Link headed towards the milk bar next. Mizo and Pogar, the two villagers who had run away from him screaming for guards, were nowhere to be seen, which was good. Less good was the fact that neither was anyone else, which highlighted once again how many people were either sick or caring for the sick. A nice day like today, sunny and just warm enough… people wouldn't all be cooped up inside if they had a choice about it.

Almost every house Link walked by had someone coughing in it. He wondered if the theory Grandma Ezifa had offered about evil in the air was true: it certainly seemed weird for a virus to spread that much but leave quite a few people completely fine. Or maybe that wasn't that unusual, he really didn't know much about how those things worked.

Link stopped walking when he heard crying from inside Darri's house. Darri was a seven year old girl that had the distinction among the other village kids of having already figured out what she was going to be when she grew up: she was 100% set on being a scientist, and she particularly liked bugs.

The crying was interrupted by a fit of coughing, and Mrs. Tupan's voice floated out, although Link couldn't make out the words.

He knocked on the door. A quick visit might cheer Darri up, and now that he thought of it, the little future scientist might have just been Sahasrahla's confident.

Mrs. Tupan opened the door and her eyes widened.

Link suddenly remembered there was no guarantee Mrs. Tupan wouldn't be afraid of him. The fact that anyone he ran into might call the guards on him wasn't sinking in too well, it was just too difficult to believe people he knew would think he was a traitor. He took a step back, opening his mouth to try and reassure Darri's mother.

He didn't have time to figure out what to say: much like Ezifa had done, she suddenly reached out, pulled Link in and closed the door again.

"Link, what ARE you doing out in the open? Didn't you see the signs?"

Gran and Kepoga had also mentioned signs, so Link knew OF them, anyway. "I didn't do it!" he said urgently. "I swear I didn't! I know Agahnim says I…"

"Link, for Nayru's sake, I know!" Tupan sighed and shook her head. "Who knows how they got tricked into thinking that, but Link, the King and the wizard are FURIOUS. It's best not to go plead your innocence to them just now. You should lay low." Another sigh. "In here is low enough for now, I guess. Come in, come in. Darri! Look who's visiting!"

Link clamped his mouth shut at the mention of the King. Kaygee had said not to tell anyone anything because it would put them in danger, and Link believed him: Agahnim would not want word that he was a traitor to get around, and he wouldn't hesitate to kill people who did find out. Link clenched his jaw and focused on the little girl he'd come to visit.

Darri was in her bed, curled up towards the wall. She rolled over with a groan and smiled weakly. "Link! Hi. I'm sick," she croaked with a pout. "I wanna go out and catch butterflies!"

Link walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. "Yeah," he said. "I bet. Sorry you're sick, buddy."

Darri let out a soul crushing sigh. "I got a new butterfly net," she said. She then dissolved into a coughing fit.

Mrs. Tupan seemingly materialized next to Link and handed her daughter a glass of water. Darri took a few sips and gave it back.

"Hey, Link? How about I let you borrow my net?" Darri asked, locking big pleading eyes onto his own. "If you catch a really cool butterfly, you can bring it to me!"

Link's eyebrows shot up. As good as Darri's puppy-dog eyes game was, he didn't have time to be catching butterflies. "I can try," he said slowly. "But I'm going to be really busy for the next little while. Is it okay if it takes a while before I bring you anything?"

Darri nodded, not letting up with the eyes, who seemed to grow a bit bigger and shinier again. "Yeah, I know trainees work super hard! Just bring it if you do catch something cool? Please? It's okay if you don't catch anything," she added with a pout that made it clear this was a painful compromise on her part, "as long as you give me the net back when I'm better."

Link smiled. "Okay, I promise."

Darri grinned and then curled up again. "Thanks Link! Bye…"

Link left the bed and headed back for the door. Mrs. Tupan was there already, butterfly net in hand. Link took it but shook his head. "I really don't think I'm going to have time to…"

"Hush, it's fine," she said. "You know, it can catch fairies too, and bees. Could be useful if you're on the run, right?"

Link's eyebrows shot up, and he looked at the net with renewed interest. "Yeah…!" he said. "Thanks. I hope Darri gets better soon. You know Gran and Kepoga are helping, right? So if you start to get sick too, you got to go see them."

"I know. Now shoo. And take care!"

"Wait!" Link said, suddenly remembering why he was here in the first place. "Did Gramps talk to Darri recently? Or do YOU know where he is?"

"I have no idea, but I don't think he talked to Darri before he left."

"Okay. Thanks!"

Link let himself out and set out once more towards the milk bar.

Link sighed as he turned to the last person in the milk bar. Nobody here had known where Sahasrahla was. Talon had given him a bottle full of milk for the road, which was nice, but Link was getting tired of asking people where Gramps was while worrying someone else would scream for a guard.

Well, maybe Faer would know. The old man was the adopted father of one of the village kids, an eleven-year-old boy named Yvalo who barely ever talked but who was the best flute player Link had ever heard.

Link walked up to the table where Faer was sitting and sat down with him. The old guy looked pretty sad: was Yvalo sick too?

"Hey Mr. Faer," Link said. "Is it okay if I sit here? I swear, I didn't…"

Faer startled when he noticed Link, then grabbed his arm with both of his hands and leaned over the table towards him. "You'll find him, won't you Link?" he asked. "Please. PLEASE! Everyone is sick or nursing people, nobody can go look properly…! And I can barely walk nowadays, I went as far as I could for the past several days, but I can't find him!"

"You've been looking for Elin?" Link asked. "Oh, wow. That's super nice of you, but…"

The old man didn't seem to hear him at all. "PLEASE LINK! You're a guard in training, right? You've got to find my boy! He didn't mean any harm! He wanted to use it for good!"

Link's heart felt as though it dropped right out of his chest. "Yvalo?" he asked in a small voice. "Yvalo is missing? Since… since when?"

"Five days!" Faer wailed, gripping his arm tighter. "Link. Please. Please, I'm begging you! I've seen the signs about you, but as far as I'm concerned all they mean is that the wizard's gone mad. You're a good boy Link, as good as they come. I'm begging you. I'm BEGGING you, please find my little boy! I know old Sa told everyone not to hunt for the Golden Power, but Yvalo just wanted to help the animals! His bird was sick! He just wanted to help!"

Link's heart was back in his chest, but was hammering so hard it made breathing difficult. It was bad enough Elin was missing, but now Yvalo was, too? Yvalo was just a little kid! Link didn't know what all this was about a Golden Power, and he didn't really care. If Yvalo had disappeared while doing something he shouldn't have, the end result was still that a little kid had disappeared.

"I…" Link swallowed. He couldn't refuse to at least try and find Yvalo. He couldn't. "I'll try," he said. "But… but I have no idea where…"

"The little woods between the village and your place," Faer immediately said. "The Minshi Woods. You know them, right? He's always going in the clearing in there to play. I looked already, but maybe you'll see something these old eyes missed." He sighed heavily and then smiled at Link. "Thank you," he said, choking on his words. "Thank you, Link. You're a good boy, the wizard's lost his mind… I know you'll find him. Thank you, thank you! I don't even care what you smell like right now."

Link gulped. That was a lot of thanks that he didn't deserve yet. "Sorry about the smell," he said. "Look, Mr. Faer… I don't know that I can find Yvalo…" He stopped. He couldn't tell anyone anything, so he couldn't explain that he was on a mission to help the Princess defeat the wizard. "I hope I can! But…" he trailed off.

The Minshi Woods were not far from here – just like Faer said, they were right in between the South End of the village and Link's house. Link could easily nip there after finding out where Sahasrahla was. He'd been planning on stopping by his house to change out of his filthy clothes anyway and the woods were on the way there.

"By the way," he asked as he got up. "You don't know where Gramps went, do you?"

Faer shook his head. "Sa's old, but he can still look after himself. I'm sure he's fine."

"Yeah," Link said. "Yeah, you're right."

Link left the milk bar with his jaw clenched, and fighting back tears.

A bunch of people sick, and some others missing! Including a KID! Link thought again about how Gran had said that some people could sense darkness in the air, and how that might be what was making people sick. Would the same thing make people disappear, too?

Either way, Link was pretty sure it was all related to Agahnim's efforts to bring back Ganon. But none of the people here had anything to do with that, none of the people here were a threat to Agahnim. They were just suffering and having their lives threatened and turned upside down as collateral damage! How much worse would it be if Ganon did return, and how much worse was it going to get if Agahnim wasn't stopped?

He resolved to never find out. He wasn't going to ALLOW it to get worse, because he and the Princess were going to stop Agahnim, and then the darkness in the air would go away, and everyone would be well again, and maybe the missing would even be found.

But then, maybe they wouldn't be. They could just… be dead. A shudder ran through him and he hugged himself, forgetting to keep walking. He didn't want Elin to be dead, and he couldn't stand the thought of Yvalo being dead.

He took a deep breath and started walking again. The cuckoo farm was close by, and one of Link's friends, a boy his age named Vario, lived there. Link wanted to check on him, and he thought that Gramps might just have told Vario where he was, because the young farmer was the kind of person people didn't notice: quiet and well mannered, and not inclined to get into any trouble, and not known for any extraordinary talent. He HAD some talents, he was pretty good at drawing for one thing, but he just didn't stand out. Also, Vario was one of Sahasrahla's natural grand children.

He found Vario in the middle of feeding the cuckoos and let out a breath of relief: Vario was not missing, and he wasn't sick either.

Link waved and jogged the rest of the way to his friend.

Vario saw him and waved back with a grin. He quickly finished spreading the seeds for the cuckoos and turned towards Link, waiting.

"Hi Link!" he said. "What's up?"

Link walked to a few steps away from Vario and put his hands up palm forward. "So ok, first, listen. I didn't kidnap the Princess, ok? I…"

Vario waved his hand dismissively. "I know that, duh," he said. "So what's up?"

Link couldn't help a sigh of relief. "Looking for Gramps," he said. "I'm glad you're not sick. Or missing. Did you know about Elin? And Yvalo?"

Vario's face fell. "Elin too? Man. I knew about Yvalo, yeah, we've all been looking for him." He bit his lip. "Are you SURE you're looking for Gramps?"

Link's heart skipped a beat. That wasn't a question he'd expected, and he couldn't imagine anyone asking that unless they knew where Sahasrahla was. Had he guessed right? Was Vario Gramps' confident?

"I'm sure," he said. "Gran says he's hiding, but I really need to talk to him. Do… do you know where he is?"

Vario sighed, nodded and took a folded paper out of his pocket. "Here," he said. "That's for you."

Link took the paper and started to unfold it, but Vario grabbed his hands. "Go somewhere safe first," he whispered hurriedly.

Link nodded his understanding and stuffed the folded map inside his shirt.

"Now get going before I pass out from the smell," Vario said, stepping back himself. "Goddess, where have you BEEN?"

"Sorry about that," Link muttered.

Vario snorted. "It's actually not that much worse than fertilizer. You come ask if you need anything, okay?"

Link smiled. "If I can," he said. "Thanks Vario."

Link trotted off towards the village's southern gate. The clearing Yvalo liked in the Minshi Woods was usually quiet, it would be a good spot to check the map and while there, Link could look for signs of the kid. Now that his mind was free of at least one of his problems – finding who knew where Sahasrala was - he was rethinking his plan of going home: chances were Agahnim would have the house guarded.

The odds that Agahnim would have Link's house surrounded suddenly seemed much higher when Link got within view of the Minshi Woods.

He dove behind a large apple tree, heart hammering: there were three guards, in full blue war armor, between himself and the entrance to the woods. He couldn't tell who they were from here, but all in all, it hardly mattered: they were friends, and if they saw him, they would try to kill him and force him to run or defend himself.

He glanced at the edge of the woods and cursed under his breath: these woods were particularly dense. There was a trail that led to Yvalo's clearing, but the trees were otherwise too close to each other for Link to have any hope of squeezing between the trunks. It was the trail or nothing.

And the way to the trail was blocked by three guards.

Link really wished he still had the magic boomerang. It would have been so EASY to just freeze the guards! He racked his brain for an alternative way to slip past them, and quickly landed on steering them away or distracting them.

He wouldn't have dared to hope he could manage anything of the sort if the guards hadn't been under Agahnim's spell, but he already knew from the guards and knights at the castle that the spell that controlled their minds basically shut down their brains, too.

Link cast his eyes about, looking for something he could use to trick the guards into chasing an imaginary foe and turning away from the trail Link needed to get to.

He found the solution at his feet: several apples freshly fallen off the tree he was hiding behind, and a feather stuck in the grass.

If he could throw apples in the branches of a tree that was away from both himself and the trail's entrance, he might be able to disturb some birds and set the guards running for the motion.

It was a long shot, but he couldn't think of another idea, so it was at least worth a try.

He bent and picked up two apples, then peeked around the tree again. None of the three guards were looking his way.

He climbed the tree he was hiding behind, all the way to its peak, securing himself with his legs wrapped firmly around the trunk. He then threw the two apples in quick succession at a different tree, on the other side and as far from the entrance of the trail as Link dared to aim for.

One apple missed, but one hit the tree weakly, on the trunk near the base. It was enough to cause a crow to caw and take off from within the branches.

The guards all turned in that direction and, as one, went to investigate.

"Thank Hylia that spell makes you so stupid…" Link muttered. He scrambled down the tree, jumping down well before he was near the ground, and sprinted for the path.

The guards of course heard him.

"CAPTURE THE TRAITOR!" they screamed as one.

Judging by the noise of their steps, they all started running in Link's direction.

Link didn't turn around to look and confirm what he thought his ears were telling him. He didn't slow down when he reached the path, either, instead looking left and right as he ran along it, searching for a bit of space between trunks that would let him squeeze through.

He found a tree with a Y shaped trunk with an opening that was just wide enough for him at around shoulder height, on the right of the path. He pivoted and jumped for it, contorting himself sideways as he jumped. He scraped his back against the bark, but he got through and contorted himself some more around the closest trunks, getting as close to the ground as he could, bending in a any way he had to in order to fit between the nearest trees.

Belatedly, he thought that if he was spotted, he was done for: there was no way he was going to be able to right himself in time to fight back. The guards were yelling to capture him instead of calling for his death, so hopefully that meant he'd have a chance to escape even if they did catch him.

He thankfully didn't get a chance to find out. He couldn't see the path, but he heard the guards run right past him, and even felt the vibration of their heavy steps. He kept still.

A few seconds later, the guards walked past again, going in the opposite direction and seemingly in no hurry anymore.

Link waited for a count of three hundred, just to be sure, and then started the complicated process of getting back up. He was bent around one tree, there was a different trunk in the crook of his knees, and a third one was forcing his head at an uncomfortable angle. He pulled himself up with his hands while re-arranging his limbs and his head as needed to get around the trees again.

It took a lot longer than it had taken to just twist himself in any way that worked to lower himself as much as possible. But, by taking his time and re-evaluating the best way forward after every inch gained, he managed to only scrape himself a bit more and to only hit his head on overhanging branches twice.

After a lot of effort, he was able to push through the Y shaped tree again and crashed back down on the path.

He hurriedly got up and looked around, making sure the guards hadn't heard anything.

Nothing came at him.

He took a deep breath and started walking towards the clearing.