Legends of the Hero of Time

by Ryan-Sinclair

Following the events of Ocarina of Time & Majora's Mask, Link struggles to adapt to a civilian lifestyle. His obsession with his mission leads to him needing to be rescued by Malon. The bond the two develop after helps him accept his new fate. However, his destiny is still uncertain as he must deal with a conniving Ganondorf, an army of Gerudo & the consequences of Zelda's spell.

24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

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[Time: 10:45 A.M. (Late-Morning)]

[Date: Month 8 'Autumn', Day 03, 8th Era]

(Location: Hyrule, Forbidden Forest, Lost Woods - Farolittoral Pit Cave)

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Making their way to the dual stairwells there in the entryway of the Woodwind Temple, Saria took the left one while Fado took the right. Both kids met each other by the door at the top. Glancing back, they saw the Steward Construct making its way over to the entry of the temple where it proceeded to begin cleaning and straightening the rocks from the busted stone slab. Knowing they were on their own, the group carried on. The next door was strange, taking them a minute to figure out it lifted up to open. As soon as they managed to open it, Fado held it until Saria and the fairies went under. Once the others were through, she quickly ducked to get to the otherside as the door swiftly closed behind her.

In the next room, they saw there was an entire outer central-chamber that surrounded the previous. Although this layer was narrow, it led upward and was immense. In fact, upon looking up, the group could see all the way up to the roof. A slope to the left of them had been carved into the wood of the tree and spiraled around the inner chamber they had just come from. There was only a small gap separating it from the outer wall. On the wall were statues with the same bulb-shaped seeds lighting the way.

"This place is almost as big as the Great Deku Tree was." Saria stated.

"Yeah, it's huge." Fado replied as they began walking up the slope to the left of them. "But, didn't that guy-..." She stopped mid-sentence in order to correct herself. "I mean, that construct, it said this place was once a Great Tree. Do you think it was the same species as the Great Deku Tree? Like, it's even in the name… GREAT Deku TREE."

Tessl chimed in with what she knew as well as her own opinion on the matter. "I've heard of Great Trees. I always assumed they were blessed with sapience by the Golden Goddesses, but I didn't see a face."

"Good point." Kaila added.

Ascending the slope, they soon saw a doorway to the right of them, off the path and across the gap. There was a giant square stone that had been intricately carved and specifically placed there for a well-timed jump. However, the door had clearly been boarded up by someone in the past, preventing easy access. Considering they were told they had to make it to the top of the temple, they decided to ignore the door and keep going.

Following another minute of walking, they saw yet another door off to the side. This door wasn't obstructed and also had a square boulder in front to act as a platform for anyone trying to reach the other side. Nonetheless, the group still kept walking as they didn't see the need to stray from their path. Only whenever they got to the end of the second floor did they witness that the door which led into the next area was boarded up the same as that first door they saw. Coming close to it, they could see that it had eight boards with a tremendous amount of nails that had been pounded into them to secure them to the frame and prevent entry. An attempt to remove the wood could be estimated at around an hour or longer.

"Crap…" Fado grunted at their luck. "Should we try that other door?"

When the rest of the party agreed, they descended the slope until they reached the unobstructed door. Since there was a gap between the slanted path and the door, Saria and Fado had to be careful as they jumped to the square boulder. Tessl and Kaila were lucky seeing how they were merely able to float over toward the door. As soon as everyone regrouped, they proceeded to move onward to the next room. They just had to lift the door like the other one, which was a nuisance considering it was rather heavy. Either way, Fado showed her strength by holding it open until the others had ducked under.

Quickly sliding out from beneath the door, it slammed closed behind the girl. This room they could tell had been carved from either a branch or a notch that once extended from the ancient Great Tree. They found themselves on a ledge with a golden pressure switch protruding from the floor and a ladder leading down. Although there was another ledge on the other side, a small pit separated them. There were eight circular platforms in the pit, one of which was raised close to level height. Unlike the rest of the temple, there were also five rectangular openings in the wall above the pit that served as windows to the outside. Sunlight coming through the hole in the top of the cavern shone through them.

"Whoa, this place is crazy." Tessl flew toward the windows.

Kaila immediately stopped her sprite sister. "Wait, don't get too close to those windows with that giant bird outside. The last thing we want to do is attract its attention."

Tessl ceased moving toward the window and flew back to Fado, heeding her sister's advice. "Yeah, you're probably right." Sighing, the fairy expressed her sorrow. "I just miss the sunshine so much."

"We'll get plenty of sunlight as soon as we're out of here." Fado told her guardian, assuring her they would see the sun again. "For now, let's just figure out how to get across this pit."

Walking up to the edge, Saria inspected the eight platforms from afar, taking note of the seven that were sunken. "Hmm… Looks like these platforms used to be raised up like the other one."

"Yeah…" Tessl stated as she pointed down. "And I think I see metal cogs beneath them. Perhaps there's a mechanism underneath the platforms that can raise them?"

Glancing over at the golden pressure plate on the ground not that far from them, Fado had an idea. Walking over to it, she acted on suspicion by jumping on it, using her weight to depress it. Sure enough, the switch sunk down into the ground as Fado kept herself balanced on it. They could hear gears turning from beneath them in advance of all eight circular platforms consecutively lifting in height to form a pillar staircase. Seeing her success, the brave kokiri congratulated herself. "Yes! Check it out!"

"You did it!" Saria exclaimed with glee upon seeing a way forward.

However, even while celebrating, the group could hear a ticking sound and felt a rumble beneath their feet. It was strange, yet felt almost as if it were a spring unwinding.

"We should hurry." Fado said as she jumped off the pressure switch, glad that it stayed depressed even without her weight being applied.

Unfortunately, even though Fado and Saria were willing, their guardians remained hesitant. The sprites weren't worried about themselves because they could hover and were capable of flight, instead they were concerned for the kokiri. "Are you sure?" Kaila asked her child. "What if they're not steady enough to cross?" Making a face, she continued with "This place is really old, so I just don't want you getting hurt."

Saria took a moment to contemplate, actually taking her guardian's thoughts into consideration.

In that period of time, Tessl asked "What's that ticking sound?"

Fado shrugged as she walked to the ledge and looked down at the mechanism. Before she could do anything else, she heard the ticking sound stop and saw the gears begin rotating. Seven out of eight of the platforms suddenly descended, returning to their slot in the ground of the pit. Looking behind her, she also witnessed the golden pressure switch popping up like it had been before she had depressed it.

"Oh wow…" Saria lamented after seeing the platforms already back in the ground. "That wasn't very long."

Shaking her head, Fado replied "No, it wasn't. So, we're going to have to move quickly the next time I do it." As she walked back over to the golden pressure switch, she prepared by asking "Are you ready?"

Saria made a face as she looked at not only the distance between the ledge and the first platform, but the distance from platform to platform as well. The girl was nervous she wouldn't be able to make such a long jump several times in a row. Nonetheless, she decided to give it a try since she'd come so far out of her comfort zone already and was making amazing discoveries. "Yeah, let's do this."

Fado jumped up on top of the pressure switch, once again using her body weight to depress the switch. As soon as she sank to the ground and heard the grinding of the gears, she ran forward. "Let's go!" Taking the lead, she quickly approached the edge of the cliff, estimated how much strength to use and then leapt toward the next platform. Thankfully, she made it. "Yes! Wow!" Turning around, she saw Saria in the process of jumping as well. Once the green-haired girl made it too, Fado gave praise for encouragement. "Awesome! Now, come on! Let's not waste any time!"

Hopping up to the next, the blonde-headed kokiri turned around and gave Saria a hand by ensuring she made it. Once they were both up there, they proceeded to the next.

"How much time do you think we have?" Saria asked as she and Fado jumped again.

Kaila, who was flying right behind them, said "Fifteen seconds."

"Let's go faster!" Fado responded as they ran across two equal height platforms where rays of sun shone through the nearby windows. They had completed five and had three more left to go. Although the ticking sound was still active, she began to fear they wouldn't make it and would have to return to the ledge via the ladder in order to try again. Nonetheless, she kept pushing herself as well as her friend. "Come on! We can do this!"

"Ten seconds." Kaila updated the duo.

The next three platforms were much steeper than the previous and would require more time as well as effort. Fado continued to stay in the lead as she jumped over to the next. Saria followed, yet barely made it, having to swing her arms to keep from falling. Considering she made it, she didn't waste anymore time and immediately resumed running in spite of lagging a split second behind. By then, Fado had made it to the seventh platform.

"Five seconds!" Kaila exclaimed as their time neared the end.

Quickly peeking behind her, Fado noticed Saria lagging behind and tried encouraging her to catch up. "Come on, Saria! Don't fall behind!"

"I'm trying!" The green-haired girl hustled as fast as she could to the seventh platform.

"Almost there!" Fado's heart pumped rapidly from being nervous. Jumping from the seventh platform to the eighth, she could see her goal and anxiously hoped she'd make it.

On the other hand, Kaila worried upon seeing Saria was still running across the seventh. "Hurry, Saria!"

"I'm trying!" Saria repeated herself as she ran as fast as she possibly could in advance of leaping to the eighth platform. "I don't think I'm going to make it!" She expressed her fears of the situation. "I think I'm going to have to try it again!"

"You can do it! Don't give up!" Fado shouted as she leapt off the eighth platform and safely landed on the other side of the room.

Saria landed on the eighth platform right when she heard the ticking sound end. Even if she could always try again, her eyes widened and her heart sank in her chest as she feared failing and experiencing a plunge into the pit. Regardless of the scare, out of instinct she continued running. As soon as she reached the edge of the eighth platform, she felt it abruptly begin descending. Somehow she managed to keep her footing and made an attempt to jump to the other ledge where Fado was. Trying her luck, she leapt forward with her arms flailing. Although she could tell she wasn't going to fully make it as her legs had already sunken beneath the required level, her torso slammed against the ledge and she started sliding down. Her hands automatically caught her by grabbing onto the edge.

"Saria!" Kaila yelled at the sight of her child hanging onto a ledge with a twenty foot drop beneath her.

Fado rocketed to her knees, dropping to her chest in order to grab Saria's arms. "I got you!" She said while trying to lift the kokiri to her level.

"Don't let me fall!" Saria shouted as she struggled to use her feet to climb.

"I won't!" Fado yelled back, gritting her teeth as she gradually pulled her kokiri friend up from the ledge using all the strength she could summon. As soon as Saria's chest was up and on the ground, she let go of her arms. To make sure the girl wouldn't fall back into the pit, she grabbed lower. However, this caused her to accidentally grab Saria's butt.

"Hey!" Saria expressed embarrassment.

Fado's cheeks reddened slightly as she pulled her friend up by the rear in advance of grabbing her legs. "Sorry!" Once the green-haired kokiri had both legs over the ledge, Fado let go of her prior to falling backward. "I promise I was just trying to keep you from falling!"

"It's okay…" Saria rolled to her side, but stayed there for a bit to recuperate. Her sides expanded and contracted quickly as she tried catching her breath. All the running and climbing in such a short amount of time had completely exhausted her. "I… I can't believe-..." She stopped mid-sentence as she panted. "I can't believe we made it across." Getting up, she kept breathing fast and even coughed a few times from her lungs adjusting to all the sudden exercise. "How in this realm did we do that?"

Briefly looking down at her hands, oddly enough, Fado's brain threatened to go blank as she thought about copping a feel of her friend, no matter if she meant to or not. "Uhh… Y-Yeah." Nonetheless, she shook her head to sling away the strange thoughts. Looking away so none of them would see her flushed cheeks, she directed her attention to what was on the other side of the room. "You and I make a really great team."

Tessl picked up on her kid's humiliation and looked over at her sister sprite, only to hear Kaila softly snickering at the incident.

There on the other side of the room was a bit of grass that seemed to be somehow growing. To the left of them was a door, to the right an empty big wooden chest and straight ahead was a dusty weapon rack with a few equally dusty and rusty weapons leaned against it. Seeing how Fado lost her beloved blowgun, just having a dagger and Saria only having a Deku stick, they felt lucky to be graced with an opportunity to re-equip themselves.

"Check it out." Saria nodded her head in the direction of the weapon rack.

Fado wasted no time in investigating the arsenal. "Awesome." There were a couple of decrepit spears, an ancient shortsword and even a long-handled flail. Yet, the real prize in the eyes of the brave kokiri were the two composite bows and a quiver full of arrows. "No way-..." Doing a double take, she couldn't believe her eyes. "A bow and arrows? Yes! We can totally get through this place now!"

"Yeah, but who knows how old those are." Tessl stated the obvious.

"Hey, better than what we have now." Fado said as she started walking over to the weapon rack, only to be stopped by a small rumble unlike that of the mechanism that operated the platform. "Wait-..." The girl hopped back right as a couple of Deku Baba emerged from the grass they'd hidden themselves in. Their stalks shot up six feet before their nasty bulbous heads started chattering as well as snapping at the group in hopes of getting a yummy bite of Kokiri or fairy flesh. "Crap! More of these guys!"

Standing back at a safe enough distance, Saria stood next to Fado. This time, the girl was feeling a bit more fearless after all the fighting, traveling in the darkness, meeting a mechanical man and leaping around on a timed obstacle course. Holding her deku stick at the ready, she surprised her partner as well as her fluttering guardian by saying "Let's take em' out."

Fado smirked upon hearing her friend getting courageous. "Let's do it. I'll take the right, you take the left."

"Got it." Saria said with a smile as they charged the chattering Deku Babas.

Running up to the foul carnivorous plants, Fado used her dagger to slit its stalk/throat, causing its head to fall to the floor with a thud. Saria wasn't able to cut with her Deku stick, nonetheless, she was perfectly capable of delivering a wallop with it, which is precisely what she did by whacking the monster in its head twice until it lowered toward her. Fado stood back a bit, letting her friend handle it. Saria kept going, attacking the Deku Baba as if it were an outlet to all her frustration. She didn't usually have such a stern expression, but it felt good to get it out as she smashed the stick over the top of the enemy's head. The Deku Baba raised itself just enough to growl at the mad kokiri, on the other hand, that proved to be its downfall as Saria used her stick to ram down its throat.

"Take… that!' Saria shouted as she plucked the creature's head from its stem.

"Whoa!" Fado clapped in approval before giving a fist pump to the air. "That was friggin' brutal!"

"Geez!" Kaila disapproved of the violence even though she knew it was necessary for her child to defend herself, especially from monsters.

Slinging the Deku Baba head off the end of the Deku stick, Saria realized how violent she was and seemed taken aback. However, her friend was quick to let her know she'd done the right thing as Fado said "Don't feel bad for those things, they're evil. You should be proud of yourself for being capable of defending yourself like you did." Now that the monsters had been dispatched, she resumed her short trek over to the weapon rack. "I know I'm proud of you."

Saria felt a bit bashful at her friend's remark, yet nodded as she agreed to feeling proud. "You're right."

"Good." As if enchanted with them, Fado drug her hand across all the weapons before asking "Now how about we get our reward? Is there any particular one you want?"

Giggling as she came closer, Saria thought logically "The short sword is probably the only thing I could handle because of my size. Even then, I can assure you I'm not adept with one."

Tapping her index finger to her lips, the blonde-haired kokiri girl contemplated the best decision. On one hand, the thought of her partner's brief experience with the dagger made her feel a blade was right while on the other hand her prowess with the Deku Stick could be useful if paired with a spear. Eventually, she came to the conclusion that there was no reason why she couldn't use both; a backup weapon was always a good idea anyway. "How about you take a spear and I give you the dagger back?"

"That could work." Saria had no issues with the plan.

"Here…" Fado said as she unsheathed, flipped and then handed over the antique dagger handle first. "Keep it for good. Consider it a gift for helping me."

Saria took the dagger, but asked "You're sure you don't mind?"

"Of course not." Fado grabbed the short sword, lifting it to see that it was still intact. "I have this bad boy now."

"Bad boy?" Tessl questioned how her kid spoke.

"Oh yeah…" Fado remarked as she examined her newly plundered weapon. "This is a bit more my speed anyway. I won't have to get nearly as close in order to take out an enemy." Slowly sliding her finger across the edge, she felt it still had a decent level of sharpness for its age and lack of proper maintenance. "As long as it doesn't break, when we get out of here, I can give it some love and restore its shine." Spinning it with finesse, she then carefully sheathed it between her belt and tunic. "I'll have to make a sheath for it too."

"What are you, some sort of craftsman now?" Saria enquired.

Fado smirked and teased "More like a craftswoman or craftgirl."

Grabbing one of the ancient spears, right as she was about to hand it over to her friend, Fado felt the wooden shaft crumble in her hand. The metal head clanked on the floor, but the remains of the handle completely disintegrated. Seeing it made Saria chuckle, yet Fado was in the process of formulating another idea.

"These spears are too old." Fado stated while bending down to retrieve the metal head. "But maybe I can make you a new one. Let me see that Deku Stick."

Saria handed over the Deku Stick, watching as Fado took her shortsword and used it to hack. First, she sliced off the end and then made a couple of four inch deep grooves parallel to each other. After that, she shoved the spearhead in-between those two grooves. It was firm, yet still needed binding to act as reinforcement. Luckily, she spotted the perfect tool in the other bow stored against the rack. Since she was only going to take one of them, she used the other for spare parts. Keeping her shortsword out, the kokiri girl used the blade to remove the bowstring. Now that she had some twine, she quickly wrapped it around the end of the Deku Stick, pulling it tight and then tying it off to squeeze as well as hold the spearhead in place.

"Wow…" Saria could barely believe her eyes. "You literally made a weapon in two minutes."

Handing the handcrafted spear over to her friend, Fado replied "Here. I just want to keep you safe."

The green-haired kokiri reached forward to take hold of the spear. However, their hands grazed and she chose to purposely cup her hand over her friends. More than anything, she was grateful Fado appreciated their friendship so much, even if she was the one who took Saria way out into the middle of nowhere. "Thank you." She smiled while happily staring at the girl.

As Fado gazed at Saria and felt the girl's hand atop hers, she couldn't help herself from blushing. Same as before, she immediately looked away so nobody could see her embarrassment. It was unusual for her to be so bashful, on the other hand, she had never been so close to her friend before, nor had she ever felt such odd feelings. As strange as it was, she couldn't stop herself from feeling slightly attracted to her incredibly nice friend. The bond they were forming during their adventure was on an entirely different level than either had ever experienced. Although, because she was totally inexperienced, as were the majority of Kokiri, her thoughts simply confused and slightly scared her. So, with a rising heart rate, she let go of the spear shaft to free her hand from her friend's grasp. "Y-You're welcome."

Once again, Tessl noted her child's sudden over-fondness for Saria. Nonetheless, the little sprite chose to say nothing.

"Are you going to take a bow?" Saria asked.

"Yeah." Fado nodded, continuing to look away until her pulse returned to normal. Sheathing her newly acquired shortsword, she then grabbed a bow from off the weapon rack, distracting herself from the sudden frisson by examining it. Like previously noted, it was a recurve bow. Unlike the ancient spear, the wood it was constructed out of didn't appear to be decrepit. As luck would have it, the weapon had somehow been well-preserved in spite of being partially left out in the elements. Giving the bowstring a gentle tug, it was even still taut enough to use without tightening or further maintenance. "I'm not as acquainted with a bow as I am with a blowgun. But, I'm decent with one." Picking up the quiver, she proceeded to check out the quality of the arrows. "As long as it doesn't break and the arrows are still usable, this is going to work out great."

Thankfully, even though the shafts were a little dried-out, the arrows still seemed intact. It was a true blessing to have been given the opportunity to arm themselves with more than they initially had. Regardless, they had to move on to the rest of the magnificent temple. Slinging the quiver around her back, she then strapped it to her torso. As for the bow, she had to utilize her blowgun's bandolier as a makeshift holster.

Now that they were armed to the teeth, they headed for the door on that side of the room. This time, after getting it lifted, Saria tried holding the door open for Fado since her partner had done the previous two. She managed to hold it just long enough for the blonde-haired kokiri and the fairies to travel underneath, but while she herself was going under, the door closed on her, hitting her back and pushing her forward into Fado.

"Are you okay?" Fado asked with genuine concern while turning around.

Saria rubbed her back from where the door smacked her. "Yeah. Let's keep going."

Looking forward, they found themselves back in the central chamber, standing on a short bridge that led across the gap to the sloping path. They could see the obstructed doorway to the left, the one that was boarded up and caused them to make their detour in the first place. Having bypassed the blockade, it assured them that they were now on the third level of the temple.

"The walk upward in this place is like a corkscrew." Kaila mentioned.

"The level of woodcarving that went into this place is astounding." Tessl added "Truly masterwork."

Walking to the other side of the short bridge, they immediately resumed their trek of ascension. After just a minute of traveling upward, they came to a flatter section that stayed level as it curved around the inner chamber. They noticed another bridge up above them just a bit ahead as well as a platform in front. Then again they also saw another door to the left that was attached to the wall of the inner central-chamber.

"Hmm…" Fado pondered. Although initially wanting to keep going, the biggest contributing factor to her decision in entering was that the door to the left of them was hinged and not a pull-up. "Let's try this room."

Opening the door, they saw it was another room almost the same size as the one they met the Steward Construct inside. It was two stories and had yet another bridge up above them that appeared to lead from a door on one side to the other. At one point, it looked like there had been a path that led up to the bridge, but now there was a rather large rock blocking it instead. Without a way to get up to the bridge, other than getting an idea of the layout, the room was utterly useless.

"Nevermind." Fado admitted her fallacy.

Walking back out of the room, they proceeded to continue making their way onward and upward. Spiraling around the central chamber, it didn't take them long to come to the next door. Since the slope ended there, they had no choice other than to travel through it with hopes it would continue to be the right direction.

"Alright, let's try this again." Fado said as she opened the door.

Tessl grumbled at how confusing the place was without knowing where they were. "I wish we had a map."

Going inside, they saw that they had returned to the previous room; except, this time they arrived on the bridge. Down beneath them, they could see the other door they peeked through a couple of minutes ago as well as the boulder blocking the path that led up to the bridge they were on. Thankfully, there was another door on the other side of the bridge.

"Looks straightforward to me." Saria stated as the two kokiri started walking across the narrow bridge.

"Hmm…" Kaila's gut instinct picked up on something she couldn't quite figure out. "Wait a moment."

Saria stopped. "What's the matter?"

Fado turned around to stare at her friend's sprite, curious as to what the fairy was sensing.

Out of nowhere, just behind the double-bunned blonde-haired girl, a Big Skulltula used its spider webbing to descend from the ceiling right there in the center of the bridge. It was so large Fado could hear its eight hairy legs as they skittered. Because the sounds it made alerted her, she was able to act on instinct by leaping forward until she found herself caught by Saria. Whipping around, she saw that she had barely managed to avoid the spider's spinning attack. "Whoa!" She exclaimed in shock that she'd almost been bitten.

"A SPIDER!" Saria shrieked in horror at its immense size. "KILL IT!"

"DON'T LET IT BITE YOU! IT'S POISONOUS!" Tessl reminded the kids to be extra careful with the Skulltula.

Regaining her composure, Fado rolled her eyes at Saria's arachnophobia. Although the Skulltula posed a significant threat, it wasn't about to leave the safety of its web. In fact, the only reason the arachnid came down in the first place was because the group had disturbed it by invading its territory. Since it remained in its web, it wasn't really doing anything other than blocking their way. With that in mind, Fado planned to utilize her new bow to eliminate the eight-legged freak. "Don't worry, I got it."

Taking charge of the situation, Fado nudged Saria behind her to keep her friend safe. Even though the Skulltula swung side-to-side as a warning to the children, the brave kokiri showed no fear as she approached while removing the ancient recurve bow from its makeshift holster. Grabbing one of the old arrows from her quiver, she nocked the bow prior to pulling back the bowstring. Moving forward, she once again invaded the creature's territory in order to get a reaction from it. Seeing it trembling in preparation of an attack, she proceeded to push how close she could get before it tried to spin. As soon as the arachnid tried to rotate its calcified skull-shaped body to smack against the girl, she jumped back and perfectly timed her shot.

Letting go of the bowstring, the arrow flew through the air. Since the Skulltula had rotated for its attack, it spun around on its strand of webbing, revealing its vulnerable purple underbelly which lacked exoskeleton coverage. Due to Fado timing everything so well, her arrow impacted the spider's underside. The arrow pierced its weak spot, stabbing into its abdomen with more force than the kokiri girl expected the old bow to be capable of delivering. After letting out a brief squeak-like clicking sound, the Big Skulltula was in so much pain that it let go of its webbing and fell to the bridge where it landed on its carapaced back. While it wasn't quite dead yet, its squirming and flailing legs caused it to roll off the bridge and plummet to the ground.

"Amazing!" Saria complimented her partner's skill. "You killed it with one hit!"

Fado smiled as she bashfully rubbed the back of her neck. "It was nothing. I'm more surprised that the bow and its string held together." Holding the weapon up, she stared at it in surprise regarding its superior durability.

"I think we're clear now." Kaila stated once that gut feeling had disappeared. "Let's see if that door on the other side of the bridge leads to the rest of the path leading up the temple."

Snickering, Fado teased the sprite by asking "Oh? Am I sensing a bit of intrigue coming from you, Kaila?"

"N-No…" Kaila caught her tone, trying to prevent herself from sounding interested. "I just want us to get out of here." No matter what she said, there truly was a hint of curiosity hidden inside the fairy. While she had her main goal of protecting the kids, now that she'd witnessed the mysteries of the temple, she wanted to discover more of its secrets. Still, she'd never let them know she felt that way, so she merely told them "The sooner we get through here, the sooner we can get back to the safety of Kokiri Village."

"Uh-huh…" Fado continued to tease, making Saria giggle.

Walking across the bridge, they came to the other side. Upon opening the door, they went outside, once again returning to the outer central chamber. Same as before, they arrived on a bridge that led across to the room. However, this time the door there was blocked by vertical iron bars.

"Uh-oh." Tessl responded to being locked out of the next room.

On the other hand, Saria came to the rescue by pointing out an object up above the obstructed doorway. "Hey, what's that?" It appeared to be a golden statue resembling a single eyeball set in the middle of a diamond-shaped box. "It looks important."

Fado cocked her head in advance of nocking another arrow. Before any of them could ask her what she was doing, she took careful aim at the pupil on the plaque above the door and then released. The arrow soared through the air prior to smashing into the statue. Acting as a different sort of pressure plate, the force from the arrow pushed in on the eyeball section, causing a reaction. The representation of the eyeball quickly closed from being shot. It turned out the girl's hunch was right as the statue acted as a switch. Now that it had been activated, it made the iron bars to the door slide down into an unlocked position.

"No way!" Saria playfully scoffed. "How did you know to do that?"

Fado shrugged as she resumed walking across the bridge. "Just a lucky guess."

Moving on, they made it to the door that was now unlocked. Since it was another lift door, Fado took care of it so that Saria wouldn't get injured trying to do it for her again. Lifting the door, she let her partner and the two fairies cross under prior to dipping under herself. When the door slammed shut behind them, they found themselves in a round two-story room that had a path on the side winding upward. It was fairly obvious that they had to go that way in order to continue ascending the temple, so that's exactly what they did.

Unfortunately, taking a single step further revealed another three Deku Baba. These plants were different from the rest as they seemed to be three times larger. Once they fully extended, they acted just like the others though. With huge bulbous heads, the carnivorous flora lunged forward. Since they were so big, their stems were longer as well, allowing them extra-reach. Because of their size, they nearly bit Saria. Yet, Fado's vigilance paid off as she saw it coming and immediately brandished her shortsword, slicing the monster's head off.

"Look out!" Tessl exclaimed.

The second Deku Baba growled and launched itself at the brave kokiri. Fado was able to duck and jump out of the way, but the monster spewed a toxic cloud of gas right in the girl's face. Her response was to quickly cover her nose and mouth in order to not breathe any of it in. However, she could smell how foul it was and just a brief gasp made her want to vomit.

Although Fado had to take a step back to avoid the miasma, Saria came to the rescue by harpooning the chattering plant right through the top of its head. "I really hate these things."

Fado smirked as she ran, dropping her hand from her mouth and opting to hold her shortsword with a good grip as she swung it at the final Deku Baba. "Me too!" Exactly like she planned, the carnivorous plant tried to take a chunk out of her right as she attacked. When it opened its mouth in an attempt to bite, she made sure her blade went in horizontally, tearing at its fibrous jaws until it split the creature's head in half for an instant kill. "They're so annoying!" She lamented the task while slinging its sappy blood from her sword. "Thankfully they're not that strong."

"They're a threat in numbers though." Kaila stated.

Keeping her smirk, Fado said "Saria and I are efficient at thinning them out."

"You're so cocky." Tessl chuckled, finally finding a bit of humour in her child's rougher attitude. "I don't know when you got like this, but I must say that you've proven yourself."

As she stepped on the dying remains of the second Deku Baba, the brazen kokiri made her way to the sloping path at the other end of the room. While she was glad her sprite was beginning to see what skill she held, she wished Tessl would've figured that out sooner instead of complaining three-quarters of the journey. "I told you!"

"Hey now…" Tessl shook her miniature finger. "Don't let that go to your head. I still wish you wouldn't put yourself in danger."

Ascending the slope, they came to the door at the top. Going through it, they found themselves on the next floor of the outer-chamber. Crossing yet another bridge, they returned to the slope. Upon inspection, they saw that while there wasn't a path leading down to the left, it did resume going upward on the right. Nonetheless, they were fairly certain they could see the path they were on earlier just a little ways around the side of the inner-chamber. If they were right, that meant they had merely taken a detour, but remained on the correct course. For the time being, without a map, all they could do was assume they were going where the Steward Construct wanted them to go. Things looked good considering they were still headed upward.

Heading up the winding path of the temple, after a couple minutes more they came to yet another bridge. Unfortunately, they weren't quite sure which way to go as the path also continued going upward even after passing the bridge. They stopped for a moment to contemplate whether they should take the bridge or keep walking. Eventually, seeing how they needed to get to the top, they came to the conclusion they should keep walking.

It wasn't long before the group came to a section of the path that had collapsed either due to age or the stress from all the rocks falling on the top of the temple. Either way, a ten foot area was completely missing, preventing them from crossing.

"Ughhh.." Fado grunted in frustration. "This place is well-preserved-... Except for a few convenient spots. What's up with that?"

"Do you think someone did this on purpose?" Tessl asked.

Shrugging, Fado turned around and started walking back down the slope. "Who knows. Oh well. Let's go try that door we saw a flight down."

Together, they made their way back down the slope until they once again arrived at the bridge they had previously passed. Since they couldn't go the way they just came, they decided it was logical to try the other way. Walking across the bridge, Fado's shoulders and head fell along with a loud sigh whenever she noticed bars across the door.

Thankfully, Kaila was quick to point out another golden eye-switch up above it. "There's another switch." The fairy floated up to it before coming back down.

Fado grabbed her bow and proceeded to nock another arrow. "I got it." Taking aim at the eyeball pressure-plate, she let go of the bowstring. Like a hawkeye, the girl had no issues hitting dead center on this one either. The tip of the arrow smashed against the pupil on the plaque, depressing its trigger to release the locking mechanism. As soon as the eyeball closed, the iron bars on the door lowered. "This is pretty easy." She then cracked her knuckles to gloat at how capable she was of leading them through the mystical structure. "How was this supposed to keep us out?"

"Well…" Tessl had a rare moment where she divulged what she knew. "Most monsters aren't particularly smart. I doubt they'd be able to figure out any of the puzzles or security measures put into place by Sages."

"That's true." Fado gave her guardian that.

Going through the door, Fado had to hold it up again. Nonetheless, they had become rather acquainted with doing so and did it in a matter of moments. On the other side, they found themselves in a small raised area surrounded by a pit. As usual, there were a series of three other platforms that led up to an open doorway, while two more led down to the floor of the pit

"Looks rather straightforward." Saria remarked.

"Yeah…" Fado agreed as she stepped toward the ledge of the cliff they arrived on. "At least there's no floor switch and these platforms are already raised." Glancing at the gap between platforms, she snickered. "It's not even as far a distance as the timed ones we crossed a while back."

"Let's do it then." Saria replied.

Since Fado was closest, she decided to jump first. The girl leapt to the next ascending platform and was just about to turn around to help her friend whenever she heard a familiar rustling sound. From the ceiling, another Big Skulltula descended from its spidery web. Sensing something invading its territory, it was already hostile and ready to attack. It only made it worse that Fado was so close. Having little to no time to react, all she could do was brace herself as the mighty arachnid spun itself around, using its rock hard carapace to knock the brave kokiri girl right off the platform and into the pit below.

"FADO!" Saria and Tessl hollered in shock upon seeing the girl falling.

"CRAP!" Fado cursed her luck as she hit the ground. Although she had shielded her face, her concern was on the shortsword pressed to her side without a proper sheath. As soon as she felt a cold sensation on her hip, she knew she'd been cut by it. Instinct took over and even though she had fallen six feet down, the courageous kokiri kicked her legs out so the momentum would assist her in jumping up onto her feet. "Oww, oww, oww!" Lifting the hem of her tunic just enough to reveal the injury she'd sustained, she was grateful to discover that it was merely a flesh wound. "I better not let that happen again."

"ARE YOU OKAY!?" Tessl came floating down from the platform Saria and Kaila remained at.

Nodding, she continued to hold the side of her garment up to show her guardian the boo-boo. "Yeah. I got cut by my sword a little, but it's not that bad… Right?"

Tessl came closer but stayed wary of the Big Skulltula up above them. Examining the thin slice on her child's side, the sprite also saw how lucky Fado was to not have been stabbed deeper. "Geez, you must have divine protection to have avoided impaling yourself." There was a bit of blood dripping from the cut, nonetheless, the fairy knew the kokiri girl would manage since it was nothing in comparison to the chomp on her forearm from the first group of Deku Babas. "Still, that fall was pretty steep. You didn't break anything, did you?"

Shaking her head, Fado started looking for a way to get back up "I don't think so. Let's just focus on moving forward. After I get back up there, we need to take out that Skulltula."

"Alright." Tessl grit her teeth at her kid's perseverance. More than anything, the sprite worried she was getting in over her head.

While there wasn't a ladder to climb back to the entry, there were those two additional platforms that led up to the one the giant spider was on. However, that still left the matter of dealing with the arachnid since she wouldn't be able to safely cross until it was killed. "Let's try this again." The blonde kokiri said to her partner. "I'm going to need you to help me out on this."

"Of course." Saria instantly replied. "Anything. What do you need?"

Knowing her friend wasn't going to be so willing once she found out what she was needed for, Fado felt bad for what she was about to say. "I'm going to need you to distract the Skulltula for me, keep it focused on you so I can sneak up behind it and give it an arrow right in its underbelly."

"W-What?!" The green-haired kokiri immediately complained. "No! N-No way! I'm not going near that thing!"

"Saria, you have to." Fado insisted, trying to get her friend to get over her irrational fear of spiders. "I have faith in you that you won't have any issues."

Saria shook her head "I have arachnophobia! I'm not going to be very useful!"

"You'll be fine." Fado encouraged her friend to face her fears. "You won't even have to get that close if you use your spear."

Equipping her spear, Saria gulped hard as she felt a cold sweat forming above her brow. "Ughhh… Okay, I'll do my best. Let me know when you're ready."

Climbing up onto the first platform leading up, Fado prepared her bow. Nocking an arrow, once she hopped up onto the second platform, she saw the Skulltula turn in her direction. The spider was still ready to attack at a moment's notice. However, she knew her plan would work. "Alright, give the freak a poke."

Gulping one more time, Saria nervously approached the edge of the cliff she stood on. Just looking at the Skulltula made her tremble as goosebumps formed on the back of her neck. To her, the sounds its hairy legs made as it turned to focus on her was absolutely revolting. Either way, she persevered, pushing herself out of her comfort zone by using her specially-built spear to poke the arachnid right on its boney exoskeleton. "So gross!" Her ebejeebies caused a shiver to go up her spine upon hearing the spear clack against the Skulltula. "Yuck!"

Fado stifled a snicker upon witnessing her friend trying to deal with an enlarged spider. While it was a bit humorous, Saria's feeble smack was all it took to distract the critter away from where the blonde kokiri was standing, turning enough to reveal its weak spot. Pulling back her bowstring, Fado swiftly took aim prior to releasing, watching as the arrow flew through the air in advance of piercing the back of the eight-legged arachnid. Right away, the monster let go of its webbing and fell to the platform beneath it where it proceeded to flail about. "Yes!"

"Oh, good goddesses!" Saria made a retching motion as she looked away from the dying spider.

"What?" Fado held out her arms in question as she chuckled. "You did it! I knew you could."

"Yeah, but it's so gross." Saria waved her hand while still refusing to look at the contorted Skulltula.

Fado continued to chuckle as she climbed back up onto the platform where the spider was. In order to help her partner feel more comfortable, she quickly rolled its corpse into the pit below. "Alright, Alright… It's gone. Come on, let's keep going."

Saria returned her gaze to the next platform before making the jump so she could join her teammate. Now that she and Fado were back together, they climbed their way up the next couple of platforms before jumping across to the final ledge where there was an open doorway. Going through to the next area, they found themselves in a wider and longer room with five windows on the side of the wall to the right of them. While there was a raised narrow path leading from one end of the room to the other, there was a break in it halfway through as well as a pit on each side.

"Hmm…" Kaila had another gut feeling.

Saria looked inquisitively toward her guardian prior to asking "What is it?"

"I don't know." Her fairy shrugged. "I have an odd feeling."

Fado, on the other hand, saw nothing out of the ordinary. Unlike previously, she didn't even see any additional Skulltula clinging to a web on the ceiling. "This whole place tends to give me a bad feeling. But, I don't see anything different about this room. It actually looks fairly straightforward."

Saria and Fado took several steps forward whenever they suddenly heard a familiar flapping sound. At first, they couldn't figure out where it was coming from. However, they soon realized it was coming from the exterior, just outside the windows. Before either of them could react to it, out of nowhere the oversized bird from earlier landed in the first window, holding onto the frame to balance itself. They were given a split second to see it closer than before, noticing it had a yellow beak and white feathers on its chest. Unfortunately, other than its piercing blue eyes, they weren't able to see anything else as it proceeded to shriek at the two kokiri prior to brandishing its green bow.

"LOOK OUT!" Tessl screamed from the sudden appearance of the avian. "IT'S THAT BIRD AGAIN!"

Fado and Saria both took off running as they saw the humanoid bird nocking an arrow and pulling back his bowstring. Hearing the arrow flying at them, their pulse increased from the fear of being stricken. For the time being, all they could do was flee to the otherside of the room. At a quarter of the way there, they were lucky the red bird's arrow missed, even if it was only by a couple of inches.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM US!?" Saria yelled at the bipedal avian.

Although none of them expected a response, they were utterly shocked to hear a raspy voice say "Leave this place!"

While Fado was totally surprised, she also wanted to figure out if it was the bird who said it and if so, why it would say such a thing. Nonetheless, she knew she couldn't slow down for even a second without risking being injured or worse. 'What the heck!?' She contemplated instead as she ran alongside her partner. 'Did a giant bird just speak to us?! This place is one big puzzle!'

"LOOK OUT!" Saria exclaimed in advance of nudging Fado out of the way when an arrow flew at them, impacting the spot right between the two kids.

Fado shook her head to push away the thoughts, knowing she had to focus on reality for the time being so she wouldn't get hurt. They were halfway across the room now and growing further from the avian by the second. It wasn't easy for it to aim from the angle it was at in the window frame, which gave them a few moments without being shot at. However, that didn't last long as the bird quickly pulled itself from the frame in favour of one closer to the kids. Both the kokiri's hearts sank in their chest whenever they saw the flying enemy cramming itself in the third window where it immediately resumed taking aim.

"JUMP!" Saria yelled as they came to the short split in the narrow path leading across the room.

Both kokiri hopped over the gap with no issue. Yet, considering how the red bird had emerged ahead of them, it had a good chance of landing a shot. To counter the avian's superior position as well as protect their children, the two fairies soared over to the window the enemy was protruding from and quickly fluttered in its face to briefly distract it. Since the sprites were so small, it was incredibly dangerous for them to go near such a big creature, having to do it fast to avoid being smacked away. Luckily, their tactic worked as they stalled the avian, giving their kids the chance to safely land on the other half of the path. Once they saw their two girls make it across the gap and keep running, they dispersed, getting out of the bird's face before it tried to eat them.

"You shouldn't be here!" The raspy voice informed them.

"LEAVE US ALONE!" Kaila screamed.

"WE DON'T MEAN YOU ANY HARM!" Saria once again spoke to it. "PLEASE STOP SHOOTING ARROWS AT US!"

Unfortunately, the creature refused to listen to their pleas as it proceeded to nock another arrow before releasing it at the two. This time they weren't lucky enough to avoid being hit, but they were lucky enough to avoid death as the tip of the arrow merely scraped Saria's cheek. It came so close to her that she could hear the woosh of air as it passed.

"PLEASE!" Letting out a yelp, Saria kept requesting mercy, still hoping the avian would give them the benefit of the doubt.

"JUST KEEP RUNNING!" Fado shouted as she grabbed Saria's arm and yanked her forward. "SPEAKING TO THAT THING IS HOPELESS! WE DON'T EVEN KNOW IF IT CAN UNDERSTAND US OR NOT!"

"He's loading another!" Tessl kept an eye on the situation.

The bird fired one more arrow from that position before removing itself from the window frame. While it missed the shot altogether, it proceeded to move up to the fifth and final window. Cramming itself in the window frame, it took the time to take aim again. To the group's dismay, the fairies wouldn't be able to reach the avian in time to distract it from its target. Saria and Fado's only hope of avoiding a direct hit was to run faster so they could reach the next doorway before it could attack. Even though they were kokiri, their muscles ached as they exerted all they had to offer in order to sprint.

"WE'RE ALMOST THERE!" Kaila exclaimed as she and Tessl flew forward to be first.

Had they not pushed themselves, the kokiri would've been stricken for sure. Once they crossed the threshold of the doorway, they heard as an arrow pierced the wood right behind them. It was incredibly scary. Nonetheless, they remained safe as now that they were in the next room, the avian was unable to target them from that angle.

"We did it!" Tessl pumped her arm in the air upon the success.

There in the next room, they saw they were on the right side as iron bars separated them from the left half like a cage. It also appeared that the other side was sunken into the pit from the previous room with only a small platform leading up to a door. Since they were blocked by the iron bars though, all they could do was approach to look. While they hadn't noticed beforehand due to being attacked, they noticed now that there was another doorway down in the pit which led to that room. Seeing that, they assumed that they had gone to the wrong location and would have to exit the room.

"Crap!" Fado announced her displeasure before the others had realized.

"What?" Saria asked.

Pointing at the room down on the other side of the bars, Fado replied "We need to be over there! I guess we weren't supposed to cross the room on the platform, we were supposed to drop into the pit."

Kaila shook her head as she began to see what Fado was talking about "Ughhh… Why would whoever built this place do this?"

Tessl chimed in with an answer. "Same reason as everything else; it's here to confuse any monsters trying to progress through the temple. It's here to make it harder on those who shouldn't be here in the first place."

"Wait…" Saria stopped everyone from feeling so disgruntled. "Look over here in the corner, there's a switch."

Sure enough, there in the room with them was another golden pressure-switch. They were able to promptly correlate the switch with the door on the other side. "I bet that switch unlocks the door!" Fado exclaimed, beyond glad that they had once again figured out how to move onward, even when they thought they had made a mistake. "Let's give it a try!"

Remaining where they were, Saria and the fairies watched the door and waited as Fado jumped up on the floor switch. Once depressed by the kokiri girl's weight, the others bore witness as the bars on the door in the other half of the room raised up to allow them access.

"It worked!" Saria gleefully shouted. "Do we go?"

"Yes!" Fado responded as she took off running back toward the doorway.

Saria followed right behind, staying on her partner's heels as the fairies flew ahead. Together, they sprinted back out into the previous room. Although they were in a rush, they instantly noticed that the overgrown humanoid bird was no longer in the fifth windowframe. In fact, they didn't see it anymore at all. Regardless, they hurried as they were aware they were being timed by the mechanism that operated the lock. Without delay, they sat on the edge of the pathway prior to hopping down into the pit. Sure enough, there was a doorway exactly where they saw it on the otherside.

"There's the door to the other room!" Tessl hollered.

All of the group raced to the door as they feared that at any moment they would be once again fired upon by the humanoid bird. Thankfully, they arrived without issue. Fado hustled to lift the door and once she did everyone raced underneath. She quickly followed behind them. In the next room, they were still down in the pit, but the platform that led to the unlocked door was in the left hand corner with a ladder leading up to it.

"Hurry!" Tessl stated as she and Kaila flew toward the door. "We probably don't have much longer!"

Saria and Fado started running across the room only to be stopped by a Deku Baba which swiftly extended itself from the ground. Both kokiri separated from one another, running on each side of the carnivorous plant.

"Watch out!" Kaila told Saria as the sapient flora lunged at her child.

Hearing the monster trying to get her, Saria was swift in leaping to the side. In fact, she rolled a bit prior to jumping up and resuming her trek across the room.

Fado was amazed to see her friend acting so spry, but chalked it up to getting used to all the evasion they've had to do. Nonetheless, she didn't stop. All of them kept going until they reached the ladder leading up the platform. Even though Fado got there first, she waited on Saria to climb up instead, wanting to make sure the girl made it. As soon as her friend began climbing, Fado jumped on the ladder right behind her.

Tessl and Kaila floated up to the top of the platform where they waited for their kids.

'Dangit.' With a blush on her cheeks, Fado cursed her body's reaction as she had to look away from Saria's posterior as she climbed.

"We've got to be getting close to the top of this place, right?" Saria asked as she climbed the ladder.

"Should be!" Kaila replied.

Once Saria made it to the top of the ladder, she wasted no time in darting to the door. Although she wasn't good at it, as soon as she reached it, she gripped the bottom of the door and began lifting it. "Got it!"

Fado climbed up immediately behind her partner and sprinted to the door. "Good job!" She complimented as she grabbed the door, holding it up for Saria and the fairies to get under. After that, she too slipped by prior to letting go. "I can't believe we made that in one go!"

"I can't believe we didn't get hurt by that giant bird!" Tessl was panting from exhaustion due to all the flying she'd just done.

Kaila took a second to catch her breath prior to saying "Yeah, what's up with that thing? Everyone heard it talk, right?"

"Yeah." Fado, Saria and Tessl all agreed together.

"This place is something else." Kaila shook her head.

Now that they were safe, they had a moment to take a look at where they were. Finally, they had arrived back in the outer chamber and were standing on a bridge which led over to the inner chamber. Even though the path went in a circle around the inner chamber, there wasn't a slope continuing up, only one last door. Looking up, they saw the ceiling, meaning that they had at long last reached the top of the temple.

"I think we did it." Fado said in advance of repeating louder in excitement. "We did it! We made it to the top!"

Saria gleefully clapped her hands as she too was happy they had made it. "I'm so proud of us for getting this far."

Kaila rolled her eyes, but did have a smirk on her face as she too was secretly astounded they had made it through the place. Tessl wasn't nearly as stunned since she knew Fado was a feisty kokiri, especially after all the arguing the two had gone through regarding being in the Lost Woods in the first place.

"Come on." Fado told them with a smile as she began walking across the bridge leading to the inner central chamber. "We have one last room to get to. Maybe that'll be where the Sage of Wind is…" Her smile gradually diminished as she thought about it. "But, don't get your hopes up. Like I said earlier, it doesn't look like this place has been in use for a long time. I wouldn't be surprised if this so-called sage vacated long ago."

Together, they made their way across the bridge and soon found themselves in front of the last door. Fado lifted it up and let the rest of the group go under. However, she immediately heard them gasp from the otherside. Not knowing what had happened or what scared them, her pulse increased as she ducked under the door and came into the room ready for a fight. Fortunately, she found Saria and the fairies were perfectly fine. They hadn't encountered a threat. What made them gasp was witnessing an enormous musical instrument suspended above them. "What in the…?"

Arriving at the final room, it was round like all the others below that were also in the inner central chamber. Since it was two stories, it protruded above the top of the remains of the temple. Eight windows surrounded that upper section where the massive musical instrument was suspended. Seven of the windows appeared to be blocked by a simple wooden shutter mechanism that looked as if it rotated along tracks via two long handles that came down to the first floor. Right in the center of the floor was a small stone obelisk. There also appeared to be a giant golden iris aperture on the ceiling that likely acted as a portal to the roof. Nonetheless, the unknown musical device was the highlight of the room. Eight metal strings formed a spatial composition that was nailed to a window frame and spanned to a corresponding one on the opposite side of the room. At first, they saw what looked like wooden tear-shaped boxes on each string and had no clue what they were, yet they quickly realized they were actually elongated violins.

"What is this thing?" Saria enquired.

Fado shook her head as she stared up at all the wires. "I don't know."

Before they could investigate further, a gust of wind blew in from the lone unblocked window. Each instrument had a circular object that could slide along the strings, acting as a bow. All it took was for that breeze to push the ball across a wire where it proceeded to produce a long drawn out musical note.

"I think it's an instrument." Tessl stated the obvious now that they had heard it make music.

Fado held her hand to her chin as she analyzed the device. However, her eyes were soon drawn to the stone obelisk as she noticed engravings on it. Ambling closer, she had to approach to see precisely what the engravings resembled. Instead of writing like she initially suspected, she saw there were a series of hieroglyphs depicting what she believed to be instructions on how to proceed.

"What's that?" Kaila asked once she noticed Fado's redirection.

The blonde kokiri shrugged as she tapped her index finger to her lips. "It looks like pictures."

"Oh!" Kaila flew forward to examine the obelisk, circling around it. "I know this one! It's Mudoran!"

"Mudoran?" Tessl perked up upon hearing the name of the language. "Here in the Forbidden Forest?"

"What's Mudoran?" Saria enquired as she walked up to the pointy stone sign.

Both fairies gradually circled the obelisk as they tried deciphering what meaning it was trying to convey. Eventually, Tessl responded with "Mudoran is an old language invented by the Royal Family of Hyrule to encipher secrets. It's not used anymore and there's probably been a handful of people who could read it without a book to help them decipher it."

Fado's upper lip curled as a small sigh escaped. "I'm guessing that means you can't translate it?"

Kaila shook her head. "No. But, you might be able to get the jist of some of the hieroglyphs if you can figure out what they stand for."

"Really?" Fado cocked her head inquisitively in advance of looking at the engravings. "Okay, well… Let's see."

Most symbols were unfamiliar and didn't seem to correspond to anything they could think of. Then again, there were a couple they could identify right off the bat. First was an image of what appeared to be an anthropomorphic cloud with a face that looked as if it were blowing a gale of wind, followed by a stave with eight musical notes on it. There was also an image directly depicting the wooden mechanism on the windows above them, showing it with a directional arrow going in a circle to represent it being turned. After that, the only other symbol they recognized was a depiction of the iris aperture, showing it opened and closed along with a stick figure that looked like it was ascending.

"Uhh…" Saria scratched her head as she tried to make sense of the images.

Fado huffed at the difficulty, but decided to start from the first image. "It looks like the cloud with a face is blowing air, so maybe it represents wind?"

"Hmm…" Tessl looked around the room prior to pointing up at the one unblocked window. "Maybe it has something to do with the wind blowing in through the window?"

Nodding, Fado agreed in addition to moving on. "I think you're right. There's a depiction of the wooden shutter mechanism we can see blocking the other seven windows and there's this image showing musical notes." Glancing up, she stared at the enormous musical instrument hanging above her. "You all heard the sound it produced when the wind hit it just right. I'm just guessing, but maybe we need to rotate the wooden shutters to produce the right notes to unlock the big door on the ceiling above us?"

"That's a really good guess." Saria complimented her friend's ability to translate hieroglyphs without any training. "It makes sense too."

Fado scratched the back of her head as she examined the stave as well as the musical notes engraved on it. "The only issue is, I don't know what music it wants us to play."

Saria giggled at her partner. "Really? You can't read scale?"

Shaking her head, Fado rolled her eyes at being jokingly made fun of. "No. Can you?"

"Yep." Saria continued giggling. "I thought all the kokiri could read it. Didn't the Great Deku Tree teach you?"

Eyeing the green-haired kokiri, Fado wasn't sure if Saria was serious or not. Nonetheless, she was honest by saying "No." Then asking "He taught everyone?"

Saria nodded one more time prior to revealing "Yeah. At least, I think he did. We're all named after the scales, you know?"

'What the heck?' Fado mentally remarked. 'How come he didn't teach me? Did he and I just forgot? No… I'm sure of it. The Great Deku Tree never taught me how to read this.' Shaking away the thoughts, she soon paid attention to her friend as she pointed at the musical notes engraved on the obelisk.

"This is just a short little melody. The actual notes are A, A, G, F Sharp, E, F Sharp." Saria continued to inform the others. "I could probably play it on my ocarina so we know what it should sound like. On the other hand, our problem is really going to be trying to figure out how to reproduce it on an instrument we've never played before-... Or even heard of."

"Good idea!" Kaila was enthusiastic about her kid's ingenious plan. "Use your ocarina."

Nodding, Saria propped her custom spear up against the obelisk before rummaging around in her possessions. Upon retrieving her fairy ocarina, she wiped off the mouthpiece prior to holding it up to her lips. Clearing her throat, she then proceeded to play the precise notes that were engraved on the sign. Exactly as she said it would be, the music shown was short and sweet when heard, a simple jingle that sounded light and airy too. Although it didn't do anything, no unlocking of doors or creating of light, it allowed the group to know what sounds they needed to produce on the violin-like instrument suspended above them.

Regardless of what they then knew, Fado also found herself feeling oddly. Hearing the music almost made her woozy in a way similar to how the green medallion did. The funny feeling in her chest felt like bubbles in her heart.

"What do you think?" Saria asked.

Fado blinked a few times, shook her head and then rubbed her face. Still, she pretended as if nothing was wrong. "Seems simple enough. Now let's try to figure out how to operate this wooden mechanism." Wiping away the sweat from her brow, she distracted herself from the loopy sensation she got from the music by trying to figure out the rest of what they needed to do there in the room. "Maybe we just use the handles to rotate it." Noticing there were two of them, she decided to ask for help. "Saria, can you get the other one?"

Putting away her fairy ocarina, Saria went across the room to help. "Sure thing. I hope we can figure this out."

"At this point, we both have faith in you two." Kaila actually encouraged them.

The kokiri kids were surprised to discover how heavy the wooden mechanism was. On her own, Fado could barely get the wooden handle to budge. Even with Saria joining in, it moved slowly. Thankfully, together they managed to push it enough to rotate. Grunting and groaning, they pushed until the mechanism unblocked the next window. Although the first window was now blocked off, the second allowed a gale of wind to gust through and create an entirely different note from what they had previously heard.

"Oh!" Saria let go of the wooden handle as she recognized it. "That's F Sharp!"

Fado nodded in acknowledgement as she thought about it. "That was the fourth note of the melody, right?"

"Fourth and sixth." Saria confirmed.

Grabbing the handle to the mechanism, Fado said "Let's see what the next sounds like."

After Saria assisted in rotating the mechanism, they moved the open slot to the next space where they discovered the wind coming through that window produced a note on the instrument that resembled an A. However, the next was a B, which wasn't present in the melody at all. Skipping it, the following window was an E. But, once again, the next was a D and the one after that a C and then an H. Luckily, the last window produced the G they needed to complete the song.

"This is amazing." Saria admired the craftsmanship as well as design of such a unique instrument. "Who knew the wind could play a song almost completely on its own."

Fado made a face as she knew they weren't finished solving the puzzle quite yet. "Yeah, but we're going to need to move this mechanism pretty fast so the wind doesn't hit the notes we don't need. Do you think we can do it? This thing is friggin' heavy as heck."

"Language!" Tessl growled.

Saria took a deep breath prior to giving a gallic shrug. "Maybe. All we can do is give it a try."

"Well…" Fado huffed as she prepped for a strenuous workout. "Are you ready?"

"Let's do it." Saria happily smiled as she was more than glad to help out her close friend.

Together, they gripped the wooden handles to the shutter mechanism and slowly moved it back to the starting note of A. It only took a few seconds for them to see the wind blow the circular bow across the metal string to produce the corresponding note. However, they quickly realized they were unsure of how to get it to repeat the sound since the melody required two A notes.

"How do we get the wind to repeat the note?" Saria enquired.

Without anything else they could think of to do, Fado stepped in with the most obvious solution. Grabbing the spherical bow, the kokiri reset it by dragging it back to the top of the line. As soon as the bow was by the window, she let go and returned to the handle of the wooden shutter mechanism. It only took a brief moment before another gale came through the opening, pushing the bow along the same line to produce an identical A note to what had previously been made.

"That's it!" Tessl said, reminding them of what they needed to do next. "Now we need a G!"

Grabbing the handles of the mechanism, Saria and Fado both worked hard on pulling the device in reverse. Using all the strength they had, they accelerated past the F Sharp, not giving the wind the time or opportunity to activate the instrument. However, they really had to dig their feet into the ground and use every inch of their muscles to stop the mechanism from turning once it landed on the window they knew would produce the next required musical note. Grunting and groaning, they barely managed to get it to halt. Fortunately, once they did, they witnessed another great gust of wind belch forth from the frame, blowing the circular bow along the corresponding wire to make their next note.

"That's a G!" Saria exclaimed even though she was panting from exerting so much energy. "Let's go forward now!"

Resuming their activity, they pushed the mechanism forward one window. After only a second, a gale blew through, blowing the spherical bow across the corresponding metal string to produce a long drawn out F Sharp note.

"F Sharp!" Saria laughed upon seeing that they were actually making the melody using an instrument they'd never before heard of.

"Now we need an E!" Kaila started getting excited as well.

Doing as they had done previously, Fado and Saria took hold of the long handles belonging to the wooden shutter mechanism and began pushing it with all their might. Moving the device three spaces, they skipped over A as well as B before landing on the window that produced an E note.

"Last one!" Tessl could feel her little heart pounding in her sprite chest.

Saria laughed again, so excited she could barely contain it. "I can't believe we've done it!"

"Just another F Sharp!" Fado responded with a wide smile of her own.

Pushing the mechanism forward, they stopped when they reached the last window needed to produce the required note. However, since it had already been used, they needed to reset it really quickly. As soon as Saria nudged the bow back in place, right on que, a gust of wind pushed it back down the wire to make a long and drawn out F Sharp.

"That was it!" Saria was so excited with anticipation. "That was the last note!"

In response to the correct sequence of notes being produced on the enormous instrument, a sudden rumble could be felt. Fado and Saria let go of the long handles to the wooden shutter mechanism, choosing to hug the walls out of worry regarding the unknown vibration. Kaila and Tessl jerked their little heads left and right, floating around the room as they tried to figure out what was going on. Before long, they were relieved to see that the temple wasn't falling apart. Bearing witness to the golden iris aperture above them shifting, letting a century worth of dust fall from it as it started opening, the group realized the shaking was merely the gears in the walls operating the horizontal door.

"It worked!" Saria shouted with a huge grin.

Fado smirked, knowing they could do it. The girl had faith in their abilities regardless of their lowly stature as kokiri. Above all else, she was ecstatic to seemingly be so close to discovering the reason she'd been led there through divine intervention.

The golden iris aperture above them gradually grinded open, revealing a new sight as it was as if the ceiling had just been removed. Now they could see not only the top of the immense cavern the temple resided in, they could see the massive vertical shaft that reached all the way to the surface. Since the hole was directly above the structure, as soon as the iris aperture widened, they were blessed with rays of sunshine they hadn't been graced with since first delving into the depths of Farolittoral Cave several hours ago. In addition to the increase in light, now that the room had been opened up, the wind blew down into it as well, with far greater velocity than when it came through the windows.

For a moment, they weren't sure how to proceed. But, once the golden iris aperture fully dilated, four rope ladders descended from cubby holes that had finally been uncovered after longlast. While it was reasonable to deem the ancient rope ladders as well past their prime, they were the only means of amending further from there.

"Wait a second…" Tessl momentarily pondered, holding her index finger to her lips.

Both Fado and Saria moved away from their huddled positions against the wall, inspecting the new scene in addition to the ladders.

"Wait!" Tessl stopped them as fear set in. "Aren't we exposed to the outside?! Where that bird is!?"

Saria's smile vanished right away as the realization set in that they were out in the open. "Oh no…"

Fado looked around, scanning the sky. However, she didn't see the overgrown bird anywhere. Although she knew the fairy was correct in her hesitance, she didn't want to admit defeat after coming so close to whatever their goal is. "I don't see it." Thinking quickly, she thought of a potential reason. "Maybe it can't fly this high up?"

"No way…" Kaila shook her head. "It's a bird, it can fly… Right?"

"Are you telling us or asking?" Saria wondered.

Not liking the idea of being out in the open where they could be fired upon by the humanoid bird, Tessl began wanting to retreat. Unfortunately for her, she found they were stuck in the room. "Umm… When did the door leading back out into the temple get barred off?"

"What?!" Saria and Fado said in unison as they jerked their heads back to see that the door they had entered from had thick iron bars blocking them.

Kaila sighed upon seeing they were essentially trapped. "It must have happened when the door above us opened."

Looking at their options, Fado came to the conclusion that this meant they had only one way of moving forward on their mission, which was by ascending the ladders. Even though she didn't see how they were going to find the Sage of Wind on the roof of the temple, it was the last place to look and where they were seemingly being directed. To counteract the worry of facing off against the menacing avian, the brazen kokiri amped herself up for a potential fight, almost wishing she'd encounter it so they could get it over with. She had grown tired of it trailing them the entire time. "Okay, let's just go to the top and find out what's out there. Maybe there's some evidence as to where this Sage of Wind we need to talk to is."

"Ughhh…" Tessl grumbled "I hate to say it, but I think you're right."

"Yeah…" Kaila struggled to admit. "If we can't go back, then we're going to have to go forward."

Walking over to the ladder closest to them, Fado took hold of one and Saria another. Climbing up, their fairy guardian's followed closely behind. Each ladder creaked from old age and the added weight of the kids. The brazen blonde kokiri made it three-fourths of the way up when one of the old wooden steps snapped. If it wasn't for her having a grip on the cleat above her, she would've fallen to the floor. Once was already enough for the day. She held on with all her strength as her legs flailed for a moment. Knowing she couldn't hold on long, to get herself back on the ladder, she swung her feet back and forth until she was able to grab one side of the rope rail in advance of holding it between her legs.

"Oh geez! Fado!" Tessl zoomed around her child. "Are you okay?!"

Fado nodded as she shimmied up the rope. "Yeah. I should've known these ladders were going to break."

Saria made it to the top of her ladder without issue and immediately climbed up onto the roof of the temple. Carefully hustling over to the ladder her friend was, she anxiously awaited the girl's ascension. "I'm here, Fado!" She shouted before giving encouragement. "You can do it!"

"Just be careful up there!" Fado yelled back, referring to the potential avian danger. In the meantime, she finally managed to climb the broken ladder enough to get her feet up onto an intact rung. "I got it!" She exclaimed as she got her footing prior to continuing her attempt to get to the top. Thankfully, now that she had a better hold of the ladder, she had no further issues in ascending to where her friend was. "Do you see anything? Especially anything red and flying around?"

Holding out her hand, Saria waited until Fado grabbed it before taking a brief look around. "All I see is an empty cavern."

With the help of her partner, Fado climbed up onto the top of the temple too. Her pulse was up a bit from the excitement of nearly falling, yet she was also nervous about what they were going to find. Since it was so difficult to get there, she assumed it would lead somewhere spectacular. The kokiri girl was surprised to see that it was nothing more than the stump from where the mighty ancient Great Tree had been cut down. Instead of treasures or a throne where the Sage of Wind eagerly awaited her arrival, all she saw was a roof. As a matter of a fact, it wasn't even that big considering the platform they stood on circled and was obstructed by the gap made by the open iris aperture.

"What the?" The brave kokiri started getting upset now that they had reached the top and found nothing to note. "Where do we go now? Where's the Sage of Wind?"

Saria shrugged. "I'm not sure. Maybe there's ladders leading down from here?"

Checking over the edge, they didn't see anything else they could identify as a hint of where to go. In fact, outside of the small platform they stood on, the roof section gradually began to slope down before reaching the actual ledge. Looking up, the hole in the top of the cavern provided them with a warmth of light, yet offered no additional directions. All around, there were only the remains of stalactites; no secret paths or hidden sections to reach from where they stood. Just staying there wasn't without danger though as the intensity of the wind was rather ferocious and whipped against the kokiri so hard it threatened to knock them off their feet. The fairies had to seek refuge against the kids in order to not be blown away.

"See anything?" Saria asked.

Fado shook her head as she narrowed her eyes from the fierce wind. "Nothing."

"What should we do?" The green-haired kokiri wondered.

Clearing her throat, Fado sighed. Looking down, she glanced back at the room with the suspended instrument prior to peering up at the hole in the top of the cavern. She tried to form a connection between the wind and her situation since the structure she stood on was quite literally called the Woodwind Temple. However, to her dismay, she couldn't think of anything that would help her progress further than where they currently were. "I don't know."

Saria stared at and could see Fado's jaw clenched and hands balled into fists. She knew her friend was beginning to get frustrated. Although she didn't want to sound like she was giving up, she also wanted to show she was sympathetic to reaching the end of the line. "I'm sorry, Fado."

"Maybe you were right about it being too long since the Sage of Wind has been here." Tessl tried to think of reasons why they couldn't proceed onward.

Kaila was staring up at the hole in the top of the cave when she said "Or maybe we just don't have the proper tools to continue."

"What do you mean?" Fado jerked her head in the direction of the inquisitive sprite.

"Didn't the mechanical man downstairs say this place used to be a meeting place between people of the sky and us surface dwellers?" Kaila pointed out. "Maybe there's supposed to be a way for us to get from here to wherever those people of the sky lived, but we just don't have the right key?"

Fado's eye twitched in frustration as it dawned on her the possibility that she once held the very key her partner's fairy was speaking of. Grunting, she lifted her fist and shook it in the air as she yelled "Kind of like the friggin' medallion I dropped earlier!?"

Out of nowhere, before anybody could reply to Fado's angry question, they were interrupted by a big red blob abruptly appearing from the horizon of the temple. Right away, they knew what it was as there was only a single logical conclusion. Sure enough, while the quad was still processing what was happening, the overgrown humanoid bird revealed itself by flying up into the air so fast it looked like a blur. After reaching a height it deemed sufficient, the avian being swiftly swooped down at full speed. For a split second, it looked like it was dive-bombing the two kids and after all the aggression it had previously shown to them, it wouldn't have been surprising.

"LOOK OUT!" Saria screamed upon seeing the bird. "IT'S THAT CREEPY BIRD-MAN!"

Fado immediately rearmed herself by brandishing her bow. "Not again!"

Instead of kamikazee the kokiri, the avian humanoid landed on the other side of the platform the group was standing on. Somehow it made the touchdown rather gracefully in-spite of the immense speed it came in at. Now that it wasn't attempting to kill them, stood still and was so close, they finally got a much better look at it. The bird-man easily stood at a height of over six feet and while it indeed had red feathers, it also donned a sleeveless red robe, a belt with a golden codpiece and a golden chest plate adorned with a green symbol resembling unknown runic language. Its piercing blue eyes seemingly stared straight through to their souls.

"What do you want from us!?" Saria tried asking it even though it never seemed to have responded to her beforehand.

"I will be the one asking the questions here." The avian suddenly spoke to them. Unlike before, this time, Fado and Saria were positive it was the bird who spoke as they saw its beak open when it talked. "Are you two kokiri?"

Fado blinked in disbelief of the situation prior to stuttering up a response. "W-What? Yes, we're kokiri."

Seeing the fairies on their respective children's shoulders, the bird-man narrowed his eyes as if he was skeptical. "Why are you here?" It asked with a stern tone. "This place is off-limits to everyone, kokiri included."

Looking at each other as if for verification, Fado quickly answered so she didn't seem like they were hiding anything. "We were told to come here by a green mechanical man on the first floor of this place. It told us to seek out the Sage of Wind for more information regarding where we are."

"You're at the Woodwind Temple." The avian retorted with a huff. "A place that has been restricted for almost a century now." Flapping out its long wings, it then rested them pressed against its torso like a regular bird would do. Nonetheless, it wasn't relaxed. They could tell it was hesitant to believe what they were saying and was having trouble not considering them as trespassers. "How did you find this place?"

"What do you mean?" Fado asked with a raised eyebrow.

The bird narrowed its eyes at her prior to pondering "Are you the leader?"

"I…" Fado struggled for a moment. "I would say I led my partner and our guardians here, yes."

"How did you find this place?" The avian humanoid repeated itself. "It's a secret to everyone. You can't just find this place on a map and I doubt you stumbled upon it while doing some spelunking."

Fado looked over at Saria for a moment only to see that the girl was incredibly nervous and probably glad she wasn't doing the talking. Turning back to the bird-man, the blonde-headed kokiri said "I was brought here by a green medallion."

"Where did you get that medallion?" The avian immediately interrogated with a hint of aggression in his voice.

Slowly lowering her bow, Fado answered with "I found it at a temple deep in the forest of the Lost Woods."

"Did you steal it?" The bird suspected.

Fado furrowed her brow as she shook her head and shrugged with one arm. "What? No. It was just lying in a room with a painting, so I took it with me." Trying to help the humanoid avian not think she was some thief, she explained her reasoning for taking the ancient green relic. "It looked really cool and I was drawn to it. I took it home and kept it as a trophy because… well…" Stopping for a moment, she felt embarrassed to admit how she felt deep down. "Kokiri don't generally go so far away from kokiri village. To me, it's a symbol of how strong and brave I am." Shaking her hands again, she reiterated "I didn't steal it though."

"How did it lead you here?" The avian proceeded with the interrogation. "The Forest Temple may not be that far from your village, but this place is."

"It teleported me to a ruin." Fado replied. "We walked the rest of the way here."

For a moment, the bipedal bird stared at them before its wings came flapping out with great velocity. "YOU LIE!" It yelled at them before declaring "YOU COULDN'T JUST FIND THIS PLACE ON YOUR OWN!"

"WAIT!" Saria jumped into the conversation to save Fado and herself as she feared the bird was beginning to grow increasingly hostile. "You're right! We didn't find this place on our own. My friend's special medallion can harness wind and it led us here!" Trying her best to explain the situation, she attempted to present logic to the situation by sharing how they felt, hoping the avian humanoid would understand. "She didn't want to tell you because she's worried people will think she's crazy if she tells them a divine wind showed her the path to a long forgotten temple. For a while, she even kept it a secret from me!"

Sighing, Fado gave up the charade on behalf of her teammates' safety. "It's true."

The overgrown bird's wings relaxed. But, it narrowed its eyes, skeptical towards what it was being told. However, it knew something they didn't and hearing their explanation made him wonder about their authenticity. With its raspy voice, it said "Hmm. Either you two are very important kokiri and you're telling me the truth… or you're demon's posing as kokiri and you're here to steal the Secrets of the Woodwind Temple."

"Please believe us." Tessl tried speaking to the feathery being. "Demons do not have fairies that follow them around. Our children are genuine kokiri."

Kaila nodded as she added in "Surely you can see that we mean you no harm."

For a brief moment, the avian creature wanted to give in no matter his suspicions. Yet, out of dedication, it stayed steadfast in its reluctance to believe them. "I have been here for a long time. I no longer know the local customs of different races or the current alliances between good and evil. You must understand that, in my eyes, it is possible fairies as well as kokiri have been enslaved, which would render your explanation moot."

Kaila made a face of disbelief as she replied in frustration. "Seriously?"

Even Fado could see that the bird-man refused to trust them. It annoyed her that they had done so much and come so far just to have everything they've accomplished be questioned by a being they'd never even encountered prior to then. On the other hand, since she understood that the place was being protected by the creature, she hoped to appeal to its sense of duty by requesting it do its job in a different way. "Wait." She told the fairies to halt their discussion in advance of telling the avian "I understand what you mean by it being hard to trust people. But, we're only here because we were brought by the medallion and told to reach the top of this temple by a mechanical man. Hopefully you'll believe us, because we need your help finding the Sage of Wind."

The very corners of the humanoid bird's beak bent upward as if to resemble a smirk. Letting out a short chortle, it informed them of what they least expected. "You have found him." Flapping his wings out, he told them "I am Tolenli the Hawkeye, Sage of Wind, Last of the Loftwings." His wings flapped harder until they produced enough thrust to lift the avian from where he stood. Hovering there, he readied his specially carved bow and arrow constructed from what appeared to be an unknown green stone. "You stand in the WoodWind Temple, the only place left that connects the surface to the sky. I have lived half of my life here protecting it from plunderers, explorers and all of demon-kind. Three decades I have aged here and waited; while I might not be in my prime anymore, I can guarantee you that I am still just as powerful as I was in my youth."

"B-But…" Fado stuttered. She was completely taken aback by the discovery that the Sage of Wind was an enlarged bird as well as the fact that they had already encountered him numerous times in spite of going through so much trouble looking for the guy. Either way, she felt the growing hostility in the air as the avainoid prepped its bow. Being so close and not wanting things to escalate further, the brazen double-bunned kokiri pleaded for the safety of both herself as well as her friends. "We're not any of those things. I promise you that we're here because I was brought by a medallion and used it as a key to unlock the temple. I didn't know that you were here and I certainly wasn't trying to steal secrets!"

"You must prove yourself then." Tolenli responded as he began flying up higher. "Prove you're worthy of being my successor."

Fado blinked in confusion. "Successor? What are you talking about? I just want information."

"Yeah…" Saria asserted. "You must still have the wrong idea about us."

Without any warning, Tolenli released his nocked arrow in their direction.

Saria reacted first by tackling her partner to the ground. "LOOKOUT!" She hollered as they rolled dangerously close to the edge of the roof platform. Thankfully though, they stopped right at the ledge and the arrow flew past them.

"STOP DOING THAT!" Fado demanded, still praying she could get through to the sapient bird. "WE MEAN YOU NO HARM!"

"YEAH!" Tessl and Kaila both said at the exact same time.

Instead of listening to anything else they said, Tolenli merely stated "You must prove yourself if you want to know the secrets of the skies!"

Grabbing her own bow, as she got up, Fado decided to play the avian's game as it seemed like it was going to be the only way to get it to stop attacking them "Alright, fine!" She yelled back as she grabbed an arrow out of her quiver and quickly nocked it. "You want to fight, old man?! Fine! I'll fight you and teach you some manners!" Taking aim, while the creature was still within range, she released an arrow of her own at him.

Tolenli swiftly dodged the arrow by swooping down. Unfortunately for the group, he was far quicker than them at reloading, giving him another opportunity to shoot while in the process of dive bombing them.

"WHOA!" Kaila remarked "HE'S FAST!"

Fado had to roll forward to avoid the arrow, once more endangering herself as she got hazardously close to the iris aperture leading back into the instrument chamber. Although she managed to dodge the arrow, upon standing, she had to immediately rebalance herself, swinging her arms to stop from falling inside the structure. Gritting her teeth, the second she caught her footing, she turned to see the bird swinging around in the air to face her with another arrow he'd already nocked. Thinking fast, she hurriedly ran along the perimeter of the platform while telling her partner to seek shelter "Saria! Let me handle this! Find some place to cover yourself and don't come out until I say it's safe!"

Saria was incredibly scared of the Tolenli because, other than Keese, she'd never fought a flying enemy; especially not one with a bow and arrow. Regardless, she faced her fears as she had done multiple times, wanting to make sure Fado stayed safe. She refused to leave her friend on her own. "No way! I can help!"

Spotting an opening from the developing situation, the Sage of Wind targeted Saria since she was standing still. Pulling back his bowstring, the second he aimed for the girl, he watched as Fado reacted so quickly he could barely stray to the side in time to avoid her retaliation. The kokiri's arrow came so close to him it grazed a feather on his wing. It didn't hit any skin and only seemed to encourage him to continue. However, the move also impressed the flying protector due to never expecting a kokiri to be so quick or so smart. Flashing through its mind was the curiosity of whether they really would be able to fulfill the requirements unlike everyone else who had tried and failed.

"Get out of here, Saria!" Fado demanded.

Saria looked down at the pit before glancing up at Tolenli. "But-...

"NOW!" Fado commanded with a stern tone. She wasn't trying to be mean and was sure her friend understood that. All she wanted was for the girl to stay safe in addition to being out of the way of an old flying maniac who still believed he had something to prove.

Hearing the flapping sound from up above her rapidly increasing, she dove out of the way in order to avoid being dive-bombed.

This time, Tolenli wasn't just swooping and truly landed rather aggressively; his exceedingly sharp talon's scraping at the petrified wood. "Never turn your back on your opponent." He said in an odd manner, as if he was trying to teach her the proper way to fight. "Always keep your eye on them and always expect them to do the same with you." With his bow already having been holstered on his back, he brandished two shortswords. They looked different than most swords as aerodynamics played an important role when they were forged. Although their multicolored ribbon handles made them look fancy, each having two holes in them, one short round one in the cross-guard and one longer ovular one on the blade itself, their purpose allowed for the weapon to be lightweight, which was vital to a being who needed to stay unhindered in order to fly.

Saria finally listened to Fado. But, seeing how there wasn't any place for her to go, she merely descended the ladder until she returned to the instrument room.

Unable to run away, Fado had no choice other than to face Tolenli head on. With the avian as close as it was, she too holstered her bow in favour of the shortsword she'd recovered earlier. "Don't talk to me like I'm some kid just because I look like one." She retorted. "I've been taught by the best Hylian Swordsman in all of Hyrule."

"A Hylian, here in the Lost Woods?" Tolenli spat. "I doubt that."

Fado stood at the ready with her sword. "Oh, what would you know if you've been stuck down in this cave for so long you don't know the difference between a kokiri and a demon!?"

The bird-person took a step forward as it twirled the two Feathered Blades. "I guess you'll just have to prove it to me then."

"Yeah…" Fado agreed as she continued to stay where she was. "I guess I will."

After a short two minute pause, Tolenli took action by abruptly flying forward at great speed. In a heartbeat, his wings propelled him at the kokiri. Using the sword he held in his left hand, he took a swing at the little girl. Even though he didn't want to go full force on a mere child, he knew he wasn't supposed to cut her any slack as it was his duty to test her using all his might.

As luck would have it, he knew right away that she wasn't a regular forest dweller as she immediately blocked his horizontal slice. Her adrenaline, courage and motivation empowered her to protect not only herself, but her friends and guardians too.

Pushing his sword away with hers, she attempted to hack at his waist. However, he swiftly countered with the blade in his right hand. Once again, their weapons clashed, making a loud metal clanking sound that echoed throughout the entire cavern. Fado pushed her muscles as far as she could and it worked far better than she expected. Nonetheless, she couldn't overcome the superior leverage held by Tolenli due to their height difference. Soon, he managed to break through her block by pushing until his blade started sliding down hers. She knew she was beginning to lose control of the situation since she could feel herself being forced back, her boots losing traction on the roof of the temple.

Forgetting that the Sage of Wind was dual-wielding, she had to duck as he abruptly swung his left blade. Unfortunately, she didn't have enough time to avoid his next attack whenever he kneed her in the lower torso so hard she was propelled up and backward. The impact caused her to release her grip on her sword, where it proceeded to slide across the platform. Despite nearly losing her breakfast as his kick caused an intense wave of nausea to wash over her, she managed to catch herself on the ledge while she fell off.

Taking a split second to look down, she saw the sloped roof to the rest of the temple. Looking back up at the ledge of the platform, she heard the overgrown bird coming closer and felt the vibrations too as its talons tore at the rooftop. Knowing that she'd be overcome if she didn't do something quickly, she chose to let go. Falling about eight feet, she tucked her legs so she landed on her butt. Right away, as she was sliding down the sloped rooftop, she spun around onto her aching stomach in order to retrieve her bow.

Nocking an arrow, Fado bore witness as Tolenli appeared from the edge at the top of the instrument room. Pulling her bowstring, she took aim prior to taking the shot. 'This guy is the real deal!' She thought. 'He's not going easy on me and I can't take it easy on him!'

The arrow soared in the avianoid's direction, causing it to take evasive action by strafing to the side. Seeing that the kokiri was moving further away, the Sage of Wind decided to utilize his bow again as well. Except, this time he didn't simply fire back, he harnessed his magic power for a specialized attack. As if he had an aura surrounding him, a bright light shined across his form as he readied three arrows at once. Holding all of them just beneath their fletching feathers, he pulled back in advance of releasing them. The glow traveled with the arrows as all three seemed to hone in on the forest kid with unnatural precision.

"WATCH OUT!" Tessl hollered as she came out of the cover of the instrument room.

Fado saw the arrows and barely succeeded in rolling out of the way. Although she wasn't a hundred percent positive, she was fairly sure she also noticed a mighty gust of wind assisting her by blowing the trio of arrows off their trajected course. If that were true, she was thankful to see that she was still being helped by divinity.

However, her heart nearly stopped when she saw the overgrown bird smack her sprite guardian back into the pit. With blood boiling in her veins, she screamed "DON'T YOU TOUCH HER, YOU JERK!" Afterward, the kokiri firmly pressed her boots to the rooftop, causing her to skid to a halt. Jumping to her feet, the wind seemingly propelled her upward a bit, allowing her plenty of time to make a decent landing without worry of slipping on the slope. "YOU'RE NO SAGE IF YOU FIGHT DIRTY LIKE THAT!"

"I will do anything to protect this temple and its secrets hidden within." Tolenli calmly stated as he reloaded another three arrows.

As Fado started running in a circle around the temple rooftop, down in the pit, Tessl collided with one of the strings belonging to the instrument prior to crashing to the ground. Kaila immediately flew to her pixie sister and proceeded to drag her over to one of the windows where Saria had sought refuge in the frame.

Saria scooped the two fairies up and kept them safe there with her. Yet, looking out the window and seeing her friend evading three more arrows, she knew she had to do something to help, something other than hide like a coward.

In the meantime, after jumping out of the way to avoid the Sage of Wind's attack, Fado took aim with her bow. As she did, a strange thing happened. She felt an energy radiate forth from her. All of a sudden, she realized her body was glowing just like Tolenli's had. She couldn't spend any time thinking of what was happening though as she was in the midst of battle. Continuing with her strategy, she released the bowstring to find that the mysterious light went from her body to the arrow in the exact same way it did with Tolenli. The only difference was, instead of three arrows and the ability to hone, Fado's arrow was seemingly backed by a great gale.

"So, it's true." The avian whispered a response in awe to what he witnessed before trying to duck from the arrow. Unfortunately for him, due to the sheer speed it came in at, he couldn't move quick enough and the projectile smashed against his ceremonial gold chest plate. While the arrow itself did nothing more than scuff the metal, the power of the magic wind following it was so strong it knocked the bird back toward the pit. "Such strength!" He stayed absolutely amazed regardless of being struck. "Such strength for a mere kokiri!"

"That's right, jerk!" Fado shouted as she hurried up the slanted rooftop of the temple. "I told you I'm way stronger than I look!"

Although Tolenli was pushed over the inner edge of the platform and started falling through the open iris aperture, he was able to use his wings to keep from plummeting down into the room. Hovering there, he had to snap himself out of the shock from what was happening. By then, he saw his challenger returning to where she'd been knocked off, knowing it was likely in an attempt to recover her sword. With a newly restored sense of duty, the Sage of Wind flew over to the outer edge where the kokiri girl should be.

The very second the avian looked over the outer edge of the platform, he saw Fado smirking as she'd prepped another arrow for him. Letting go of the bowstring, she watched as it flew almost straight upward, once again boosted by an intense gust of wind that vortexed around the tip of the projectile. Tolenli barely avoided a direct impact to the face and felt the air rush by him, temporarily blinding his eyes. By the time he blinked away the dryness of his eyes, he then saw the girl had managed to halfway ascend the wall of the platform.

"You might be strong, but you lack my experience." The Sage of Wind said as he grabbed his bow off his back, dropping it to his talons in advance of doing the same with an arrow. Nocking the projectile, he took aim while mid-air. "You'll never defeat me, especially if you carry yourself so cockily."

Considering she had both hands occupied with climbing, Fado was unable to defend herself. Her eyes widened in fear as she stared at the tip of the enemy's arrow. She honestly couldn't see a way to avoid being hit. However, fate had an idea and lended her assistance in the form of her friend.

While the Sage of Wind had his back turned to the pit, Saria took the opportunity to recover her customized spear. Knowing she had to act fast, the green-haired kokiri reeled back and threw the weapon with a mighty swing. "QUIT HURTING MY FRIEND!" she screamed while lobbing the spear.

Having his back turned and once again not expecting a regular kokiri to be capable of harming him, in spite of what he was just saying, Tolenli turned out to be the one who fell victim to hubris. For the second time, he found himself being struck. The tip of the homemade spear pierced just beneath his left shoulder, lodging itself in the leather harness of his breastplate. Even though the metal tip got stuck, it still managed to stab the avian, finally drawing first blood. More importantly, the sudden hit caused him to lurch forward and miss the shot he was about to take directly at Fado's face.

"UGHHH!" Tolenli grunted in pain. Landing to assess his injury, he stumbled forward and then backward. Reaching behind himself, he gripped the shaft of the spear and yanked it out. "I thought I made it clear this was about the other kid, not you!?" Spinning around to glare angrily at the nervous girl in the pit, he decided to teach her a lesson since she couldn't stay out of the battle he was having with her friend. "Maybe this'll make you mind your own business!"

Right as the Sage of Wind reeled back in preparation of throwing the spear, he felt a hand wrap around the ankle of his thin bird leg. Looking down, he saw Fado had reached the top of the platform, but he still couldn't react in time before she pulled so hard he came right off his feet. He fell on his tail feathers, dropping the spear, which fell back through the iris aperture where it landed by Saria's feet. As Saria recovered her customized weapon, Fado did the same by climbing up onto the platform in advance of grabbing her shortsword.

"What the!?" Tolenli was baffled by the two kids' ability to work together so efficiently. Nonetheless, he flapped his wings to assist in quickly getting back up. "That is it!" He narrowed his eyes in frustration regarding his youthful challengers. Swooping down to land, as soon as his talon's dug into the rooftop, he brandished his specialized swords meant for aerial warfare. Last time he fought the girl close and personal, he had no issues in one-upping her. Now that he had been injured for the first time in almost a third of a century, he intended to switch back to a strategy he knew worked. "You two are naughty and need to be punished!"

"Saria!" Ignoring the insult, Fado formulated a plan instead. Running to the inner-edge, she bent down to shout into the pit for her partner's attention. "Throw me your dagger!"

Not wasting a single second, Saria whipped the dagger out from between her belt and tunic prior to tossing it up toward the edge of the iris aperture. To her dismay, she didn't throw it far enough as it hit the wall and slid back down into the pit.

Fado banged her hand against the walls of the room in response to the failure before dodging a jab from Tolenli's feathered blade. The kokiri girl then had to block a diagonal slice. However, knowing that the avian was simply going to strike her with his other sword, she immediately used her weapon to push away his blade right as he took the swipe she anticipated. Ducking, she proceeded to dash underneath and in between the bird's legs. Coming out behind Tolenli, she then ran back to the edge of the pit.

"Catch!" Saria shouted as she tried throwing the dagger up for the second time.

Bending down just in time, Fado waited for the dagger to be thrown and then snatched it out of mid-air. Although she was ecstatic that she had another weapon so she could dual-wield too, she had to retreat instead of celebrate because the Sage of Wind quickly retaliated by turning around and lunging at the blonde girl with the intent of stabbing her. Fado rolled out of the way just in time before jumping up.

While Tolenli reset his stance, the kokiri ran at him while screeching a battlecry. "The only one who's going to be punished is you!" Fado hollered as her shortsword clattered against Tolenli's left sword. When he tried stabbing her with his right sword, she parried with the dagger before ramming her head against the feathered sage's stomach.

"Ghaa!" Tolenli hacked, not only having all the air taken from his lungs, but a strand of bile ejected from his beak.

"See?" Fado smirked as she tried swiping the avianoid of his feet.

While the kick clearly hurt him, it didn't knock him over as planned and it hurt her too, causing her tibia to throb.

Recovering quicker than the girl expected, the Sage of Wind grabbed the little kokiri's leg and lifted her up. 'There's no way' He thought, staring at the kid with his huge eyes and contracting pupils. Although he wanted to stab her, she was swinging her shortsword in addition to her dagger like a madwoman. 'There's no way this pipsqueak is overcoming my powers, my experience, my dedication. I don't care what the prophecy says, she's not worthy of being my successor!' Snapping his beak to show discontent, he cawed at her in advance of slinging her off the platform. "You'll never be worthy!"

"FADO!" Saria screamed at the top of her lungs upon seeing her friend being tossed from the platform like a ragdoll. When Tolenli spun around, she felt her pulse increase and it was for a good reason as the bird proceeded to swoop down on her, making the girl run for shelter in the window frame. She was just about to grab the edge of the rotating wooden mechanism in an attempt to cover herself when she saw him leave. Part of the green-haired kokiri was relieved she wasn't going to be attacked, yet she now feared for her partner.

Regardless of what was expected from all three of them, especially Fado, right as she was about to slam against the temple rooftop, she found her body being cushioned by a sudden cloud of air that formed out of nowhere. At first, she had her eyes closed out of instinctual fear, but upon opening them when she realized she didn't impact the structure, she was in awe at the safety net she'd been bestowed. It truly befuddled the girl. However, since she didn't have time to ponder the matter, she quickly hopped back to her feet. The air cushion swiftly vanished behind her as she started running back to the platform.

Tolenli didn't get a chance to see Fado's maneuver, so he was rather surprised to find her already up and moving so quickly. Nonetheless, he immediately cut off her attempt to return by flying down to where she was on the rooftop. His talon's dug into the petrified wood to stabilize himself on the slanted surface as he darted toward her with his wings flapping. "Where do you think you're going?!"

"To kick your ass!" Fado replied as she clashed with the bird. Amazingly, each time her sword and dagger collided with his two feathered blades, a small gust of air blasted in both of their faces as if her motions were being boosted by the wind. Still, she had to be extra careful with paying attention to the sage's movements in order to not be injured by his swiftness. Blocking a jab, she then spun out of the way to avoid a downward slice. However, upon return, she flourished a stab of her own.

Jumping back, the Sage of Wind barely avoided the kokiri's dagger. Using his wings to propel himself forward, he tried giving a hook kick to knock her over. When that didn't work because she ducked, he thrusted his left sword forward while using the right to do a diagonal slice with enough force behind it to damn near decapitate the girl.

Unfortunately for him/fortunate for her, she used her dagger to push his left sword away while allowing the cross-guard of her shortsword to catch his diagonal slice. For a split second, the two of them stared intensely at each other before Fado screamed another battlecry. Somehow, she channeled the wind again, slinging the dagger as fast as she could, narrowly avoiding hitting Tolenli's sword. Breaking through his defense, she abruptly succeeded in slashing his chest. Although his metal breastplate once again protected the sage from the majority of the damage, the tip of the blade cut deep into both sides of the leather harness it was connected to.

Tolenli yelled as the dagger sliced his chest. In order to prevent her from doing it again, he quickly circled his right feathered edge to counter her block. Nonetheless, it seemed to him like the kokiri was in a frenzy because, in the meantime, she stabbed his breastplate several more times and was just about to ram her blade upward toward his throat before he jumped back to save himself from certain death.

Seeing the threat growing, the avian humanoid felt the need to take his evasive action further by flapping his wings as hard as he could to make an intense gust of air. Being strategic, he tried using the force of the wind to push her down and off the rooftop.

Fado held her arm in front of her face to block some of the wind; her dagger sticking straight out as she did. Even while being forcibly pushed by the air, she kept her shortsword ready at a moment's notice. Nonetheless, she knew she had to change tactics after she noted how much closer she got to the edge of the temple's rooftop. Sheathing both her blades at the same time, she grabbed her bow and gathered an arrow from her quiver. Nocking the arrow, within the blink of an eye, she took aim in her challenger's direction and then released the string.

While she was swift in her movements and her invisible guide continued to assist her attack by boosting the arrow's speed, she didn't expect her ancient bow to snap right afterward. "MY BOW!"

Narrowly avoiding the accelerated arrow as it flew between the feathers on his fingers, the Sage of Wind didn't let up on flapping his wings even as he laughed at the girl's misfortune. "You came to this fight with inferior equipment!"

"SHUT UP!" Fado screamed in frustration as her commandeered bow crumbled in her hands.

"Foolish girl!" Tolenli insulted as he flapped harder upon seeing her nearing the edge of the temple rooftop. "You're no successor of mine!"

"YOU'RE CRAZY! YOU'VE BEEN ALONE TOO LONG!" The sassy double low-bunned kokiri hollered back in response as she dropped the broken bow in favour of her blades again. Sadly, she was only able to get as far as gripping the handles before she felt the heels of her boots falling over the edge of the rooftop. In response to being about to fall, she let go of her weapons and swung her arms in an attempt to regain balance. Try as she might though, she was unable to prevent herself from falling over the side as the sage's gale was too much to fight against. "NO!

"I am not crazy!" Tolenli replied with a growl as the feathers on the back of his neck stood on end. However, despite saying that, he did feel a sense of pleasure in addition to accomplishment upon seeing the kokiri girl half his size falling from the rooftop. "I have dedication to my role. No matter how long I have waited, I cannot allow a weakling such as you proclaim to be the one to take my mantle." A small smile came to the very corners of his beak until he heard her talking from close by.

By luck, Fado had been blown off the temple at the precise spot where a ladder appeared to be extending forth from a platform below. It was a small platform and led into an alcove penetrating the side of the temple. Having grabbed a wrung of the ladder, she stopped herself from falling. But the sheer momentum caused her body to slam against it before halting. "By the goddesses, you freak, who said anything about taking your 'mantle'?!"

"Y-You…" The Sage of Wind became increasingly flustered by his inability to rid the temple of a mere kokiri. Crouching as he walked forward, his tail feathers flared to indicate his displeasure with the situation. "You can keep pretending you don't know about your latent powers, but it doesn't matter! I'm going to destroy you! I will destroy any and all invaders to this holy site!" Grabbing his sturdy bow, he immediately nocked an arrow with the intention of shooting the girl off the ladder.

Hearing the enemy's footsteps rapidly approaching, Fado quickly got her footing on the ladder in advance of descending it at break-neck speed. Reaching the terrace, as soon as her boots touched the ground, she hopped off and ran toward the alcove without first finding out what was in it. It was a good thing she did too, for she both heard Tolenli's arrow being released as well as felt the air from the ammunition coming a hair-width from hitting her back.

"Stop!" Tolenli yelled at the wiry girl prior to fluttering downward to go after her.

Going into the alcove, Fado realized she was in an octogonal room that, aside from a trap door in the floor, was completely sealed off from the rest of the temple. A series of lanterns attached to the wall allowed her to see. Directly in the center was a rope hammock suspended from the ceiling with a nice woven blanket draped across it and several throw-pillows. Behind the hammock was a writing table in addition to bookshelves stocked with dusty tomes. To the right was a dining table and stools, only one of which was actually pulled up to the table. On the left was a bunch of pottery. Even though most of the room was wooden since it was carved out of the great tree, underneath the hammock was the largest wool rug the kokiri girl had ever seen. Closest to the door, on each side were weapon racks. Unfortunately, they were empty, probably being used by the Sage of Wind.

"Get out of my bedroom!" Tolenli yelled as he landed on the terrace just outside the alcove. "I don't need you tainting my sanctum after having been graced by my feet only for half a century!"

Fado laughed, taunting the avian as she ran into his private chambers. At first, it seemed as if she was merely going wild and running forward because Tolenli was right behind her. However, she actually had a plan in mind, one she formed on the fly so she wouldn't find herself cornered. "Come and get me!"

Ruffling his feathers, the Sage of Wind snapped his beak with a grimace. "Quit playing games with me, you little shit!" He growled in anger before hopping forward with his bow nocked and ready.

"You're just mad because you can't get me!" Fado proceeded to taunt as she stopped just in front of the hammock. Seeing her challenger aiming his unique bow at her, she felt an energy brewing deep within her core. 'What is this feeling?' She contemplated for a split second prior to realizing she needed to get out of the way. Nonetheless, for whatever reason, she stayed there as if she were glued in place. When Tolenli released the arrow, on impulse she flung her arm out as if to catch it. Opposite of expectation, like magic, the ammunition was seemingly caught in mid-air by the wind. As soon as she moved her arm again, the arrow was slung off to the side where it was rendered useless.

Tolenli's beak fell open in shock at what he had just witnessed. Never before had he seen someone harness the wind like that, not even his predecessor was as capable of doing such a task. Regardless, he knew he couldn't stand there gawking for long. After only a couple of moments, he closed his beak and darted forward toward the kokiri girl.

Even though Fado was absolutely astounded at what she had just done, she didn't know how she did it. 'W-What did I just do?' On the other hand, she didn't have the time to contemplate the matter either as she saw the Sage of Wind coming at her.

Timing everything just right, turning back around when he was close enough, she decided to enact the plan she had previously devised. Sprinting full speed, she then ran to the hammock. Whenever she reached it, she took her shortsword and cut one end of the rope used to secure it to the ceiling. Using her other hand, she quickly grabbed onto the hammock and was immediately propelled in a circle due to the sheer momentum of her run. Swinging around within the blink of an eye, she completely caught the avian off guard. However, instead of colliding with him, she let go of the hammock, fell to the ground and watched as the rope sling wrapped around his torso.

"What the?!" Tolenli shouted in response to suddenly being binded by his own bed. The tangled net-like roping enveloped him, keeping him from flapping his wings or using any of his weaponry. Still, he refused to surrender and tried his best to keep going. Unfortunately, he tripped over the hammock and rolled onto the big woven rug.

Fado got back to her feet and took off running to the exit of the room, giving the Sage of Wind a wide berth as she made her escape.

"STOP!" Tolenli barked orders. "WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING NOW!?" Seeing the blonde kokiri girl making haste out of his bedchambers, he stopped resisting against the rope sling and used logic instead of panicking. While he was unable to attack, he managed to reach one of his feathered blades and started sawing at the restraints. "THIS ISN'T GOING TO STOP ME FROM COMING AFTER YOU!"

Having already made it to the ladder, Fado ignored the fuming bird-man and ascended as fast as she could. 'I can't give up!' She thought as she intended to find another way to take down the loopy sage.

The moment she surfaced on the rooftop of the temple, she heard Tessl call out to her with worry in her voice. "FADO! ARE YOU ALRIGHT!?"

"HE'S COMING!" Is all the kokiri girl would say as she ran up the inclined rooftop toward the center where the platform was.

Saria poked her head out of the window and yelled back in response "WHAT DO WE DO!?"

"We have to do something!" Tessl said to her sprite sister.

"Like what? We're nothing but insects to him." Kaila lamented.

Shaking her tiny head, Tessl argued "It doesn't matter! We have to think of something!"

Running up the rooftop of the temple, Fado made it to one of the ladders leading up to the platform. Yet, as soon as she latched onto a rung, she heard a loud screech coming from behind her. Looking back, she saw that Tolenli had managed to free himself from his temporary restriction and was flapping his wings as hard as he could to fly up high enough to go after the little kokiri girl who was causing him so much trouble.

"I TOLD YOU THAT WASN'T GOING TO STOP ME!" The red avianoid yelled with his neck feathers fluffed up. Brandishing his dual blades, he made an impressive flourish with them in advance of coming after her.

"Crap!" Fado said to herself as she hurried with her ascension of the ladder. 'I need to move quicker!' She mentally remarked prior to feeling a rush of air blowing upward. Giving it a quick glance, the kokiri girl saw that the wind was coming from beneath her and seemed to be assisting her climb by reducing her weight. Just like before, she had no clue how such a thing was possible or why it was happening, she was just glad it was indeed occurring. With the help of the wind, she made up the ladder in a matter of seconds. "Whoa… That's amazing."

Now that the blonde kokiri was on top of the platform, she looked behind to witness Tolenli coming in hot. The Sage of Wind was flying so fast in order to catch up that he almost overshot his landing. Still, he opened his sharp talons and tried grappling the forest child with hopes of crushing her with his mighty claws. As soon as she evaded his attempt by strafing to the side, he flapped his wings forward to slow his momentum enough to land without hurting himself. Right away, now that the two had been reunited, their battle instantly resumed. Tolenli tried a special move by spinning like a vortex with his dual blades extended outward, yet Fado just ducked and used her shortsword to slice at the avian's legs.

Feeling the girl's blade cut into his shin, he jumped back. Adjusting his strategy, with a growl, he came at her with an overhead strike. However, she quickly parried to block the attack. Using her dagger, she tried stabbing him in the hip, yet he countered by hitting it so hard with his other feathered blade that it caused her dagger to go flying out of her hand and into the instrument pit down below. Barely having the time to react, Fado spun around to free herself from his downward thrust before returning with an upward slice of her own.

"I don't know how you got the powers you have-..." Tolenli snapped at the girl as his sword clashed against hers to block her attack. "But I won't let you take this temple's secrets!"

"Shut up!" Fado demanded in advance of performing a simple chop.

Tolenli immediately parried and riposted at the right time in order to stab the girl in her shoulder. "Aha!" He boasted upon seeing the tip of his sword stuck in the kokiri child's flesh.

"YUAAA!" Fado cried out in pain. All she could think of to do was jump back, causing the sword to be pulled from her shoulder. "YOU BASTARD!"

"HEY!" Tessl shouted as she suddenly showed up, flying in a circle around the avian's head.

Kaila joined in, doing the same as her sprite sister by fluttering around the Sage of Wind. "YOU LEAVE HER ALONE!"

Although Tolenli was more or less merely annoyed by the fairies flying around his head like hungry mosquitos, the pixies proved to be not only a decent distraction, but a small threat to him too. Not only did they allow Fado a second to recover from her injury, after circling around his head several times, they both worked together out of desperation to deliver tiny punches to both of the avian's eyes. "TAKE THAT!" They hollered in unison as they struck his optical orbs. "JERK!" As soon as they popped him in the eyes, they flew away as fast as they possibly could since they didn't want to be struck.

Tolenli stumbled back as he winced from the sharp pain of basically having his eyeballs poked by simple forest fairies. "OWW! Seriously!?" He was in disbelief it even happened. Yet, that only served to stun him long enough to temporarily drop his guard.

Saria, having ascended the rope ladder while the fairies did their attack, ran up from behind and used her spear to deliver a jab to the avian's lower back. She yelled out a battlecry of her own as the metal tip sunk through the Sage of Wind's feathers to pierce his flesh. Even though she was far from proficient, her instincts took over and made her twist the spear to make it hurt the bird-man worse. Normally, she wouldn't do such a thing as she was a very nice person, but seeing her best friend being maimed by the maniac caused her to go into overdrive so she could do what she had to in order to protect both of their lives.

"NO!" Was all Tolenli shouted as he dreaded his incoming downfall.

As suspected, Fado utilized his pain as well as his confusion, running forth and giving her challenger a hook kick. Her leg swung around to impact him in the side with great power. However, with more than she was capable of delivering, a divine gust of wind boosted her speed, allowing the hook kick to be so strong it took the avianoid off his feet and sent him into the pit. He tried to flap his wings to recover, but was unable to produce enough thrust in time to stop from falling through the iris aperture. In fact, his attempt merely caused him to spiral.

Fado, Saria, Tessl and Kaila watched as the Sage of Wind plummeted back into the instrument room. Being out of control, he couldn't avoid the metal strands of the wind violin. Falling atop numerous strings, they snapped from his weight and whipped around, tangling him in them as he hit the ground hard.

"Whoa…" Fado responded to the scene.

Blinking several times in advance of snapping back to reality, knowing that Tolenli was at the very least temporarily incapacitated, Saria turned her attention to her friend. "Fado!? Are you alright!?" Not thinking properly, she dropped her spear and ran over to the double low-bunned kokiri so she could ensure her injury wasn't too severe. Due to the enormous deluge of emotions coursing through her, the green-haired kid's heart was beating so fast she could barely think. Careful to not squeeze Fado's stabbed shoulder, she hugged her before examining her body. "Thank the Great Deku Tree that you're alive! I was so worried when you went out of sight that I couldn't stop shivering!"

"Ouch! Careful…" Fado said as the hug hurt her shoulder a bit regardless of Saria's attempt to not do so. Nonetheless, the brave kokiri smiled and nodded in advance of responding to the question. "Yeah, I think I'm okay."

Saria examined her friend's shoulder and saw blood soaking through the hole on her tunic where the avian's feathered blade stabbed into her. Quickly opening her bag of supplies, she rummaged around for anything that would be beneficial. Although she had a little bit of bandaging remaining, there wasn't enough to fully wrap Fado's shoulder. More than anything, she now wished that she could have brought a health potion, yet she saved up all her rupees to get the endurance potion she needed to get to the entrance of the cave in time. Sighing, she nervously fidgeted. "We need to get out of here! You're too hurt!"

"Please listen to us!" Tessl added with worry in her voice.

Fado immediately shook her head as she tried catching her breath from the intense battle she had just experienced. Panting, she said "No way… Not yet." Pointing down into the pit beneath them where Tolenli stayed completely motionless due to being bound with metal wire, she continued by stating "I have to settle things with this so-called 'Sage of Wind'. He has questions to answer and he better do it because we just kicked his ass."

"No!" Tessl argued, as predicted. "Look at yourself! You're hurt!"

"I'll be fine." Fado waved off all their concern before once again pointing down into the pit. "Look. Look at what we did to him. He's not getting up, so I think we managed to subdue him."

Saria pondered it in spite of her guardian's disapproval. "But, what if he's faking?"

Fado shook her head again as she began walking with a slight limp over to the rope ladder that led back down into the instrument chamber. "I don't think he's faking. We both wore each other out and did a lot of damage. If I hadn't used all Link taught me, I'd never have been able to take him down." Stopping for a brief second, she knew she had to tell the truth about what else helped her overcome her challenger. "A-And… I-… I don't know how to say this, but the wind kept boosting my attacks. It was like-... it made my arrows faster, even my kick was easier and more powerful. It went as far as to help prevent me from falling a few times."

"I saw." Saria admitted. "You did several things I didn't think were possible."

The fairies both stayed suspiciously quiet. On the other hand, Fado resumed the rest of her trek to meet her defeated foe. Not ceasing due to pain, she grit her teeth as she held her shoulder for a moment prior to climbing down the rope ladder. It took her longer than anticipated because her adrenaline was beginning to wear off and she could feel every boo-boo she'd gotten. She was glad to step off the bottom rung and was once again glad it held up to her weight seeing how it was very old. Her friend followed right behind her, but the fairies just used their wings to float down with no issues.

Observing the situation, they all saw that Tolenli was still alive. For a bit, they had been wondering about his status considering he hadn't budged since he hit the ground. Only when they saw his chest rising and falling to indicate he was breathing were they positive he hadn't passed. In spite of having metal wires wrapped around him like twine on a spool, they expected him to be doing more than lying motionless. In addition to the damage he'd received from the skirmish, they realized it was possible he had broken some bones or been knocked unconscious upon impact with the floor. Regardless, they made sure to approach with the highest level of caution. Fado kept her shortsword at the ready while Saria did the same with her customized spear.

"H-Holy Hylian…" The Sage of Wind moaned, showing more signs of life. "My back. I c-can't move."

Fado ignored Tolenli's words of misery and slowly approached him prior to holding out her weapon. The tip of the blade was pointed at his throat with a mere four inch gap separating the two. "Do you yield?" She asked him.

Tolenli turned his head to the kokiri girls and blinked before wincing. "I-… I cannot fight-... anymore." He breathily admitted.

"Yeah right!" Tessl found the whole ordeal suspicious. "You're faking!"

As soon as the fairy accused him of that, without meaning to, he hacked up a bit of blood; an action which couldn't be feigned. Coughing, he groaned in pain. Finally, he moved a tad, but clearly had significant trouble doing so. "Please…" He pleaded. "I think I've thrown my back out. I'm not faking. I yield."

"He's lying! Don't trust him!" Kaila voiced her opinion, agreeing with her sprite sister.

Fado kept her eyes on the avianoid and scrutinized his expression in order to try to determine whether or not he was being honest or deceitful. The best clue was the blood dripping from his beak as well as the constant moans of pain. Especially due to being tangled in a knot of metal wires, she felt inclined to believe the sage was genuinely finished trying to attack her. Although she definitely remained wary, she decided to give the big red bird the benefit of the doubt. She just prayed she wasn't playing directly into a trap.

"If I help you get out of these metal wires, what's stopping you from attacking me again?" The brazen blonde kokiri enquired for a good reason.

Tolenli coughed as he shifted about on the floor. "Y-You have my word as Sage of Wind, as protector of this temple... You have bested me."

"Don't do it, Fado!" Kaila exclaimed in fear.

"Yeah, he's crazy! You can't believe what he says, even if he promises!" Tessl added.

Glancing back at her partner, Fado wanted to know what Saria thought about the situation, what she would do. "What do you think, Saria?"

Saria looked back and forth between the injured oversized bird that tried to kill the both of them as well as her hurt friend whom she cared greatly for. Yet, she was unsure of what to do or even say. Even though she didn't want to make the wrong choice and get Fado, herself or her beloved guardians killed, she also logically understood that they needed to acquire information from the sage and not just run away. She knew they had come too far to retreat. Conflicted as she was, she soon came to the conclusion of splitting the difference. "I think we should make him answer a few questions before we release him. If he answers truthfully and we believe him, it'll give his surrender more credence."

"Good point." Fado smirked for a moment as she returned her stare to the incapacitated avianoid. Although she lowered her shortsword, she didn't free the birdman from his bondage. Instead, she decided to start over from the beginning. "How about we reintroduce ourselves and go from there?"

Tolenli had no choice other than to agree to the terms. "Okay."

"My name is Fado." The blonde double low-bunned girl stated. "I'm a kokiri from Kokiri Village." Pointing to her friend, she let the girl pick up where she left off.

"My name is Saria. I'm a kokiri too." The green-haired girl introduced herself in spite of keeping her spear ready for anything that might happen. "The Deku Sprout sent me and our fairies here to accompany my friend. He didn't explain why. But, if you know anything about our race, you'll know we generally follow the Great Deku Tree's advice and orders."

Coughing with a grimace, although he didn't want to talk and would rather be freed first before explaining everything, he did as he was told since he had been defeated by them. "My name is Tolenli the Hawkeye. I am a Rito descended from the mighty Loftwings of the Islands in the Sky." Taking the initiative to divulge the information they wanted to know, he also told them "For sixty years I have served as the Sage of Wind. I was assigned by the Wind Tribe as the protector of this temple known as Woodwind. It has been my duty for thirty of those years to ensure the secrets of this place stay locked away."

"What are those secrets?" Fado took a shot at asking.

Not only knowing that he had to, his previous suspicions also made it easier for him to allow himself to inform her more. "How to get to the Sky Temple; access to the Skyloft and other islands."

"Sky Temple?" Fado and Saria both said in unison.

"Yes." Tolenli confirmed. "It is a holy place with as much regional importance as this one."

Pursing her lips, Fado tried to make sense of what he was saying. She didn't understand how there could possibly be islands in the sky or why there were temples and tribes up there too. Nonetheless, she understood that he had dedicated himself to concealing the locations of these places. However, she still wanted to know why he went straight to attacking them when it was rather obvious they weren't a real threat to his so-called mission. "Is that why you went berserk and tried to kill us? We tried to tell you that we weren't interested in stealing any secrets or revealing this place to anybody else."

Rolling his eyes, he said "It was only one reason." Sighing, he coughed a few more times in advance of admitting "At first, I didn't want to believe it. I didn't want to believe that you were my replacement. Yet, you showed yourself to be capable of things only a wind sage could do. So, even though I was skeptical, I knew I had to test you, to make you prove yourself." Stopping to cough again, he hacked up another glob of saliva mixed with frothy blood. "Now I know you are who you say you are because only someone like you could have defeated me so quickly."

"Is that what you meant by 'mante'?" Fado asked.

Nodding, Tolenli said "Yes. You are the new Sage of Wind and it is now your duty to protect this place."

Fado just chuckled, not really believing what was being said to her. "I am not."

"You are…" The avian interjected. "Only a wind sage could have gotten as far as you have. Only a wind sage could harness the wind as you have done to defeat me."

Gritting her teeth, the blonde-headed kokiri refused to accept the possibility that she was more special than she realized. "Look, I'll admit that no matter how I managed to do those things, it was awesome. But, I don't think I'm some sage who's destined to spend the rest of my life watching over some temple hidden away in a cave."

"Yeah!" Tessl added. "She's a kokiri! They don't live in caves!"

Clearing his throat, Tolenli agreed with the adamant pixie "I am aware. But, she has been chosen and I can prove it."

"How?" Saria stepped forward. "I believe you." She revealed. "I believe that Fado is different." Turning to look at her best friend, she opened up her true feelings and what she'd always thought. "She's always been stronger and faster than the rest of us. Plus, lately she's become obsessed with the Lost Woods and using weapons. Although that doesn't imply she's what you're suggesting she is, to me it does prove that she's incredibly brave; aside from one other person, she's the bravest person I've ever met. I really think she's unique, but if you know a way to prove it, maybe the rest of us will believe you more too."

"Saria…" Fado said in a quiet voice. The girl was embarrassed, yet proud as well as happy that her best friend felt such a way about her. More than anything, she was honored.

The current Sage of Wind groaned before explaining "I have the Wind Medallion you left behind on the outskirts of the temple. I recovered it shortly after you all ran inside. It's in the pouch on my belt." Craning his neck, he stared at the blonde-haired kokiri "Fado, if you take it out and hold onto it here, you'll discover your true power and be awoken as the new Wind Sage."

Fado immediately perked up at the mention of the green medallion, taken by surprise that her challenger had it in his possession the entire time. Then again, she was more interested in what she was being told, wanting to know what her true power was. "All I have to do is hold it?"

"Yes." Tolenli confirmed in advance of adding a catch. "That and releasing me so I can assist in the ritual."

Fado rolled her eyes and scoffed. "I knew it… You're lying to us!"

"I'm not…" Tolenli calmly said "I'm telling you the truth."

Saria stepped forth with hope of trust and a desire to find out if her suspicions were true. While she understood her friend's thought process, she could neither sense nefarious intent from the avian nor did it make sense for him to lie about such a thing at this point. "Wait, Fado. Let's give him a chance." So she didn't seem as if she was taking it easy on the guy who just spent thirty minutes trying to kill them, she decided to also air on the side of caution. "How about we take the medallion from him and go from there? If he's telling the truth about that, maybe we can trust that he's telling us the truth about needing him freed as well."

Thinking about it for a bit, Fado rubbed her chin. Although she looked up at her pixie guardian to see her disapproving face at the suggested idea, Tessl and Kaila had both been against every move she'd made thus far. Considering that, she decided to listen to her wise friend. "Okay. But, if I find out he's lying, we're going to have to teach him a lesson he's not going to like."

Saria nodded before telling Tolenli what they planned. "Do you hear that? We're going to get the medallion from you first. If what you're saying is true, then my buddy should feel something, right? If she does, then we'll let you go." Stopping for a moment, she seethed at the thought of what would happen otherwise. "If you're lying, well… Let's just say, we might be small, but we'll make you regret messing with us."

The Sage of Wind smirked in advance of coughing. "Very well."

Fado kept looking at Tolenli for a moment before glancing over to Saria one final time. After a bit, she took a step forward in the direction of the restrained avian. Same as before, she was a bit hesitant. Even with her shortsword at the ready, she was wary that she might be walking into a trap. In spite of her dubiety, she persevered. Ambling up to the bird-man, she knelt down beside him in order to better access his belongings. He was several times bigger than the little kokiri girl, but she tugged him onto his side, revealing the very pouch he had been talking about; a good sign to start with. Opening the small leather bag, she was instantly met with the sight of her precious medallion.

"What do you see?" Saria enquired with anticipation burning through her.

"It's in there." Fado replied, referring to the medallion.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Saria was glad to find that Tolenli was telling the truth so far. "Okay, get it and let's see what happens."

Unlike her friend, even though she was a bit excited, the blond kokiri wasn't so giddy because she could already see that the medallion wasn't active. "It's not glowing or doing anything like it did before." She explained as she reached inside of Tolenli's pouch, taking hold of and removing the green metal. "I don't think-..." The kokiri started to lament in advance of feeling a sudden warmth emanate forth from the medallion. "Wait…" Her eyes darted side-to-side as she closely examined the precious tool. Out of nowhere, she suddenly felt faint. Just as it had done before by making her feel woozy, her mind was abruptly muddled by a growing energy. At first, the light was too inconspicuous to notice, but now that she held the medallion she could see it increasing in luminosity.

Once the light was bright enough to be seen in spite of the solar rays shining down on them from above, the others took notice as well. Saria's ocean blue eyes were glued on her friend as she said "I knew it."

However, Tessl had to vocalize her disbelief, even if there was definitely hesitance in her voice. "T-There's-... no-... way."

"Whoa…" Even Kaila found herself stunned. "This is unprecedented."

To Fado, their words were muffled, sounding as if they were at the other end of a long tunnel. She was so entranced by the magical relic that their words no longer held any importance to her anyway. All the kokiri girl could think about was the warm sensation washing over her. On the other hand, It didn't take long for that subtle heat to get hotter than anticipated. Thankfully it wasn't more than she could handle as it seemingly seeped into her heart, blood and bones. Her muscles tensed and then swelled. Metaphorically, it was like she could feel her soul expanding outward to encompass more than just her physical form. Suddenly she could truly sense her radiating aura as well as everything around her.

An enormous gust of wind blew down into the instrument chamber they stood in, billowing against all of them. Then again, the light shining forth from the medallion intensified until that was the only thing they could notice; forcing the group, aside from Fado, to shield their eyes as it threatened to burn their retinas. Fado was simply too enthralled to look away, move or speak. She just remained in place as she stared slack-jawed at the blinding light that was emanating forth from the mystical relic. Even when another galeforce breeze nearly took her off her feet, she stayed steadfast in her stupefied transfixation.

Tessl and Kaila retreated to the safety of Saria's clothing, gripping onto the fabric to assist in not being blown away.

When the green relic began vibrating in the courageous kokiri's hands, the light it produced also fluctuated. Instead of being solid, it was produced in bursts. A humming sound could be heard coming from the medallion, echoing throughout the entire cavern. All of the sudden, the light vanished for a moment before three glowing orbs of pure energy shot out of it. The trio split apart in mid-air where they swiftly proceeded to soar toward not only Fado, but Tolenli and Saria too. Each orb, when it hit them, was ethereal. It couldn't be felt in the traditional sense, not by touch. Yet, all three individuals felt it melt into their body with an energizing warmth that revitalized them better than a full night's sleep ever could.

No matter the pain he had previously been in, the avian was healed instantaneously. Feeling the power granted to him, with his back renewed, he knew right away what he had to do. The wires restraining him were tough, but not stronger than his strength. Using every muscle in his bird body, he struggled and writhed until he felt the cables creak. Straining harder, he busted one. The wire flew back and smacked against the wall with a loud thud, catching the attention of Saria as well as the fairies.

Saria gasped and jumped in shock at the sudden noise. Although she was in complete awe at experiencing the holy orb meld with her form, she snapped back to reality when Tessl and Kaila yanked on her long ears and yelled at her to watch out. She averted her eyes from Fado and the medallion in order to see Tolenli trying to free himself. Considering he wasn't waiting to be let loose by them, she assumed he had a nefarious intent. "Hey!" She yelled at him. "Stop!" Turning back to Fado, she tried getting her attention. "Fado! Fado! FADO!"

No matter how much Saria called her, the blonde kokiri was too hypnotized to hear or notice anything occurring around her. She kept staring at the green relic with a blank expression plastered on her face.

Tolenli got his arm free and immediately tugged at another wire to loosen it enough to slip his legs out. After releasing his other arm from captivity, he pulled on the remaining cables, lifting them so he could get his torso out. Once he was out, several of the cords snapped back up into position. Standing up, now that he was no longer bound by metal wire, he cracked his neck and then shook his head side-to-side in addition to making a loud chattering bird sound. He took a single step toward Fado before hearing Saria scream at him.

"DON'T YOU TOUCH HER!" The green-haired kokiri demanded as she gripped her spear tightly, ready to thrust it forward if she had to.

The avianoid smirked as he stopped where he was directly in front of Fado. However, he reached down onto his belt where some of his gadgets and tools were. Next to him, he saw Saria tense up in response to his movements, preparing to attack him. But, he proceeded to grab an object on his side anyway, knowing he couldn't be stopped by the kid as his duty had to be followed through.

"HEY!" Saria shouted "STOP! DON'T MAKE ME KILL YOU!"

Although the green-haired kokiri was nervous he was reaching for a weapon, it was swiftly revealed to be something much different. Instead of a sword or any other form of blade, he detached a small object shaped like a tapered baguette from his belt. Holding it up, he made sure the frightened child could see that it was in all actuality a musical instrument, a miniaturized violin known as a pouchette. Although the backside of it was gilded to resemble the rest of his armor, the frontside was the wood most recognized. It had four strings and silver tuning pegs. A small indentation on the side was a fiddlestick he took out and spun with a flourish. Holding the pouchette up, he placed his chin to the marbled chinrest before lowering the fiddlestick to the fingerboard.

"W-Wha-..." Saria lowered the spear and raised her eyebrow.

Tessl cocked her head to the side as she asked "Is that a tiny violin?"

"I have to play the Wind God's Aria." Was all he said. After that, without further delay, Tolenli began playing a song that Saria and both fairies knew due to having heard it less than an hour ago. Gently and with a great deal of grace, he produced the musical notes of A, A, G, F Sharp, E, and F Sharp; the same jingle the kokiri kids had to create using the wooden window mechanism and the ingenious wind violin in order to open the iris aperture above them. Then again, he didn't stop at the end of the little melody and carried on playing the whole majestic song with zealous vigor.

Saria and the pixies might not have understood why he was doing such a thing, but Fado, who was still unnaturally enthralled by the medallion, physically responded to the music in an unexpected way. For a moment, she wobbled back and forth. Then, her eyes turned white as they rolled back in her head. Legs quivering, her knees finally gave out. Even hitting the floor didn't arouse her from the trance she'd been placed in. Falling to the ground onto her back, she was lucky she didn't hurt herself on her shortsword. The green relic landed atop her torso where it started glowing yet again.

"F-FADO!" Saria screamed in shock upon seeing her best friend collapse. Her anxiety skyrocketed upon noticing the girl's missing pupils. "ARE YOU ALRIGHT!? SNAP OUT OF IT!"

"FADO!" Tessl assisted.

However, try as they might, nothing reversed the double low-bunned kokiri's unconsciousness. Tolenli merely continued playing what he called the 'Wind God's Aria'. Fado laid on the ground shivering as the light coming from the medallion pulsed a few more times. In addition to the glow, a bright ray of sunshine shone down upon the girl, encompassing her entire form. Saria got so worried that she was about to run at the avian to make him cease his activity. By either luck or fate, he completed the song before she had the opportunity to do so.

The glowing of the medallion ceased as soon as Tolenli performed the final note, but the sunshine persisted. Fado's eyes closed for a moment and she stopped trembling. After moaning for a bit, she stretched and wiggled in a fashion resembling someone just waking up from sleep. Before long, her eyes opened again. She stared straight ahead with a mile-long gaze. Only when she turned her head to see the birdman did her pupils shrink to pinpoints as she realized she wasn't at home. Memories came flooding into her mind of what had just occurred. She wanted to get up, but was confused why her body didn't want to respond.

"You're awake!" Tessl exclaimed.

Saria audibly exhaled in relief to see her beloved friend wasn't harmed by whatever had happened to the girl. "Thank goodness you're okay!" Dashing to the downed kokiri's side, she bent down to tend to her. "How do you feel?! What happened?!"

Letting out a cough, Fado simply said "I don't know… I-… I feel odd."

"Fado…" Tolenli spoke calmly while lowering the pouchette. "You have been chosen by the three goddesses, powered by the God of Wind and guided by the Great Deku Tree. You are the new Sage of Wind. It is now your duty to protect the secrets of this holy temple."