Still at Hyrule Castle, the Gorons have stopped selling their hot spring water – both because it’s not needed anymore with the river running again, and because the bridge being out means they can’t get it to town. This is too bad, because there’s another Goron who wants the spring water to give him strength to break through a rock, but that’s not happening yet. Before leaving town, there’s a few last things for Link to find or see. There’s a pair of ladybugs floating around the outlying areas of the town. There are a bunch of cats hanging out in an alley, and Link can pick them up and cuddle them and this is the best thing ever. At Telma’s bar, a few people – possibly the friends she mentioned – are hanging out while she’s still in Kakariko, but they don’t seem too receptive to Link.
North of Hyrule Castle Town, there’s a mountain pathway leading to Zora’s Domain – no more Kargaroc rides, thank you. Link’s first stop is the Zora throne room, where the giant rock he and Midna dropped to break the ice is still sitting there, underwater. The Zoras say they’ve seen eyes inside, and looking at it, yep, they’re there. There’s an unfortunate Goron trapped inside the rock, so when Link blows it up with a water bomb, he gets free and rewards Link with a second Bomb Bag, this one filled with normal bombs. Although… as I recall from Majora’s Mask, Gorons and swimming are not a good combination. He may be out of the rock, but there’s still the matter of getting to land. A male dragonfly can be caught in this area, and its female counterpart is in the river area.
The main attraction in the area are two minigames. The fishing hole is run by Hena, and judging by the pictures on her wall, she’s related to Iza (the woman who runs the boat rental) and the guy back in Ordon who sells lantern oil, but she has a simpler hairstyle. I didn’t think to bring any bait, but that’s okay, there’s a couple good things to catch that don’t need it. Out on the lake, Link can spot a heart piece, cast at it, and reel it in. Walking around the lake, there’s a little side area with a warning not to throw trash in it, and Link can cast into it and catch himself a bottle. This brings to mind something I thought of when Link got a bottle full of dog food in Minish Cap: does he ever wash these bottles between uses? In this game, I’ve had milk, oil, bee larvae, fairies, and ChuChu jelly in the bottles, plus whatever this bottle was once used to store (plus lake water). That’s going to be a disgusting mix of residues. (Sorry, I can’t unthink it, so now you’re stuck with it too.)
As for Iza, talking to her triggers a shadow being fight, opening up a portal so Wolf Link can warp up here. (Kargaroc rides officially closed.) Link’s proven useful to her so far, so she asks him to help out a little more. A large rock has blocked off her boats from the river, so she gives Link a bomb bag, and he blows up the rock using bomb arrows. There are more rocks along the river, so Link gets a trip in a rowboat, and the thing is a monster to control. Once he’s cleared the river, he gets to keep the bomb bag, and Iza’s opened up her archery minigame. Float down the river, shooting pots, and trying not to crash the fscking rowboat. I typically don’t do well at archery games, but the archery part here isn’t bad – it’s the boat. Crashing the boat loses a point, and there’s only so many points Link can afford to lose. The reward for this is doubling the capacity of all the bomb bags – so Link could theoretically have up to 180 bombs (or 90 water bombs). The huge capacity is balanced out by each bag being used for a different kind of bomb – and Barnes had a third spot on the sales rack, so there’ll likely be another kind (Bombchus?) later, meaning one for each bag.
In Lake Hylia, at the top of the cannon ride there’s a guy who runs a Cucco glider minigame. The goal is to land a bunch of stacked platforms on the lake. The top platform barely has space for its treasure chest (with 100 rupees) and spins, making landing on it pretty tough. Link can jump down to each lower platform and clean up the rewards, which include another heart piece. There’s also another series of caverns in the area, and I kind of regret tackling it now because I filled up Link’s wallet about halfway through. But there’s a heart piece at the end, Link left the rupees he couldn’t use behind, and there were a few floating lanterns – which I’m guessing is related to the Poe Link killed earlier, but Link can’t fight the Poes as a human. So I’ll be coming back, and can hopefully get some of the rupees I left behind then.
Finally, there’s no delaying it anymore. Link sinks to the bottom of the lake and uses a couple water bombs to open the entrance to the next temple.
Next: Well hey, the iron boots are now a normal inventory item, so there’s that.
