Ok, Tetra thought as she stepped into the hallway after taking a rather long nap. First order of business: find Medli. She wandered aimlessly through the various rooms in the Rito's "post office," as she so affectionately named the place Quill had brought her. Did the Chieftain even say where Medli would be? As Tetra exited one room (which happened to be empty), she collided with a young girl about her age. Her long brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and she had a golden beak instead of a nose. "I'm sorry!" she apologized promptly, breaking away from Tetra.

"Don't worry about it," Tetra replied, dusting herself off. The Rito girl stared at Tetra, studying her features.

"Wait a minute…" she whispered. "Blonde hair… pointy ears… you must be Tetra!"

"Yeah…" Tetra replied awkwardly. "Um, sorry, but who are you?"

"Oh, me?" the girl asked. "I'm an attendant to the great sky spirit Valoo. My name is Medli…"

"Medli!" Tetra gasped. "You're Medli!"

"Yeah!" Medli replied, trying to mimic Tetra's cheerfulness. "Um… well, to tell the truth… I'm not an attendant quite yet. I'm actually still studying to be one."

"Oh, that's ok," Tetra said dismissively. "Look, the Chieftain told me to look for you—"

"Oh what am I thinking?" Medli gasped. She handed Tetra a sealed envelope. "Here! The Chieftain wanted me to give you this!"

"Komali?" Tetra read on the envelope. "Prince Komali? His son? Why doesn't he just talk to him?"

"We're Rito," Medli said, as if it were the most obvious answer in the world. "Postmen."

"Yeah, but don't you think this is going a bit overboard?" Tetra muttered.

"Um…" Medli mumbled. "The Chieftain is very busy, so that's why he—"

"You mean he had time to write this letter, but he didn't have time to talk to his own son?" Tetra asked indignantly. Medli began fidgeting nervously.

"You make him sound like such a terrible father…" she mumbled sadly. Tetra sighed and shook her head.

"Whatever," she said. "Where can I find Komali?"

"His room is the one way in the back on the first floor," Medli answered. "You have to go down a couple steps to get there. When you meet him, please don't get offended by his manner. He has no bad intentions, I promise." Tetra frowned.

"Why would I get offended?" she asked.

"It's just…" Medli said. "He can be… rather antisocial. He doesn't really like talking to strangers."

"Ok, so I should get going," Tetra said as she proceeded to leave.

"Wait!" Medli called. "There's… um… I have a small favor I'd like to ask of you…" Tetra sighed.

"Medli, I'm kind of on a tight schedule, and I really have to save my sister from the Forsaken Fortress," Tetra explained.

"It'll only take a few minutes, I promise!" Medli interjected. "Could you please come to the entrance of Dragon Roost Cavern at sundown? I'll explain everything then." Tetra frowned slightly.

"Something tells me this is a bad idea," she mumbled uncertainly. Medli clasped her hands together and stared at her with wide red eyes.

"Please!" she begged. "This is really important!" Tetra nodded.

"Ok," she agreed. "It's the least I can do after all your people have done for me."

"Thank you!" Medli replied cheerfully.

With Medli's instructions, it wasn't terribly difficult finding Komali's room. It was rather grand and spacious, circularly shaped with a soft rug on the ground and various decorations hanging on the walls. A young Rito boy with white hair lay on the bed, cradling a large red sphere. He sat up as Tetra shut the door behind her and frowned quizzically at her. "Who are you supposed to be?" he asked rudely. Tetra clenched her fists as she bit back an angry retort.

"Are you Komali?" she asked. The Rito boy flopped back down on the bed.

"That's Prince Komali to you," he corrected. Tetra hated him so much. "And why do you care?"

"I have a letter from your father," Tetra said as she handed him the envelope Medli had given her.

"A letter?" he repeated. "From my father?" He promptly snatched the letter from Tetra, tore open the envelope, and began reading it. Tetra crossed her arms and glared at him.

"You know, a little thank you would be nice," she grumbled.

"Oh sure, telling me to be brave is easy enough for him…" Komali mumbled. "It's not like he's the one who went through that horrible experience. It's not like he still has to get a scale from Valoo." That was the final straw.

"Man up!" Tetra yelled. "I went through a horrible experience too, you know. I saw my sister kidnapped by an oversized Cucco on my birthday! I went to the Forsaken Fortress to rescue her, and was almost killed by the person in charge. And you know what? I'm going back. I'm going to keep fighting, and I'm not going to stop until Aryll's home, safe and sound! And if I can do it, so can you, so just man up already!"

"Stop poking your nose in other people's business!" Komali yelled back, standing up, hugging the sphere even tighter.

"Your dad's going through a lot of trouble right now, and the least you can do is make things easier for him by going to see Valoo!" Tetra yelled.

"I don't want to see him!" Komali shot back. "I'm never going back up there!"

"Stop being such a selfish little brat!" Tetra yelled.

"What, are you trying to say that you can calm Valoo down?" Komali asked, his voice becoming dangerously low. "Psssssh! That's just a big fat lie! It's easy to say you can do anything! Bragging doesn't cost a thing!"

"I never said that!" Tetra refuted. "Seriously, when did you hear me say, 'Oh Komali, I can go and calm down Valoo for you! Don't worry about a thing!'?"

"I'll tell you what," Komali said. "If you can find me someone who can get past all the obstacles on Dragon Roost to get to Valoo… then I'll listen to anything you say!"

"Fine!" Tetra yelled. "I'll go up there and calm him down myself! If I can't stop you from being a whiny, self-absorbed son of a Like-Like, I can at least do that!"

"Good!" Komali yelled. Tetra stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind her.

"I don't believe him!" Tetra ranted to Link as she lay on the bed the Ritos had lent her, Link's pendant exposed on her chest. "Now I'm not saying I'm the Hero of Time or anything, but how hard can it be to go up to a dragon and get a scale? Especially since the dragon's supposed to be friendly?"

"Well he's not friendly right now, is he?" Link asked. Tetra sighed.

"No, he's on a mad rampage," she grumbled.

"So let me get this straight," Link said, amusement evident in his voice. "You got into a shouting match with the Chieftain's son and called him… What was it? A son of a Like-Like? You know, you just insulted his father there too."

"I don't care!" Tetra yelled. "All I want to do is get off this stupid island and save Aryll, but my boat said that I can't do that without Din's Pearl."

"Din's Pearl?" Link repeated. "You're there for Din's Pearl?"

"Yeah, I have to ask Valoo for it," Tetra replied distractedly, playing with her hair. "You wouldn't happen to know about it, would you?"

"All I know is that there are two other pearls like it that unlock a sort of gateway to the gods," Link explained. "But on its own? Completely worthless."

"Do you at least know what it looks like?" Tetra asked. "I think my boat wants me to get to that gateway thing."

"It's rather big for a pearl," Link said. "It's red, and it has Din's symbol on it." Tetra sprang up suddenly.

"Komali…" she whispered. "He had that pearl with him! I don't need to go to Valoo! I have to—"

"Didn't you just say he's not going to listen to you until you calm down Valoo?" Link reminded her.

"Din's fire…" Tetra cursed. The room was suddenly bathed in a warm red-orange light. "Oh, Link, I have to go. I told Medli I'd help her out with something at sundown."

"And are you going to talk to Valoo?" he asked.

"Of course!" Tetra replied as she strapped her sword and shield on.

"Be careful," Link warned. "If he's on a rampage like you said, you could get seriously hurt."

"Link, I was tossed out into the Great Sea, and I survived," Tetra said in annoyance. "I think I can handle a dragon."

"I'm not so sure about this…" Link mumbled.

"I'll be fine," Tetra assured him. "Really."

"I'm not taking my eyes off you until you come back down, safe and sound."

"Fine by me."

The air was filled with dust, and it made Tetra's head hurt and her eyes water. She rubbed her eyes as she slowly made her way over to Medli. Medli's eyes widened in surprise and relief when she saw Tetra. "Hey, you actually came!" she said.

"Yeah, I did," Tetra muttered back. "Remind me again why we're meeting here."

"I'm really sorry for bringing you to such a dangerous place," Medli apologized, "but I wouldn't have asked if I wasn't desperate! You see this place?" Tetra gazed around. A large boulder lay in the middle of the crater in which she and Medli were standing, and there was a puddle of muddy water surrounding it. "There used to be a spring here, surrounded by a beautiful pond… It was so peaceful and lovely…"

"It doesn't really look like a spring to me," Tetra said. "So what happened to it?" Medli stared down in sadness.

"The great Valoo…" she whispered. "He became so angry, and… In his rage, he shook the mountain and this boulder crashed down, plugging the spring. You can see the result." Tetra clenched her fists.

"All right, now I'm definitely going up there to calm him down," she asserted. Realization dawned on Medli.

"Oh, what am I thinking?" she berated herself. "How was Prince Komali?" Tetra groaned. This is just great. How am I supposed to say he was being a selfish little prick without hurting her feelings? "I'm sorry… I may be partially to blame for the bad turn that Prince Komali's taken…"

"I'm sure you didn't do anything wrong," Tetra assured her. "Don't blame yourself."

"You see, Prince Komali's grandmother was the great Valoo's former attendant," Medli explained. "She was an amazing woman. I was honored to have her as my teacher… She was kind and brave, and unsurpassed in her dealings with the great Valoo. I'm not yet worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as her. If only I'd possessed some of her strength, I'm sure Prince Komali would have felt more secure." Tetra smiled wistfully as she thought of her own grandmother, probably sitting at home right now and making soup. Poor Grandma… I wonder how she's doing… "Tetra, I'm sorry to ask this… but I really need your help!"

"What do you want me to do?" Tetra asked.

"I want to go to the small shrine near the peak of Dragon Roost, but that ledge over there is so high," Medli said, gesturing behind her. Tetra squinted up to where she was pointing and frowned.

"Why isn't there a ladder over there like there is over here?" she asked. Medli shrugged.

"We're Rito," she said. "We would be able to fly." Tetra groaned as she made her way over to the boulder in the center of the crater.

"All right," she said. "You said there was a lake here, right?"

"That's right," Medli replied.

"If we can find some way to get rid of this boulder," Tetra said, kicking it half-heartedly, "we could swim across."

"That sounds like a good idea!" Medli agreed. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a glass bottle. "Here, this might help." Tetra smirked.

"I think I might have an idea…" she mused as she scooped some water with the bottle. She pocketed the bottle and began to climb the ladder behind her. "Follow me!"

"R-Right!" Medli agreed as she proceeded to climb the ladder as well. Tetra made her way over to five red, shriveled up plants.

"These look a lot like those bomb flowers I saw outside," Tetra said. "They grow really fast, so I'm sure we can grow some bombs with a little water." She opened the bottle and poured the water over the bomb flowers. Sure enough, they regained their color, and little blue bombs sprouted from them. "See?"

"Wow!" Medli gasped. "I've never noticed these flowers here! You could blow up the boulder with these!"

"Exactly," Tetra affirmed, smirking. She plucked one of the bombs and chucked it over the ledge. It landed on the boulder, and Tetra and Medli covered their ears. There was a loud boom, and chunks of the boulder flew everywhere. Water began jutting from the ground, and, within minutes, the crater was filled with water. "And now we can get across."

"Here, lift me up," Medli instructed.

"Why?" Tetra asked, frowning at her.

"If my wings get wet, I won't be able to fly," she told Tetra. "It'll be easier if we just fly across." Tetra nodded as she proceeded to lift Medli onto her shoulders.

"This better work," Tetra mumbled as she leapt off the ledge. She squeezed her eyes shut as she and Medli glided over the water, and was all too pleased to find solid ground beneath her feet seconds later. They stood before a dark cavern, an opening between two adjacent rocks. Tetra turned to Medli. "Let's go."

"R-Right," Medli agreed as they both stepped into Dragon Roost Cavern.

XX

I'M NOT DEAD! That's all I have to say. This chapter felt really slow for some reason… Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it! PLEASE REVIEW!