Frontier Town, still the morning of the Sixth Day after Hero's Day
Zelda was just about ready to start punching people by the time Link re-emerged next to his raft and surfed to shore.
Almost as soon as the monster had been defeated, people had started coming out of everywhere and it seemed like every last one of them was blaming Link, herself, or both for what had happened. The Inn Keeper had attempted to defuse the situation for about thirty seconds, but had bowed out and made his exist as soon as the crowd had started accusing him of siding with the "Imposter Hero".
Zelda joined Link about halfway from the shore – he'd been walking towards her as well. He was soaking wet and his hand kept drifting towards the handle of the Master Sword. Zelda's only guess was that he was itching to draw it and to check on it – something he could not do within view of other people lest the sword's condition cause a generalized panic.
The crowd unfortunately followed Zelda and turned their attention to the Hero as soon as he was within hearing distance. The din of the many voices shifted accordingly: where people had been speaking in relatively normal tones or even muttering before, as if attempting to compromise between addressing their grievances to the Princess and simultaneously trying not to be caught outright yelling at her, they started shouting in earnest once they could direct their anger at Link instead.
"This is YOUR fault, Imposter!"
"Our lake NEVER had a monster in it until YOU came along!"
"And now it's black with evil dust!"
Zelda rolled her eyes: the water had indeed been tainted by the black monster dust, but it had already cleared up thanks to said dust disappearing as it always did.
"Link…" she started.
"How DARE you come here and make a lake monster appear?" one man screamed, inserting himself between the Princess and the Hero and advancing towards Link with one fist raised.
Zelda's own fists clenched.
"Feed him to it!" Someone else yelled, in blatant disregard for the fact the monster was dead, as though the remark had been prepared ahead and not updated following the monster's demise.
The malevolent stupidity was getting to be too much. Zelda's upper lip curled and she dimly noticed that her palms were hurting from her nails digging into them.
One of the town's women closed the distance to Link and spat at him.
Link said nothing in response, marching away once he was sure the Princess was following, with his face a neutral mask.
Zelda was not feeling as tolerant. She didn't know how Link could just put up with all this, but she had no intention to accept the unacceptable.
As soon as they had managed to at least have all the crowd on one side of them – behind them to be exact - she stopped and turned around.
"Princess?" the Hero asked in a whisper, stopping and turning as well.
"The behaviour I have just witnessed from you all has been unacceptable!" Zelda thundered. "This young man just fought and defeated a monster who attacked one of your own, and you dare blame him for the monster's very appearance? How in the world would he have managed that, and why? Do you think him so naïve as to think it would have earned him your grace? Why would you ever think he'd even WANT your grace?"
"Is this an official royal proclamation?" Someone asked back in a carrying voice that was just shy of yelling.
"Are we free to go, or are we required to listen?" Another voice, this one decidedly yelling.
Zelda's eyebrows shot up and she found herself speechless for a solid two seconds.
She scowled when she recovered. "I, Princess Zelda of Hyrule, daughter of the Hylian King, hereby make this official request," she said, her voice loud but measured. "You will tell the Hero…" She pointed to Link. "… and myself where we may find Professor Cellan. You will be happy to know that once we've talked to them, we will GLADLY leave your town."
The crowd became quiet.
Zelda held her position. She leveled a glare at one side of the crowd and slowly moved it towards the other side.
Link's eyes had gradually widened until it felt like his eyebrows must have disappeared in his hair line. The Princess's fists were clenched and her face twisted in a furious snarl. She looked ready to physically attack someone if pushed just a little bit further. He wasn't concerned that she actually would, but this town was already not particularly loyal to the Crown, so the Princess's gamble was just as likely to fail as it was to work. It was clear that the previous comments had made her hope the townspeople weren't willing to go as far as direct defiance, but Link wasn't sure pushing them was the safest move the Princess could have made.
Part of him was rather touched that it was in his defense that she was allowing her temper to flare. The other part of him, however, would have much preferred to get moving. He was terrified the water from the lake had done extensive damage to the sword, and it was torture that with all these people around, checking on the holy blade was impossible. The sooner they found Cellan and went back to their room or left town altogether, the better.
In any case, it was pointless to wonder whether the Princess' outburst had been a good strategic move or not, they just needed to decide on how to proceed from there. In the immediate, his own next move was obvious: he put his hands together and prepared to cast Nayru's Love, just in case the crowd turned against Princess Zelda.
Eventually, someone spoke out. "So if we tell you how to find that nutcase Cellan, the sea slug and yourself leave faster?"
Link ignored the name calling, scanning the crowd for signs of potential physical violence. The remark was, in spite of the rudeness, encouraging: it looked as though Princess's outburst might just work to get them the very information they needed.
"The HERO and myself have business with Professor Cellan, and no reason to remain here otherwise," the Princess confirmed, her voice coming out in a bit of a growl.
"Fine," spat the person who'd first spoken out, a middle aged Hylian man with bushy brows that looked as though they were furrowed more often than not. "She's at Cherry Tree Lab. It's called that because it's right next to the biggest cherry tree in town."
He pointed behind Link and Zelda. "That way, keep walking until you get to a house painted blue. Turn right there and walk a while more and you'll find it. Now if you don't mind, HIGHNESS, can you PLEASE be on your way? We don't need another monster appearing out of nowhere because of your presumed hero!"
"With the greatest pleasure," Zelda growled. She then turned on her heels and walked away, followed promptly by Link.
"Am I imagining things, or is this worse than Midah?" Zelda asked in a whisper as soon as they were at a more comfortable distance from the crowd.
Link considered for a moment before answering. "When it comes to myself, Midah would not have allowed me inside the walls at all if you hadn't insisted, Princess," he said, "but the townsfolk were not all hostile as I had expected. With the exception of Master Link, it does seem that the people of Frontier Town are more united in their dislike of Sea Folks. I am very sorry to see that my concerns about how they would welcome you were warranted as well. Out of curiosity... will you be mentioning this to the King?"
She sighed. "Not in any detail; they haven't broken any law. I've already been writing to my brother Prince Hylrick to let him know that I was seeing a lot more anti Sea Folk sentiment than I knew existed, this will merely be another example. I will let my Father know that there seems to be some discontent here. It could be that we could find out the root cause and address it."
They walked in silence for a bit, ignoring as best as they could the glares that continued to be directed their way by the people they walked past, the angry mutters, and even the occasional name calling and injunctions to get out of their town directed at Link.
"Princess, would you mind terribly if I dried myself?" Link suddenly asked.
Zelda cocked her head. "Not at all, but how…?"
Link sidestepped away from her and brought one hand up in front of his chest, closing his fist on nothing. He then put his fist to his chest and opened it, and a wave of heat washed over Zelda. Water evaporated around Link and he soon stood nearly perfectly dry. He reached into his pouch and took out a bottle about half full of a murky green liquid, drinking it.
"A variation on Din's Fire, Princess," he said, answering her question.
"Very ingenious," she said, genuinely impressed. "Was the green potion you just drank one of the ones you made from green pods?"
"Thank you. And it was, yes. They look murky, but it doesn't affect the taste or the effects. This was about half a dose."
"I see."
Zelda cast her mind about for another conversation topic, unwilling to go back to walking silently and hearing the dark mutterings of the locals. And to think Link had just defended them against a monster... a detail from the battle came back to her mind and she seized on it.
"Link? I hope you don't mind if I'm curious... those clawed gloves you used to scale the creature... I've never seen the like. Were they made for you, or did you find them?"
She was gratified to see the Hero's face relax a little. It seemed he was as glad for civil conversation as she was.
"I found them, Princess," he said. "They once belonged to the Hero of the Sky, a gift from a subterranean species that seems to have since left Hyrule, called the Mogmas. Are you familiar with the name?"
She hummed. "They were treasure hunters," she said, "with the peculiar characteristic that no matter how hard they worked to find various treasures, anything from actual rupees and gemstones to rare objects, they would without fail promptly give it away to someone else. We believe that they only ever sought treasure for the express purpose of being able to present someone with what they found."
Link smiled, and she found herself smiling back, Frontier Town all but forgotten.
"Would you like to hear where and how I found them?" Link asked.
She grinned and nodded eagerly. Link started relating a trip to Death Mountain and to a lost temple located deep within it. Between his narration and her questions, the conversation carried them until they found the house painted blue and turned right as instructed. A large cherry tree was soon visible down the street they were on, and after just a few more minutes' walk, they arrived at the Cherry Tree lab. Zelda knocked and stepped back. A feminine voice came from inside: "Just a minute!"
There was some knocking around inside, some scraping, and then the door opened on a relatively short, round woman with auburn hair and a house dress covered in dust. She took one look at them, gasped, and fell to her knees with a cry of "Your Highness!"
Zelda's eyes widened: she had certainly hoped Professor Cellan would not be as hostile as the rest of the town, but she hadn't expected actual respect.
"Please rise," she said hurriedly. "Professor Cellan?"
"Yes, your Grace!" The woman rose, looked at Link and fell right back on one knee. "Hylia's Chosen!" she whispered, as though hardly believing it.
Link's eyebrows shot up again. "Ah… don't… please rise?" he stammered. "You don't have to…"
"I know, Hero!" the Professor said, getting up. "It's just… well! After reading about all the times you've saved us all, in your past lives I mean, it feels like people SHOULD have to show respect to you. Don't you think? And besides, I owe you extra to make up for… well. I'll confess that when the medal first identified you, I couldn't believe it. A Sea Folk!" She looked away, hand going to the back of her head. "But goes to show, doesn't it? The medal was one thing, but the sword! I was wrong, and I admit it. You're definitely the Hero reborn. I don't understand why the spirit would do that to themselves…" she trailed off, cleared her throat, and bowed again. "Anyway! It's an honor."
Link had no idea how to react to this mix of racism and recognition, but he very much wanted to stay on the professor's good side, so he just forced a smile. "Thank you," he said.
"Oh, look at me standing right in the way!" Cellan suddenly exclaimed, stepping back inside. "Come in, please!"
Zelda walked in, followed by Link, who closed the door behind him.
The inside of the house was a true scientist's lair: every surface was covered in either books, papers or archeological finds. Cellan was hurriedly carrying things from the table and chairs to whatever free bits of the floor she could find.
"Professor, might I assist you?" Link asked.
"Goddess no!" Cella gasped. "Please be patient, just one more trip…" she grabbed the last few items encumbering the sitting area, dumped them on top of a stable looking pile of books, and turned back to them.
"I'm so sorry about the mess," she said. "Please, have a seat. I'm sure you didn't come all this way for no reason, especially in this town…" she shook her head. "Anyway, please, please, have a seat! Can I offer you some tea?"
Link and Zelda sidestepped various obstacles on the floor to sit on the two nearest chairs. Zelda didn't need to look around to guess that making tea would involve shuffling even more things around, and she already felt bad for causing their host so much work.
"No, thank you," she replied. She fished the notebook out of her travel bag and handed it over. "We found this inside the Goddess in the Forgotten Temple," she said.
Cellan gasped again and took the book. "Oh, thank you!" she exclaimed. "I thought I'd lost it for good this time! I'm always forgetting it somewhere. You didn't come all this way just to give it back, I hope?"
"I confess that we didn't," Zelda said. She cleared her throat. "Hero?"
"Yes, Princess," Link said. "Professor Cellan, we found your notebook while we were researching the origins of the Master Sword ourselves," he said, speaking evenly. "It is our understanding that it was reinforced in the past, including by the very first Hero, and we were hoping to duplicate these efforts."
"Why would you want to do that?" Cellan asked. "Did you meet the Enemy, and he's too much?"
"I have yet to face the Enemy of our age, Professor," Link answered. "However, the eleven years that have enabled me to train and to become stronger could have been used by the Enemy to similarly increase their own power. If there exists a way to make the Holy Blade even more powerful than it already is, it would be unconscionable not to pursue it."
"Hm," Cellan said, rubbing her chin. "Well, I mean… you're right, if you can stack the odds more in your favor, it'd be crazy not to. Well, how about I run you through the Sword's history? Probably the best way to pinpoint a potential way to strengthen it again. It's been done before a few times, after all."
"We would be very grateful if you could," Zelda said. "We're not… imposing too much on your time, are we?'
"Princess, you're giving me an excuse to ramble on to a captive audience! Don't worry, I'm delighted!"
She cleared he throat.
"So. Well. You know about the first Hero helping to make Hylia's gift to her chosen people, the Holy Goddess Blade, more powerful. That's how it became the Master Sword we know today. So. What he did was, he brought it to the three Sacred Springs and exposed it to three Sacred Flames. I've been to the Springs, I can personally guarantee there's nothing in any of them anymore that would make any kind of holy flames, so that's out."
Link kept the fact that he'd tried anyway to himself.
"Everyone also knows about the Hero of Legends and the Hero of Lorule improving the actual blade with the help of some extraordinary ore and even more extraordinary blacksmiths," Cellan continued. "The likes of these blacksmiths haven't been seen since, and no more of the ore used has been found since either. Dead end again. You'd think you're out of luck, but never fear! Someone invested the blade with completely new powers before! I mean, of course, the Picori!"
Link took care to keep his face neutral even as he felt his heart sink: if Cellan was one of the historians who actually treated the Picori as real, it was quite possible, even likely, that some of what she'd tell them about the sword next would be equally fanciful.
"So!" Cellan continued. "In order to help the Hero of Men, we know the Picori gave him the Sword of Light. It's also called the Four Swords, and supposedly, it could allow a person to split into four, but the important point is, that was in fact the Master Sword! Invested by the Picori with brand new powers!"
Zelda's eyes widened. From the corner of her eyes, she noticed Link had gone very still.
"It was?" she asked.
Cellan beamed at her. "Never heard that before, right, Princess? That's no surprise: it's a recent discovery. But yes! The Sword of Light, aka the Four Swords, is in fact the Master Sword, modified by the Picori! It's no wonder it was successfully used to seal evil once you realize this, right? So!" she said, clapping her hands together and grinning. "You do have ONE path available to you: you need to find the Picori!"
Zelda noted that Link was still not moving a muscle.
"I… I'm afraid even the Royal Family doesn't know of a way to contact the Minish directly," she said. "We do know they are here in Hyrule right now, but…"
Link's eyes darted to her before settling back on the table between Cellan and himself. He couldn't look at either of them right now: not the lunatic professor telling them to seek fairytale creatures, and not the Princess, who was having to play along in the name of diplomacy. And meanwhile, because they were still not alone, Link couldn't even check on the sword, which may yet be in pieces by now, moldy and rusted and rotten bits fallen off altogether thanks to the extended soak in the lake.
The Professor was talking again. She mentioned a name that didn't register in Link's memory.
Two days. The Princess and himself had taken two days to ride here, to this incredibly unpleasant town where the Princess had had to endure insults directed at herself and her family in addition to the usual nonsense directed at him! And before that, a full day from Maritta to arrive to the Forgotten Temple and explore it! And before that, Midah! Which had at least only been hateful towards him but had taken nearly a day to arrive to from the Great Plateau! All that time, and the Master Sword, the Holy gift from Hylia herself to Hyrule so that it could be protected, the Sword of Evil's Bane that had so often been the only means of defeating the Enemy, was dying – was possibly beyond repair now! And people were being attacked on the roads by monsters that were somehow able to remain completely hidden from HIM! And the Enemy was completely free to prepare whatever it was they were planning!
All that time, just to eventually reach a professor telling them to seek the MINISH, the tiny creatures from children's books, too small to see but somehow supposedly enamored with big people. So enamored as to drag gifts several times bigger than they were supposed to be themselves all over the place for people to find! It was taking everything Link had to keep his expression neutral and his mouth shut.
The Princess spoke. He forced himself to pay attention.
"…our gratitude, Professor Cellan," the Princess said. "We will seek Master Angon in Kamah."
Link's eyes snapped to the Princess, but he once again kept his face neutral. Professor Cellan was trying to help. He couldn't repay the effort by insulting her opinion.
"Thank you, Professor," he said. "For this new information, but also for your hospitality."
The Princess got up from her chair, they both said their goodbyes, and they walked back to the Inn to recover their horses and the Princess' packs. The Princess was silent, with the expression Link had learned to associate with her being deep in thoughts. He didn't interrupt – he didn't want to talk about anything of consequence here.
Absorbed as they both were, it was an easy matter to ignore anyone yelling at them or muttering darkly with glares to match.
As soon as they were back in their room, Link carefully, slowly, drew the Master Sword out of its sheath, and nearly cried in relief: the blade was worse than ever, but only from the gradual damage he was unfortunately getting used to. Miraculously, the water it had been soaked into didn't seem to have had any effect.
He let out a shaky breath and slid the Holy Blade back into its sheath. He then turned to the Princess to address the next most pressing problem.
"Princess Zelda… I do not wish to put the weight of divining a solution on your shoulders, but DO you have a solution to suggest? You have managed to remain calm far better than I have upon hearing Professor Cellan's advice. Is it because you found something useful in it that I may have missed?"
The Princess blinked at him. "Do I… why, we head for Kamah, of course," she replied.
Link cocked his head. Kamah was where the "Picori expert" lived, but that was obviously not a reason to go there. But then, why? The Princess seemed downright shocked at the question.
Her answer to Cellan mentioning the minish came back to mind, and he fully registered the words for the first time: the Princess had said the Royal Family knew that the Picori were currently active in Hyrule. His eyes widened: did the Royal Family think the minish were real? Why?
"Princess Zelda... does the Royal Family, and yourself..." he paused. He needed to speak carefully if he was to avoid insulting her and the rest of her family. "Does the Crown know the Picori to be real?"
Zelda's eyes widened. "Yes," she replied. "Are you saying you're among those who believe them to be a mere superstition?"
Link looked down and swallowed. The Princess believed in the minish. That was an additional layer of wasted time he had definitely not anticipated.
"I'm very sorry, Princess. I didn't mean to insult you," he said. "I was completely unaware that the Royal Family had reasons to believe the minish legends were true."
Zelda shook her head. "I'm not insulted, please don't worry. I'm astonished. Some of the reasons we know the Picori to be real are not exclusive to us at all. You demonstrated it yourself a few nights ago by finding green pods in a wardrobe, and I'm sure you've found rupees and other odds and ends before as well."
Link was not meeting her eyes. "I've come to be quite certain that the gifts are targeted, Princess. And in my experience, blessings targeted towards me are the work of the Goddesses. I would never dare question your judgement, however. I'm quite willing to admit my error."
"You still think I'm angry with you for... not sharing what you see as a mere belief. I'm not, so please stop finding different ways to apologize and for Hylia's sake, don't force yourself to agree with me. Am I to understand that your finding green pods when you needed them was not at all unusual for you?"
Link chewed on his lips, hesitating, but after a moment, he moved the curtains from the window and picked up a red rupee and another green pod.
"It is not unusual at all," he said. "Anywhere I am, regardless of the time of day, if I look around at all, I will find rupees and supplies. The supplies are even usually things I do need at the time. Since I've been using a lot of magic to train on improving Nayru's Love, I've been finding a lot of green pods. I often find heart petals as well... have you ever seen one?"
"I haven't, no," Zelda said. "They're very rare, are they not?"
"My understanding is that they are indeed extremely rare for everyone else than myself," Link said. "Please don't be alarmed."
He unsheathed the light sword on his back and nicked his forearm. A small cut just big enough to see, letting out little more than a few drops of blood, a bright red against the brown of his skin. He wiped the sword on a cloth he produced from his pocket and sheathed it back, then walked to one of the beds and reached under the pillow with the arm he hadn't cut.
He then straightened up and showed her the heart petal he was now holding before placing it on the small cut. The petal disappeared, dissolving into thin air, leaving behind clean unmarked skin, with both the blood and the cut completely gone.
"The sheer amount of presents I find and the fact that I always find what I need precisely when I need it is why I have so far believed the presents were targeted to myself," Link repeated.
"And you attribute those gifts to one of the Goddesses, correct?" Zelda asked. "Any one of them in particular?"
"I don't know with any certainty," he admitted. "I feel that Din and Farore would likely prefer me to be self-reliant, and that it is not within Nayru's nature to provide me with weapons such as the arrows I also often find."
"So your guess is Hylia," Zelda concluded.
Link nodded. "It is no more than a guess. I don't even dare express thanks for fear I might insult my real benefactor by misdirecting my gratitude."
"The good news is, even if I'm correct and you're not, it seems like so far, the minish are not so offended as to stop spoiling," Zelda said.
Link stared at the floor, combing his brains for a suitable answer.
"I realize the Picori are the traditional answer to the question of where the gifts may come from," he said, "but may I ask for my own curiosity, are there facts known to the Royal Family that confirm this traditional answer to be accurate?"
"There are," Zelda confirmed. "We have several proofs that the minish exist and are in the habit of trying to make big people happy through gifts. Many of these are from archeological relics but it is not considered at all doubtful that the minish did and still do thrive in Hyrule."
Link nodded. "Then we indeed seek Master Angon," he said.
Zelda bit her lips. "I appreciate your open mindedness, but I have no desire to impose new beliefs on you. I have no means of proving the existence of the minish to you right now."
"Thank you," Link said, "but you are not imposing anything at all. Although I would still greatly hesitate to credit the Picori with the targeted gifts I've been blessed with, I simply believe you, Princess. You say that you have several proofs of the Picori's existence; it would be madness on my part to still refuse to admit that there is something in Hyrule that is at the very least the basis for the Picori legends. How close the legends are to reality thus becomes a legitimate question, and there is hope that Master Angon will have useful information. I confess that for myself, that hope is a very small glimmer indeed, but it is still undoubtedly better than nothing."
Zelda sighed. "That's precisely what I've been telling myself since we left Professor Cellan. I had never heard of this theory that the Light Sword was in fact the Master Sword, and I find myself doubtful. Just the same... we have no other lead. I still feel as though it's likely we were put on this winding path for a reason, so as long as we have no better option, I will follow it."
Link nodded. The only thing left was to forewarn the Princess about their destination: he'd never been to Kamah, but he had the red towns memorized and Kamah was one of them. In other words, the town where Master Angon lived was classified as downright dangerous to Sea Folks and to be avoided at all costs. "Are you familiar with Kamah, Princess?"
Something must have shown in his tone, because she suddenly looked alarmed. "I've never so much as heard the name," she admitted. "I was going to ask you the same."
"It is in Faron," Link said. "On an elevated plateau just West of the falls. I've never been there, but I have heard of it... its reputation is worse than Midah's. People have reported physical assaults."
Zelda's brow furrowed. "We'll be careful, then," she said. "Do you know of a song to get us close to there?"
Link nodded. "I do, Princess. We wouldn't have been able to use it for Midah because there is no path from there down to the land at the bottom of the falls, but I have a song set for Tobio, which is at the South End of the Hollow of the same name. There are paths from there that climb to the higher plateaus."
Zelda smiled, relieved to finally have at least a little bit of good news. "Tobio is the Ghost Village, isn't it?" she asked. "If I recall correctly, it's been abandoned for a very long time."
"That's correct, Princess," Link said. "One of the ghosts there is a swordsman, and is always looking for a spar. I set a song leading there hoping that I could benefit from some additional training while helping a soul move on. The sparring does feel like good exercise, if only because the ghost never tires and cannot be hurt, but so far, he shows no sign of moving on."
"It is not yet midday," Zelda mused. "I'm not tempted to linger here. If we head for Kamah now, will we arrive before sunset?"
"It should be a fairly short ride from Tobio," Link replied, "I haven't made this particular ride before, but if all goes well, I would expect it to only require about an hour or two. Perhaps three if the path is a lot more serpentine than I expect."
"Excellent. Let's find Master Link and request a meal to go, and be on our way."