Link was exhausted. All he wanted to do is sleep. But in his horror found out he couldn't.
The old woman was sipping her tea, she was taking a mini break about her life story.
"Oh to be young again. The races I participated in, the lifting contests! Oh if only Hyrule had such things here." She finishes her tea. "My mate, he was from Hyrule. When he proposed, he wanted me to move back here with him." She sighed. "I couldn't. What went on here, oh..." She sniffles.
"Grandma. I think that's good for the night. It's late. I'm sure the child needs sleep." Link was getting dizzy from the lack of sleep. He just finished a double shift before he travelled back in time.
"Nonsense. He's young. Gisella, get the boy some snacks."
Gisella sighs. Her grandma was always so stubborn.
"Yes granny."
"Teenagers. They think they're smarter than their elders." She clears her throat. "Okay. Where was I. Ah!"
"We went deeper in the dungeon, there we met with a Deku."
"Does anyone have water?" Hutchin's throat was parched.
"No, I had some, you drank it all." Ellasia tells him in annoyed voice. "Why did you take off the fire tunic?" Her brother was such a blockhead.
"My new friend needed to borrow it!"
"Your friend. Do you even know her name?"
"Sara? Suz?" It started with a S. He knew that. "Does it matter? She was hot!"
"Figures." If it wasn't play money, it was women. "Well, all I know, you'll never see it again."
Before Hutchin could argue back, he spots a Deku scrub peeking from the shadows. He takes out his slingshot.
"El, stand back." Their hits were almost never fatal, but their seeds hurt. Before he could fire, she took out her boomerang instead and throws it at the deku.
"Yikes!" The young deku scrub jumps out of his hole. "Forgive me master!" He didn't mean to attack the siblings, he was just protecting himself. "I have some deku sticks. Twenty rupees for one!"
"Twenty rupees? That's kind of expensive." Ellasia was taken aback. Deku sticks were mostly found in the forest. Most people preferred those to regular branches, they burned longer and were mostly used to make torches. "Why so much?" In their hometown, they were only ten.
"My apologies. Around here, they are very rare. I have to transport them, shipping takes a lot longer now." He heard about those buildings being built in Kakariko and Hyrule Castle Town. "I have to pay my suppliers. So would you like a few? It's very dark inside."
Leoric nods towards the deku.
"I would recommend buying a few. We'll be here awhile."
Hutchin reluctantly buys a couple. He flinched at the price, he was planning on saving his money. Once all three finished paying the deku, he thanks them.
"Thank you so much." Feeling the ground shake, the deku shudders. He knew the volcano had eruptions, but the shaking was unnatural. He felt the darkness, the ruler of the volcano, she wasn't the same anymore. "I'm heading home, I suggest you do the same." The deku scrubs, they had a undercover road. "See you." He digs himself underground.
That deku scrub, he felt the darkness as well. At the time, I didn't know anything, all I cared about was the work. The dragon, she was getting sicker and sicker, she came out of the volcano to ask for help. Goddess. If only I warned everyone.
"Duck!" Hutchin ducks just as the Lizalfo swings at his head. He then stabs it through the heart, killing it. He saw Leoric kick its partner in the lava.
"You two did well." He was impressed. "Those creatures work in teams, they often attack when someone's alone. They didn't expect a team of three." Leoric didn't engage when the monsters attacked, he wanted to see how well the Hylians fought.
"Our dad used to be in the Hylian Army. He thought us everything we know." Ellasia was glad for the training, he made his fortune from hard work and didn't want his children to be spoiled.
"He was strict.'' Hutchin always hated how strict their dad was.
"You're just mad because the lizard jumped you first. Remember dad's lessons? Watch out for the unexpected!"
"Yeah. Yeah." Hutchin had fun though, he felt like fighting some more. "So where to next?" This room was hot, but bearable.
"We have to harvest the bomb flowers, plus clear out any monsters we see, our tribe, we rely on the food inside this cavern."
"Cool." Hutchin wasn't looking for more work, but fighting monsters? Sign him up.
An hour later both Hylians were watching the Goron how to pull the bomb flowers.
"Okay. These are extremely dangerous plants. They explode when you pull them from the ground. They can be harvested, but only if you are careful. Watch." He pulled one flower, and when they saw the root hissing, they dived behind a rock.
BOOM!
"That was one flower. It's dangerous, we lost some good folk who were careless. Anyways, who wants to pull one?" He smiled with amusement when neither volunteered. "No one? Fine. I'll pick. You."
"No! Pick me!" No way was he letting his sister get hurt.
"Fine." He was planning on picking the boy anyways, he looked like he needed to toughen up. "I'll show you how to do this, how to carry this flower safely and carefully." They watch as he dug around the flower, and being very careful not to rip the stem out of the root, he carefully and slowly dug it up. Once he put it down, he asked Hutchin to dig up one flower.
"Okay." He said with hesitation. He swallowed his fear. Following the steps the Goron did, he carefully dug up the flower. Very slowly, he picked it up and carefully puts it down.
"Very good." Leoric was pleased. "You, it's your turn."
They ended up picking six flowers. Since it was their first time, Leoric insisted on carrying the bag.
"You two did well." He was pleased with their process. "Since it is late, we will be having something to eat. After supper, we'll head to the top, and use these flowers to open a path for the workers on top. Let me put down our bag, and then we'll eat."
After our meal was done, we went to the top to explore. To open some paths, I took the bombs and blew up several walls.
"Fire down below!"
Both siblings covered their ears as the bombs exploded. They were in another room, they could hear the fallen rocks. When the sixth bomb went off, they waited for the Goron.
"You think he's alright?" That last explosion was the furthest, but also the loudest.
"I'm sure he's fine." Hutchin hoped so, he liked the rough Goron. Hearing loud stomps, they get out of the shadows. "Oh my goddess."
Leoric was covered in black soot and dust. He didn't seem to be hurt, he was walking fine. He must have read their minds, he just laughed.
"This is just another day for me! Can't be a good Goron if I don't blow up things!" He laughed. He wipes his face. "I made some paths up there, but I need help making bridges and stairs. But not today. Let's go back to town, it's late."
When we left the cavern, it was after dark. By my guesses, it was after midnight. While we were walking we saw a bright orange light in the direction of the Lost Woods. We didn't think much of it, that place was spooky at night. We only found out later that the Mansion in those woods burnt down. I just hope whoever lived in there is alright. When I looked up I saw the Great Dragon. She was crooning a sad tone. Us Gorons, we know when a animal is in pain. Poor Volvagia. We should have known she was crying for help. That wizard, he poisoned her mind. If only we won't so focused on work. We could have sent for the Sage in Kakariko to treat her.
Hutchin was laying in his bunk just thinking. He as dead tired but couldn't sleep. He knew when danger was coming, Father told him about it. He knew he had to go home, he had to leave as soon as possible. He was about to fall asleep when he got shook awake.
"Psst! Psst!"
"What?" He whispered sleepily.
"Hutchin! I need you to come with me. I forgot Mother's necklace in the cavern."
"What? Can't you get it tomorrow?" They were heading there first thing in the morning.
"I can't! Those monsters, they'll eat it!" The Gorons weren't the only creatures to eat rocks and fine jewels. "Father will kill me if I lose it." Their mom passed away last year, she gave her daughter her necklace. "Please Hutchin! I'm leaving with or without you." Ellasia whispered desperately. Their father didn't know she took it with her.
"Fine." He said sleepily. He reluctantly gets up. "Let's go."
Link was getting a headache. He was dying to sleep, but couldn't. He heard Gisella snoring, he was jealous. Unfortunately, her grandma was wide awake and was still talking.
"You Hylians. You never listen to your elders. Those kids went to a cave they never been before, they should have asked their boss to be a escort. We seem grouchy, but are often reasonable. Oh my." She turned the page. "We'll finish this later." She closes the book to Link's relief. His relief was short lived when she started talking about her childhood. "Since we're still awake, I'm gonna tell you about the time I met my best friend. She was a goron like myself..."
Link wanted to bang his head. This was going to be a looonnnnggg night.