Full Circle

Waking of Thursday, April 6, 2017 ~ 6

Full Circle

Well I’d hiked to the dam and across to the north side once already. I could do it again. So I did.

But blast and confusticate that creeping PIANO always following me around! Jumping up from the bare stone whenever I least expect it.... Snaking out of the windswept grass to whisper dreadful nothings up my spine—WHY!

Uhuhuhh.... it gives me the jibblies, man.... .__.;

The world is wild.

The world is wild.

<3

I eventually hiked back toward a part of the winding road I had once traversed—the long road to Zora’s Domain. From there I deviated away from the track and made my way to a high precipice where I could see the last few bridges to the Domain proper laid out below me.

I paraglided in, landing partway along the last bridge—on top of one of its arches, actually. Not by design.... but I enjoyed the view and then hopped down to go the last stretch on foot.

Rivan and Dunma still guarded the outermost gate; I said hello.... and then set about looking for Fronk.

He wasn’t in the square, and he wasn’t back around the sleeping quarters; maybe he was on one of the stairways....

I came back to the deck above the square and descended one of the grand staircases. It was quite empty, but in passing I noticed a Hylian on the adjacent rampway—a separate little footpath that wound in a sinuous course around the staircase.

It was rare to see Hylians here even now, but I had already seen at least one. Maybe more and more would come to visit again.

But I did a double take.

That Hylian was talking to the short, orange Zora. He was talking to Finley.

Why, that must’ve been Sasan!

He made it! 8D

I ran right back up the staircase and vaulted over the railing. It was something like a hundred-foot drop between them, but the staircase and the rampway platform were really quite close enough together that I could make the jump easily.

They were both so happy to see me again. They’d really hit it off it seemed! Well good for them. ^_^ Heh, and Finley was advising Sasan to do lots of swimming and lifting and other exercises—to get those big muscles he’d promised her!

And they told me they’d thought it over, and really wanted to thank me for helping to bring them together—and they gave me a gold rupee.

Ooh-la-la, that was worth three hundred.

Maybe I’d still have some pocket change left over if and when I bought my house after all!

In visiting the other denizens of Zora’s Domain yet again I learned a few more things.

In Dento’s workshop, wondering if he could perhaps just repair the Lightscale Trident I had been given, I found out that in order for him to make a new trident, he would need me to bring him some materials—including diamonds. Two diamonds for the Ceremonial Trident.... probably more for the Lightscale Trident....

So that’s what the diamonds were for. Good to keep in mind....

I also sauntered up to Torfeau for the first time since I’d slain the Ralis Pond Hinox, fully expecting an attaboy and maybe some kind of reward.

But all she said was, “So, ready to give it a try?”

:c

I ran out to Ralis Pond and discovered, much to my dismay, that even great fat minibosses like the Hinoxes must come back to life at Blood Moon.

It was there again.

Ah, poop.

But.... armed with my new know-how, I was able to get rid of it once again using far fewer arrows. And when I went to see Torfeau again—(“That stench,” she said, and knew I had done the deed!)—she gave me a silver rupee. One hundred. Excellent.

And BY THE WAY, guess what the Hinox had dropped....

A Korok Leaf! Ah-HAA!! Oh I finally had a Korok Leaf in my inventory!

I was going to GO places with THIS....! C8

At length among my wanderings, I did find Fronk, away in some unobtrusive corner and hard about his work.

He told me that he wanted to help me in any way he possibly could, and I let him know I would certainly welcome that.

“Where could she be?” I asked, for I really had looked everywhere.

“If Ledo’s group didn’t find her....” Fronk began, and I wondered if that was what Ledo had been doing when I’d first met him, searching for Mei.... (and a strong Hylian for the Prince, of course).

Fronk hypothesized a possibility or two about where she could have ended up along the Zora River before admitting, “Worst-case scenario, she might have washed all the way to Lake Hylia.”

Lake Hylia?

Where in Hyrule was that?

And the Zora River.... That seemed to be what it was called above the wetlands.... Was that what it was called downstream by the Woodland Stable as well? I couldn’t tell because my map didn’t extend that far, blast it....

Maybe she really had washed further down that river....

....

And maybe I should’ve spoken with Fronk in the first place—

It was in the past.

And my wanderings had not been fruitless.

But....

But.... in following the river.... in following that road along the river, I had come closer, and closer, and closer to Hyrule Castle.

I had seen the signpost right beside the stable: “Hyrule Castle ➔”. Straight up the road. Not even the mystery-hungry Zorona ever went that way.... he always stopped his horse within breathing distance of the stable, if he was heading that way.

Leastways every time I saw him.

What if the river wound too close to the castle? What if it ran right through it?

What if it passed right through the den of the beast?

Without a Paddle

Waking of Wednesday, March 29, 2017 ~ 2

Without a Paddle

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?