Waking of Sunday, January 6, 2019 ~ 3
It was snowing when I woke up. I’d
been hoping for clearer weather, but.... oh well.
From the lodge, I skirted the jagged
foothills southward, past the inexorable wolves, until I came the short
distance to the great break in the wall of dark stone to my right: Dronoc’s Pass.
The pass opened onto a roughly
round kind of dell, with a path leading round the edge, counter-clockwise back toward
the north. The path so lay due to that the middle of the dell seemed to be a
bottomless, gusty pit, full of dark,
reaching spires like teeth.
I could see a round structure higher
up at the north end; it looked Rito, and was about the size of one of their
dwellings.... And there were big painted target-boards attached here and there
to the treacherous rocks.
This seemed to be the Flight Range
all right.
I made my way toward the circular
building, and could see—Teba?
Someone was on the high platform.
He looked like.... a snow white Rito.
I climbed a ladder to access the
structure, went inside—there was a lit wok in the middle, but nobody around. Then
I turned to the left and could see, on a kind of runway heading out over the
dell, someone was hunkered there in the cold, working on something.
He just looked over his shoulder
with a gruff, “Yeah?”
It had been voiced with its own
cinematic.
This was Teba.
....
He just peered at me with his sharp,
slit-pupiled bird’s eye for a moment before turning back to whatever he was
doing with that bow, adjusting it, testing its spring.... “I don’t know you.
And I’m actually pretty busy here. You should probably go.” His voice was so gruff and harsh....
But I approached him again, and
told him that I could help him with Vah Medoh.
“Let
me get this straight,” he said in bigger-than-normal font. ._. “Some
random Hylian wants to help me bring down Divine Beast Vah Medoh? I’m not
buying it. Let me guess, the elder sent you here to talk some sense into me.”
“That’s right,” I said.
And under his breath he murmured,
“Just like the elder to trust any old fool who wanders into town.”
We introduced ourselves, and at
normal volume he asserted he wasn’t going anywhere until he brought down Vah
Medoh—until Vah Medoh fell from the sky.
“If I have to kill Medoh... so be it.”
“Then let’s get started,” I say. Lol fresh
little punk.
“You’re serious?” said Teba, “HA!
Well, far be it from me to talk you off the ledge.”
Oh Dang! XD
I wasn’t sure whether I should like this guy or not....
“But it’s as the elder said: the
only way to stop Divine Beast Vah Medoh is to get inside it.” But there was no
way we could set foot in Medoh, he added....
“Actually...” I started, like I do,
and contradicted.
“Not only are you wingless, you’re
brainless too,” Teba retorted, “The only ones able to set foot inside a Divine
Beast were the five champions of old, and unfortunately for us and for the rest
of Hyrule, they all died 100 years ago.”
But Teba shook this off and came
back to the present. “Never mind... Let’s focus on bringing down Medoh...one
step at a time.”
He accepted my help and I was on
board, but before we did anything, Teba wanted to test me here in this aerial archery training zone, the Flight
Range.
He set me to destroy five of the
painted targets within three minutes. If I could do that.... we could work
together.
I DID IT WAY FASTER. Sailing over
the dellpit, riding the gusts, now rising, now letting myself drop, I plugged
target after target after target with my bow. And all the while Teba’s voice
grunted begrudging encouragements in the background.... Engrossed in the task
at hand, I only caught the last two: “One more...” and “Perfect!”
He had a bark of gravel and
iron—His voice was so.... low and cool!
XD
I pelted my five targets in
something like thirty seconds—definitely
less than forty—and Teba called me back in.
“Hmm... Not bad at all...for a
Hylian.”
Why
thank you.
“I’ve got to tell you, Link... When
you first showed up, I thought someone was pulling a prank on me. But after
seeing you handle that bow, I can tell you’re the real deal. You must have seen
a battle or two.”
My choices were “Hundreds of them.”
or “I’ve seen a few.”
I wouldn’t boast. “I’ve seen a
few,” I said.
He grunted a syllable of laughter
in a Hm. “Don’t be modest. I can tell
just looking at you. Link... I feel I’ve heard the name somewhere before...”
Hhhh,
they said that sometimes....
“Well, if you really want to help
me bring down Medoh, it’s now or never. I’ll get you into position so you can give
its cannons all you’ve got. Inside that treasure chest is a bow I’ve modified.
Take it, and let me know when you’re ready.”
I went to check it out.... Ooh, a Falcon Bow.
It looked cool.
Teba told me normal arrows wouldn’t
put a dent in Vah Medoh’s cannons. I’d need Bomb Arrows. “These are a precious
commodity, so don’t expect me to do this again, but... take these Bomb Arrows.”
He gave me twenty. Don’t worry, Teba, I won’t waste them.
“Also, it’ll be cold up there.
You’ll want to prepare a warm meal or bring some warm clothes.”
Well it was a good thing I was
packing my W
I N G A L I N G H A T !
The plan was that he would draw
Medoh’s fire, and I would destroy the four cannons.
Ohhhhhdfhdsjkalghjklgjfkl....
“I’m ready,” I say.
“All right. But let me ask you just
one question,” Teba said, “Why are you doing this? Why risk your life to bring
down Medoh?”
He
sure dropped the Vah a lot....
Oh gosh my CHOICES.
“To rescue Zelda.”, “To save Rito
Village.”, “I can’t just watch...”, or “Just because.”
Hm. I thought about this.... I was
gonna be honest and say.... “To rescue Zelda.”
“Zelda? But that’s the name of the
princess Revali served 100 years ago at Hyrule Castle. I don’t know what she
has to do with Divine Beast Vah Medoh, but whatever. As long as you’re helping
me bring down Medoh, your motivation is fine by me.”
....
“...Right. Get on.”
Oh
my gosh!
He
was a large Rito, not as large as Prince Sidon, but his wings seemed powerful and I didn’t suppose it was unbelievable that he could carry me!
We
fly out! I’m on his back!
He told me if I wanted to retreat
to just hover in the updraft for a moment and he would come get me—Vah Medoh
was surrounded by a tempestuous
updraft.... Good thing for me.
When we drew close, the Divine Beast
threw up a blazing red force field that seemed to sizzle—it encapsulated the Beast entirely except for four protruding points.... THE CANNONS.
I jumped off Teba’s back and he
peeled off and flew around and I could see the first cannon’s targeting laser
chasing after him as he rocketed in great wheeling arcs through the air! But I
had to focus on the cannon—as it was distracted I drew my bow mid-air and shot
a Bomb Arrow at it—came up short—and
so I hovered closer riiisiiing, DROPPING,
riiisiiing, DROPPING and I shot it again
at much closer range and got it this
time and its life only went down halfway so I shot it again and BOOM it was down!
I circled counter-clockwise round
the Beast to the next cannon and then—“Watch out!” came Teba’s voice—the next
cannon was targeting ME!
“Teba I thought you said you would draw its fire!” D8
Cannons 2 – 4 put me in their
sights, but the lasers had a devil of
a time finding me as I paraglided up and then fell, up and down, up and down through the endless updraft. Teba
flying around, wheeling, circling, calling out every once in a while in his
gravel-iron bark things like “It’s targeting us!” And I going round so slowly it felt—the Beast was huge—until I finally blew up the last
cannon!
“That’s done it!” said Teba, or
something like it. “Well done, Link!” or some such words....
And he soared around....
And I thought “Now come get me,
Teba!” .____.
But I paraglided on down toward the
Divine Beast.
And Teba watched.... and then
grunted with a grimace.
Oh!
D8
His left thigh.... was scorched
right through. Ugh...
“Bad news, Link,” he said, his
voice becoming more ragged. But I could tell he was trying his utmost to tough
it out. “Looks like I got hit pretty good back there.”
He was hurting.
He said he was afraid he would have
to get back to the Flight Range.
“If I can make it there,” he added.
BUCK
UP, Teba, of COURSE you can make it
back! 8C
“It’s all you,” he said, and gave a
thumbs-up with his left outstretched wing-hand.... and then peeled away like a jet.
And I floated down onto the stern
of the Divine Beast.
The top.... was mossy.
Felt....
....like some kind of Ghibli movie....
[[Now that I had a clear picture of
Teba in my head—tall, white, stark, and gruff; pointed crest feathers springing back from his crown in an
aerodynamic rush, sharp beak glinting, sharper eyes glaring—artworks began to dance in my mind of painful, post-assault
shelterings in the Eye of the Neck, the freshly injured Harth wincing back
against the stone, Teba casting a protective wing over him as he glares
hungrily back up into the dark and flashing sky. There is rain....
Perhaps it miffed Harth even more
that he was the one who’d been hit,
even though the bright white Teba really should have presented a clearer
target. But he would not stomach holding that thought for long....]]
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