LINK WALKED up to the King of Red Lions with the scarlet glass globe in hand. The red smoke-like substance inside seemed to burn like a fire in all directions, though other times it moved like sand in an hourglass. It had a wave-like emblem etched on its surface that Link did not recognize.

"You obtained Din's Pearl," the King of Red Lions said.

"Yeah," Link frowned, "you never said it would be so difficult."

"True," the King said, "but I never said it would be easy. Or in-between. It was your choice to decide how to get it."

"If I were a worse person," Link reasoned, "I could've just stolen it."

"Yes," the King said, "but you did not."

"Was that some...test?" Link asked.

"I have no need to test you," the King said. "Though the goddesses watch over all things."

"What are you saying?" Link asked, growing a bit impatient again.

"How did you obtain Din's Pearl?" the King asked.

"I killed a creature that was causing harm to Valoo," Link explained.

The King of Red Lions silently waited for Link to continue.

"Prince Komali is the owner of the pearl," Link added. "He was not happy when I asked for it."

"Yet you did not steal it, or otherwise obtain it fraudulently," the King stated.

"Yes," Link said.

"You had the strength to respect someone's choice," the King said, "and instead persuade them."

"Yes," Link answered again.

The King of Red Lions said nothing more. Link looked over at the horizon. The sun was setting.

He decided to sleep in the boat. He felt confident he'd be safe anchored on the shore. The storm had passed, and the sunset painted brilliant colors as it passed through the remnants of the storm clouds.

He walked up closer to the King of Red Lions, and dropped his things on the deck.

After returning to the Rito's caves, they had fed him, and when Medli learned that he was travelling without a bedroll, she'd forced him to take one.

She'd also been the one who requested he be fed. And given a sack of provisions. And a canteen. And treated his burns.

It seemed since she was Komali's servant she had developed an attitude of making sure that people were taken care of. It certainly relieved him though. The earlier nights of sleeping on those other islands, and drinking their questionable water hadn't sat well with him. He was also grateful for her burn salve.

Link laid down his new bedroll on the deck and put his other things in the boat's locker. After determining that everything was in order, Link went to sleep.

The next morning, Link woke up, and after eating some food, he made ready to leave.

"Where do I need to go next?" Link asked, preparing the sail.

"The Forest Haven," the King of Red Lions informed him.

Link retrieved his map, and found his destination was due south. He raised the sail, and found to his dissatisfaction that it sagged limply, flapping only slightly.

He wetted his finger, and tested the wind. The wind blew to the north, and it wasn't even blowing very hard.

He sighed.

"What seems to be the problem?" The King of Red Lions inquired.

"The wind," Link explained, "it doesn't want to cooperate."

The king didn't answer for a moment.

"What is power Link?" He asked.

"Huh?" Link said, "why are you -" he paused.

Perhaps this was a test.

"I don't know," Link admitted. "The ability to do something?"

"Perhaps," the King said thoughtfully.

"Physical strength?" Link guessed, "I don't know."

"How did you obtain Din's Pearl?" The King asked.

"I persuaded Komali to give it to me," Link replied.

"You had the strength to not become angry," the King said.

"I'm not sure about that...," Link brushed off.

"Then you did not let your anger control your actions," the King reiterated. "That is power."

"King," Link asked, "why are you telling me this?"

"The wind is not doing what you desire," the King stated, looking to the south. "How will you change that?"

"King," Link pointed out, "I can't persuade the wind."

"No," the King surprisingly corrected, "you can. Stand in front of me."

Link complied, a bit confused, and stepped into the shallow water.

He walked in front of the King.

"Link," the King of Red Lions spoke, "you can indeed sway the will of the wind."

The King opened his carved wooden mouth, revealing something.

Link picked it up.

It was a smooth, white, wooden rod. adorning its sides were two carvings in spiral shapes, resembling a sort of angled crossguard. The slender rod tapered to a point, and had faint decorative engravings along its length.

"What you hold in your hand Link," the King of Red Lions uttered, "is an implement of ancient times. It is called the wind waker."

"It's a baton," Link recognized from a book he'd read once.

"Yes," the King said, "and like a baton for directing music, it shall allow you to direct the wind."

Link held it in his open palm, stroking the smooth wood, feeling the texture of the designs inlaid in it. He looked back up at the King of Red Lions.

"If this lets me control the wind," Link asked, "how do I use it?"

"You guide the wind, not control it," the King corrected, "and to entice it into moving, you must move the wind waker in a specific way."

Link raised the wind waker over his head. As he did so, he felt a force flow into his veins. The wind seem to pause around him, whispering. It whispered around his body in different directions.

Its intensity grew more soft and gentle. It was almost like... like the wind had stalled to examine him, wondering what he was doing.

"You have the wind's attention," the King of Red Lions observed.

With Link's arm still holding the wind waker aloft, he jerked his arm toward the south.

For a moment, the wind increased from a breeze to a strong gust, and Link quickly pointed the wind waker back down to the ground. The wind whipped back to its old direction.

"The wind must be persuaded," the King reminded.

"H - how do I do that?" Link asked, still slightly in shock at the wind feeling like it was alive.

"Steer it slowly in the path you desire for it to go, and wait for it to change on its own terms," the King instructed.

Link waited for a moment, pondering it in his mind. Then he raised the wind waker once again, and tried pointing it in the direction the wind was blowing. The breeze settled around him, blanketing him in cool air.

The wind was listening.

He slowly moved the wind waker towards the south, and though the wind pulled against his movement for a moment, he felt it turn, like the wheel of a ship.

As he neared facing south, the wind seemed to accept his request, and like a massive wave, suddenly gusted more powerfully than before in the new direction.

He lowered the wind waker, pulling his cap on tighter as the air whipped past him.

"Wow," Link quietly exclaimed, his eyes widening. He looked back down at the Windwaker.

"Why are you giving me this?" Link asked timidly, "this... this is something that I'm not sure I deserve to have."

"Why not?" The King of Red Lions asked.

Link was shamefully silent for a moment.

"This is something that belongs to someone like the ancient hero," Link said quietly.

"Yes," the King of Red Lions stated. "It now belongs to you."

Link took a long breath, and stared at the wind waker again. He placed it in his pocket.

As he lifted the anchor into the boat, and began to steer them out into the water, the King of Red Lions spoke.

"If you did not deserve the power you now possess," he said, "the wind would not have obeyed you."

Link didn't respond.

The trip to the Forest Haven took several days. Link attempted to plot his course in a way that intersected small islands. Finally, Link came upon the Forest Haven in the late morning.

He saw two large islands, reminding him a bit of how his own island was broken down the middle. There was little land on either island that was not covered in thick forest.

"What am I looking for here?" Link asked the King of Red Lions.

"For Farore's Pearl," his companion replied. "It is held by the inhabitants of the forest, the Koroks."

The Koroks. The very same people whose ancestors had raised the hero of time. He'd read about them, both in the analects and in contemporary works. They were creatures of living wood, growing large leaves over their faces resembling masks.

Link resisted the urge to ask how to get Farore's Pearl, knowing it would result in another lecture.

"What do you know about the Pearl here?" he asked, carefully wording his question.

"It is under the stewardship of the great deku tree," the King of Red Lions said.

The great deku tree. Another descendant of an ancient time.

"There's only one more Pearl after this?" Link made sure.

"Yes," the King answered, "Nayru's Pearl."

"And then I will gain access to the master sword," Link said.

"Slaying Ganondorf will be no easy feat," the King said, stating the obvious.

"I don't care," Link said, "he took Aryll - and other young girls as well. Komali's father thinks he also created that monster that angered Valoo."

"I am aware that you are determined," the King said, "and I would not deter you from what you deem important. I will be quick to remind you, however, that you only have placed the first stone in the building of your wall. Other stones will not desire to move as easily, or in the same way you've moved other stones."

"I will keep going anyway," Link answered unyieldingly.

"Before you proceed onward however," the King of Red Lions said, "I have another item to impart to you. Open the locker containing your equipment."

Link did as his friend asked, and became dumbfounded. Except for his bedroll, all of his things were gone.

In their place, a small satchel.

"Wh-whh.."

"You're things are still there," the King of Red Lions reassured. "Open the satchel."

Link picked it up. It was light. He opened it. There was nothing inside.

He put his hand in. And came out with the grappling hook he'd found on Dragon Roost Island.

"This... is extremely bizarre," Link said.

"And a talking ship is not?" the King of Red Lions said, as Link held the satchel upside down, shaking it experimentally.

"Well," Link said, "I've just grown used to you."

He determined that as he thought about grabbing a certain item from the satchel, the item would come into his hand.

"All my things are in here?" Link said.

"Yes," the King said, "and you can place more objects inside - though objects that you would not be able to comfortably carry will not be stored inside the bag."

Link slung it over his shoulder, placing his shield and scabbard on his back, finding that most comfortable to him.

"Where do you get these things?" Link asked.

"I am a vessel of ancient construction," the King of Red Lions said. "When the goddesses flooded ancient Hyrule, I was created as something that would be able to safeguard ancient relics such as the wind waker."

"So you remember Hyrule?" Link asked, growing curious.

"No," the King said. "I was made following the burial of the Hyrulian landscape. I know only what I have discovered by speaking with the creatures of the great sea, as well as information about the objects placed in my care, that knowledge given by those who made me."

Link took that as a sufficient answer. He placed the wind waker close at hand in his pocket. The King of Red Lions anchored, Link strode onto the shore.