Chapter 8: Ah, LonLon Milk!
Link called for the guards. One started and hopped up on the grass, falling flat on his face from a head rush. Link laughed quietly, and motioned for them to come closer. He told them of the next destination after Hyrule Castle... Except they wouldn't be going. They stood at attention for Link, and bowed. Link told them to wait there once more, and they relaxed, and some started snoozing again. Link walked over the Kokiri, and they all faced Link, smiles on their face. He pulled them into a group hug, and told them he wouldn't be back for a long time. They all made protests, but Link stopped them, and bid them farewell. He called the guards over to him, and they left the Kokiri Forest.
! ! !
Link and the guards walked from the main gate to Hyrule Castle. They approached the throne, and the guards positioned themselves around the King. Link told the King the situation they had. The Majora/Triforce mark, the mysterious blue light, the odd, and huge pit in which he had a fight with Morpha. The King looked off into space gravely, obviously in fear of what may happen. When Link ended with Morpha's death, the King seemed to smile to himself. "Well, we know we can count on the Hero of these lands. The townspeople don't really mind the cold for right now. They aren't overly curious about the subject, and that's that. There's no need to cover anything up. You will continue on your quest." Link nodded.
He told the King he had no use for his soldiers; it was too dangerous for them. The King started to protest, but Link declined even further. The guards would have been defeated by Morpha if he didn't have his equipment. And defeat meant death. Link told the King about the Deku Tree's warning about Gerudo Canyon. The King considered this. "You can leave any time you wish... But you must rest here tonight, at the very least. Of course, we will give you food and clothing. But you must stay hidden. You can visit Castle Town in your cloak. If they find you've returned, they'll start festivities that they may force you to attend. We need to get the world back to normal as quickly as possible." Zelda was looking at Link with relief. Her expression communicated her feelings quite well.
Link nodded to the King; he'd stay a couple nights. The King dismissed him. Link walked to his previous room, and took off his thick woolen cloak. He'd have to repay Malon someday. It hadn't been snowy lately. Link put on his thin cloak. For the first time since the night before he left he thought of the cloak's odd design on the back. He lost interest a bit early into the thought, and started arranging his items. He took out his collection of masks and laid them clumsily in a block pattern. The corner of the block, the Stone Mask, was still missing. The Fierce Deity Mask occupied the middle. The other Transformation masks were lying around it. He picked up some old masks that didn't have use now that he was in Hyrule.
The Kafei Mask was his first mask of interest. It looked like his old friend, except there were eyeholes and no nose. Link laughed at the odd edit to his friend's face, remembering old times. Kafei had regained his form after Link saved Termina, and married Anju. They had some very odd moments together.
He picked up the Great Fairy Mask. It was slightly creepy, as was the fairy who had given him the mask. Just for kicks, Link placed the mask on himself, and threw the hair behind him. Hah. This mask was really strange to wear. He put it back on the bed, and look at some of the other masks.
He picked up the Keaton Mask; also of virtually no use. There aren't many Keatons scampering around in bushes to his knowledge. He set it aside. He felt like going into Hyrule Castle Town. He draped his cloak around him, and got an idea. He put the Kafei Mask on himself. There. Now the townsfolk would never know he was the Hero of Time. They'd think he has an odd affinity to masks, but that wouldn't matter. The townsfolk were used to eccentrics. Link went into the town. It turns out, LonLon Ranch actually established a small milk café in an abandoned shop. There were people there, dressed warmly, ordering their favorite milk variations. There weren't really many variations, but there was warm milk, and cold milk, and that's all they needed.
Link ordered some warm milk and sat down. He looked around. People were chatting, some were snoozing in their bottles, some were looking into their milk with something close to sadness. Link was immediately reminded of the Circus Leader's mask. Link sat down, and ordered warm milk. The woman at the counter motioned for some rupees. Link searched his cloak and found a red rupee. It glinted prettily in the light. He gave it to the woman. She shook her head and pointed to a sign. "Due to inflation of certain rupees, red rupees are now worth ten, yellow, twenty, green, one, and purple remains at one hundred." Link took the red rupee back, --how long was he gone?-- and handed her a yellow rupee. She nodded, and walked off.
Link pulled out his bottles again. Oh, why were they so stained? Link sighed, and started when a slightly lightheaded man clung onto Link's shoulder. "I could, hic!, wash those, hic! for you..." Link looked at the man. He obviously wasn't right in the head. "OH, you may think I'm just some man who can't even hold onto his own milk glass!..." He paused, shaking a fist into the air, "But I'm a kind person. Give me those bottles." Link looked at his bottles, wondering if he could trust the man. "Oh, it's all right. Hic! I'm just a man who enjoys making things clean." He took out a small vial of a green liquid. "I recently found these odd bulbous creatures who explode into a gel when touched with a sharp object! It's marvelous, and I've been trying to find a use for the gel-like substance they produce." Link looked at the vial. It seemed to glow. "It has marvelous cleaning purposes! Please, hic!, let me demonstrate." Link handed over one of his bottles with a slight frown and a worried expression.
The man uncorked his vial, and added a few drops. The green liquid splashed against the sides of the container, and starting bubbling at a frightening rate. He shook it back and forth, and when he was finally satisfied, the floor had green ooze crawling into the floor boards. "Yes, it's a bit messy, but it apparently wants a clean container." He seemed very sober now. Link took a good look at him through his mask. He was a small man with slightly large front teeth. He wore goggles on his head, and wore a red, full-body suit that seemed to be made of some kind of shiny, smooth material. Who would notice Link next to this guy? "Anyways, I'll just go rinse this for you." He got up and went to the washroom. He immediately heard crashing and quick apologies. Could Link really trust this guy? The man returned with the bottle and set it down. Link gasped. He was impressed. The bottle was completely shiny, inside and out. He corked it, and thanked the man. "I can do the rest of those, if you want. I want to watch the reaction again a bit more slowly..." Link obliged, and the man seemed delighted at the frothy protests of all the filth being washed out. He returned Link's fourth and final bottle, and Link examined them.
The man raised his hands in the air. "I've got it! The solution uses Magic power to achieve the goals of the one using it! I've been so caught up in spring cleaning that I-... Hic!" He dropped on the counter, snoozing intensely. Link had never seen someone snooze intensely, so he wondered if the man would be all right. Link paid a man for his cloak at a steep price--200 rupees--, and put it over the man. The woman from the counter returned, and handed Link his milk. "Sorry it took so long. We've been a bit busy lately." Link looked around. There were obviously more people filling the café. More laughing, more wallowing, more people. He downed his milk in a couple gulps and felt rejuvenated. Ah, LonLon Milk! Was there ever such a more powerful beverage? Link thumped the man on the back, and smiled beneath his mask. He couldn't help thinking of what the man had said, though. It was spring. Link had arrived in Hyrule in this horrendous biting cold never experienced before in any part of spring. Something was indeed wrong.
Feeling happy about his bottles, two of which he filled with milk, he strode off towards the castle.
-Chapter End-
