In times of crisis, the Breath Waker has acted in the hero's stead, when the hero of the generation had not yet emerged.

These words of the Deku king's echoed in John's head as he looked out over the edge. They were standing on one of the highest branches of Forest Haven; it protruded some thirty feet out from the island, hundreds of feet over the water. From so high the sea did not look nearly as calm as it did when they sailed across it. Everything all around was a pale cobalt blue except for a line of pink-gold on the horizon, and there were no shadows anywhere. The morning star was rising over the sea; Din had been victorious over the armies of Demise, his grandmother once said. The wind howled around his ears, like a puppy demanding attention. He stuck out his hand, and stroked it, feeling it dance over and around his fingers like a moth's feathery feelers. The moss under his feet was thick and soft as a fine carpet; tiny beetles crawled around in his footprints before the moss sprang back up to conceal them. The air was cold, salty, and a little herbal.

Behind him, Aradia hugged her wings close to her body, shivering in the cold. Roxy tried to keep a stoic expression on her face, but the fact that she was trying for stoicism at all indicated she was highly uncomfortable, even more than the way her ears were drooping. "I don't understand how you can like heights," she said. "Rae-Rae I understand, she can fly, but you are a mere human and should think that this is just awful like me."

John smiled. "I have to be good at something."

"Don't say that," Aradia interjected. "You're pretty good at a lot of things. Like killing Poes! That's—"

"Hey Rae-Rae," said Roxy, sidling up to her, throwing an arm around her shoulder. "When is the wedding?"

"What's a wedding?" She asked, furrowing her brow. Roxy visibly deflated.

John sighed and pulled out the Breath Waker, ignoring them. The wind seemed excited now; the puppy had seen its owner brandishing its favorite toy. He conducted, the breeze sang, and then it flew, west across the massive stumps that made up the island chain, howling as it slammed against the pitted bark and writhing vines of the Forbidden Woods. Behind him, Roxy gasped as the frigid wind cut right through her clothing.

John smiled; he always felt…energized when he conducted the winds. More alive. Still grinning, he summoned something from one of his cards. A massive leaf, plucked from the Deku king's crown. It was as long as his body, somewhat teardrop shaped, with translucent lime-colored flesh and thick, cord-like veins branching irregularly from the stem. Emerald sparks fizzles from its serrated edges, floating on the breeze like embers before fizzling out. He gripped the stem with his right hand and held the narrow tip of the leaf in his left, wringing it slightly, trying not to wrinkle or damage it though he knew it was much stronger and more durable than leather. There was only one way to enter that tree.

"Are you sure about this John?" Roxy asked, speaking too quickly to be understood at first. "We could try…I dunno, climbing?"

"Trust me!" said Aradia, hugging Roxy from behind and squeezing the breath out of her. "You are going to enjoy this even, I promise!"

John snickered. "You climbed down the walls of the Forsaken Fortress without any tools and you're scared of this?"

"I was trained for that!" Roxy shouted, or tried to shout; Aradia's trollish strength made saying so many things in one breath very difficult. "And I have my magic to cling to walls," she wheezed, "and I was trained and—"

John blew a loud raspberry and jumped off the edge. The leaf, being magical, immediately caught the stiff wind, filling like a sail. There was no way to enter the Forbidden Woods by sea; instead they would raid it by air.

The leaf almost ripped itself free of his grasp and for a second he was afraid it would tear, but the leaf held together, sparking like a coal fire, leaving a trail of embers in its wake like the tail of a comet. It wasn't true flight, John could feel gravity bringing him down, and if he'd cared to look back he would have seen the branch he'd left already far above, but the wind was strong and fast, and he sped forward, exhilaration mounting with every second. The air whipped his ears raw and left his cheeks numb, but it carried him at a ripping pace. Then, after a moment's excitement, the sunrise broke through the water's surface and color filled the world all at once like a drop of golden dye spilled into a cup of water. John couldn't help it; he whooped out loud like the child he was.

John was airborne for no more than three minutes, no less than two, by the time he made landfall. John hit the ground hard and rolled to a stop. The Forbidden Woods loomed up ahead; he'd landed on a tall, slender trunk of yellowish wood, two-thirds of the way to the menacing hulk. A spindly and knobby Carapacian with a slightly befuddles look on his lotus-shaped face and a porkpie hat on his head stared at him, distracted from some charts in his hands. "Hi," John said.

The man started. "Oh, um, yes. The updraft will start within a few minutes, then you'll be able to fly the gap and enter the forest." The Carapacian cleared his throat. "If, that is, you don't mind, Breath Waker."

"Hey it's my job apparently," John said, just as the squawking began. They looked up, both startled, and saw Roxy and Aradia being swarmed by a half-dozen crazed, keening gulls. Aradia was weaving in and around them as best she could, but the feathery assholes were proving too nimble and persistent. Enraged, they dive-bombed at her head while Roxy swore at them, neither girl able to fight off the flock.

John readied the Breath Waker, feeling the wind stir around him once gain. The Carapacian cleared his throat. "Not the best idea," he said, rummaging around in a pouch at his waist. He pulled out a slingshot and a little bag. "Can you use this?" he asked tentatively, as if shocked at his own audacity for asking.

John smiled and motioned for the Carapacian to throw him the weapon. He caught it; it was a heavy weapon made of dark ashwood with a handle wrapped in sinews. Within a second he'd loaded the pocket with a little lead ball, drawn it back, and let loose. John had often taken pot shots at gulls and crabs with his own, smaller slingshot. It wouldn't have been any use on this journey so he hadn't thought to bring it. It had, however, served as great practice.

The ball whistled through the air and snapped several feathers off the nearest gull's wing, sending it into a downward spiral. Another smashed the second gull dull dead center of the chest, and the bird stopped cold in the air before falling. A third foolhardy seagull squawked in his direction and took a dive for his head; John hit the bird straight on and it burst into a puff of feathers. The remaining three flew off; whatever they'd thought to gain was clearly no longer worth it. A few moments later, Aradia landed roughly on the treetop, dropping Roxy in a heap just a second before tumbling to the floor herself.

Aradia rolled to her feet with a whoop, wiggling her wings experimentally. "I'm okay!" She reached up to touch her hair, searching with her fingertips through the curly mass, a slightly worried expression crossing her lips. It was suddenly replaced with joy as she felt the woody stem of her hyoi and pulled it out. She kissed its not-face exuberantly and set it back in her hair, hollow little eyes peeking out at the world.

"That is seriously the creepiest accessory I have ever seen," said Roxy as John helped her up. She scowled at the fruit. "When we get to a human town, with real stores and stuff, I need to take you shopping." Aradia *ooh*ed and John sighed inwardly, remembering his previous experience of shopping with Roxy.

The gangly Carapacian cleared his throat. "Excuse me, the updraft…"

The three kids startled at that, each mentally scolding themselves for forgetting their job. Then Roxy's lip twisted into a half-smile. "John wanna switch?"

John blinked, confused. "Huh?"

She grabbed him by the shoulders and twirled him around to face Aradia. "Yeah," Roxy drawled, stretching out the word as if she were having a fantastic idea, "Now I get the leaf and Aradia carries you," she said, shoving him towards her. She added with a whisper; "I know you like each other Johnny, I'm just trying to push things along."

"That is so untrue!" John shouted, sputtering as he rounded on Roxy, face pink from more than just the morning chill, "I do not like Aradia!"

Aradia gawked, crestfallen; even the hyoi looked slightly more gloomy. Her lower lip started to quiver. "You don't like me? When did this happen? I'm sorry…"

John sighed.

There was a surge of vertical speed as they hit the updraft; John could feel the warm current all around him for a second or two, and then they were flung out into the cold morning air, flying towards the Forbidden Woods. John's ears throbbed when Aradia occasionally beat her wings, making tiny corrections to her trajectory. He tried to ignore her firm grip around his chest and how close their bodies were, and instead think about...like…ice.

"John you suck!" Roxy called, dangling from the leaf a little ways away. She had her legs drawn up, as if trying to curl into the fetal position. "You did this to me on purpose! I swear to Din Nayru and Farore that I'm gonna kill you!"

Up ahead, there was a small aperture nestled between two thick, thorny vines, just wide enough for two to walk through abreast. It had been marked by torches for any excursions from the Forest Haven, magicked to never go out, settled on a narrow lip of stretched out bark. Unusual creatures fluttered around near the entrance; round-bodied things surrounded by a whirling golden nimbus; they filled the air with an odd flapping drone. Blue lights on their sides blinked out as the day continued to brighten. They drew nearer as the children approached, but left them alone as they landed and stepped into the tree's innards.

The inside of the Forbidden Woods was dark, lit by an eerie, dark green light. There were no shadows here, and the distance was obscured by mist or steam. The air was cool yet humid, and felt stagnant despite the air wafting in through the hole. In fact the breeze, which should have been much stronger, could barely be felt inside the tree, as if something were stopping it. The only sound was a faint, vaguely wooden stretching or tearing, as if you could hear the plants grow. It was nothing like the Forest Haven.

The children took their first tentative steps forward. The ground was thick with moss, much like at Forest Haven, but a path had been worn through to the bare wooden floor; it was yellow and a little slick with moisture. "It looked dead from the outside," Roxy noted, speaking a few octaves below her usual volume, as if not wanting to disturb the silence. After a few steps, the entrance was just a vague, misty whiteness in space.

John listened very carefully as they went, Hylian ears darting left and right, not wanting to be surprised by any unexpected enemies. He'd been told to expect monsters, among other things. Their footsteps echoed, and the mists above darkened to black, implying they were in a large chamber. Grass was growing here and there from the moss, thicker even than the grass at Forest Haven. He wondered how that could be without any sunlight.

The tension the kids felt upon entering the tree began to fade very quickly, and was gone by the time they reached the door. It came back instantly when Aradia shrieked and actually charged the door, stopping just short and perusing it, wide-eyed and manic grinned. "This thing is ancient," she said, running her hand up the wood. There was a curling pattern, like a vine or stylized wind, drawn in crude red lines fading to pink at the edges, painted large on the surface. When she reached it, she scratched off a little with a practiced scrape of her index talon and tasted it. "The paint! This dye is of a composition that hasn't been made since the rock-eater culture! But that must mean—" here she gasped and leapt up to the top of the doorframe, aided by a hefty flap of her wings. She felt around with her knuckles and her claws, until she found a place where the wood gave way, bending squishily. Without any hesitation she put her fist through it with a *plop* and quickly scraped out the rotten wood. Inside the hole, barely visible in the hazy green light, was a series of interlocking gears made of ancient, darkened wood, themselves half rotted.

"This is the same technology that moved the doors in Dragonroost Cavern!" she declared excitedly. She leapt down from the wall and landed smartly before her friends, flicking off the rotten matter before squeezing them into a hug. "There's some kind of connection here! Don't you see what this means!?" she shouted, voice reverberating through the chamber like a musical note in her harp's soundbox.

"Does it mean we can open it by kicking?" John asked, remembering the strange doors in the cavern.

"Oh heavens no," Aradia said happily. "Those gears are way too rotten to work for anything now. We're stuck here if we can't find a way to break through!" She bounced on the balls of her feet as if the news had just made her day. "What's important is that I might have just proved the existence of Drowned Hylia, or at least discovered the source of the inspiration for the legends!"

"Well of course it exists," Roxy said, somewhat unenthused. "I mean, everyone knows about it and all the different stories match up…?"

"But this is proof!" Aradia declared. John and Roxy looked at each other, not seeing the point of proving something that most people agreed was real. "Now what I would really like to know is whether the rock-eaters are the same race as the people who obviously settled here once or if several races were united under a shared cultural identity or political entity—"

"Wait house?" John said, furrowing his brow at her as hard as he could.

Aradia nodded and pointed off to the left. "Can't you see it?" Then she startled as if remembering something like having abused one of her privileges. "Oh right, guys I'm so sorry I forgot that human sight isn't as good as trolls', you must be having trouble with this mist…um…" she snatched the deku leaf, still in Roxy's grasp, and waved it all around herself. A slight wind actually picked up inside the room, clearing the air for a moment or two, enough to get a vague outline of the room. There was certainly…something off to the right.

John scratched his chin. His wind-sense was heightening every day, as was his magic. "Let me see that leaf," he said, holding out his hand. "I'm pretty sure it's mine anyway," he added with a slight chuckle. The stem was warm from overuse and the tip of the leaf was wrinkled from his and Roxy's grasp, though it seemed to be uncurling before his very eyes. The emerald sparks flared in brightness and frequency as John held it. He flapped it once, as if shaking out a dusty rug and wind filled the room, tearing at the mist, shredding it like cobweb, until it had faded away to nothing. The room instantly became visible to human eyes, but for a few ragged wisps.

The source of the light was revealed to actually be moss on the walls, massive amounts of it glowing faintly green. The room was vaguely oblong, and almost tended to rectangular in shape, with a warped corner several yards to the left of the door. To its right, the ground sloped upward, pushed up by root-like growths of darker wood, somehow growing inside the tree. They merged into a trunk, itself sunken into the wall. The trunk had been hollowed out into a crude sort of dwelling; benches and shelves had been carved right into the living wood. In the center, a table had been carved once, but it had collapsed under the weight of a gargantuan nut, and the wreckage was overgrown by the tangled vines. "Huh," Roxy said musingly, "the local plants seem really…hostile."

"What do you mean by that?" John asked, eyeing the nut. Its shell was made of dark, reddish wood.

"That's three plants parasitizing each other," she pointed out. "The nut plant is mooching off the tree which is stealing from the Forbidden Woods."

"Oh," he said, "Like when a tree grows through another tree to reach sunlight?"

"The same idea," Roxy said, and would likely have said more if not for Aradia ripping the nut from its plant with a mighty wrenching tear, and heaving the thing over her head. "Let's go explore the rest of this place," Aradia declared, a look of ecstatic determination on her face. With very little effort other, she hopped down from the ledge, not even bothering to slow her fall with her wings, and lugged the nut over to the door. Then, with a scream of primal, trollish hatred, she heaved the nut through the door, splintering both into a kindling and delicious chunks of nutmeat. "Let's go!" she declared in a sing-songy voice, so invigorated by having an all new archaeological proving ground that she didn't even care about destroying one measly artifact.

John and Roxy rushed to join her and then followed as she skipped through the door, humming to herself. "Hey Roxy," she said, walking backwards, in pure bliss. "Next time we see a cool artifact, if you don't mind, could you take a pictograph of it?" Aradia bent and scooped up a chunk of pale nutmeat the size of a handfruit. She began to eat it, clearly relishing the taste. The area they had entered was not as thick with mist as the first room, though it was difficult to see the end. It was shaped something like a cathedral, with a high peaked ceiling, wreathed in mist of course. More parasitic tree trunks were growing through the ceiling into the floor, like pillars, though they served more to obstruct the view than to provide structural support. At the opposite end of the room was another doorway, identical to the first, flanked by more of the carven houses.

"Sure," Roxy said as she pulled out the pictobox. "How about now actually? Hey, strike a pose!" Aradia stood proudly, splendid smile spreading to her whole body as she presented 'her' discoveries, first standing before the scene then showcasing the individual features of the room. She grabbed John and made him play the part of her assistant. As there was not any present danger, Roxy followed the two deeper into the room, pictographing as she went. As she stepped through the portal, she kicked over a splinter of the door and vaguely noticed it had been lodged in the moss.

"John, look more curious!" Aradia demanded; Roxy snickered as he attempted a serious, scientific face. Hmm, she thought, wouldn't that mean that the moss had grown while the door was open?

"Hey," Roxy said, "both of you go inside that house and sit around on the furniture like you're having a tea party!" It would make sense, as the Deku king sent regular excursions into the forbidden woods through this path.

They made their leisurely pace to the house on the left, ducking to get through its doorway. John found he could barely fit on the lone chair. "I guess they couldn't be the same species as the rock-eaters," he grumbled. "Unless they were actually tiny." He leaned back and the chair collapsed under him with an almost sarcastic crack. Roxy bit her lip, still thinking as she took the pictograph, making a mental note to laugh at it later. If the door hadn't been functioning in so long, it must have been stuck in its open position until something else closed it.

"That might be an important discovery John!" Aradia said, pulling him to his feet. The three kids stepped out into the main chamber. "Let's try the other one now; it might be this was simply intended as a child's roo—"

A monster screamed through the air towards the children, beautiful and hideous at once. Its enormous, single eye was unsuited to a flying creature, and yet it flew, black body sucking in light, iridescent green wings and feathery feelers throwing it off like verdant fire. It had two massive pincer-like jaws, each as long and sharp as a machete, audibly shearing against each other as the creature soared. Its wings seemed impossibly delicate, patterned as they were with bruise purples and muted reds and golds in the form of a hideous, heart-shaped face with no mouth; they glittered with cascades of dust, a compliment to the deku leaf's magical residue. Its abdomen, glowing brilliant green where it was not scaled with rust, swelled almost to bursting, and then deflated. A wad of black and orange matter sprayed out of its rear; a clutch of eggs, followed by an afterbirth of flaming blood that sent it rocketing across the room like a firework from the depths of the deepest hell. Either by some chemical process or dark magic, it propelled itself by giving birth.

"Get down!" John shouted, pushing Roxy over, into the house; a splatter of fiery liquid hit his boot and he screamed. Roxy snatched the deku leaf from his hands and beat out the fire, kicking up several gusts of wind that scattered embers to the far corners of the room, starting even more fires. The creature, faintly glowing, was stalking them from the ceiling, wreathed in mist and smoke.

Aradia was on the ground too, breathing hard. "Holy crap," John sputtered, crawling over to her, "I'm sorry, are you okay?!"

'I'm fine!" She breathed, shooting him a little smile. "Really, don't feel bad. I just…really didn't expect that!"

They both laughed, more out of relief than because they found it funny. Aradia put her hand on John's, the monster's light reflected in her eyes. "Let's get to shelter and strategize, yeah?"

John nodded. The monster screamed, bent its fattened abdomen like a scorpion's sting, and a shower of black eggs rained down on the kids as it crawled away to a more concealed part of the ceiling.

John screamed into his collar, biting down to prevent from startling the animal into another attack. The eggs were plump and fleshy, like snake or fish eggs, and slightly sticky, though they began to harden very quickly. "Why!" he continued to scream into his shirt. "Farore why the fuck did you create such a disgusting animal!?"

He continued to scream mutedly and Aradia sat up, hugging him. "I know," she said, gently stroking his back, feeling oddly both cool and warm at once as she did, "a lot of things are really weird and stupid, I want you to know that you're a really brave boy John, for doing this! I mean, no one would have picked you out as the adventuring type, and yet here you are!" She pulled back and looked him in the face; he was more than slightly embarrassed, though he was smiling, proudly at that. Aradia felt a slight pang as she noticed his skin changing color, turning almost red. What was his deal? She could swear that he had been having pale thoughts about her; she'd never understand humans.

Aradia averted her gaze, suddenly feeling stupid. Sure, there was all these nonsense thoughts involving humans and quadrants, but what's more, she hadn't even bothered to clean herself off first and the stupid eggs had actually developed hideous orange burrs to cling to her clothes! She tried to pull one off, but it was well and truly stuck. She conjured up a little fire, sneering at the disgusting thing. Then a slit on its side opened up, revealing a hideous eye, bloodshot and multi-colored. She burned it with extreme prejudice—

And was pounced on by the swarm that had been birthed at the start of the encounter.

John felt them hit like a heavy, sharp wave; each individual was light but all were covered in burrs, and together they nearly crushed him. Then, just as quickly as they were upon him, they were gone, blown away by Roxy and the deku leaf. She rushed out, snatching him by the hand, and dragged him into the house.

"Aradia!" John sputtered, spitting out a wad of blood; the left side of his mouth was torn; he felt the sting of dozens of cuts all over him. Many would scar, he knew. The sharp edges those things bore were not just for gripping but for bringing down prey. "We can't just leave her again I already left her once today!"

Before he could heroically charge into the swarm, Roxy was rushing out the door laying all around her with the leaf. Aradia was prone on the ground, so Roxy picked her up and threw her over her shoulder. She groaned with the effort; the girl was shorter but much denser thanks to trollish muscle. Roxy turned on her heel and ran back inside, laying her as gently as she could on the table. Then she dropped the leaf and took the rod off her belt holster, channeling Din's fire through its gem and out the door, clearing the ground outside of monsters for the time being. "How's she doing!?" Roxy demanded, looking up and around for more signs of danger.

John, on his part, was feeling the beginnings of panic. His shirt and pants were already stained with rapidly growing blotches of his own blood; the sight of Aradia's was worrying. Even worse was the lack of an apparent pulse. "Trolls don't have hearts right?" he asked.

Roxy sputtered. "Of course they do! Johnny did you hit your head!?" She rushed over, forgetting her self-imposed guard duty to examine her friend's skull for damage.

John slapped her hand away. "Dammit no! Aradia needs help now!"

Roxy looked down at the troll and swore. "This doesn't make sense," she muttered, feeling for a pulse like John had. "She's not as hurt as you are!"

"I was trying to protect her," John muttered. "How could…?"

Aradia's lifeless face contained the barest ghost of a smile as her lifeless eyes gazed up at the ceiling.

Author's note: Man, it has been too long… I know I said by July and that's still plenty of time but almost three weeks since that declaration and this chapter is worrying to me. In fairness to myself, I tried to start this chapter immediately but it was a false start that ate up about a week of my time, though it did give me a great team name; Sleuth Team 6. There was also one weekend that was a nonstop party. It was hells of fun yo (not really I hate parties).

Our music came from two great GameCube classics that we should all replay right now! :D I had waited to use the great sea theme for an appropriate moment. Rather than sailing I chose this one because I almost always ended up doing the gliding section at dawn, when the theme would normally start if that section were not silent. it makes the scene very powerful and slightly eerie for the player, but damn if it wouldn't be a powerful memory if the theme started up at just the right moment...

Oh man and now I'm getting ideas involving The Thousand Year Door though…

Mothula are really gross now that I have to think about it. Morths are actually harmless but they do not lookharmless, and I was trying to make them at least slightly menacing.

And I totally just killed off Aradia fuck your shit. Fortunately in the next chapter we meet Tavros! *blows noisemaker*