Waking of Wednesday, March 29, 2017 ~ 2
I wandered further and further
downstream in search of more tablets, but the most interesting thing I
encountered was a Korok that bested me round the underside of a cliff—I’ll
catch that one later....
But I thought, as long as I was
headed downstream, I really ought to
keep an eye out for Fronk’s wife.
I recalled something about a Bank of Wishes being important, and made
my way there through nest after nest of lizalfos....
And indeed, there was a Zora
standing there on the Bank of Wishes. But it wasn’t Mei.
It was Finley, a short, younger
Zora, kind of orangey-colored—and probably the only young female in all of
Zora’s Domain who didn’t give seven whits beyond the norm about Prince Sidon or
his fanclub.
I stopped to chat.
Finley already had a sweetheart you
see. But she had never met him. She just sent letters to him from the Bank of
Wishes, floating them down the stream in tubular letter-carrying boxes made of
red wood.
She asked me if I would follow the
letter she was about to release, find out who was receiving them, and then
return and tell her what kind of person he was.
I couldn’t really see any way out
of this one. She was just a kid. And she’d promised her mother that she
wouldn’t wander too far....
Well I was dressed for the occasion
in my Zora Armor. “Fine...” I said, and leapt into the water after her letter.
To conserve my energy, I let the
current carry me along—at times it pushed me through great schools of fish,
some of which I’d never seen before! I scrabbled them right out of the river;
I’ll cook them up later....
Other times I swam to the bank and
employed my bombs to clear the stream of obstacles—carefully, per Finley’s
warning, for the letter-carriers were fragile.
Other times still it was bow work
against octoroks and waterborne lizalfos.
You know, my bow work has been
improving greatly I think.
Maybe I used to be a great archer.
Maybe....
As I moved further and further
downstream still, coming across familiar landmarks and stretches of road I
recognized from my initial ascent to the Domain, I kept my eyes peeled for any signs of another Zora about. “Mei!”
I shouted her name, again and again—“Meeei!”—but
there was never any answer—just more lizalfos.
It started to rain at the edge of
the wetlands. It was a bit of a trick to follow the letter beneath the tangle
of boardwalks where the lizalfos keep an impressive haunt. Many arrows were
fired. Many remains collected.
But at last the letter seemed to wander into a little dead end inlet
surrounded by a low, sandy bank. I could see a half-tent set up near the trees
at its deepest point. And as I drew nearer, I saw there was a man there. A Hylian. He stood up at my
approach, as I kept even with the bobbing letter-carrier....
His name was Sasan, and he guessed
who I was right away: someone sent to
follow this letter for Finley. And to report back to her on what I found.
He had already gathered that she
was a lovely young lady Zora of the Domain. But then he immediately confessed
to feeling guilty and awful because he had lied
in his letters to her, claiming to be a “buff traveler”.
Ah,
he didn’t look so scrawny, buck up,
man....
He had been sending his letters
back to her via travelers who were on their way to Zora’s Domain, and he asked
me if the road there was long.
Remembering my experience along it.... I could do naught but answer in the
affirmative.
He considered traveling it to reach
the Domain, but once again began to fret and tremble, wondering if he could
face her after he had deceived her....
My two options were Good luck with that, and....
“Love reigns supreme,” I said, and
this seemed to instill him with some confidence.
What did it matter? If he truly
loved her, he should go and find her.
And he thanked me, and we parted.
I took a moment to collect what
wreckage and spoils came floating my way from my sporting with the lizalfos
about their boardwalks, and then had a good long look at my map.
The wetlands were vast. Locating Fronk’s wife seemed a
much taller order from here at the river’s mouth. The marsh and currents spread
in all directions, and I do mean all.
Beyond the boardwalks, the shallow marsh extended far to the south and farther
into the west. Another river broke off from the southern part of the marsh and
curved back eastward before ending in a small, and I imagine deep, lake. But what looked like the
easiest course for the main flow of the water to take.... was north. That way had the fewest
obstructions, geological or otherwise.
But could she have washed this far
down?
What if I’d passed her?
But hadn’t I been combing the
Domain with a careful eye for days on end? Surely
I’d have seen her if she were there. Surely someone
would have seen her anywhere upstream of the Bank of Wishes anyway, if little Finley could venture that far. And downstream of the Bank of Wishes....
well I’d spent most of that stretch in
the water—that had to count for something; I’d have bumped into her for
sure....
No, she had to be somewhere
downstream of the rivermouth. And the most likely downstream direction was
north.
Then that was the way I would go.
Fortunately there was a road that
ran alongside the river, all the way off the edge of my map. I followed it,
drawing nearer and nearer to the unknown, the river on my left, and sprawling,
mounting hills creeping up on my right, which grew into great rocky canyons and
ridges in the distance. I wondered if I was near the volcano.... there was at
least one Goron on the road with
me....
“Meeei!” I called out, but to no avail. Even when I reached a small
lake on my right that looked like it might have caught anything washed down in
a flood.
But there was nothing there. Just a
stray octorok, and some mineral deposits on the other side, which I collected
before moving on.
Where
could she be?
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