balls of light illuminated the room collectively. Suspended in the air with the calm flap of the wing, a grape purple, forest green, deep blue, pink red, leather brown, sunset orange, golden yellow, and a magenta fairy excitedly bounced up and down.
"You fool! Use thought speech!" one of the fairies, whose identity was unknown, communicated with her thoughts. Thought speech? Why wouldn't they just talk normally?
"I'm sorry, I don't-"
"Shh!" the interrupting fairy silenced her, "He'll hear you! Quick, hide!"
"It's too late…"
Too late? Too late for what?
Miro Miro's blood froze when she heard the bloodcurdling greeting from an unknown presence behind her, "'Ello there..."
She slowly turned around and looked up at the silhouette of a frail, balding man, presumably the shopkeeper. There was something about the way his hands slowly reached for a bottle and a cap and his smile looked like he was hiding bad intentions behind his rotting teeth.
Her boiling blood pushed Miro Miro closer to her crucial decision between fight or flight, the point of no return. His ugly, wrinkly face would not prevent Miro Miro from saving her kin. She puffed herself high into the air and threatened with her ultimatum, "I will not leave until you release those fairies you big jerk!"
"HA!" the shopkeeper scoffed at her. Suddenly, his arm swung in the air, and his hand was closing in fast.
The fairy may have been small, but that also meant that she was too quick for him. Once she dodged clear of the bottle's trajectory, her instinct told her to charge straight into her enemy, to fight. Her super sonic wings beat against the air as hard as they could to shoot Miro Miro through the air like a dart. She focused every fiber of conscience into flapping her wings as hard as possible, feeling the air resist her speed, and aiming straight for the shopkeeper's chest.
The painful blunt force impact came so suddenly. With no audible sound to warn her, the stopping force hurt much more than she anticipated. "Ugh," she groaned and reeled, wondering what kind of solids existed in her magical body that could cause her to feel so much pain. She felt her tummy turn again. This must have been the so called "nausea" that all the children once complained about. As she started backing away, she could feel the shopkeeper's evil, unamused eyes mocking her. There was not a scratch on him, not even a rip in his bright orange tunic.
"Oh, don'tchu worry," the shopkeeper grunted as he swung his bottle at her again, this time the lip scraped one of her wings. Harmless, but it was a waking call. "I ain't gonna 'urt ya," he said as he started inching towards her.
"Run!"
With no way to hurt or stop the much larger Hylian. Miro Miro heeded the good advice and quickly pivoted around. The wind from the old man's third missed swing with the bottle sent Miro Miro off to the races for her freedom. After turning around the stack of crates, she dove straight for the doorway, into the welcoming embrace of the light. But the sound of the shopkeeper's rapid, light footsteps reminded Miro Miro that the spry old man was not far behind. If she could make it out the shop, she would be finally be safe.
The rush of the cool night air felt refreshing. Nevertheless, he persisted, shattering the illusion of safety. After one last exertion from her wings to attain altitude, the fatigue built up from a day's worth of flying suddenly dragged her down like a pebble. All that kept Miro Miro from flying into the shopkeeper's reach was her sheer will to survive. And this man was chasing her with a bottle because … Why? she asked herself. But this was not time to leisurely ponder the answer.
Panic guided her every move through the city. She dared not enter the pitch dark alleyways; her light would give off her position for all the bad guys to see. Instead, she sharply turned right onto another lit road. But she was alone on this street and still vulnerable. No time to worry about that! The sharp turn may have tripped up the shopkeeper a bit, but that only bought Miro Miro a few strides of distance. His persistence and energy seemed never ending.
No matter what turn she made, left or right, the shopkeeper was always on her tail. The nonstop sound of his feet chasing after her added even more anxiety to her panicked mind. Up ahead was an overpass, and this time, she felt confident enough to lifted herself up one more time to reach the top. Miro Miro took a deep breath as she bided her energy and forcefully exhaled upon unleashing every known reservoir of power to launch herself as high as she could.
She made it! Taking a moment to catch her breath, her long awaited rest was cut short when Miro Miro saw the shopkeeper running up a flight of stairs that along the overpass bridge. "Waah!" she yelled in frustration before she continued her flight.
A city watchman, wearing the undamaged blue cape and shiny golden armor that Rowark wore, was standing post up ahead, so Miro Miro flew straight toward him for safety. "Hey! Heeeelp!" she cried out to him, but he remained ignorant to her plea. Rowark was a city watchman too, so why wouldn't this city watchman help her too? Maybe he did not hear her?
She was going to try again when she got closer. But when she approached the watchman, hoping he could help her stop her pursuer, the shopkeeper's voice reached the guard from a considerable distance before Miro Miro's could, "Oy, I'll give you a silver rupee to get that fairy!" The guard suddenly looked at Miro Miro with widened eyes, and then there were two men chasing after her.
What a horrid day! She should have never left Rowark's side! Staying out of reach was easy, she just needed to maintain a certain altitude. Her wings felt heavier with each flap against the wind, and it would not be long before she could no longer maintain a safe altitude. She needed to lose them fast.
The two men ran through the open streets with relative ease, so she made a sharp right and flew through a second story window, into a home where they could not follow her.
"ARF ARF! RRRRrrrrrr!" Bad idea! Her intrusion awoke the house dog, a big and hairy monstrosity who nearly engulfed her whole, and then it was the dog chasing her down the hallway. Miro Miro was too focused on staying away from the protective animal to look for a way out.
Each window she frantically neared was sealed against the sill. As she flew around the living room, frightening a family of four, the dog roared as it continued chasing her. A cool summer breeze suddenly blew through, strong enough to shift her off her intended path. It had to come from outside! She flew against the current, found the opening in the window, and passed through the window, back outside.
A sigh of relief escaped from Miro Miro's fairy lungs as she escaped from the house.
"There she is!" she heard the shopkeeper say in between heavy breaths.
GAH! Why won't you give up? she cursed at him.
The soldier reached into his waist pouch, "All right, I'm tired of all this running," and withdrew a large nut in his hand.
As large as an apple, shaped like a walnut with a smooth surface, Is that… a Deku nut!? Panic instantly flooded into Miro Miro's body, and she desperately searched for anything to protect herself from the commonly used hunting tool. There was a second story balcony to her immediate right. Instantly flying upward over the balcony's wooden rail, she had to make it there before the nut would inevitably...
FLASH! The sudden blinding light stiffened her wings and her whole body. Her paralyzed body was at mercy to her momentum and flight trajectory. The momentum lifted her up for a short heartbeat before gravity began pulling her downward. It was looking like she would run into the wooden rail. She closed her eyes, too scared to see what fate her trajectory would choose for her.
Great Deku Father, Miro Miro prayed as she fell, if you carry me to safety, I pledge the rest of the rest of my life to search for your missing child. Please Father, carry me to safety...
She felt impact and a small roll forward. Her body had come to a stop on, something. Was she safe? So far, her luck had proven rotten, so she was not willing to rest until she was absolutely positive her pursuer had given up.
"Damn it! You good for nothing... Gah!" the old man's angry, high pitched squeal echoed off the walls. It had even sounded like the voice was coming from below her, "You let her get away!"
"Whatever, dunghole. I'm exhausted, and I have left my post for too long," Miro Miro assumed that was the watchman's voice in between heavy breaths, "You're on your own."
When she released her breath, opened her eyes and saw the wooden floor around her, tears escaped her eyes. She was safe. She was finally safe enough to let loose all of her chaotic emotions that had been trapped inside her psyche.
"THANK YOU!" Miro Miro yelled into the night sky, sending her blessings over the long distance, "THANK YOU!"
The new environment looked like it was full of nightmares, and not even twenty four hours later, Miro Miro felt like she had all she needed to see. But if the city had so many bad people living within the walls...
How could Rowark survive in a world like this? How could her Kokiri companion survive in a world like this? There was always a chance that her companion could be sleeping in an alleyway not too far away. If he was here, then he would need her more than ever.
But first, she had to reacquaintance with herself. Her wings were slowly beginning to respond to her commands. A fluttered attempt to levitate felt discouraging at first, but after two attempts of hopping and maintaining flight, the third attempt did the trick. Miro Miro peered over the rooftop to check on the status of her pursuers. The watchman was walking away, and the shopkeeper was shaking his fist at her, "You're mine! You just don't know it yet!" He made his way back to his shop. She sneered at him before retreating back to the safety of the stranger's balcony.
Even though she had miraculously survived, she had never felt so defeated. Lying on the wooden floor of an unknown balcony of an unknown building in unknown territory, the forest fairy had no idea where she was and no idea where her beloved forest home was, so she began to sob loudly as she painfully gripped her confused, chaotic emotions and tried to reign them under control.
Get it together Miro Miro! she chided herself in between tears, I have a mission to accomplish!
But how was she supposed to find one person in this great city? The daunting task of finding someone who might not even be here coupled with memorizing the criss crossing streets felt like searching for one particular leaf in the Lost Woods.
On top of feeling hopelessly lost, she also felt powerless. There was nothing she could have done to free those trapped fairies nor combat their captor. If Miro Miro was going to have even a snowball's chance in Death Mountain Hearth, then she needed help.
At least Miro Miro knew where to find help: the castle. She knew Rowark would be generous enough to assist in her search and would keep her safe. Maybe she could even ask him to free those fairies! Rejuvenated with the hope of seeing her friend again, she took off with her fully functional wings for the tall structure reaching into the dark, night sky.