A smooth stone caught Link's eye. It sat near a small dent in the ground that likely held water at some point. He bent and picked it up, adding it to the ones he was already carrying. Satisfied with had he'd gathered, Link turned and made his way back to the campfire.

Everyone was silent as he created a rock circle around the flames. They'd left Lurelin the day before and were now on their second day of traveling to Death Mountain, well over halfway there. They hadn't expected that the land between Lurelin and the volcano would be so barren. They were practically back in the wasteland now.

Link stepped away from his handiwork, grinning down at the neat circle. He sat down with the others, and Ghirahim got up to cook the meat they'd brought. No one spoke. Midna tugged at a tuft of dry, dead grass. Damien and Linebeck ignored the others, sitting the furthest away. Ever since leaving Lurelin, they'd been a bit livelier. Linebeck had made the offer to create Link some new clothes when he got the chance, since Link's current clothes were starting to fall apart, having been through battle and exploration.

And so, the first day of travel was cheerful, everyone's spirits lifted by the day of rest and relaxation. The mood only became somber as they were led back into the wasteland, spotting old ruins of what looked to be small towns, and having run into small groups of hostile bokoblins.

The heat of the wasteland, having been forgotten, returned and dampened their spirits. Midna hid in the shade, sometimes melting into the shadows to cool down. Ghirahim was adamant about adapting to the heat, and even shadow boxed in full, burning daylight. Damien kept busy with carving statues or reading, and Linebeck fiddled with whatever projects he was working on. When asked about it, he admitted that he was almost finished with four more tools, and showed off one of them, looking to be a spear of sorts.

Ghirahim cut up the meat once it was done and handed everyone their lunch. Link poked at it and ate it slowly, making sure he was the last one done. He smothered the flames with some dirt and stared around the wasteland. Shading his eyes with a hand, Link could see Hyrule City in the distance. How long had it been after that tournament? Midna called for him to get back on the wagon, and he turned and clambered back on, and they were back to moving along the path.

"Death Mountain is a volcano," Ghirahim said, sitting on the floor of the wagon. "The heat will most likely kill us if we're unprepared. Buying a surplus of fireproof elixirs is the only way to survive if we don't want to buy bulky armor." Ghirahim jabbed at finger at Link. "I dunno what you'll have to deal with."

"I think he'll be fine," Linebeck interjected. "His temperature regulation should save him. I don't think that a potion would work on him the way it works on us."

"I can make some potions on the way there," Midna offered. "We've got the equipment, and I picked up some materials in town." She glanced over at Linebeck and Damien. "What did you two do? I didn't see you at all in Lurelin."

Damien stuck his tongue out. "None of your business."

"Well, I can tell that you both got some new earrings. Other than that, nothing. I won't pry."

"You already are," Linebeck muttered. "But thanks. Anyways. Aren't the Gorons a touchy-feely bunch?"

"Yeah, they're a very friendly bunch. If you tell them about your contact avoidance, they'll be fine with it. You're going to have to come with us anyways."

Link sighed loud enough to get everyone else's attention. "What?" Ghirahim asked, his voice harsh.

Link flinched. "Sorry. Didn't mean to be so loud." He crossed his arms and peered out at the wasteland. "What do you think Zelda and the Sheikah are doing? Her note didn't say anything about the progress with the fight against the Yiga. And I wonder why she sent people to watch us."

"She's probably nervous that her precious hero might get killed," muttered Linebeck, a surprising amount of venom lining his words. "Let's hurry up and get this last pendant and then the Master Sword and finally ask her what the hell is going on. She still hasn't mentioned what it is that the Yiga want, has she?"

Link frowned. "She mentioned something about them having to do something with some kind of evil... we know they want to kill Zelda and destroy the Sheikah and Hyrule, right?"

"What do we need the Master Sword for, then?" Damien asked. Ghirahim's eyes widened, and he nodded in agreement. "Isn't it explicitly for sealing away evil? Like, evil, evil? Not just bad dudes? What's the point of getting the Master Sword? We already know you're the hero since you have the Triforce of Courage."

Link clenched his fists. "I... What if the Yiga are planning to use some kind of evil like that? Maybe Zelda thinks that we'll need the Master Sword at some point, if not right now."

"Perhaps," Midna sighed, cracking her neck. "Maybe she wants us to wipe out the monsters. Either way, she should tell us after Link gets the sword."

"Let's talk about something more fun," Ghirahim declared, crossing his arms behind his head. "At this point, I don't really care if Link gets the sword or not. He can kick ass almost as well as I do with a sword."

"He's got other skills," Linebeck muttered. "For one, he's more durable than the rest of us. Aside from his robotic advantages, he's skilled and perfect for the role of hero. I don't really care what he ends up doing, though. I'm just in this for whatever rewards I get."

"No surprise there," Ghirahim sighed. "Your interest in the tournament prize is what got us involved in all of this anyways. I personally want my memories back and to become the best swordsman around. Of course, I don't have far to go to achieve that latter goal. The memory goal is shared by all of us, right?"

"I don't want my damn memories back," Linebeck growled. "You guys can go ahead and leave me out of that one."

"I want my memories back more than the rest of you combined," declared Midna, arms crossed. "I'm from a whole different dimension- my memories are probably the most interesting out of the rest of you losers. Even you, Link. The memories of a hero should be cool, but I bet they get boring. I can do magic and shit; Link can just swing around a cool sword." She glanced sidelong at Ghirahim. "I'll bet your memories are cooler than Link's, too."

"No question about that," he sighed with a nod. Link rolled his eyes, and Ghirahim scoffed. "Don't give us that look! You're just a robot. For all we know, you were alive for, like, a few months in order to be the hero."

Damien snickered. "That'd be funny. You get your memories back and it's all just a week. Hell, maybe it was just a few days."

"You guys suck. I bet I've got some really cool memories."

Once at the base of Death Mountain, Midna halted the mechanical horses and the others set up another campfire. Night fell, chasing away the day's heat. Link huddled by the fire, helping Ghirahim make a meager dinner. Midna paced and stretched, keeping watch for monsters. A bold bokoblin snuck close to the wagons, but Midna thrust her spear through its chest before it got too close. Damien was carving something out of his remaining wood, and Linebeck was finishing up his newest projects.

They ate a small meal halfway through the night and went back to what they had been doing. Ghirahim polished his sword while Link watched, taking mental notes. "Hey, you two." The two of them looked up at the sound of Damien's voice. The carpenter held out a pair of wood objects. Link took one and recognized it as a wooden sword, albeit hastily and crudely made. "You had some trouble back in that music hall, yeah? You should get more practice in."

Ghirahim looked his sword over and shot a glance at Link. "Sounds like a good idea." They trudged out to the fire, facing each other from a few yards away. Midna paused in her patrolling to watch and Damien sat at the edge of one of the wagons; Linebeck was apparently still busy. Link inhaled slowly and lunged at Ghirahim. The demon swiftly brought up his sword to block the attack and parried, aiming for a blow to Link's shoulder. It was dodged and Link batted away a second attack.

They kicked up dust as they moved around, and Link blinked rapidly to keep it from irritating his eyes. Ghirahim seemed to have no issue with the dust and flung a number of daggers Link's way. They ended stuck in the wooden blade and disappeared. Link blocked or dodged volley after volley of knives, Ghirahim summoning then faster and faster each time, his eyes locked on Link and catching every little movement. At one point, Link managed to snatch one of the daggers out of the air and flung it back at his opponent. Ghirahim cursed and slashed at it, causing it to shatter as if it were glass. "You're getting cocky," he hissed, halting the knifes and sprinting back towards Link.

The moved around the campfire as they fought, sometimes coming dangerously close to the flames. Link searched for an opening- whenever one showed up, it always closed too fast for him to move. That, or it would be too risky to attack. Finally, Link gritted his teeth and stomped on Ghirahim's foot. His sparring partner stumbled for a moment, hissing in pain, and it was enough time to allow Link to swing and give him a solid smack on the jaw. Ghirahim stumbled back, holding a hand to what would most certainly end up being a bruise. He glared furiously at Link, but kept his mouth shut.

"Link wins that round," Midna declared. "I'd fight the winner, but I don't think I'd stand a chance. Damien?"

"I'd do better in a hand-to-hand match."

"I'll try that," Link admitted, setting his sword down. Damien shrugged and got up.

As it turned out, offering to spar using hand-to-hand combat with Damien was a mistake. The carpenter had him on the ground and cursing a growing ache in his side in five seconds flat. "Maybe stick to swordsmanship," Damien said, the smile unmistakable in his voice. He helped Link back up to his feet and rubbed his shoulder. "Didn't mean to kick you so hard. I'm used to self-defense, so I guess I went overboard."

Link coughed. "You probably would've ruptured something if I were human."

"I mean, you do have organs, they're just well-protected," Damien reminded him.

"Oh, yeah. I forgot."

A collective groan was shared by everyone around Link. "You need to realize that that means there's something wrong with you," snapped Linebeck, hopping off the wagon with a few items in his arms. "You'd think that somewhere with all that information in your head, there'd be something about how robots shouldn't have living human organs."

Midna tilted her head to the side. "I take it you're done with those projects of yours?"

Linebeck nodded, dropping his things on the ground. "Mhm. All four of them."

"You work too fast," Ghirahim mumbled, still rubbing at his jaw. "Is any of that for me?"

"Nope. You get nothing. With these, I've almost used all of the stolen blueprints, not counting the ones I took from Kakariko."

"You stole Sheikah blueprints in Kakariko, too?" Link stared at Linebeck, astounded and a bit disappointed. "You're lucky they haven't hunted you down and arrested you."

"This isn't my first time breaking the law," Linebeck retorted, leaving Link to desperately hope that he was joking. "Anyways, Midna." He crouched down and withdrew what he'd shown them earlier, looking to be a spear. "This is yours."

Midna took it from his hands and inspected it closely, frowning. "There's no spearhead."

Linebeck sidled over and pointed at a thin wire suspended a few inches from the shaft. "Slip one of your hands under that," he instructed. "And then put your other hand here." He pointed at the end of the wire, connected to the shaft by a circular section. Something looking like a trigger protruded out from the opposite side of the spear's shaft.

Now holding it the correct way, Midna held the spear out. She flicked the trigger and the wire snapped down, the parts it was connected with slipping down at an angle. The wire pulled on something up in the spearhead, and three thin sections fell and folded down, pointed straight out from the spear. Neon blue blades appeared on them, much like Link's sword. In the middle of where the sections connected to the spear was a small circular opening, where shimmering blue flames erupted from. Midna yelped and held the spear away from her body, expecting those flames to shoot out, but they instead remained in a tall teardrop-like shape, slightly quivering. Midna swung the spear around. The flame-like spearhead barely shifted.

"Oh, good, it works," Linebeck exclaimed. "That spearhead is made of the same material as the blades, but since it's not constrained to any material, it shoots from its origin like fire. Here, lower it..." Midna tentatively lowered the spear, and Linebeck slowly moved his hand through the spearhead. It allowed his hand through, shifting almost like water. He then poked the tip, which didn't change. "You can really only hurt people with the tip, but the other blades will also do damage. You can tweak their angle with the wire here." He lifted the wire just a little, and the blades slightly angled up and closer to the flame. "Cool, huh? The trigger with snap the wire to the extremes, either deactivating the spear or pulling the blades out as much as they can go. You'd have to change the blade angles manually."

Midna shakily deactivated the spear. "This is... How have we never seen Sheikah warriors using these?"

"Who knows?" Linebeck mused. "I know they have plenty of the odd materials, too. Maybe it's because they have no way to power it- no, that's not it... I should ask Robbie or Purah if I run into them again. Doubtful, since they seemed busy in Kakariko..."

"What else did you make?" Link asked, walking over, peering at the pile. "Looks like more than four things."

"I was able to make multiple of one of them."

Link rolled his eyes. "You're extremely competent, we know."

"Thank you for recognizing my talent. Two of the projects here are for you." Linebeck kicked at the pile, dispersing some of the objects. He bent over and picked up one of them, tossing it at Link. "You get a new sword."

Link took the folded weapon from Linebeck's hands and looked it over. The bottom portion of the grip had a thin rectangular button, which he cautiously pressed. The blade portion folded out, showing itself to be two different sections, and the usual segmented blade appeared. Unlike his other swords, this had only one edge, but looked sturdier and sharper than the others. It extended a few inches beyond the material it was connected to. The pommel at the end of the handle had a small hole it in, presumably so that he could easily clip it to his belt. Link swung it around a few times, finding it to be pleasantly light. "Thanks."

"These are for you, too," Linebeck muttered, holding out what looked to be gauntlets. Link put away his new sword and took the gauntlets, staring at them. They were made of the same material as the swords, with blue and orange lights shining from cracks in the material. From the looks of it, a gauntlet would cover his entire forearm, while the glove part had a single slab of material that would cover the back of his hand. The rest of the glove was made of a green cloth material. The slab was connected to the rest of the gauntlet by a red rope tied at each end at a hole and run through two more holes in the gauntlet. "Well, try them on," Linebeck suggested, irritation creeping into his voice.

LLink sighed and slipped them on, finding them to be surprisingly cool inside. More wearing them, he could easily tell that the mark on the back of the hands was reminiscent of a Sheikah eye, in blue light. The orange lights were in the section of the armor at his elbow, while the part in between was smooth. "They fit really well," he admitted.

"I know all of your measurements, of course they fit. Those are part of an entire suit of armor, which I should have finished shortly. I'm not making the helmet because it looks stupid, so you can figure out your head armor situation on your own." Linebeck ignored the dirty look that Link shot him, crouching down and picking up the last items, which were now obviously arrows. "These were supposed to be daggers but notes on the blueprints signified that they would work better as arrowheads," he said, holding one up. The handles of the daggers were tied securely to the ends of the arrows. "This button here," he explained, gently pressing one of the lighted sections at the circular end of the handle, "activates the blade." Parts folded out, and a small blade appeared. "The button is really sensitive, and they stay active until the button is pressed again, so it'd be easy enough to activate them while they nocked and pulled far enough back."

"When do I get something?" Ghirahim snapped.

"Well, the only other weapon is essentially a chainsaw, so I doubt you'd want that. If anything, that would suit Damien better. What, do you want me to make you a sword like Link's?"

"I'd like to be unique when compared to him," Ghirahim scoffed. "I'll stick with my own equipment. Be ready for if I commission you to make something, however."

"I don't do commissions for free, so you better have the money to cover what you want when then time comes around."

Damien collected the two training swords and peered around. "Will we do another sparring match? Link? Ghirahim? Rematch?"

Link shook his head. "No, I'm good for tonight."

Ghirahim snatched one of the swords from Damien and swung it around a bit. His pointed the tip of the crude blade at Linebeck. "How about we have a little sparring match? I'd like to see just how pathetic you are."

"You don't need to fight me to figure that stuff out," Linebeck muttered. "I'd rather not." He strode past Ghirahim and Damien, dropping his new arrows into the wagon.

He turned, only to have the other sword shoved in his hands. "Just one round," Ghirahim insisted. "I promise not to break any of your bones."

Linebeck scowled but took the sword. "Fine. One round." He gripped the handle with two hands and positioned himself across from Ghirahim. Link watched from the wagon, and Midna crossed her arms with an amused expression. Linebeck repeatedly shifted his grip on his sword, frowning at it. He seemed uncomfortable with the amount of space it allowed for his hands.

"And... we start!" Ghirahim shouted, startling Linebeck. He sprinted at him before he had to chance to properly ready himself, and the engineer barely had time to bring up his sword and block Ghirahim's attack. The force behind the blow knocked his sword aside, and Ghirahim struck him on the shoulder. Linebeck cursed loudly and swung at Ghirahim who easily dodged it with a playful flourish.

Fury kept Linebeck going while Ghirahim practically danced around him, dodging every wild attack. Linebeck hissed as Ghirahim landed a blow on his neck, and stumbled back. Ghirahim smirked, holding his sword up defensively, and ran at him again when Linebeck didn't attack. Finally, Midna called the match off once Linebeck seemed liable to whip out his knife and stab Ghirahim. Tossing his sword back to Damien, Ghirahim ran a hand through his hair. "I've experienced better resistance from a straw dummy. Still, I'd say your reflexes may be better."

Linebeck trembled where he stood, his sword still tight in his grip. He glared at the back of Ghirahim's head. With a frustrated roar, Linebeck flung the sword at Ghirahim with all his strength, and the carved wood slammed into the back of Ghirahim's head with a sharp crack. The demon stumbled forward, falling to his knees, and brought his hands up to the back of his head once blood started to ooze into his hair.

Damien had to hold Ghirahim back when he whipped around and tried to lunge at Linebeck again. The engineer rolled his eyes and stumbled past him. "Fair's fair," he muttered, then ducked his head and added, "Sorry. I'll find you something for that. Do we have any ice?"

"There's some in the last carriage," Midna shouted. She paused, then looked over at Damien. "You should probably go and help him. I'll deal with Ghirahim."

Damien nodded and clambered into the wagons. Link scooted to the side to let him pass and peered down at Ghirahim, who seemed to have considerably calmed down. "You didn't need to actually hurt him."

Ghirahim shrugged. "Yeah, I know, and he didn't have to hurt me, either. He doesn't have much talent with a sword, so I guess I took advantage of him, and he, in turn, didn't properly handle his frustration. Midna, you wanna test out that spear of yours?"

"No, not now. We should all get some rest. Link, get Ghirahim a bandage for the back of his head. I'll put out the fire and all that."

Most everyone slept while Midna and Linebeck stayed up to make copious amounts of fireproof potions. "You don't need to worry about the lizards; they're already dead," Midna muttered, setting out the materials and pointing at the jar of fireproof lizards. "Just help by handing me ingredients, okay?"

"Why do you throw the whole lizard in? Don't you just need the scales?" Linebeck opened the jar and tugged one of the dead lizards out. "Seems like a waste to throw the whole thing in. Why not just skin it? The scales have the fireproof quality-"

Midna snatched the lizard from his hand and tossed it in the pot. "Don't question it. Besides, what would we do with a skinned lizard?"

"I dunno. I wouldn't mind cutting it open and poking around in it."

"Weirdo," Midna muttered, tossing in other ingredients. "How are your bruises?"

"Much better, actually. The ice really helps. I'm gonna be stuck with these for ages, though..." Linebeck crossed his arms, sitting back as Midna worked on the potions. "Sometimes I think about having Ghirahim teach me to properly use a sword, but then I think about how much time would be lost from working on projects and such. I'm pretty happy sticking with the option of you lot protecting me."

"You've got your knife and now your bow," Midna mused. She held her hands over the potion, speeding up the process with ambiguous magic, as usual. "It's better than when we first woke up. Those monsters we ran into that first night really gave us hell, huh? Good thing Ghirahim and I found those broken pipes. They made good swords, huh?"

"And I woke up with my knife," Linebeck muttered. "That's the only thing we woke up with that wasn't clothing or anything else connected to us, right?"

"Yeah. And that building we were in was sunken a few feet into the surrounding junkyard. Looked pretty worn-down, so I wonder what we were doing there."

"Bellum's theory is that we were researching what happened 200 years ago."

Halfway through filling a bottle with potion, Midna paused. "That's... an interesting theory. Then how did we get our memories wiped? Old tech?"

"Maybe not." Linebeck shrugged. He paused, glancing to his side. Midna kept quiet. If Bellum was talking, it was best that she didn't accidentally interrupt. "Bellum wonders if maybe we'd gotten really close to the truth and that we were attacked and had our memories wiped."

Midna grimaced. "Bit of a dark theory, but if so, why weren't we just killed?"

"Hmm. Good point." Linebeck peered at the thick gray liquid in the pot and backed off as Midna filled the bottle. "Not looking forward to drinking this stuff."

"Oh, yeah, I heard it tastes awful. Leaves a cold feeling down your throat and everything. Thanks for your help."

"I didn't do anything," Linebeck mumbled glancing out the side of the wagon. "But I'll take the appreciation."

Midna lined up almost forty potions in the morning and divvied then up among the group. Link inspected the potions as everyone else took their share, pulling the cap off of one bottle and sniffing the contents. An acrid stench filled his nose, and Link struggled to re-seal the bottle as he coughed. "Goddesses, this smells like poison. You have to drink this?"

"I've had this before," Damien muttered. "It's horrible, like some kind of nasty medicine. It works wonders, though. Still, it's probably the worst variation of potion." Damien glared at his pile of potions and sighed. "Well, we've gotta choke 'em down anyways. I'd rather not burn to death once we cross the threshold halfway up Death Mountain."

There was an outpost at the foot of the mountain- it was deserted, looking to be a small town of stone buildings. They left the wagons behind one of the larger buildings and brought with them the equipment they knew wouldn't burn. Before they set off, Ghirahim slowly asked, "What about our clothes? Would that burn?"

A silence fell over the group. Nearly a minute passed, and Damien cleared his throat. "I've been here a few times- clothes only burn if you literally get set on fire."

A relived sigh was shared by everyone, and they were off, trudging up the mountain path. It was steep, but stairs were carved into the stone to make the journey easier. Short metal fences were at the edge of the path, but they weren't there to keep travelers on the trail. Anyone was allowed to go off the path and explore as much of the mountain as they wanted, at their own risk. Midna made a point to spear and collect any fireproof lizards they managed to come across.

The heat intensified as they made their way up the path, and Link stopped with the group as they downed their first potion. Based off of their reactions- Ghirahim gagging and panting like a dog, Midna coughing furiously, Damien crouching by the edge of the path, looking like he was going to vomit, and Linebeck prompting throwing his empty bottle back down the path with a long string of expletives- Link was glad that he didn't need to drink the fireproof potions. Instead, he waited until everyone had most likely gotten the taste out of their mouths before continuing.

The first sign of intense heat was the rising temperature, of course. The air became thick with heat, making it slowly harder to breathe. Other monsters became visible. Most of them red and brown colored to match the landscape. What caught Link's eye were the lizalfos that would spontaneously breathe fire. No civilized creatures were seen as they trudged up the mountain but passed a sign that told them they were on the right track and that they were only a few miles from Goron City.

The path leveled out, and a sign let them know that it was now just a straight shot to the city. Link amused himself by kicking a rock along the way. A few times he lost track of it and it ended up behind him, but Midna situated herself behind him and would kick the rock back in front. Linebeck and Damien were the farthest in the back, talking in hushed tones. Ghirahim hummed to himself, gazing around at the cliffs that rose up at the edge of the path. Goron City was supposed to be located in a cavern where the ceiling opened up to the sky, allowing natural light. Link assumed that it would then be in one of the smaller peaks of Death Mountain.

It was midday when they needed to stop for both a quick meal and for the humans of the group to choke down another potion. Link took his time eating his apple. Choosing to eat before taking the second potion was probably a good idea for everyone except Damien, who seemed to have a weak stomach, once again retching at the side of the path. Link offered a sympathetic smile at them all, but it didn't seem to help. Ghirahim even scowled at him.

Link's body cooled itself to battle the oppressive heat all around him. He curiously told Midna to touch the back of his neck, and she reported that it had felt like touching ice. "You're lucky," she sighed. "The potions keep us from bursting into flame and all of that, but it doesn't do very much against the actual heat."

"I have ice arrows," Linebeck suddenly mused, like he'd just realized it. He dug through his quivered and handed a few out. Link stared at the light-blue arrowheads, shaped to look like three-sided snowflakes. They were made of a material that would burst apart if hit hard enough and freeze what was near it. Link took one for himself, hoping to lessen the strain on his body's temperature regulation system.

They reached the entrance to Goron City soon after noon, and a friendly Goron guard waved them over. Link was comforted by the sight of the Goron, despite the armor and heavy-looking weapon he carried. The Gorons were the strangest of the main races of Hyrule, being large, round creatures with rocks on their backs, mostly just clothed in a simple loincloth. (Link doubted they actually had anything to cover up, the Gorons seemed to be a very androgynous race, choosing male pronouns and titles as their culture was very focused on brotherly bonds.)

"Hello," Link said, greeting the Goron with a friendly smile. "Please tell me we've reached Goron City. We don't really want to keep going through this mountain."

The Goron beamed. "Don't worry, you're here. We've been expectin' ya, too! Got you five a few rooms at our inn and everythin', perfect for a bunch of little guys like you. We don't get many Hylian visitors, but we always make sure to be ready!"

There wasn't time for any kind of confusion; the Goron herded the five of them through the tunnel into Goron City. The immediate hospitality would've been suspicious if it had been from anyone but the Gorons, but the Gorons were famous for being a kind tribe, despite not being the brightest. It was a far cry from Revali's cold introductions or the strained hospitality of Zora's Domain.

The tunnel opened into Goron City, which was enclosed in a massive dome of rock and crystal that opened up to the sky at the top. Sunlight filtered in, and lamps and pools of lava lit the city, illuminating stone and iron huts. The entire city was on a slight incline, leading up to a larger stone hut up against a cliff with numerous angular carvings in the rock. Zora's Domain's palace-like town showed off beautiful arches and silver that oozed elegance, Rito Village's suspended huts and bridges and detailed clothes echoed past tradition and allowed for change, while Goron City was reminiscent of every aspect of the Goron's lifestyle. The Goron guard gave them a moment to gape, then led them to the inn.

They crossed metal bridges that sat over bubbling lava and walked past smithies and shops and pottery dens and Link found himself much familiar with their culture than the others' despite having only been there a few minutes. Midna was staring in awe, and he could see that Ghirahim was awkwardly glancing around. Linebeck had his goggles up over his eyes, looking extraordinarily uncomfortably, his hand held by Damien, who looked more or less indifferent to his surroundings.

None of the other Gorons greeted them but offered up friendly grins and waves. Other guards were stationed at by the paths, wearing similar iron and steel armor and each carrying what looked to be a heavy, metal club. Everything looked calm and peaceful, but Link started noticing banged-up weapons and armor the further into the city they got. A few Gorons were seen rubbing bruises or other wounds. "Was there a battle recently?" Link asked, looking up at their guide.

"You'll have to ask Daruk or Darunia about that when they get back."

"Where are they now?" Ghirahim demanded, arms crossed.

"They're busy. We're almost at the inn, now. You don't need to pay anything while you're here."

The inn was large and a bit cooler than the rest of the city. The Goron guard showed them to their room and left with a cheery farewell. "Didn't even give us his name," Midna muttered, tossing her bag on the slab of rock that was apparently a bed.

Link kicked at his rock. "This is what we have?"

"Cloth and anything similar would burn up, maybe," Linebeck said. "Though I don't know what the deal with our clothes and bags is."

"I think it's just not hot enough to burn it," Damien explained. "I'd appreciate a mattress, though."

Ghirahim shrugged. "If you ask me, it shouldn't be that bad. Linebeck, you should be used to this kind of stuff since you seem to pass out on the floor so often."

Linebeck tugged his goggles off and rolled his eyes. "I'm going to check out the city."

"I'll come with," Damien quickly added.

"Can I come, too? I really want to check this place out." Link smiled at Linebeck and Damien, trying not to come off as creepy or like he was begging.

"They'll consider it," Bellum snapped, appearing right in front of Link and startling him. "Give them a few minutes."

"I almost forgot about you," Link breathed. "Sorry."

"Don't apologize, only one person can actually talk to me. Before you showed up, obviously." Bellum glanced back at Linebeck and Damien, then at Midna and Ghirahim. "I doubt you lot will have any problem with sleeping on rocks since you guys have had to deal with that rickety wagon these past few weeks."

"It'll be a strange reprise," Link admitted. "I'd still rather have an actual bed."