Close to Home

Waking of Monday, July 3, 2017 ~ 3

Close to Home

After a lengthy pause to spend some sweet-lovin’ time with my family <3 I came back to the center of the Rist Peninsula, and decided to make my exit by alternating jogging and swimming straight toward the mainland. Chariots-of-Fire Beach was right there and that seemed to be the quickest way to it.

I ran a few paces north along the road to Robbie’s before remembering and veering off to the left, plunging into the huge sweeping bowl of grass to cut my way inland in a direct course toward the Quarry.

There was a memory there.... there had to be....

The shape of that strange little water body up in that higher alcove....

I came upon some Guardian remains to salvage, as well as another Korok inviting me to race off away from my intended destination. I almost just passed it by to come back later, but—augh, I ran up a little hill, grabbed it, took its seed and continued in my course.

A Flying Guardian loomed in the distance, almost directly in line with where I needed to go. There was another great crack in the earth between me and there.... very similar to that one by Jeddo Bridge, all with rocky teeth on either side....

I veered more north to give the Guardian some space, and found myself climbing a great grassy hill. Akkala is so hilly....

I guess everywhere’s so hilly, but.... augh. Akkala just feels so lush and leafy, but still with beautiful open space. It’s like a perfect lawn, but.... oh the word lawn just feels so insulting to describe it! It’s the kind of grass you just wanna lie down on and nap.

Akkala does hills right. X-)

Up on top of the hill was a sloping depression. Rather, the hill was shaped something like a donut. And from its center came the roaring rush of spilling water....

This was the Spring of Power.

!!

I floated down onto the bordering first level, an array of inward-spilling waterfalls—and saw there was a Goddess statue in here!

And down into the lower level.... simple, angular walks of stone.... a clear, enveloping pool....

And there in the center that pearl-soft glow, afloat with slow refractions and fairylike flares, that indicated there was a memory here.

I shed all my equipment and took a few snapshots. Beautiful snapshots. <3 The light was just perfect and the shimmering memory glow may just as well have been a part of the spray cast up by all the waterfalls.

What a most enchanting place to stand. ☼

But perhaps Zelda didn’t think so.

It was night, and a clear moon reflected off the water’s gently rippling surface.

Princess Zelda stood in the pool, the water up to her waist, praying before the statue of the Goddess.

Link stood some distance away at the last convergence of the little stone walks, in the proper entrance to the spring—a stone passage opposite the statue, leading straight off under the hill. His back was turned and his stance was broad as he kept watch at the tunnel, hands resting on his sword hilt, the tip of the weapon planted squarely between his feet.

He barely moved the entire time.

She was so frustrated—her praying words seemed pained and hollow. Was she really even praying anymore, addressing the Goddess? Or was she only lamenting to herself?

Or to the only other pair of listening ears?

She could not hear the Voices heard by her mother, and her grandmother. The promises of her lineage.... where were they? Hadn’t she always been true and faithful to the spirits that served the ancient gods? “Curse you,” she croaked as she let her hands splash into the water.

Her father only told her to stop playing at being a scholar. But things were supposed to awaken inside of her, she knew they had to.... Why couldn’t she hear them?

When would she hear what she was supposed to hear?

“What is wrong with me?” she cried.

My gosh that hit so close to home.

How often have I felt.... things similar to that?

When you are so assured by the ones you love of the precious gifts and joys to come—calmings when you need it; answers when the path is shrouded; surety on shaky ground.

And yet.... hollow.

You feel hollow.

And you wrestle within yourself Where is my peace?

The tales and experiences of so many close ones and trustworthy ones couldn’t have all been fabricated just to tell a Big Fat Lie to you.

And deep down.... you do have faith in the Goodness of the Universe, that life is not a sadist, and that things will work out in the end.

Because that is the nature of the world.

And you know that it is unfailing.

You know it.

It’s a Truth so sure you know it must be there, even surrounding you already, enfolding you on every side.

And yet.... if you can’t feel that grace in your own heart.... that grace so sure and certain....

Then the problem must lie in you.

All those promises you’ve known in the wells of your mind since before you can remember—of course they become fulfilled.

You’re just too deaf and blind to see it.

You just.... don’t work.

Maybe you were broken from the beginning, or maybe you’re just trying too hard. Or maybe it’s just your lot to walk in the dark longer than the people around you.

Nobody knows.

What is the line between seeing the light at the end.... and imagining it.... and wondering if your eyes were only playing tricks on you?

Something better has to be waiting on the far side....

But it’s hard to lean on that thought when you feel nothing but the shadows.