The University of Hyrule was bustling with people going about their business. Some were students attending classes, and others were teachers and lecturers in between classes. Most of the people here were in their late teens and early twenties. Link, Zelda, Solo, and Malon made an interesting contrast to the older people on the campus. A few people gave them strange looks, but most simply ignored them. Seeing such young children at a prestigious university was a fairly uncommon sight. They all took in the sight of the magnificent buildings of the University. The main building was a large, temple-like structure with high arches and dozens of flying buttresses. The main building was four stories tall, and it had large stained-glass windows on its façade. There were also many smaller buildings, all one-story dome-like structures.
    They all looked in awe at the buildings. Link, Zelda, and Solo were amazed, as they had never seen this place before. “Wow, this is really beautiful,” said Zelda. “I’ve never really been here before.”
    “I know, isn’t this place great?” said Link. He began to walk down one of the narrow streets towards a cluster of buildings. “The archaeology department is that way,” he said, pointing in the direction of the buildings. “That’s where the lecture is.”
    “How did you ever come up with the idea of coming here?” asked Solo. She had never thought of Link as the intellectual type.
    “Well, I come here sometimes to look in the museums and the zoo. In fact, I’m thinking of signing up for a few classes sometime. After all, I’ve got nothing better to do.”
    “Is that what you do when you go out for whole days and not tell us where you’re going?” asked Solo.
    “Yeah, sometimes,” replied Link. “I just never told you guys, ‘cause I thought you might think I was weird or something.”
    “We wouldn’t think you were weird, Linkie-pooh,” said Zelda adoringly. “I think it’s kinda cute that my boyfriend is a closet genius. I’m surprised that you never told me. I always thought school was really boring. All my tutors ever do is go on for hours about math and grammar. I really think they have no other purpose than to bore me.”
    “My dad always taught me everything I know,” said Malon. “He’s really smart, but he doesn’t know everything. Everything else I get from books that I buy at the market sometimes. I’d really like to learn more math, but Dad isn’t very good at that.”
    “You can take classes here,” said Link. “A month-long course only costs twenty rupees. In fact, all of you should come here, we could all take classes together.”
    “I don’t wanna go to school,” whined Solo. “I’d rather have you teach it to me, Link. I can understand you better.” Solo had always been a street-smart girl, due to being homeless for so many years. But she had never been taught any skills that had to do with book-smarts. Since they had met, Link had taught Solo all he knew about reading, writing, and arithmetic. Solo enjoyed learning these things from Link. He always explained things in a way she could understand. She liked how he always got so enthusiastic about what he was teaching her. Solo never imagined that she would ever be able to read, but Link had taught her well. After only a few months of tutoring, Solo could already read at a near-normal level for someone her age. However, her only pitfall was spelling and grammar, which she was not very good at.
    “But these people are professionals,” insisted Link. “But you don’t have to do that, I’m perfectly happy teaching you myself.” They passed a building that housed the Mathematics department. “Ooh, that’s a lot of fun,” said Link.
    Zelda stuck out her tongue and made a sickened face. “How could you like math?” asked Zelda. “Of all the things the tutors teach me, that has to be the most boring thing. It makes no sense to me.”
    “Oh, come on. Math is fun!” exclaimed Link. “Math explains everything about the world, like shapes and geometry they use in buildings.”
    Solo looked at one of the signs next to a door on the math building. “Al-gee-bra,” said Solo, trying to sound out the words on the sign. “Algae bra? Is that a class about Zoran underwear?”
    Link chuckled lightly and tried not to break out laughing. “That says ‘algebra.’ It’s another kind of math. It uses letters along with numbers. It’s cool, but it’s too remedial for me.”
    Zelda gave Link a baffled look. “Are you serious? Algebra is the hardest, most boring thing ever! How can you like that?”
    “It’s so…logical,” replied Link. “Besides, Algebra is too easy. I’m thinking of taking Calculus some time. Now that’s fun.” Link rubbed his hands together like some kind of crazed scientist.
    “Is Link always this…weird?” asked Malon. Link gave a heated stare. “I didn’t mean any offense.”
    “He’s just full of surprises,” said Zelda in a loving tone. She held Link’s hand tightly. “I love him just the way he is. He makes life more interesting.”
    “I hate to interrupt your debating over my personality, but we’re here,” said Link, gesturing towards the door to another building. A sign next to the door read Doctor Miko Sailann, President Archaeology Department. Link walked into the building, followed by the others. This building was a small auditorium, with a large table at the head of the room and stadium-style seats in the back. All the stepped levels in the back were lined with nearly a hundred desks. Link walked by the table at the front of the room and grew giddy as he saw the array of artifacts. There were dozens of old ornamental masks, swords, suits of armor, pottery, and a myriad of wrinkled, yellowing scrolls. “Ooh! Look at all this stuff!” Link exclaimed. He examined all the artifacts on the table, which were being publicly displayed for the lecture. “This is so cool!”
    A middle-aged man walked up to Link from the other side of the long table and smiled at him. “I take it you like the stuff here,” said the man, who had long silver hair and an intelligent-looking face.
    “This stuff is so awesome,” said Link. “I’m glad I finally signed up for one of these lectures. History is just so interesting.”
    The man smiled. “Good, I’m glad. It’s nice to see such a young person interested in archaeology. Most kids your age would rather be out playing games or chasing women. I don’t get a lot of enthusiastic people in here. Most of my students take this class so they can come and take a nap. It’s their loss. Allow me to introduce myself, I’m Doctor Sailann, and I’ll be giving the lecture.”
    Link excitedly shook the doctor’s hand. “Nice to meet you, sir,” said Link. “I hope this’ll be as good as I’ve heard.”
    Dr. Sailann smiled. “Oh, I’ve got a lot of really great things for today. I guarantee that you’ll be fascinated by my lecture. I’m going to talk about a lot of really old legends and myths that most people have never heard of. Ancient mythology is very intriguing. I’m going to start in a minute, so why don’t you guys go get comfortable?”
    Link nodded and dragged his friends over to some desks that were in the front row. Link sat down and fidgeted in his seat, in giddy anticipation of the coming lecture. Malon, Solo, and Zelda were less than enthusiastic, however. They simply came here to indulge Link, and they didn’t really care for the subject being taught. Zelda especially marveled at Link’s enthusiasm and anticipation. She thought it was cute. Link was almost child-like in his anticipation, he was like a little kid waiting to open a birthday present.
    The others gazed around the room, looking at the wide array of different people. Most of the students here were in their early twenties, and looked fairly decent. There were a few punk-looking kids with bizarre hairstyles and even weirder clothes. Malon made a surprised sound when she saw a familiar-looking woman sitting at a desk a few rows away. This woman appeared middle-aged and had long, gray hair tied in a waist-length braid. Malon never forgot a face, and that braid was a dead giveaway. She jabbed Link at the side, and he turned to look at her with an annoyed face. “That’s the woman from the bar,” said Malon. She pointed in the woman’s direction.
    Link turned to see who Malon was pointing at. “Who? Her?” asked Link.
    “Yeah, that’s the lady that drank six bottles of booze,” added Malon.
    “Are you sure?”
    “Of course I’m sure, I never forget a face.” Malon leaned over and tapped Zelda on the shoulder, who sat to Link’s left, and got Solo’s attention, who was on Malon’s right. Both girls turned to see what Malon wanted. “That’s the drinking woman from the bar,” whispered Malon. Solo and Zelda both looked at the woman and gasped in surprise.
    “You’re right, that is her,” said Zelda.
    “What do you think she’s doing here?” asked Solo.
    “Maybe she’s interested in history, too,” said Malon.
    “I don’t how she could even stand to come here after how much she had to drink last night,” said Zelda. “She had a lot more to drink than I did last night. I felt like dying when I woke up this morning, and I can’t even imagine how she felt. She should be unconscious, or dead.”
    “Maybe she has special powers,” speculated Solo, half-serious and half-joking.
    “Will you guys be quiet?” whispered Link loudly. “The guy’s starting.” The girls hushed themselves and looked towards the front of the room, waiting for the doctor to begin.
    He stood at the middle of the table and got everyone’s attention. “Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I am Doctor Miko Sailann, president of the University’s archaeology department. Some of you are currently taking my classes, and I thank you for giving up your free time for this special lecture. The rest of you have come to this as a one-time deal. Today I am going to give a big talk about some of the most interesting facets of our history. Today will concentrate mostly on mythology. Hyrule has a long history of interesting myths. Most of these you probably have never heard of. My purpose here is to interest you in these ancient myths, with the hope that maybe you’ll pursue that as a career. Archaeology is a very dynamic and interesting field.”
    He turned towards the large blackboard and took a piece of chalk from the ledge. “I’ll start out with the myths and religions of the Ancient Hylians, who were our predecessors.” With almost, blinding speed, the doctor scribbled the names of some ancient tribes on the blackboard, in scrawling, barely-legible handwriting. As he was writing down the name of one group, the chalk impacted with the blackboard and broke in half. The doctor sighed. “Lousy, cheap chalk they keep on buying,” he muttered. Dr. Sailann grabbed a new piece and continued scribbling.
    Link watched with acute attention, taking in every word the doctor said with absolute relish. This stuff was so interesting. Malon also listened to him speak, fascinated by her country’s ancient history. Zelda and Solo, however, were less than enthusiastic. Zelda merely stared into space, trying to pay attention, but failing. She came to this lecture to appease Link, but she was finding it immensely boring. It was a struggle to keep her eyes open. Her head felt so heavy, she just wanted to curl up and go to sleep. Finally unable to control herself, Zelda rested her head on Link’s shoulder, Link not even noticing. He was too enthralled in the lecture. Solo stared with equal apathy. Instead of listening, she began to entertain herself mentally. She tried to turn the lecture into a little game. She tried to count how many times the doctor broke his chalk, or how many times he said a particular word. But even that was becoming increasingly boring.
    After nearly an hour of lecturing, Link was still hanging on Dr. Sailann’s every word. Solo had finally succumbed to her boredom, and was now sleeping soundly with her head in Malon’s lap. Zelda still had her head on Link’s shoulder, but she wasn’t quite asleep. Her eyes were barely open, and she focused on some invisible point on the far wall. Mentally, she was in another universe. Her brain was totally empty in a state of mental nothingness. She was essentially sleeping with her eyes open.
    “Now I’m going to get to the most fascinating part of this particular period,” said the doctor with great enthusiasm. He so loved his job, enjoying every part of it. “Over the centuries, many people have sought the key to everlasting life. People have searched for fountains of youth, and magical elixirs that would prolong life indefinitely. It seems like immortality is the one common thread among all mythologies. Everyone wants to attain it in their own way, but it never happens.
    “The most well-known and longest-lasting of these myths is the legend of the Hateru Stone. From historical studies, we believe that the legend first emerged between three thousand and thirty-five hundred years ago. Ancient scrolls, copies of which I have here,” he held up an old, yellowing roll of paper, “tell of a mysterious crystal that has the power to grant immortality. Back when this story first emerged, whole countries fought wars in search of this mystical stone. Recently found scrolls shed even more light on the legend. Surprisingly, the Hateru Stone isn’t simply a single crystal. It is said to actually be a pair. There are two identical stones. One has the power to grant eternal life, while the other is a kind of terrible curse. It was probably supposed to be a test of faith or courage, to pick the right stone.
    “About two thousand years ago, all word of the legends vanished. It was as if it suddenly dropped out of history. The most mysterious part is that one-half of the Hateru Stone exists today.” He opened a small wooden chest on the table and pulled out a beautiful, shining blue stone. “Some years ago, this was unearthed in the remains of an ancient temple. This is believed to be one of the Hateru Stones. You might be wondering why nobody is fighting over this, since it could be the key to immortality. But the scrolls we found in the temple helped to greatly increase our understanding of this legend. The scrolls tell that the Stones will only work when they are together. From what I can gather, the key to this immortality is to put the stones together. Then only one of them will give eternal life, the other will bestow a great curse. The person must choose the correct one in a final test. Unfortunately, that’s all that the scrolls say. Some were so deteriorated and faded, that they couldn’t be read. It figures that the most important parts were unreadable. The last line of one of the scrolls tells about the Stones. We think that the rest of the scroll told exactly how to use the stones, and what to expect.”
    He took the chalk and wrote some foreign-looking letters and ideograms on the blackboard. “These are the last lines on the scroll, that hint at the key to the mystery. Roughly translated, this means ‘The chooser knows not what he has chosen, he who chooses the blessing chooses life, he who chooses the curse chooses death.’ This is fairly cryptic, but it is so far the best translation we can come up with. Nobody is really sure what it means.”
    The doctor was interrupted when the woman with braided gray hair raised her hand. “Yes, ma’am. Do you have a question?”
    “More of a comment, really,” replied the woman curtly. I noticed how you chose to translate that particular sentence. I just thought I’d point out that… well… it’s wrong.”
    “Excuse me?” said Dr. Sailann, surprised. “I’ve studied Ancient Hylian for years and I think I have a fairly good understanding of the language. Believe me when I say it took me a very long time to translate these scrolls. I don’t think that I made a mistake.”
    “Well, you did,” said the woman.
    “And what gives you the credentials to make that judgment? I have studied this language all my life. What do you think this says?”
    “Well, you made a crucial mistake in the translation of that sentence,” she said. “This particular construction uses a very rare form of grammar. It uses the subjunctive causative conjugations and declinations and doesn’t mean literally what it seems to say. Where it says what the person chooses, those objects actually belong to the other clauses, not the ones they are in. The second part of the sentence should read, ‘He who chooses the blessing chooses death, and he who chooses the curse chooses life.’ The direct objects are reversed, and it radically changes the meaning of the sentence.”

    Dr. Sailann stood silently for a moment, pondering what the woman had said. She made an interesting case. “Well, if I’m wrong, I’ll admit it. But Ancient Hylian isn’t spoken anymore, it had to be reconstructed from ancient documents and scrolls that were written during the transition between Ancient Hylian and Old Hylian. But I have to say, you have an interesting hypothesis. If you’re right, then it could change everything we thought we knew about the Hateru Stones. If you don’t mind my asking, how do you know that the sentence is wrong?”
    “Because I speak Ancient Hylian,” replied the woman. “Natively.”
    “That’s impossible,” chuckled Dr. Sailann. “Ancient Hylian has been a dead language for over two thousand years. No one has spoken it for centuries.”
    “That’s true. But I do.”
    “Well, I suppose it is possible that some parts of the language have survived through the centuries. But the odds of the entire language surviving for this long are almost zero. I’ll talk to the linguistics department later and see what they think.
    “Now, if I may continue the lecture…” Dr. Sailann continued. He went on explaining the legend of the Hateru Stones, and when he was finished with that he told of some more legends, the Triforce being one of them.
    For about forty-five more minutes, the doctor continued his lecture. Link listened with such interest, he never thought a lecture could be so much fun. After giving a long account of the various digs he’d been to, Dr. Sailann finally concluded the lecture, dismissing the class. All the students shoved notebooks into their bags and stood up to leave. The braided woman approached the table and began speaking to Dr. Sailann in words that Link couldn’t hear. They laughed for a moment and they both left the auditorium to discuss the woman’s hypothesis with the linguistics department.
    Link stood up and stretched, sitting down for so long was very uncomfortable. He turned around to see that Zelda’s had had fallen onto Link’s chair when he got up, causing her to awaken. Zelda looked around and noticed that the whole room was empty. She looked at Link and saw nothing but a smirk on his face. “That was boring,” said Zelda poutingly.
    “I didn’t think that was boring,” said Malon. She sighed when she realized that Solo was still sleeping with her head on Malon’s lap, snoring almost inaudibly. Malon stifled a chuckle and poked Solo on the shoulder.
    Solo shifted slightly and moaned. “Link…I don’t wanna do the dishes,” she mumbled incoherently.
    “Solo, the lecture is over, you can wake up now,” said Malon, shaking Solo’s shoulder.
    Solo shot up and looked around. She was confused for a moment, but then realized where she was. “Oh yeah,” she mumbled. Solo stretched and yawned. “That was interesting,” said Solo, trying to humor Link, who had a disappointed look on his face.
    “You could’ve at least tried to stay awake,” huffed Link.
    “I guess I needed a nap,” said Solo. “We should get that guy to come over to our house and talk every night. Then maybe I could get more sleep at night.” Solo rubbed her eyes and yawned again.
    “Solo, you drooled all over my dress,” complained Malon, gazing at the small puddle on her dress.
    Solo blushed madly, trying to hide her embarrassment. “Oh, sorry,” she said. “Here I’ll help you.” Solo tried to rub the spot off Malon’s dress, but only succeeded in making the spot larger.
    “That’s not helping,” complained Malon. Malon pushed Solo’s hands away. “Just leave it, it’ll dry up in a few minutes. Can’t you at least sleep without drooling all over everything?”
    “I can’t help it,” whined Solo. Link chuckled and Solo flashed a glare. “At least I don’t snore like a bear and mumble Zelda’s name all night. You’re the reason I never get any sleep.”
    Link’s face turned beet red. “What are you talking about?” he said.
    “You know what I’m talking about. You snore so loud, I’m surprised that you don’t wake up the whole forest. And you talk in your sleep, mumbling Zelda’s name constantly. You ramble and hold conversations even when you’re sleeping.”
    “You mumble my name when you’re asleep?” asked Zelda, fascinated. She began to wonder what kind of dreams Link had about her. She had dreamed about him on numerous occasions, but had always been too embarrassed to tell him. Besides, some of the dreams were a little less than wholesome, and she figured that Link wouldn’t want to hear about them.
    “She’s just making that up,” countered Link, crossing his arms over his chest. “I don’t talk in my sleep.”
    “Right,” said Solo sarcastically. “You believe what you want. But I know what I heard. Anyways, can we go home now? I sat through your stupid lecture.”
    “Yeah, you slept through it,” muttered Link. “Maybe you would’ve gotten a little culture if you’d kept your eyes open. But I don’t want to go home. I figured that since we’re here, we could head off to the zoo. It’s just down at the other end of the campus, and it might be a nice break. Besides, maybe this time you’ll stay awake.”
    “Ooh! The zoo sounds like fun!” exclaimed Zelda. “Come on, let’s go,” she said, grabbing Link’s arm. Malon and Solo followed closely behind as Link led them towards the south side of the campus, where the zoological park lay.
    “What do they have at the zoo?” asked Solo to Malon, unsure if this would be another one of Link’s crazy schemes.
    “They have all sorts of different animals there,” replied Malon. “Really exotic ones that you can’t see normally.”
    “That sounds interesting,” said Solo, imagining what these exotic animals would look like. The only animals she had ever seen were the normal barnyard variety: birds, chickens, ducks, geese, dogs, cats, cows, and horses. Those animals were fairly boring to her, she hoped that the zoo’s exotic animals would be more interesting.
    After a few minutes of winding through the crowded campus, the group finally made it to the entrance of the zoo. They could hear animals making a whole host of different sounds from behind the ornate gates. A decorative sign above the gates read Hyrule Zoological Park. Link led the group to a small admission office right next to the gate. The clerk waved Link’s whole group through, not making him pay for admission. “How come we didn’t have to pay?” asked Malon. She saw the sign that said Children: 6 rupees, Adults: 10 rupees.
    “Because I told them the princess was here,” said Link.
    “Yeah, I’ve seen that lady before and she knows who I am,” said Zelda. They walked through the gates and into a large open space. There was a decorative fountain in the middle and there were signs pointing to the many animal exhibits.
    “What do you want to see first?” asked Link to the group.
    “I don’t really care, as long as it’s not farm animals,” said Malon.
    “Ooh! Let’s go see the jungle animals!” exclaimed Solo. When no one objected, Solo gleefully ran in the direction of Jungle World. As Solo ran, she imagined what the fantastic jungle animals would look like. She had only seen normal farm animals and wildlife in her life, and she hadn’t even known that this zoo existed. Link, Zelda, and Malon quickly followed behind Solo, trying to keep up with her.
    Solo finally stopped when she reached a fenced-off area with a big colorful banner that said Jungle World. The rest of the group stopped next to Solo and looked at her for her next move. They followed her to the first animal exhibit. This habitat was strewn with false rocks and a miniature forest of tropical trees. Solo leaned over a metal railing and peered into the habitat. All she saw were strange-looking plants and nondescript rocks. “Where’s the animals?” whined Solo. “I wanted to see jungle animals!”
    “Don’t look at me,” said Link. “I didn’t make this exhibit. What animals are supposed to be here anyways?”
    Solo looked at the sign posted nearby and tried to read it. “Co…colo…something monkeys. I have no idea what that other word says.”
    “Colobus monkeys,” said Link.
    “What’s ‘colobus’ mean?” asked Zelda.
    “What’s a monkey?” asked Malon. She only knew of run-of-the-mill farm animals, and had never even heard of these exotic animals.
    “They’re little furry animals that look like little hairy people,” clarified Link.
    “I want to see the little hairy monkeys!” whined Solo. “Where are they?” She peered into the exhibit one more time, trying to catch a glimpse of one of the monkeys. Then she saw a tiny lump of fur tucked away in the corner between two rocks. “There’s one!”
    The other three looked at the monkey Solo had pointed to, which was curled up in a ball sleeping. They saw more of the animals nearby, all of them lying in odd positions, not moving an inch. “Do they do anything?” said Malon, unimpressed. “I can go home to see sleeping animals.”
    “Well, they have to do something some time,” said Zelda. “Nothing can sit around and sleep all day…except Link.” Link glared at her comment. Just then, they saw a young lady walk by who was wearing a zookeeper’s uniform. Zelda flagged down the lady, and she stopped and smiled.
    “Can I help you?” asked the lady.
    “Yeah, do those monkeys actually do anything?” asked Zelda, pointing to the extremely uninteresting exhibit.
    The woman looked at the exhibit and frowned. She shrugged her shoulders. “Actually, they usually do. Monkeys are lazy, but they’re never that lazy. It’s mating season and they’re usually in a frenzy right now. You should see they’re mating rituals, they’re fascinating.”
    “Well, why aren’t they doing anything?” whined Solo. “I wanna see the monkeys dance or something.”
    “I’ve never really seen anything like it,” replied the zookeeper. “All the animals have been sluggish lately. Some of them have been acting quite strangely, too. One of our tigers dug a whole last week and hid in it for three days. And I’ll tell you something, tigers don’t dig holes.”
    “That’s weird,” commented Link.
    “Tell me about it. I’ve worked here my whole life, and I’ve never seen animals act like this. You know, they say that when animals behave strangely, that means some kind of calamity is about to happen. Like before earthquakes, people’s pets go totally nuts. Personally, I don’t believe in that rubbish.” She looked over to the exhibit and sighed. “Sorry, but there’s nothing I can do to make the monkeys more active.” The woman then walked away and continued going about her business.
    “Well this really sucks,” commented Solo, folding her arms over her chest. “I wanted to see the animals do something.”
    “How ‘bout we go to the next exhibit?” suggested Link. “All the animals can’t be this bad.”
    “Okay fine,” said Solo. She left the disappointing exhibit and they all walked over to the next one. This next exhibit looked like a miniature savanna. It was a yellow plain with tufts of tall, tan grass and a few small flowering plants. Solo made a squeal of joy when she saw the animals in this exhibit: huge gray elephants. There were two elephants in this exhibit, and none of them had ever seen an animal so huge.
    “Look at the size of that thing!” exclaimed Malon. “It’s huge! How can something that big even stand up?” All of them were taken aback by the sheer size of the creatures.
    “What are they doing?” asked Zelda, pointing to the bizarrely acting animals. The elephants were flailing their trunks in the air and running around in circles. Loud thumps sounded as the elephants circled their enclosure. Every now and then, one of them would stand still and make a loud trumpeting noise.
    “Now that’s what I wanted to see,” commented Solo, happy to see some of the animals actually doing something.
    “I don’t think they’re supposed to do that,” said Link, getting a strange feeling of foreboding at seeing the elephants’ unusual behavior.
    “What do you mean?” asked Zelda.
    “Well, I’m not an animal expert, but they look a little distressed. They’re way too big to be running around like that. They look like they’re running from something. I think they want to escape.” Link stared at the distressed elephants, and had a look of worry on his face.
    “Link, are you okay?” asked Zelda, becoming concerned. Link was usually very jovial, and he never looked this worried. She put her arm around his and looked into his eyes.
    “I just got this weird feeling,” he replied. He had an ominous feeling of foreboding that he hadn’t felt in a long time. It reminded him of the feelings he’d had when he had prophetic dreams. But he hadn’t had any dreams lately, and he had no idea why he was feeling this way. Maybe it was just nervousness or stress, but he couldn’t think of anything that was stressing him. In fact, his life couldn’t have been better right now.
    “What kind of feeling?” she asked.
    “I don’t know,” he replied, shrugging it off. “It’s just nothing. I’m sure I’ll be fine.” He looked at the rest of his group, who were rapidly becoming bored. “Let’s just go find something else. There has to be something here.” Everyone agreed with Link’s suggestion. Although the scampering elephants were entertaining at first, they were becoming dull very quickly. They all walked aimlessly through the zoo, trying to find an interesting exhibit. Hopefully their day wouldn’t turn out to be a total waste.
 
 
 

    She silently crept through the auditorium, being careful not to make any noise that would draw attention to herself. She gazed around the large room and made sure no one was around. Good. The auditorium that had been just a few hours ago bustling with people was now completely empty. This was the same auditorium that Dr. Sailann had just held his lecture in a few hours before. All the artifacts he had displayed were still sitting out on the table in the open. No one every worried about thieves in the University, most of the priceless artifacts were under guard in the museum. This room didn’t contain any objects that would be considered priceless. Most of them were dusty old masks and broken pottery. The only thing that could be considered even remotely valuable was the blue stone that sat in a small, open chest. But no one ever considered stealing this rock, the legends and myths surrounding it made everyone fear for their lives. No one wanted to end up dead for stealing a small crystal. But she knew better, she knew that this stone was the key to finally ending the torture she had endured forever. She remembered when she had first found this stone so long ago, how she watched her one and only friend die for it. Now Kisei, as she had once been called, was prepared to finish the job she had started. She remembered when she had been the crazy Kisei-the-scientist who lived in her little cottage, performing one hare-brained experiment after another. But then she had met her friend Lani, and her whole life had changed. But that damned stone ended up giving her a life of misery. But it would be over soon.
    She quietly moved to the table at the head of the room and opened the small chest that contained the stone. She opened it and was greeted by a dull, blue glow. The stone only shone with a fraction of its original brightness, it would not return to its original brilliance until it was joined with its mate. She put the stone in her pocket while removing an identical blue sapphire from her other pocket. She had had this blue stone specially cut to exactly match the Hateru Stone in appearance. However, the sapphire weighed less than the real stone, but she would be long gone before anybody found out. Kisei put the sapphire in the chest and closed it. She then turned around and left through the back entrance into an alley, right where she had entered from. Kisei removed the mask that covered her face and walked through the campus as if she belonged there. No one would discover that the stone had been stolen for a least a few hours, and no one would ever suspect this middle-aged woman to be the thief. She smiled at her ingenuity and chuckled at the idiocy of the security in this place. She could’ve stolen millions of rupees worth of artifacts without being caught. But her goal was not wealth or money. She was sick and tired of her life, and money couldn’t help her problem.
    Kisei left the campus and mounted her horse that she had tied up out front. She rode in a southerly direction, heading towards the now nearly abandoned town of Quatari. She had lived there most of her life, and it had once been a thriving mecca of commerce. Now it was a near ghost town, with only a few aging residents left. She didn’t care, she liked the privacy. No one ever came knocking at her door. Now that she had the first stone, it was only a matter of time before her plan was complete. The stone’s mate had disappeared so many years ago, and it was due to return soon. By her calculations, it would end up somewhere in the southeast corner of Hyrule field in less than day. She just had to make sure she would be the first one there to get it.
 
 
 

    “Well, that was a very disappointing day,” whined Solo once again. The group was just leaving the zoo, after seeing nothing but disappointing exhibits and hiding animals.
    “It wasn’t a total loss,” said Zelda. “Link bought me this.” She showed the group for the umpteenth time the small stuffed emu that Link had purchased in the gift shop. “It’s so cute, it has a long neck but it’s a bird. I never knew there were huge birds that couldn’t fly.”
    Solo rolled her eyes. “Yeah, we all know. You love the emu.”
    “You don’t have to be such a killjoy,” complained Zelda. “You’re just jealous because Malon didn’t buy you a stuffed animal.”
    “Yeah, why didn’t you buy me a stuffed animal?” Solo asked Malon.
    Malon gave a heated glare to Zelda, then looked at Solo. “If you want one, I can go back and get one…”
    “No that’s okay, I don’t like stuffed animals anyways. It’s just that these two are always being so sappy that it makes me sick.” She pointed to Link and Zelda, who were walking hand-in-hand, occasionally giving each other adoring looks. “They look like love-sick puppies,” Solo whispered, making sure the other two didn’t hear her comment. “Promise me you’ll put me out of my misery if I ever end up like that.”
    “I don’t know if you’d want me to,” replied Malon. “You’ve had your moments.”
    “What’s that supposed to mean? I’m not a sap.”
    “Well, last night you had that little puppy-dog look on your face when you asked me to lay down with you, and…”
    “That doesn’t count. I was…not myself. Booze-induced stupors don’t count as being sappy.” Malon simply smirked, not being able to think of a way to counter Solo’s excuse for logic.
    The group walked through the campus toward the main entrance when something caught Link’s attention. There was a group of people gathered around the auditorium they had attended the lecture in, and it seemed like something was amiss. “I wonder what’s going on over there,” said Link, starting to wander over to the gaggle of people.
    “Do you always insist on getting yourself into places where you don’t belong?” said Zelda, becoming slightly perturbed that Link always insisted on getting involved in everything.
    “I just want to go look,” he whined. Link pushed his way through the crowd until he stopped just inside the auditorium. There were a few security guards and some detectives interviewing the professor that had given the lecture a few hours before. Link leaned over to try to hear what they were saying.
    “Okay, so you’re telling me that someone broke in here and replaced your rock with this sapphire?” asked one of the detectives to the very annoyed professor.
    “For the millionth time, yes!”
    “Can you describe this stone for us?” asked the other detective.
    “It looks just like this sapphire. It’s blue, and about the size of a fist,” replied the professor.
    “Well, if it looks just like the sapphire, how do you know it’s not the real stone?” said the first detective.
    “I have studied the Hateru Stone for decades, I think I would know if it was missing.”
    “Relax, doctor. Tell us what happened when you first found out the stone was missing.”
    “Earlier today I gave a lecture about ancient myths, and the Hateru Stone was part of the presentation. After the lecture, I went about my normal business throughout the school. When I came back just a little while ago, I opened the box so I could put the stone back in the museum. That’s when I discovered that it was missing. I wouldn’t have noticed that the real stone was missing if I hadn’t picked it up.”
    “What’s the difference between this Hateru Stone and the sapphire?”
    “Well, they both look the same, which is why I almost didn’t notice. But they don’t feel the same. The Hateru Stone is about three times heavier than this sapphire, and it has a much harder, smoother texture. It’s one of a kind, and it can’t be faked.”
    “Why would somebody come here to steal the Hateru Stone?” asked the first detective. “That sapphire looks to me like it’s worth quite a bit on its own. Why would someone go through the trouble of breaking in here and stealing the first stone, and then replace it with one that’s just as valuable. Nothing else in here was even touched, so it doesn’t seem like robbery was the motive.”
    “Ooh, you’re a sharp one,” said the doctor sarcastically. Judging by the detective’s expression, he didn’t even realize that the doctor was insulting his intelligence. “You’re right, it wasn’t a robbery, at least not for money.”
    “You didn’t answer my question, Dr. Sailann. Why would somebody come in here and replace the stone without touching anything else? What’s so important about the Hateru Stone?”
    “Legends have surrounded the stone for millennia. It’s meteoric rock, which is why we can’t find anything else like it anywhere. The people who first came upon it saw it as a gift from the gods, they worshipped it. They believed that it held the key to immortality, so different tribes were always fighting over it. That’s how it got its name, Hateru is an ancient Hylian word for ‘death.’ They called it a stone of death because all who have ever searched for it have died on their quests. After a while, some people sealed it up inside a mountain where it wasn’t discovered for centuries.”
    “So this person might’ve stolen it because it’s the key to immortality?” asked the second detective.
    “Possibly,” replied Dr. Sailann. “But this stone is no good without its mate. You see, there are two stones. The first one was buried in a mountain and was on my desk until just a few hours ago, but the second one was said to have disappeared into the sky from where it came. Even if the legends of immortality are true, the Hateru Stone is no good unless it is paired with the other one.”
    “Where is the other one?” asked the first detective.
    “I told you, nobody knows. According to all the records we have, it just disappeared. No one has seen it for thousands of years. Stories say that it just literally shot up into the sky.”
    “Okay,” said the first detective, obviously unimpressed by the doctor’s tale. “Just one last thing, did you see anyone suspicious lurking around here? Anyone who didn’t fit in, or someone who might’ve had an unusual interest in the stone?”
    The doctor thought for a moment. “Well…I did have a conversation with this woman after the lecture. She seemed to be quite interested in it. She knew more about the stone than I did. But she didn’t seem like the type who would…”
    “Can you give us a description of this woman?” asked the second detective, scribbling in his notebook.
    “Well, she was average size. She looked like she was in her late forties, or early fifties. She had very long gray hair, tied up in a braid…about waist-length. And it was weird, she had really strange-colored eyes, they were deep red.”
    “A Sheikah, possibly?” mused the first detective.
    “I have no idea,” sighed the doctor. “I know they all have red eyes, but I seriously doubt she was one of them. The Sheikah are nearly extinct, and I don’t think they’d waste their time here.”
    The first detective, who seemed to be the senior of the two, scribbled a few more notes and closed his notebook. “Well, that’s all the questions I have. I still don’t see why someone would go through all this trouble to steal a supposedly cursed stone. After all, at the end of the day what is it? Just a lump of useless rock.”
    “You words, not mine, Inspector,” said the doctor, angry that the man was insulting his work.
    “Then why would anyone steal it?”
    “I have no idea. Are you finished?”
    “Yes,” replied the detective. “We’ll contact you if we find anything.” With that both detectives left and shooed away the crowd that had gathered. Link’s group was among them, and were told to go about their business and leave.
    They all left the scene, slightly dumbfounded by the story they’d overheard. “You think it was that lady we saw at the bar?” said Malon after a few moments of silence.
    “It very well could be,” mused Link. “She seemed to match the description.”
    “Why are we even bothering to ask into this?” said Zelda. “It’s none of our business. I really don’t care about some stupid rock.” Link gave a pitiful, hurt expression toward Zelda. “Oh what are you complaining about? You always want to get into other people’s business. Can’t you just leave stuff alone? You’ve been on enough adventures, you don’t need to be searching for a woman and some stupid rock. I’m sure she’s out in the forest somewhere worshipping it.”
    “I was just curious, that’s all,” said Link sheepishly.
    “Curiosity killed the cat,” said Zelda. Link merely huffed.
    “I never said I wanted to get involved. I just think it’s interesting. I just wish I knew why that woman would want to steal that stone.”
    “You’re the history buff, not me,” said Zelda, waiting for a rambling theory from Link. He just shrugged his shoulders. “I’m sure she had her reasons.”
    “Yeah, she’s probably dancing naked around a campfire with the stone chanting some weird mantra,” joked Solo. The rest of the group gave her very strange looks. “Well, that’s what I would do,” she added, smirking. Malon and Link both blushed, and Solo gave a maniacal laugh. She so enjoyed making her friend and her brother uncomfortable. She just hated the fact that, no matter how hard she tried, she could never get Zelda to be embarrassed by her comments.
    “You’re so sick, you know that?” said Link. Sometimes he wondered how he ended up with such an eccentric and weird sister.
    Zelda, enjoying the opportunity of embarrassing Link further, thought of a brilliant follow up to Solo’s comment. “Hey Link, how ‘bout we dance naked around my stiffed emu? That would be fun.” Link’s face turned beet red, trying not to give any indication that he would give almost anything to see Zelda dance in the nude.
    “Um…” mumbled Link.
    “Ooh, I think he liked that suggestion,” added Solo.
    “I don’t think Zelda would mind, either,” said Malon, causing Zelda’s cheeks to turn an almost undetectable shade of crimson. Solo felt jealous that Malon was able to illicit the response that she had tried so hard to get. “Come on, Link. I’m sure you’d love to see Zelda’s…”
    “What is this, make-fun-of-Link time?” interrupted Link, becoming extremely flustered.
    “We just like giving you a hard time,” said Zelda, kissing him on the cheek. As much as Link hated being the butt of jokes, it was all worth it to be Zelda’s boyfriend. He could stand her occasional teasing, and sometimes he secretly enjoyed it. But he would never admit that to her, especially not in the presence of his sister and her girlfriend. They all finally decided to walk back to Link’s house to have supper. It was a few miles away, but they enjoyed strolling on such a beautiful summer day.