I don't own Legend of Zelda. If I did the games would tie in together better and there would be a few different ones added in.

Part One: Oracle of Seasons

Chapter Twenty-Six: Sorceress Swamp

"I win!" Link cheered when they got to the bottom of the mountain.

"Of course you did, you found the steeper slopes and good jumping points." Romani complained.

Link removed his goron mask and returned to normal. "I had to compete in genuine goron races. I learned a few things."

"Well then expert, where do we go from here?" Romani asked, removing her goron mask too.

"The goddess said east and that the shrine would be easy to find once we were there." Link said, checking the shadows on the ground. "Okay, south is behind us so east is that way." He pointed to his right. "Guess we just go that way and look until we see something."

Romani rolled her eyes but smiled. "The Link Exploration Guidebook in a nutshell."

"Hey it's gotten me this far."

The duo had started their secret just south of Sunken City, following a river that helped prevent the city from getting more flooded than it already was. The foliage in the area reminded Link a little of Woodfall Swamp, but the area itself wasn't exactly a swamp. Rather it looked more like a muddier version of the Kokiri forest.

"Getting kind of dark." Romani noted, looking up. It was still daytime but the canopy was practically blocking out all the light.

Link's hand went for his sword handle. "This feels familiar, kind of reminds me of the Lost Woods."

"That part of your old forest home where you always get lost yet somehow always end up back where you started?"

"Only the first time. After that I figured out the secret was to just stay where the light was breaking through." He defended.

Romani just rolled her eyes. "Oh, and of course only a hero of destiny could figure that out."

"I'm surprised I was the only one to do a lot of things back then. Gather a lady's cuccos, save a king's daughter, bring medicine to someone, do I have the words 'Errand Boy' written on me or something?"

"The gods must think so, or else we wouldn't be stuck doing all of this."

Link let himself smile a bit at her use of 'we' instead of 'you'.

They took a turn to follow some gaps between the trees, and had to crawl over a fallen tree along the way. Weird thing was once they got over the log, they heard a sinister chuckle.

Link looked around and pulled out his bow. "I know that laugh. Get ready for an ambush."

The ranch girl armed her bow and kept her eyes peeled. "What's coming?"

Before he could answer, the threat revealed itself. Four poes came into existence surrounding them, laughing and holding lanterns. If one were to look closely at the lanterns, you could swear a human face was inside the glow, looking like it was in agony and just barely keeping the flesh on the skull. The poes themselves looked rather strange, different than the ones Link normally encountered. They still had the same shapes and features, but these four were wet and dirty, like they had been hiding in the mud this whole time and just now came up for air. Water droplets dripped from them as they hovered around the two teens.

Link and Romani fired an arrow each at opposing poes, who blocked it with their lanterns. Upon impact a horrible wail was heard, causing Link and Romani to shudder and cover their ears. The other two poes attacked them from the sides, hitting them and knocking them to their knees for a bit due to their distorted balance. Both noted that the attacks felt quite cold and a little damp, like being punched by a snowman.

The first two poes were about to join in, this time the two heroes forced their shields in place repelling the nasty spirits. The second two went in, and the shields moved to deflect them too.

"We can't get an opening in. And if we attack, they sound horrible." Romani summarized, still having a ringing in her ears that she was trying to get rid of.

"We got to have something that can get us out of this." Link replied, keeping their defenses going. 'Wish I still had Din's Fire. Why was that and the other two spells things I couldn't bring back in time with me?'

Taking a risk, Link waited until a poe at his side struck, blocking with his shield to the right so he could take out his sword and jab at the poe in front of him. The sword hit and the poe quivered and back away, this time with no wail. The sight of this made the other three poe back away. Glad for the opportunity, Romani grabbed her sword and hacked into the closest poe with a vengeance, like she really wanted these things dead quickly. The poe spasmed and she slashed it again, with the poe popping and sprinkling dirty water everywhere.

The remaining poes tried to regain the momentum, but it was too late. Link and Romani swung their swords and didn't stop until all three poes were nothing more than the mud they came from. When it was over, Romani was breathing a little heavier than Link.

"Got a little worked up there?" He asked playfully.

Romani wiped her face, feeling some grime on it. "Yeah, those things just reminded me of the cattle stealers. Kind of felt nice to hack at them for a chance."

"I still wonder what ghosts would want with cows." Link thought out loud.

"They weren't ghosts they were aliens." Romani proclaimed firmly.

"Yeah, because unlike ghosts aliens do want cows." Link replied sarcastically.

"Link we agree not to have this debate anymore." The ranchgirl muttered. "Whatever they were, they were real and not our problem anymore. So let's just focus on getting through this marsh."

Link nodded and the two pressed onwards.

Night came and it got rather cold in the swamp. Not exactly frigid, but it was humid and they could see their breath.

"I really hope this means we're getting close to the shrine." Romani commented, shivering and rubbing her arms to keep warm while Link set up a tent on the driest piece of land he could find.

"If we are, it can wait until tomorrow. It's not a good idea to explore dungeons when you're tired."

Romani rolled her eyes. "This coming from the guy who once tried to go three days without sleep?"

"That was back when I had no idea I could repeat those three days. Once time travel became a factor, I could sleep all I want." Link countered, then let himself laugh a bit. "Heh, if Navi had been around she'd have been more annoyed than Tatl about that."

"Navi? Wasn't that your first fairy partner?" Romani asked, remembering this was always a touchy subject for the Hylian. He had told her everything, but the one topic he always was reluctant to get into was Navi.

He nodded. "Yeah, her first impression of me was that I was lazy. But what do you expect when you're trying to wake up a ten year old who lives in a forest, has no job, and has absolutely no reason to make it a point to be awake at the crack of dawn?"

"Gee, it's like she thought you lived on a ranch or something." Romani joked, making him laugh a little more.

Link finished the tent and opened the flap, allowing her to enter first. The interior was initially warmed than the outside, allowing her to relax. Link came in and the extra body heat certainly was going to help. Both got comfortable but neither fell asleep right away, keeping an ear out for anything that might be active and lurking around.

"Link, why is it getting colder?" Romani whispered, shivering more despite being close to him.

"Well we're not in the warmest..." He started, but trailed off, seeing his breath inside the tent and feeling his skin slowly numb. It was like the area was steadily turning into Snowfall with each passing moment.

Romani gasped and scooted closer, looking behind her. "What the heck? I swear I just felt ice."

Link looked behind her too and saw the problem. The tent was literally freezing, encasing them in ice. He reached for the Rod of Seasons and turned it so he could see the sun emblem. "Summer!"

A wave of heat rushed over them, quickly melting and evaporating the ice. It also gave them a personal heat wave but that was acceptable for the moment. With the tent unfrozen they exited it before it could refreeze, looking around outside for any potential cause to the unexpected chill.

They saw nothing but both could tell they were being watched. Putting away the rod Link took out his sword and shield, with Romani equipping her bow.

"Whoa, it's you guys?" Someone was heard saying. A silhouette tried landing in front of them, to which Romani shot at. The arrow hit something that went flying off, making it look like the ranchgirl just severed the top of its head. "Hey! That's my favorite hat!"

Link lit a torch to light up the area better, and there he could see a rather grumpy witch. "Maple?"

"About time you two recognized me." She muttered, turning around and retrieving her hat from a tree Romani's arrow pinned it to. She frowned at the hole left in it. "Dammit, now it's ruined."

"What the hell were you doing? Do you just go around turning every campsite you see into an ice cube?" Romani shouted. As she did the effects of the Rod of Seasons were already beginning to wear off, returning the area to an autumn state.

"When it's intruders in my home then yes I do. For all I knew you could have been witch hunters." Maple justified, putting her hat back on and casting a light spell to do the job better than Link's burning deku stick.

"You live in a swamp?" Romani asked.

Link shrugged. "Wouldn't be the first witch I've seen do that."

"So is the rod complete yet? If you weren't coming here to see me then why were you heading this way?" Maple asked.

"One last shrine then the rod's as good as new." Link explained.

"Shrine?" Maple repeated, confused. "There's no shrine anywhere around here."

"A goddess herself said there was a shrine in the east and this is the only part of eastern Holodrum we haven't already been to." Romani claimed.

"Still, I'm sure I would know if there was a shrine located somewhere in my own backyard. It's got to be located somewhere else." Maple insisted.

"Like where?" Romani asked, sounding skeptical.

Maple shrugged. "I dunno, the coast? Underground? I just know I've never seen one here in the marsh. And my mentor will vouch for me on that."

Romani frowned. "Go ahead, take us to her and let her tell us."

Maple frowned back. "Fine."

'Why are they fighting?' Link asked himself, confused and oblivious.

Flying on her broom, Maple led the two wandering heroes deeper into Holodrum's swamp. She didn't exactly pace herself, requiring them to practically race after her, and avoid whatever obstacles were along the way. Said obstacles included fallen logs, man-eating plants, keese, and some kind of burrowing pig that they must have accidentally woken up. But they succeeded, and after a while Maple came to a stop.

"Here we are, home sweet home." She introduced, gesturing to a large gnarled tree that looked like if the Great Deku Tree had a grandfather, except it had no face and was at best half that size. A door with some windows and vents were carved into it, making it clear this tree was hollow.

Maple unlocked the door and led them inside, igniting some lanterns to illuminate the interior. The room reminded Link and Romani of Romani Ranch's main room, except it was circular. There was the table, two hearths with two separate cauldrons, a staircase carved into the wall spiraling up, the only thing it had that Romani Ranch didn't was several fully packed bookcases carved into the walls as well. The doors along the staircase suggested that each level of the tree had one room apiece.

"Stay here and touch nothing. My mentor's bound to be asleep so just pass out and we'll talk about this tomorrow." Maple ordered, walking up the stairs leaving them to make themselves comfortable.

Still tired and having no reason to protest, the two laid down on the floor and quickly nodded off.