There was nobody around outside when Link left the sanctuary. He breathed a sigh of relief: being seen leaving the Sanctuary wouldn't have been good at all, and yet he'd obviously had to risk it since he needed to go get that sword for the Princess.

He walked quickly, eager to put some distance between himself and Princess Zelda's hiding place. He headed West towards Kakariko and thus, towards Sahasrahla's home, but his steps slowed when he spotted Pico Pond a little way ahead.

Pico Pond was a popular swimming spot located close to the crossroads between the East to West road that linked the Sanctuary to Kakariko and the Northern Road that led to the path to Death Mountain.

Or at least, Pico Pond was usually popular. Today, there was still nobody around, which was good news for Link: nobody had seen him leave the Sanctuary, and nobody had so far even seen from which direction he came. The thing was, if he kept going straight towards Kakariko and someone did spot him, it would still be easy to guess where he'd come from. The Sanctuary was the next point of interest on the road he was on, after all.

He decided to make use of the bit of luck that was not having been seen yet to hide his tracks, so to speak. Rather than going straight to Kakariko, he turned right when he reached Pico pond, heading North towards the path to Death Mountain. If his luck held, nobody would see him until he doubled back to the southwest and towards Kakariko, and whoever saw him first would think he had come from the mountain itself, or maybe from the northern part of the Lost Woods.

It was a detour, but if he walked fast, he could reach the cluster of trees that was about halfway from the pond to the tunnel up the mountain in less than an hour. If it meant that nobody guessed the Princess was at the Sanctuary, he thought it was worth it.

Just to make sure, and not at all because he was seizing the first excuse he'd come up with to talk to the Princess, he checked in as he walked.

"Princess?" he called out with his mind. "Nobody's seen me yet so I'm heading North first. I'm hoping to make it look like I came from Death Mountain or the Northern Lost Woods. We can afford a bit of time, right?"

Her voice came into his mind as if she were right next to him, talking softly into his ear. He gasped and his heart started hammering.

"I think Aghanim can do no more than look for me for now, so caution is absolutely worth a delay. Be careful, Link!"

A shudder ran through him and he swallowed back a whimper. "Yes, Princess! I will be, please don't worry! And please, stay safe!"

"I am safe for now, thanks to you."

The contact cut then, and Link's feet stopped moving, leaving him standing in the tall grass of the plain, breathing hard.

It really felt as if the Princess, Princess Zelda herself, THE Princess Zelda, the very avatar of Nayru's giftof love and wisdom to Hyrule, the impossibly beautiful and incredibly kind and amazingly smart Princess Zelda, was whispering in his ear, her voice filling his head with light and the feeling of a warm breeze. The illusion was made even stronger, somehow, by the fact she was not within his sight.

He swallowed. This would not do, he HAD to get used to this, he couldn't lose all his wits each time they needed to communicate. He forced his feet to move again, faster and faster until he was nearly running.

He got to the trees he'd been aiming for in good time, but he was drenched in sweat. The thought occurred to him that between that and having been in the sewers for a while, he probably really reeked… hopefully Sahasrahla wouldn't mind too much. He'd try to stay downwind.

He still hadn't seen anyone. Even though that was good news, it was starting to feel pretty strange. It was a nice day out, and presumably, most people didn't know what was going on since Aghanim wasn't likely to tell the general population that he was trying to let Ganon loose in Hyrule.

Link couldn't remember being out here on a nice day and not seeing anyone splashing around in Pico Pond or having a picnic in the area, or just enjoying the sunshine. He suddenly also wondered whether it was normal for the Sanctuary not to have any visitor at all this time of day. He honestly had no idea, his uncle hadn't been the type to go there too much and by extension, neither was Link.

Thinking about his uncle in the past tense caused a pang in his very soul. He steeled himself against it: his uncle himself had asked him to save the Princess, had used his last breath to do it. Link couldn't desecrate Sir Gedion's memory by allowing grief to paralyze him and to make him fail to do what was needed.

He wiped his eyes and took a deep breath, then turned around as planned while in the middle of the small cluster of trees and started walking towards Kakariko. He walked quicker than his normal pace, nearly breaking into a run again, this time out of growing concern for the folks at the village: some of them should have been out here, the whole area being so empty wasn't right.

He stopped when he got to the Fortune Teller House that sat just North of the village. He didn't believe in fortunes, but Kaygee, the local fortune teller, was also always really well informed on everything going on.

Figuring it couldn't hurt and might allow him to find out if anything really was happening, he walked up to the house's door, knocked to announce himself and went in.

He squinted in the relative darkness. The place was staged to look mysterious and magical, and Kaygee had always held that the best way to achieve that was to block out all the light from outside and only light a few scented candles, and to have all dark, heavy furnishings and drapes.

Kaygee was at his usual post, at his table. He was, as usual, gazing very seriously into his crystal ball while running his hands over it in intricate patterns. Link knew him to be a skinny man of about thirty, with black hair and dark blue eyes, but in his work clothes as he was now, you couldn't tell any of that: he wore an oversized purple robe with a large hood that covered most of his face, hair and eyes included.

He turned his head towards Link, his body remaining as it had been, facing his crystal ball. This was part of the show, much like the clothes and the décor. Link raised an eyebrow at him.

Kaygee sagged and sighed when he saw who was there.

"Hey Link," he said. "So much for hoping for an actual customer." He stopped rubbing the crystal ball, leaned back in his chair to stretch, causing the hood to fall back, and suddenly looked ill. "Urgh!" He pinched his nose. "Where in Din's armpits have you been?"

Link winced: so he really did reek, enough for it to be disgusting even a few paces away. "Hi Kaygee," he said. "Sorry about the smell. I was just wondering if there was anything going on? Seems really quiet around the pond."

Kaygee raised an eyebrow. "You mean apart from how you supposedly went crazy and kidnapped the Princess?" he asked. "I should ask YOU for what's going on. Why do you smell like a sweaty outhouse? I HOPE you didn't actually kidnap the Princess like that! But then what's gotten into the King and Lord Aghanim?"

"Of course I didn't kidnap the Princess!" Link said vehemently. "But are you saying everyone is hiding because they're afraid of ME?" he asked.

That was disturbing on many levels. For one, he couldn't picture anyone being scared of him. He was pretty good at fighting, including with weapons, but he wasn't SCARY. Or at least he had never thought that he might be. And for another thing, people in Kakariko knew him. He wouldn't have expected anyone to fall for Aghanim's lies about him. The thought that they had was downright hurtful.

"Not everyone," Kaygee said with a sigh. "Just some of them. But the whole place is upside down, there's some kind of illness going around and anyone who's not sick is busy nursing someone who is."

Link's eyes widened, insult to his character completely illness going through the whole village?

"That's awful!" he said. "How many are sick?" An unwelcomed thought suddenly occurred to him: Sahasrahla was old, and catching ill could really mean trouble for him. "Is Gramps ok?"

"Old Sahasrahla?" Kaygee said. "No idea. So do you know who did kidnap the Princess?" he asked.

"Nobody," Link spat. "Aghanim's a traitor." He felt his upper lip curl up. "He killed the King! And he was going to sacrifice the Princess to Ganon! I helped her escape because all the actual guards are under some kind of spell! And... mmmh!"

Kaygee had jumped from his chair and muzzled Link, one hand on his mouth and the other on the back of his head.

"I was really hoping I was imagining things," Kaygee muttered. "Look, shut up. Anyone you tell about this is in danger. SHUT. UP. Don't tell ANYONE else. Can you do that?"

Link scowled at him, but nodded.

Kaygee let go and took a step back, pinching his nose with one of his once again free hands. "Good. Goddess! You stink!"

Link flushed and took a step back too. "Sorry," he muttered.

Kaygee rolled his eyes but graced him with a small smile. "I'll live, don't fret so much. Okay, listen. This morning, I saw Aghanim bowing to Ganon, and then I saw you talking to Sahasrahla, showing him some kind of green pendant. I figured it was the hangover talking, but... maybe not."

Link stared at him and at the crystal ball in turn. The idea that Kaygee would have had a hangover was definitely not shocking, the man really liked his wine. But had he just implied his crystal ball was not just for show? "You actually see stuff in there?" he asked, pointing at the ball that was the centerpiece of the shop.

Kaygee grunted. "All the Din blastedtime, and it's never anything anyone wants to know or cares about, so I STILL have to just guess what my customers actually want to hear."

Link rolled his eyes. "Well, I don't have a pendant and I'm off to see Gramps now. Does that mean what you see isn't reliable?"

"Nooo," Kaygee replied with a slight frown, drawing the word out in annoyance. "It means that you're going to talk to him again later WITH a pendant. Obviously. Anyway, shoo! Try and see if you can talk anyone who's not sick into coming to get a fortune, would you? And DON'T TELL THEM ABOUT AGHANIM! Don't tell them about anything!"

"I got to tell Gramps," Link said. "And Gran is probably going to be there too. But ok, I won't tell anyone else. You won't either, right?"

Kaygee let out a long suffering sigh and pointedly rolled his eyes at Link. "Again, OBVIOUSLY," he said.

Link nodded and let himself out.

Kakariko was very much a second home to Link: he'd gone to school here, and had several friends who still lived here, in addition to Sahasrahla having basically adopted him as an additional grandkid to the ones he already had. The result was that he dropped by here most of the time he had a day off.

His uncle had often come along. Link's feet stopped at the thought and the world blurred. He took a deep breath, wiped his eyes, and marched on. He was NOT going to allow his uncle to have died for nothing, no more than Yavvo or Sir Tagon. He was going to help the Princess save Hyrule, and the first step was talking to Gramps. Easy peasy.

Sahasrahla's house was right by the North Entrance to the village, on the right. Link directed his feet straight there, trying to ignore how eerily quiet the village was. He caught one villager out of the corner of his eyes, not someone he knew well but he was pretty sure his name was Pogar. Before Link could say hi or wave, the man took off running.

Link frowned after him. Was Kaygee right? Did some people actually think he'd gone crazy and kidnapped the Princess? Even if you put aside the fact he'd never do that, why would anyone think he would even have had a chance of pulling it off?

To be fair, he HAD pulled it off, sort of, but it was only because the guards were under a spell making them lose most of their skills and brains. Howanyone could believe Link would have managed to get inside the castle and kidnap the Princess herself, if they didn't knowthe guards and knights had been severely impaired, was beyond him.

He sighed. Pointless wonderings. Idle thoughts, to be chased away for now. He needed to focus.

He knocked at the door to Sahasrahla's House.

"One moment!" A voice came from inside.

Link smiled in spite of everything else going on: that was Ezifa, Sahasrahla's wife and Link's adopted Grandma, and she sounded perfectly fine. The door opened a few seconds later on the woman herself.

Ezifa's eyes widened and her heart skipped a beat when she saw who was at the door. The silly boy was just standing there, right in the open. Had he not seen the wanted signs? She supposed it was entirely possible since he'd probably been on the road. And in the sewers, judging by the stench coming from him.

She didn't waste any time asking. She grabbed his arm, yanked him inside (eliciting a shocked yelp) and reached around him to close the door again. She then grabbed his shoulders and locked eyes with him.

Goddess, he stank. She forced herself to ignore it.

"Did anyone see you?" she asked hurriedly.

"I think Pogar might have?" Link replied. "It's ok, it's fine if I'm seen HERE."

She huffed. "It's not like we can do anything about it anyway. I'm guessing that idiot Pogar ran off as soon as he saw you?"

Link swallowed. Gran sounded like some kind of war general. "Yeah, he did," he said. "I know Aghanim's been telling people I kidnapped the Princess…"

"Yes, and you are not to tell me anything about what's really happening," she cut him off. "I have no magic whatsoever, Honey, I can't resist a telepath digging in my skull for answers, the only thing I can do is not put the answers there in the first place."

Link swallowed back his explanation and nodded.

There was suddenly a moan from the next room. Link's eyes widened and his head whipped around to look towards the doorway separating the two halves of Sahasrahla's house.

Ezifa let go of his shoulders. "You can look. Pogar's called the guards by now, it doesn't matter who else sees you. They already know you've been spotted in the village."

She walked to stand by the doorway to the other room.

Link followed.

"Don't go in," Ezifa said. "They're miserable enough, they don't need to smell you, too."

Link flushed again. "Sorry about that," he said.

He then looked through the doorway. His heart stopped and his breath caught in his throat.

The room was full of makeshift beds, at least a dozen, crammed nearly on top of each other, and on each bed was one of the villagers, their faces twisted in pain and their bodies shaking with fevers.

Link recognized nearly all of them, ranging between faces he'd seen around the village to actual friends, with acquaintances in between.

Several of them were coughing. Link saw Camil, a little kid who liked to follow Link around and pretend he was a guard in training too, throw up after a violent fit. Camil's baby sister Cazzie was in the next bed, shivering in her sleep, and their parents were in beds on either side of the kids, awake but shivering as well and clearly completely exhausted. Camil's mom tried to move to help when her son threw up, but Kepoga, one of Sahasrahla and Ezifa's sons, suddenly appeared between them and pushed her gently back down to her bed.

"I got it, Zofy. You rest," Kepoga said.

He spotted Link then and cocked his head, then looked at his mother.

"He's not sick," Ezifa said. "I'm guessing he's looking for your father."

Kepoga sighed. "I don't know who Dad told," he said. "Could be someone here yet, but... hopefully not. Most of them aren't super coherent right now. Link, you saw the signs, right? You know what Aghanim is saying about you?"

Link nodded, trying to not let his confusion bother him. How did Gran guess he was looking for Gramps?And what was Kepoga talking about when he said his dad had told something to someone?

"Good enough," Kepoga said. "I know it's all horse..." he snapped his mouth shut.

"It's horseshit," Ezifa completed. "Kepoga, sweetie, you're all grown up now, you can say bad words every now and then. As a treat."

Kepoga chuckled. "Anyway, sorry, but I better get back to it. I'm checking their temperatures again, Mom."

Ezifa nodded, then turned to Link.

"We're taking care of the ones who don't have anyone else to do it, either because the whole family is sick or because the patient doesn't have anyone left in Kakariko."

Link swallowed a hard lump. This was a lot worse than Kaygee had let on, most likely worse than what the fortune teller knew. These people looked like they were dying…

"What's wrong with them?" he asked with a shaky voice.

"We don't know exactly," Ezifa said with a sigh. "Some of us can sense some dark energy in the air... it's our best bet for the cause of this. Everyone's hanging on so far. It looks bad, but they're all stable. Doesn't make it a nice time for them, of course."

Link's jaw clenched. With this many people sick, doctors would normally be sent from the Castle along with medicine. But with Aghanim in charge and caring only about freeing Ganon, that was clearly not going to happen. Chances were that the King hadn't known this was even happening, the information blocked by Aghanim as unimportant and potentially disruptive to his plans, somehow.

He felt his blood boil. People in need, and nobody to help them… it wasn't right. Aghanim was already hurting the Kingdom, well beyond the people he'd taken. Link clenched his fists:the wizard was going to pay for all of it. Link would make sure Princess Zelda had everything she needed to take him down, and if she let him, he'd help as well.

"Come on," Ezifa said. "Kepoga can handle things."

She walked back towards the table and sat down heavily on one of the chairs.

"Now," she resumed. "Don't tell me anything yourself, I already told you I don't want to know more," she said. "But here are the bits that are obvious: you helped the Princess escape, and she's hiding somewhere. And if you're out and about, it's because you're after the Master Sword."

"How…"

"Hush, Honey, you'll end up saying too much if you start talking. It doesn't matter anyway. You're looking for my husband, right?"

Link nodded, eyes wide.

"He's gone into hiding," Ezifa said with a sigh. "A couple of weeks ago, when the first descendant was taken. I can't know where, because again, I have no defense against Aghanim just reading my thoughts." She pointed at her head as she said that. "Saha assured me there was one person in the village who did know where he would be. You're going to have to ask around. Your Gramps is a good judge of character, he won't have picked someone who'd believe the wizard about you, so don't bother with any idiot who thinks you're actually dangerous. Got that, Honey?"

Link nodded again.

"Good. I'm sorry you're mixed up in this, Link. But I know you: you'll find a way to do all right. Good luck, Honey. Visit when you can, would you? Reassure your old Gran?"

"I will!" Link promised.

Ezifa smiled. "Off you go then. Time's a wasting."

"Yes, Mam!" Link declared. He turned to walk out the door, but suddenly turned around again and tackled her softly in a hug. "I'll be fine. Don't worry!"

She snorted. "Now you're just being stupid," she scolded. "You're in danger, Link. You know that, and I know that. But I trust you to take care. So promise to do that, ok?"

"Promise," Link said.

He released her, straightened up and this time, did walk out.