The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time

Fire: The Element of the Gorons

Fire: It can be the most dangerous element one can encounter, for it burns with intense heat. Unchecked, it can spread and cause much destruction, the tongues of its flames engulfing anything in its path and scorching it to ash. Although, in healthy amounts, fire is a good thing. Controlled and well-kept, a fire can keep one warm through a cold night. The proverbial fire in one's belly is of a similar nature. The drive of one's ambition can grow hot, in order to fuel one to overcome hardships or obstacles, but unrestrained, that can quickly turn to rage, and those obstacles become obliterated.

Link's voyage to Kakariko Village was far quicker with Epona as an asset. Link had left the forest fairly abruptly after his revelation that he had been Hylian his whole life... that since he was Hylian, he once had a mother, and his mother was killed by the fires of war. This sent Link into a frenzy of an identity crisis. Who was his mother? Who was his father? Did he die in the war? Why did she venture to the forest for safe haven? And above all, why hadn't the Great Deku Tree told him any of this? Why was his offspring the one to finally tell him?

Epona had been well-rested, watered, and fed after all night in the forest. So, he grabbed his knapsack, filled up on water and Deku Nuts, and hopped right on. He left without so much as a word to any of the Kokiri he grew up with, or to their new guardian. He just couldn't face them.

Link tried to focus on the next task at hand: awakening the Sage in the temple that was 'a high mountain'. The only really high mountain in Hyrule was Death Mountain, the volcano that towered over the mountain range in the east. Since the Gorons inhabited the mountain, Link wondered which Goron might be awakened as the Sage. He remembered what it took to do so, and this did not make him feel any better.

He and Navi reached Kakariko Village at sundown. Death Mountain towered over them in a hazy backdrop, this time with a curious ring of clouds around its peak. The village itself was different; its extents had grown twofold since he was last there. With Castle Town destroyed, Link figured there may have been survivors living up there. The construction he remembered so recently had long been completed, and the buildings he recognized, including the churning windmill high up on the hill, stood faded against the newer ones.

The apparent population boom had made the village livelier than ever before, but also more crowded. There was now a bustling stretch of shops that sold imported wares. One vendor distributed water from outside the village, for it turned out the well in front of the windmill had dried up long ago.

Link secured Epona outside the inn he stayed at during his previous visit. Since it was getting dark, he intended to patronize the establishment an additional time, with some of the rupees he saved from his bet with Ingo. The innkeeper actually recognized the exhausted boy who came in seven years ago, and gave Link a discounted price of twenty rupees. At dinner, there were no carpenters... just him and the innkeeper...and a familiar mustachioed man.

"Talon!" Link greeted as he sat down to the table.

"Mmm..." Talon grunted tiredly.

"You know this man, boy?" asked the innkeeper. "Then you know he lost everything. But that still doesn't excuse him from sleeping all day!"

"I know," said Link... for once, he hadn't missed something, "Talon... it's me, Link."

Talon looked, and seemed to recognize him, but must have been too depressed to care.

"I saw Malon at the ranch recently. She's..."

"My sweet Malon?" he said tenderly.

Link was going to say she was alright, but he would have been kidding himself. She seemed pretty unhappy working under Ingo's iron fist without her papa there. "She needs you, Talon."

"But the Great Ganondorf kicked me out and gave the ranch to Ingo."

'The Great Ganondorf'... this triggered something in Link. He slammed the table with two fists, rattling the dishes. "Do you honestly mean that or are you just saying that!?" Link snarled as he asked him the loaded question.

The innkeeper awkwardly excused herself to get more food. Link had never burst out like this. But all the changes he had seen... for the worst... they had been weighing on him for too long now, especially given his involvement in Ganondorf's conniving rise to power. He still blamed himself pretty wholeheartedly for the whole thing, really.

Talon sat there, befuddled at this poignant response.

"I'm sorry, it's just... sometimes you can really get brought down," Link said to Talon.

"Sometimes you gotta make your own way," Talon finally said.

Link looked up. He thought he was supposed to be lifting Talon up. Nevertheless, he suddenly gained some positivity back.

"My wife used to say that before she passed."

Malon mentioned her mother all those years ago. She seemed to be a nice woman. The thought that her memory was being tarnished by the unwelcome takeover was too much for Link to keep quiet any longer about what he truly wanted. "Forget Ganondorf. Go back to Lon Lon Ranch. Shoot, after Ingo lost Epona, I bet he would put you back in charge."

"He lost Epona? Wasn't she being groomed for Ganondorf himself?"

"Yes, but I bet him for her in a race," Link stated a little proudly.

After a pause, Talon let out a bellowing laugh, to which Link laughed along. It was the first time he had in forever.

"If nothing else, go see your daughter. I'm sure she misses you very much... Run by Ingo or not, you belong there."

"Hey, if it means finally opening up your bed at my inn, I'll let you take one of my horses at first light." The innkeeper walked back, apparently listening from the hearth.

Talon agreed without hesitation, and that night, Link, and surely Talon, had the best night of sleep in a while.