"Ah, Princess Zelda," greeted Vaati from the shadows, a smile in his voice. Zelda halted some distance away, unpleasantly reminded of her time in his soul. She could barely see him until he got to his feet and stepped to the front of his cell, almost regally. He bowed like any Lorulean Knight, fist closed over his heart—assuming he actually had one. "You honor me with your presence."

"I—I would have expected the Stormbringer to bring more of a storm," managed Zelda after a short pause, clenching her fists weakly (trying, with limited success, to prevent her hands from shaking). "I may be weak, but I'm still alive. Why is that, I wonder?"

When Vaati merely chuckled in response, Zelda couldn't help raising her eyebrows in confused surprise. She had anticipated that the ballads had been exaggerating about his character, but outright lying seemed far more likely at this point. Where was that 'temper as swift as a lightning bolt'? "Straight to business, eh?" asked Vaati dryly, crossing his arms and tilting his head slightly. "You're nothing like your ancestors." He paused, showing off his slightly pointed cuspids in a white grin. "Thankfully."

"I… don't know what you're talking about."

"No, I suppose you wouldn't," said Vaati, a somewhat sly smile touching his lips. "But I don't know why you think I was holding back. It's only natural that my darkness should falter amidst your relentless light."

"You flatter us, Lord Vaati," said Zelda, employing what she had read to be his favored title. Vaati dipped his head and closed his eyes briefly, clearly pleased, and she allowed herself a quick smile. "I think your capture has more to do with the loss of the Mage's Cap." Vaati looked up again suddenly, sharply, and Zelda's heart seemed to stop for a second, but she forced herself to continue. "Y-you said yourself that you could never have been locked away if you still had it. But even like this, you are far from powerless." She scrutinized her prisoner through narrowed eyes. "Am I wrong?"

He grinned once more, this time reminiscently. "No."

"Yet… you're not using that power to escape," pressed Zelda, the tone of her sentence hovering between a question and a mere observation as her voice trembled along with the rest of her.

Fortunately, Vaati seemed to understand. "I would prefer to conserve my strength until I really need it," he said, fingering the hilt of the Picori Blade: Zelda had not initially noticed its presence beneath his cape, and eyed him with new wariness. "The last few times I overestimated my abilities without the Mage's Cap at my disposal… those failures are the reason for your existence. Had I succeeded instead, the kingdom would still be mine."

Zelda blinked, full of new questions—what did you try to do?—but restrained herself with difficulty, resolving to adhere to her original purpose. "How did you lose the Mage's Cap?"

"I'm not so careless as to lose my most precious possession," snapped Vaati, gripping the bars of his cell with both fists suddenly. Zelda jumped back, badly startled, and his countenance became smug as he continued more quietly, "It was stolen while I slept."

"Do you know who took it?" asked Zelda. Try as she might, she could not persuade her feet to approach again, so settled for looking Vaati in the eye instead. It took every ounce of her limited strength, but she succeeded.

"I was… felled the same day I realized it was gone," admitted Vaati sourly after a short silence, releasing the bars and pacing back and forth. "Though I had my suspicions, there was no time to check them." Vaati sighed, pausing as the barest hint of a resentful snarl tugged at his lip, before resuming his restless motion. "My opportunity to reclaim it came once I rose again. However, I was prevented from doing so, as I had to suppress a rebellion at the time."

As Vaati spoke of long-ago events as if they were still fresh in his mind, Zelda realized as if for the first time that they had been born centuries or even millennia apart—yet here they both stood, in the same place at the same time, talking as if it were normal. He didn't even look more than a decade older than her… nor, she supposed, did he act like it. "Tell me who you think took it," said Zelda, as boldly as she dared.

Halting, Vaati raised an eyebrow, examining the irrepressible earnestness in her expression carefully. "If you know of the Mage's Cap," he began, leaning against the bars, "then you must know of the Minish." He glanced at her sideways, and something in his expression told her that he was suppressing genuine interest in her response.

Zelda took a deep breath. Of course she'd heard of the Minish; she just hadn't thought much about them since they'd disappeared, the day after she first spoke to them of her plan to save the Triforce. Link didn't believe her at first, pointing to empty space and insisting that they were right there, until both of them were on the brink of frustrated tears. (After that, she barely spoke to her brother, until finally he told her he couldn't see them either—close to a month later.)

Taking another moment to deliberate, Zelda tried to gauge what the 'right' answer was. Doubtless the truth would benefit her most; it was more a matter of how she should phrase it. "It would make sense if your people decided to take it back," she said, in an attempt to corroborate Vaati's guess.

However, as Vaati turned his head abruptly to glare at her, Zelda flinched. A chill ran through her entire body as she noticed his red eyes had widened in anger, gleaming eerily in the dusky light of dawn, almost as if glowing on their own. "They are not my people, and they did not take it back. That cap has always been mine, and mine alone. I'm the only one who has ever worn it."

Zelda frowned, swallowing. That didn't quite line up with the stories the Minish had told her when she was a girl. "But… didn't the sage Ezlo—?"

"Don't speak that old fool's name!" roared Vaati, and it felt to Zelda as though his words had turned her to stone as surely as the princess of yore. Her muscles were so rigid in fear that she could not move for several seconds. (So this was the sorcerer of whom the epics had told.)

Apparently satisfied with this effect, his expression softened, and Zelda forced herself to relax. Unfortunately, she soon found that trembling head to toe was not much of an improvement. "R-regardless of who its rightful owner is," she continued with an effort, "the Minish never told me whether they still have it—and I stopped being able to see them several years ago. When I was little, I swore I'd never let that happen, but…"

Trailing off, Zelda lifted her eyes to Vaati's face to find that he was smiling again, as serenely as if the outburst of a mere moment ago had never taken place. "It seems your Minish friends no longer trust you," he said quietly, and his smile seemed to shift into a smirk.

"What?" demanded Zelda, attempting to steady herself and take a single step forward to prove that she was not afraid.

But Vaati only chuckled, raising a hand somewhat delicately to his chin, and Zelda froze again. "Surely you didn't think the Minish simply became invisible? No; the only reason you can't see them is because they don't want to be seen." He met her eyes, seemingly searching them, and she struggled not to turn away under his careful scrutiny. It felt alarmingly as though he could see into her soul. "Alas, perhaps they believe that even your noble heart has become corrupted."

"Corrupted?" asked Zelda faintly. That sounded altogether too much like the impurity of heart which would split the Triforce into pieces, and she took a moment to thank the goddess in which she did not believe that she had not tried to use its wish. Though by no means did she trust Vaati, she could not help but see the potential truth in his words; it was almost like an instinct.

"Typically, the Minish choose to show themselves only to those with pure souls, still capable of seeing the wonder in the world—most commonly, children," said Vaati coolly, examining his fingernails as though bored. "You, fair maiden, have lost that precious innocence forever, and that was your only value in their eyes."

As he looked up again, grinning, Zelda blinked, taken aback despite herself. For the most part, Vaati had been civil enough during their conversation that she found herself unprepared for the cruel glint in his eyes. Even when he had been angry with her, he had not seemed so purposely sadistic, and had offered no such personal insults. "How could you ever have been one of them?"

Vaati chuckled. "You have no idea how often I've asked myself the same question."

Despite the gravity of the situation, Zelda couldn't suppress a slight roll of her eyes. "Regardless, if we assume you're right and the Minish have the Mage's Cap, I still can't see them anymore, so—"

"So you'll need my help," finished Vaati, cutting her off smoothly. "Hence why I must show and not tell." His tone was subtly condescending, as though explaining something complicated to a child. (Despite being mildly offended, Zelda chose to ignore this. It hadn't seemed deliberate—more like he was simply accustomed to superiority.)

"But I'll be a hundred and five years old before the Minish Door opens again," said Zelda. Even if they were miraculously able to sidestep the fact that the Minish were now invisible to her, there was no way to overcome time. It was as much a constant as the space in which they lived.

"With the right instruments at hand, time shouldn't prove much of an obstacle," said Vaati casually, as if reading her thoughts exactly.

"What do you mean?" asked Zelda, curiosity momentarily overriding her anxiety.

Vaati gave a single laugh in response, crossing his arms, and looked her up and down with scorching scorn in his every feature; his eyes gleamed once more in the faint light. "I shouldn't have to teach a princess about her own mythology."

"Explain," commanded Zelda, with the little intensity as she could muster.

Vaati raised his head a little higher to look down at her, evidently unimpressed, and she thought he would refuse—but then his eyes narrowed thoughtfully, like he had found a reason to cooperate, and Zelda wasn't sure whether the thought was more heartening or disquieting. "There is supposedly a powerful magical artifact which should, in theory, enable its bearer to travel through time to a point in history when the Minish Gate is open. The Ocarina of Time."

"And I suppose I'll have to find it before I can find the Mage's Cap?" asked Zelda, crossing her arms. Now, if only she could find a way to ditch Vaati and visit the Minish on her own somehow, she might actually stand a fighting chance of seeing her mission through to the end.

"Assuming it still exists, yes," said Vaati. "And finding the instrument is only half the problem. To manipulate the flow of time, one must also play a specific song, but it was an old one even during my reign. I doubt whether anyone remembers it anymore."

"This is ridiculous," muttered Zelda, glaring at the ground as she finally grasped the true difficulty of the task given her. "How am I supposed to find an instrument that may or may not exist and play a song no one knows to find a hat the Minish might have taken?! I don't even play the ocarina in the first place!"

"For the love of power, stop whining," growled Vaati, tapping his fingers on his arm as if in warning. Zelda jumped at his sudden shift in mood, resolving to keep a closer eye on his expression from now on. Goddess, he was as changeable as the winds he commanded. "You're not the one in a cage."

"I may as well be," retorted Zelda, choosing with some difficulty not to mention that he could get out anytime he wished, and squinted down at her boots, trying desperately to think of some sort of shortcut, but she couldn't focus while she could Vaati's burning eyes still lingered upon her face. "This is impossible."

"No wonder the Minish abandoned you," said Vaati, another smile playing on his lips. "Didn't they ever try to teach you that old lie? That a positive attitude attracts a positive outcome? Even ignoring the laws of magnetism, that's still—"

"Zelda!" called Link's somewhat muffled voice from a distance, and she turned around sharply. "They're here, and they're not happy!"

Zelda's eyes widened, a jolt of alarm thrilling through her like lightning, and she noticed in her peripheral vision that Vaati looked vaguely annoyed at her doubtless agitated expression. "How is it that he can startle you just as much as I can?" he muttered, apparently resentful, but Zelda cut him off. There wasn't space in the conversation for stupid questions. It was of paramount importance that she learned everything she could today, because Hylia knew when she'd get another chance.

"We're out of time," said Zelda urgently, glancing backwards as a great crashing noise sounded repeatedly from the corridor—louder every time. Even an oaken door couldn't stand forever, if someone was determined enough to break it down. "Anything else I should know?"

Vaati gave a light sigh, and a gentle breeze seemed to waft through the dungeons, oddly refreshing. "Not yet."

Zelda glowered at him, but there was no time to point out how aggravating his response was. "Will you stay here?"

"Until I have recovered, yes," replied Vaati, raising his eyebrows as if surprised at the question. "After that, you're on your own."

"And so are you."

Vaati's eyes narrowed as he opened his mouth to reply, but any response he might have given was drowned out by the splintering thunder of the door finally giving way, and multiple sets of footsteps hurrying down the stairs, accompanied by the clank of heavy armor. (If the guards were coming to apprehend her for treason, they'd only have to take back their keys, open the cell door, and push her about six feet forward.)

As the footsteps halted, Zelda froze at the sound of an unexpected and far too familiar voice, snapping through the shadows: "What are you doing?!"

She turned around slowly, wide-eyed, to find the Queen herself glaring at her with all the wrath of a goddess incarnate, gripping her staff so tightly that Zelda was certain that her knuckles would be white if they had been visible beneath her gloves. "M-Mother, everything is fine," coughed Zelda by way of protest, but she simply stepped past her daughter furiously to face Vaati.

Vaati bowed, less respectfully than he had for Zelda. "My, the family resemblance is strong—though I must say, the girl is lovelier still than you. Your favored consort must be very handsome." Judging from Vaati's laugh a moment later, his comment had the desired effect, but Zelda felt rooted to the floor, unable to turn and see her mother's expression. The quality of the ensuing silence told her that it was clearly not a happy one.

"Stay away from my daughter," snarled the Queen after a brief pause, and Zelda jumped as sharp fingernails dug into her shoulder even through two layers of fabric, steering her towards the stairway. She stumbled forward, feeling hollow inside. She could easily have withstood any punishment the guards saw fit to give her, but a confrontation with her mother? This was the end.

"I'm in prison, you know," said Vaati, a grin in his voice, and the Queen halted abruptly, Zelda swaying in place with her movement. "You should be telling your daughter to stay away from me."

Though her jaw tightened still further, the Queen evidently decided a response was not required. She merely marched onward after a brief pause, seemingly with an effort, and swept Zelda along with her. "You, young lady," hissed her mother, barely audible over the tramp of the guards behind them, "have a lot of explaining to do."