Timmy began his ascent up Death Mountain. The first part was rather easy, only a flight of stairs up to Kakariko Village. This place wasn't as busy as the market, but there were still a few men running about. Stella insisted on talking to everyone in the town, so Timmy spent the next hour hearing tales about a lady who raises cuccos even though she's allergic, a gravekeeper who gave tours late at night, and a creature that lives at the bottom of the well. The crazy cucco lady had given him a bottle after he helped her gather all of her stray birds together. "That was awful nice of her, wasn't it Timmy?" Timmy nodded to his fairy friend, but he knew that there were more pressing matters at the moment. He continued up toward the gate blocking the village off from the trail leading to Death Mountain.

The man standing there stopped looking at his phone and looked down at Timmy. He started to laugh. "What's the big idea?" Stella yelled at the man. "Is that the way to address the hero of Hyrule?"

The man shook his head, still chuckling. "Princess Tecna sent me a text, telling me to let the handsome hero with the cute red glasses through! I was thinking I would be getting a warrior, not a stupid kid!"

"Timmy isn't stupid! He's going to save everyone!" Stella barked at the man. Timmy blushed. The princess thought he was handsome? He heard the guard's phone beep again. He looked down at it before covering his mouth.

"Whoops, I wasn't supposed to tell you all that, kid," was all he said.

Stella flew behind Timmy and pushed him towards the open gate. "Quit making those faces Romeo, you can think about the Princess later! We need to find the yucky ogre hideout!"

Timmy began to feel more confident in his sword skills as he continued out the mountain. He successfully sliced down a few jumping spider things. He would name them later.The trail was fairly smooth; he only saw a couple of rocks in front of him. The first one looked like it was closing off some sort of cave. The other one—the other one started to move! "Look, it's an ogre!" Stella exclaimed. "They disguise themselves as rocks when there is trouble!" Timmy wondered what kind of trouble they were in, but before he could come up with an answer, the rock-ogre started talking to him.

"What are you doing here, little guy? I hope you're not looking for rocks, because all the good ones are in Dodongo's Cavern, and that's sealed up."

"We're not looking for rocks," Stella impatiently said. "We need to find the Seerical Stone of Fire."

"Oh, well, Big Brother Knut has that, and he locked himself in his room the day the scary man came and sealed off the cavern. You should visit Goron City; I'll take you there." Timmy had many more questions for the strange rock creature, but before he could ask, the ogre curled up into a ball and rolled away. Timmy had no choice but to follow him. After rolling a bit too close to the cliff for Timmy's liking, the Goron rolled into some sort of cave. When Timmy got inside, it would be no understatement to say that he was impressed.

Goron City was more than just a cave. It was a layered complex with intricate staircases and many rooms for the rock creatures to stay. In the middle, there was a giant spinning...thing...that had Goron faces and looked like a vase. This whole architectural layout astounded Timmy, but he didn't have much time to marvel at it. "Hey! Timmy!" Stella started to yell again. This was getting annoying. "Look! Down there! It looks like some locked door!" Sure enough, at the very bottom layer of Goron City, there was a plush rug and a locked door, with another Goron guarding it. Timmy slowly inched out on the tightrope in front of him, hoping to get a better view of the door, but he slipped and tumbled all the way to the bottommost floor, rolling as he hit the ground, but still ending up on his face. Stella sighed as she fluttered down and picked Timmy up. "That was an improvement from last time..." she mused. As she waited for Timmy to get up, she flew over to the Goron standing by the door and began to question him.

Timmy held his head as he shakily stood up. He hobbled over to the Goron, where he heard Stella saying, "You're not going to let us in?! But he's the Hero of Hyrule!"

The Goron replied, "Sorry fairy, but only the most important royal messengers can pass into Big Brother's chambers. You and your Kokiri friend should go home."

Stella huffed and fluttered back over to Timmy. "Did you hear that? Only the most important royal messengers can get through the door. Don't you know a special song that only friends of the royal family know?" Timmy thought for a bit, then nodded. Stella must be talking about the song that Faragonda taught him when he was in Hyrule Castle. Timmy stood on the plush mat and pulled out his harp. He plucked three short notes once, twice. When he was done, he put away his harp. The door started to rumble, and it slowly opened. "It worked!" Stella exclaimed. "Move it! We need to get that Surgical Stone!"

Timmy rushed down the corridor at Stella's urging. When he got to the room at the end, he found himself face-to-face with the biggest ogre he had seen all day. He was the only one who had an equivalent to hair, but that was only on the sides of his face. His eyes were pitch black, and his face curled into an angry scowl. He took a step forward, then began to speak.

"Why have you come, tiny little boy? I opened my door for the royal messenger, not a helpless kid like yourself! Leave my presence."

Stella quickly countered, "Now wait just a darn minute! Timmy is the hero sent by Princess Tecna herself, and we need you to help us get the Secretal Stone of Fire!"

Knut stepped back, "Gorons' Ruby? You may never have it. Leave Knut's presence."

"How rude," Stella complained. "You'd think he'd lighten up a bit."

Timmy thought about it. He was a Kokiri—one of the cutest creatures created by the goddesses. Maybe something, well, cute could cheer Knut up. Then, he could tell him where to find the Spiritual Stone for Tecna! He pulled out his harp and plucked out the tune that Flora taught him. It was a happy tune, and he hoped that the big ogre would like it.

Knut's frown twitched. Then his arms. Then his legs. He tried to contain his absolute love for the song, but he was unable. Almost immediately, he broke out into dance. Swinging his arms around, Knut hopped all over his quarters to the cheery tune. Timmy continued playing until the Goron started getting tired. When he stopped completely, Knut asked, "Where did you say you were from?"

A/N: It's been far too long since I last updated Tablet of Time. I've been busy with schoolwork and finals, but now that summer's here, I should have more time to add to this, and believe me, I'm really excited about some of the coming chapters! Did you notice the new cover? Didja? Feel free to leave a review! Daisy out!