Volume One: The Rescue of the Saviour
By Gabriel B
Chapter Fifteen: The Gossip of the Stones
Ruto breathed heavily after yelling at her friend. It was hard, having to be the one to keep Saria under control, but it was necessary, especially after the incident that morning. "Listen, Newt," she said softly, "let's put this behind us again, okay? We've got stuff to do, places to go, people to see, and more excitement to experience, and you can't enjoy it if you're upset, right?"
Saria opened and closed her mouth a few times, but didn't say anything. After a moment, she nodded her head, and Ruto smiled. "Come on, let's go back inside," she said, and grabbed Saria's hand, leading the Kokiri back to Anju's house. Ruto put a hand on the handle, but jumped back as it turned on its own and the door flew open, with Impa, apparently furious, storming off down the road, and Anju close behind her.
"What was that about?" Saria asked as she closed the door behind them.
"Oh, the just usual," Darunia said nonchalantly, and he nodded at Hyre. "This guy still isn't giving anyone straight answers and Impa's getting frustrated." Saria gave a half-smile, and sat down by Yrma.
"Uh, hello there, Yrma," she said awkwardly, "my name is Saria." Ruto noticed that Saria was turning a bright shade of red, and was filled with a mixture of giggles and jealousy. "I – I was wondering if Link – if Link ever mentioned me, you know, during the time he was travelling with you… or something."
Yrma opened her eyes and looked at Saria, first noticing how short she seemed to be compared to everyone else in the room. "Aren't you a bit, oh, young for him?" she said, with a thoughtful look in her eyes, and Ruto immediately turned to look at the person behind her, away from the imminent explosion.
"Hi, Nabooru," she said instinctively, but still heard Saria scream, 'I'M NOT A LITTLE GIRL, I'M TWENTY-THREE YEARS OLD!' Without missing a beat, Ruto said, "Do you think we should put a sign on her or something?" but Nabooru was otherwise preoccupied.
"Listen, Rudder, I'm not in the mood for any of your crackpot ideas, so just take your bad sense of humour and go elsewhere." Ruto frowned as Nabooru turned away, rubbing her jaw. She did, however, glance over at Yrma to hear her response.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Yrma said, sinking into the couch to avoid Saria's wrath. "Then you must be one of those Kokiri children – or a really late bloomer. Actually, I do remember Link talking about you – quite a lot, as a matter of fact." Saria's face flushed a deeper red, and Ruto felt her stomach sink slightly. Perhaps it was her naïveté as a child that embarrassed her, but perhaps it was that Link hadn't taken her marriage proposal seriously.
Yrma continued, "At night, I would often find him outside, lying on the grass, and staring up at the stars, lost in thought and wonder. I remember asking him once what he was thinking about, and he said he was trying to remember the names of the patterns the stars made. It was a while ago, so I've forgotten most of them, but I still remember the talking cats…"
"Ikethi," Saria said, and Ruto looked up instinctively. Saria smiled, and said, "Not you, Ruto; 'ikethi' are talking animals of Kokiri legends, and it's the name of the constellation of the two cats, because they sort of look like they're talking to each other. Since you reminded me of an iketh, that's what I decided to call you."
Ruto gave Saria a smile, but frowned on the inside. Being reminded of the origin of her nickname also reminded her of how she originally felt about it – slightly insulted. As a retort, she'd nicknamed Saria after the squishy little reptile that she used to hunt as a child.
"Alright, I've had enough of this," said Darunia, interrupting Ruto's train of thought. "It's wonderful that you're content with staying here, reminiscing about days gone by, waiting for something to happen, or for Impa to find out what the Stones have to say, or for this flood to arrive, or any of a dozen completely insane things, but I'm not. I have a family to return to, so if you wouldn't mind, I'll be going."
Darunia made for the door, and Saria grabbed his arm to stop him, but her lightweight body did little to impede his movement. "It's not safe, Dar, is it? I mean, if those soldier guys are after Impa – or Yrma, I'm still not sure which – then they might be after the rest of us, too, right? Tell him, Hyre; tell him he can't go yet!"
"Let go, Saria," Darunia said flatly, and she released Darunia's arm and dropped to the ground. "I told you, we've spent enough time dawdling, and I can't speak for any of you, but I just want to go home. I'll see you again when you decide to show up." With that, he showily picked up his backpack, and grimaced in the general direction of Hyre.
"I don't suppose I need to warn you to be careful, but I'll do it anyway. Be careful," Hyre said, and Darunia grunted in affirmation, opened the door, and hurried towards the mountain path.
There was a short pause, and Nabooru, looking around hesitantly, said, "I'm going with him," and ran after him.
"What in Nayru's Love was that, and who are you people?" Yrma said, confused.
"Like I said before, I'm just a wanderer," Hyre said, leaning forward and resting his chin on his hands. "But the rest of them are the Sages." When Yrma showed no signs of recognizing the title of 'Sage', and merely raised an eyebrow in further confusion, he continued, "Gracious, you've been away for a while. A decade ago, this land was under siege by a man – Ganondorf, the one who did… all that to the Sheikah – and young Link set out to stop him, but he couldn't do it alone. Every once in… a very long while, when these lands are threatened by evil, a select few people awaken as various Sages, wielders of the fundamental forces that make up everything, and their combined magic, added to the power of whichever hero has awakened them, is enough to conquer the evil."
"W—what kind of magic are we talking about, here?" Yrma asked, looking at the others in the room. None of the Sages looked particularly exceptional, so Ruto smiled and raised a palm.
"Take a look for yourself," Ruto said, and a shimmering beam of golden light fell to her hand from the ceiling, and a twirling blue disc drifted down. She grabbed it, and held it out to Yrma to see. "This is a Water Medallion, which holds a piece of my power as the Sage of Water. Here's a little demonstration." Ruto grabbed Yrma's empty glass and held the medallion over the top, and a stream of sparkling water filled the cup to its brim. She gave Yrma a smile and handed both the glass and the medallion Yrma. "That's just in case you get thirsty again," she said with a smile.
"Thanks, but I don't plan on going anywhere without running water for a while," she said, and gestured to her bruises. "Try giving it to Tall, Dark, and Nameless over here. A wanderer never knows when he might find himself in need of some fresh water."
Ruto held out the medallion for Hyre to take. "May I?" he asked, and Ruto nodded. "Thanks," said Hyre, who pocketed the blue disc in one of his cloak's many pockets.
The door opened again, and Impa entered, with a concerned look on her face. "I've got – wait, where did Darunia and Nabooru go?" she asked, looking around the room.
Saria answered, "Darunia got impatient – he couldn't wait any longer, I guess. He's probably home already. Nabooru… well, she's Nabooru; she got bored and went after him."
Yrma attempted to prop herself up on the couch, and said, "Is my sister one of these 'Sages', too?" She was almost sitting upright, but her arm gave out and landed on her shoulder with a wince.
"Yeah, she's one of us, too," Ruto said, and turned to avoid making eye contact with Impa, knowing that she would explode.
However, Impa surprised her when she merely raised a threatening finger at Ruto and said, "You told – you know what, I'll deal with this later," and turned to Hyre. Ruto and Saria looked at each other, each wondering why Impa hadn't completely flipped out. Even Hyre knew something was amiss from her response, and he got off the chair to address her.
"Madam Impa, do the Gossip Stones have any news of Link's whereabouts?"
"Wait, so my sister is a 'madam' now?" Yrma asked, her confusion continuing to build.
Impa waved an impatient hand and said, "It – he just calls me that, he's like this to everyone, but that's not important." She turned to Hyre and answered, "Neither of the Gossip Stones have news of Link, but if Darunia and Nabooru are on their way to Goron City already, they may be in danger. The Stones are all linked to each other in the same way that the Sheikah are linked to the Stones, and they share information.
"There are four Gossip Stones on Death Mountain, and all of them claim that there's some sort of problem. That's all the two here knew, though; there's some sort of interference. I think we're going to have to walk up by ourselves." Before Yrma could have a chance to ask what was going on again, Impa turned to her and said, "And you don't have to worry about what that means."
"But she's your sister!" Saria shouted. "Why are you trying to keep her in the dark about everything?"
"I haven't seen or heard from my sister in over a decade, and until an hour ago, I didn't even know she was still alive. A lot can happen to a person in twelve years, and I don't know if I can trust her with this. The more people who know about us, the harder our jobs become."
"If Death Mountain has been troubled," Hyre said, "then we've got to hurry if we're going to catch up to Mister Darunia and Miss Nabooru." Hyre turned around to Yrma, and with Ruto's help, the two of them managed to lift the tired woman to her feet. "Madam Impa, if you wouldn't mind, please help your sister – I'm going to thank Anju for her generous hospitality. You four should hurry up, I'll catch up shortly." Impa nodded, and put her shoulder under Yrma's arm to support her, and Hyre hurried out of the house.
"I'll get the door," Saria said helpfully, and Ruto and Impa carefully led Yrma outside, into the afternoon shadow cast by Death Mountain. "It's… tall," she said, having to tilt her head back as far as possible to see the top.
"Come on, we'd better get going," Impa said, and Ruto kicked the door closed behind them. It was going to be a long walk.
Ruto heard a faint pop from behind them, and turned her head to see Hyre, surprisingly close behind them, jogging up the trail in pursuit. "That leg of yours might need some rest after today," she called out to him, and the women stopped as Hyre caught up.
"Excuse me?" Hyre asked, giving her a strange look as he regained his breath.
Ruto gave Hyre's shin a tap with her foot and said, "That popping sound; I think your leg's getting worse."
Hyre paused for a moment, before saying, "Right, my leg; yes, yes it does." Ruto gave him a sideways frown and decided to forget it.
"Have you ladies had any problems so far, on the order of something about which the Gossip Stones might be distressed?"
"Your word order is slightly off-putting, but no, we haven't hit anything significant yet," Impa said, trudging forward.
Just ahead of them, however, Saria had stopped in the middle of the path, looking puzzled. She turned around, and put a hand forward, as if pressing against an invisible wall, but her arm met no resistance. "That's… really weird," she muttered, walked forward a bit, and turned to the others behind her. "There's something here, but I'm not really sure what it is."
"What are you talking about, Newt?" Ruto asked, but stopped dead in her tracks from panic when she felt it. It was like a film was being pressed over her, face-first, and was swallowing her as she walked forward. As she stood there, Ruto could feel her skin itching where the force pressed upon her, and shivers ran through her body. She stepped forward, and the feeling passed behind her, but she couldn't shake the idea that whatever it was, it had her now.
"It's some sort of barrier," Hyre said, quietly, as he passed through, too. "I don't think it's harmful, but it could suppress your powers. Until it passes, I suggest we be very careful. We're almost there, though, just a few more minutes and we should be at the city." Just to be sure, Ruto dripped a trail of water behind her, and found to her relief that her gift as the Water Sage hadn't been taken away.
Thankfully, though, Hyre was right. They made another turn, but the ground started to level out, and plants could be seen on the mountainside. Plants that looked rather frighteningly like bombs, that is. There was a cave ahead, and Ruto guessed that's where they were headed. They walked inside and were greeted with a giant, hollowed cavern, with carvings and floors and hallways galore.
"Welcome to Goron City," said Hyre, in the most grandiose tone he could muster. "The first, and greatest, city the Goron race has ever constructed." His voice echoed off the walls and down hallways, giving the impression that they were only seeing a small portion of the city.
"It's huge!" Ruto said, and she turned around, gasping in awe at the sheer size of the city, not noticing that little thing which was off.
Hyre smiled, and said, "The Gorons are fantastic craftsmen. They have tools and skills, which other civilizations can only dream of, even if they are fairly primitive when it comes to technology. They are strong, they're creative, they're incredibly skilled," Hyre looked around in slight concern, "and they're—"
"They're gone," said a voice, and Hyre turned to the source of the voice.
"Darunia," Ruto shouted, pleased that the Goron leader was alright. Darunia was standing by one of the hallway openings, with Nabooru standing behind him, looking concerned. "You're alright!" she said, and gave them a warm smile.
"We're fine, yes, but we've got a bigger problem. Hyre, the Gorons, they're all gone – every single one of them has just vanished, without a trace. All that's left to check is the safe house, and I was heading there now. I don't know what could do something like this, but it's got me scared."
"I'm there with you," Hyre said, as he looked around the city, which indeed, was empty. "I'm right there with you, big guy." Goron City was deserted.