Chapter 64: Wind Trials (Day 1)
Inside the door with the purple swirl, Link came into a dark room filled with walls forming a maze of sorts. There were Stalfos lurking on the ground while on the tops of the walls the ghostly light of Bubbles could be seen. Then for a moment, Link thought he saw a crystal ball on an alcove above the maze.
"This is just like the Restricted Section at the Hylian University Library," Link noted and took out the Ghost Lantern. "Guess I'll be needing you ladies for this Trial."
In response, the Poe Sisters briefly emerged from the lantern and nodded in agreement.
Through the first corridor, Link encountered a couple of Stalfos which were easily taken out once Link summoned Joelle to protect him in a ring of fire. After a few more corridors of this, Link found a stone ladder which he climbed up to the top of the wall. There, he saw the alcove with the crystal ball more clearly though the way was blocked by Green Bubbles. Using Amy, the Green Bubbles were extinguished by her waves of green fire. Then once he reached the alcove, Link struck the crystal ball with the Master Sword which caused the walls to sink down. Across the chamber, there was another crystal ball inside an alcove.
So Link struck the crystal ball a second time and the walls rose. Link then made his way along the walls toward the other alcove but was confronted by Blue Bubbles this time. With Beth's fiery projectiles, Link was able to clear a path for himself. At the alcove Link struck the second crystal ball which caused the bars over a door at the back of the chamber to vanish. After that, Link went back to the first alcove and struck the crystal ball to make the walls disappear. Once all the Stalfos and Bubbles were wandering around in confusion, Link summoned Meg to encase every single one in a ring of purple fire which burned them up. Then Link made the walls appear again so he could get back down the stone ladder and make his way through the maze till he got to the door.
On the other side, Link found himself in a much smaller chamber which contained four different-colored candles. Taking the hint, Link summoned all the Poe Sisters out to illuminate the candles that matched their colors which were orange, green, blue, and purple. The candles in turn lit up the chamber revealing a large triangular object embedded into the floor that had nobs along the bottom similar to a gear and various symbols carved into it including half the swirls that represented the Goddess Din.
"Well, if that isn't a Gate Fragment I don't know what is," Link remarked. "Now how do I remove it?"
Then right after Link spoke, a ghostly apparition appeared before him. To his surprise, the apparition was a middle-aged woman with blonde hair peeking out beneath a green bonnet that had a purple butterfly pin on the side. Her dress had a similar pattern going on with the sleeves being white, the corset being green, and the dress itself embroidered with purple butterflies. She carried a parasol in one hand and a picnic-basket in the other.
"Agnes?" Link guessed, though he said it out loud.
The woman shook her head. "I am Abigale, Agnes' late mother and the former Sage of the West Wind. Because you have passed my trial, Grasshopper, I shall reward you with this Gate Fragment."
Tapping the parasol on the ground, the triangular object glowed and shrank to the size of Link's hand. Placing it inside one of the pouches attached to his belt, Link nodded to Abigale in gratitude. In turn, Abigale smiled and she vanished in a cluster of Golden Insects which surrounded Link in a shimmering flurry. Then in less then a second, Link found himself back at the entrance to the door with the purple swirl with Naru looking at him with baffled eyes.
"How long was I gone?" Link asked.
"About three hours," Naru said.
"Really? Because to me it felt like ten minutes."
"Weird." Naru then stretched her arms. "I take it you finished the Wind Trial in that door?"
Link looked at the door with the purple swirl, which was now closed, and nodded.
"I think you have time for one more Wind Trial and then after that we should leave."
"How come?"
"Because the sun will go down by then and no one hangs around here after dark. That's when the ghosts of those who died here come out, and I've been told by my mother that they're not very friendly."
Not bothering to tell Naru about Abigale's ghost, Link decided to do the next Wind Trial. He played the Merengue of the Eastern Torrent before the door with the blue wave and stepped in once it opened.
Unlike the first room, this one consisted entirely of water with Skullfish and Desbreko swimming around. Putting on the Zora Armor, Link was able to dive down and then after equipping the Zora Steam Propeller he flew over to a nearby cave with a metal wheel inside. This was guarded by several floating Bari, which Link easily warded off with the Nayru's Love spell. After turning the wheel, the bars over another cave vanished. Swimming towards it, Link encountered a circle of Dexihands around the second wheel. Activating Nayru's Love again, the Dexihands were thwarted allowing Link to turn the second wheel which caused the bars over a partially submerged door at the back of the chamber entrance to open.
Satisfied, Link surfaced on the other side of the chamber and opened the door. Here, he found a ledge which he stepped onto and removed his Zora Armor on. Then on the wall at the back of the ledge there was another Gate Fragment which contained the symbol representing the Goddess Nayru.
"I congratulate you for passing my trial," said a voice behind Link.
When Link turned around he saw another ghostly apparition in the form of a Zora who looked like Raoole only he was much more stout and elderly.
"My name is Rutela, and I was the former leader of the Zoras and the Sage of the East Wind," said the elderly Zora. "I shall give you the Gate Fragment if you tell me how my grandson is doing these days."
"You mean Raoole?" When Rutela nodded, Link said, "Um, he's doing…pretty well. He took leadership over the Zoras after his father retired."
"That's good," replied Rutela. "At least you're honest."
Then Rutela held his hands out on either side of Link which caused the Gate Fragment to shrink like the first one allowing Link to take it. Yet right after Link put the Gate Fragment in his pocket, Rutela vanished and became a swirling vortex of water that encapsulated Link. By the time the water cleared, Link was back at the entrance with Naru looking just as surprised as she was before.
"How do you keep doing that?" Naru asked.
"Doing what?"
"Appearing out of thin air after you go into the door and three hours pass in between?"
"Oh, that's because the Wind Sages teleport me back after they give me a Gate Fragment when I've passed the trials."
"The Wind Sages are in there?"
"Well, it's not them, per se, but their ghosts who reward me."
Naru gave Link a confused expression. "How can that be? My mother told me that ghosts only come out at night."
"Maybe the ghosts of Sages are special."
"I guess," Naru shrugged. "Anyway, we should head back to the village. How many Fragments do you have so far?"
"Two."
"Good, then we'll look for the rest tomorrow."
To be continued…