And now that smell has a source. "Hello again, young ones..."

"Hello!"

"Hey, who are you?!"

"And why do you sound like Red Lions?"

He laughs. "I am the King of Red Lions. Oh, you have come so far. I had planned to hide the truth for longer, but seeing how you help each other has convinced me otherwise... You see, I am a ghost. That boat was once my greatest enchantment. Now it is the only body I have left."

"Red Lions is a dead guy?"

"Yes. I am Red Lions, and I am dead. I was the king of Hyrule when... Everything fell apart. I am dead, for all that I can still speak to you. Dinraal shall take me when my business here is finally done."

Gren is torn between sad and suspicious. "...Should have told us sooner."

"Perhaps."

"You're gonna go away?"

"Unfortunately, yes. But not yet."

"Maybe there's a way around it. I like you. You shouldn't die."

The ghost-king-boat looks like he's going to cry. He sighs instead.

The twins however do cry.

"...Well, I have the sword. Let's go finish this. Ganon deserves it."

Tabitha growls her approval.

"Indeed. We still must move quickly, for his power grows even as we talk."

"Then let's go!"

The ghost of the king disappears.

It turns out that all the monsters are free to move around again, including the tough-looking dog-things but the Master Sword cuts into them fiercely. They can win the fight, push through back to the entrance.

The twins fight more savagely than usual.

Gren pushes through and flees the horde rather than trying to defeat every monster there.

The King of Red Lions - his boat body, at any rate, already has the sail out. He makes for the center of the lake as soon as the three children are aboard.

"To Ganon murder!"

"I object to the word. 'Tis not murder, it will be a re-sealing. Or at worst, an execution, since as King of Hyrule I find him guilty of treason and thousands of counts of murder."

They float upwards slowly on the beam of golden light, reaching the weird barrier and being underwater-but-not-really again for a while.

"At least this part's pretty."

"It is. But let's get the magic sail out. We have to hurry so we finish Ganon before he pulls another trick."

Turns out the twins are equally fast at setting up magic sails.

And off they go. "I've been thinking about it... And Red Lions has been telling me things. Ganon needs to go down, and I'll go wherever we need to with you guys this time. Danger or not."