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"I won't argue that it was a no-holds-barred adrenaline fuelled thrill-ride, but there's no way that you could perpetrate that amount of carnage and mayhem and not incur a considerable amount of paperwork." - Nicholas Angel, Hot Fuzz


By the time they reached the other side of the woods, the sun was setting. Looking out over Hyrule Field in the orange light of the falling sun, Lynn was the only one still awake in the earlier hours of the next morning.

"Can't get to sleep?" Zelda asked through the stone,

"No," Lynn replied, looking at the full moon,

"What's up?"

"I don't know," Lynn sighed, "I'm thinking about how much my life has changed in the last week, I've gone from orphan to Hero spawn, regular girl to warrior. It's a bit overwhelming,"

"You've never been 'regular' Lynn, not normal or ordinary," Zelda told her, "The things you faced in that dungeon would have made many quiver in fear and run. You are a Hero, and that's all that matters,"

Lynn tutted in disbelief but didn't say anything, turning her eyes away from the stone and towards the moon hanging in the sky.

In an attempt to change the subject, Zelda asked, "You haven't got a surname, do you?"

"What's that got to do with anything?" Lynn asked in reply, confused,

"It's just, not one of your ancestors has had the same surname. And you haven't got one, due to you... uh..." the Princess trailed off awkwardly,

"Due to me being an orphan, I know," Lynn said darkly,

"Well, why don't you make one up? Give yourself some individuality," Zelda suggested,

"But, I don't know what would be appropriate for me," Lynn grumbled, "I mean, Alynnedé Runaway is not exactly a promising name," she scoffed,

"Well, you cleared the water of that fountain from the poisonous taint, why not Clearwater? I know it's not exactly that original given the circumstances it's associated with, but I think it's very fitting, especially since your eyes are the exact same shade of blue as the water in the fountain,"

"And how do you know that?" Lynn asked incredulously, "You know what, never mind, I agree, Clearwater is a good name,"

"So, Alynnedé Clearwater it is?" Zelda asked cheekily,

Lynn smiled, "Alynnedé Clearwater it is, Zelda Hyrule," she smirked because she knew Zelda would be annoyed.

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At some point Lynn must have fallen asleep, because she remembered waking up.

After cleaning up and changing her under-shirt behind a tree so Linebeck couldn't see, the small party set off again.

Lynn had decided to avoid Castle Town because of the risk that she would be recognised and taken back to the castle. Zelda has suggested that after visiting the forest, she should head to Death Mountain, which meant heading north, back to Kakariko Village. As the mountain was known to have been visited by Lynn's ancestors, many of whom had become sworn brothers with the local Goron tribe, it was possible that Lynn would find a clue about her parents or her brother, Dyllan.

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Meanwhile, in Hyrule Castle, a certain disgruntled Prince was storming about in his room.

"How can father just let that scum just waltz in here and ruin that party and not do a damn thing about it?" Nohan fumed, "What's more, he kidnapped my brat of a sister, and still nothing has been done!"

It was not uncommon for the Prince to talk to himself in times of great stress (though it had been happening more and more lately), and though he had anyone punished, fired or (in some rare cases) taken care of, rumours still spread among the castle staff and guards of his sanity. To summarise, they all thought he was completely, utterly mad. But that didn't stop them being afraid of him.

"And even worse, that pathetic little girl they deign to call a hero escaped right under everyone's noses!" Nohan had no problem with being overheard, he didn't consider anyone's importance other than his own, and would frequently talk about his plans under the delusion that everyone was too stupid or pathetic to be able to do anything about it.

It isn't, therefore, too surprising that not one of these plans has actually worked as he hoped it would. If at all really.

Nohan had been going on like this for the last couple of days, since he had woken up in the castle infirmary. Redd's assault at the party had only fuelled his anger, to the point where he wasn't even looking after himself anymore.

His blonde hair was dirty and unkempt (and still had pieces of glass in it), his blue eyes, so similar and yet so unlike his sister's, had bags under them from the lack of sleep he'd been getting. His clothes stank of alcohol and sweat, as he hadn't bothered to change since the party.

Eventually he came to a decision, he would find a way to gain more power than his sister, with her stupid little Triforce (which he secretly desired for himself), destroy the girl Hero, and finally take his revenge on Redd.

Muttering to himself as he sped down the corridors towards the Guards Quarters, he couldn't help but put a slight spring in his step. There was no way this plan could possibly go wrong.

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Zelda sighed as she moved a pile of books, coughing as yet another cloud of dust blew into the air. She understood that the house had been empty for almost twenty years, but a lot of this stuff had been around for much longer, some of it even bordering on the centuries. She had a lot of natural magic at her disposal (while it usually took a Hylian many years of discipline to learn magics, with a few exceptions, having the Triforce of Wisdom does give you a head start), and used it to clear away a lot of the dust (and dead bugs).

Having done with this, Zelda decided it was time to eat. Compared with the huge banquets she was used to, her meal of herbs, fungi and eggs (which she'd stolen from one of the wild chicken-like Cucco's nests) was positively Spartan. However, while humility was not something her brother possessed, she had a double dose, and was thus perfectly content with the small meal.

Looking through some of the old boxes, she found a couple of old diaries. Using the innate ability of the Triforce of Wisdom to translate any language into one she could understand, she started flicking through it, at first surprised that it was a first hand account of the Hero of Time's adventures, but quickly engrossed in the tale of time travel.

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Lynn stopped the carriage as they reached the bottom of Death Mountain, just outside Kakariko Village. The sun was setting again, the carriage had its advantages, but it also had its problems as well. Time consumption being one of them.

She and Skye left Linebeck in the carriage as they headed up the mountain, his snoring fading away as they climbed higher and higher.

"In order to experience freedom; one must be off the chain" - Reign of the Disruptors, Half-Life 2 Machinima


Looking up at the ominous mountain as the sun bathed it in an orange glow was incredibly disconcerting.

"It makes it seem bigger than it really is," Lynn told Skye, the little fairy taking cover in Lynn's hat for fear of falling rocks, which were few and far between, but still a real threat to something that is only a few inches big.

"Well, I'm glad it isn't, we've been climbing for hours already, we're still not any closer to the top," Skye complained,

"I'm sorry? We? I've been doing all the hard work," Lynn laughed as she pulled herself up on to the next ledge, "And it was your idea that we didn't take the path, because that would have been sensible, and we wouldn't have increased the probability of both of us getting squished, either by rocks or the fall," the ledge she had clambered on was large enough for her to be able to take a brief rest before continuing the climb.

"Well, I don't want to meet any Gorons during a mountainside stroll," Skye said hotly, climbing out of the hat and floating in front of her,

"What, you're scared of Gorons?" Lynn asked, eyebrow raised, fighting the urge not to laugh,

Skye blushed, her glow becoming a light pink, "They kind of freak me out," she said quietly, not looking at Lynn, "They're big and rock-like, and they're just weird-looking,"

Lynn again fought the urge to giggle, "Well, think how you must look to them, Gorons are big and heavy, while you're small and light. And Gorons are known for their amiable natures, while fairies on the other hand," she chuckled, "Have a penchant for mischief and trickery,"

Skye turned a bright red, before realising that Lynn was only joking with her. Lightly kicking the girl with her bare feet, she climbed back into the hat, "Onwards and upward, and don't forget, we're here for me too, the fairy spring up here is the nearest one to mine, so my friends could have come here,"

Lynn grabbed hold of the next ledge, testing it to check its sturdiness before pulling herself up, "Right."

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Finally, after hours of long climbing (and a few falls, though no serious injuries), they made it to a cave. The sun had long set and the moon was shining its light on them.

Though both tired and exhausted, Lynn dragged herself into the cave. Once in the shelter, she immediately fell asleep, unable to do anything else.

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While she slept, she began to dream. More specifically, she dreamt of the past. She saw a young boy dressed in green, followed by a fairy, take on various trials before drawing a sword of immense power, becoming a man and defeating a great evil. Returning to his youth, he searched for a lost friend, travelling to another world and eventually coming face to face with yet another evil, though this one threatened to bring down the moon and destroy everything. Defeating this evil, the boy once again travelled onwards.

Fast-forwarding a hundred or so years, she saw a similarly dressed young man travel across the land, followed by an imp. At times he would become a blue-eyed wolf, until eventually he defeated the evil the first boy had defeated a century ago, but he lost a good friend in the process.

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Lynn awoke with a start. It was still dark, and the moon still hung in the sky like a ball that refused to fall. Skye mumbled something in her sleep about 'great big rocky freaks', as she held onto Lynn's hair. As much as Lynn tried to concentrate on the dream, for it had definitely been one of great importance to her, the more it slipped away from her, like trying to hold water in your hands.

Shrugging, deciding to think on it more in the morning, Lynn turned over (onto a slightly more comfortable patch of dirt), and fell asleep again.

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"Lynn wake up! You will not believe this!" Skye was shouting,

Lynn, however, was refusing to wake up, "Give me five more minutes," she moaned sleepily,

"Wake up now or I'll activate that magic in your arm and make you a fairy again!" Skye threatened jovially, but it did the trick, Lynn was wide awake,

"What is it?" Lynn asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes,

"Follow me! Come on!" Skye called to her as she whizzed further into the dark cave,

Lynn followed a lot more slowly. She was tired, and being cautious could save her life, especially since she didn't know what had got Skye so excited.

And then she saw it, and gaped. After turning a corner in the cave, it opened out, wide. There was a large, pool in the floor, with a veil of steam hovering over it. But this isn't what she was gaping at, she was gaping at the mass conglomeration of fairies, of varying different shades.

Skye was hovering nervously at the entrance, just next to Lynn.

Lynn whispered to her, "I wasn't expecting to find it so easily,"

"I didn't know where it was, all I knew was that it was that we had to search every nook and cranny of the mountain 'til we found it," Skye told her, bobbing up and down incessantly, "Tell me if you see someone with a dark purple glow,"

Lynn looked back towards all the fairies in the spring, "There's way too many Skye, when they're all close together like this I can't tell one glow from the other," she craned her neck out to look over the fairies, but was pushed back by Skye. Well, I say pushed, the small fairy wasn't that impressive in the strength department, but Lynn obliged, moving back.

"Please don't let them see you, fairies aren't all that great around non-fairies. If they see you, well, you probably won't leave looking like you do now, let me break the news to them, slowly," Skye told her,

"Hang on, my ancestors have had fairy companions before, and other fairies left them alone, what gives?" Lynn whispered, glancing out at the fairies, who were too busy talking amongst themselves to notice the comparatively large Hylian lurking just outside their cave,

"Well, in previous cases, your ancestors have been accompanied by a being of immense magical strength, or the situation called for a fairy to accompany them. I wasn't 'assigned' to you, so they can really do what they like," Skye explained,

Lynn gulped, glancing back into the cave. Then Skye added, "Don't worry, if it gets to that I'll distract them with the forest powers the Great Fairy gave me while you escape, now, let me just get in there..." she floated into the cave, above all the other fairies, while Lynn pressed herself against the wall of the cave to reduce the risk of her being noticed.

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Skye rose to the centre of the cave, brightening her glow to draw the attention of those below her.

This was greeted by a squeal and a fairy with a dark purple glow sped in and tackled her, sending her speeding towards the opposite wall.

"Skye! I knew you'd show up eventually!" the small fairy exclaimed, hugging Skye,

"Hey Rhea!" Skye hugged her sister.

The two fairies, as sisters, had identical faces, but this was where the similarities ended. As stated before, while Skye has a white glow, Rhea had a dark purple one. Rhea's long brown hair contrasted with Skye's short blonde. Rhea favoured a small dark dress, while Skye preferred a light one. Rhea's skin was also a few tones darker than Skye's own.

"Are you alright? Some of the others, including our lot, went on ahead, I said I'd stay behind until you arrived. But you never did, I was about to give up," Rhea chattered on, before noticing that Skye wasn't really paying attention, "What's the matter? What took you so long to get here anyway?"

Skye hesitated for a second before replying, "Oh, my wing. I injured it in the panic. By the time it had healed up I didn't know where you'd gone."

Rhea considered this, before hugging Skye again cheerfully, "Well, you're here now," then she wrinkled her nose, and looked at Skye, "You smell funny,"

"What?" Skye asked, eyes wide,

"You smell..." Rhea took a couple of deep sniffs (not bad for someone with lungs the size of a small pebble), "I don't know, it smells sort of like those humans from the village we used to torment whenever they came to our spring," she brushed some dirt off of Skye's dress, "Have you been hanging out with non-fairies? You know that's forbidden," Rhea was now looking at Skye accusingly,

Skye squirmed uneasily under Rhea's gaze, "...Alright, yes, I have been helping out a non-fairy. They offered to help me return to you and the others. In return I'd help her as much as I could before I got back,"

Rhea pushed her back against the wall and whispered, "You didn't bring one up here did you?"

"Um, yes-"

"Non-fairy! There's a non-fairy in the area!" Rhea shouted at the top of her lungs, drawing the attention of every fairy in the cave, hushing them into silence, which was unfortunate as Lynn had chosen that moment to curse at her misfortune. Go figure.

"Get it! Get the non-fairy!" Rhea screamed, drowning out Skye's cries of protest. The hundreds of fairies drew themselves up in an angry cloud of shimmering colour, heading for where Lynn's voice came from.

Today really didn't look like it was going her way.

"'And when the life's blood of the last of your line mixes with that of a virgin girl, I shall rise again, more powerful than you will ever imagine.'
'And with that, he lopped her fucking head off.'" - Camilla and Narrator, Lesbian Vampire Killers


Skye threw Rhea back, "Stop!" she threw her arm out, and a wall of vines covered the entrance before the fairies could reach Lynn.

Lynn breathed a sigh of relief as the fairies were unable to reach her through the magical barrier.

The fairies then realised that Skye had done something that wasn't exactly normal.

Rhea looked at her, "How did you learn to do that?"
Skye rubbed her arm, which was in slight pain after bringing up the barrier, "Great Fairy... in the forest... we helped her out," Skye lowered herself down to the water, her tiny feet creating ripples in the pool, before removing the barrier at the entrance, "Lynn, show them," she took a deep breath, visibly weakened by the magic use,

Lynn looked at her, ignoring the large crowd of fairies who were looking from the young fairy to the Hylian and back again, "What do you mean?"

Skye lowered her legs into the water, "I mean activate that thing on your arm," she gasped as the magical healing properties of the spring ran through her system, relieving the aches and pains in her body.

Lynn groaned, did she really have to? However, not eager to see the fairies agitated again, remembered what the Great Fairy had told her, and focussed her energies into the fairy shaped mark on her arm.

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At first, nothing happened, then the little mark start glowing through her gauntlet, then it started burning. The burning sensation spread through her veins, until the pain built up to a point where she just had to scream.

Unknown to her, every blood vessel the pain spread through began to glow brightly, until the light was bright enough that she wasn't visible aside from her outline.

As she felt her body shift and change, she cried out again as four wings unfurled from her back.

As the light faded, she felt herself floating, to the astonishment of every fairy present in the cave.

"See?" Skye said, "I know I shouldn't have brought her up here, but I was lost and scared and she's nice,"

"Skye, why did I have to shift into fairy form?" Lynn asked, standing awkwardly at the cave entrance, even though the mass of fairies had floated off and continued their chattering as if nothing had happened.

"Oh, that's just so they won't attack you, we're forbidden from attacking each other, in that form you're one of us," Skye explained tiredly, ignoring Rhea, who was floating above her, "Come over here,"

Lynn went over to near where Skye was, as the tiny fairy rose up to meet her. Then she was stopped by Rhea.

"What do you think you're doing going near my sister! I don't care if you can change your form, you're still not a fairy and I will not let you near my sister!" Rhea shouted hotly at Lynn, her glow flashing red,

This tipped it for Skye, "Rhea! Leave her alone! She's my friend. You know, I thought it'd be nice to meet up with my family and friends again and yes, the agreement I had with Lynn was that after I found you guys I was going to leave her, but now I think I'll stick with her a bit, at least she doesn't tell me who I can and cannot like, unlike you Rhea. You've been telling me who I can and can't be friends with since we were both old enough to speak and I am tired of it! Where did the others go?" Skye demanded of her sister, her glow now a threatening blue,

Rhea, unused to being spoken to in such a way, especially by her younger sister, stammered before replying, "Th-they went to the fountain at Lake Hylia," Rhea sniffed and flew away,

Skye landed in Lynn's hair, "Alright, I guess we should head to the Goron village now, we're done here," she said moodily,

Lynn looked up at her, "Are you okay?"

"Fine,"

"Wanna talk about it?"

"No,"

Then another fairy interrupted their conversation, "Hey, if you want to reach the Goron village, there's a path on the other side of the cave straight there"

"Thanks," Lynn smiled as the fairy flew off to rejoin its group,

"Ugh," Skye groaned, "I was hoping we could put it off for a few more hours,"

Lynn laughed as she headed to the other side of the pool, onto the path and towards the Goron village.

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Lynn had shifted back to her Hylian form (strangely, transforming into something brought with it a considerable amount of pain, while the reverse was a rather pleasant sensation) as they exited the cave. What Lynn had not been expecting was that the cave opened out onto a ledge, high above the path they were supposed to be on.

"So, what do you think? Jump?" Lynn asked Skye,

"Lynn, you can turn into a fairy. Who can fly. This isn't hard," Skye told her,

"Oh no, I'm not doing it twice in one day," Lynn said, "It's not the great of a drop, if I jump and then roll before I hit the ground, I should be fine. And even then, a fall from this height wouldn't do more than cause a slight injury,"

"Or, you know, just, forgo the injury altogether and turn into fairy form, float down and then turn back," Skye suggested, but Lynn had already run off the edge, forcing Skye to jump out of the hat as Lynn fell rapidly.

Rolling as she hit the floor, Lynn found herself upright and unharmed, "Well, that was exhilarating,"

Skye rolled her eyes, floating behind Lynn as she headed towards the Goron village.

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It wasn't long before they found themselves inside again. The village, as it turned out, was made up of a large network of caves and caverns within the mountain. Fortunately, it was lit with torches. Unfortunately, every tunnel and corridor looked the same.

"I think we've been down here before," Lynn said, looking down yet another corridor,

"Oh, well that's great. First we're in the worst place I could imagine being, and now we're lost! Just great!" Skye shouted exasperatedly,

"I'm sorry, no need to lose your head," Lynn muttered, looking uneasily down another corridor,

"No, I'm sorry," Skye said, fiddling with a strand of Lynn's hair, "It's been a bit of a bad day. Had an argument with my sister, ended up near a Goron village where the creepy things could jump on us at any second, and now we're lost,"

"Hey, count yourself lucky, at least you have a sister who you know. I mean, I've got a brother, just no idea who or where he might be," Lynn told the little fairy,

"Oh, shut up," Skye laughed, "Oh! I have an idea. If you trail the blade of your sword through the dirt, then we'll know where we've already been, then we won't make the same mistakes twice,"

"Great idea," Lynn replied, pulling her sword out its scabbard and, holding it by its hilt, dragged the blade in the ground, leaving a trail behind her as she continued onwards through the tunnel.

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After walking for another hour or two, eventually they found the entrance into the rocky, cavernous halls of the Gorons.

Skye immediately hid herself in Lynn's hat as Lynn approached the nearest villager.

"Excuse me," Lynn said, before stepping back a little as the Goron stood up and turned to her.

It was a massive creature. A good eight or nine feet tall at least. Its skin was tough and leathery, a light clay colour, which was patched over with grey rock-like growths. On the creatures' back a small mountain shaped growth grew. On its head were more growths, these were sparse, but almost like hair. The Goron grinned amicably, the skin around its blue eyes wrinkled.

Its skin was covered in white tribal markings, each shoulder adorned with the symbol of the Gorons, a three-toed, angular footprint. It was practically naked aside from a pair of loose-fitting shorts, a pair of huge gauntlets and very sturdy iron boots.

"Welcome to our village!" the big Goron said cheerfully (and loudly), "I am Dangoro, it has been a long time since I saw one of your race. The mountain has become a hazardous place of late, due to our dispute with the bird people above. How may I help you?"

Lynn, at first struck by the Goron's loudness and friendliness, quickly recovered and asked, "Hello, I was just up here visiting because some of my ancestors are sworn brothers with the tribe and I was looking for information about my family,"

Dangoro studied her for a second before pulling her into a crippling hug, "So, you are the latest in the Hero's line hmm?"

"Um... yes," Lynn choked, struggling to loosen the tight embrace, "How does everyone keep guessing that?" she gasped when Dangoro finally let her go,

"Oh, only a few non-Gorons have ever been sworn into the brotherhood and all of them were descended from, and including, the Hero of Time," Dangoro explained,

"Right, well, that's good, have you heard anything from my family in the last twenty years or so?" Lynn asked,

"Alas, I wouldn't know, young Hero's kin, but if you were to consult our leader, he may be able to tell you," the big Goron replied, leading her towards the leader's quarters.

"My name is Alynnedé Clearwater, but you can call me Lynn,"

"I'll bet your name has a story behind it," Dangoro smiled good-naturedly, as they walked out into the middle of the village, where natural sunlight flooded in. The village was located beneath the lip of the in-active volcano that Death Mountain was.

Dangoro looked up at the sky, sighing contentedly, before his eyes widened and he pushed Lynn to the side.

Lynn was thrown back into the artificial light of the torches, as Dangoro braced himself for the giant boulder falling down, right above him.

"Adults are just obsolete children, and to hell with them." - Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss)


Dangoro grabbed the rock, groaning as it pushed him back a little, using his considerable strength (which was more than his size would show). Shifting his arms to get a better grip, he grunted as he span around, using his momentum to throw the rock back out of the mountain.

It broke as it flew, before losing momentum and falling onto the mountain below, effectively creating more danger on the paths below.

Dangoro looked towards Lynn, grinning before he saw that she had been thrown with enough force to smack straight into the rock wall of a Goron's hut, with a sickening crunch.

Skye was floating over her, fretting so much she didn't notice the big Goron as he ran over to them.

"Whoops, didn't mean to throw you that hard," Dangoro said guiltily, leaning down next to Lynn's prone form,

Nothing appeared to be broken, but her nose was bleeding and there was a large gash in her leg where a particular sharp rock in the wall had caught on it.

Lynn coughed and spat out some blood, before speaking, "I'm okay," she attempted to sit up, before clutching her side and gasping, "Except for that rib, that doesn't feel great,"

"Oh great, you've only gone and hurt her, you great brute!" Skye shouted at Dangoro, her previous fears forgotten,

"The hot springs have healing properties, she should heal quickly if we get her there," Dangoro said, making to pick Lynn up,

"Oh no you don't buddy!" Skye shouted at him, zooming in front of Lynn so as to protect her friend against the being several hundred times her own size and several thousand times her own weight, "You'll cause another injury,"

"I'm only trying to help," Dangoro told her a little ashamedly.

Skye then realised she'd actually hurt the big Goron's feelings. Being rock apparently didn't give you a heart of stone (har har).

"Look, I'm sorry, I'm a little on edge right now," Skye told him, then sighed, "Okay, if you're careful, then you can carry her,"

Dangoro, now his cheery self once again, lifted Lynn up (surprisingly delicately for a being of his size and strength), and carried her to the hot spring.

Lynn kept up a non-stop conversation with Dangoro and Skye the whole way, which Dangoro thought was her being friendly and saying it wasn't his fault, and Skye thought it was Lynn being delirious and concussed after being thrown into a wall. Take your pick.

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Later, Lynn was healed up and ready to meet the Goron leader, who Dangoro called the Patriarch.

"At the eve of his leadership, the Patriarch was said to be the greatest Goron wrestler in our tribe. Which is, after all, how he came to be our leader in the first place," Dangoro explained as they reached the Patriarch's hut, while Skye muttered something about 'Politics', 'rocks-for-brains' and 'no wonder they're so huge'.

Gesturing for Lynn to enter first, he announced their arrival, "Great Patriarch, I bring a visitor, a daughter of the Hero. She wishes to know if her family has made contact within the last two decades or so,"

The three of them entered, and Lynn was shocked to see a Goron even bigger than Dangoro. Aside from a large rock-like beard, he was near identical to Dangoro (as did every other Goron, they just weren't as big), however he only wore shorts.

Getting down on one knee, Dangoro bowed his head in respect to the leader, "Great Biggoron, this is Alynnedé Clearwater, of the Hero's clan,"

Biggoron snorted as he inspected Lynn, "I was expecting a son of our sworn brother, not a daughter,"

Lynn blushed and did what she always did with figures of authority, begin looking resolutely at her feet, "Please sir, I'm looking for any information about my family. Has anyone from my family been up here on the mountain in the last twenty or so years?"

Biggoron hooked a finger under her chin, making her look up at him, "No need to be afraid, I don't bite," he grinned, showing huge, tombstone teeth, "And unfortunately, no, not one person of your clan has on this mountain for the last hundred years. However, that is not to say we have not had contact, why, it was just last month I received a letter from-" a huge crash outside interrupted him, looking out of his window he exclaimed, "Argh! Those darn birds! They dropped another one!"

"What is it with you and these 'bird people'" Lynn asked,

"We're not sure, we had quite peaceful relations with them until about a month ago, when they started throwing rocks down on us. We've been unable to get up there to contact them, we're too big, and the few scouts we sent never returned. Eventually we had to start throwing everything they dropped because so much space was being taken up and our buildings were getting wrecked," Biggoron looked at the young woman, "Do you mind giving us a hand? If we get you up there, they might listen to you and stop dropping these rocks on us. If not, we might at least find out why they've become so hostile,"

"Not at all," Lynn replied warmly, "Now, how am I getting up there?" she asked, looking out the window at the lip of the volcanic crater.

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"You just had to help them out didn't you? Now we're going to get thrown out of a volcano!" Skye shouted at Lynn, as they prepared to get to the bird peoples home outside of the mountain,

"We'll be fine," Lynn said cheerily, though she was slightly nervous,

"Did you see how easily that rock broke when it was thrown out? That could be you in two minutes," Skye told her sourly, knowing she wouldn't be able to change Lynn's mind,

"I'll be fine," Lynn repeated determinedly,

"You ready to go?" Dangoro asked her, Lynn hesitated before nodding, "Then hold on tight,"

They'd been put in a round cage (made of Dodongo (large reptiles, live in places with high temperatures) bones). Three Gorons lifted the cage, and carried it to the middle of the crater.

Lynn held onto the bars, bracing herself, and then Dangoro said, "Go!"

The three Gorons lifted the cage with all their might, powering it out of the lip of the volcano and out into the open air.

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Lynn had gritted her teeth, while Skye screamed as they sped upwards, before they felt a curious sensation of weightlessness, before falling back down towards Death Mountain.

With a crash, Lynn rolled out of the cage, unharmed aside from a few cuts and bruises.

Crawling back to the lip of the volcano (she didn't trust her legs at the moment), she looked down as Dangoro gave her a thumbs up,

"See you soon!" he boomed, before curling up into a ball and rolling off.

Lynn fell onto her back, gasping for breath. Skye had passed out and was snoring in Lynn's hat.

After recovering, Lynn was on her feet and cautiously scouting the nearby village out. It was suspiciously empty, so Lynn searched for the largest building, because if the last few settlements were anything to go by, the biggest, most indicated where the leader of the place lived.

After sneaking up to the back of the building, she quietly edged herself around it until she was near the entrance.

Peeking in, she saw a group of four or five people huddled around a table. They didn't look like 'bird people' as the Gorons had put it, in fact, the only thing bird like about them was that they had hard yellow, beak like noses instead of soft fleshy ones.

"What are they up to?" Skye whispered,

"Nothing, they're just talking, can't hear," Lynn told her,

"What are you doing?" asked a new voice,

Lynn whirled around, almost squeaking in surprise if it weren't for the hand over her mouth. The new arrival was one of the so-called 'bird people'.

Hurrying Lynn over to the other side of the village, away from the large hut, the 'bird person', a young female, her size suggesting that she was about twelve or thirteen years old, removed her hand from Lynn's mouth, "I'll ask again, what are you doing?"

"Uhm," Lynn hesitantly searched for an excuse, "Finding out what's going on,"

"With the Gorons? Yeah, I understand and I'm letting you know right now that not all of us have this vendetta against them," she said,

"The rock dropping thing?" Lynn asked, and was answered with a nod, "Why are they doing that?"

The girl wrinkled her beak, flicking a lock of her feathery brown hair out of her eyes, "The guardian spirit of the Rito, that's us, sits within a cave upon the mountain. His tail hangs down below the cave, within the mountain itself. Recently he has been agitated and unapproachable, so logic dictates that something within the mountain is attacking him. As the Gorons are the only creatures within the mountain that we know of, it seems logical that they have something to do with it," she explained,

"Makes sense, but the Gorons are peaceful, they wouldn't attack something unless there was good reason. And even then, we didn't see a tail down there in the village," Skye explained,

"I know, I'm guessing you were sent up here to find out what's going on and try and patch up the relations between our two races?"

Lynn nodded,

"Right, well, I'm helping out, there is another cave that leads directly into the mountain below. The Gorons used to have a mine there, so they excavated it a bit, but there's still a lot left unexplored," she explained,

"Woah, hang on, moving a bit fast aren't you? We don't even know your name, and while we'd be glad for the help, it'd be nice to know what you can do," Skye told her, flashing a calm blue,

"Oh, well, my name is Aveline. And as you can see, I'm smaller than you, so I can fit through small tunnels and caves. Also, a rite of passage we Rito go through is to collect a scale from our guardian spirit. Doing so allows us to grow our wings," Aveline explained,

"Wings? I don't see any wings," Skye interrupted,

Aveline through her arms out, her bare skin and hands erupting into a pair of large wings, before folding them back into her arms again, "As I was saying, I can fly considerable distances, so I could reach places where you normally couldn't, or, for example, if two buttons needed to be pressed and there was a great impassable chasm between them, I would be able to fly over and press it for you," she then tilted her head, "If you carried me on your shoulders and took a run-up, I'm pretty sure I'd be able to carry you as well,"

"That's great," Lynn said, "That could be really useful, but do you have any combat ability? There could be monsters in there, and if you're going off on your own..." she looked at the ground, "I don't want that on my conscience,"

Aveline pulled a long-knife from a strap tied against her bird-like leg, "I've got this, we're all trained in combat, survival thing," she put the knife back, "Now can we please get moving before the other Rito come back with a giant rock?"

"Right, yeah," Lynn said, following Aveline as they made their way down the mountain.