…as he went further into the building. An anouki was in the house. The sprite-like, horned creature was reaching for a shelf above them. Link walked up, and asked, “Can I help?”
The anouki jumped and turned around, grabbing her heart. “You scared me.” She let go of her chest, and went back to trying to grab the object. Link started to ask again when the anouki grabbed the object she was after. She turned back around, saying, “You’re one of those people the chief brought back with him, aren’t you?”
Link replied, “Yes.”
“How’s your friend?” the anouki asked.
“He’s asleep,” Link said. “But the chief said he was fine when he woke up.”
The anouki walked over to the stove. “I would say so. He ate almost a whole pot of the chief’s soup. I was worried he would get sick, but it's good to know he's just asleep.” She handed Link the object she had been reaching for. It was a bowl of piping hot soup. She said, “I’m Freya, by the way. I’m the chief’s daughter.”
“But you’re…” Link started.
Freya replied “He saved me from off the side of the mountain, just like he did with you and your friend. I suppose that makes it adoptive then, but the chief doesn’t have any family of his own anymore. The first storm took them away from him…the storm that appeared when he came back…”
Link set the bowl of soup down and said, “You don’t have to talk about it.”
The anouki smiled back at him. “You’re nice. I wish things weren’t like they were right now.”
“I’d like to solve that,” Link replied. “But I can’t get to the Water Temple.”
“The Water Temple?” Freya asked. “You don’t mean you’re a sage or something?”
“No,” Link replied with a small smile.
“You’re the Hero!” Freya exclaimed. “Then you can do something about this! The chief has to do something to help you and your friend then. If you could get to the temple, then you could stop the storm.”
Link said, “The chief doesn’t seem to see it the same way…”
Freya said, “Well then we have to make him see it that way. I know he’s got something that could help you. I’ve seen it in the Big Hall. Come on. We’ve got to get to the Big Hall and talk some sense into him.”
The anouki sprung up on Link’s back. Link looked back at her. She said, “I’ll slow us down. So, I’ll tell you where to go as long as you do the running. Come on!”
Under Freya’s directions, Link left the building and went out into Glenwood. It was brisk out, but nothing like the weather on the side of the mountain. It was an open village, filled with thin trees that reminded Link if birches, but they were smaller. Their leaves were a burst of orange and yellow as autumn was creeping in. The homes and shops around the village were in the shape of domes and made from wood. They were all huge buildings, large enough for the yetis to enter.
The largest building was the one Freya was directing him towards. It backed up into the mountain. As they got close to it, Freya jumped off Link’s back. She shouted, “Come on!”
The anouki tried to open the door. Link extended his arm over her head and pushed the door open. Freya led him on through the Big Hall. In the middle of the room, a huge fire blazed. Smoke coiled up towards the roof, where it floated out two gaping holes.
The yeti Link had met was sitting at the far end of the hall in a huge throne. Freya raced up to the yeti, and jumped on the chief’s lap. She said, “How could you not help the Hero on his quest?”
A little taken back, the yeti replied, “I didn’t know I was required to help him.”
“He can end the storm!” Freya retorted.
“We can end the storm,” the yeti answered. “This is the business of the yetis and the anouki, in the end. The Hylian soldiers may offer their help, but in the end…in the end it’s the mountain people who are going to have to solve this problem.”
Freya shouted, “He’s offering his help! He has to get to the Water Temple, too.”
“He doesn’t have to,” the yeti replied. “He has everything he needs already. That is Evil’s Bane on his back there. I see no other requirement and know no other requirement. They could fight now.”
“There’s no guarantee that by defeating him that all of this will stop,” Link said, reaching the throne. “It may weaken whatever is creating it, but I can’t leave Hyrule for the Dark World with that risk still here.”
“You’re building an army then?” the chief asked.
“What?” Link replied, confused.
The chief stood up as Freya climbed up onto his shoulders. “You’re saving towns and villages across Hyrule to gain the allegiance of their peoples. An army to back you while you face the final battle.”
“I’m doing it because it’s right,” Link returned. “If people decide to do something because of that, that’s their own choice. I haven’t asked for any favors or reward in return.”
“Except from me,” the chief replied. “You’ve asked for my help, after I saved you. If anything, you owe me.”
Freya exclaimed, “Chief!”
“No, Freya,” the chief said. “This isn’t something that can be argued. The Hero owes me. Those are the laws of our people. They’ve always been.”
“That’s not the case for me,” Freya retorted.
The chief paused, and looked at the anouki. He said, “It’s not the same.”
“How is it not the same?” Freya demanded.
“You were a child!” the chief exclaimed. “He didn’t have to come here. He chose to dive into the storm, blindly and without reason.”
Freya grumbled and clenched her little hands. The chief set her down. “There’s nothing that can be done about it. I’m sending the Hero and his friend back to the station as soon as they’re both rested.”
Link looked passed the yeti as he went on trying to calm his daughter. He saw the thing Freya had mention. It was a thick coat of fur hung over the back all. The Triforce was stitched into the middle of the front. Link looked around for something else as the chief kept talking. He saw a painting to the side of the room. A cloth covered part of it, but part of two yetis could be seen.
He remembered what Freya had said. The chief had lost his family in the first storm when Ganondorf had reappeared. Monsters had returned when Ganondorf came back. Monsters like…
Link stated, “I’ll avenge your family.”
Silence took over the room. Freya looked back down at Link as the chief fixed his eyes on him. Link gulped as the yeti stood. He said, “You would attempt to take on the alpha of all the wolfos? The greatest beast in the mountains, for the sake of your quest. How badly do you want the mountain people's loyalty?”
“I told you already, I’m not doing this for anyone’s allegiance,” Link replied. “And you’re not the only people up here. The people in Frostbite are much closer to the source of the storm, and I am not going to let them suffer because of you. And if this is what I have to do, then that’s what I’m going to do.”
“No one has ever found the wolfos din,” the chief said. “Besides, even if you tried, you’d freeze. You have no idea where you’re going, and you have no fur.”
Freya jumped down, and said, “I can get him fur.”
“I will not give him anything,” the chief replied.
“I don’t need your coat, Chief,” Freya retorted. She turned to Link. “Come with me. I’ve got an idea.”
The chief sighed and sat back down as Freya led Link back outside. Link asked, “What’s this idea?”
“You know the last time a yeti saw you, you were part-wolf,” Freya said. “Of course you had some help with that. And lucky for us, I think we might be able to get that same kind of help.”
Freya led them to a shop, though it didn’t have a sign on it yet. Freya stated as they stopped outside the door, “She just moved here before the storm started. Great timing, for the both of us, I would say. You want to find out what I’m talking about?”
Link sighed and nodded. “That would be nice.” Freya pointed to the door. Link smiled, and pushed the door open…